Simply Difficult

Since You've Been Gone

"M-Mara!" I exclaim as we left the room, and I realize just how cold I really am. It was Mara, but older. It was the woman I'd seen at the store with Seth. "Are you Mara's mother?"

"No, you had it right the first time." She'd grown into her freckles and her hazel eyes didn't look so small on her face anymore. Her hair was longer and wounded into a braid down her back. Her child body was replaced with a more defined and curvier one, and she was now just about my height.

"How are you so...old?" I ask eyeing her with curiosity and disbelief.

"Your the one who came back from the dead," she snapped. "I'm not the only freak show here."

"So I did die."

"Yes, Leo murdered you." I gape at her, but before I could ask another question I hear voices and footsteps coming towards us. I jump at the noise immediately looking for somewhere to hide.

"Relax," Mara assured me. "As long as I touch you, they can't see you." She said gripping my wrist tight.

I think they were Royals, but they didn't look familiar. They definitely weren't one of the Victorians. As they both passed I noticed one of them had a green, gold, and black emblem on his right shoulder. The eastern clan.

"How long was I dead?" I whisper. The question sounding strange coming out of my mouth.

"Three days. And you don't have to whisper, they can't hear you either."

"I'm not a ghost, am I?"

She chuckles at this, shaking her head and pulling me along.

"Come on, lets get some clothes on you."

***

We stood in Erica's empty room, scrounging through her wardrobe in search of something decent for me to wear.

"So everybody thinks I'm dead?" I say as I examine a velvet corset before tossing it in disgust over my shoulders.

"Yeah, you were found an hour after Leo snapped your neck. But by the time Daemon found out you where dead, the eastern clan of Royals were already here. Daemon was pretty pissed when he found out."

"Really?"

"Yep. He wanted to give you an actual proper burial, but his mother wouldn't allow it. She was all, 'The bitch will be thrown in a hole with the rest of her kind'," she said doing a perfect imitation of Mrs.Victorian.

"She wanted to put me in a hole?!" I exclaim.

"And Daemon slapped the shit out of her for saying it!" She laughed. I chuckled at the thought. "So Daemon wanted an autopsy on your body, to see if you were murdered, and I swear Leo has been on the edge ever since. You were going to have the autopsy tomorrow, so be happy you woke up when you did."

Wow, Daemon really did care about me. I didn't want to imagine what he must have felt like when he thought I was dead, or what he must feel like now.

"Dimitri cried for a good eight hours straight." she went on. "Adelle however seemed somewhat relieved of your sudden demise. I wonder why?" She joked narrowing her eyes at me. I threw a piece of clothing her way as I was reminded of the awful scene I had witnessed before my death, yet again.

"Audrey blames Erica for your death. So they aren't talking at all. Plus Audrey is still mourning the death of her beloved daughter." she said murmuring the last part.

"She thinks your dead?"

"Yeah...I kinda disappeared shortly after you died."

"Why?"

"Because," she sighed. "after you were gone Daemon got angry and refused to marry Jocelyn, the daughter from the eastern clan, and then they tried to use me, so I left."

"They tried to use you? As what, like to marry you off!? You were only four!"

"Exactly, they where going to increase my aging process and make me older, then they where going to turn me. No one tried to stop them."

"That's horrible." Even though she was never actually a little girl to begin with to think they would actually do something so wrong is terrible.

"Exactly. So Audrey is just going to have to suffer two losses instead of one."

"Poor Audrey."

"You shouldn't trust Audrey, she can be as bad as Erica." she said suddenly sounding stern.

Now that, I don't believe. Audrey's going to have to kill a room filled with deaf handicap baby mortals to be as bad as Erica.

I settled with a small silk dress that hung loosely off my body. The bodice had a beautiful filagree, and the sleeves hung off my shoulder. Though it showed a slight bit amount of cleavage, it was the most tamed and appropriate clothing Erica owned.

I looked in the mirror, expecting to see a living nightmare look back at me, with rotting skin and bloody hair, but I didn't.

My eyes were bluer than ever before, and they were framed by long eyelashes. There were no dark marks on my skin, or heavy bags under my eyes, my flesh looked silkier than my dress. My hair was vibrant and straight flowing down my back, the only blemish was the insignia that was designed over my left eye.

"Who misses me the most?" I asked, my eyes never leaving the ethereal beauty of my own reflection.

"Um...well it might have been Alex, but he's barely been around since you've been gone. I think he doesn't like for people to see him mourn. Then again it might have been Moreau, though he was pretty damn good at hiding it. The angriest was most definitely Roman. He's been slapping Erica around since she was a suspect to your murder."

I felt a guilty pain in my gut, and it was for Erica. As horrible as she was I didn't want her getting hurt on my expense.

"No wait, the one who missed you the most....it was definitely Seth."