Sharp
• Care •

The black gate was blocked me from entering the property. There stood a button on the speaker box, I pressed it and the speaker began to buzz.

“Hello from the property of the Saltzman’s. What is your business?” The muffled voice sounded like Anxillion’s.

“This is Rebecca. I’m here to see Tony.” Using the button to speak back.

“Greetings, Rebecca. I will see that Tony comes down to get you.” The gate began to open. “You are welcome to come through.”

“Thank you.” Pressing the button again.

I started to walk down the well paved driveway. Even if the inside of the mansion didn’t get kept well in maintenance. The driveway looked to be in pristine condition. After about 1 minutes of walking, I saw Tony on a golf cart. As expected, it was customized similarly as the sedan, in all black.

His smile was grand without showing his teeth. The clothes he has on are a tight black shirt with black jeans. All I wanted to do want jump on the cart as soon as possible to tell him the news.

He drove the cart close to my standing body.

“Come on in.” Gesturing his head.

My chipper walk almost resembled a skip. I couldn’t be happier to get in with him as my driver. Not only that but he was the most attractive driver I’ve laid my eyes on.

“Do I have news for you.” My cheerful tone kept the bright smile on his face.

“Do you now?”

He began to do a three point turn in the driveway to make his way back to the mansion.

“First, can I ask why you’re here to early?” He said in concerned tone.

“Well.” I started to pick at a hang nail, “The whole weekend was horrible. My mom has really exercised her dictatorship skills. Not only that, I’ve officially got nothing else to lose. If I go back home, I can’t imagine her doing anything worse. If she does, it would be physically harming me which I will report her and I won’t have to deal with her ever again.”

“What happened? I assume she took your phone away because I didn’t receive a message back from you.”

“You thought right. She took my phone, which go figure. She took all my books, luckily I was able to hide the journals that you gave me to read or else I wouldn’t what to do at that pointy. She also took my bedroom door. She also made me deep clean and clean after every meal. She sure kept me busy.”

He laughed.

“What’s funny?” I didn’t see what was funny and didn’t understand why he was laughing.

“I’m surprised she let you go to school.”

“True. I’m glad she did, because I’m not going back to the house. And you can’t change my mind. She didn’t listen to me when I said I had a death wish at school. She didn’t care that someone wanted me dead. She doesn’t care about me at all. There isn’t any point on going back. I’m okay with going back to school, even though I wish I could just do homeschooling. But there is absolutely no way I’m going back home.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t fathom why a mother wouldn’t love her daughter. Does she care for your other siblings?”

“It’s messed up. All of my other siblings get treated like her children. Me on the other hand, she can’t stand me. After my dad died, it was as if her humanity was removed and she no longer had to pretend to like me.”

“Wow. Well, I can gladly say that I care about you. You are more than welcomed to stay. You could stay in my room with me until we settle some things into the unused room. You could have your own room.”

I looked at him, ready to cry with how happy he has made me.

“Are you serious?”

“It only seems right. You feel at home here. Your life at your current home isn’t somewhere you should be. They treat you like garbage, in which you are not. Your heart is pure, strong, and loving. The universe hasn’t set you a great deal of cards. I will make sure to help you with the game. It’s my duty.”

We arrived in front of the mansion. Looking as miraculous as it did on Friday. The Cadillac was sitting in the circular driveway, seeming so small in comparison to how much space that is available.

Instead of stopping at the front of the door, he kept traveling down the narrow branch of the driveway on the left. Leading towards the back of the house.

“I want to show you the garden that’s out in the back. It’s beautifully chilly outside and I thought we could chat about your news on one of the benches.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” I gave him a gorgeous smile.

As we travelled around, the garden was coming in sight and it was massive. It stretched pretty far behind the mansion. It wasn’t large in width, but it stretched in length like a football field. There’s an assortment of flowers in many different colors. Most of the flowers consist of roses. Red beautifully blossomed roses scattered most of the field, leaving the rest of the colors to pop in color.

There was a medium size water fountain that appeared to be aged with mosses stone. A set of benches surrounded the fountain in ways that flattered the waterfall. There’s a sculpture of a women standing in the middle holding a bouquet of roses. The roses are where the water is spewing out of. In three different parts of the bouquet. The was lady sculptured wearing nothing. The details so uncanny, it looked like a real women was standing upon the fountain. The legs curved in ways that looked similar to mine, though the there was much more toning of her muscles through out. Waist sunkened in so dramatically, it made the hour glass of her frame look most attractive. Her breast were perfect and the nipple were set above the hung of the breast. The aroused nipple made me feel uncomfortable but it was too hard not to look. In between her legs showed to be shaven and you could see the curve below the public area, signifying that she was in fact a woman. The hair was the least detailed part of her silhouette, assuming due to weather damage and rain erosion.

The marble of the woman is the same color as the rest of the fountain and the similar to the benches present around it. The gray stone looked to have a shadow tone to the color. With made it like like a light marble.

He parked the golf cart as close as he could. I got out before he had a chance to lend me a hand. I was in awe of the beauty, which was all this mansion did to me.

“This garden is incredible. The fountain is uncomfortably beautiful and it almost turns me on as well.”

Tony’s eyebrows rose high enough to wrinkle his forehead.

“Oh does it?” His lips shut inside itself to lip them in secret but when he released it brought his tongue out slightly. I had to look away before more feelings arose.

We led me toward the closest bench and we sat at the same time. The bench was a bit cold since I had leggings on, but it added to my arousal.

“So what’s all the news you have for me.” Turning his full attention to me.

“Misty isn’t an issue anymore.”

“Yes, I heard. Car crash yesterday. Quite devastating.”

“If you say so, I call it karma. Ever since I knew her has had always given me hell. Now she can sit in flame in where she belongs.”

“That’s a bit cruel don’t you think?” He sounded sympathetic.

“It does but what I had to endure for 5 years is cruel enough to land her where she belongs. I did nothing to her for her to act such a way to me. I never spoke one word to her, ever. Yet she terrorized my whole life since I knew she existed. Sending a domino effect to everyone else, because none of it started until I met her.” I sat my back on the bench more. Looking around at the roses. “Besides that, I’m glad that’s over with. At least you didn’t have to step in and protect me.”

The quiet between us at first felt normal, but the longer it lasted with him not saying anything began to send me suspicion.

“You had nothing to do with it, right?” He glare at him. He’s eyes are focused into mine. The expression on his face is hard to read. Since he isn’t saying anything, my heart start panicking.

“Say, you didn’t do it.” Referring to her death.

“I didn’t do it.” As he was commanded. Though the tone was off. The genuine tone wasn’t there.

“Tell me the truth. Did you do it?” I asked instead.

“Why does it matter who did or didn’t do it. She’s no longer a threat to you.” Refusing to answer the questions and tries to move the conversation away from my question, “Like you said, she got what she deserved.”

“Did you do it though? I need you to tell me the truth.” I demanded him. He needs to tell me the truth.

“What will change if I tell you the truth?”

“Nothing will change, I just need to know.”

His breath in was much longer than when he exhaled.

“I did do it, to protect you. There was no other way. I tried reasoning with her. That didn’t work. I tried something else but she wasn’t budging for some reason. So the only option left was to have someone, crash into her.” He spoke quietly, as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear. Yet no one else was around.

“So you had someone else do it? How?”

“That I can’t answer. I will not answer that.” He got defensive.

I was holding my breath. Longer than I should have. I could hear the beating of my heart against the sound of the fountain’s rushing water.

“Well, I guess. Thank you.” Since I was just praising her death, “I can’t say that I’m not a little terrified of you though. Your willingness you kill someone for my safety is frightening.”

His face lightened, “As you should be, people don’t just set to kill someone else. I am not a regular person though. You’ve asked me to protect you and I will make sure that that is fulfilled. At any cost, I will have it be that you are safe.”

I shied my eyes away from his own.

“But then, I’m oddly flattered with your devotion to me. To make sure that I remain safe at all costs. Though extreme, I’ve not had that. Not since my dad past. It’s comforting in it’s principle, but the task in which you took is scary and a far stretch in protection. It’s all overwhelming.”

“You asked me to protect you, I take that to heart. There wasn’t any other way to figure it out quickly. I’m sure you could have stayed here all weekend but I needed you to go home.” My eyes fell back towards him, “when I didn’t receive a text back, I knew you going back home wasn’t a well choice. You’ve confirmed to me, and yourself, that being here is in your better interest.”

“The only problem is I still need school. It’s possible she’ll come to the school and ask me to see her. I just see her trying to get me back at all costs. To make sure that she can still control my life.”

“I will talk to Anxillion about different steps we can take for that. I’ll have him call the school as one of your grandfather, though not true. He’ll say you’ve got a nasty bug and left the remaining of school and won’t be back tomorrow. He will gladly help with that.”

“I thought for him to do that earlier.” Giggling because of similar tactic, “What happens if she suspects that I’m here?” His eyes relaxed.

“There is no way of here even knowing where you are. Not only that, but knowing where I live. I’m not registered on this town. The school doesn’t even have my address either. So replaceing me won’t be easy. Also, we have a gate on the outside of our property as you know. Sure it won’t stop her from getting to the property, but there are other things that will prevent her from getting to the home.”

“What, ‘other things’?”

“All you need to know is if she’d tried to come after you, it will be impossible. Our driveway is an illusion to people that walk barefoot. There is magic in our land that prevent people from getting through. Only people that hold mean something to us are safe from it. Since neither Anxillion and I like or really know your mother, she will not be able to travel through. You in the other hand, you will be completely fine.” He smiles.

“What happens if my mom were with me?”

“It won’t work for your mother and will work for you. Yet your together, it will appear strange to your mother in where you’re going. It’s just an illusion. If you know the true way, you can surpass it all together. If your mom were to follow you, she would be scared to but she could only get help through if you guided her.”

“What if when I move in, I let her in from her just being my mother?”

“No, that’s not how that works. You have to be in the family in order to have it happen. Sorry, I didn’t make that clearer. If you married into the family, then you would be included on that line.

“The fact that I haven’t seen my sister in such a long time and she hasn’t been here in forever doesn’t matter. She’s given full access like anyone in our immediate family. And whoever she fancies or friends with has full access in. As long as I don’t have true hate for one of them, then they can come in. One family member can rule out a being if they wish them dead or practically hates the person in all of its being. I’m not sure where the magic comes from, but it exists for hundreds of years. Specific for our family, the Saltzman family.”

“Does it have to do with Artois and Arielle? I read as much as I could. I’m at the part where they’re traveling to the coast to try and set sail. Do they move here and put magic on this land?”

“I’m glad you’ve been reading it. I’ll make sure you have time today to finish the journal. So we can discuss it after. I’m going to say I don’t know anything about it until you finish the book.”

“So it is?” I’m shock.

“Yes, they are the reason the land has magic, but you’ll have to read up on it. The way it happens isn’t so grand.” Tony’s brown eyes deepened and then he sat up. “Let’s go back inside and get you time to read. I have something I’m working on in the basement and I need to finish. Should take me only a few hours longer.”

“Once I finish, I’ll have to get the other journal from my locker.”

“I’ll take care of it.” I grabbed his hand to get up, since he was offering it for support. He held my hand longer than I expected. The grasp was gentle but it felt like he didn’t want to let go. Neither did I, so we walked to the door leading to the kitchen. While holding hands.