Chapter 3

Fading Mirage (Chapter 3)

I opened my eyes to the familiar ceiling I have been seeing every waking moment I had ever seen since I left the hospital. I was just lying by the bed after I finished my shower and changed into some t-shirt and jeans. My wet hair was draped all over the bed, some of it sticking in my neck. It was snowing outside, the first snow of the season. I sat up and thought of how wonderful it must be outside.

            After blow-drying my hair, I went downstairs to find Marissa by the door about to head out when I thought of something.

            “Hey, Marissa?” I walked towards her with hands in my pocket.

            “Oh. Yes, dearie? Is there any problem?” she answered as she took her coat from the rack and wore it.

            “Uhm, I just wanted to ask if you have time later today,” I mumbled out. “I wanted to see town, I mean, you know, before I start rotting in here,” I tried making my voice sound light and casual though it turned out to sound demanding.

            “Oh, dearie,” she just finished wrapping her neck with a scarf and looked at me, “I am so sorry, I have to work late today-“

            “No,” I cut her, “It’s okay, really, some other time then.”

            Her gaze focused on me for a while like she was thinking something and then the switch in her head clicked.

            “Oh! I’ve got an idea. Are you starting to get bored in here Amethyst? Do you want to go out and do something?” I flinched at the sound of my name. “Well, I think I have a job for you, are you in?”

            I paused for a while. A job? Like work? It would mean mingling with people, people who will try to cheer me up and all. I shuddered at the thought of having a pity party thrown for me. But I couldn’t stay locked up in here forever could I? Might as well get over it fast.

            “Sure, I guess I could,” I answered her, trying to get any hint of hesitation in my voice.

            “Oh, good, wait, let me get you a coat, gloves and a scarf. Oh! And a bonnet,” she hurried towards the stairs, “It’s gotten a lot colder outside.”

            Marissa and I arrived at the Hanover’s mansion just before 8. The walk on the way was worse than I expected. Apparently, the people in this town are morning people who got up early enough this particular morning to stare at me as I walked passed them. On the way, I learned all about Marissa’s job. Marissa was, as expected, the head chef at the Hanover’s. She goes to work early to prepare breakfast and heads home late because of dinner. But she also told me about how much she loved the job, and about how much she loved the Hanovers who has gotten attached to her for the 51 years of service to them. They were the ones who actually bought the cottage for Marissa to stay in. She told me about the family: the father, the mother, the brother and the sister.

            We walked across the huge lawn and circled the humungous mansion then entered through the back door. Inside, I was instantly met by a strong whiff of food smell. There was clattering all around and shouting.

            “Marrrissa!” exclaimed a maybe-Italian-because-of-his-accent chef who was frying an egg with his left hand and cooking bacon with his other. “Where have you been? They’re already at the dining table, waiting! You need to make the sauce now!”

            “Oh, Carlito, would you relax? They can wait,” Marissa took off her coat and gestured at me to do the same. “Oh, by the way, this is Amethyst, Amethyst, this is-“

            “Yeah, Carlito, now can you please start with the sauce before my head gets cut off?” he yells, panicking.

            “Okay, okay,” she chuckled, “Amethyst, dear, just sit down there for a moment,” she pointed at a chair at the nook.

            Marissa operated at the kitchen smoothly. She finished the sauce just before Carlito started panicking again, spouting things like how he’s gonna die because of a tardy old lady. As apology, Marissa told Carlito that she will take the food to them herself and explain to them the inconvenience. When Marissa got back, she assured Carlito that they had no plans on taking his head off any time soon.

            “Oh and Amethyst, they want us to eat with them today,” she turned to me and motioned towards the door, “let’s go?”

            I just gaped at her. “No.”

            “Oh, come on, I thought you wanted to meet new people, huh?” she insisted.

            “Meet new people, yes. Not eat with them, and share awkward silences with them,” I threw back at her. There was no way I was going in there and get all the pity stares.

            “Amethyst, don’t worry, they’re nice people.”

            “That was what I was afraid of,” I told her. She neared towards me and placed her hands in my shoulders.

            “If not now, when?” she tilted my head to face hers. “If you’re really not ready now, it’s okay, no worries. The time will come,” she smiled at me and patted my back. 

            When? And what was I afraid of exactly? The stares? The talks? That’s not something you can get through with time, it’s something you get through with choices.

            “Wait,” I called out to her. “I’ll go.”

            She smiled at me and offered her hand. I took it. We went through the double doors, round the corner and to the dining table.

            They were beautiful.

            And I was in a faded t-shirt and ratted out jeans.

            The mother had blonde curls and brown eyes as well as the girl who was probably a few years older than Lea. They almost looked the same. And the brother, who seemed like my age, had light-brown hair, his body was chiselled out but not too bulky, and has mesmerizing emerald green eyes that were staring at me as well. He was almost painfully handsome. They all looked like royalty.

            I snapped back at the sound of my name.

            “Amethyst, come sit down over here,” Marissa patted the seat beside her.

            I sat down, feeling the heavy stares on me. Okay. I have just got enough of this. This pity party needs to be stopped. I held my head up trying to look nonchalant with their piercing stares.

            “So, this is Amethyst,” Marissa introduced me. Since I’ve arrived, I noticed that they stopped eating and gone all out on staring at me. “Amethyst, these are the Hanovers.”

            I tried to slow my breathing and it worked. I pushed it a little more and managed to get out a tiny smile from my lips, as genuine as I can make it to be, though I’m guessing it didn’t work and must’ve looked rather stiff.

            “Hi, it’s Diamond,” the girl broke the silence, she sounded playful and at the same time mature which was weird since she looked like she was only 13. “We’re both jewels, I guess that makes us soul mates,” she added with a laugh.

            Am I supposed to laugh?  I just smiled at her.

            “And I’m Vienn,” Mrs. Hanover said with smiling eyes. “As Marissa’s daughter, you are very much welcome in this home,” I stopped myself from wincing at the word daughter and motivated myself to keep the tiny smile in my lips instead.

            “Oh, Vienn,” Marissa laughed at her, “You don’t have to be so polite.” I was shocked at their apparent closeness, not a tinge of awkwardness in the air. But it was obvious that Marissa was also taken off guard by what Mrs. Hanover said.

            “Thank you, Mrs. Hanover,” I nodded in appreciation. I looked at her son, expecting him to introduce himself next, but it took a short while before he faced me and began talking.

            “Xander,” he mumbled and then continued eating again.

            Then there came the famous awkward silence.

            “So Amethyst, like your eyes huh?” this time it was Mrs. Hanover who decided to break the silence.

            “Yeah. Marissa gave me the name,” I answered as I started slicing my bacon.

            “Is it true? That you don’t remember anything at all?” Diamond asked with all casualness.

            “Diamond,” Mrs. Hanover warned.

            “It’s true, I don’t remember anything,” I addressed Diamond as the smile escaped from my lips.

            “So, I was thinking Vienn, do you have any jobs available? For Amethyst. She needs to get out of the house you know, before she starts to rot in there,” Marissa asked her.

            “Oh, of course,” Vienn seemed like she almost jumped out of her chair, happy that she could make up for what Diamond did. “What do you like to be doing, Amethyst? Do you have a hobby or something?”

            “Not that I can remember,” I replied. Mrs. Hanover seemed like she was blaming herself for bringing that up, so I decided to blurt out the first thing that came into my mind.

            “Plants. I guess I like plants.”

            “Oh good then, you can help at the garden. Like a gardener or something,” Mrs. Hanover glowed in glee. “So, I’m guessing you know how to take care of plants, that’s good.”

            “Uhm, well, I,” I stuttered. I had no idea about gardening. “I guess I know, how to �" plant, uhm, plants.”

            Xander scoffed.

            “I’ll just ask Ronald to teach you all the stuff about gardening Amethyst, don’t worry,” Marissa chimed in.

            I let out my breath and mentally laughed at myself for how pathetic I must’ve looked. And then glared at Xander. What a jerk.

            The breakfast went on smoothly after that, meaning they finally stopped talking about me. I said thank you and Marissa excused us to go find Ronald.

            “You did great,” Marissa said to me once we were back at the kitchen.

            “It wasn’t easy,” I told her as I put my coat, gloves and scarf back on. “Not with all the attention.”

            “Well, that was very brave of you to face them all like that,” she commended me. She led me out of the house and into the cold winter. The snow was already starting to pile up and it was incredibly quiet. We rounded the house and stopped in front of a green house.

            “With the winter coming, you don’t really have to take care of the plants outside, they’re just going to wilt,” Marissa explained to me. “I’m guessing Ronald is here in the greenhouse, let’s go.”

            We treaded inside saw nothing but a man and soil- soil, everywhere- not what I expected from a “greenhouse”.

            “What happened here? Where are all the plants?” Marissa exclaimed to the man in the middle who was wearing a shirt that was sticking to his round belly and trousers that were all smeared with dirt.

            “Oh. Hey Marissa!” called out the man. “Just a second,” he placed the plant he was holding into the hole and covered it with soil. He wiped his dirty hands in his pants and ran towards us at the entrance.

            “You see it’s winter, and those plants wouldn’t survive a day in this cold weather, so I had to replace them with winter plants,” he shared.

            “Oh, yeah, forgot about that,” Marissa laughed.

            “So, who do we have here?” Ronald asked, motioning to me.

            “Oh, this is your new helper from now on, Amethyst.”

            “Oh, hey!”  he held his hand to shake mine but thought about it and dropped his hands. “So, what do you know about planting kid?”

            Before I could answer, or at least try to answer, Marissa cut me off. “You teach, she listens, okay? Look, I need to leave now okay, there are visitors coming and I need to bake cookies. Ronald, take care of her.”

            “Amethyst, are you gonna be okay? I’ll come find you at lunch.” Marissa turned to face me.

            “Yes, of course,” I responded though not entirely sure of the thought of spending the whole morning with a man I had no idea who was. Marissa hurried outside and disappeared from my sight, leaving me all alone with this Ronald guy.

            I looked at him and he gestured at me to follow him. “Amethyst, Amethyst, okay your name’s too long, I’m not comfortable with calling you that.”

            “Okay,” I muttered, not knowing what to say next.

            He continued walking and no one tried to make conversation.

            “Bunny! I’m gonna call you Bunny!” he screamed at me. There is so nothing wrong with an old man covered in dirt screaming bunny all over the place.

            I stared at him, my brows furrowed in confusion. “How is that even related to my name?”

            “Ameth-east, eastern bunny, bunny,” he tried explaining to me like I was some little child. “Oh, stop laughing bunny, let’s start working so we can get lunch on time eh?” This was one weird-happy-go-lucky man. I smiled at the thought.

            For that morning, Ronald told me that we were just going to be planting the new winter plants. First, he made me change into a denim jumpsuit similar to his and made me tie my hair back into a high ponytail. He also gave me a pair of yellow gardening gloves even though he wasn’t wearing any and made me wear black working boots. After my little makeover, he stared at me and started laughing.

            “Why? What are you laughing at?” I asked him right away.

            “Nothing. I just couldn’t believe you made me play dress-up with you like a Barbie doll,” he continued laughing and slapped his belly.

            I gave him a little punch in his shoulder and then got surprised by my gesture so I turned back to the plants.

            Ronald taught me the steps in planting, and made me recite it over and over again- “Dig a hole, plant the plant, cover with soil, water with water.” When we finally finished planting every single plant, the sun was almost above us. We sat in the ground admiring the work done.

            “Not bad bunny,” Ronald teased.

            “Not bad yourself Ducky,” I teased back at him.

            “Ducky?” he scoffed.

            “Ronald, Donald. The duck, ducky,” I told him with a sigh. “Quite a little slow, huh Ducky? Must be the age.”

            Ronald laughed just as Marissa entered the greenhouse. Right then I realized how much I was comfortable around Ronald. He didn’t talk about anything serious and that made him really great for me. I wonder if he has children, cause he’d make a really great father. I just wish my dad’s as fun as him.

            “You seem like you had a lot of fun,” Marissa looked at me with quite some surprise and relief in her eyes. “Hate to spoil the fun but its lunch time.”

            “You going?” I faced Ronald.

            “No, I’ll finish cleaning up first.  You go on bunny,” he stood up, offered me his hand and pulled me up.

            “See you tomorrow then,” I said and followed Marissa towards the house.

  

Author's Note

Sooo? Stay tuned guys, the story's about to get really interesting! Please, please, please leave a review. I would really appreciate it. Subscribe! :) Thaaanks for reading!