Midnight Shades

Chapter 47

I'm walking with so much determination, yet so much fear. So brave, yet such a coward. The rage that is inside me is indescribable; so brutal and raw. The feeling of wanting to literally kill Conall is eating me alive. I want him and his mind dead.

It still strikes me that there are people who think like that; who want us to be isolated from the outer world. So what if the outer world is dangerous? So what if they are not like us? This village has set these irrational rules without thinking, at all.

Do they honestly want us to live like that for the rest of our lives? If we don't move now and stop this, others will do. No one will ever bare to live in such stupidity, feeling like an animal in a zoo, wanting nothing but run wildly with the others.

The thoughts are like fire inside my mind once I get inside the house again, heading towards my room when I see my father knocking on its door. I stop and my eyes widen, making him notice my presence.

He furrows his eyebrows before quietly asking, "Where were you?"

"I was with Artis." I answer immediately.

"Who's Artis?"

"A friend of mine." I answer him, gulping.

He nods slowly before letting out a deep breath and saying, "We need to talk."

Nodding, I follow him back to the living room and sit down on the chair on the opposite direction of him. After releasing yet another deep breath, my father laces his fingers together before looking at me.

"Before anything, I'm deeply sorry for what I did. It was wrong and I should have listened to you first, and it was unacceptable and disgusting. No matter what you did, laying a finger on you was the only thing that I will forever regret." He says, the sincerity clear in his tone.

"Father, I understand. It hurt, but I understand." I assure him, giving him a tight smile.

He nods. "It shall never happen again, and that is a... promise."

I smile. "I know."

"How long have you been seeing him?" He asks, quickly changing the subject, which makes the air stops in my throat.

Wetting my lips, I ask, "Do you want the truth?"

"I want nothing but the truth, Tallulah." He says quietly, yet the poison in his tone is so evident.

"Almost two years." I whisper, watching as my father's eyes grow wild and he stands up. Begging, I reach for his hands and say, "Please, just sit down and hear me out."

He keeps his angry gaze on me for a few seconds before sitting back down in his seat. I sigh and decide to speak up. "The gates here only open at the payment's day."

He nods, encouraging me to continue. "I saw him in the city and... after quite some time we got to know each other, and then we... uh... we started dating and I would always sneak out to see him."

"Does Zayn open the gates for you?" He asks angrily.

"No, no, no!" I shake my head frantically. "He has nothing to do with us, no one knows about this, I climb over the gates at midnight when everyone is asleep."

I can never rat anyone out. My father caught me on my own, and keeping it this way will be better, because I know that if he knew about the others, he will not hesitate to tell our chieftain—Esme's father—and Lyara knows we will all be doomed then.

"You what?" He wonders in disbelief. "You've been lying to us this whole time!"

"I hid it but I did not lie, father." I try. I actually didn't lie; I only hid it because I knew he would have reacted this way.