Coal Part 13: 1st Draft

Ciara woke up late the next morning, yawning. Somehow, she didn't remember having a warm golden brown blanket on her bed, but she hugged it tighter under her head. She opened her eyes when she felt it squirm.

"What the hell?" she muttered, lifting her head to meet two very large hazel eyes.

"Well, good morning to you too, human." answered the lioness. "Please try to remember that I am not one of those cuddly cartoon animals your kind is so found of making." The lioness had a very deep, almost threatening tone.

Ciara got up and folded her arms. "You're the one who fell asleep on my bed! You've got some fucking nerve!"

"I'm a feline. What did you expect me to do? Curl up at the foot of your bed, and keep an all-night vigil?" Fola yawned. "Do I look like a watchdog to you?"

"No. You don't look like a watchdog to me." Ciara replied. What a bitch! She thought. But she wasn't dumb enough to say that out loud. "I'm...gonna go now." She got up and started for the door.

"Bring me some of those leftover chicken fingers. It's not steak, but it'll have to do." Fola rolled over and started to snore.

Ciara went down the stairs, and into the kitchen, feeling pissed off at the lion who was had taken over her bed. Zene was in the kitchen already, sitting at the table eating an apple. Ciara made herself a bowl of cold cereal and joined her aunt. "You've got to take that cat back." Ciara muttered.

Zene chuckled around her bite of apple. "I can't do that. She's not exactly a gift, like I told you before."

Ciara groaned. "I was afraid of you saying that."

"She's a little prickly, but she's all talk. Like a politician." They both had a good laugh over that. "I'm going to miss you, you know."

Ciara choked on her cereal. "You're leaving?"

"Yes. As much as I've enjoyed being with you, the duty of my country calls. I've got a few more years in me before I abdicate. Aina's almost ready to take over and take Swaziland into the future." Zene finished her apple, twirling the core around with her fingers.

"So...when are you going to go?" asked Ciara quietly.

"Should be any day now. I have to make arrangements for the Oni-Red Bough before I get into the country. I'm sure someone knows that I have it by now, and I want to make sure The Swaziland National Guard and the museum is properly prepared before I arrive. But enough talk about me already." Zene raised an eyebrow expectantly. "What kind of a relationship are you going to have with Prince Dominick?"

Ciara ducked her head. "Um...I guess we're just together right now. He called me his girlfriend."

"Good for you. Don't take love for granted. Treat him right."

"After all I've been through, do you think I would let my man get away?" said Ciara sassily. They both erupted in laughter.

"What's so funny?" asked Adrian. He had bed-head, and he had on a plushy houserobe. "Is there any of that cereal left?"

"Yeah, Dad." Ciara got him a bowl. "It was just a joke." She looked down into her cereal, suddenly feelng sad. "Aunt Zene's going to be going back to Swaziland pretty soon."

Adrian turned away from the fridge. "Well, I guess I couldn't expect you to stay here forever. You've got a whole country to worry about, not to mention your daughters. How's Halim doing?"

Zene chuckled nervously. "I wouldn't know."

"The two of you aren't...?"

"No. Things didn't work out." Zene shrugged painfully. "That's life." Zene tried to smile, but Ciara could see that the sides of her eyes were tearing up.

Ciara hugged her aunt. "I am so sorry. I didn't know you had those kinds of problems!"

"It wasn't something I wanted anyone to worry about. I just wanted you to be happy, Ciara. While you're young, and you have the chance to be with someone who really cares about you. Not someone who sees you as just another mark."

"When you asked me if I really wanted him-if I really loved him-you weren't testing me, were you? You really didn't know." said Ciara accusingly. "You've never been in love before."

Zene stared at her for a long moment. "No. I guess I haven't. But who really falls in love any way?"

"The Love Shoes..."

Zene laughed. "It's a pixie tale! An old legend handed down to promote romance and all that. Love is a joke. It fades with time like an old photograph."

"My love for Amara never faded. I drank so I wouldn't have to think about it." Adrian's face started to twitch with an angry pain.

"Like that's believable! She gave up her life so you could have the one thing you wanted most, and you ran. So what did that accomplish? Love killed a sister, wife, and mother! It made you a drunk who's lost everything, and gave you a daughter who's about to get her heart broken by the most handsome prince in all!" Zene laughed harshly. "Do I even have to mention that woman and her daughters?"

Adrian ducked his head. "I am going to my room. When I come out, I want you out of my house, Zene." He managed to choke out before leaving.

Ciara started crying. "How could you say that? what's wrong with you?"

"It's time you grew up. No one falls in love, it's a lie men use to get us in bed, and the lie we tell ourselves to stay with them."

"Then why did you let me go through with all this? Why did you help me?"

"To be honest, I didn't think you'd keep his attention. But he got what he wanted from you, so you weren't a complete waste of his time."

Ciara started shaking. "It's not true!" The whole room started spinning.

"Isn't it? Who ever heard of a poor little rich girl marrying the prince of her own country? It hasn't happened, and it's not going to happen."
Zene had a self-satsfied look on her face. She was too smug to just be telling her niece the truth, she enjoying this. In that instant, she didn't look like her aunt at all. Her aunt's voice didn't even sound right, but Ciara assumed it was her true self coming out.

"You...bitch!" Ciara choked out. She couldn't breathe. It was like her body was shaking apart, breaking her up. She stood up, staggering over to her aunt to punch her in the face for her betrayal. "I..do...love...D-" she fainted, falling backwards, and knocking her head against the kitchen tile, insuring she'd be out cold for even longer.

Aunt Zene looked at Ciara. "Well that turned out better than I could have hoped." she said, sounding strangely like a self-satisfied Debra Vicks. She sauntered over to the intercom. "Girls! Get down here! We need to get rid of her before Adrian comes back! Though I suspect he's started drinking again." She smiled at Ciara lying down on the floor. "I always get what I want. No matter what!"

Oh No! Where's the real Aunt Zene? And what do those nasty Vicks have in store for Ciara? Find out in "Coal:Part 14" coming soon!