Chapter 37 - Morality Fail, Not Personality Disorder (Kalenah Conrad POV)pt.2

A/n: Surprise POV below :)

Chapter 37 – Morality Fail, Not Personality Disorder (Kalenah POV) Pt.2

Cynthia was either a great actress or something else was going on.

Faith had hit her fairly hard although she didn't seem all there at the moment. "What do you mean, where is Fatima?" Andy growled, between his teeth, "She went to get help for her wrist," his face scrunched in distaste. And I think I had a new look to at to my compilation – Andy's facial expression as he gazed at his mother – it's like all the faith he had in the woman had evaporated.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" bingo! I thought as Cynthia scrunched her brows, "You left Fatima – you – you told me that she was imaginary – when I was adamant that she exists you said that she was a woman that took care of me as a child when you were taken from the room," he shouted shaking.

"And – and – she's alive – you said she was dead!"

"How – how could you? Leave her behind and then not even months later – months – become Leslie, Lydia and Lia's mother?"

"I told you," Andy pointed towards Danny, his hands shaking, "Do you remember when I asked you, told you to help me find Fatima?" my siblings and Ansels' all appeared to have found my hardwood floor extraordinarily exciting at once. "I told you, asked you if could help me find my Fatima," he glared daggers at Danny now.

"You said that I shouldn't ask for her anymore because it was hurting my mom, that I was her big boy, that it made her sad-" shaking steadily, the rage rolling off of him in buckets, "You – how – I just – I don't understand!"

Rising shakily, Cynthia stood and stepped towards Andy, her hand connecting with his face, "Don't you ever speak to me in that tone, I'm your mother, whatever I've done – you remember that" the resounding clap was met with widened eyes.

Andy's face snapping to the right with her effort.

"Cynthia!" Danny barked.

"That's going to be the one and only time you ever do that." Andy turned back to face her, his eyes holding all his pent up rage. "You just called her an abomination, said that she ruined your life, and you think I'm going to respect you after all the lies you've told?" his voice incredulous, face already turning a light shade of pink.

"Andy lets go..." Danny said not looking at anyone in the room, but with this ridiculousness, no one could look away, "I'm not going anywhere with her," sticking to his guns the rudeness saturating his words and every muscle as his jaw seemed to twitch in its position.

"She may be your sister, but we've been your family," Danny said slowly, enunciating each word. My eyes went straight to Ansel's, knowing that a statement like that from one of us to our sons would never end well. "You're no better than her if you're taking her side on all this. How can you even – I don't understand how you can even stomach looking at her after what she just said? What she did and all the lies she's told?"

"It's not complicated, she left my sister behind and took me, and then she pretended that her daughter died when she obviously wasn't. She's lied to us all for years!"

My heart truly went out to Andy who seemed to be on his way to hysterics, "I mean – don't you get it?"

"She had no intention of ever going to get Fatima back. I mean even if you say you had second thoughts about ever going back. That isn't true, you started off telling everyone that your child died," his body jerked, but took a step back from Danny and Cynthia. Whipping his head from side to side, then slapping a hand over his mouth as he gagged, pulling me from my stupor.

Bypassing Cynthia and Danny I rushed to his side, pulling him towards the downstairs bathroom so he could empty his stomach. Finding a spare toothbrush and paste for him, setting it on the counter, before sitting on the rim of the tub.

Rubbing my hand on his back, as his body heaved and jerked over the porcelain, "She – how could she?" he moaned crying, spitting and panting as he sat back on his heels. "I – I don't remember much about Fatima I just – I remembered her eyes – that's not much but – I can't remember her from that time, but I just remember – remembering her..." he struggles to say what he means, repeating himself but I understand and nod.

He doesn't remember the time he spent with Fatima in that gray room individually, but because he hadn't just let her go when he left, he held on to bits of memories, her eyes. He has kept a tight grip on the months following losing his sister; he remembers how he felt when he accepted that she wasn't real or there.

Although with his reaction right now, I'm not sure Andy ever just believed that Fatima was just a figment of his imagination. He just stopped mentioning it to people that didn't give legitimacy to his memories.

The tears in his eyes, made his eyes look more like Fatima's. He brought his leg up, bending them and placing his elbows on them. "It's – it's not that I don't love my family – Leslie, Lydia and Lia especially – but for me, there has always been a piece missing inside. They aren't Fatima," he whispered as though he had no right to even utter such words.

"He told me that I had to protect her," Andy mumbles his words throwing me off. I don't have long to worry or even pull his words apart. "Who was he?"

His bottom lip trembled. Andy looks wide-eyed at the tiles on the ground. "She's been a great mom, but – she just left Fatima behind, it wasn't an accident or something she would take back – her plans never included her," he moans. Again I just nod and listen, letting him have his say.

"How – how did you find her?" Andy questions but shakes his head, "I mean I know – she saved Talia but I mean she just showed up?"

I nodded, "someone – she didn't remain in the gray concrete room until now, someone – found her and kept her safe," I wouldn't give him all the details I would leave that up to Faith to clue him in if she so wished that.

"He died, and his friend was informed about Faith, he often travels so he placed Faith at the boarding school, and well you know she was rooming with the girls..." he nodded, as his eyes filled up all over again. "I'm glad Fatima is here," again the words whispered and the tears fell, only above his cheeks as he wiped them away roughly.

"What's she like?" he asked inhaling deeply, his shoulders rising.

Truly, I wasn't sure how to answer this question for him, "She is very literal," he gazed at me silently waiting for more, or confused, maybe even both.

I thought of my nieces. Lydia's sometimes bubbly personality, and Leslie's seriousness but devotion to caring for her younger siblings. Stella always smiling, never worried or sad for very long and curious but brave Danny Junior. "She's the exact opposite of your other siblings... she's intelligent, an old soul."

Thirteen words of nothingness. That is really what I just gave Andy, but maybe sensing that I wasn't going to give him more than I had. He nodded, closing his eyes and just leaned his head back.

Continuously – furiously more so – wiping at his face, catching tears and not letting them fall.

"What's bothering you the most?"

I'd have to bet that his issue was being deceived. Cynthia hadn't just told a simple white lie, she had told a whopper, then continued adding lies, building and weaving her deception until if I have to critic her reaction from before, Cynthia actually believed that her daughter had died. Lie after lie, creating a false reality, she probably started to believe it.

But now? Downstairs all the lies she told... and worse that for years Cynthia had made Andy question his own sanity.

"I know she was a good mom, but the lies... making me feel like I had imagined the little girl with green eyes and wild black hair. I mean, I can remember looking for her everywhere we went for so long," he moaned, and I could recall what he mentioned. Him coming to our house, asking if she was there, going to our parents, asking if Faith was there, looking around, especially when he would see a group of children.

"Aunt Kale..." his lips pursed. "You think – do you think Fatima's mad that I didn't find her?" The mother in me wanted to leave Andy and rush out into my living room and wrap my hands around Cynthia's neck. The other half of me, my stomach flipped uneasily, that he felt he was to blame.

"She just left her... that was so – so – so – I don't even know," he shook his head from side to side furiously, "So vindictive!" I nodded when dark, angry green eyes latched onto mine, but something didn't sit right at the moment. Sure I hadn't raised Andy, but our families spent enough time together, summer holidays, vacations and traveling for me to know that this was not the reaction I had been expecting. Sure Cynthia had behaved maliciously – leaving a child behind? In one of Alpha Monet's camp no less – but Andy's toxic reaction wasn't what I had expected.

While he finally made a move, crawling before standing tall at the counter, reaching for the toothbrush and paste, I had placed out for him someone knocked on the closed door. Standing, I opened revealing a tired and overdressed Ansel, "Danny and your mom left, we said that you can stay with Trevor once he returns with Faith and Samson," he spoke to Andy over my shoulder.

"You okay?" I turn to Andy, who nodded, his green eyes filled with unshed tears, and the betrayal he must be feeling thick and unrelenting now. But there was nothing else I could say right now, at this moment. Exiting the bathroom, giving him some time alone, I walked right into Ansel's arms, noting that the older children were no longer in the room, but the adults all sat about in the living room.

"Okay, will someone just lay this all out for us now?" Macy, Ansel's youngest sister, chirped the others, both of our families nodding in agreement.

Exasperated I didn't know where to begin, not only was this not my story but at this point, I'm sure they knew what there was to know, as well as what I felt comfortable telling.

"Faith is Sophie, the daughter that Cynthia said had died, we – well all of you now – know that isn't true, she left Faith in the camp and took Andy and ran-"

Macy shook her head, "Yea... we know that but how did Faith escape?"

I looked to Ansel, before looking back at the family. "We – she's not even sure of that just yet, Faith can't remember the first four or maybe five years of her life chronologically – she didn't even know who Cynthia was. Faith couldn't remember her clearly, but when she saw Cynthia for the first time speaking with Ansel I guess she got some memories back, and she ran away, into the woods..." my father shook his head, knowing all this but, hearing details didn't make it easier to swallow.

Glancing I would be willing to bet everyone here, their minds were on their own children, wondering how Cynthia could just abandon a child, much less where she did it and a girl no less. We had all heard the rumors, which weren't actually rumors if people had mentioned it themselves. Those with first-hand experience.

"So – when were you planning on telling Danny?"

"Faith has been our first priority from the moment we invited her into our home, Danny is a grown man, and Cynthia is an adult as well, the child in this situation is Faith, and that's whom we put first and foremost here," Ansel somewhat snapped at his brother Scotty.

The two brothers squared off, "So she just showed up – saved Talia – is related to Cynthia? All of this is coincidence-"

I shook my head, "Don't even say she had anything to do with that fire, she didn't-" I cut my sister Marisela off, "How did she end up here then? Out of all places?"

"I was under the impression she was a scholarship child at the school, are you two covering her fees?" Scotty questioned, and before I snapped once again I had to inhale deeply, holding it until my spark of rage passed.

"We would appreciate if this was kept private," I started, only continuing when all the family nodded, "not even our children know," I warned and received a few raised eyebrows. Before taking Faith home with us, if something was found out about her she had told us minor details were okay, but nothing too much. So far we hadn't truly had a mishap that required us to divulge anything.

But now here we were.

"Faith was taken by a man named Dmitri from one of the camps and held in a house alone, under the belief that the air was poisonous. She can't remember a time, where she didn't believe that. She's only ever been outside for the last five months... the man Dmitri would leave her for months at a time alone in a large house, bigger than this place," I waved around at my own home while Ansel and my family gaped at us in disbelief.

"Dmitri was killed in May, and he called a friend leaving an ominous yet vague message, only giving coordinations of where he wanted his friend to go. Said friend took nearly two months before he even went where Dmitri had told him to go and was surprised to find Faith, in the home alone – nearly starved and shocked that he could walk outside without a full body suit and mask. She had no phone service, she-" My eyes watered, and a large lump grew in my throat. "Faith – she's been alone her whole life, the one person that she thought she could count on? He lied to her, she never went outside, she didn't even know that cell phones existed, he made it so even the radio was something she had no access too."

"The television she had only played movies and anything made after 1995. He never brought anything recent for her to see, he made her believe that she needed to make her own clothes. That he fought and worked hard for all the things he brought to her. When in reality he was as well off financially as my mama, papa and all of us," I waved at my siblings and myself, "put together."

"The house she lived on was on his own private property nearly six hours away from a small town, and the only way to get to her was to pass onto his estate. She thought she was living in Switzerland when in reality it was just North Carolina..." I finished giving the bare minimum of information to our siblings, while Ansel just shook his head in disgust.

"He did – this man didn't – harm her?" Macy questioned her voice wavering, stressing, making sure her question, however, choppy was understood, "No, but he didn't show her love either, he made sure she had what she would need but she was left alone for most of her life." I wouldn't go into detail and say that Faith didn't trust a lick of us. Even with Samson, I don't think she fully believed him; he was most likely the lesser of two evils in her mind.

"How'd she end up here? And at the excellent school no less?" my little sister Crista questioned, her forehead lined.

"He – Dmitri – he made her study, she never had anything else to do with herself so she studied a lot when he was gone. He brought her books, granted nothing after 1995, but I was told that there were a significant number of books, what she doesn't know socially, Faith knows academically – outside of history between 1995 and 2015."

"When – he left all his belongings for Faith, everything," I glazed over a few details, "he also left a note saying that she would excel well at the school, and so she was placed there," again leaving out significant details. Macy's eyes glaze over until she seems to startle herself.

"Oh my gosh, is – that's why you were so surprised when you said she actually spoke to one of us? She doesn't venture to do that much? Does she?" I shrugged.

"So she was in one prison and then, saved, but only ended up in another different, prison?" Andy growled from behind me, making me lean forward, and turn swiftly to see his face.

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Exhausted, I stretch out in my dorm room bed. Needing to wake up but lethargic in the worst way. "What the damn hell Taylor! Where did you get ten thousand dollars?!" Grunting I shaky my head in the dark room, roommates' voices carrying into Lennon's shared room and mine.

"And don't tell me that same lie you just tried to feed to Javier! I know you! Why would you steal from Ansel and Kalenah if you want Samson? There's no way they'd allow him to date you now-" hearing more and more I stretch out once again.

This time pushing myself to sit up in bed, I still overhear their conversation. Not that they were being quiet by any standards. They probably were assuming that Lennon, Brooklyn and our other dorm mate Megan weren't around.

"Samson and I don't need their permission!" Taylor shouts back and I duck back into my pillow laughing.

Taylor was seriously certifiable.

"Taylor," Devin groans, "Where did you get the money?"

"I stole it," Taylor replies quickly. "If the Conrad's haven't noticed that the money is gone," Devin starts, her tone equal of one that's treading lightly. "Maybe you can return it Taylor," I gasp into my pillow. Pulling my face from the pillow, I sit up again, standing and grabbing my cell phone, checking for messages.

"What about my relationship with Brennan Taylor? Or Javier with Talia? Did you even think about us when you decided to steal their money?" I blink listening in to them again.

Frowning. "You cannot just think of yourself, I'm – Brennan won't even look at me Taylor-"

"They have enough money that they-"

"Taylor, I don't believe you got it from the Conrads', but if you did, please, please, return it." Waiting for the rest of their conversation, I hold my phone in my hand just holding it.

Now Taylor stole money from the Conrads?

I shake my head, waiting for more between the sisters; instead I hear a door slammed. A few minutes go by and when I've heard nothing I decide to venture out of my room. Down the hall from the shared area, Lennon and I have the last room.

Walking past Taylor and Devin's room, though I assumed I was alone, I hear a voice – Taylors'.

"I've run into trouble – I need more time," she says monotone. Frowning, I look at her door, confused. Shaking my head I don't eavesdrop, just go about my business and start making a sandwich for dinner.

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