Changing The Future

CHAPTER XIV

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2011

Amber's mother is laying on an old bed in a dark-lit room. The only light in the room is coming from the moonlight that is coming from a small window beside her and a candle on the nightstand next to her. They don't have enough money to keep the electricity running. Amber is kneeling beside the bed holding her mother's hand in her own hands while Amber's father is standing far behind her looking down at the two. "Heal her. Quickly." Her father says in a stern voice. "I'm trying." Amber says while tears stream down her face. She holds her mother's hand tightly. "Useless." the man mumbles. Amber is slowly giving her energy to her mother but it's not enough. "Stop." Amber's mother whispers loud enough for Amber to hear but not loud enough for her husband to hear. Amber's mother places her other hand on Amber's cheek and gently strokes it. "Mom?" Amber asks, looking at her mother's weak form. "Let me die." Amber stilts not believing what her mother just told her. Her father was too far away to hear her. "No, I can't let you." Amber starts to cry even more. "I'm not going to get any better. If you heal me, I'll just suffer. I'll be healed just enough to stay alive, but I'll quickly get worse again." Amber shakes her head "No." Amber puts her head on her mother's hand. "I don't want you to see me like this, my sweet angel." "You'll get better, I promise!" Amber almost shouts. Her mother smiles weakly at her. "There will be one mouth less to feed. Now you can spend money on one person less." "This isn't about money. I'll trade you for all the money in the world. I don't need money. I need my mother." Amber's mother's eyes are dull as she looks at her husband. "But he does. He doesn't need me. I'm on the verge of death. Just let me go." Amber's father walks up to them. "What's taking you so long?" "Goodbye, I love you." Her mother says while closing her eyes. At that moment Amber could feel her mother's life slip away. Her warm gentle hands are now turning cold. "I love you too, mother." Her father kneels beside Amber and panics. "NO!" He slams his fist on the bed. He grabs his wife's hand from Amber and kisses it. He stands up again and looks murderous at Amber. "You murderer. You should have died instead." He leaves the room locking it, leaving Amber alone with her dead mother. Amber runs to the door and bangs on it. "No. Dad, wait!"

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2011

It's a rainy day with dark clouds and thunderstorms. Joshua and Rose are sitting cuddled in a blanket in front of a fireplace. Rose is scared of lightning and thunder so Joshua is holding his sister in a tight embrace trying to comfort her. The thick walls of the mansion are not thick enough to keep the sound of the thunder out. Suddenly the doors slam open, startling the twins, their parents walking into the room. "There you are!" Their father says gripping Joshua's arm and dragging him away from Rose. "Wait! Father, what are you doing?" Joshua asks, trying to get out of his father's grip. His father stops and looks Joshua in the eyes. "What am I doing? What are you doing? You're supposed to be training right now." Joshua looks at Rose and then back at his father again. "I was comforting Rose. You know how she gets on days like this father. She's scared of thunderstorms." His father shakes his head. "That still doesn't excuse you from training" His mother says standing behind Rose. "It's a weakness to be scared. She's stronger than you but because she's so scared, she'll never reach her full potential." Their mother claps her hands and a maid enters the room. "Yes ma'am?" The maid asks bowing. "Take my daughter and dress her in a raincoat and make sure she stands outside until the rain stops." The maid looks hesitant but grabs Rose by her arm and drags her out of the room. "Wait! Please mother, father. I promise I won't be scared anymore." Rose begs while being dragged out of the room. "Now that is taken care of. We're going back to training." Joshua's father drags him out of the room with his mother following behind them.

2012

Joshua and Rose are walking behind a maid through one of the many halls of their home or the place they've been staying. They never really thought about the mansion as home. Their parents asked for them. They're really scared, wondering if they did something wrong. They enter the entrance hall and see their parents talking to a man who is holding a little girl's hand. "Joshua, Rose I'm glad you're here." Their mother says, smiling at them. They walk towards their parents and stand beside them looking at the little girl who looks almost the same age as them. "Mister Joshua and Miss Rose, I'm this family's new butler and this is my daughter Amber. From this day on she will be your servant." Joshua and Rose observe Amber. "Isn't she a little too young?" Rose asks. "Nonsense." The new butler says. "The younger they start the better they'll be when they grow up." Their mother claps her hands together catching everyone's attention. "Okay, let's leave the kids alone so they can get to know each other." The other two men agree and they leave the children alone. Joshua is the first to speak. "My name is Joshua Bluewhi and this is my twin sister Rose Bluewhi." "Hello, my name is Amber Thompson and it's a pleasure to be at your service." Amber says, bowing her head. "You don't have to bow." Joshua says blushing. "Okay." Amber says, smiling brightly at them.

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2019

Alice and Asher have just arrived at school. As they enter the building they're greeted by Amber. "Hey guys. Have you heard that Joshua is grounded? He's not expelled but his parents have forbidden him from going to school." "How do you know that?" Alice asks, raising an eyebrow. Amber smiles proudly and is happy that Alice is speaking to her. "I live with them, remember?" As they walk while Amber tells them what happened they see Rose standing in front of their classroom looking hesitant. "And as I said Rose didn't mean to do all those things to you. She just wanted to make her brother proud. Please give her a chance." Amber says walking over to Rose. "Hey Rose!" "Hi Amber." Rose says weakly. Rose's gaze wanders behind Amber looking at Asher and Alice. "Hi King and Primson." When Rose doesn't know how to address someone, she calls them by their last name. "Hey." Asher says awkwardly. Alice just looks at Rose saying nothing. Rose fidgets under Alice's gaze. Amber looks at Asher for him to do something. Asher nudges Alice. Alice nods at Rose and brushes against Rose entering the classroom. "I hope you changed." Asher says and follows Alice into the classroom. Amber sighs. "They'll open up to you." Rose looks to the ground. "I wouldn't blame them. What Joshua and I did to Asher is unforgivable. I just wanted to be loved by my brother. To be accepted by him." Before Amber could say anything, Rose entered the classroom leaving Amber standing in the hallway.

The school bell rings. It's the end of class but before the students could exit the classroom Miss Birdie makes an announcement. "For next week you're all going to have to do a group project. It can be about your favorite hero or another hero. Gather information about them and tell us why you chose them." The students are already talking to each other about which hero they are going to choose. "I want groups of four people. You can choose who you want to be." The students are happy that they get to choose themselves. Especially since nobody wants to be in a group with Joshua. No matter how good he does in class. Everyone is already forming their groups. Alice walks over to Asher. "You and I are going to be in the same group." Alice says while grabbing a chair to sit on. "Okay, but we still need two more people." Alice sits down. "Who is tolerable?" "Can I be in your group?'' They both look up to see Rose standing in front of them looking nervously at the two. Asher doesn't trust Rose yet and it will be awkward if Rose would be in his group. But if what Amber told them was the truth, and Rose did change and doesn't want to harm them anything, then it wouldn't be so bad to have her in his group. "Sure, you can join." Rose smiles at them and grabs a chair and sits down. Alice doesn't want Rose in their group. But since Asher is okay with it. She won't say anything about it. "Okay, I see you have already formed your groups." "Miss Birdie. We are missing a person." Asher says, raising his hand. Miss Birdie looks around to see if there are still students who aren't in a group yet, but sadly everyone is already in a group. "Well, there is one person. Joshua. Joshua will be in your group." Everyone is looking at Asher in pity. "Poor boy." "I hope Joshua won't kill him after yesterday." "I heard Rose is also in his group." "This is not going to end well." Rose huffs and crosses her arms. "They should be begging to have me in their group." Asher laughs awkwardly not knowing how to respond to that. "Rose, will you enlighten your brother about this?" Miss Birdie asks, writing Joshua's name under Asher's group. "Yes ma'am." Miss Birdie writes the names of the rest of the groups and dismisses the class.

School's over andAsher, Alice, Rose, and Amber are standing in the parking lot. They havedecided to start working on the project in Rose's home since Alice doesn't wantto reveal the location of her home. "Are you going to come with us or do youhave your own car?" Rose asks. "We'll follow you. I have my own car." Alicepoints at her car in the distance. "Asher, I'm guessing that you'll go withAlice?" Rose asks. "Yes, I'm going with Alice." Amber opens the back seat cardoor for Rose and Rose gets in. "You can follow us. I'll tell the driver to driveslower so you can follow us." Amber closes the door for Rose. "The twins areboth having a hard time so don't talk about what happened that day." Amber saysand walks around the car and gets in the front seat of the car.