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There was too much going on. After his final word the room was emptied within seconds and everyone except of me, mom, Anna, Amber and the producers left, probably celebrating their freedom.
"My job here is done!" Anna smiled, turning her heel to leave together with them.
"Anna, stay!" Craig begged her, jumping out of his seat to stop her. Mom grabbed his arm.
"Let go of her." mom told him. He looked at her with flustered eyes, then gave up.
"I'll release everyone from the contract."
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"I'm free!!!" Amber cried out and hugged me. I smiled weakly then looked at Henry, Caleb and Peter. Henry looked so relieved and Caleb was sleepy as always. It seemed like Caleb had expected to get off the contract despite the troubles.
"What is it, Peter?" I asked. He looked a bit puzzled.
"Your mom." Both Henry and Caleb seemed to remember something, looking at each other weird looks. "I haven't seen her for 10 years."
"Yeah, you're mom is Laura Kelley, right?" Amber said. "She's been gone for so long and now she's here. A legendary actress. It was such a shock when she came."
"What are you all talking about?!" I shrieked. I looked at the tall building next to me, the building I'd never visit again. By the big doors stood my mom, together with Craig. They were talking about something that seemed very serious. I approached them. I wanted to know what they were talking about.
"Hey, sweetheart." mom changed the topic in the middle of her sentence as soon as she saw me nearby. I stood next to her, glaring at Craig.
"Thanks for releasing us from the contract." I didn't want to thank him, but I had to. Craig looked so tired, so empty. He just nodded, then went into the building. "He's so different. Mom... How do you know Craig really?"
"Audree... It's kind of complicated. I got to know him when I was a kid. We were good friends, but in the end he became like this." I looked at every feature. Mom really was pretty. I had never seen her dressed that way. She looked around suspiciously, then put on her sunglasses.
"Why did he listen to Anna?"
"He always loved Anna. Anna was in my class during high school." I looked at Amber and the producers. They stood there discussing something. "Anna didn't think of him that way, she was only focusing on her goal of becoming a celebrity. But Craig ruined it. He was obsessed with power and kept Anna inside West Bite. Just like he did to all of you."
"I just don't get it mom! How come everyone are connected to West Bite?!" I tugged on her coat. She looked like my sister, not my mom. "Is you're real name Laura Melany? Or Laura Kelley? Who is Laura Kelley?!" I was so confused, and no one could answer my questions except of mom.
She seemed so surprised of my sudden outburst. "Laura Kelley... that was my old stage name. I used to be an actress, Audree." I looked at Amber and the others.
"Amber, I'm coming back later. See you." I grabbed my moms wrist, pulling her with me. I didn't know where, just far away.
"Audree! Stop it now. Where are you taking me?" mom shrieked after having me take her to far away. So far that I didn't even see West Bite's building anymore.
"Sorry." She looked at me with confused eyes, then she looked away. I had forgotten that we both had the same ability. She didn't need to ask me how I felt. She could see straight through me. All those times I had lied... She knew.
Mom was wearing her sunglasses, hiding. A legendary actress. Of course she'd hide from people. If that was true. I had seen that trench coat at home, but I had never seen her use it at Kandred. I only remember one time when I was about seven years old; she packed the coat for a small weekend trip to meet some old friends, while I was at home with a babysitter. Maybe she had met Anna. Or even Craig.
I couldn't tell where exactly she was looking at with her pitch black sunglasses covering her eyes perfectly. Was her eyes focusing on me or didn't she even want to look at me after the disaster with Craig? They clearly had some history together, especially since he also had our ability before.
"Do you want to go in?" mom nodded towards the cafe behind me, a very cozy one with glass walls and swirly thick straws in their drinks. "You like those, don't you?"
She was completely right, but she was my mom. Of course she'd know that. "Sure." We sat down at a corner.
"I remember that you always wanted thick straws when you were a kid. You kept saying that you can drink faster with those." she chuckled, then inspected the small sign menu in front of here. There were no people there because they were going to close up in an hour. Mom looked around before she took of her glasses, revealing her sea blue eyes, just the same color as her aura. "What do you want?" she asked me.
"An orange juice." She nodded, then walked to the counter, ordering our drinks. She came back with my super big juice and her Chai-tea. It was a bit quiet before mom dared to say anything.
"I'm sorry for not telling you about this." She tasted her tea that was steaming hot, pulling away when she felt the temperature. "It's something I wanted to leave behind."
"You were against me acting. You still are." I blurted. Even though she gave her permission for me to act, she never acknowledged it. "What is it you're against?" Mom put down her tea on the table.
"I never thought that you'd want to act. After all those years I saw you drown in your depression, Audree..."
"You never did anything to make it better, mom." I started to argue. I wasn't in a mood for that, but I still did it unconsciously.
"I know. I'm really sorry. I've never been good with talking about emotions. I didn't know what to do. But look at you now, you're all grown up and you're happy." Mom was smiling, filling the atmosphere with her pride that was sparkling, blinding me. She was proud of me.
I didn't even bother to answer that. I felt heartless at that moment. I just wanted information. "Mom, you're avoiding my question. What is it you are against, having me act?" She diverted her eyes, pretending to not have heart it. "I know you heard me, mom!"
"It's dangerous!" she shrieked out impulsively. "Some people in this world... You don't want to get involved with them. There is one person I never want you to meet."
"Craig?"
"No. If I could choose, I'd rather have you meet Craig than..." Mom stopped herself. She grabbed her tea and clunked it down.
"Tell me!" I freaked out. She didn't want to tell me. I'd make her. "Tell me, mom!!!"
"Your father!!!" she finally said. Mom gasped when she realized that she just at that moment had let out something she'd lock inside of her for years. It felt like it was getting harder to breathe. She didn't want me to meet my dad. No wonder he was never at home. He never left us. Mom left him.
Tears were soon going to explode out of my eyes. It was unbelievable. "My dad." I mumbled. "You've been shutting him out of our lives." I looked at my untouched juice with the thick pink straw floating.
"That's not it! I didn't shut him out. He's been very busy... He doesn't feel the need to make time for being with his family. It's only now I don't want you to meet him, you'll only feel disappointed."
"He doesn't have the time to meet his 16 year old daughter? He knows about me. He always did, for 16 years? But still he never thought about meeting me?" I cried out. "You know how much I've wanted to meet my dad."
"If you meet him, nothing good will come out of it, Audree. Be careful. I'm doing this for your sake."
"I'm never going to see him, am I?" I was trembling. Mom looked right into my eyes, something she never did before when she knew that I was in pain.
"If you stay here, then you will." I stared back at her.
I looked up at the ceiling with teary eyes. "I'm going to stay."
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