Amanda's POV
"You saw your mother? what happened next" Mandie asked taking a sip of her tea.
"she ended up giving me her number and asked that I should meet her whenever I can. She tried talking to me more but I panicked and quickly told the driver to drive away" I explained.
"Are you going to do it?" she asked.
I stared down at the cup in my hands.
"I don't know, I'm scared. It hurt a lot when they blindly believed what a text said over me. They pressed charges against me for the murder of my little sister, I just —" I cut myself off biting my lower lip.
Mandie placed a hand over mine.
"At least hear out what she has to say, it's been four years don't you think you deserve closure? You don't know what tomorrow might bring" she advised.
I sighed and then smiled.
"Motherhood sure made you wise. I feel embarrassed calling you just Mandie. Should I start calling you Aunty—" I replied.
"Shut up," she remarked.
We both chuckled.
"But honestly I don't think I'm brave enough to face my family again, I—"
My phone began ringing. I took it out and looked at the caller ID.
'Zack's calling. Did something happen to Hunter'
I picked up the call.
"Hello," I answered.
"My love, why does your voice sound so low" I heard Hunter's voice.
My eyes widened and my heartbeat tripped. Mandie was giving me a questioning look.
"Uh, Rai" I called.
There was a brief silence at the other end of the call.
"Why, are you calling me by another man's name," he asked.
'What the, is he in a trance again? Where's is Zack'
I looked at Mandie, then composed myself.
"Uh it's work-related, I'll just take it outside" I replied.
She nodded. I stood up and then started walking to the back door.
"Amanda " He called.
"Yes, I'm still here" I replied as I reached the back door.
"I asked you a question" he reminded.
"Uh I'm sorry, I mistook you for someone else. Uh by the way where are you right now and is Zack around" I asked.
I walked into the garden.
"I called you but why are you asking about Zack, don't you want to talk to me," He asked.
"Of course, I do" I quickly screamed.
"I'm just worried that's all" I added.
"Zack is right here next to me but for some apparent reason, my girlfriend is not—where are you vixen," He asked in a cold, calm voice.
I chuckled as a few tears escaped my eyes.
"I missed you so much my love, I wish I could hug you right now" I replied.
"I miss you more my love, I want to see you right now"
"We can't not now but I'll video call later" I assured.
"When are you coming to see me," he asked.
"How soon do you want me to come back"
"Like 2 minutes from now soon"
"I'll go visit my sister's grave tomorrow then start off later in the day, I'll be back the day after" I explained.
'By then you would have probably forgotten me again'
"My love, I can't wait that long—"
"Uh Hunter, I'm sorry to interrupt this sweet moment but we have to go home to take your medicine, could I borrow the phone just for a second" I heard Zack ask.
A few moments later Zack was on the phone.
"Hello Amanda"
"Zack, what the hell is happening to him," I asked.
"I can't explain right now, I have to get him home, he doesn't look so good, I can see the veins in his head bulging, it might be bad I'll call you later" he assured then hung up.
I sat on the grass leaning against the house, brought my knees to my chest, and buried my face in my lap.
'It's been so long since we talked like that, I miss him so much it hurts'
Tears started pouring from my eyes, I cried in the garden for a while. When I walked back inside I first went to the bathroom and fixed myself up so Mandie couldn't notice I was crying.
I searched around for her and causally said goodnight to her, she was feeding Austin at the time. Thankfully she had her hands full with Austin so she didn't think much of it, I went to the room I was using for the duration of my visit.
I couldn't sleep, I kept pacing the room, and my phone was glued to my hand. I was very worried.
My phone rang at around midnight. I hurriedly picked up.
"How is he, did he pass out again," I asked.
"Clam down honey. He's asleep, unlike other times he didn't pass out. We got back to the house, he took his medicine and said he was going to sleep and he is actually sleeping" he explained.
"W-what, does this mean his memories are permanently back"
"Unfortunately that's not the case, I called up his therapist, I told her what happened, and said since there are still gaps in his memory, it's likely he will forget tonight happened. When we got to the house he couldn't recognize Skylar but the good news is, he is slowly recovering" he explained.
I sighed and then sat on the bed.
"What happened, why did he suddenly get like that," I asked.
There was a pause.
"We have that ass called Ramon to thank. If I had my way, I'd make him swallow that tongue of his. That guy seriously pisses me off" he ranted.
"Seriously Zack, did you lose your temper because you saw them together, you have to be more understanding of Hunter right now —"
"Hey, why are you just concluding I lost my temper because I saw them together? That guy was bad-mouthing me, he was telling Hunter to stay away from me and the worst part was Rai was actually considering it, did you want me to just grin and say okay" he screamed.
I could tell how angry he was.
"But he didn't say he would, no matter what, Hunter would never do such a thing to you"
"Well, I'm starting to doubt that. It's even more irritating that he thinks he knows Rai better than me and it might actually be true. Even if he's right next to me, I sometimes feel the same way I felt when I thought he had died" he explained.
"I understand where you are coming from. I was always the center of his attention but now He's all over Skylar, I have to beg for him to acknowledge me and it hurts but before I start losing my cool, I remember, he's suffering the most here. He lost everything, including his memory, his body is burnt, and he is being put in a dilemma where he's being forced to remember all those horrible things from the past, you know more than anyone that his life was filled with more sorrow than joy. Imagine he has to relive all that, don't you think we should try to be more tolerate"
There was a brief silence.
"You are right at the end of the day, he is the one suffering the most. goddamit, I want to break someone's bones so bad" he stated.
"You can't afford to start going around killing people, it's already enough, Nate died, and the news already spread so don't start doing something that might cause a panic," I reminded.
"Oh right I didn't tell you, Hunter was trying to get in contact with you, he ended up murdering some more people so he could use their phone" He casually explained.
"And you let him"
"Of course, I thought it was cute seeing how sloppy he is at killing right now, I even took a video. Should I send it to you" he confessed.
I rubbed my forehead.
"I can't even right now, where is Skylar by the way, you are causally talking about killing people, you don't seem bothered she might overhear," I remarked.
"Oh Ginger got called in again, she hasn't gotten back home yet," he explained.
'Ginger?'
"It's quite late, don't you think you should ask Brian to go escort her back home," I asked.
"Why him, I can go pick her up" he quickly said
' why do you sound so enthusiastic all of the sudden'
"Zack, when I get back I want to talk to you about something" I confessed.
"What about"
"Just go pick up Skylar. but make sure Brian is with Hunter while you are away. We will talk later" I urged.
"Good night honey, love you, take care of yourself" he stated.
I chuckled.
"Good night, I love you too, and take care of yourself as well. Don't fight with your brother and remember to pick up Skylar from work, buy her some food, I'm sure she's hungry" I said.
He chuckled as well.
"Alright mummy, I got all that," he said then hung up.
_________
I took a sip of my juice trying to calm my nerves. I had finally decided to set up an appointment with my mother, I was scared of what would happen when we met up.
I told her that we should meet in a restaurant for lunch, I ended up arriving very early so I ordered some juice to help me calm down. Before that meeting, I had been at Blue's grave all morning.
I had tried Zack's line a couple of times because I wanted to ask about Hunter but there was no response, his phone just kept ringing
"Amanda" I heard my mother call.
I flinched. I looked up from my phone and saw her standing in front of me. She didn't look like my mother at all unlike before she wasn't putting on expensive clothes or jewelry, and her outfit was very simple and plain. Her hair which she always tied in a neat bun draped down her shoulders, she had some silver locks in her hair, she had dark circles under her eye.
'What in the world'
"Uh please take a s-seat" I ushered.
She quickly sat down.
"It's been so long since I saw you, you look well. Back then when I heard you had a heart attack I came by the hospital to see you but the guards wouldn't let me see you, I reached out to your friends but they too refused to help me reach you, are you doing OK now" she asked.
"Y—yeah, I'm okay" I answered. My gaze was on my hands.
Silence followed soon after between us, the only sound to be heard was from the rest of the people in the restaurant.
"I'm so happy you agreed to meet up, your father wanted to come too but unfortunately he couldn't" she explained.
'Wow, they're still together'
'This small talk is awkward'
"How is Dad," I asked.
"Not doing so good, after we lost the company and Richard abandoned us, he suffered a stroke and now he can't use his legs all that well" She explained.
"What. How did all that happen" I asked I finally looked up at my mother, her eyes were teary.
"That day when we came to the office demanding you hand the company back, Hunter visited us in the evening, he told us that his father was the one who killed Blue because she overheard their plans or something, he told us that the evidence would be presented to us in a few days but as a result of doubting you, I don't know how he did it but he brought papers which showed that he was the legal owner of every property we thought we owned.
He took everything from us, including the house and the new company we had set up, and we had absolutely nothing left apart from the clothes we were putting on that day, I had tried to reach out to him and look for him but the guy disappeared. A few days later the evidence was indeed sent to us along with an eviction notice and a letter saying if we tried reaching out to you, he'd kill us.
When I saw the news of his death, I was relieved because I thought our problems would get fixed but even in death he still ruined our lives. His lawyers said he left instructions that in the event of his death, all our assets would be liquidated and the money would go to you.
We managed to get by because of Richard's job but then Richard suddenly packed up and left with his wife, living your father and I homeless again. We haven't seen him for the past 3 years now. Because of the stroke, your father was unable to work. We don't have money for his treatment and he can't walk for more than five minutes, but it's getting worse lately, the only way I could pay for his medical expenses was to work as a maid "she explained.
She was crying at the end of it all.
'Hunter?'
" where are you staying now "I asked.
" in my employer's house, she was generous enough to let us stay there. I guess this is karma for blaming you for Blue's death" she explained.
I clenched my teeth.
"It took this much for you to realize. you always made me feel like shit like I was never good enough for you, Richard was always the beloved son but where is he now, he deserted you and the only person you can ask for help from is the daughter you dishonored" I asked.
Tears were pouring from my eyes.
"I'm sorry, we were wrong for accusing you without evidence —"
"Sorry, what exactly will your sorry do? Do you know how hurt I was, do you know how much that impacted my life, I had just lost my sister and my family dishonored me. Mom you carried me in your womb for nine months, nine fucking months, you saw me grow up, you raised me yourself. How could you seriously believe I could kill my sister" I screamed.
Everyone was staring at us.
"Amanda, baby I'm sorry" she apologized.
She got out of her seat and kneeled in front of me.
"I'm sorry, I know I failed you as a mother. I don't know what I can do to make it up to you. Even if it takes the rest of my life I'll try my hardest to make you forgive me" She apologized.
I turned the other side because I felt like breaking down. Some of the people in the restaurant were whispering amongst themselves.
"Amanda please, I'm sorry" Mom apologized holding my hand.
I clenched my free hand.
I stood up and then wiped my tears.
"I'm sorry, I just —I should have never come here at all," I said then hurried packed my things, and ran out of the restaurant.
_____
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