Chapter 138: Chapter 138

Inside the hut in the middle of the woods, and just behind the window, a young girl of about eight years stood on tip-toe, peering at the window and the retreating back of Clara. She stayed in that position until she could not see the older woman again.

"It’s time to leave."

She said to herself as she turned from the window, nearly tripping over the clothes she wore. Sighing, she stepped out of her then big clothes and shoes. As if already prepared for this, she took out appropriate clothes for her size and then climbed back onto the seat she had been on earlier.

Just then, her eyes widened, and she scrambled down from the sofa to check on something. The colour drained from her face. She raised her hand to run through her hair, baring the small tattoo of the tree on her hand. She looked so young that even Clara would have never recognized her.

"Oh dear, I gave her the wrong one.... Damn! That is such a loss. That was the best one, and it even had that in it! That’s going to bring up too many issues! .... Alas! That can’t be helped! Clara should sleep in the bed she made... I hope she can even read between the lines."

Her then childish voice echoed all around the small hut as she shrugged and went back to her knitting as if she had just not caused trouble. Her eyes only came up once, staring into nothing with a mesmerizing glint. They held such profound maturity and knowledge far beyond her age.

"That took an interesting turn," she whispered and then, with another shrug of her shoulders and a satisfied smile, she continued her work, knowing perfectly well that that phase was done in her life. She had attained more than she thought possible, but life was such: full of surprises at each turn!

Shelby grabbed the box, her eyes shining like stars. She was still super hungry after eating those green weed-like plants. So, she did not hesitate and picked up the delicately wrapped piece of what appeared like Candy to her.

She immediately shoved it into her mouth, munching on it happily with a childlike delight. The sugar-filled delicacy was one thing young Shelby missed in her life. She crunched on it and sat down happily but then started to feel drowsy. In no time, she had succumbed to the calls of her young body, oblivious to what was going on around her and what she had taken in.

Clara snapped back from the trip down her memory lane and sighed, her frustration and anger skyrocketing once again. She ruffled her hair and paced the length and breadth of her room. The day was nigh by then, and she had to go see her husband at least.

’I miss him.’ She thought.

’I miss him so much! I have to do all I can to get him out!’

Even as she thought of these, that day twenty years ago was still ingrained in her. She found herself drifting back in thoughts to that time once again. The little witch had claimed that a decade of life had been taken from her, but Clara had initially dismissed it as empty words until she came back late that evening to find her daughter.

As the years went by, she had thought long and hard about her decisions that day.

’What would have changed if I had eaten it myself? Would I have still met him? Would I be here today? Or would I still be on that island? How much time....?’

She had asked herself several times throughout the years but had never arrived at any concrete answers.

That day would forever be ingrained in her head. As Clara’s eye connected with the sleeping child back then, she felt herself let out an involuntary gasp.

She stumbled back and slumped down. She had no idea what she felt that day... almost like an extreme shock. The Shelby she had left earlier in that day and the one she was seeing were very different. Clara clamped her hand over her mouth as her heart jumped almost out of her chest. Goosebumps appeared all over her arms, but she could not take her eyes off that sleeping child.

Her child had almost transformed into a child goddess. The changes were so drastic yet non-existent. She could not pinpoint what had changed in Shelby. The child was still in the same rugs with slightly unkempt hair, but Clara, for the love of whatever could not take her eyes off her own daughter.

Shelby was then so captivating that all thoughts disappeared from Clara’s mind. Clara could not even entertain the thought of leaving that child behind as she had initially wanted to.

That was when it clicked, and then her stomach lunged.

She yanked her eyes from the sleeping child, but she did not have to look around for long. The exquisite box was empty, and the wrapper was in Shelby’s little hands. It was obvious what had happened.

At that time, Clara could hear the rush of non-existent wind and water rushing through her ears.

She shook her head slowly in disbelief.

"That is all I had to do?"

A childish but slightly familiar voice sounded in her head then, "I did tell you that you think too simply...."

Clara turned around abruptly, expecting someone to be there, but there was no one.

’Did I imagine it?’ She asked herself, but there was obviously no one there to answer the question.

"Does that mean that I really lost a WHOLE DECADE of my life?!" She screamed out as a burst of childish laughter echoed all around her.

Clara looked around frantically, hysteria setting in.

A rush of tears at what she had lost flew out. However, something held her back from pouncing on her daughter. A subtle warning from the witch about Shelby kept re-echoing in her head.

"What have I done?! I LOST EVERYTHING!"

The childish voice of young Shelby and the older present-day one blended and became one over the phone’s loudspeaker.

"Mum? A-re you t-here?"

With a new rush of resentment, Clara screamed the same words again, "When we had nothing, it was him! He was the only man who stood up and helped us out of those gutters, and this is how you repay him?"

Clara had been okay with losing what she considered her precious ’earnings’ from the witch because she eventually got James Wendover. She had, from then, put all her efforts into maintaining her appearance to be continually loved by him.

However, all her buried resentments came to the surface with him gone and locked up. She had lived her life in her daughter’s shadow. At least, that was what she believed.

Clara always felt that she was not beautiful enough. She was not slim enough or did not have the perfect shape. She trained hard and used the best beauty products because of James, but no matter what she did, she could never measure up to her daughter.

She had seen the way men flocked to Shelby, and that was what she had hoped for, for herself. Her daughter had all the tools she needed to succeed in life but had never taken advantage of them.

Over the years, James had brought many business associates over in the hopes that Shelby would charm them and even sleep with them for him to get his deals, but the stubborn girl had remained as if she could not understand what it meant to lay with a man.

Clara did not mind much since it had no direct impact on her life.

However, Clara had bought as much as she could for Shelby in terms of clothes and jewellery as she would usually use to adorn herself. This was because Clara felt as if she was adorning herself by doing that for her daughter. Shelby was almost an exact replica of her mother. Therefore, Clara felt as if she was looking at a replica of herself had she taken whatever had been in the box that day.

Clara had cursed and reprimanded herself several times over the years for doubting the contents of that box.

In fact, which adult would believe this?

Clara had made several trips to the forest to get another deal, but no matter where she went, she just could not find her way back. It was as if the hut had never existed. She had learnt to live with that frustration because it never entirely left her.

If not for Shelby as living proof, she would have thought that she had dreamt of everything that day in the forest.

Clara could also never take it up on Shelby, so she had never told a soul, even her husband, whom she cherished from the bottom of her heart.

As Clara’s mind ran in circles, Shelby also briefly reminisced on whatever her mother meant by those words.

She only remembered once in her childhood when Clara had said those exact words. That was before James had come into their lives.

She still remembered the rage and conflict in her mother as Clara shook her little frame, screaming out things that did not make sense to her younger self. However, for some reason, those times were still very vivid in her mind, and the words had stuck till date.

"You useless girl! What did you do? That should have been me! It was supposed to be me! What can you do with all this? Why! Why! This is so unfair!"

Her mother had shaken her roughly like a ragdoll and then hugged her tightly afterwards.

"I’m so sorry, Shelby! Are you hurt?" Clara had then set her down slowly like a fragile porcelain.

However, those words stuck! So, hearing her mother repeat them years after made her wonder what exactly she meant by them.

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