4 The Ugly Truth (2/2)

According to mom, mine was a sickly birth that came with many complications. The doctors didn't think I would survive the night.

Her hands squeezed mine. ”But your father… Desmond… he wouldn't give up on you so he made a deal to save your life…”

”What kind of deal?” I asked.

If this was a movie, now would be the moment suspenseful music would begin playing, the kind that raised the hair on the back of one's arms while simultaneously increasing the tension up to several notches.

”I didn't know about it until a year and a half later… when L-Luca was born,” mom said, her voice turning frantic. ”They tried to take him then, but Desmond wouldn't let them… it wasn't the deal.”

Here was when I noticed how the moonlight seemed to reflect unnaturally onto my mom's eyes. They were too bright, like cat eyes reflecting a car's headlights.

”The ones who came… they were… they were… they were…” she struggled but couldn't seem to finish her sentence. Every time she tried, she would choke on what I assumed was an important word. Eventually, she gave up on this tactic and switched to telling me about Luca's birth instead.

Unlike mine, Luca came out of the womb a strong and healthy baby. It was very uneventful, at least not until later that night when mom woke up from her sleep and found two strange visitors standing over baby Luca's hospital crib.

”One was tall and lean while the other was squat and had a barrel-like shape. It was all I could see as they were both covered in shadows,” mom explained.

Her grip tightened on my hand.

”Fear overtook me. I screamed… but no sound came out of my mouth,” she said.

Her failed outburst caught the attention of the tall visitor, and his response to her silent scream was to place a finger over the space where his lips must have been like he was telling her to be quiet. Luckily, dad—who was sleeping on the couch next to mom's hospital bed—was a very light sleeper, and mom's frantic movements had alerted him to the intruders who arrived in the night.

”I'd never seen him so furious… Yet I could tell he was also very frightened,” mom admitted. ”He yelled for them to go away as it wasn't time yet…”

Her voice had turned hollow like the sound made by a robotic voice recording.

”Mom… what's wrong?” I asked, worried.

She ignored my concern and continued her story as if she couldn't stop herself now that she'd begun.

”The tall one spoke, and it was like the sound the wind makes in a storm… It was terrible to hear,” mom said in her hollow voice.

Mom's eyes shone even brighter. They were two pinpricks of light in the darkness of the room.

I won't lie. The current situation was starting to terrify me.

”The voice said they were only there to inspect the merchandise… to ensure the sacrifice was healthy,” mom said.

My brow furrowed at the word ”sacrifice” and I had to ask her what she meant by it. She responded with the worst answer I could imagine, ”Luca.”

”Why? Why was Luca a sacrifice?” I asked, confused.

Mom had lost much of the lucidity she had when she asked me for an embrace. Her glowing eyes stared at me with an intensity that made me want to pull back but she tightened her grip on my hands and kept me in place. Then her voice switched to an urgent, hurried tone that felt rushed and nearly indecipherable.

”They vanished as quickly as they came… like imaginary ghosts in the dark… but not before they revealed the truth,” she said.

”Mom, why did they want Luca?” I insisted. I needed her to stay on point.

The urgency in my voice must have gotten through to her because she answered, ”The deal Desmond made to save you — your life for the life of our next child.”

My hands slipped out of mom's grasp. I pulled away from her as the horror of this realization overwhelmed me. Mom was wrong. It wasn't her or dad's fault. It was mine. I was the reason Luca went missing.

”Does that mean... is Luca... is he dead?” I asked.

Mom shook her head.

Relief flooded my system, and the pain in my chest lessened to a dull throb that was incomparable to the squeezing sensation I felt previously.

The lights flickered on and off, adding to the already foreboding mood.

My mother's eyes began to lose their weird shine. Intuition told me this was a bad thing. She was most likely losing her connection to that night—and maybe to her newfound sanity too. This was no longer a time to be gentle. I grasped her shoulders and forced her to focus on me.

”Tell me who took Luca, mom,” I asked in a cold tone that didn't reflect the panic or worry in my heart.

She shook her head repeatedly. ”No, no, no… I can't…”

”Tell me now,” I insisted.

Her eyes which were no longer lustrous gazed back at me, and just for a second, I could see a spark of understanding flare-up in their brown irises.

”Fairies,” she whispered. ”The fairies took Luca.”

The lights flickered again. More violently this time. As if a naughty child had its hand on the switch and was fooling around with it.

”Fairies?” My brain hurt. It felt like invisible hands were squeezing them from inside my head. ”What the hell are fairies? Where would they take Luca?”

Mom shut her eyes. She shook her head. Then her mouth opened in a wordless scream right before she slumped forward and passed out on my shoulder.

The lights flickered one last time before brightness filled the room and banished the darkness surrounding us.

Mom stiffened in my arms as if waking from sleep. She pulled away. Her face, which only a minute ago had been so animated, was back to the glazed catatonic state that was now her default since Luca vanished.

Realizing mom would be no more help, I put her arm over my shoulder and half-carried her back to her hospital bed as gently as I could. She obeyed without complaint. After she laid back onto the mattress, I placed the blanket over her to keep her warm. The night was cold after all.

Feeling drained myself, I sat on the chair beside her and just stared at the ceiling. The shadows in the room had deepened before I stirred again. The cold numbness that overcame me when I realized I was responsible for Luca's disappearance was slowly giving way to a furious rage simmering inside me.

Fairies were real, and they abducted my little brother. It was up to me to bring him home.