NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6: Zoe
Ah, it seems like I forgot to tell you all about what I had been doing yesterday.
Well, no worries, I had only stayed cooped up in the Motel 6 room that I had been staying in, acting edgier than my usual tastes.
But now, here I was, stepping into a Walmart to buy some new clothes!
I mean, I unfortunately only had one pair of clothes since I left the hunt, and people had definitely been giving me weird looks when I had still been traveling to New York.
The veil along with the rest of my completely white attire was cool, but it for sure wasn't something that I should have been wearing in the modern age.
Thus, here I was, raiding a Walmart with a hunting and fishing specialty shop next up on my list.
After everything had been said and done, (after an innumerable number of crimes had been committed, not limited to grand theft auto, shoplifting, burglary, and impersonating another person), my fit now looked a lot more normal for this age, yet there was no way that I would reveal it to y'all now.
'Gotta wait for that dramatic flair, you know?'
By the end of the day, I had stepped back into the damp, humid, suffocating motel room, ready to tell the voices in my head about another special incident from my childhood.
~~~
Three Years Since the Last Incident (Shalom's Age - 12):
It was done.
I had done it.
Against my better judgement, against every instinct in my body, I had taught the youngest everything I knew, and, unlike the others, wherein I would still need to give pointers about certain things time and time again, Shalom had truly mastered everything.
I was scared, scared of what she could become.
"..."
Why had I moved against and in direct conflict with what my mind had been telling me?
…because I had fallen in love with her.
I had been afraid to admit this for the longest time, but there was no helping it now.
The way she walked so elegantly, the way her voiced teetered on the edge between song and speech, the way she looked in any setting, whether it be under the brilliance of the day or the shadows of the night…
Ah, but those were such superficial things.
No… I had fallen in love with her because of how, unlike myself, she seemed to brighten up any tent that she walked into.
How her smile would just bring me into a single moment with her and myself alone.
How her hugs in the morning left me energized and ready to tackle the day.
How holding her hand would fill me with a warmth so strong that it washed away any and all sorrows and worries that I held.
And, although I hadn't fallen anywhere near as quickly as Phoebe had, it had still ended the same way for the both of us.
Shalom… she now occupied an irreplaceable part in both our hearts, as the sister that we were the closest to, as the sister that we would throw our lives away for.
The youngest had brightened up my otherwise grey and dreary life, and for that, I could give her mine, as I knew she would do the same in a heartbeat.
Over these past 5 years that we had been together, an unbreakable bond had formed, a partner's bond, a familial bond, a soul bond.
I so wished and hoped that time would go by faster, for her to reach a suitable age to obtain partial immortality, for me to know for a fact that she would be beside me always.
In the end though, I knew in my soul that my wish wouldn't come true though.
After all, the things I had thought above…
…weren't true.
Deep within the recesses of my mind, I knew something was off.
I just knew.
Especially after what Phoebe had told me and My Lady, especially after witnessing Shalom that day.
You see, unlike Phoebe who had been entranced, no, enraptured by those eyes on that day.
When I had finished fighting off the monsters that had surrounded me that day, I too, had bolted down the path knowing that Shalom was certainly somewhere between the shooting range and camp.
Yet, the image that had etched itself into my soul hadn't been the malicious gleam in her eyes.
No, it had been that expression that had possessed a countenance that was usually only filled with happiness, innocence, and warm smiles.
'An egoist… no, that isn't right.'
Even after I was able to confirm that she was uninjured, even after we had returned back to camp safely, I still couldn't gain a sense of relief, relief that still eluded me to this day.
It was only after studying that expression in my mindscape over and over again that I finally realized what her face reminded me of.
The cold, chilling aura, the corners of her lips that had curved up ever so slightly, and the way her head had been haunched over before she lifted it back to look at Phoebe.
'A murderer…'
In the purest sense of the word, one unconstrained by emotions and ties.
Whispering that to myself, I immediately felt an even heavier weight pressing down on my chest.
After the realization, I hadn't been able to sleep soundly for a month.
Thus, unlike Phoebe who had quickly forgotten about such things, I couldn't help but imagine the youngest one day destroying everything around me.
The expression that I had witnessed that day had left an everlasting impact on my soul, affecting things beyond my mindscape.
Even though I had never seen Shalom that way once more, even though her innocence and brightness filled up my days as they blended together in a happy slurry of emotions...
I continued doubting, doubting… and doubting some more…
And I hated myself for that.
~~~
"Zoe!"
Opening my arms quickly, it didn't take long before a ball of energy slammed into my body, causing me to crash back into my bed as I wrapped my hands around the little devil.
Looking down at the girl within my arms, I couldn't help but think about how much she had grown since her first days as part of the hunt.
She could speak now and she now allowed other to touch her, even sometimes initiating physical contact with hunters who were not Phoebe or myself, herself.
Putting aside the feelings that were hidden deep within the recesses of my heart, I was proud of her, and I was sure Phoebe felt the same way too.
I sincerely wished, prayed, and hoped that these past 5 years had changed her for the better, and that whatever we had seen that day was just a product of her years before she found us.
Unknown to me, a smile blossomed on my own face as the youngest lifted up my hand and pressed her own against it, measuring herself against me.
"My hand's almost as big as your now, Zoe!"
Although I was slightly miffed about the fact that I was called by my plain name whilst all the other hunters had a personalized nickname courtesy of this little, no, she wasn't really small anymore, ball of fire, I had realized that her calling only myself by my plain name was something special to I and I alone.
"Get off me, you little twerp."
I smirked at her exaggeratedly hurt expression, as she grabbed her heart in a show of pain like the actors in the play I had taken her to see a few months ago.
Quickly changing out of my nightgown, I soon found her hand in mine again as we exited the tent.
"Now, let's go grab breakfast before our sisters eat everything up."
The rest of the way there, I tenderly gazed at the youngest as she recounted her adventures yesterday with her hunting group which had been on an excursion to thin the number of monsters around our camp.
The rising sun shown behind our backs, dyeing the landscape around us in an orange/red hue.
The birds sung through the trees of the forest, whilst a few butterflies flew around lazily here and there.
Overall, it was the start of another perfect day with Shalom here in the hunt.
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A/N: One more chapter until everything starts. I know the emotions and ties and shit are kinda shallow right now, as you haven't really seen any meaningful interactions between Shalom and Phoebe or Zoe. Do keep in mind though that you probably shouldn't trust anything Shalom tells you about Phoebe's/Zoe's emotions and or thoughts. First off, he obviously didn't know what they were thinking because he can't read minds, and secondly, due to his current mental state after the events that will be described in two chapters, he does have a tendency to glaze himself if you didn't already notice.