~Lezlie Anderson (Part 2)~

Lez made a call to inform her parents that she was on her way home together with a special guest. As soon as they arrived, they received a warm welcome from Lez's parents, who waited patiently outside their home.

“Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet my friend Drake Scott. And Drake, my dad Mark Andrew Anderson and my mom Sophia Anderson.” Lez introduced both sides of the party.

“Nice to know you, Mr. Scott, and thank you for bringing our lovely daughter back safe to us.” Lez’s father welcomingly said.

“It’s my pleasure, Mr. Anderson. By the way, it’s Drake. You can call me Drake, sir.” Drake replied.

“Would you like to join us for dinner this evening Drake?” Mrs. Anderson invited Drake.

“I would be glad to Mrs. Anderson. For somehow, there are some things we might have to talk about and some questions we need answers from you, ma’am.” Drake replied, which made the couple wonder what it was.

Lez nervously smiled as she pulled Drake a distance away from her parents enough not to hear their conversation.

“Are you really going to ask them about that right now?” Lez asked Drake, wondering if it was the right time to ask them about her history.

“I know it’s a bit abrupt to ask them Lez, but the sooner we know, the better we can prepare,” Drake explained.

“Prepare for what?” Lez asked as Drake slipped his mouth. “Drake? Is there something you want to tell me? I know something is going on in me, but it’s not a big deal. But your face is telling something different, something more that you haven’t told me.” Lez told him with speculations on her mind.

“Yeah! I have something I haven’t told you yet. It’s something that I read in the book you found on the table under the secret basement. Remember? The one with Latin words for Lock and Key?" Drake asked her to refresh her memory.

“Yes, I remember. But what’s in it? We already found the Lock and Key, right?” Lez replied.

“I’ll explain later when I confirm my suspicions after hearing the answers from your parents. Please, trust me in this.” Drake begged Lez to trust him more than she could because it would clarify their mind about knowing the truth.

“Is there any problem?” Mr. Anderson asked as he approached them. Because from his perspective, it looks like the two are arguing.

“No, dad, it’s okay. It’s just that Drake has something to talk about with you.” Lez replied nervously.

“Well, we can talk about that inside, after dinner, maybe?” Mr. Anderson said.

“I will be delighted, sir.” Drake obliged.

“Then, welcome to our humble home Drake.” Mrs. Anderson said.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Drake replied with courtesy.

“Oh! By the way, I nearly forgot.” Drake went to his bike to grab some bags (the ones they shopped at the storage room and some given by his sister Alex on the way home).

“Let me help you with that,” Lez said as she was showing a wonderful smile while she grabbed some of the bags and led Drake inside the house.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson just had a wondering stare at them and followed them inside.

Inside, Drake immediately saw some family pictures in their living room as he puts aside the bags in the corner. He moved closer to the ones where Lez is visible, from her younger self up to the present. The family left him alone in the room for a moment to prepare their dinner while asking their daughter some questions on how’s her stayed at the mansion, how big are the mansion and more questions that they wanted to know.

Lez's mother caught Drake smiling while holding her daughter’s picture on a frame. She watched him a little longer before calling him to have their dinner together. They were having some conversation about their family, daughter’s younger years, and some stories that Drake liked to hear while they were eating. Drake also told them some of his stories and also their daughter’s stay at the mansion. Some made them laugh, some made them sad, and some made them serious as they exchanged stories about themselves.

Later on, finishing their dinner, they went back to the living room to talk about what Drake wanted to know.

“So, tell us something you wanted to talk about, Drake.” Mr. Anderson opened.

“It’s about your daughter, sir,” Drake replied.

“Okay, are you going to ask the hand of my daughter from us?” Mr. Anderson expectantly said.

“Dad?!?” Lez uttered, shocked at what she unexpectedly heard from her father.

Drake, who also did not expect that kind of question to come out from her parents, was also stunned after hearing it from Lez’s father.

“Well, that came out of nowhere. I could not think of you asking that, sir.” Drake awkwardly laughed as he replied.

“Wooh! That’s a relief. I thought you were going to take away our daughter from us this early.” Mr. Anderson said while laughing.

“Well, I would love to, someday, if your daughter would love to accept me too,” Drake replied directly, which surprised Lez.

“Drake?!?” she uttered while looking at Drake with a mixed feeling. Deep inside, she felt happy hearing that from the man she most cherished and cared about. That, with an unexpected question, brings an answer that came out of nowhere. She smiled for a moment, looking at her mother, winking back at her with a pleasing smile.

“But, that’s not the subject I want to talk about with you, sir,” Drake added as his expressions changed from joyous to a straight face.

“Then what was it, Drake?” the family was intrigued by what was Drake was about to ask.

“It’s about your daughter’s past. If you may kindly enlighten us about Lez’s story. We would like to know your family background or history, and it might help to know who your daughter truly is.” Drake explained.

“What are you talking about?” Mr. Anderson replied.

“Sir, your daughter is not an ordinary person as you thought as she is.” Drake implied to make them listen a bit more.

The couple looked at each other’s faces, saying that they’d known something for so long that they hadn’t told Lez yet.

“Go on. We’re listening.” Mrs. Anderson curiously said.

“Your daughter possesses something that a normal person cannot have. Your daughter might be one of us, and she might have a Royal Blood running inside her veins.” Drake tried to explain.

“What do you mean? What are you saying, ‘one of you’ or royal blood? Do you think my daughter is kind of a princess? Is this a joke?” Mr. Anderson confusedly said.

Drake quickly stood up as Lez held his hand.

“Drake? What are you going to do?” Lez asked.

“I’ve got to show them Lez. I’ve got to let them see. I can’t explain much further without showing them, and it’s the only way to make them believe what I say.” Drake Explained to Lez.

“Wait! What? What are you going to show us? Sweetheart, what’s going on?” Mr. Anderson confusedly asked.

As soon Lez slowly took her hand off, Drake started to slow time down that he took a bottle of water from the freezer and a glass from the kitchen, went back to the living room, putting the bottle and drinking glass on the table in just a second.

“Wah!” Mrs. Anderson screamed.

“Holy mother of God! What just happened?” Mr. Anderson uttered at the same time when Mrs. Anderson screamed as they saw the bottle with a glass on the table in an instant.

“What is going on?” they both said, asking both Lez and Drake.

“Mom, Dad, as you can see, Drake has the ability to control time. He can make himself faster, or he can make time slow down. That’s why you saw the bottle and glass suddenly appear.” Lez explained to her parents.

“Jesus Christ, you scared us.” Mr. Anderson commented.

“Now that you have seen my ability, sir, please, believe me. Tell me something we wanted to know.” Drake pleaded to Lez’s parents.

“And what is my daughter’s ability?” Mrs. Anderson asked.

“Lez’s ability is like an invisible shield or a barrier that protects her from any harmful abilities like mine,” Drake said.

“What do you mean, invisible barrier?” Mrs. Anderson asked.

“It’s hard to explain, but let us assume I can slow things down,” Drake said as Lez’s parents nodded and seriously listened to his explanation. “If Lez is running and I want to slow her down even for a bit, my abilities will not affect her, and she would continue to run at the same speed. Do you get it?”

“Yes. We kind of get it now. What we don’t get is, why do we have to uncover our daughter's past? What’s the connection? If she has that kind of ability, then so be it; it will protect her from any harm.” Mr. Anderson made a follow-up question with a statement.

“Because....,” Drake hesitated to answer.

“Because what?” Mrs. Anderson

Drake looked at Lez’s eyes and told them the truth he had discovered.

“Because she might be in danger,” Drake answered.

“Lez’s eyes grew wide, confused about what Drake was talking about.

“Why would I be in danger, Drake? And from who I might be in danger with?” Lez asked him straight with a serious face.

“Then I’ll explain everything. As you must all know, I read a book about Lock and Key. And Lez, you already know that I found some information about it as I’ve said earlier that I’ll explain to you later, and that later will be now.” Drake explained.

“Yes, and please explain,” Lez replied.

“The book said that some kind of protector of humanity created the Lock to seal an ancient demon,” Drake said but was interrupted by Lez’s father.

“Wait! What Protector? What demon?” Mr. Anderson asked.

“I will answer any questions later sir, as for now, let me finish what I’m explaining for,” Drake replied.

“Okay. Go on.” Mr. Anderson said.

“Now, I thought that the same Protector created the Lock and Key as I used to know, but I was wrong. The Key was created by the ancient demon that would someday find the Lock and destroy it so that it would release him from the seal and soon would wipe all humanity in this world.” Drake explained but hid the Lock's information and whereabouts.

“The book also said that in three days after the Lock and Key reunites, the demon army will be released from the Nether World to seek for the key, to make sure that it would do its bidding; and that is to destroy the Lock,” Drake added.

“And what is its connection with me?” Lez asked.

“Because the book also said that the ancient demon cast a spell to the Key that will protect it from any kind of harm. And as far as I know, that is your ability, Lez.” Drake said to Lez with both of them in teary eyes. “I’m hoping to find out that you could have royal blood in you,” Drake said to Lez with hopeful, sad eyes.

“And what if I’m not a royal blood?” Lez added a question.

“If you’re not royal blood, then you are not a guardian, then your ability must be from the ancient demon, and that makes you the Key. If you are the Key, the least of my problem will be that seven demons will try to find you and force you to do your bidding, which is to destroy the Lock. I will do my very best to protect you from those demons if you are the Key.” Drake made a promise to her.

“And what will be the most of your problem if I truly am the key?” Lez asked.

“If you truly are the Key, then you will become a threat to humanity. If you are a threat to humanity, then you will become a threat to the guardians.” Drake explained to her as her eyes widened, realizing the consequences they might have to face if she genuinely is the Key.

Lez quickly stood up and walked out the door, out of their house, crying.

“Please let me talk to her for a moment?” Drake asked permission bowing from her parents to talk to their daughter and console her.

“We don’t know about the Protector that you are talking about. We certainly don’t have any idea about a demon and its army you have spoken of. But one thing I understand the most is that you promised to protect our daughter from any harm that may come to her. That you will take good care of her no matter what.” Mr. Anderson calmly said as they saw droplets of tears falling on the table. “I know you will do the right thing. You have all our faith in you.” Mr. Anderson warmheartedly said.

“I promise with my life, sir,” Drake replied with tremendous passion in his words.

“Please, Drake, we trust you, our daughter’s life. Please keep her safe.” Mrs. Anderson pleaded.

“I will, ma’am, I promise.” He said with absolute determination.

“Now, young man, go and talk to her. Bring her back inside, and we will tell you the whole truth.” Mr. Anderson firmly said.

“Thank you, sir!” Drake quickly went out of the house and approached Lez, standing in their front yard as her parents were waiting patiently at their door, watching the two in the distance.

“Lez?” Drake called with a gentle voice but got no reply.

“I know you are having some mixed emotions now. And maybe you are mad at me for hiding serious things from you, but I mean you no harm. I just want to be sure before I let you know everything that I know. Please believe me. All I wanted was for you to be safe. All I wanted was for you to be happy. Not like this. I can’t bear myself to see you so sad. I don’t want to see you so hopeless. I promise you we can work it out. If you’re a guardian, then that’s good. If you’re the Key, then so be it. We will find a way; if there is no other way, then let it be. Against all odds, I will be there to protect you. With my own life, I give it to you. Please, I can’t do this alone. Please, I can’t do this without you.” Drake begged Lez to be strong for both of them.

“I know, I know. But Drake, can’t you see? If I am truly the Key that the book said, then that means you’re going against the guardians. You’re going to face your family. You are going to fight against Alex, your brother, and your father. Can you bear it all fighting against your family? I’d rather die than see you suffer just for my sake. I can barely withstand watching you suffer from Medea; how much more will it be with your brother and your father. No, I can’t do this to you.” Drake caught Lez before she fell with tears, kneeling. He embraced her warmly, to which she replied with her sweet hug as they both consoled each other with tears on their faces.

“Please don’t say that. That’s the reason why we need to find another way to prevent that from happening. I won’t give up, and I won’t give in. Please stay by my side, and I know everything will be alright. I promise you that.” Drake said while looking at her tearful but beautiful eyes.

She closed her eyes and was about to kiss him, but he quickly avoided the kiss by hugging her back tight but gently. Lez noticed that but ignored it the instant Drake told her that her parents had something to say to them when they got inside.

At the door, where her parents were waiting, she hugged her mom quickly as her mom comforted her as they came to have a seat.

“Sweety, I know you’ve been longing to hear the reason why we always have to travel and change from place to place now and then.” Mrs. Anderson started to explain.

“It’s not true that it has something to do with my job. But the truth is, it has something to do with you.” Mr. Anderson further explained.

“Mom? Dad? What do you mean?” Lez asked her parents, very confused.

“It all started when you reached the age of 9. March 25, 2013.” Mrs. Anderson said but interrupted as Drake said something.

“Wait! 2013? That’s the same year as my mother passed away.” Drake was more and more becoming interested in Lez’s story, and so was Lez.

“That night at exactly 12 in the midnight, you started to scream while you were asleep. Your father and I don’t know why you are screaming, so we hurriedly went to your bed and tried to wake you up, but you won't wake up no matter what we try. You are saying something that we don’t know, but the only word we could understand was when you say the name, Drake.” Both Lez and Drake looked at each other, wondering as her mother continued to tell the story. “Every midnight starting at that day, you started to scream and call his name. It would end up for about 5 to 10 minutes, so we decided to let you see a doctor who might help explain the happening, but they couldn’t understand why you do that. Months later, we started to ignore your midnight habit, as we call it, but when you reached 10, same date, same time. March 25, 2014. We already expected you to do that, but that time was different. The scream that we thought would last for just 10 minutes began to last more. We wondered why so we decided to go to your bedroom, and there we saw you floating, as in literally floating from your bed. It made me scream in fear; we thought some kind of demon had possessed you. In the same situation, you always call for the name Drake. The next morning even if it’s your birthday, we decided to see you with a priest. We told them about what we were experiencing, and the priest decided to see it for himself. Later that night, we stayed at the church for the priest to witness. You were awake at that time, midnight came, and nothing happened. We were wondering if it is maybe the place that makes you haunted or something. You were sleepy by then as we talked to the priest, so I told you to have a sleep at the chairs, and that’s when it happens. You were starting to float and start to say some words that we don’t know about, then call the name of Drake. The priest couldn’t also believe what he had seen, but we requested him to help us. He tried exorcism, but it only made it worse. Your eyes turn red like fire, so we made the priest stop for it might hurt you. Your father and I decided to transfer to another place, thinking maybe it’s the place that made you like that. It was far from this place now but nearer compared to the last one. The first night on the house, same time, midnight, again you started the midnight habit. But we recognized something different. We hear the words, save me, Drake. That’s the time we realized to search for the name Drake. Every God damn Drake name we tried to find and locate then transfer to that place. It’s a trial and error game. Sometimes when we transfer to a place, it worsens; it came back to just the name Drake that we could understand. It’s like we're hunting gold with a metal detector. Every consecutive year we got better and better at locating a Drake name until a few months earlier, where we transferred to a place near this one. We clearly understand the complete words she said. ‘Drake, please help me, save me. I will always remember you, Drake. I will always love you, Drake.’ Until finally, we found a name Drake Horus Scott from a school basketball newspaper leading this place. We took our chance and transferred here to this house. We never thought he would be a son of a billionaire. We just came to this place to try if it works, and for the first time, my husband and I heard her call the name Drake, Just Drake, but she's not screaming. It’s as if she only had a dream. And for that one word only on our first night, we made our peace that this might be the Drake that we are searching for.” A very long story Mrs. Anderson revealed to them.

Lez, started to cry again as Drake embraced her, comforting her as she asked her parents. “Why? How?” but her parents could never understand the real reason WHY?

Drake was thinking and wondering what Lez’s mother had told them. Those words, ‘Drake, please help me, save me. I will always remember you, Drake. I will always love you, Drake.’ He slowly remembers a scene, the scene where the demon dragged his mother into the Nether World. He focused on retaining his mom’s last words before the demon dragged her. ‘I will always love you, Drake.’ Drake suddenly burst into tears as a fragment of his memory, one by one, came into place.

“Drake? Are you okay?” Lez asked Drake, for she got worried for a moment.

“Yes! I’m fine. I just remembered something in my past. My mom. She said those last words before she got dragged by the demon.” Drake explained as Lez comforts her with a hug, reversed from the earlier scene.

“But that’s not just what we would like you to know, sweetheart. And I think it’s time for you to know the whole truth.” Mr. Anderson added.

“And what could that be, Dad?” Lez asked.

“The truth is, we are not your true parents.” Mr. Anderson made a big revelation.

“What? How? Why?” Lez didn’t know what to ask about what she heard.

“We adopted you from an orphanage. We don’t know your parents’ names or any details about them. We just wanted to have a baby girl at that time, so we arranged an adoption from a place near this town. It was such a stroke of luck that they had a baby girl at that moment. And it was you, sweetheart. Even though we are not your real parents, we treat you and love you like a real daughter. I hope you can understand why we have kept it from you for years. We will always love you, my sweet little Lezlie.” Mr. Anderson said as the family hugged each other.

“Even though I am not your real daughter as it should be, but you will always be my real parents for me. I Love you, mom, dad.” A heart-melting word from Lez to her parents.

“Mr. Anderson, sir, if you mind?” Drake called.

“Yes? What is it, Drake?” Mr. Anderson replied.

“I just want to ask you the name of the orphanage you arranged the adoption for Lez if I may. Every bit of information might help us for your daughter's safety.” Drake explained.

“As far as I can remember. It was in 2004, and it is called Little Angels Orphanage.” Mr. Anderson replied.

“That’s interesting. Do you remember passing by a big wonderful Maple tree on your right before you enter its vicinity? Drake further asked.

“Yes! That’s the one as I can remember.” Mr. Anderson confirmed Drake’s assumption.

“What is it, Drake? Is there something you know about the orphanage?” Lez curiously asked.

“It’s just strange; the orphanage your parents were talking about was just a few kilometers away from the mansion, and it's near my mother’s favorite place, the Great Japanese Maple tree.” I’ve really got to find out.

As they finally knew the truth, Lez’s parents left the two alone for a while as they had a heart-to-heart talk in their front yard.

“Drake, Thank you for always being there for me when I needed you most,” Lez said soothingly.

“Don’t mind that, as I’ve always said to you. I will always be there for you no matter what.” Drake said as he softened the heart of the lady a bit more.

“Drake? Do you remember the question you asked me in your room when you got hurt by your sister Medea?” Lez asked as Drake’s mind worked like a high-tech computer with high specs scanning the drives, searching for a file hidden somewhere.

“Is it the one when I said, well, if you accept me as your boyfriend? Is it?” Drake guessed.

“Yes, that’s the one.” And his guess was correct.

“What about it?” Drake curiously asked.

“The answer would be, yes!” Lez replied as she gave him a beautiful smile.

“Uhmmm…” Drake’s head became dumb as he heard the word. Like a computer running on low-budget specs with a Pentium 1 processor, rebooting.

“Drake? Are you okay? Did you hear what I said?” Lez asked.

“Uh… Yeah. I just can’t believe that you are mine now.” Drake said that made the lady’s heart melt as they exchanged their charming smiles.

“By the way, are you going to the orphanage tomorrow?” Lez asked.

“Yes! I’ll try to get some information from the orphanage. Maybe I’ll get something interesting which may help us solve our problems. Then I’ll check at the mansion for their progress. Shall I come back before dark and maybe have a romantic date with my lovely new girlfriend? ” Drake used his charms to ask her girlfriend.

“Certainly, Mr. Scott, I would love to.” The lady gladly replied as her heart melted and suddenly grabbed his boyfriend’s neck to kiss him.

The barrier spell automatically activates, separating the two from having their intimate kiss. But this time, it’s different. That last time Drake attempted to kiss her, his body wouldn’t move. Like there is a wall preventing him from doing that. But this time, it’s different because the lady she wanted to kiss before was now the one who tried to kiss him right now. Some force is pushing his head away from the lady’s hot kiss. It seemed that he was the only one who could distinguish the force that’s separating them apart every time they kissed. He made a quick recovery by hugging her real tight so that the lady wouldn’t notice at all. But,

“Drake?” Lez called.

“Yeah?” Drake replied.

“Are you avoiding my kiss?” the lady noticed.

Drake doesn’t know what or how to tell, and he doesn’t want her girlfriend to know about him being the Lock. So he made a quick stupid pun.

“Avoiding? Me? NO! I just love to hug you. You know…” Drake quickly replied.

“Oh? You loved to hug me more than my kiss?” Lez doubtfully asked.

"Yes!” Drake quickly answered as he still hugged her tight.

“And may I know the reason why?” Lez curiously asked.

“Well… yeah… it’s… because… “Drake stuttering then quickly said, “I love to hug you because I love to feel your big soft bosom into my chest.”

Lez quickly pulled herself away from her boyfriend and began to slap her boyfriend’s arms softly.

“You pervert,” she said as she giggled and smiled at him.

“Hey, look at the time. It’s getting late already. I should be heading back to my pad now. And as for you, my beautiful lady, take your rest; we had a very long day.” Drake said as he hugged his girlfriend and kissed her on her head.

The two bade their goodbyes, but as for Drake, his mind can’t stop thinking, looking for ways for the Key, his lovely girlfriend, Lez, to avoid all the harm that may come at her in the future. For it may be from a demon or his family, the guardians.

END OF CHAPTER 9