Hunter's Awakening

02| e b r i o s

[Lt.] ebrios - (adj.) intoxicated

Stupefied by alcohol, drunk. Stupefied by any chemical substance.

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j a d e :

"He's not coming back." she mumbled.

Three words and four syllables. Her eyes staring ahead as if she could see the future and past all at once. The woman who raised me was long gone, and this empty shell of a person sat before me with a wine glass in her hand.

It would be reasonable if one would say that she was drunk, judging by the half-empty glass in her grip. But I tried to remember the other days when she wandered the house with not a single wise thought running through her head.

I stared intensely at her, observing her as she poured more of the poisonous liquid in her glass.

Raising her glass, she tilted her hand slightly and gulped down the wine, leaving the red stain of her lips on the glass rim. She then closed her eyes after the rest of liquid was now down her throat. It was almost as if she was waiting for something to happen.

The scrunching of her eyebrows, the pursing of her lips and the furrowing of her eyebrows. 'She's waiting for something', I thought to myself. She was waiting for the effect of the mickle alcohol consumed.

The tears she tried hard to blink back, was now running down her face profusely. She's waiting to forget, to free herself from the vice-like grip her past had on her. She wanted to drown her sorrows in alcohol, but her thoughts kept her sober.

The thing is with alcohol, parties, the high and rush of adrenaline is only merely an illusion.

Freedom from the past is only what can be considered as a figment of the imagination. An 'escape' from reality for a while. My sister only believed that alcohol is the only way she could escape reality. But this isn't entirely true; it's only temporary.

With this escape, darkness envelopes her in a warm embrace. Comforting at first, soothing and relaxingly fun later. But it is only a matter of time before darkness suffocates us, leaving us with the consequence of deciding to face reality later, and run into the arms of this 'darkness'.

This is when the saying falls perfectly into place: Reality is a bitch.

The quivering of her lips led to the streaming of tears down her face. The tear flow turned into that of the hiccupping before she was full out bawling now.

"Deana..." mother whispered.

The action caused her head to whip up and meet hers, the glint in her eyes turning brighter with each growing second.

"Why won't he stay here? W-Why wouldn't he c-come back here?"

Mother only sighed and turned her body a little causing me to jump back behind the pillar.

"You need to stop this Deana. You know you need to be strong right now. Now that he's gone you should focus on your children. Your parents. He's moved on and is now looking for another woman. It could be anyone really, maybe even your sister." My mother rubbed my sister's tense shoulders soothingly.

At that my sister wiped her tears with the sleeves of her expensive purple, fitting gown. The thought of whoever loving me, her own sister, well she might as well have scoffed at the idea.

"Let's be realistic mother. I love Jade with all my heart, but she isn't ready for a husband anytime soon. Especially marrying a man of such prestige." She snorted, while my mother remained quiet.

Oh then, never mind, I'm glad you feel and look like shit sister.

"Deana we need to discuss something..." Mother trailed off.

At this she turned to face my mother and grabbed her wine glass, standing up to go for a refill, since the bottle was empty. She only managed three steps before her legs almost gave out.

"What is it mother?" Deana sighed annoyed that mother was interrupting her attempts to get borderline drunk.

Maybe we should talk about this when you are sober enough.

Oh she is sober...

Deana only sighed and snarled at my mother. "Could just speak and get it over with? I have things to do."

Mother could only narrow her eyes at her daughter rotting away in sorrow.

The longer I observed mother's face, the more I realized that her stare hardened with each growing second.

"Fine. He seems to have gained some interest in Jade. Apparently he wants her hand in marriage."

What?

Time froze for that small moment. My body unable to function, my lungs still and my breath caught frozen in my throat.

There was a deafening silence before Deana laughed heartily and wiggled her finger in her ear, as an attempt to clear her ears to see if she hard right.

"Come again?"

This was the last thing my sister and I both heard before we passed out on the floor simultaneously.