The Hidden

Chapter 25 - [Forgiving]

     “So it’s my fault?”

     “Of course not, Meenu.” Her mother sighed. “What I’m trying to say is… you have no reason to feel like you’ve been lied too… because I know he cares for you. He really does.”

     Meenu swallowed hard.

     Yes, maybe that was true… but…

     “But he still killed all those people.” Meenu stated.

     Meenu’s mother sighed.

     “Why would he do that? So many lives were destroyed that night–”

     “There has to be an explanation for it. There has to be a reason for it. And people have been trying for years to figure it out… But whatever the reason was, Avaryn hid it very well.” Her mother responded. “And maybe… the only way you’ll ever find out is if you ask him.”

     Meenu finally looked at her mother.

     “He may not have lied to you about loving you… but for all the other lies, whether it was for your protection or not, I believe he owes you an explanation.”

     “So you want me to ask him why he did this?”

     “I don’t want you to ask him anything. I just want you to hear him out. Because I know that you loved him. And people shouldn’t just give up on love simply because of what others say about it. Hear him out. Judge him yourself. And make the right decision according to your heart.”

     And it was then that Meenu realized what she had done.

     Her mother stood up, kissed her daughter’s forehead and left the room, and though Meenu felt better, she also felt worse.

     Because the one thing that Avaryn asked her to do was to give him a chance. To judge him from what she knew of him. What she knew for sure.

     And what she knew for sure was simple... at least, it was now.

     He had always made her happy.

     He protected her since she was a child.

     He accepted her when most people didn’t.

     She stared at the rose, feeling her eyes water. She thought back to that night, the night he left and the night that she forgot him.

     “It’s a special rose.” He said to her. “So long as I love you, it will never whither.”

     It never withered. For all these years, it stayed as red as blood and as soft as a flower could be.

     He loved her.

     She knew that.

     Panic grew inside her as she realized that she had made a big mistake.

     She should never have doubted him.

     And now, she had to find him.

     She put the rose back in it’s vase. The same vase that it sat in for the past eight years. Then she ran as fast as she could to find Blood.

     And of course, Knight followed closely behind.

     Blood didn’t need to search hard to know where his evil was. Because as Master Red had said, he was still connected to it.

     He found himself in the same forest that he escaped to eight years ago. The forest that he ran to after saying his goodbyes to Meenu. After killing all those people.