TALES OF THE PAST

Lucas would likely find me anywhere else in the building even if I were to go to another floor and I didn’t know how I could handle another confrontation with him because he would remind me of Damon if I were to stay and I didn’t have the courage nor the strength to hear what he had to say regarding his child. His appearance with Damon’s son had weakened my resolve drastically instead of curing it and I wasn’t ready to show that he had trampled down on my pride like he did before. The elevator took me to the first floor of the building and I quietly left the office, taking a taxi to my apartment which was within a mile radius from where the office was.

When I got to my apartment, nobody was home as usual, so I hurried to the bedroom to cry in private. The unexpected visit from Lucas and Damon's child contradicted my idea that I had moved past everything that had transpired years ago. I sat vulnerably on the left side of the bed, facing the mirror, my bare feet brushing the carpet, my meager makeup before heading to work in the morning ruined by every ounce of disappointment. I stood up and headed over there, remembering something I had safely stored inside a box in the closet.

The box was behind the heap of clothing that were hung inside the closet when I opened it, but the lid was now covered in dust, so I had to shake it off of my hands before I could open it and see what was within. Then, as soon as I spotted the baby clothes inside the box—still folded and neatly arranged—I started to daydream about the child I used to have before moving to Seattle. When my parents learned that I had an unmarried child, they disowned me. I was aware that Damon was the biological father of the kid I was carrying during the time, but our relationship had ended abruptly when he planned to leave town to have the child someplace else so he wouldn't find out the truth. He dumped me on my birthday. I received assistance from someone gracious enough to provide me with a place to stay, which greatly helped me put my life back together and continue my college degree.

However, things took a bad turn for the worst for the baby when she fell ill two years after giving birth. Regretfully, the baby died on the day of my last college examinations despite all of the efforts to save her life with the right drugs. I made the decision to follow my own path at that point, and my desperate attempt to do so by creating a compelling cover story for stories that would make news after working hard to get a job to pay my expenses drew haters and opposition who wanted me dead. But I was not all bothered if what I wanted would cost my life and I pursued it to this point with all the determination I could muster up to keep on living comfortably. Damon had been the sole cause of all my sufferings and I hated him for reopening old sores I had buried in my heart. Being a werewolf had taught me quite too much enough to bear this heavy burden laid on my shoulder and Damon was at the center of it all. It was harder rekindling that wolf side of me which had rendered to me nothing but pain and it was because of this, I had made a decision a few months after I lost my baby, to hide away traces of being a werewolf. A side of me that had fused with it all the pains I suffered in Damon’s hands since being a werewolf not only reminded me where I came from but also the few times I recalled having spent racing with Damon in the forests under the form of werewolves as a way of fostering our courtship as his mate.

Tears had already gathered in my eyes at the remembrance of my hardships and two of it dribbled down my cheeks till they fell on the clothes. At that moment, I heard the doorbell ring twice and dried my tears with the back of my hand. I wondered who it was that was at the door and left the room to see who it was.

I opened the door and it turned out to be Lucas. He knew I would be surprised to see him since it was his first time to appear at my apartment. I searched for the kid that he came with but Lucas didn’t come with him neither did he wear the same clothes that he wore when we met some hours ago.

“Have you been crying?”

He asked when he saw a bit of tears in my eyes. I nodded meekly and left the door open for him to enter. He followed me to the sitting room and sat next to me on the couch.

“How did you find where I lived?” I curiously asked him.

“I kinda asked the receptionist where your apartment was after you suddenly left us”

“What about the boy?” I inquired after noticing the kid was not with him this time around.

“He is somewhere safe, don’t worry about him. What happened to you back there?” He asked expecting to be invited inside.

I turned away when he asked me the inevitable.

“You got upset when I told you that Andrew was Damon’s son” Lucas deduced as he walked further inside into the living room behind me and found his seat at the sofa.

“I got angry because…” I answered evasively and avoided his stare.

“Because you hated Damon, right?” He asked seeking my response.

He took the words out of my mouth. I nodded and started twisting my fingers shyly as though I was different from the woman he met a while ago ordering him to return to Damon.

“Yes. I loathe him for all that he has done to me and I won’t forgive him for making a mockery of me”

I replied and turned my face away. I didn’t dare to face him and he already knew that he wasn’t the one that I was angry at the whole time he had confronted me about taking in Damon’s child. Then Lucas told me what he had wanted to say and left shortly afterward.