Breathe

-SYBIL

“I’m all for you having your freedom and living your life but Sybil I am still your mother!” Mom says while I pack my things.

“Mom I’m sorry but I have to go and help her” I explain, and she shakes her head no.

“Sybil Thandoluhle Adams, you are not sleeping away from home and that’s final.” Mom says and she walks out, I let out a sigh and sit down on the bed. Mom is being unreasonable.

“And then?” Sibu asks walking into my room and I shrug.

“Your mother is at it again” I say, and she chuckles.

“She has a point Syb, she is our mother and as long as you live under her roof you ought to respect her” Sibu says and I roll my eyes “Tribrid or not, you are still a child and you will always be a child.” Sibu says.

“I am a tribrid before I am a child Sibu, everyone in this family knows it. I have to help her; Ethan’s life is in danger” I say as the image of the dream I had creeps into my mind and scares me.

“Nothing will happen to Ethan. Don’t let Max scare you, he’s not even that powerful!” Sibu says and I squint my eyes looking at her.

“Max and I were seeing each other, and I guess it’s over now” Sibu explains and I gasp in shock.

“How did I not see it?” I ask her and she shrugs.

“Max put a shield around me so that you guys wouldn’t see anything. Sybil focus on your studies and everything else that matters” Sibu says and she gets up off the bed “Stop defying mom, she’s tyring her best to understand this” She says, and she leaves my room.

Dad walks in, he raises and eyebrow and the half-packed bag on my bed and then he looks at me waiting for an explanation.

“This thing of coming home to my wife worried and stressed is beginning to become a norm I don’t like. What have you done this time?” He asks leaning by the door with his hands folded in front of his chest giving me his serious scary look. I shrug.

“There’s a witch I have to help and if I don’t help her, she will be consumed by evil” I explain.

“And you couldn’t explain it to your mother because?” he asks, and I let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry I didn’t ask for permission” I say.

“You not going to Cassie, Sybil and that’s final. Sweetlips tries her level best to understand, to be the mother that you need her to be, her being lenient with you guys doesn’t give you the right to disrespect her authority. I think you forget that your mother is also a witch and when she says not to do something it’s usually for your own good. You’re only 15 Sybil, you won’t always see things and that’s what Anelisa and Nelly are there for, to see what you cannot see. Now returns those clothes back into your closet and come join us for dinner” he says in his non argumentative tone. I let out a sigh as he walks out of the room. I return my clothes into the closet.

“You are running out of time, Joy needs you!”

.

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-JOY

I stand in front of the mirror in my room with this inexplicable anger burning deep inside of me eager to come out. I can’t believe my own family kept everything from me. How could my own mother hide the truth from me? Suppress my power the way she did? My chest heaves up and down as the anger consumes me whole and swallows me whole so much I can’t even hear anything. I look at the bottle of pills on the sink and then pick it up and throw it hard against the mirror and the mirror breaks. I look at my reflection on the broken mirror and I see flames burning behind me, I turn my head and there’s nothing.

I have never felt this kind of anger before, it’s scary but it also fuels something deep inside of me. Someone bangs on the door and I don’t respond watching the flames burning heavily behind me on my reflection on the mirror.

“Joy open this door!” Someone screams from the other side and I know it’s Faith, it could only be her.

“Go Away!” I shout and I feel this massive power flow out of my mouth breaking the door open and shattering whatever glass is in the room. I clasp my mouth trying to make sense of what just happened. I rush over to my sister and hold her into my lap and she slowly opens her eyes.

“What happened?” she asks confused.

“Faith I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen” I admit feeling like hell for whatever just happened right now.

I help her stand up and she places her hand on her head.

“What happened Joy?” she asks walking to the bathroom and she looks at the mess I seem to have caused with my outburst.

“I don’t know Faith. I’m so sorry” I say shamefully and she brushes my hair.

“It’s ok, you didn’t do anything” she says and I look at her confused. Is she blind?

“I’ll call someone to come and fix this tomorrow” She says and then she heads to her room leaving me standing there dumbfounded.

I make my way downstairs and I find mom cooking. I pour myself water and then walk to sit down on the dinning table.

“I’m ready to listen” I finally say.

“Joy there’s nothing I can say to make things any better either than to apologise for keeping something this big from you for this long. I shouldn’t have kept this from you” she says.

“Yes you right, you should have told me the truth a long time ago” I spit out angrily.

“Joy what are you doing?” mom asks, I raise my eyes to look at her and the stove is on fire.

“Joy Stop!” she screams out pleading “Joy make it stop!” mom cries out as the fire begins to spread.

“I…. I don’t know how” I say rushing to the sink to get water.

“Joy quick!”