The Heiress's Revenge - A Bloody Affair - Chapter 37

[37 – Fragments of Innocence and Memories – III]
A few minutes later when Seraphina pulled back from Elijah’s embrace, the first thing that Elijah did was to gently wipe away her tears and then he said, “Didn’t you just said that sharing sadness reduces it but it doesn’t look like that.”

Seraphina chuckled but said nothing in response, so Elijah continued, “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Sera. I am sorry for making you cry.”

For the first few seconds, Elijah did not notice that he had called Seraphina by a nickname but Seraphina and then he did too. The tips of his ears turned pink as he smiled sheepishly, “I hope you didn’t mind.”

“I didn’t.” Seraphina chuckled and the sniffled, “Also, you did not make me cry deliberately. Listening to all of your childhood memories, reminded me of my own, of my family that I lost in a single day.” her voice turned into a mere whisper by the end.

Sighing, Seraphina shook her head as if she was shaking all the bad memories from her mind. She smiled and pulled away from Elijah completely, “It’s getting quite late now. Come with me, I’ll show you your room for tonight.” she smiled and gestured for Elijah to follow her.

The smile on her face turned into a smirk the second she turned away, her back facing Elijah. She didn’t mind Elijah calling her using a nickname because this nickname is only another way to create a sense of closeness and familiarity. It aligned perfectly with her plans of getting closer to Elijah so there was nothing to mind about it.

Seraphina led Elijah to the guest room, “Get some rest.” she wished him him good night and was about to leave but stopped to say, “Also, don’t worry. I know it might seem like that you are shrouded by darkness and negativity but remember that it will eventually fade away. Just as night turns into day, your troubles will give way to brighter moments soon. Okay.”

A serene smile curled upon Elijah’s lips, “Thank you. You worded it quite nicely.”

“My Dad used to say that, among other such things.” Seraphina smiled, a genuine one as she recalled her father and his teachings.

“He must have been a wise man.” Elijah commented, his tone soft and polite.

“He was.” Seraphina nodded with a nostalgic smile stretched upon her lips.

“Good night, Elijah.” Seraphina wished to which Elijah responded with, “Good night, Sera.”

Seraphina eyes twinkled and her face brightened on hearing the nickname.

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At the Sullivan mansion, Caroline was in her room. She could not fall asleep because every time she closed her eyes, the memory of that necklace and all those photographs would flash behind her eyes.

She was feeling haunted not only because of her scandal but especially because of the gifts that she had received in Isabella’s name or perhaps, she had not. The memories of the time when she was Camille were the ones that shattered her completely.

After years of pretending to be Caroline, she had started believing that she was Caroline; Caroline Mae Sullivan. But that necklace, and those photographs broke the glass bubble that she had been living in from the past 15 years.

When they were kids, Camille had always been jealous of her cousin Caroline because she had everything that Camille wanted for herself. She had always thought of Caroline as a spoilt, undeserving brat. She did not deserve any of the love that she got, neither those branded dresses, nor those designer shoes. Nothing!

So when her father, William, offered her the choice to not simply relace Caroline but be Caroline in true sense, Camille didn’t refuse. She went along with her father’s plan and suffered through all the pain and complications of several cosmetic and face reconstruction surgeries.

The initial years had been difficult for her but slowly, everything had started to fall into it’s place. Camille had truly transformed in Caroline and those were the best years of her life. She finally had everything that she wanted.

Until now.

First, Ethan was taken away from her.

Second, her engagement party, the one she had planned for years was snatched away.

Third, her identity was questioned.

And fourth, her reputation and status in the society was ruined.

She feared what was going to happen next because it certainly felt like her days were numbered. But Caroline decided that she was not going to back out like that; so easily and without making an effort to protect her identity.

Wiping away her tears, Caroline slid off her bed and went to the washroom to take a nice relaxing bath. After that, she got dressed in a red colored dress, red had always been Caroline’s favorite color, her favorite color.

She styled her hair in loose curls and pulled them u in a ponytail. Opting for a natural glam look, Caroline dressed up as if she was going to party. Staring at her reflection in the mirror with dazed eyes, she muttered to herself, “You were, you are, and you always will be Caroline Mae Sullivan.”

“William and Victoria Sullivan’s niece, Ethan Grayson’s fiancée; his would be wife, and the Grayson family’s daughter-in-law.” she sounded as if she was trying to reassure herself that this was the truth and nothing could change that.

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After so long, Elijah was finally dreaming about something normal. He found himself surrounded by snow and extreme cold. It was his memory from when he was 9 years old. The Grayson, Sullivan, and Thompson families had decided to go for a small vacation to celebrate the new year.

And here they were. Elijah found himself surrounded by the younger versions of his siblings, and their childhood friends as they played snowball fight. While the others played, Elijah remained rooted at his spot, feeling content on just watching others play.

After all those bad dreams, this was a refreshing one, a sweet memory that Elijah wanted to cherish. But he was snapped out of his thoughts when a scold snowball hit him on the side of his face.

Her heard her giggles before he saw her. The 4 years old Caroline, dressed up in multiple layers of warm clothing that made her look like a fat and fluffy bunny. Before he could react, she threw another snowball at his, this one hitting him in the middle of his face.

“You!” Elijah exclaimed and began chasing the young girl who let out a shriek before running ahead of him. As the 9 years old Elijah chased the 4 years old Caroline, the time seemed to changed rather quickly.

And soon, Elijah saw himself, the grown up man, chasing Caroline. Both of them were wearing the same clothes but it adult size. Elijah ran after Caroline for a while but slipped on the ice and fell down on his butt.

This caused Caroline to stop in her tracks, and turned around to check on him. Just as her grey eyes fell on him, she burst into peals of laughter. Annoyed and embarrassed, Elijah turned his head up to look at her but got the shock of his life when instead of Caroline, he saw Seraphina standing in front of him.

Seraphina, dressed in a similar outfit as the 4 years old Caroline had wore that day. Seraphina who was looking at him with her extremely familiar eyes while she laughed at him. She bent down and grabbed a fistful of snow. Taking advantage of his condition, she quickly formed a snowball and threw it at him again, hitting him on his head.

“What the -” Elijah woke up at the same moment. He felt a little disoriented on finding himself in the strange room but then the realization dawned upon his that he was at Seraphina’s place and not his.

Rubbing his hand across his face, Elijah tried to make sense of his dream but he could not apply any logic to it. He could not find a reason as to why he dreamt about Caroline transforming into Seraphina. The dream itself was illogical.

Shaking his head, Elijah poured a glass of water for himself. He drank it taking slow sips before lying down on the bed again, and closing his eyes hoping for a dreamless sleep.

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After years of dreaming about the most tragic night of her life again, and again, every other day, tonight was different for Seraphina.

Instead of the familiar, haunted mansion that was shrouded in darkness, negativity, the pungent smell of decaying corpses and coagulated blood, Seraphina found herself in a field of roses. She recalled this was the rose garden that she often used to visit with her family and friends.

She saw herself as a young girl, laughing and playing with her friends, even Ethan and Camille but her dream was centered more around this boy who looked a few years elder than her. She couldn’t see his face because she had moving away from him and had her back facing him but she definitely heard him speak;

“Caroline!” she head him yell, “Don’t go too far, okay!”

“Okay!” she replied, giggling.

The scene then shifted to a park. She found herself on a tree along with the same boy. This time she could see his black hair and deep blue eyes very clearly. Both of them had climbed up that tree to rescue a cat.

The cat had black colored fur, and blue eyes that were very similar to the boy, “I’m going to call him Eli.” she giggled, “Eli the Cat!”

The dream shifted again and this time, she could clearly see the boy’s face. She recognized him now. It was Elijah, Elijah Grayson.

Seraphina saw herself thanking Elijah for saving her as she gifted him the strawberry shaped pendant necklace. It had been a favorite of hers and she gave it to Elijah because he saved her life.

One second she was thanking him and the next she was back in the old Sullivan mansion, watching William, Daniel, and Marcus kill each of her family member.

“Take care, Caroline!” she heard Elijah say.

“You know, you would look better without these ragged clothes.” she could see Ethan coming towards her with malicious intent.

“I will always be there for you.” Elijah’s voice rang in her ears.

“You are nothing.” Seraphina cried as Chloe kicked her in the stomach.

“Don’t cry.” Elijah murmured softly while wiping her tears.

“God know till when do we have to keep this filth in our house.” sneered Katherine and pushed her away making her fall on the broken pieces of glass.

“Don’t mermaids live under water, so aren’t they always wet?” Elijah tried to comfort her after Chrissy and Ethan had dumped a bucket full of water on her, ruing her pretty mermaid dress.

“Welcome to your hell!” Marcus’s evil laughter scared her.

“Don’t worry, I will always protect you.” Elijah said while giving her a piggy back ride back home.

Seraphina woke with a start, the remnants of the dream lingering in her mind. Her heart felt heavy as if someone had but some kind of tangible burden on it. It suffocated her, made it difficult for to breathe. The overlapping memories, the fragments of memories she could recall about Elijah made her feel like she was missing a big of her soul.