II - Memento Mori

[ Belladonna's Point of View ]

I have an idea what that lady is up to. I won't let her win. If she's going to kill me, then I have to kill her first.

I don't want to murder her anyway, but she's pushing me to do it. 

The bottle I saw in the ugly basement, I do not doubt that it is poison. Probably the poison mom used to murder them too. 

I know mom had a reason why she had to kill her family. I may not know why, but it is out of my business already.

All I need to do in this world is survive, and I would do anything to live.

I need a plan, and I won't let anyone ruin my life. If she's planning to kill me using the poison mom used to kill her family, then I will turn the tables. 

I went to the dark basement and looked for other substances I could use, but the cabinets were empty. This lady's got guts. I immediately went back to my room to think of something else. I looked outside the window and saw a lot of herbs and flowers around the mansion's garden.

Well, I know where mom planted those herbs. This is fun.

I went downstairs and saw aunt Melinda reading a book with a bloody title. Let's turn everything bloody then. You love red anyway.

I am looking forward to it.

"Good morning Melinda, I want to go outside."

"Sure, do what you want."

She closed the book she was reading and stood in front of me. 

"Tus días están contados." She whispered behind my ear. 

I smirked and replied, "Memento mori."

...

My nose was filled with the fragrance of different flowers and herbs. I never thought I would love the scent of plants. 

I immediately looked for mom's wolfsbanes. Aside from belladonnas, this is her second favorite poisonous plant. I wonder if I had a brother, would he be named Wolfsbane?

I picked strands of Wolfsbane and kept them in my bag along with the other flowers I picked.

I was about to go back when I heard a sound from the lemon tree in front of me. I looked above and saw a lemon falling! 

"Ouch!" I screamed in pain. That was painful, and it hit my forehead!

I held my forehead, and there was a bump. I got outraged and looked back to where that lemon came from. 

"I am so sorry! I was harvesting lemons, and one fell from my hand!" A boy in jumper shorts and stripes yelled at me. 

I didn't respond and just left the place. But he has no right to harvest anything here, and this is my mansion.

"Hey kid, get down there," I told him in a somber tone. Nevertheless, he went down immediately.

As he finally went down, he left the lemons on the ground and stood in front of me. I thought I was taller than him.

"I told you, I'm sorry. You know, there are a lot of herbs here that can help ease the pain you're feeling and to get rid of that big red lump in your forehead."

I was shocked by what he just said and covered my forehead in an instant.

"Hmm, stay here. I will look for something."

I wasn't supposed to stay, but I found myself waiting for that boy. Never mind, I have much time later and tomorrow to execute my plan. If I feel like this boy is trustworthy, then I can use him.

Soon enough, he came back with wet cloth in his palms. 

He came near me and looked at my forehead intently. He brushed my hair up with his left hand and gently placed the cloth to the lump in my forehead. 

I felt uncomfortable, so I grabbed the cloth and just went away.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"You left this."

Oh gosh. My bag! How could I forget about it? Did he see what's inside? I snatched it from his hands and ran back to the mansion.

...

Now, what do we do?

It's already time for dinner, and I know what this woman is up to. 

If I die tonight, then you will come with me, Melinda.

"Bella! Time for dinner!"

I went downstairs and noticed that the table was full of food. No, I won't let her celebrate my death. 

It's either one or both of us will die.

But I will survive.

"Make yourself comfortable, Bella. You seem so anxious. What's the matter?" Melinda asked me with a very creepy smile and a knife in her hands.

"I'm not anxious."

She licked the knife, left it in the sink, and grabbed a wine from the cabinet. After that, she placed the wine on top of the table and sat in front of me with her two hands together.

"Why won't you eat?" She asked me.

"I have no appetite to eat. May I just sleep?"

"Hahaha. Oh, come on, Bella. I prepared all these foods for you, and you're telling me you don't want to eat? Hahaha." She laughed for two minutes straight and looked me in the eye.

"Don't worry, darling. I won't poison you. So whatever is making you anxious, let it go."

I started eating a piece of chicken and other fruits, but I guess she placed the poison somewhere else.

The wine. I expected it anyway.

"Hmm, Bella." Aunt Melinda said as she was pouring wine in her goblet.

I just stared at her.

"Do you want wine?"

"I can't drink yet."

"Don't worry. This is suitable for your age. It doesn't have alcohol in it and tastes exactly like grape juice."

She started pouring wine in my goblet as well.

This is the game you want to play, huh.

"Let's drink it at the same time, Melinda."

One, two, three.

I smirked behind the goblet. 

I stared at Melinda and watched her drink the wine alone. What a dumbass.

She started vomiting, and white bubbles came out of her mouth. She was searching for something in her pocket while running for her life.

"Are you looking for this?" She looked at me with her eyeballs popping out.

"You're so dumb. Hahaha, I never thought you would be this easy." I added.

"Y- You, I will ki- kill-"

"Oh shut up! Look at yourself. At any rate, right now, you will die already. You can't kill me. Goodbye, Melinda. I didn't murder you. You killed yourself. May you find the peace you're looking for."

In less than a minute, her soul left her body.

Now, it's my turn.

I drank the wine she poured in my goblet and called 911.

"Help me."

Soon enough, I lost consciousness.

...

I woke up with my eyes rolling, and my head hurt so bad. I looked around the place and noticed that I was in the hospital.

I'm alive. 

That's what matters.

After a while, a doctor and a policeman came inside my room and asked me what I was feeling.

Tomorrow will be a long day, but I am prepared for what will happen. 

...

"Is Melinda your aunt?" A fat policeman asked me in a dark office,

"Yes."

"Did you see how she died?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"She was trying to poison me. I don't have any idea that the wine has poison in it. She also drank her wine maybe because she thought she would survive."

"Is it because of this?" The police showed me the bottle I had taken from Melinda. It is an anti-poison that can oppose the effects of the belladonna. 

"Yes."

"Why didn't she use it?"

"I don't know."

"If she died, why did you survive?"

"That's out of my scope already. Maybe, I was meant to live."

The policeman wrote the details of our conversation and released me already. 

They said I could continue to live in the mansion, and they would hire a babysitter to live with me. I denied the offer. I told them that I could do chores and I can take care of myself. Of course, they were hesitant at first, but what can they do about it.

They said that I could contact them whenever something terrible happens in the mansion again.

...

Days after, I went back to the mansion, and it was totally different. I think they granted my request to remove every single memory of Melinda in this house.

Everything in the interior is full of pastel colors that are pleasing to my eyes.

I went to my room, and it was also renovated.

I fixed my stuff and went downstairs to the dining area, where Melinda died.

I didn't kill her.

She killed herself.

I remembered everything that day.

...

Flashback

I squeezed the liquid from the Wolfsbane and placed it on Melinda's favorite knife. I observed that lady these past days, and she has this weird obsession with licking that knife.

While she was cooking, I was relieved that she didn't use the knife for the food. Maybe, if her plan of poisoning me doesn't work, she would use that knife to stab me. Or perhaps she has other reasons.

As for the anti-poisoning liquid, she's so dumb for not noticing it falling from her pocket. I took it, of course.

When she licked the knife, I knew everything was going according to my plan.

Wolfsbane will show its effects after an hour, so it will be triggered once she drinks the wine.

After she died, I removed all crumbs that could confuse the officers. I washed the knife and threw my extra Wolfsbane away.

The police won't suspect me if I act like the victim. I was the original victim anyway.

I added three drops of anti-poison liquid in the wine with belladonna and drank it right away.

I lost consciousness but still woke up with my heart beating.

And that's how I survived, folks.