7
Danger lurked around, the foreboding sensation had been living within me since the day I discovered Treasure had turned to a sneak. Since then, every day that went by, I'd always prepared myself for the unknown that could happen at any moment. Even at night, I'd stayed up, thinking of possible ways I could protect him, stop him from sneaking out.
The situation couldn't get any worse as I stood in the doorway, staring at the empty room with my weary eyes. Treasure wasn't in the room.
My stamina quivered but didn't succumb to the sensation of falling, not when my son was floating around the village with a friend who could report him to the elders. I dashed out of the room, climbing the stairs in twos, and ended up missing a step. I fell, my fours hitting the landing of the stairs. Before I could register the pain of my trip, I picked myself up, running out of the house.
Stepping out of the living room onto the porch, Larry, and my mom, were making strides toward the porch. Part of me blamed her for Treasure's disappearance. She'd left me deal with Treasure all by myself, despite having a way of changing his mind; her ignorance steamed from my refusal to go to the city with Treasure.
"It's getting late," my mom said in a throaty voice.
"I can see that." I tried to move past them, but my mom blocked me, standing in my way.
"Two days ago, a shifter was badly butchered—"
"I know—" Many bad things had been happening in the village, some female shifters had died after being raped, their killers had never been identified and were still roaming, hunting their fellow shifters for self-gratification. Some people had gone missing and never to be found. The village was more like a jungle, where predators patrolled after killing their prey. Even prowled for more prey. More victims. But I wouldn't let the gory incidence stop me from going after Treasure.
"Don't make me drag you into that house," she snapped, her face squeezed, her finger pointing to the entrance door of the house.
"Treasure is not in…" I broke down in tears. I would rather not tell her about Treasure's disappearance, but I had no other choice left when she kept blocking my path. Pushing her out of my way wasn't an option.
Thinking my mom was about consoling me, she slapped me. I gasped, shocked, and placed my hands on my burning cheek, then, almost immediately, she struck me hard on the other cheek. As if the pain she inflicted on me, coupled with Treasure's disappearance, wasn't enough, she pushed me. I fell backward, hitting my back against the entrance door.
None of that pain felt like losing Treasure. Finding him was the only thing on my mind as I ignored my mom's scrunched-up face, and dashed forward. Larry stopped me with his whispering words.
"Get back inside if you really want to save him."
Sobbing softly, I asked, "How…how can I save him if I don't go after him?"
"Let's talk inside before someone hears us."
My mom stomped into the house and banged the door so hard the door hinges could fall off.
With my eyes still pumping out tears, I looked at the lonely road, imagining my little boy walking back home all by himself. I prayed the goddess would bring him back home safely.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave him all by himself? I mean, for all we know, he could—"
"Let's talk inside."
My eyes were still on the road as I inched my way closer to the entrance door. I trusted Larry and hoped he was right because I would kill him myself if something bad happened to Treasure. I entered the house, my careful gaze examined the empty road one more time before moving away from the door to let Larry in.
Larry sat on the couch while I paced the small length of our living room.
"It's too dangerous for anyone to see you coming home with a boy," he began. "Only you and your mom should be seen walking in and out of this house."
"What if something bad has already happened to him?" I closed my eyes, unconsciously ignoring Larry's advice.
I shake my head violently, battling against the urge to have a mental image of Treasure lying dead on the cold floor.
"Nothing will happen to him," Larry said.
"And how will you know?" I asked, holding my hands up in a questioning gesture.
"It's not the first time, and neither will it be the last, if you don't leave this village."
"I'm sorry, I—"
"It's not your decision anymore," he interrupted, his voice cold, chilling me to the core. "I've allowed you enough time to make the decision, and you wasted that time."
"You can't force me to up and go to the city with Treasure."
"Just the boy." He got up from the sofa. "You can stay in the village and pray for his well-being."
"You can't take him away from his mother," I said breathlessly, holding his hand, stopping him from leaving.
"You, your mom, all those who supported you will die if Treasure gets reported."
"I need some time to talk to him, please," I pleaded, ignoring the consequences he laid out. I couldn't live without Treasure. Period.
Larry forced his hand away, shutting a warning gaze at me before resuming his strides toward the door.
Putting aside the weight of his cautionary gaze, I held his hand the second time, going on my knees as I pleaded, "Give this vulnerable mother a chance, please."
More tears fell from my eyes. Never would I allow Treasure to go to the city alone. What if he looked like one of Rhys's relatives? How could I survive in the village when my only reason for survival no longer lived with me, the only reason I no longer think of alpha Rhys?
I gasped, my head tilted towards the stairs, my heart beating very fast to the faint screeching sound coming from my single-hung window in my room. Treasure definitely had come in through the window as usual, sliding it up then down. I sighed, a bit relieved Treasure made it back home, hopefully safe and sound. Shifting my red eyes from the stairs, they glided back to Larry, looking him in the eye, my finger raised high as I implored, "One more chance, that's all I'm asking."
He let out a rough sigh. "I know it will be useless, but two days." He lifted his two index fingers. "I'll give you two days to do whatever you believe you haven't done in five years."
Happy at his concession, I got to my feet and hugged him. "Thank you so much."
"The clock is ticking," he said.
Breaking the hug, I ran to my room, praying to the goddess that Treasure wouldn't freak out like the last time. After my last conversation with Treasure, his shoulders grew cold towards me, as if his friend told him more bad things about me.
I entered the room and saw him standing in front of my wooden cupboard. Without thinking why he stood there, I ran towards him, the joy of seeing him in one piece overwhelming and enthralling. He moved towards the bed before I could hug him.
"You lied again."
I couldn't scold him. I needed to set things right by explaining a few things to him, just like my mother did when I was a little girl. The city had always been a place I wanted to be at, until my mom explained to me the reason I wasn't allowed to leave the village. When I learned about my mom's sin, I hated the city, hated the alpha for calling a one-night stand a sin.
I trudged to the side of the bed, where he was standing, and knelt before him.
"I'm so sorry for lying—"
"Stop protecting me if that turns you into a liar." he interrupted, facing me as he crossed his hands on his chest. "I know that will be your next line."
"Mom is so sorry for hurting your feelings," I said, sniffing. He shrugged off my hands. All I could do was to look into his emerald eyes, my hands formed a fist on my laps. "Mom is so, so sorry."
"What's your crime?" He raised his eyebrows, probably thinking I was cooking up a lie to feed him.
"Just like you, I was born in this village, that was my crime."
"Liar," he called through his breath. "We're done here."
"Wait." I softly held him. "Hear me out."
He sighed and stopped, backing me while I knelt behind him.
"I'm not lying." I wiped my wet eyes dry. "Grandma had me in the village."
"Why are you saying it now?" He sighed again, frustrated. "You had all the time in the world to say it, but you didn't."
"I'm so sorry." At this moment of making attempts to stop him from stealthily going out as he pleased, sorry was the only word that kept leaving my lips.
"You also lied I couldn't leave the village, why did you do that?" he asked softly. "You knew I always wanted to go to the city."
"I can't live without you, and I know you won't be able to live without me."
He turned slowly and locked eyes with me. "Where's my father?"
"He lives in the city." I sat on my calf, feeling doomed and hating myself for not doing anything to know the person he called friend. Until now, Treasure had never discussed his father because he never heard the name father, never knew the meaning. Somehow, his friend had enlightened him about having a father.
"What if he comes to the village to take us with him?" he asked, his face lit up for the first time, and that broke my heart. His sweet fantasy was far from the bitter truth. "Don't you think it's possible?"
"I don't know, chest," I held his little hands. "But what I do know is we love each other, and we're very much okay with each other."
A glint of a smile lightened my face as he nodded. I hugged him so tight, and I sighed when he returned the hug, rubbing my back to make me feel alright. And I did.
The rest of the day passed in a blur as we spent time talking about the city. I told him about the big buildings and how the city looked like a different world from the one we lived in. He asked me about how I met his father, and I told him a different lie, way different from the one I told my mother. Of course, I couldn't tell my son his father was a rapist. Aside from that, he was little to absorb such a lie.
***
I went to my mom's room to take Treasure's learning materials, but couldn't find them. Tired of looking for them at the same place for the fourth time, I sighed, wiping away sweat from my forehead. I took the misplaced learning materials as a sign of spending more time chatting and having fun with Treasure. He had made it to the second day without going out through the window. I was very proud of him.
After I kept my mom's room in order, I went back to my room and froze in the doorway when I didn't see Treasure in the room. Thinking he was in the bathroom, I whistled. When he didn't whistle back, I ran to the bathroom. He wasn't there. He wasn't in the bathroom. I squeezed hard on my chest as my heart threatened to fall into my stomach, making me labor with every breath I took.
At that moment, I realized sneaking out of the house was a habit I couldn't stop. Remembering Larry's words, I trudged to the window with my hand still squeezed to my chest. I sat beside the window, waiting for his return.