Felis did not know Laureen as well as Candramawa. She was worried that Deluna had sent her here to set her up. The woman named Laureen might blame her for the deaths of Marlon and Candramawa. Don't just blame her. Laureen could have attacked Felis.
Felis wanted to go back to her house. She wanted to bury the body of her mother, who was not her actual mother, and also make sure that Candramawa was dead. However, the last time Felis was stubborn and followed her own will, she was faced with a series of bad luck.
This time Felis tried to follow the plan that others prepared for her. So, Felis chose to enter Laureen's house through the back.
Felis sneaked in through the open bedroom window and sat hiding behind the sink.
"I'm sorry I didn't wait for you earlier," Deluna's voice made Felis' heart beat faster. Felis grimaced in pain while holding her body with both arms. Hope this way can make it more calm.
The sound of another foot approaching. Felis held her breath. She could feel how silence was a sign for a woman when she was not in a good mood. But Felis could not at all read the thoughts of the two women.
One was covered in fog and the other was empty. Completely empty.
"Hey, why is your face so wrinkled?" Deluna would never understand Laureen's mood. The drunkard was very introverted and she could easily cover her mind with fog.
Laureen stopped, her face red. It was hard for her to catch her breath. "I want to ,get water in the kitchen." Finally, she could finish a sentence. Even if it sounds shaky.
“Since when do you drink water? Katnip extract, you mean?” Deluna threw a bottle of katnip extract at Laureen.
Laureen caught the bottle deftly, popped the cap, and took an extra gulp of the katnip. Then sat in front of Deluna.
"You killed Oscar."
Delena raised her eyebrows. "Are you asking, or are you telling me?"
"I know you killed Oscar."
"Oh yes. I killed him." Deluna agreed to Laureen's accusation. Her voice is light, and tends to be happy. Proud.
"Why?"
"Because…." Delena raised her eyebrows. “Because when he finds out that little Reeda is your niece, he will leave you. When are you going to start choosing normal men and stop being a slave to your feelings?”
Laureen opened her mouth, eager to avenge the judgment. But Deluna wasn't satisfied yet.
“There are many things that until this day I don't know the reason for.” Deluna folded one leg over the other. Then lean back casually on the living room couch.
“If you love Marlon, why are you sleeping with my little brother? Why did you let that baby live in your womb? Why did you kill the child's father? Why did you throw her under that old pine tree? How come you never look for her? Why did you save Candramawa that night and not your own child? Why, Lauren? Now that you're here, the first thing you ask is Oscar, not your kid.” Deluna felt thirsty after a long grumble. She snatched the katnip bottle from Laureen's hand. Take a sip of it twice. While frowning, she read the label on the bottle as a gimmick. Then return it to Lauren.
Laureen squeezed the catnip bottle until her knuckles turned pale.
***
When Laureen arrived at Gregora's house as she had promised to Deluna, Laureen found no one there. Except for the rotting corpse of the owner of the house and another pile of men next to him. Dead.
Laureen covered her mouth with her hand. She was used to seeing death but never thought that someone like Gregora could end up this way.
And Oscars. Laureen caressed Weesa's lifeless face: the forehead, the frozen eyes, the soft jawbone, the chin, the shoulders. Then stop at the glass pendulum with a tower-shaped micro diorama. A splash of blood covered the beauty of the diorama. Laureen rubbed it with her thumb.
She had just met this man. She hoped Oscar could help her to forget Marlon sooner than she should. Maybe Laureen could stop drinking, possibly her life would be more purposeful.
Now that hope is gone. A red aisikla penetrated the man's chest, so long and thick, that it was hard for Laureen to imagine the shape of his heart.
Oscar didn't know the feeling of dying, this attack made him die suddenly. Laureen knew Coalition seats for a Weesa were a curse. Life for Lumons is a curse. Laureen wiped her tears with one hand, she used the other to cover Oscar's eye.
"Oscar is innocent," Laureen said to her interlocutor. Her voice is deep, and threatening.
Deluna thrust her body forward. “You don't know anything about who is guilty or not. All you know is just taking cover under the name of the Coalition and in Alfrore's armpits. But someone needs to know why you abandoned her.”
Felis stiffened her body. Standing with difficulty and opened the kitchen door. Now she has to face some new bullshit. Laureen saw Felis appear, she couldn't say anything, and her mouth was tightly closed.
"Why didn't you answer any of those questions?" asked Felis. She saw the face of Laureen, who 'maybe' her mother was.
"Your mother is a coward, Felis." Deluna smirked. She knew Felis wouldn't hurt her now, Laureen was the real target.
“Felis…” Laureen called out to her.
Felis looked away.
"Forgive me. I'm not throwing you away, but fate has been prepared for you and me." Lauren paused. "If I hadn't, you would be dead by now."
“Everyone wants me dead. And keeping me alive to this day, was a wrong move.” Felis wanted to be angry. But the pain in her chest made her cry instead. She rubbed her eyes with her palms. It was so fast that the water did not have time to drip.
"You won't kill your own mother, will you, Felis?" Deluna—it's never clear whether she's flirting or stirring things up.
"I'm not going to kill her now." Felis took two steps forward.
Laureen stood up, facing her daughter. “Look for Candramawa, Felis. I suspect Markus will be mean to her,” said Laureen.
Yes, at a time like this, she still thought of Candramawa. Felis looked directly into the woman's eyes with a pair of gray irises with red pupils. "It's hard to kill her. Maybe Markus can do that for me.”
“Felis, Candramawa is on your side. It's just that her—” Laureen didn't have time to finish her sentence.
"Yes. She's all you think about. Never dictate what I should and shouldn't do." Felis forced herself out of the house. Her heart is broken. She couldn't tell which was sadness or anger.
During this time Mrs. Furla is her mother. Garg and Furla are her parents. Felis loves them. But ever since she heard what Deluna and Laureen said with her own ears, Furla and Garg's deaths seemed to be nothing anymore.
Now Felis is even confused about what to do. After all, she had found her mother. Still alive, breathing. What else is she looking for? She and Laureen could go far away, and live alone. But Laureen never seemed to want that. Laureen doesn't love Felis. Laureen loves Candramawa more.
Felis is not a baby that is born out of love. She was thrown under the foot of a pine tree. Picked up and raised without a definite purpose. Her biological mother did not live too far from her. But never once looked for it. Or at least pretend to be friends with her.
Felis felt unloved. She doesn't even have an identity. Twenty years of living like a human, even though she knows that she is different. If not for Candramawa. She must still live quietly to this day in the pit of her ignorance. Felis didn't need to run far, she didn't need to kill anything, anyone. She doesn't need to do all this and hear all this.
With all the feelings that raged in her heart. Felis ran farther and farther into the forest. She doesn't have a home. She didn't know where to go.