When I was younger, every summer break, we would go to my grandfather's cabin in Herchard and spend the entire summer enjoying the refreshing outdoors. My parents and I would swim and fish in the vast, majestic blue lake. And after a while, we would roast barbecue steaks under the clear sky. It was one of life's glorious moments that ended too soon; back when I was exposed to nothing but pure joy.

As I would step outside of the cabin, hummingbirds would welcome me with their lovely chirping in the many trees surrounding us. The lake allured me with its rich, golden shimmers when the sun shone directly at its surface. The air was cool and inviting, whispering to me like a siren; allowing me to dream at any time of the day.

Glancing at the family picture frame atop the side table inside my bedroom, tiny snippets of the best memories I've had in years flashed before my eyes. It was a time when I knew no darkness on the other side of life. Little me was innocent, far away from what had been exposed to me now that I've grown up. I remembered every second of that past life, and it was something worthy to hold on to.

"Mom, do you remember our stay in grandfather's lake house in Herchard?" I asked, showing her the picture frame.

She took it and smiled tenderly at our happy faces. "Of course... How could I ever forget this..."

"Where is dad, by the way?"

"In Tokyo. He'll be home first thing tomorrow morning," she said, putting back the frame with her smile still intact on her face.

"Mom, I want you to be honest with me. D—do you have anything to do with Laurel expecting her grandchild?"

"Grandchild?" She asked cluelessly. The smile on her face instantly rubbed off at the sound of her name. "What are you talking about?"

"Well... Laurel isn't exactly in perfect health right now."

"What do you mean? What's happened to her?"

"You seriously don't know? I thought you two were close," I said, feeling suspicious that she didn't know a thing, "she's sick, mom. And while she was there, she kind of hinted me into granting her last wishes. She said she wanted to see her grandson before she...you know, heads over to the great beyond."

"What I don't understand, though, is why Eric had to keep it a secret from me for —-"

"There's no way in hell I'm allowing her to do this to you," she said strongly, "come on. Let's talk some sense into that bitch."

Shocked at her furious response, I tried to calm her down and said, "No, mom, you — don't have to do that. I can handle Laurel."

As she stood up, she continued to speak angrily like she forgot I was ever there. "She can bully me however she wants, but not with my daughter involved," muttered Elizabeth.

Persistent, we went over to the mansion where we saw Laurel looking healthy and well, drinking her Da-Hong Pao tea in the kitchen; completely opposite to the signs of weakness she showed me the day before.

"Elizabeth..." Laurel said, turning her head over to my mother.

Without any remark for pleasantries, my mother asked frankly, "What is this I hear about you forcing my daughter to have a child with your son?"

"Forcing? Who said anything about that?" She chuckled as she drank again.

"Enough with the lies, Laurel. Shouldn't you at least be telling the truth considering that your days are now numbered?"

Laurel scoffed. "And we also know your daughter has quite a spotty record in the honesty department," she said, "are you going to run away again this time, honey?" She looked at me, clearly striving to hit a nerve.

As much as I'd like to answer her back, I remained at ease. At a young age, I've gone through enough to develop thicker skin.

"As a mother, I am far from perfect. I have hurt both my daughters for a long time, and there's nothing I could ever do to take it back," my mother said firmly, "now I won't let that happen to any of my grandchildren, nor will I allow any of daughters to learn from my wrong choices."

"I'm sorry, Laurel, but as Avery's mother I will not allow you to manipulate my daughter into conceiving a child with your son unless that's what she wants," she added.

"Don't you think it's a little too late to play the mother in front of your daughter, Elizabeth? You see, I don't need to manipulate her in any way, because her life has already been one hell of a puppet show, and you have been the one pulling the strings. It's useless to act all motherly, considering you've never been one."

"You're not one of us, either. You're just a scorned woman deluded enough to live the life of a queen when everyone knows you just spread your legs to any rich man you see to fulfill your dreams of wearing a so-called crown," she said, raising her brows as she stared condescendingly at my mother from head to toe, "it's a pity that William had fallen for the likes of you. You're an infection in the van Carter family."

"How dare you talk to my mother that way!" I pushed Laurel to the floor, "I will strangle your neck, you crazy witch!"

"Avery, stop!" Eric interrupted, pulling me away from her. "That's my mother!"

"How are you defending her right now? Your lying mother is insulting and calling names to mine!"

Overwhelmed by the heightened emotions springing from my mind all at once, I ran upstairs to my room to control myself and to think rationally amidst the noise from the wrangling downstairs.

Above everything, I really wanted to talk to Nathan about a lot of things especially about what happened the day before. I left him a few messages asking him to stop by at the mansion so we could clear things out. Walking in and out of my room expecting a response I probably wouldn't get, I noticed that the living room has suddenly gone quiet.

As I checked downstairs, there was peace and quiet in the living room. My mom and Laurel were nowhere to be found, including Eric.

After waiting for some time, Nathan arrived not a minute longer than what he told me. He looked borderline exhausted like he hadn't slept for a number of nights. Whatever it is he's torturing his mind into thinking, I had a feeling in my stomach that one way or another, I had something to do with it.

"Hey...Nate, uh, about what happened yesterday...I am sorry that it had to go down that way. We need to talk."

"Of course. I'm all ears," he said.

Before I could begin to talk, I heard a woman's voice fighting with one of the doormen. "I am the wife's sister. I've already been here a couple of times which means you should already know me by now. You need to open these doors right this instant," she argued. Her confidence and will power pushed the doors wide open, sucking all the attention to angle her entrance.

"Where is it, Trevmore?" She yelled.

Unexpected of her visit, I said, "Audrey... what a surprise. I remembered calling only Nathan."

"You should definitely introduce me to your people, Avery. I don't wanna be interrogated every time I come here."

"Shit. The queen bitch is here," he muttered close to my ear. "Sorry, sweetheart. I got caught up!"

She gasped dramatically, leaning both of her hands on his shoulders. "You got caught up with something more important than your secret?"

"What...secret?" I asked, feeling left out from the conversation.

Glaring suspiciously to both of them, I wondered what the two of them's been up to these days. I reckoned that their relationship must've grown blissfully now that they've conjured a top-secret that Nathan desperately didn't want me to know.

"Now what do you think Avery is gonna feel when —-"

"Audrey, I'm gonna bury you alive," Nathan said.

"Bite me, Phinesdale boy."

"Nathan Trevmore...what is this," I said, observing both of their reactions.

"Told you your brat sister's blackmailing me."

"So, Avery, my dear sister, do you wanna know what Nathan's been hiding from you since he poops in his diapers?"

"Depends. Is it going to make me poop in my diapers?"

"What's wrong, Nate? An orange cat got your tongue?" Audrey said, giggling as she turned her head away. She obviously had taken her fun out of Nathan's misery.

Nathan gestured Audrey to back off to which Audrey responded calmly. Not one bit did she look intimidated because it appeared to me that she had the upper hand against him. As I got even more curious, I held Audrey's arm and gave her a sly look, convincing her to tell me.

"He writes poems, Avery. Okay? He writes poems," she said, heading to the kitchen, "I gotta admit, they're good ones."

"Poems?"

"Yeah. You write in a journal. He writes poems. Kind of cheesy if you ask me."

"That's the ultimate secret? He writes poems?" I asked confusedly, weirded out by the so-called secret they're trying so hard to hide from me.

"His manly ego would be mortified if you knew he was writing down poems for you like a hopeless romantic idiot," she said, chuckling as she bent over to open the fridge and checked the beverages section.

"Yeah... I'm not buying it. Whatever you two are keeping from me, I'm going to find it out eventually," I said, squinting my eyes as I remained skeptical.

"Anyway, we'll talk about that some other time. I'm actually glad that you're here because there's something I need to tell you."

"Really? 'Cause it looked to me like you weren't excited to see me when I walked in," she said, drinking the frozen mango juice she took out from the fridge, "whatever it is, just cut to the chase because I'm quite busy."

"Uh —- okay. I think we need to give our dear mother a chance to explain herself," I said nervously, holding her hands, "everything she had done before was born not out of deliberate choice, but of fear and extreme pressure. She was still a young —"

"Oh my God," Audrey interrupted, putting down the juice on the table, "What has she done to you? She has brainwashed you, has she?"

"Nobody's brainwashing me, Audrey."

"Then why are you talking weird? You do know what she's done to me and to you, right? Don't think for a second if you expect me to forget about all of it just because you have this sick yearning of a complete, happy family."

"Yes, she has had made mistakes as a mother but we don't know the whole story, Audrey. It's not fair for us to judge so quickly. After all, she's still —-"

"And I don't need to!" She walked away, getting out of the talk. "What's done is done. Our mother has made her choices and we have suffered long enough and paid the price. Our lives have been sucked into her mess and I'm tired of always being the one to understand and find reasons not to despise her because honestly, there are none." 

Following her, I tried to find the right words to say to not piss her even more. "Audrey, please, you're better than this. I know you are."

"We've already been through this, Avery. And if memory serves me right, the last time I gave you a chance and talked to our mother, it didn't end well."

"I know, I —"

"Why do you even trust her?" Her face was full of disgust; gloating at my gullibility.

"The same reason I trust you. Despite being apart for like my whole lifetime, and knowing almost nothing about you since we met, I trusted you because... your my sister and I —- I love you."

"Spare me a load of sisterly crap."

"And like her, you have done some pretty awful things too, considering," I said, "look, I wouldn't even be talking to you right now if I didn't look past our differences and your rude attitude."

Audrey raised her brows at my attempt to be all self-righteous. "The reason we're talking right now is that you're bored and you're desperate to have some purpose in your life."

"That is so not true."

"There's no other way to deny it."

"For years, you have been searching for your life's purpose because despite having everything any girl dreams, you feel discontented and lonely, and that makes you feel guilty and not sleep at night," she said, poking my chest as she walked closer to intimidate me, "so you think finding more about your long lost sister would fill in the void in your heart that you've been trying so hard to heal.

"Wow. I can see you have a potential to actually be a psychiatrist," I said sarcastically, "it sounds to me like you have it all figured out."

"Whatever."

"But if you knew me really well as you think you do, you'd know I want to fix this family more than anything."

"And if you've learned anything from our road trips and incredibly draining talks, you'd know by now as I've told you over and over again that I'm not a big fan of family reunions."

"Audrey, as your sister, I'm begging you. Please help me save our already dying family."

"No."

"Okay, you're really being stubborn, Audrey," I said, breathing heavily, "okay, I'll do this your way. You will help me fix this messed-up family because you owe it to me for saving your night club."

"Oh, you just crossed the line."

"So far, there are no regrets."

"Maybe we're not that different after all. Quite ironic, really. You ran away from home, thinking your life is an endless string of miserable days, while I go ballistic trying to find the right path on the way to find a home because I've never had one all my life."

"Look, Audrey, if —"

"The truth is, I'm jealous of you, Avery," she said. "But as much as I was engulfed with jealousy, the only thing greater that lived in my heart was anger for my baby sister."

"I'm madder at myself for giving you all the burden," she scoffed. "You were just a minuscule baby. You were loud, annoying, needy, peed on diapers, and sought a lot of attention. But I —- I was already able to walk. I was already of use. I can do favors. But she just left me. Like I was nothing."

Looking into Audrey's lips as she talked fervently regarding her bad blood against my mother, I couldn't ignore but the sheer brokenness in her voice. She spoke of hate to our mother without any sign of remorse, as if she were enjoying inflicting pain unto my mother in her wildest imagination. Her anger appeared absolute and adamant; no shred of forgiveness was possible. It was the hurt demon inside her crying.

Even I felt bad to put her in a place where her years of torment from my mother's hands are compromised and invalidated to grant my wishes. I didn't want to be selfish, but I couldn't seem to shake the sounds in my gut telling me to stitch the ties within my family.

"Okay, if you want your family so bad, I'd gladly help you out."