Chapter 12 - To raise a goldfish

 

"This is what I forgot!"

This was after the school festivities where the Reeves family gather. Grandma Odette from Yvonne's mother's side, some of her cousins, her aunts and her uncles went on a skiing trip together with her and the two men of the Reeves household.

The novel focuses on the leads of course, so Yvonne can only be seen in one chapter. She pours Natalie a drink over her head while mocking her and saying "this is how high society works". Natalie of course runs outside in the cold and cried only to be seen by Lucas and Victor.

Lucas asks her if it was Yvonne and Natalie denies it since she doesn't want trouble anymore. Lucas took her sobbing and stuttering as a verification that it was indeed Yvonne that did it to her. And that, my ladies and gents, is how Yvonne signed to her own death. She was embarrassed by none other than her grandmother.

Lucas did "something", the novel didn't discuss what he did exactly, but that "thing" he did caused Yvonne's grandmother to curse her in front of the public. And it all just went downhill after that. Since it wasn't specified, It's hard to determine what I have to do to prevent that from happening. That skiing trip included the Reeves, Wertheimer, Du Pont, Adams, the Williams, and other renowned rich families in the city.

"You have two Rivals and three SIMPS in the same trip." I sighed after seeing who'll be in the trip. I must say that you go through a lot Natalie. This was also a crucial moment since this will be Victor and Natalie's first time meeting.

So what happens is Natalie's family, the Williams, will be invited to the yearly trip that the "rich folks" of Country A  do. It's basically a meetup between the richest of the rich and for the Williams to be invited was unbelievable. The star of the social circles, Liliana Du Pont, intends to mock the family. Liliana, the second lead's mother has the motive of introducing "the new money" (Williams family) who's the boss.

'It's honestly like high school drama but instead of young teenage girls, it's a bunch of middle-aged woman who has nothing better to do with their lives other than to flex their money.' Liliana of course succeeds is taunting them but fails in embarrassing them, since Yvonne was there. The Reeves become the embarrassment rather than the Williams because of what Yvonne did to Natalie.

I finally closed the book and hid it. I decided not to eat and just sleep. It didn't take long before I dozed off and finally fell into a deep sleep. I was tired that day as well because of walking all around the school.

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*DROP*

I was half-awake when I heard water drops, I didn't pay attention to it until it became louder that I couldn't ignore it anymore.

"G*damnit, why is there a leak in my room?" With my eyes closed I sat up from my bed and grabbed my phone only to find out that it wasn't there. I opened my eyes to look at my surroundings only to see a pitch black room. 'How did it get so dark?' I looked at the walls to look for where the windows were, it wasn't this dark if I remember correctly. But when I turned my head to the walls, there weren't any. All I could see is the bed and nothing else.

'This is getting creepy.' I soon realized that this must be a dream, then this must be a lucid dream. I stood up from the bed and soon felt my feet turn cold.

"What the...f*ck?" I looked down to see that my feet were under the water. Did it flood? But how does water reach the third floor? I was at the highest floor of the mansion, how could flood water get here? I was so confused that I didn't realize that a ball of light was blinking in the far distance.

"You." I heard a woman's voice saying. I just looked at the light in the distance without blinking, am I having auditory hallucinations now? Don't tell me I developed schizophrenia. I was still staring at the light when it got bigger, no wait, is it getting closer? I didn't know how to react so I froze in the spot only to feel light-headed. My vision went out after a few moments.

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'That was an odd dream.' I finally fixed my bed and took a bath. I shook the odd feeling I've been having since I woke up. I finally dressed myself up in my uniform and grabbed my bag when I stopped in my tracks.

"When did I have a pink bed?" I turned around and looked at the bed I was sleeping in earlier. 'I didn't have white curtains.' I looked around and noticed a lot of things that weren't there before.

"Where did these toys come from?" There were colorful blocks, dolls, and cooking toys scattered around. I noticed that the bookshelves along with the books I bought for myself were gone. The black desk I had was nowhere to be seen, only a pink vanity was there.

'I must be on drugs huh.' But I didn't intake anything the day before, nor the day before that. Did someone sneak in my room last night and replaced everything? 'No, why would anyone spend that much time just to mess with me.'

I opened the door to my room and went out.

"Did the maids clean?" I looked around the hallways and saw it spotless. The dust that was accumulating on the window sill was gone. I walked along the halls and it just gets weirder and weirder.

"There wasn't a mirror there."

"Where did these vases come from?"

"Wasn't this empty?"

The third floor became bright and filled with color, It was so clean that I couldn't believe my own eyes. Although all these stuff are here, what stood out the most were the flowers.

"They're the same from my dream." The Day Lilies that the blonde woman liked so much. I continued walking towards the stairs and finally went down. Everything didn't make sense from then on.

"Mama!" Once I reached the ground floor, I saw a little girl run across the hall towards the garden outside. I followed her towards the green house only to see a woman sitting down and crying.

"Oh, belle." The woman wiped her tears and quickly hid a stack of papers she was holding. She slid it inside an envelope quickly before turning around and smiling.

"Are you crying mama?" The little girl was soothing the woman, I walked near, looks like they really can't see me. I don't know if this is a dream or a hallucination, but I just walked near and looked at them carefully.

"Ah, no dear. My eyes got stung by a bee." Wow, I have yet to hear an excuse like that. I'd say you're smart, but it's not smart enough to fool a 4-year-old.

"I'm sorry mama, don't cry, Bella will hug you." As if that would help, the little girl hugged the woman's waist. Whilst they were doing that, I noticed the envelope that the woman was holding earlier.

"KoshMedicals.corp" I read the words written on the envelope out loud.

Before I could read further, the woman took the envelope and put it inside a green book. "To raise a Goldfish." Was the title of it. Looks like she's interested in getting a goldfish.

"Belle." Before my eyes could wander around the greenhouse, the woman spoke.

"Yes mama?" The little girl looked up and responded.

"Can you promise me one thing?" The woman caressed the child's face and smiled once more.

"Promise that no matter what happens, you'll always be by Victor and daddy's side."

"Always love them okay? Love them for mommy."The blonde woman said.

"But daddy makes mommy cry!"

Throughout their conversation, it hit me who these people were. Victor, Belle, and this kid calling her mama. 'How can I not realize it? Is this Yvonne, but as a child? Now that I clearly look at it, the slanted eyes, the lip shape. Although the hair color is darker, this looks like a copy of Yvonne. I finally connected the dots and came to a conclusion.

"This must be Yvonne's mom." But why am I seeing her in my dream? Why am I seeing "them" in my dream?

"You need to be understanding Belle, Daddy is just busy." Before I could completely process my situation, the woman spoke to the small Yvonne again.

"When mommy leaves you need to be next to them, you have to always support them alright?"

"But why do I have to do that? Where will mommy go? Are you leaving Bella?" The little girl, or should I say Yvonne, rapidly shot questions at her mother.

"Because that's what family do." She answered and smiled warmly at the girl.

'Yeah right, where did that "loving" get her?' I thought to myself, the love she gave was returned with a cold shoulder.

'I thought she died?' It's as if she was planning on leaving.

"Can Bella come with Mama?" The little girl asked.

"Oh, Bella. Mama is going somewhere far." The woman laughed it off told her.

"But Bella can travel! I know how to ride a plane and I know that I should always stick to Mama and never talk to strangers!" The girl was enthusiastic.

"You can follow mama, after you grow up."

"Why can't I be with mama?"

"Because you have a life to live Belle. And coming with mama isn't the best idea." As if the woman was going to die, she didn't want Yvonne to follow her "travel".

'I thought she died?' From the original Novel, what I know is that the mother died when Yvonne was 7, but she's talking as if she's leaving.

'Perhaps she's alive?' Nah, that's too far fetched.

"Is mama going to come back?" I looked up again as the little Yvonne asked. A long silence followed her question, and the woman's face turned dark right after.

"No, mama isn't coming back."

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"Ugh." I held my head as it continued ringing. I was in so much pain that I couldn't even shout, I could only grunt and grip my hair as it continued to ache.

As if a heavy pressure was on me, I couldn't lift any of my limbs, I could only curl up in pain. The pain that I felt was never-ending. I don't know how long it lasted exactly, but I stayed in that position for so long. My breathing finally got stable and relief soon followed my head. I could feel my clothes getting soaked from too much sweat.

I finally caught up to my breathing and can finally open my eyes. When I opened it, I saw the room that I always slept in. I finally calmed down and decided to pinch myself to see if this was yet another dream.

"Ow," Now that confirmed that I was awake. After soothing my skin that I pinched, I collected myself from my thoughts and looked up at the ceiling.

"I had a dream." I sat up and wiped my sweat. I felt like I forgot something important when I woke up.

"To raise a Goldfish." I said without thinking. I tried remembering what I dreamed about but I could only remember a green book.

'To raise a Goldfish? What the heck was I dreaming about?' Was I in some aquarium or a field trip? I got up and fixed my bed, I should replace that later.

Demi looked at her phone only to discover that she was running late.

"Cr*p!" She rushed and quickly to a shower. With still wet hair, she ran down the stairs towards the kitchen to grab something.

"What the hell-" Victor was eating inside the dining area and saw her run inside.

"I don't have time for your sh*t." Before Victor could even complete a sentence, Demi shut him down and ran inside the kitchen just to run outside again holding a banana.

"Did you just-"

 

*SHUT*

 

Demi closed the door and left Victor hanging his mouth open. She didn't have time to chit-chat and ran towards her bicycle and sped up. Victor was left inside the dining room speechless.

'What the hell just happened?' As if S*nic the hedgehog appeared out of nowhere just to run and quickly disappear like that. After a few moments, Victor got his senses back and finished eating.

'She looked pale.' A sudden thought came up inside his mind only to be gone again.

'Who cares anyway?' He stood up and left the dining room.

Demi saw that the big school gates were still open, she had hope! She was nearing a stop sign and was slowing down.

'Hopefully nothing happens so I can reach the school in time.' She thought to herself, and as if the universe heard her prayers, something did happen.

 

*CRASH*