Reel or Real

Chapter 41

When the woman had heard me scream, she jumped from surprise and turned to me with wide eyes and placed a hand on top of her heart. If I wasn't so sure that I was in reality, I would've thought that the woman I'm staring at now with wide eyes is Jasmine's much older version, or would been older version if she wasn't taken too early from the world. But, I do know that I am in reality and there's no way for that to happen because, even if it pains me to think of it, the little girl is gone. So, the other conclusion that I have thought of is that the woman in front of me is none other than their mother, Elaine.

She was the first one to recover from shock and, once she did, she offered me a small, gentle smile.

"You must be Mary" she said with no hesitance, so I know she's sure about who I am and there's only one reason why she could know me and that is the reason why I got nervous being in front of her.

What could have Alex told her adoptive mother about me?

But, she's giving me a smile and still not throwing me out of the house, so I'm taking it as a good sign.

Or maybe she's just a really good person.

"Thank you for taking care of Alex, I know she hasn't been easy these past few days. I appreciate how patient you are with her" She talks slowly, as if she's afraid that she will break something with her voice.

I gave her a smile. "I owe it to her" was all that I could say. I couldn't admit to her how I had thought ill of Alex when I found out who she really was and how I was only, basically, forced to be here when I was.

"Is she going to be okay?" I wasn't able to stop myself from asking and, when she released a deep sigh, I prepared myself for the words that would come out of her mouth next.

"I honestly can't answer that, only Alex can. But, basically, what's happening with her is that her body shuts down when she's feeling too much emotion. It became her way of coping with things. It has been hard the first few times it has happened because, first, we didn't know why it's happening and, second, when it will. But, as time passed by, we would see signs on Alex and we would just know. We don't exactly know how to avoid it, but we can sometimes prevent it" when Elaine was talking, she moved to the dining room where I saw two plates sitting at the table with what I presume is a chicken dish sitting on top of it.

"I assume you're hungry since Alexandra told me you haven't had dinner yet when she left, so I decided to make you something" she explained when she saw me eyeing the food. "I hope you don't mind me joining you?" I could sense a bit of fear in her voice when she said that, so I immediately gave her a smile and shook my head. "Of course not, it'll be my pleasure"

"What exactly do you do to prevent Alex from passing out from that?" I asked her when we had situated ourselves on the dining table, sitting across one another.

Elaine had the thinking face on for a minute while I sliced a part of a chicken and stabbed it with the fork before dropping it inside my mouth.

"We usually just coax her, but there's no guarantee that it would work. Most of the time it doesn't, she still passes out but, when she would wake up, at least she's not blaming herself as much"

"Why is she blaming herself?"

Elaine looked at me for a moment before sighing again.

"Because she keeps telling herself that, if she hadn't agreed to the deal Johnson offered her then the two would still be here"

I didn't know what else to say after that, so I just asked the next thing that had entered my mind.

"And how are you dealing with all this?"