Generation 3, Chapter 13: Mission impossible?

"I can't believe you just left me there, on my own, to talk to some freakin' stranger that I've never met in my life, but who apparently knows my mother. What the hell am I supposed to make of that?" I instantly got on the offensive as my mother took refuge in her room.

Normally, I wouldn't have an issue if someone abandoned me to talk to someone else. What made it unacceptable, however, was, one, it was quite an awkward encounter, and two, I didn't really have a clue what I should say to the lady. I was dying to know who she was and how she knew my mom, but alas, I wasn't allowed to know that. I had had it with her never answering my questions. To put it bluntly, I was fed up of secrets. For once I wanted all the cards on the table, and I wanted to know what was on them.

She kept her body turned away from me, staring away into the distance. Finally, she gave a clue that she was actually listening, by sighing. "It happened a long time ago, Lia. And it's...pretty complicated. I'm worried that I'll only bore you to death."

"I'm pretty sure I'll survive," I answered curtly, my chin poised upwards. The classic move that showed I thought I was superior. It wasn't the first time I used it.

"Oh, I know you will, Amelia," my mother took the offensive, taking me by surprise. "But did it ever dawn on you that I might not want to talk about it? The subject is one that caused me a lot emotional hurt, alright, and it's best if I left it in the past, where it belongs."

"Eh..." My sense to give witty and argumentative retorts had abandoned me, and I stood there in silence, 

The door's hinges cracked behind me, and judging by the shadows I saw sweep past us, someone stepped in. "Oh, I'm sorry," the person quickly apologized. "I didn't realize you had someone in here with you."

I could hear my mom chuckling softly. "It's alright, mom. It was high time you met your grandchild."

"Ah, so this is Amelia...," she chuckled. "You said she was a kindhearted person, who wouldn't hurt a fly. I have to say, you might have misjudged her!"

Her words angered me, and I twirled around to face her. I was a kindhearted person...when I wanted to be. I couldn't believe that she was judging me so quickly, after not even knowing me for five minutes.

Older people confused me a lot.

But the angry words I had poised to deliver dried up as soon as my gaze connected with hers. It felt like my own eyes staring back at me.

So this was the grandmother everyone kept fussing over, saying I looked just like her. A small part of me wanted to admit it. I did look like her, even though it was just a tiny bit. That scared me.

I didn't want to be like someone else, or look like them. I was an entire separate individual, with my own name and my own personality.

"Hi...," I nearly squeaked, words abandoning me all together.

"Hello there," she smiled kindly. "You probably figured out that I'm you're grandmother, but, eh... Please call me Destiny. Just to keep the family's tradition a secret. We won't want people freaking out about it all, now, do we?"

"No, ma'am," I shook my head, still at a loss for words. She had quite a magical influence on people. It must be years of experience with others that led to that.

"Did you want something, mom?" my own mother asked, a hint of irritation slipping into her tones.

"Ah, yes. I just wanted to let you know your father and I will be leaving now. We have some...business...to attend to, but we'll be back in a few days."

"Alright," she nodded. "I'll see you two later, then." It puzzled me that my mom didn't actually say goodbye or anything. Seems as if something like it has happened in the past, and they were past the point of caring. Another thing that confused me. Destiny left with another quick smile at the both us, leaving us in silence. "Come, I have something to show you...," my mom beckoned to me to follow her. I followed with no protest. Long ago, I learned to just comply to everything she said, otherwise I might face her wrath.

As soon as we stepped into the hallway, she pointed at the wall. "That wasn't there last time I was here," I frowned, looking at all the different photos and awards.

"Yeah, well, your grandmother didn't like the fact that our walls hardly had any paintings or stuff on them. Since then, she's been forcing us to hang things on it, including one of her own paintings. It's just behind us, the...weird looking one, you could say."

The painting hardly caught my attention; something else was much more interesting to me. "Isn't that the chick from the graveyard? Why do you have her picture here if the memory of her hurts you?"

All I got was silence. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a tear roll down her cheek. "It's hard to let go of all the fun times we had together, you know? Even though she hurt me so much."

"What did she do that was so unforgivable?"

"It's not unforgivable, not exactly," she sniffed. "When she was going through a hard time...a miscarriage...she secluded herself from the world. She pushed us all away, and said many things that broke me down. When I lost Charlotte, I did exactly the same. I can forgive her, but I'm not sure if she would forgive me."

"You should try...," I looked her squarely in the eyes. "From what I heard at the graveyard, she forgave you long ago. She wants to be friends again. Mom, please. She's not frozen in time like you are. She's getting older, so forgive her while you still have the chance."

My words carried some value, it seemed. She left me alone, and the last thing I saw of her was that she stood outside, talking on her phone. There were definitely tears again.

Finally, they could repair their friendship.

So, my arrival at my parents' house was good for both me and her, but where she now had a happy ending, I didn't.

I still had to go repair my past, and to do that, I had to take the long journey back to Lucky Palms.

~*~

"They're...gone," were the first words I uttered as I stood in front of Richard's home, my old house.

The lights were all off, and from what I could tell, there wasn't any furniture in or around the house. Richard was true to his word, about leaving me alone and never intruding in my life again.

I was too late, too late in realizing my stupid mistake and wanting to find out all about the person I was in the past. Now it would never be possible.

"Seems like you got here just after they left... I figured you would come back, but I wasn't sure when," Liam's voice eerily announced behind me. "I felt like a stalker, driving around this house on the lookout for you."

"Oh, h-hi Liam," I stuttered as I turned to face him. Just looking at him now gave me chills. I didn't like being aroundf hi

"My God, you're like a scared chihuahua!" he chuckled, almost folding double with laughter.

"I'm glad I amuse you. If you don't me asking though...what is so funny?"

"The fact that you seem to hate me. That I disgust you. I find it funny because I know why you're acting like this, yet, I know the truth."

"You're not making any sense, Liam," I grumbled. It sounded as if he was speaking in riddles.

"Tell me why I disgust you, for starters."

I gulped. That was actually something I didn't want him to know. "Em...because...you and I...uh..."

"Slept together? There's your answer!"

That was the last straw for me. "LIAM! Start making sense right now or I swear I'll rip your head off of your shoulders!"

He didn't seem to feel threatened by that. Calmly, he gave his joints a quick stretch before looking at me again. "I'm here to tell you that that never happened. Seriously, it didn't. You passed out on the bed, luckily."

It still confused me. Sure, I didn't remember what happened after I led him to my bedroom, but it was pretty obvious. "Liam...your head is in trouble."

"You were drunk, Amelia. You might not remember, but I saw the bottles on your dining room table. It was fantastic, actually. You're quite an experienced drunk, it seems. Your speech was hardly slurred, and you seemed to have been quite stable on your feet."

"I don't believe you," I shook my head. "Yes, it felt as if I had a hang-over the very next morning, but I didn't find any bottles or anything... And I sure as hell don't believe that you would say no to me. You said you loved me."

He chuckled yet again. "I was playing along with your drunken state, saying things you wanted to hear.  Arguing with a drunk person has proved to have disastrous results.  That kiss was a move from an inexperienced actor.  But anyways, after you passed out, I took the bottles to my house to throw them away. I might have said that I love you, but it's the love of a friend. I told you that I could never do that to Ric, and I didn't."

"Oh...," I blinked rapidly, struggling to comprehend the load of reality he had packed off on me. "That's, eh, really good, then."

It was much more than good. It was fantastic. I had never betrayed Richard, so I could face him with a open mind and no secrets to hide.

The problem was, I had no idea where he was now. Was my mission to regain my memories to be deemed impossible?

"I can give you the address to where they're staying...," Liam said, as if having read my mind.