Chapter 54: Promises to the dead
Aira’s POV
I couldn’t feel a damn thing.
As I stood in the middle of this graveyard in a plain black dress with shades and a hat that covered a good part of my face, I felt nothing. I thought I would be bawling my eyes out. I thought I would be rolling on the floor and begging the universe to take me instead.
But even if it wasn’t, I at least expected to feel something. Anything.
Hurt. Sadness. Depression. Anger.
I wanted to feel anything but this numbness.
But I didn’t.
I think all my emotions seized after the day I found Camille lying peacefully on her death bed. I screamed at the top of my lungs, cried till my eyes swelled up, and even went as far as trying to use my powers to bring her back.
Moriah said I had power over life and death. So I thought I could have at least been able to bring her back to life, right? I mean, I knew she was an old lady and had already lived her fair share of life, but I needed her. I had no one else.
I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, but all I knew was that I kept facing my palms at her face and screaming at her to come back over and over again. Alex tried stopping me the first five times, but he knew that the only person who could tell me when to stop was me.
When I realized that pointing my hands and yelling at her to return wasn’t going to do anything, I continued to cry some more. I cried until my eyes could no longer take it, and it became impossible to breathe.
I felt a warm sensation course through my veins, and shortly after, the once sunny sky turned gray. There is a howl in the wind as lightning dances across the sky. I instantly knew that I was the cause of that, but I couldn’t stop it. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to.
Alex came up behind me, and at first I had expected him to scold me or tell me to calm down, but he did none of that. He just wrapped his arms around me and let me cry. That was the biggest comfort I could get.
We spend the rest of the day like that, and thankfully, I manage to pull myself together. When I did, I sent word to anyone who might have been close to Camille and informed them of her funeral, which was today.
It seems like nobody wanted to show up.
It hurt my heart that no one turned up. Camille was a sweet, beautiful, and kind lady. It did not make sense how absolutely no one she knew came to say their goodbyes. Not even her own siblings.
Right now, the only people at her funeral are me, Alex, and a few of our security guards. I listen to the pastor say the final prayers for Camille before bowing at me in respect and leaving. I could feel Alex coming up behind me before he even placed a hand on my shoulder.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
“No, I am not ready to leave yet,” I say, my voice a bit colder than I would have liked.
“I wasn’t going to ask you to leave,” Alex says gently into my ear. “I was going to tell you that someone turned up for Camille after all.”
My eyebrows crease with confusion. Alex points at two people standing in the distance. It was a man and a woman. They wore black clothes, and the man held an umbrella to shield them from the sun. They watched us from the distance, and my curiosity got the better of me, so I started to walk towards them without another word.
I can swear on everything I hold dear that I have never met these people before in my life. But something about them seems awfully familiar.
The lady had sharp gray eyes and thin lips, and a few strands of her hair were gray while others were midnight black. The man, on the other hand, had this dark aura oozing out of him. His eyes are a dark shade of brown, and his lips are heart-shaped. He wore an all-black suit and hat, which gave him this mysterious look.
But what was even more mysterious and a little bit creepy was what he said next.
“You have become quite the beautiful young lady, Aira.”
And just like that, my feet come to a halt, and I blink up at the man with surprise. “You know me?”
She smiles at me, but not in a kind or amusing way, but in a narcissistic way. One that suggested that he knew that I would have asked that question.
“Why wouldn’t I know my niece?” He asks, stepping towards me with that cocky grin on his lips. My eyebrows shoot to the top of my forehead.
“You are Camille’s brother?”
“Immediate younger brother, yes. My name is Vincent Kingston. I am sure she never spoke about us,” he states, and I nod slowly in agreement. “Yeah, that is definitely Camille. Always acting like she was better than the rest of us and couldn’t associate herself with the likes of her own family,” he finishes with a roll of his eyes.
Mine narrows into slits. “Camille was a great woman; I am sure she had her reasons for doing so.”
His smile grows tighter, and I can tell that he was not in any way pleased by my words. “I am sure she did.” He pauses to take another step towards me. He spreads his arms and says, “Wont you give your long-lost uncle a hug?”
Instinctively, I take a step back. The smile on his face falls, and this time it is my turn to plaster a tight one on my face. “No offense, but Camille asked me to stay as far away as possible from you all, and that is exactly what I am going to do.”
Vincent strokes his chin, eyeing me carefully in a way that suggests he was sizing me up. “Is that so?” he drags out. “Did she ever tell you why?”
I stay silent.
He snorts. “I didn’t think so either.”
I do not know why, but I suddenly feel bad. I mean, I never got to ask what was so bad about her siblings that I had to run from them the moment I saw him. Although I had to admit that Vincent had an unsettling aura radiating off him, that could all just be in my head, right?
I shouldn’t exactly judge without hearing from both parties.
But then again, I trusted Camille’s words more than I trusted myself.
Vincent sighs. He digs into his jacket pocket and takes out a card. I cautiously take it from him when he says, “This is my personal card. You can contact me or pay me a visit whenever you wish. Trust me, it isn’t good to be left alone at such a young age without family. Especially with the type of gifts you have.”
My eyes widen by a fraction.
I purse my lips and watch him walk away with the silent woman. Alex comes up behind me and asks, “Who was that?”
I look down at the card and purse my lips. “Family, I guess.”
From his facial expression, I can tell that he had a lot of questions to ask, but I just didn’t have the energy to answer any of them. I needed to get some rest; I haven’t slept properly since Camille’s death.
The last time someone close to me died, I sleepwalked into a graveyard. So I really couldn’t be blamed for the PTSD I now suffer.
Our drive home was spent in silence; perhaps it was due to the fact that I kept staring at Vincent’s card like it was some pot of gold. I don’t even know why I still have it. I should throw this away.
Camille warned me to never have anything to do with them. I promised her.
But he knows about my powers; he could help me. If Camille were here, I would have asked her for help, but she isn’t anymore. I can’t think of anyone else who could possibly help me control my new abilities apart from him.
Taking a deep breath, I take out my phone and start to dial the number.
I am sorry, Camille.
Vincent picks up on the second ring and says, “Hello? Vincent? It’s Aira.”
“Oh, I know. I was expecting your call, and yes, you can see me this evening if you wish,” he says, and if you ask me, he sounds a bit too expectant for this moment.
“Alright, I will see you then,” I finished before hanging up the call.
I can only hope that I wasn’t making some big mistake.