“Yes. She moved to some other places after that. If I’m not wrong, she even went overseas. I ran into her parents after that. They told me she got married abroad.”
James continued asking a series of questions while Yennefer replied honestly. These were all fragments of James’ memories before he turned thirteen years old, and Yennefer remembered every detail correctly.
“Wait, James. Why are you asking me these questions? I thought you were going to reveal your secret. Did you do something bad when you were a kid?” Yennefer grinned, her expression loving and caring without showing any signs of impatience.
Xendale was an impoverished place all those years ago, and the Lann family wished for Yennefer to give birth again. Yet, she refused adamantly for James’ sake. Yennefer poured all her love into James unreservedly.
James observed Yennefer’s reaction before determination flashed across his eyes. He said casually, “Mom, do you remember Aunt Sheba?”
Yennefer’s smile froze instantly, slowly vanishing into the air. Within two seconds, her gaze shifted. The calm, peaceful she originally had changed into a malicious glint. James was shocked. He shouted, “Mom! Mom! Can you hear me? Mom!”
In response, Yennefer furrowed her brows, wrapping her arms around her head, anguish written all over her face. “My head… hurts. James… it hurts!” Turmoil was evident in her eyes. One moment, Yennefer looked confused. The next moment, she looked fierce.
James was all too familiar with the scene before him. It was always the same old scene over and over again whenever Yennefer’s illness acted up. Yennefer’s personality would shift when everything was over, and she would become a different person. Mom is going to turn into an image of Aunt Sheba that she created.
“Oh no! I need to call for Lucian and Roxanne’s help!” James grew wary of the situation. He raised his voice, standing up, wanting to seek help.
Clatter! Yennefer swept the vase off the study table viciously. It smashed to the ground, shattering into pieces with a loud noise. As if engaged in an internal battle, Yennefer complained of a headache repeatedly, clenching her jaws.
“Sheba, Sheba. Who’s Sheba? You’re my nephew, James. I’m Aunt Sheba! How could you harm me? Hah. Ta-da. I’m not dead yet. You can’t kill me!”
At last, Yennefer’s illness acted up again. Her consciousness changed into those of her twin sister, Sheba. A malicious and frosty glint flashed across her eyes as she glared at James with a sinister smile.
Meanwhile, Lucian and Roxanne exchanged shocked glances after hearing the commotion. Jones panicked, wanting to charge in. He worried that Yennefer would hurt herself in the process.
“Let me, Mr. Lann,” Roxanne offered. Lucian reacted quickly, holding Jones back. She turned the doorknob with a silver needle in her hand.
James spoke then. “Lucian, Roxanne, please don’t come in first. I’ll have to face this myself. I’m going to try to get her back!”
Roxanne halted in her steps. She turned to look at Lucian. Jones felt anxious upon hearing that. “No. We can’t leave him in there alone. James! Stop what you’re doing! Don’t torture your mom anymore.”
“Calm down, Mr. Lann.” Lucian instructed coldly. Jones regained his senses. He was still gripped with anxiousness, though. “Lucian, what should we do? We can’t let her act like Sheba for a long time. That’s what Roxanne said, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I know. But James is with her now. He won’t ever hurt his mom! I’m sure he feels the same way as you. Do you understand what I’m saying, Mr. Lann?”
Mrs. Lann won’t ever break out of this vicious cycle if we let her continue acting this way. Yes, she did feel better after they went to look for an ancient sorcerer in Alendor last time, and he used a ritual to heal her. But now, the sorcerer had passed away. Where else would they find someone like him?
Lucian pondered about the consequences before finally making the decision to support James. Roxanne immediately understood what Lucian meant after he spoke.
She comforted Jones, “Mr. Lann, I know what’s going through James’ mind. Let him try to win over the identity that shouldn’t exist if there are two personalities in Mrs. Lann. Maybe it would work out that way! Don’t worry. I’ll come to his aid if anything goes wrong.”
Even though she wasn’t sure that James’ technique was going to work, Roxanne knew she had to promise Jones the best outcome first to steady his emotions. It worked. Jones was finally convinced.
“James, you make the call! If you notice something is amiss, let us know!” Lucian shouted through the study’s door. James nodded inside the room as he lifted his eyes to look at Yennefer.
No, wait. The person before me isn’t my mom. It’s Aunt Sheba. She can’t accept that her sister is gone. That’s why my mom created the personality of Aunt Sheba in her mind.
“Please sit down, Aunt Sheba. We need to talk.” James wasn’t able to pin down the reason why he had calmed down completely. Previously, James would break down when he saw the viciousness on Yennefer’s face and heard the hurting remarks she hurled at him. But now, things were different. He finally admitted that the personality before. him was Sheba and needed to talk to her.
“What is there to talk about, James? You were the one who killed me. You cruel man, I fell into the well because of you. James, I’m your mom’s identical twin sister! How could you do this to me?” Yennefer screamed angrily.
Her accusations sounded beside James continuously. However, James was no longer afraid of ‘Sheba. Instead, he looked at her calmly.
“Aunt Sheba, that was an accident. Nothing more. It wasn’t my intention to make you fall into the well. Come on. Please have a seat,” James stated calmly.
“Sheba’ continue staring at him with a sinister, raging glare while gritting her teeth. “Why? Why did you kill me? I cared for you sincerely! I bought you everything you wanted when you were young. I loved you so much!”
A sadness appeared in James’ eyes. “Yes, Aunt Sheba. You’re right. But Aunt Sheba, you were the one who changed first. You began to feel jealous of my mom from an unknown moment. You wanted to replace her, right?”
James took over the situation, demanding an explanation from ‘Sheba.’
Her expression changed drastically. She shook her head violently, trying to deny James’ allegations. “No. I did not. I didn’t change. You killed me. I won’t ever let this matter slide. Stop with your nonsense, James Lann!”
“It’s the truth.” James snorted coldly. His voice was so loud that even Lucian and Roxanne heard him through the door.
Jones twisted his hands together, pacing back and forth. Worry kept niggling his mind, for he was afraid of anything unexpected incidents.
“Don’t forget this, Aunt Sheba. You tried to poison your sister. You wanted to hurt and cripple her so you could be with my dad forever, right?”
James made up his mind. I need to use poison to fight poison. I have no choice, even if ‘Aunt Sheba’ would resort to crazier actions. “No. I didn’t do that. It wasn’t me, James!”
“Don’t try to deny it anymore, Aunt Sheba. It was you. You even tried to stop me from telling the others. Aunt Sheba, why? Why is it wrong for me to inform my mom about what happened?”
A long-time professional in psychology, James. had never thought he would come face-to-face with consciousness one day, trying to reason with it. Consciousness was different from subconsciousness. The subconscious mind will follow the patient’s will, but the conscious mind does not.
“The one who ended up killing me is you!” “Yes. You’re right, and I blame myself for it. I had no choice, though. I had to protect my mom. Aunt Sheba, you were in the wrong from the start, not me. I’d never thought of hurting you!”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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