"Effie?" Athena banged my door, and her voice muffled behind it. "Time to get up. You are going to be late."
I pulled the covers over my head, hiding under them, then called back. "I don't want to."
I could sense my sister's shock by my free voice, then banged the door again. "Effie, what is wrong?" I didn't answer, but my silence won't let my sister leave. "Aphrodite Catherine Reid, you open this damn door!"
I let her hit my door several times, ignoring her calling my full name. Then I heard another door close outside my room. "What is wrong? Why are you so loud?"
"Something is wrong with Effie," my sister replied to Ares.
"She is probably not feeling well. Let the girl take a break from school, you ghoul."
"That is not it. I heard her voice."
"You what?!" the loud bangs on my door grew louder and faster, and I knew it was coming from Ares. "Effie, open the door!" His voice panicked.
I inwardly rolled my eyes and grunted.
My older siblings know I don't respond to them in the morning so loudly and only knock on my door once or twice to remind me to get up. On weekends they let me wake up whatever time I want since Athena sometimes works overtime at the Senior living community, and I don't know what Ares does on the weekend, so I don't bother to be worried since he's a man.
"Effie, come on, baby girl." Another hard knock from Ares. "Open the door, or I will break it down."
He wouldn't dare.
I blinked my eyes wide open when I jumped out of bed and yanked the door wide open, seeing Athena's worried face and Ares' hand raised to knock again. "Don't call me baby girl and leave me alone I don't want to go to school" I raised my voice loud and slammed my door shut into their faces locking it in the process as the hard knocks continued.
I grunt as I jump back on the bed with the covers enveloping my whole body. Shutting my eyes and covering my ears, I wanted them to go away and leave me alone. Hearing Ares calling me baby girl made me think of Logan.
I groaned as I put myself to sleep in anger.
The noises down the hall went quiet, and I knew that Athena and Ares had left for work. They didn't pressure me to come out and explain why I'm skipping school because of one particular circumstance with someone.
I stayed in my bed for a while, just letting my mind roam around my room, looking for a way to kill time before my sister and brother came back home. They are probably worried about what is wrong with me. Hearing my voice through the door loud enough for them to understand had them very anxious that Ares would break down my door for some answers.
Yesterday, I got to my empty home. My brother and sister stayed overnight for work, and I stayed by myself. I cook dinner, clean the dishes, take a nice shower to get rid of the smell, and put on clean pajamas with stars. Afterward, I did my homework and went to bed after a sleepless night, thinking about what Logan had said about me.
I couldn't sleep and had to put on music to rock me to my slumber, but all I could think was the words Logan said. Morning rise at four, and I heard the front door open, indicating Ares was back from whatever place he had been, his shoes dragged to his room and shut his door. Then after two hours, Athena came home and started making breakfast. I could hear the pots and pan clinging as she began the morning with the fresh smell of bacon.
I didn't want to be stuck in my room the whole day feeling miserable and decided to head to the backyard. The back of the house is my sanctuary for me to be in a peaceful mine.
I hooked up my earphones, listened to music, put my phone in the pocket of my pajamas, and started watering the plants my mom had worked so hard to grow. When she and my dad moved into this house, she decided to have a garden full of vegetables and flowers having her greenhouse in the back. It took years to build with the help of my dad, but it made my mom relax while she did gardening in her free time. Mom sometimes told me how to grow my plant with simple directions - light and water.
It's been a long time since I visited mom's garden. When I came here, I felt she was with me—working hard day and night at the senior center. When she and Dad passed away, Athena took over her job, caring for the elders. It was not her career choice because she wanted to be a teacher like our dad, but she didn't attend college and earned her degree. Instead, she is stuck with old people wiping their asses simultaneously and raising her young siblings.
As I watered the plants, I heard chirping from the garden. Turning off the hose, I followed the frantic chirps until it led me to some Zinnia flowers. I looked over and saw a helpless baby bird. Unsure what type of bird it was because it hadn't grown any feathers and was still very young, it seems that it has fallen from its nest.
Next to the Zinnias was a large tree only behind my house. I looked up and saw a nest resting on a tree trunk. Confused about what to do and worried that this fallen one will die once the mother bird returns and feeds the others. I rushed inside to grab a small towel and carefully picked up the helpless baby bird. I didn't know what the next thing to do was; I got no choice but to climb the tree. I went to the shed, took out the ladder, and placed it next to the tree. Walking up the ladder, I looked over my shoulder and saw how high I was. I felt my heart frantic as I took a deep breath continuing up the tree. I frowned once I noticed that the nest was on the other tree trunk on the neighbor's side.
Damn it.
No going back, and already up here. With the baby birds safe around the towel inside my shirt, I pulled him out as I reached the nest. I outstretch my arm to put him back, but I was still an inch far. Lift one leg to get closer, reaching more toward the bird's nest. My foot resting on the ladder started to become unstable, and sweat was already perspiring over my head. I had to revert to removing my long sleeves, throwing them to the ground below me, and leaving on my spaghetti strap top as I went back in position.
Just a little more. I was thinking to myself that this would be one brave move I was making. One hand was holding the ladder, one leg up like a ballerina, and supporting myself from falling. I was close to returning the baby bird to his nest.
"Hey, what do you think you are doing?"
I squealed in surprise at a man's voice; I began to stumble forward instead of backward, with the baby bird held against my chest. Closing my eyes, I fell to be expected to land in my mother's garden but instead, I felt myself in soft and firm arms.
"You okay?" I opened my eyes and looked up at the voice to see a man with dark hair, a little long but not as long as Logan's, and dark blue eyes staring down at me. He had a tank shirt in white, revealing his muscle pack arms with multiple tattoos, which he's using to carry my wedding style. Panic and humiliated, I duck my head lower from him. Then his chest rumbled in laughter. "You are a tiny thing, aren't you, princess."
"Seth, what the hell are you doing?" Another deep male voice from the house made me cringe at this guy's name. Seth then paused. "Who's this?"
"Oh, I caught a cat trying to climb the tree, which happens to be a fairy," joked Seth as he turned around to face the other guy. "Can we keep her?"
"No, can you put her down because I could tell you are scaring her," said the other guy when I got the look to see he also has the same features as Seth.
"I'm not scaring her; you were the one coming at me like a giant bear ready to eat her," Seth laughed, making the other guy growled.
"Just fucking put her down, geez."
"Language, brah. There is a lady here."
The other guy groaned again.
Then Seth finally obeyed and put me down. I hurry back, holding the towel against my body away from two prominent, handsome men. I was at the point I couldn't say anything because they were too stunning to look elsewhere - I mean, they look like those men with rigid rock bodies on those magazines Ares had subscribed to for fitness advice. I recognized the two of them from yesterday unloading the trunk. Seth was the one who was flirting with me, and the guy next to him was the one who smacked the back of his head.
"I'm sorry," the other one said. He has no hair at all, but his badass looks make him attractive in a way any woman would want a man like that. "My brother and I didn't mean to scare you." I guess he's the mature brother then.
I looked at the other one and saw him checking me out with a smile until it faded. Once I realized I was only wearing a tank top that revealed most of my scarred skin, I was doomed to hide it from them.
"Did you hurt yourself from the fall?" Seth approached me with a frown as if he blamed himself, but I pulled myself back.
"Now, who's scary who?"
"Shut up, Don," Seth growled at his brother. "We need the medical kit and tell Rex we will be late because we found a fairy."
"You made her fall," The Don guy rolled his eyes and groaned at the same time as he stepped inside the house. "Let me get the kit."
"Wait!" I yelled, preventing Don from going inside and biting my lower lip. "You don't have to...um...these scars were from long ago."
Both brothers looked at me with eyes that went from concern to soft. I didn't know these men, but they were my neighbor though. That doesn't mean I have to tell them the truth about my scars. I couldn't even speak to Logan about them, yet these strangers I was able to confess.
Chirping sounds from the bird inside the towel in my arms snap me out.
"What the hell is that?" Donovan says as he and his brother look around for the noise until their eyes fall upon the thing in my arms.
"Sorry," I say quietly and unravel the towel to show them the baby bird inside. "I was trying to climb up the tree and put this little guy back, but you surprised me."
"Shit," Seth hissed and scratched the back of his neck, looking guilty. "Sorry."
"Way to go, bro." Don snort.
I let out a smile. "It's okay," I could tell these guys aren't so bad despite their Adonis-looking features. They are lovely guys except for one person I don't want to mention.
"Give him here," Don outstretches his arm towards me, then hands him the bird. "Seth, get the ladder." When his brother disappeared to the door that leads into the garage, one hand-carry the ladder like it was light as a feather and then positioned it on the tree.
Don climbed up and gently placed the baby bird in his nest. When he jumped down, the mama bird arrived and started to feed her babies.
"Thank you," I said when we watched the family of small birds. Then another giant bird, probably the daddy bird, cradled the mama bird. My eyes on the mother feeding three baby chicks and the father bird watching his little hatchling eating brought painful memories of my parents. I couldn't help but cry.
"Hey, you okay?"
Tears were falling until I was being watched by two older men concerned for someone they met who happens to be neighbors. I wiped my eyes on the back of my hand, then sniffled. "Sorry, just thinking of my parents."
"What happened to them?" this was coming from Seth, and before I could say something that wouldn't give them an answer, they wanted to hear commotion from inside the two men's house. We all snap in the direction, "Ah, crap, what is it now?"
"You know he will never rest about her, right?" Don chuckled.
Both men were making me confused and just distracted by the noise inside their house. It was my chance to climb their ladder and jump over the tall wooden fence like a ninja. As I planned, I tiptoed my way around. Seth and Don started climbing the ladder, then suddenly, their complete glass backdoors slid wide open, and I would never expect to hear his voice.
"Fuck!" he roared, letting the whole neighbor hear.
"What is now, little brother?" Seth asked an amusing question.
Little brother?
Oh, hell no!
Seth and Don are the twins' older brothers!
What the hell am I getting myself into entering a pack of wolves?
Ironic.
"Logan here is pissed that the little mouse he found didn't come to school today," Liam answered, adding a laugh.
I kept still, not making a sudden movement so none of them would notice my escape. I must be meticulous where I step while listening to their conversation topic about me.
"Oh, you mean that emo girl that got you all riled up," Seth teased.
"You know she's pissed that you told her off. Calling her she is not special, and you wouldn't chase her tail," Don stated. "Smooth words, little bro."
Fuck!
That asshole told them what he said to me.
What the fuck are they? Gossip girls?
Are they my aunt and female relatives on my mom's side when they talk smack about my siblings and me because we have my dad's blood? Even though they act nice, I know they hated my dad deep down. I couldn't stand the look on their faces; they sour whenever we visit them in the Philippines except for one, Claire, who lives with her parents in London, and she's the sweetest cousin, and her mom well, she has a bit of a loud mouth that can hurt a person just by words, but she's nice too. Her dad is chill but doesn't have a voice when his wife speaks over her venomous tongues. But my other girl cousins in that family would talk shit about us. If they don't like us, then they should stitch up their mouths and kiss my-
"It's not my fault she thinks of me like that," Logan argued. "I was nice to her because she looks like she has no friends."
"And the way Paris treated her, calling her a curse," Liam added. "That is harsh to call someone like her making shit up that she killed her parents."
I yelped, making a tiny squeak, and fucked up that I made a sound to catch their attention. My heart was racing, and I could feel their eyes on my back.
"Aphrodite?" Liam called out my name. Shit! "Hey, it's her, Logan. What are you doing here?"
"You know her?" this was coming from Don.
"Know her? She is the girl who got this brute acting up, right Logan?"
Fuck! Crap! Shit!
My mind is racing with more swear words to come up with when I'm in a dangerous situation like this. I couldn't move my feet at all while posing like a stone. I'm so fucked up I could not dare look back and face them.
Instead of looking back at them, I tried to rush up the steps of the ladder only to get my foot caught in the steps in the process, and another fall was not expecting to find the second time but felt arms under me, not by Seth this time it was Logan. Our eyes locked once he caught me from the fall...Ah crap!
"Well, what do we have here?" He pulled on a smirky grin. "Caught me a fairy."
Again with the fairy.
My heart skipped a beat. His voice made my face heat up.
"Hey, I said that first, bro, can't steal my nickname for her."
Ignoring Seth's complaint. I could hear his amusement tone. I angrily pushed Logan off and winched at my ankle. "Damn it," I hissed as I limped to stand on one foot.
"Nice going, little bro. Not only you hurt her verbally but physically as well." Seth teased once again at Logan, who got a growled back.
"Shut the fuck up, Seth," Logan took a step forward me with anger, but once he saw my sprained ankle from the fall, he frowned. "Here, let me help you."
"No!" I barked, sticking my hand out from having him get close to me. "You've done enough on me. I'm going back. Thanks for helping me, you two," I say, thanking Don and Seth, who both nodded.
"Wait," Logan pulled on my arm, and I yanked it away. "Since it's my fault you feel, let me take responsibility."
"You aren't the first person to make me fall off a ladder," I crossed my arm. Logan looked back at his brothers. Liam's puzzle look was pointing at himself as if he was the one, but then Don cleared his throat and hid his point finger at Seth.
When Seth saw his little brother's glaring eyes were on him, he put up his hands to surrender. "I already apologized to her. Plus, she fell because she was climbing to reach the other side of the tree," he says in his defense.
"What were you doing climbing a tree?" Logan asked, facing his blue eyes on me with questions. I had to look away and not be tempted by them again.
And I hate they are obsessive to look at.
"Why? It's not your concern to ask a non-special girl with whom you didn't want to chase tails?" I scoffed. "So, why bother asking me why I was climbing?" Then I heard his brothers' snickers behind him made Logan growled back at them.
"My perverted older brother might have done something you didn't like." Logan says, then I heard Seth yell back a 'hey!' as an offensive statement from his little brother.
"I didn't touch her even if she asks...unless you wanted me to, fairy," he wiggled his brows, making me chuckle at his joke and Logan growling. When he growled, I growled back.
"Look, asshole," I snapped his brain to focus on me. "If you don't care that you sprained my ankle, I suggest let me go back home."
"Why are you acting like a bitch to me?" he snapped.
"Because you are turning me into one!" I argued back, almost my voice rising to the top.
I clenched my fist. "God! I have a perfectly normal life and avoid people who don't need to be concerned about my lifestyle. I rather have them look at me like a nobody, but ever since you showed up and acted like a nice guy who is the king of assholes, you ruined it for me."
"All I asked is a question in which you refuse to answer me," Logan crossed his muscular arms over his chest, and I saw him flex his biceps. "What did I do to ruin you? We didn't have sex or anything."
This bastard!
Seeing how muscular he is, much like his brothers, made me want to jump him clawing at his face, but I hate wanting to feel those. I had to revert to reality and remind myself that a guy like Logan doesn't like girls like me.
What the hell am I thinking about touching him? He is the last person I want to feel myself on.
Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!
"I don't need to answer you. You heard what Paris called me; I'm cursed." I hate to admit it, but I sometimes felt like I was. "I had driven my parents to their death because I was a spoiled child wanting nothing more than a stupid iPad," Tears were already falling from my eyes. "There! Happy now? I killed my parents. So, leave me alone."
I finally let the painful words out of me. I started bawling. Crouching down to my knees and hugged myself while I cried.
I never cried so much after my parents died. Once they were gone, I didn't complain once. Not even at the funeral, all that my brain was blaming me. It was my fault while my heart stayed in a coma.
I did it. I made my parents focus too much on helping me with the iPad and couldn't wait patiently at home, and if I didn't see that upcoming eighteen-wheeler truck ramming towards us, then it would be better if I died in their place, they would still be living happily.
"I...killed...them," I whispered in confession. "I...killed my parents." I couldn't handle hiding it, especially in front of people who were my neighbors. It would have been better for me to stay in bed the whole day so none of this would be happening to me.
While I whispered the words repeatedly like I was going insane, the incredible thing happened when I felt pulled into someone's chest and his arms around me. I didn't have second thoughts but knew right away it was Logan.
"Don't think that," he whispered as if he were in pain. "You didn't kill your parents. They should be glad that you survive. They wouldn't want their little girl to live a short life. They would have wanted you to live. So, don't say such things that aren't true." He kissed the top of my head, embracing me tighter in his warmth.
The minute he held me in his arms, I felt safe. I didn't fight him off or argue for touching me without asking me. Somehow, I allowed it. His arms felt like steel walls that suddenly became my barrier to protect me from threats. As he caressed my hair and rubbed my back, my lips quivered, and more tears ran down my eyes as I clenched onto his shirt to prevent him from letting go crying out loud in his embrace.