Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 19: Disgrace

Onyx was restless. Although the floor was uncomfortable, there was no way he was asking to sleep in Amelia's bed, but that was besides the point. He could tell by the dim light peeking from behind the curtain that it was morning, and with the rising sun came a heated argument, easily heard from downstairs. He looked over at Amelia peacefully sleeping beside him and wondered how she was sleeping through the distant yelling.

Onyx rolled over and closed his eyes, trying to drown out the noise. Just as he was about to drift to sleep, he heard a shift in the bed beside of him and looked over to see Amelia groggily sit down on the edge. 

"Onyx...?" 

He stood up from the floor.

"Good morning," Onyx sighed. "It sounds like everyone else is up bright and early..."

Amelia frowned. "Oh no. Mom must have told them..." her voice trailed off. 

Downstairs, everyone but Aubrey and little Claire were gathered in the living room, engaged in a quite heated discussion.

"You did what?" Garret asked, glancing at his wife.

"I kicked her out." Elaine bluntly stated. "If Amelia is old enough to go against her parents then she's old enough to be on her own. So I told her to get out, simple as that."

"You can't do that!" Alexander snapped, catching the attention of the adults. "That's not fair! She's your daughter!"

"Life's not fair, Alexander!" Elaine growled. "And no, she's not."

Alexander clenched his fists tightly. "Well... I'm sorry, mom. You might think she's not your daughter, but I know she's my sister. And I'm sticking with her no matter what. If she goes, I go."

"You're not going anywhere!" Elaine yelled. 

Alexander furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah? Try and stop me then!"

Before Elaine could retort, Elias interrupted.

"Listen to yourself, Elaine!" he exclaimed. "This is ridiculous! You can't kick out your own child just because you don't approve of her--"

"Yes, I can!" Elaine stomped her foot with emphasis. 

"No!" Elias insisted. "I'm not letting you just throw my niece out into the freezing cold with nothing or nowhere to go! She'll die on her own, don't you get that?" he tried to reason. "I don't know where you expect her to live!" 

Elaine paused and for a moment, she knew he was right. Certainly Onyx's mother would never allow her to stay there, and she really had no friends or family nearby. Where would she go? What would she do? 

Garrett chimed in. "If you love our daughter, you won't do this to her. Please, Elaine, think logically."

'Maybe this is ridiculous...' Elaine thought, but when she looked up to see Onyx standing in her living room, all of her anger returned. "What is he doing here!?"

 "He stayed the night." Amelia replied bluntly.

"He WHAT!?" Elaine shrieked. "Don't you realize you put your entire family in danger!? You turned your back on him in the middle of the night! That THING could have killed us all!"

"I'm not going to kill anyone!" Onyx exclaimed. "Why can't you understand that I don't want to hurt people?"

Elaine frowned. "You're lying. Vampires are all bloodthirsty monsters."

Onyx suddenly was at a loss for how to reply. 'She's right,' he thought. 'I am a bloodthirsty monster. But...' he clenched his fists in anger. "But I don't want to be!"

"You can't live in denial of what you are... Onyx." Elaine sneered.

She stormed over to the two teenagers, glaring at Amelia. "And YOU! You're lucky that your family convinced me to let you stay!"

"They did?" Amelia asked, a little surprised. 'Thank you...' she thought.

"Yes, but keep this in mind," Elaine began. "I will NEVER approve of this! He is not welcome in this house! I want nothing to do with you or him!"

I want nothing to do with you. The words stabbed into Amelia like a sword.

"You're an absolute disgrace to this family, Amelia Wesley!" Elaine continued. "Just wait and see, you'll discover that I was right all along. But when you do, don't come crying to me!"

With that, she turned to Onyx. "Get out of my house."

"No." Onyx growled, forcing himself to contain his anger.

"GET OUT!" Elaine yelled, and shoved him towards the front door.

'There's no use in resisting,' he thought, and looked back at Amelia as he was marched to the nearest exit.

Amelia watched helplessly. 'I'm sorry, Onyx...'

"Get out and stay out!" Elaine snapped. "I don't want to see you anywhere near here again."

Onyx glared over his shoulder. "Fine by me. But good luck keeping me away from Amelia."

Elaine growled. "What do I care anymore? She's no daughter to me."

Onyx felt his anger reach the boiling point. "Yeah? She's better off then, because you're a pathetic excuse for a mother."

Before Elaine could explode he walked out the front door, slamming it shut behind him. 'I wish I could change all of this,' he thought. 'Amelia doesn't deserve this, and it's all because of me...'

But there was no turning back now; he knew that he wanted to be with Amelia no matter what.