Xiomara opened her eyes gradually taking notice of her environment, she was in her room and the sun shining its rays into the room was a good indicator that it was morning.
She closed her eyes again inhaling deeply before reopening them, she can't remember quite well how she got there after dozing off in the car, that was the last thing she remembered.
She dragged the duvet off her body, looking at her clothes from yesternight, she signed in relief gradually getting off the bed.
“Mum?” Delfina called, she walked towards her, she had been sitting there waiting for her to wake up.
“Honey, what are you doing here?” Xiomara opened her arms for a warm embrace, Delfina didn't hesitate as she sat in between Xiomara’s legs while she patted her like a two-year-old.
“No school?” Xiomara asked.
“It's Sunday mum,” Delfina said causing Xiomara to hiss, despite just waking up from sleep, she was very tired as if she never slept at all.
“Oh that's true, Mummy totally forgot” Xiomara smiled at her.
“No problem, are you feeling better now,” Delfina asked touching Xiomara’s forehead to check her temperature.
“Mummy is fine” Xiomara gradually removed Delfina’s hand from her forehead
“Mummy just had a hectic and rough day yesterday, that's all” she added making sure to keep up with the bold smile on her face.
“Okay, so do you need more rest?” Delfina asked.
“Hmm” Xiomara nodded and Delfina smiled, “Alright, Mr. Luca and Miss Yvette are here to see you, should I tell them to come back later,” Delfina asked
“Hmm, you can do that”
“Okay mummy, I will come wake you up in the next two hours, make sure you get lots of sleep okay,” Delfina said standing up.
“I will do that, and don't skip breakfast” Xiomara instructed.
“I Won't, I love breakfasts,” Xiomara said making her way to the door.
She smiled at her mum before leaving the room, locking the door behind her.
Xiomara exhaled as she lay down again relaxing, she felt a little hiccup, and reaching for a bottle of water which she always kept at her side table near her, she hissed finding out it wasn't there.
“Hello, get me a glass of water” She spoke through her room telephone which connected to the maids' room.
A few minutes later, a knock came through and a young lady who appeared to be in her early twenties entered with a tray containing a cold bottle of water, a glass cup, and some homemade cookies.
She dropped them at the side table, bowing slightly, and turned to leave but was stopped by Xiomara's question.
“No Ma'am, Yvette stepped out a few minutes ago, and Luca, I haven't seen him around since yesterday” she replied politely.
“Did Yvette say where she was going?” Xiomara asked helping herself with the water.
“No, but young mistress Delfina might have an idea, I saw them talking before she left”
Xiomara stared at her, then dropped the glass cup, “Put a call across them, I need them here in two hours so they should better be quick with whatever it is, they are doing” Xiomara adjusted on the bed, using the duvet to cover her body.
“I will relay your message to them” she bowed before walking out of the room.
Xiomara closed her eyes to sleep but the words of the shaman couldn't stop repeating in her head.
She didn't know want those words meant and Yvette's idea or rather opinion wasn't helping her figure it all out.
The beep from her phone snapped her out of the little thought as she reached for it.
“Reille G26 started following you” She scoffed, it's been ages since she got notifications from that account, she had thought she had deactivated it so why was she getting notifications, Xiomara wondered clicking on the message which redirected her to the account.
It was her old Instagram account, which she had created back in her high school days, Xiomara smiled looking at the number of her followers “Six hundred and ninety thousand followers” she grinned, she was just following twenty people, lucky twenty as she used to call them.
She scrolled down smiling as she looked at her old pictures, she looked very young, innocent, and carefree, she was genuinely happy then and had thought her life would go just as she had planned.
Growing up to be a lawyer, a model, an actress, and above a popular influencer Xiomara snickers, “Life does throw lemons at you” she kept looking at her pictures impressed at the number of likes and comments she got, back then she really didn't really have the time to check her likes and comments and reading the comments now, she was stunned.
A lot of people were drooling over her and wishing they were her or better still in her shoes, but there were a few hate comments, a post never goes well without a few bunches of idiots having something bad to say about it.
Someone even commented she was leaving a fake life and young to be on Instagram, another advised her to focus on her studies and quiet travelling around while the other said something about her parents not raising her well.
Xiomara burst into a peal of involuntary laughter, all these comments were under a video she had made during a trip to Kenya.
Back then, she was quite popular, she came from a rich home so she was always making vlogs about everything she did, family trips, gifts, wardrobe changes, new meals, trying out something new, every single thing about her was a good content to draw attention which turned to followers, asides from that, she always got modelling offers because of her beauty and in no time she was already in runaways and in front of teen magazines which got her more followers.
She learned from the best, her mum used to be a content creator before she got married and got a job as a journalist and a podcaster.
Going through her old video made Xiomara relaxed and the smile plastered on her face was old enough for everyone to see, she laughed seeing how funny she was, she had a great sense of humour back then but now, Xiomara wasn't sure if she still possesses that quality, she was overly protective and was always at alert at all times so she had no time to be funny or laugh about things.
Xiomara’s smiles slowly faded away when a video popped up, it was the last video she had posted on her Instagram account.
Her dress-up video preparing to go to the prom and her arrival at the prom.
Xiomara sniffed, trying to prevent the already clustered tears in her eyes from dropping, she looked so happy and obviously didn't know what the night had in stock for her.
Her parents were also seen in the video, it was more like an interview regarding how they felt about their daughter attending prom night at her tender age, all their housekeepers had their turn in the video.
Looking at the faces of her parents and those of the innocent housekeepers who were all cut up in the web, broke her heart.
Then the video got to the part when she got to the venue, her friends or so she thought, all came to welcome her and usher her, she wasn't just popular on Instagram, she was popular in school too.
The video didn't capture when the party started fully but it featured most of the guests arriving.
Xiomara throws her phone to the other side of the bed and buried her face in her pillow, crying out loud.
She cried for a few minutes with no one consoling her but her subconscious which kept telling her that everything is going to be okay, Xiomara raised her head, and her eyes were red and a bit swollen.
She picked up her phone to check the comments, the majority read “Rip” which came afterwards probably after the fire incident, just a very few were drooling over her and complimenting her ball grown, the rest were from the usual haters causing at her.
“It's been how many years, I'm sure you all are happy now” Xiomara wanted to comment but on another thought, she kicked against it, it was going to be creepy, really creepy, the rip comments she got were an indicator that everyone thinks she is dead and commenting through that same account was going to creep everyone out.
She stared at the pictures she posted putting on her ball gown, just like the prom night videos were the last she posted, the pictures from the same prom night were the last pictures she posted.
“Yes, that's right, you are dead, I'm sure you even have a grave in Sacramento, you should keep resting, Xiomara Della Rocco is going to deal with them,” Xiomara said using her face napkin to wipe her tears.
Just then she got a notification about a new post “Yeah right, I should check what my followers have been up to” she said clicking on the notification icon.
The first she saw, was a video according to Instagram she was tagged several times so they flagged it as important.
She clicked on it and her brows furrowed immediately on seeing the video.
“Like seriously” Xiomara managed to say, fighting those tears, she didn't want to cry again.
It was the video of her being raped on her prom night and aside from her face which was highlighted and made even more clear, every other person's face there was blurred, their entire figure, both their face and dress were blurred, no one could recognize them.
Xiomara hurriedly clicks on the account that posted it, it was an anonymous account that stopped functioning a long time ago, the funny part was that the last video posted was tagged “Ursula Day, the s*x lord caught up in flames”.
The owner of the account featured her in all his ten videos which were a big hit, having lots of views, comments, and shares.
“Interesting”
Xiomara went ahead to check other notifications which were more of people tagging her in shady posts about her.
Xiomara cut sight with a recent post, it was from a close friend's verified Instagram account with the name Jesse brooks official.
Clicking on it, Xiomara found out it was owned by Jesse Brooks, from high school, Jesse used to be obsessed with her and after she Xiomara agreed to follow her back, Jesse added her as a close friend.
“Really a reunion?” Xiomara chuckled watching the video featuring not just Jesse but also a few others from school.
“I didn't even get an invitation” she paused “But thank God, the real party hasn't happened yet” she smiled clicking on other tagged profiles which belonged to her classmate and checking out their pictures till she came across Lucas’s profile, he posted a lot of pictures including the one he took Eleanor Swinton, her best friend.
Xiomara didn't get angry or suspicious of anything, it was a reunion so taking pictures with your high school friend wasn't a crime above all they had just a few pictures of each other on their account.
“Looks like everyone is living a comfy life huh”
Xiomara smirked, “maybe now I do understand what Shaman Helga was saying”
She stared at her reunion video playing “I really do need to get my own closure”