Why do we make walls? Perhaps to confine those things which might cause destruction once unfettered.
But how do we know that something might cause destruction to some certain one? Actually, there's no some certain one being saved by your walls, it's you only. You create walls around you to keep yourself safe from the destructive information/secret/forbidden sin or whatsoever. You don't know who's gonna support it or who's not but you definitely know you are never going to embrace it that way so you make the walls. You don't let anyone step inside the wall, you don't allow your possession to come outside the wall because by hook or crook, you are getting destroyed by it.

I was one the verge of Derek's wall and as much as it was causing curiosity or hurt in me, it was causing more harm to Derek. Someone reached his walls and that jolted current in him only, as I said, you save yourself and not anyone else.

"Oh it's just Derek's school friend" Naomi said taking the picture from my hand and putting it back in the last page of the album. Alex seemed calm too, actually everybody was calm with storms inside them, so was me.
"Oh alright...hey dont you think we should leave now...I mean it's evening already..." I tried to change the atmosphere as much as I could and felt proud of myself for being tad smart.

"No one's leaving..." We heard the voice coming from the door, we turned only to find Mama Woods standing on the door with a box in her hands.
"But mama...how can we...." Derek raised from his place and sat beside Alex to make space for her. I moved aside a little too.

"Nope. You move out of here and I'm showing your nude teenage pictures to her" well I was happy she came at the right time as it took her seconds to spread joy all around. We all were laughing while Derek looked at me and turned his head....was he like blushing..? Perhaps. He was cute though.

"Not that she hasn't seen him already...stop blushing dodo" Alex said muttering under his breath yet hearable to all of us. God knows about Derek but I was blushing so hard.

"Don't you dare Alex...I'm 28 now, cut this dodo shit out now..." Derek said and that's when I realized about dodo.
Dodo? SERIOUSLY!? 

"Oh bugger off you two, I have got things to show Iris" mama Woods came and sat beside me. I was excited to see what she got and was also hoping that maybe she would let me know more about that girl.

"Oh nooo...here she comes with her embarrassment collection" Derek,Sarah and Alex said unanimously and the rest three of us just laughed over them.
"Shut up you all, it's a tradition. You date children of this family, you will have to see these stuffs. Mama showed me these too four years ago remember" Naomi said looking at me and the others. I was very excited to open that damn box as their faces were already frowned for the upcoming embarassment.

Mrs.Woods opened the middle sized wooden box. It had alot of different things like pictures, socks, a small championship cup, rubber bands, bracelets, a leather ball, a scarf, two hankeys and many more things. I was getting the idea that she collected all these favourite things of her kids and saved them in this box forever. She picked the brown socks out and showing it to everybody says" who remembers it?" Alex and Sarah chuckles while Naomi tries to remember it.

"I stole it from a general store and put it in your purse...fine....leave me alone now I was 7 and I liked it" Derek said like a crying baby. I couldn't stop laughing, in fact everybody started laughing.

"Yeah he did, he could have simply asked me to buy it but perhaps he knew mama will find it ugly and won't buy it. And fun fact is, he himself never wore it..found it ugly the other day....moron did the robbery to embarrass mother only" said mama Woods and I was already clutching my bump with farce. Derek was all red by now. Sarah pulled his cheeks saying "poor dodo" and got whipped on neck.

She later revealed alot of other stuffs with all the secrets behind them. I was laughing all through the while, my stomach started to hurt by now. It was so good to see Derek and his family. He was so happy among them, more happy than I ever found him with myself. I was blending in too but my mind was still hoping to know about the thing they were perfectly hiding about Derek. About that girl. I needed answers, but bit more patiently and smartly. I couldn't just hover on him and ask about it because technically I'm hiding more than him and he doesn't even have a clue about it so that disqualifies me to do anything aggressive or desperate about his secret.

Mama Woods was showing us the bracelet Sarah bought from her three months saving, my eyes fell on a ring inside the box, it was a plastic toy ring. I presumed it to be Sarah's, I picked it out and asked "and when did Sarah buy this one..?" And everybody got silent again.

"Ohkay enough...mom why have you kept that?" Derek said raising his back from the headstand.
"I...I just...I'm sorry...." Mrs.woods said stammering and feeling guilty for having it. I was getting way more curious now, who was the girl Derek was in love with, did she betray him or what?

"Iris... it's not Sarah's, it's mine" he said taking the ring back from me. He was looking at it with glooming eyes. Naomi put her hands on my shoulder, I looked at her. Why were they thinking I couldn't handle a simple ex story? I mean hello!! I'm carrying a one night stand baby here, and that too dead...you still underestimating me?

"I....I get it....you can tell me..." I tried to sound as supportive and normal as I could because I was surely fuming by now.
"The picture of the girl you saw earlier, she was Cathy, Alex's sister. We were in love....since our childhood....and I was.....was gonna propose to her with this ring...(chuckles sadly) I made it for her, we had a..........son." he said and stopped with a lump formed in his throat. Everybody was silent, I saw Alex's face buried in Derek's shoulder while Derek just staring the ceiling. They had a son! Like a real baby SON! I was shocked, although somehow a faint idea had already formed in my mind since Sarah accidentally said about his own baby. I was still not able to believe on that.

"Wha.....what what happened to her....?" I was sooo hoping he wouldn't say dead because I just saw her this morning and she gave me shivers. I wasn't willing to handle another ghost here.

"They.....they died in an accident" Derek said looking at me, tears streaming down to his eyes and so was mine now. It wasn't because of the death of Cathy and their son, it was because of seeing Derek so vulnerable and hurt like that. Everybody except Naomi scooped around Derek while he kept staring me with his pooling and overflowing eyes. That eye contact got me so much that I started thinking more weird things than ever.

"Where's all basta...............rds" Dad Woods came and stopped seeing everybody scooping Derek and him crying.

"Who the hell took her name? How many times have I said no one will take her damn name...!" He yelled at all of us. Another shock to see such a sweet guy yelling in anger like that. Everybody just wiped themselves off and took their places, Derek was still staring me only. I wiped myself off but I wanted to coax him and he was on the other corner of me. I just couldn't reach him and kiss him in front of everybody.

"I...I think we should give them some space now....they need to rest.." Naomi, being the smartest among all, said stepping down of the bed followed by Alex Sarah and mama too. She collected all the stuffs and put them all in the box again.

"Woman you call yourself their mother and you keep carrying their dark places in box....shame on you Elizabeth..." Jeremy said with utmost anger and annoyance. She just listened to him and left the room.
I was the culprit here, I should have waited for more time and space to ask that question.

I zoomed closer to him and put his head on my chest, he immediately engulfed around me and wrapped me in his arms. I put my chin on his head and held him closer. He didn't cry, he didn't sob, he just stayed there like I was his mother for time being.

After dinner, we went to his room for the night. Mr. And Mrs.Woods stopped us from leaving and asked to stay for the weekends at least. Derek agreed and so did I. It was fun living with all these new people, I never really liked people but I thought I should have tried more before judging them. We were half asleep when I got Cathy's picture in front of my eyes. I opened them immediately and looked at the ceiling. It was sheer darkness in the room, Derek was fast asleep holding my bump lightly. The dumbest part of my mind pushed me to go outside and I did.

Stepping out of the duvet, I went outside the room in the corridor. It was a big house with lots and lots of frames, showpieces and blah blah antique stuffs. Exactly like some horror movie.
I decided not to be the dumb protagonist of the horror movie and go on hunting ghosts, rather I leant over the railing and looked down for a while. It was normal and silent downstairs when suddenly my eyes fell on Cathy sitting on the sofa. I shuddered suddenly and backed off the railing and turned to go inside the room. The moment I turned, Cathy was in front of me. I gasped a big one and held my chest immediately.

"What's wrong with you....why do I feel like you are dead" she said those horrible words and I just kept panting in gasp. There was a reason we both could see each other, and she could do alot more than just seeing me. It started scaring me out now, she loved Derek once and I guess that means she would do anything to protect him.

"I.....I have learnt occult...so I have powers..." I blabbered the stupidest shit I have know in my life. Occult...really. Derek must know how much I'm doing for him. Or is it for myself only?

"You think I'm that dumb huh....tell me why are you around him and how...how can they all see you or touch you...what are you doing with my Derek, Iris Stevens...?" She most likely threatened me and honestly, it worked. But I had to not forget that I possessed powers too and that I had to survive anyhow.

"Oh come on...I can't help if you don't know about it. But please...I'm saying this in my most polite way...stay away from me or him.....in fact all of them, you have no idea what I can do.." I tried to make my voice a little rough and tone a little harsh and confident. So hoping that it would have worked on her.

"Iris....what are you doing here...?" Derek said standing on the door rubbing his eyes. I and Cathy, we both turned to him with a little shock, we weren't expecting him to be here.

"You do any harm to him Iris...I swear I'll not spare you.." Cathy said with her gritting teeth and then shooed away towards the stairs, I looked at her retreating figure when I saw a small probably one year old boy in his dungarees sitting on the first stair. He was resembling Derek so much, he was bloodlessly pale, his eyes were of Derek's. It was so not nice to see that baby like that. Cathy just picked him up from the ground and looking longingly at Derek half asleep leaning on the door, she left.

I went near him and took him back to sleep but I couldn't sleep whole night as the vision of that boy wasn't leaving my mind. Had Derek known I could see them, he would have wished to be in my situation anyhow. It was literally like the past haunting me now.

Sleep got over me in the dawn after all night struggling and changing sides. It was around ten or what when I felt a pair of hands stroking my hair. I'm a light sleeper, you touch me I'll wake up. I opened my eyes slowly only to find Cathy in front of me. I shuddered, gasped and sat back in a jiff immediately.

"Ire...are you ohkay..." The voice was of Derek's, I closed my eyes shut and opened them again and found Derek sitting instead of Cathy holding a cup of coffee. I sighed in relief and left my chest. "I'm good I'm sorry...just a stupid...nightmare..." I said rubbing my eyes and wiping drool off my mouth.

"It's ohkay...get ready we are waiting for you downstairs." He said while putting the coffee mug on the nightstand and leaving the room.
I was getting more and more scared for staying alone anywhere anytime. All the ghosts could see me and vice versa, and despite the fact the I was one of them...they still scared me shits.

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What would Cathy do, annoy Iris more or leave her alone?

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Take care
Signing off
Shruti!