Valley Of Glamorgan (14 page)

Looking at his son Keenan continued, “I
understand your teenage years are complicated and that this may
seem cruel…but.” As he hesitated I could feel my pulse begin to
quicken and I thought I might pass out. What, or who could be so
cruel that I had to come down here and sit with these guardians?
They all sat and talked to me as if I were a young child. Gathering
my thoughts I decided it better to let Keenan continue before I
said anything. “We are going to up your security detail,” he stated
simply. And then, as he obviously felt as if he had to justify
everything or maybe he just liked the sound of his own voice, he
went on, “It is our job and duty to prevent anything from happening
to you, no matter what that entails.”

I tried to take in everything he had said,
slowly processing every word before I spoke. “So, what will this
security entail?” I asked, obviously wanting to get to the point of
the conversation.

“Ah, you don’t waste time,” said one of the
men with a dry chuckle.

“I like that,” said another, winking at me
playfully. Knolls father gave them both stern looks and told them
to keep their mind on the task at hand.

Sheepishly both quickly apologized as Keenan
continued, “Mina, I am not going to sugar coat it; your personal
life is not that personal anymore. Like most people in the village
you have one guardian, now you will have all of us.” Looking around
I had a feeling of being overwhelmed as there were six men in this
room; six men that I would apparently be spending a lot of time
with.

“Well, whose guardians were these
originally?” I finally asked, motioning at the men in the room.
Keenan was apparently taken aback by my question, but he began
listing each guardian and whom they used to guard, before this new
arrangement. It wasn’t until he came to the last guardian that I
was surprised to discover who he guarded; being none other than the
infamous Thora. Now it made me realize what Willow and Thora had
most likely been arguing about. I couldn’t blame her for being
angry; after all why should I have all the protection whilst
leaving some of the people I am closest to vulnerable? I knew they
probably wouldn’t like it, but I had to decline the offer, although
I wasn’t sure if it was an offer or an order.

Standing up I straightened my back, trying
to make myself appear taller compared to the men whom sat in the
room. Despite that they still seemed to tower over me even whilst
sitting. I began, “Mr. Keenan, I decline your offer. I will not
allow the people I love; and even those whom haven’t been that kind
to me,” looking directly at Thora’s guardian, “To be vulnerable to
being hurt or worse. Knoll has proven that he is more than capable
of keeping me safe, no matter what the circumstances are.” I looked
to Knoll with pride in my eyes; he was a great guardian and friend
and I had no doubt that he could protect me. After all I had seen
him take on a whole pack of wolves.

Everyone looked more than surprised by my
actions and silence filled the room. I was taken aback when Knoll
stood, and where I expected a smile to be plastered across his face
there was a disgruntled look in its place. “Carmina,” he spoke; his
voice projected my name across the room with conviction, “It is not
okay to address your elders this way! I don’t know what those
barbaric pigs Stephanie and Jack taught you, but that behavior is
not okay here.” I was shocked as he appeared to make the statement
with such venom behind his words. But before I could speak he
continued saying, “You are not a child Mina, so I would expect you
not to act like one. You have taken enough of the time here that I
could have spent with Maggie! These men will be your guardians, as
will I.” He paused for a moment, perhaps to catch his breath then
said, “I can’t say that I am happy to admit that I am your
guardian, not after today and the actions you have just
presented.”

I stood feeling destroyed by his
demonstration. What had just happened? I thought I would make him
proud, but no! Trying to fight the tears that stung my eyes, I
turned and hastily walked out of the room, glad that no one
followed me. Having made my way home I went straight to my room,
quickly locking the door behind me. I had barely made it to the bed
when I finally lost control. It just wasn’t fair. I hadn’t asked
him to come and change my life forever so why should he treat me
this way. At that moment in time I would have been glad to go back
to my old life; even if it meant hurting a few good people. Sitting
on the bed I silently sobbed, feeling ridiculous for letting him
get to me so much, then I heard a light knock at my door.

“Mina,” I heard Eleanor’s familiar voice,
“Can I come in please?”

I wanted to shout out no, and to tell her to
go away, but I couldn’t so I just stood and went to unlock the
door; knowing it wouldn’t be right to take my anger out on her.
Eleanor slowly entered the room. Sitting on the corner of the bed
she motioned for me to join her, which reluctantly I did. Placing
her hand on mine the action reminded me of my grandma; she had
always done the same when I had visited her. I thought back to
Knolls statement that my mother, this kind, big hearted woman,
would have had him killed if she knew he had taken me to see her. I
thought how much trouble I could get him in and was just about to
tell her when I thought back to how deceiving things could truly
be. Even if I was angry at Knoll, I didn’t want, nor could I cause,
another person’s death.

“Now Mina, tell me, what is troubling you?”
asked Eleanor gently. I told her that it was nothing really but she
must have known I was lying as she was about to insist on my
speaking when we were interrupted by Maggie storming into the
room.

“That pompous jerk!” she yelled out, “I am
so sorry Mina,” and she rushed over to give me a giant hug. Eleanor
looked at Maggie and asked her what had happened; clearly confused
by her other daughter’s behavior. Maggie shook her head saying,
“Well, for starters Knoll is a pompous jerk.”

Eleanor rolled her eyes, pointing out to
Maggie, “We have gotten that part already. So, what else is wrong?”
I could tell Eleanor was growing a little impatient.

Maggie wasted no more time as she went on to
tell Eleanor that Knoll had totally embarrassed me and said some
hateful things that were completely uncalled for. She looked at
Eleanor and stressed, “They were awful mom,” her seriousness
causing me to smile a little as she went on, “But, I will not
repeat them,” which I was grateful to hear. I didn’t know if I
could have held my composure if she had.

As for Eleanor she just stood up and began
pacing about. “Liam will hear of this, and he will take care of
Knoll and his mouth,” stressed Eleanor; as if she was a different
person standing in front of me.

Maggie laughed out loud. “Oh, he is in so
much trouble now,” she sang out; almost like a gleeful child.

As I looked from Maggie to Eleanor, a
feeling of panic began filling my chest. “Please don’t,” I pleaded
with them. Eleanor stopped, looking at me as if I was a rare
specimen, before asking me why not for, as far as she was
concerned, he had no right to talk to me that way. “I know,” I
began, “what he said was wrong, but I can take care of myself. I
know that Knoll has made a mistake but, he has also given up a lot
to save me.” And I looked at Maggie, as a look of understanding
dawned on her beautiful face before walking over to me and hugging
me once more, saying that I was too kind.

As Maggie left the room, she promised not to
say anything to her father. However, she did insist that she
wouldn’t be letting Knoll off the hook that easy. “He will find
himself sleeping on the floor for quite some time to come,” she
said jokingly as she headed for the stairs. Just for a moment I did
wonder how much of it was really a joke.

After she had left Eleanor stood up and
looked at me. “That was a kindness that you didn’t owe him. I
admire your forgiveness; although I’m not sure I could have done
the same.” she said and she too excused herself from my room, going
downstairs to join Maggie. Thinking about it I thought how weird it
all felt. I couldn’t understand why I had stood up for Knoll; I
just knew that it had been the right thing to do. Besides I
wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I had caused him to be
harmed.

Leaning back against the pillows, I kicked
my shoes off and pulled my phone out. I knew just the person I
needed to talk to, so I sent Declan a quick text saying, ‘Hey,
what’s up?’ as I hoped that he would reply. Within a few seconds,
much to my surprise, my phone vibrated as he responded, ‘Not too
much. Helping out the guardians.’ Replying, I couldn’t help but
ask, ‘Do you ever get time to yourself?’ When I finally got a
response all he had written was, ‘Yes, when I sleep.’ Reading the
text message several times, I hoped that I hadn’t offended him.

Unlike most teen girls my age I hated
texting; mainly because you could never hear the tone of someone’s
response when they just wrote something rather than said it. You
never really knew how they really felt. “It’s so impersonal,” I
said to myself as I thought of a reply to his text; ending by
asking the only thing I really wanted to know. ‘Can I see you
today? Or tonight, whichever is better for you?’ I waited for about
thirty minutes but got no response. I began freaking myself out by
thinking that I must have scared him off. ‘Great Mina. You blew
it!’ I kept thinking to myself. But later, when my phone finally
vibrated, he had written, ‘I would love to, but I can’t as I have
lots of work to do. Will talk to you later’ All at once I felt as
if my heart was in my stomach. What had I done wrong? I re-read
through our messages from the previous night and somehow
automatically saw the change in his tone, sensing something
different in him. It was weird to be able to do this but somehow I
could feel it down to my core. How could such a wonderful morning
suddenly turn into such a crappy day? I had woken up happier than I
had ever been in a long time; and now my universe was obviously
making sure that my happiness limits stayed at a certain
minimum.

Sitting and thinking about my situation I
felt miserable and it was late in the day before I noticed it had
already turned five o’clock. ‘Where has the time gone,’ I thought
to myself as I made my way downstairs. I was hoping to just grab a
sandwich in the kitchen and get back up to my room so I could hide
from Knoll. Fortunately it was quiet so I was relieved to find the
downstairs deserted. Making my way quickly to the kitchen I found
some luncheon meat which between two pieces of soda bread made for
an interesting sandwich. Just about to take my plate back to my
room, I heard the front door open and several footsteps heading
towards the kitchen. ‘Damn,’ I thought to myself; I was so close to
self-solitude.

Making my way out of the kitchen I hoped
that if it was Knoll I would be able to make my way up the stairs
without having to speak to him. I may not have wanted to see him
hurt, but it didn’t mean I wanted to see or talk to him anytime
soon. Just as I reached the stairs I was stopped by Liam and
Eleanor.

“Hello, Mina,” they both greeted me happily.
“We have just come from a meal at a friend’s house,” announced Liam
smiling at me.

“Oh, I am glad that you have found yourself
something to eat,” said Eleanor as she pointed to the plate I was
carrying.

“I am so glad that you are feeling better;
if I had known we would have invited you to join us,” Liam said,
appearing to have some guilt at not having offered the invitation.
I looked at Eleanor with questioning eyes as I hadn’t been feeling
unwell and then it dawned on me that she must have told a lie so I
wouldn’t have to deal with Knoll. I gave her a grateful smile, as I
reassured Liam that I was alright and feeling much better. Just
when I thought that they would let me continue to my room Liam
stopped me by asking, “Mina, would you like to join us to watch a
movie?” Although surprised by his invitation, but not really
wanting to watch a movie I somehow found myself agreeing to join
them; after all how could I say no? I mean they were my
parents.

As we made our way into the family room,
Eleanor and Liam asked me about my favorite movies. I laughed, not
quite believing how normal this all felt, and in a fantasy world of
a castle of all places. “I really like anything scary,” I replied,
“I am a big fan of horror films although I prefer the older to the
newer ones.” It suddenly felt good that they wanted to get to know
the real me.

Exchanging knowing looks with each other
they smiled brightly, and just then a voice announced, “Well some
things never change.” It was Maggie speaking as she entered the
room. “I know that you are too young to remember, but you were a
big fan of scary movies as a child too.”

Chuckling she crossed the room and took a
seat on the sofa; motioning for me to join her. I couldn’t help but
have a quick look around the room as I was expecting Knoll to
appear and ruin what looked like the peak of my evening. Aware of
my unease Maggie leaned over and whispered, “Don’t worry; he is in
the dog house, so to speak. I told him he wasn’t invited to view
the movie.” And she smiled warmly as she continued, “He’ll get over
it. Besides, he is spending some time with a few of his friends, so
it will do him some good.” She seemed to be trying to reassure me;
but I wasn’t sure whether it was me or herself she needed to
convince.

“Have you ever seen the movie ‘Wake Wood’?”
Liam asked absentmindedly as he searched through a stack of DVDs,
“It’s not a thriller or a slasher film but it is a good movie.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen that one but, if
you say it’s good I will take your word for it,” I replied easily,
hoping it would be a good movie.

Maggie sighed saying, “Thank goodness, I
can’t take watching another bloody zombie movie.” And as we all
gathered round the TV to watch the movie it felt as if, for the
first time in my life that I could remember, I was finally doing
something normal, and this time with my real family.