With panicked eyes, I look at Felix, who is standing on the stairs, and then turn toward the diabolical woman behind the fence. My heart beats restlessly fast when I notice her smile.
- Don't do it, please. You will make his condition worse. He thinks you are dead, that he killed you in the past," I turn to her in a pleading voice.
- Did he kill? - repeats the woman. - Does he hate me that much?
- Mom, what are you doing here! - shouts Eve as she runs out of the house and nudges Felix's shoulder on the way. - Stop controlling us at every turn! I will not part with Mike! He's the greatest guy on earth! We have a child together!
My friend is resourceful and can come up with something on the fly at any time to save the situation.
- Is that your mother? - asks a puzzled Felix, glancing at Mike, who is standing next to him. - What is this all about? Why did her mother come after you?
- It's a long story," Mike says nervously, putting his arm around him. - Let me tell you about it inside, and let my girlfriend take care of her mother.
- Why does she want you two to separate when you have a child? - Felix does not let go, and I let the air out of my mouth with relief.
Eve stands next to me and, wrinkling her eyebrows, looks at Felix's mother.
- You have a lot of nerve...
The woman looks at us with hatred in her eyes.
- This way you can't protect him from me anyway. It's only for a moment. - Her voice is so unkind that it makes me shiver, especially when her gaze is aimed directly at me. - Now that you've told me that my son thinks I'm dead, I want even more to get him back and make him realize that he still has a mother.
I clench my fists in anger, having no strength for this woman.
- So you want to kill him? - asks Eve directly. - Is that what you mean?
- Don't interfere. It doesn't concern you, snot," she attacks her.
- Do you have the audacity to come outside my house after I forbade you to do so? - At the first moment I jump up because Lucas appears behind us like a ghost. - I think I clearly communicated to you that you should stay away from Felix and not show your face to him.
- Son, don't be a hypocrite. You said that both me and Selena are poison to Felix and you won't let us near him, yet she is in your house, right next to him.
- I was wrong. Selena is his only salvation and I can see with my own eyes how his condition is improving. She needs to be by his side.
- I have to, too. - The woman does not give up. - He is my son, my child. He needs me.
- Are you kidding me? - Lucas says this with such hatred in his voice as he walks closer to the gate that I get the impression that he will open it in a moment and kill his mother with his bare hands. - I told you that if you defy me, you will bitterly regret it. Go away from here and don't appear before Felix again. This is your last chance.
The gaze the woman aims at me is terrifying.
- Should I not appear before Felix? - She looks amused. - Fine, I won't appear in front of him, I'll keep my word, since you are the same as your father and can kill me at any time.
- Don't do anything, because I swear I won't look at it calmly, old hag. - Lucas' words are outrageous, but I like them incredibly.
He's right. She's an old hag.
The woman snorts under her breath, looking at us with contempt in her eyes.
- Take care of yourself, eldest son, take care of Felix too. I wouldn't want either of you to get hurt. I worry about you every day.
- Stop pretending to care and get out of here. - Lucas pierces her with such a gaze that if I were this woman, I would have fled in fear long ago.
She smiles at the corner of her mouth, throwing me one last glance, then walks away without a word.
A strange feeling of anxiety arises in my heart, and at this point it's not that I'm worried about Felix, but more about myself.
- She won't do anything to me, right? - I ask in a concerned voice Lucas. The man looks at me and does not answer for a long time, as if pondering something.
- This I cannot guarantee you, now you have no choice, you will have to permanently leave with us to New York.
I see Eve's worried gaze with which she watches me.
This thought scares her, because I am her only friend.
*
I nervously play with my hands as we sit in the living room. I watch Lily, who is sleeping on Mike's lap. It's a very late hour and their daughter is tired.
I feel Felix's gaze on me. He is looking at me the whole time, as if something is not giving him a break.
- It's been nice, but we'll be getting home now. Lily is so tired that she sleeps like she killed herself. I apologize to you most sincerely for this action with my mother. I am ashamed," Eve announces as she rises from the couch. - I didn't think she would go to such an extent.
- This is really strange. Is everything okay with her? - Felix asks, looking at the blonde girl suspiciously. - Because looking back, I think she might have some kind of mental health problem. You've been a family for so many years, you have a child together, and she's still stalking you?
Eve glances nervously at Mike and then grunts.
- She can't accept the fact that we already have a big baby and still haven't gotten married. She can't understand our decision and blames Mike for everything, so she tells us to split up, since I am theoretically a single mother. He thinks that as a man, he is not worth anything.
Mike throws his woman an offended look, probably unable to digest the fact that this has crossed her mind, or worse, her throat.
- I proposed to Eve, but she was the one who didn't want to get married," he replies.
I'm afraid that in a moment there might be a serious argument here, so I'm interjecting.
- Thank you for visiting us. Don't worry about this matter with Eve's mother. Nothing like that happened.
Felix and I walk them to the exit. I nervously look around to the sides, wanting to make sure the woman is not around.
- I hope to see you again soon. - Felix looks at Lily, who is sleeping in Mike's arms.
- Take care. We are in touch," I say, smiling at them. Eve looks at me with worried eyes, probably still thinking about this matter with Felix's mother.
- See you there.
They leave the property and get into the car, and Felix and I go back inside. I want to go upstairs, but before I get to the stairs, he grabs my hand and turns me to face him.
- You know... I have to confess to you that for a moment, I went crazy again," he begins, and I look at him with concerned eyes, having a bad feeling. - It was dark and quite far away, but for a moment, I got the impression that Eve's mother was so much like my mother.
I swallow my saliva nervously, running my eyes to the side. I hate lying, and in this case, I have to.
- Do you miss her? - I ask, and his gaze becomes sad. - Do you miss your mother, that's why you seemed to see her?
- No, it's not that. I just still can't get over the fact that she is dead, that she was killed by my unintentional behavior. She and my father, my parents, were killed by their son.
- But you would like to see her after all.... after all, she is your mother," I say slyly, wanting to get it out of him.
- If that happened and if I saw her, I would probably go completely crazy. That's impossible, Selena. She is dead.
He looks at me with such a gaze that I have no doubt about what he is saying.
- Seriously? - I want to lighten the atmosphere and even smile at him. - Wouldn't you be happy that you didn't hurt your parents after all, that let's say, for example, it was an illusion created in illness?
Felix crinkles his eyebrows.
- I would be happy that my parents are alive, that I did not hurt them, but then I would stop trusting myself completely, because I would no longer know what is truth and what is illusion. I would even stop believing that I have you and Lucas. I would probably think that I am locked up in a mental hospital, and that all this is my imagination, a dream from which I do not want to wake up.
His words make me seriously terrified. If the truth comes out, I am sure I will lose him completely.
- How about turning our lives into a dream? I've been thinking a lot about what Lucas suggested, and I'd really like to go to New York.
Felix smiles at the corner of his mouth, and at this point he reminds us incredibly of his mother.
- Why do you want to escape Los Angeles so badly? I understand Lucas, because he has his whole life there, but you? Do you want to do it solely for me?
- After all, you know that you are my entire life, so I want to be by your side, regardless of where you are.
He only now smiles charmingly, puts his hand in my hair and rests his forehead against mine, looking into my eyes.
- Ok, now you've given me an excellent reason.
- So you will take me with you to New York without any problem? - I ask.
- If you're going to pull off scenes like this, I won't take you. - We hear Lucas' voice from upstairs. I move away from Felix and turn toward the stairs. With his arms crossed over his chest, the brunette walks down.
He stands next to us, scanning us with his eyes.
- Find yourself a hobo, then you won't be so perpetually dissatisfied with life," says Felix, looking at his brother. - The drugs make me sleepy, also I'm going to take a bath and go to bed.
- I could have any one of them after one phone call, so don't be so smart," Lucas replies, watching his younger brother run off to the second floor.
When we are left alone, I look at the brunet with worried eyes.
- He confessed to me that he saw your mother behind the fence. I mean, I put it wrong, that he thought he saw your mother in Eve's mother. I pulled his tongue lightly, and just as you told me, his psychiatrist was right — he wouldn't take it. He would be happy if it turned out that his parents were alive, but he would stop trusting himself, thinking that everything around him was an illusion, even me and you.
Lucas sighed and combed his hair with his hand.
- I can't predict what our mother wants to do, what her plan is, so we have to leave here as soon as possible.
- I talked to him about it. He doesn't mind if I live with you in New York. I managed to convince him," I say, smiling slightly. - I'm ready.
- I will embrace this trip as soon as possible, but I have a bad feeling. I can't describe it, but I think something is going to thwart our plans. - Lucas looks anxious. - It's strange, I've never felt something like that before.
- I think I understand you, because I also feel this anxiety.
For a moment, we looked at each other in silence, as if we were in agreement that something bad was coming, something sinister, something we should be afraid of.