Elif's POV

December 4, 2005

I felt someone's hand on my forehead. I opened my eyes slowly. It was Uncle Matthews. "How are you feeling now, my Girl?" He asked with a concerned look.

I nodded. "I'm fine." I replied but my head was aching very badly.

"Dear, we need to get ready for the Funeral ceremony." I'm clearly awake now.

"Funeral?" I couldn't remember anything. I was feeling dizzy.

"Yes, my dear. Did you forget? Oh poor child, I can understand. The time is going bad for the Davies family. God show some mercy on them." He prayed.

I still couldn't understand what was going on. "Sorry, but whose Funeral?" I asked, confused.

"Mr. Davies and Mrs. Davies both died last night. Today is their funeral. We have to get ready quickly." He explained and all the memories from last night came rushing back. The night, which made me terrified. That night, Aunt Rachel's death, everything made me froze.

"Uncle, how did I come here?" I asked.

"Last night, when we returned from the graveyard, one of the people found you lying on the ground in the woods. He brought you back. May God bless him. But Elif, did you get lost?" I looked at him and nodded.

"Umm yeah... maybe." I smiled faintly. I'm not in myself.

It was 11:00 a.m. and the Father was reading the prayers. "Today we've gathered here to celebrate the life of Mr. and Mrs. Davies..." People were gossiping about the mysterious deaths. Brayden's Grandpa was sitting on a chair and Brayden was holding his chair. Behind them, there was two more person. Everyone were dressed in black clothes and they both too. I guessed they were Brayden's Uncle and Aunt. After half an hour, we gave our lilies and prayed. I stared at the memorial for a little longer. Brayden came beside me and held my hand. We looked at each other and smiled. Everyone started leaving after giving their condolences to Brayden's family. Brayden was still crying. After that, we left.

When we reached the mansion, Brayden's Uncle and Aunt insisted on staying in the hotel and no one objected. Their car left. Brayden went to his room and locked himself. I thought he might need some time to realize all these. I was sitting beside Grandpa's armchair. Since we came back, he didn't speak a word. But I've something to do before anything bad happens again. "Grandpa, I want you to do something for me."

It was already evening and Brayden didn't come out of his room since then. I knocked on the door once, "Brayden", twice, thrice,... I got impatient. "Brayden, you need to open the door or I'll leave and never talk to you." This should work. I saw the door knob rotating. He opened the door. "Brayden, I've something for you. Do you want to see?" He gave me a blank expression. I handed him a pendant with the picture of his mom and dad inside. He smiled a little. "This way, you'll feel they have never left you and they are always by your side. Did you like it?"

He nodded. "Thank you." He said and smiled. "How are your feeling now?" His words caught me off guard. No one had asked me how I was doing until him. I got a strange feeling to tell him all that had happened with me this whole time, but I resisted.

"I'm good." I said with a smile. He looked at me a little longer and then nodded.

December 8, 2005

Three days has passed. Since the funeral, I hardly visited the mansion. Brayden's Uncle and Aunt had been living there and for some reason, I felt that they didn't like me that much. So, I also didn't bother to see them. They behaved the same way with Brayden too, though the Aunty was a little sympathized over Brayden and looked after him. But I was still worried.

It was 11 o' clock in the morning. I saw a blue Volkswagen stopped outside the mansion. I was helping Uncle in the kitchen and then saw a man dressed in black coat and white shirt and black dress pants came running with a suitcase in his hand. "Excuse me Sir, may I know who you're looking for?" I asked the gentleman.

"Mr. Levent Davies called me to check Mr. William Davies' condition. I'm their family physician." He said. 'Wait what happened to Grandpa?' I thought.

"Oh you're here. Please hurry up here." Uncle Levent shouted from the top. The Doctor giving me a nod, left at once. "Hey girl, bring a glass of water to Dad's room." Uncle Levent commanded me. I nodded.

Few minutes later, I went to Grandpa's room, holding a tray with a glass of water. I knocked the door, though it was opened. "Keep the glass on the table and leave." Uncle Levent said in a harsh tone. I did as he say. Before leaving, I saw Grandpa was lying on the bed, a blanket was covering half of his body and the Doctor was sitting beside him. I left putting my head down, not wanting to hear one more scolding from Uncle Levent.

After an hour, I saw the Doctor leave. Then Uncle Levent also left with him, in his blue Volkswagen.

Brayden's Aunt came to the kitchen. I thought to ask her about Grandpa's condition, she looked worried. "Umm Ms. Davies, what happened to Grandpa?" I asked.

"Oh it's nothing serious. His asthma got worsened. That's it. The Doctor gave him some medicines, he'll be fine after taking them." By her facial expression, I can say she was lying or hiding something. But I nodded and continued what I was doing. Ms. Davies filled herself a cup of black coffee and left.

Later that day, Grandpa asked me to come to his room. I went to his room. He was lying on the bed, a blanket on top of him. "Grandpa, how are you now?" I asked him with a smile and sat beside him. He was shivering. He had dark circles around the corners of his eyes. I held both of his palms and rubbed them to make him warm. But still he was shivering. 'Did he catch a flu?' I thought.

"Elif, I don't have much time in hand." I looked at him, shocked with what he said just now.

"Grandpa..." I gulped.

"You need to hear me out. This is Evil. The Lord is punishing us for whatever sins we have done." 'Sins?'

"Grandpa what are you saying?" I panicked.

"Elif listen to me." I brought my ears near to him. "Liam used to love a girl. She didn't suit to our family status. So one night, I gave her a good amount of money and asked her to leave him and she did. I married Liam to Rachel. She already knew about his previous love affair but she was kind and didn't mind about Liam being cold to her. Liam was starting to forget about that girl. But that her husband was a jealous and greedy person, who worked in our company and was a close friend to Liam. That night, Rachel was about to deliver her child but she had a miscarriage. She was unconscious and didn't know about this. Hopefully, that girl was also going to deliver her child in the same hospital. It was my idea to interchange the babies. We gave her some money and took the child. It's our Brayden. I didn't want Rachel to be hurt and I committed so many sins." He cried.

"Grandpa, Aunt Rachel knew this." His eyes widened in shock.

He cried for some more time. When I was about to leave, he called me out from back "Elif, I'm sorry. I couldn't do it." I was confused.

I asked him, "What Grandpa?"

He shook his head, "Nothing."

On grandpa's insistence, I slept in one of the guest rooms of that house. Later that night, I kept having those nightmares. I shifted from one side to another but I couldn't sleep at all. The house looked too big and empty. I walked to see if Brayden was alright or not. His room was just next to mine. I saw the door to Grandpa's room opened. I went to see if he was feeling sick.

I entered into the room and saw Grandpa sitting on the armchair, looking outside the window. I walked to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. His face turned to look at me and what I saw made me scream again. It was not Grandpa. It was... It was Mr. Richard. I ran out of the room and hid inside my room and locked the door. I was trembling so much. My teeth were chattering. And then I don't know when I passed out on the floor.

December 9, 2005

"Elif, Elif wake up." I heard Brayden's voice. I opened my eyes and saw Brayden crying.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" I moved up.

"Elif... Grandpa is Dead." He cried out.

"What are you saying?" I couldn't believe it.

"I'm telling the truth." He shook me and said. 'So last night what I saw was not one of the Nightmares... but it was Real.' I felt I was already crying.

"They said that he got a heart attack. Uncle and Aunt came back on hearing the news and they are about to head out for the Funeral. We have to go." I was speechless.

I wiped my tears and said, "Brayden, you go ahead. I'm feeling a little sick. I'll stay at home. Tell Uncle, I'm feverish and will sleep at home." He looked worried.

"Should I call the doctor?" He asked.

"No, I'll be fine. I'll sleep a little and visit the Memorial in the evening."

They all left for the funeral. I was alone at home. Uncle Matthews had left the keys of both the houses with me. I left the room and walked over to Grandpa's room. I searched everywhere to see if I could find it. The thing which I asked Grandpa, was for him and Brayden to leave the house as no one is here to look after Brayden. He would get traumatized living in such a lonely house. He had agreed to my idea. But who knew that something worse was already planned. But whatever it might be, I need to protect this one person, Brayden. I looked everywhere and then I saw a bottle under the bed. It had few tablets. But I don't know what it was for, maybe grandpa's asthma tablets. I put it in my pocket. But what I was after, I couldn't find it.

When Uncle Matthews came back, I thought to ask him about the medicine. Uncle came in. "Uncle, do you know what these tablets are for? I found it in Grandpa's room." I enquired.

Uncle shook his head. "No I haven't seen them before." I felt strange.

I still didn't have the courage to visit Grandpa's memorial. In the evening, Uncle asked me to buy some groceries as Brayden's Uncle and Aunt are also living in the mansion these days. I went to the market in the Town.

On my way back, I saw a Chemist shop. I stopped by there and showed the medicine bottle to him. "Uncle, can you tell me what these medicines are for?" I asked him.

He closely observed one of the tablets and spoke, "These are morphine tablets."

"Can you tell me what's it used for?" I asked.

"It's used as a painkiller. People take them when they feel pain in any body part like headache. It works as a tranquilizer and calms the mind and helps the person to sleep." He explained.

'But why would Grandpa take painkillers?' I asked to myself. "Okay. Thank you Uncle." I said to the shopkeeper.

"Welcome little girl. Go safely." He smiled to me.

That night Brayden slept fast. I locked his door and went to find the reason why I saw that man in Grandpa's room. I walked towards that room. I bend down to press the wooden button. But... I couldn't find it. I was shocked. I saw the curtains were swaying due to the wind. I walked to close the window and felt someone's presence behind my back. I turned to see who it was but there was no one. Then I saw a shadow going inside Brayden's room. I hurried to his room and saw no one was there. I went to close the window and the scene of Aunt Rachel falling from the window came in front of me and I panicked and got scared. I cried and cried. Since that Day, I don't know when I've lived a moment without fear and without crying. I haven't slept for nights, the nightmares keep on haunting me. I'm feeling lonely. And everything was just getting more and more messed up.

I looked at Brayden, he was sleeping soundly. I felt a bit relaxed. I've to send him somewhere far from here. I came out of his room and locked the door. All this time I was acting tough but I don't know if he leaves then everything will be alright or not. But he have to as soon as possible. I sat outside his door not knowing what could happen the next moment. And I don't know when I fell asleep.

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