Jayvion
She was there, eavesdropping. Of course she was. I could feel her presence but I didn't care looking at the door. I focused at the soon-to-be dead man in front of me. Anger roared in my blood so hot the person next to me could be combusted. The leader, I would kill him myself. Slowly. Torturously. Mercilessly. For ever thinking he could take what was mine. Again.
He won once. I was a coward then- I didn't seek revenge. I didn't kill him instantly. But he'd be a fool to think that I'd let him win again. This Jayvion is not a coward anymore.
"He said...she has her eyes" the man said and I froze. For the first time in years, my heart skipped beat for a reason other than Aurelia.
Twyla. She has Twyla's eyes. How?
Twyla's face flashed in my mind. I tensed up. I hadn't noticed. I never had.
It hit me then. This whole war wasn't about killing me. It was about Twyla. And Aurelia. He saw Aurelia as a replacement of what was lost. My jaw clenched at the sudden realization. It only fueled my anger and gave me more valid reason to fucking end his pathetic life. He wouldn't lay his hands on Aurelia. Not even after my last breath.
I heard Aurelia's gasp by the door, I turned to see her scurrying away. I followed.
She was in the living room heading towards her room when I called her, she increased her pace.
"Aurelia" I called again, grabbing her by the wrist. She jerked off and turned.
"What again? Another lie?" There was tears in her eyes. Tears. And I was the reason. My heart clenched at that.
"No Little Writer--"
"Don't call me that!" She cut me off, her eyes glistening with pain. Pain. My heart sank as she gave me a look I'd never seen before.
"Who is she? Twyla?" My hands clenched at my side at the question. Same question I'd been avoiding.
"I have seen the way you looked at me when you say her name. Noticed the way you go all taut when I ask about her. You had her name tattooed on your skin, Jayvion!" She sobbed, moving backwards. She blinked away the tears and continued
"You never truly see me. You see her in my eyes. A ghost. I am just a replacement. To you, I was never Aurelia!"
"Three years, was it ever about me?"
"It had been always about you" that is the only truth I'll ever defend. The only truth that mattered. She had no idea of what she had awoken.
She got it wrong. She got everything wrong. I was a fool for not telling her the truth. She was partially wrong and right. I took a step closer but she retreated a step backwards.
"Don't come near me, Jayvion Carell" for the first time ever, she called my full name. My full name. Not as a caress, but as someone who betrayed her. A weapon.
"I need the truth or I'll walk out of that door and you'd never see me ever again " she pointed at the door. Another heart wrenching threat from her. I'd rather be burnt alive than to let her go. I'd rather ripped my heart open and bleed to death than to watch her leave. I am not a coward anymore. I will not lose her. She would stay. By my side. Where she belonged.
Aurelia
I watched Jayvion's conflicting eyes as he stayed silent for a long while. He's still contemplating whether or not to tell me.
"If you're not gonna talk, just...go" I said tiredly, a soft sob escaping from me. He remained still.
"Leave, Jayvion! Get out!" I yelled at him. I hate how much I loved him even as I screamed. I hate how much I wanted him to stay even as I asked him to leave. Most of all I hate that he lied to me.
"No. I will stay. I am not leaving you. Never, Aurelia" his voice was firm but I heard a faint crack at the end.
"Go--"
"No" one word. He didn't raise his voice. But when a man like him whispers, people bleed.
I tried pushing him away but I could as well be pushing a mountain because he didn't budge.
"Twyla was someone I failed" that was his first sentence. My hands fell from his body as I stepped back. He's finally opening up.
The only source of light in my darkest world. She was the only person who ever truly knew me. She'd seen every side of me yet, she stayed by my side" he shut his eyes briefly as if fighting back the emotions and when he opened them, his eyes were cold shade of amber.
"I lost her one night, a hair saloon accident they called it" his voice was ice.
"She would have been safe if I didn't let my guard down. If I had protected her. She would be still alive. I carried the guilt of her loss for years. Tattooed it on my skin" he pointed the glaring name at me.
"I let it punish me to remind me of my failure. My cowardice. I ran away from my mistakes instead of seeking revenge. You were never a replacement. Never a stand-in for a ghost. I see you as a second chance. A chance to lay my past to rest. A chance to right the wrong by protecting you. It was true you have her eyes. But it was never about that, Aurelia. I see you.The real you" I was in tears again. My heart squeezed painfully for him. He was going through a lot but he didn't tell me. He lets me think otherwise.
"Twyla Carell, my only sister. Killed by her the man who claimed to love her" he met my eyes, raw and open.
"I will avenge her. And I will doit with you by my side, Aurelia"