Chapter 18 - Nuala's Story

Author's Note: This chapter will be told from Nuala's POV


"How did I get here?" I hear you asking. Here at this now abandoned warehouse watching my mother drag the unconscious body of my twin sister away.

Hmmpf. Rosé. I can't say I'm not happy to see that. That evil, lying little Berry deserves it. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My life was picture perfect. Perfect wedding.

Perfectly loving husband.

And a cute house for our soon to be growing family.

Even a wonderfully loving sister. She was so wonderful that while I coped with my difficult pregnancy she even moved in with us to help out around the house. It comforted me to know she was there in support of both me and Plum.

 I should have realised then what was going on. The day finally arrived and we all rushed off to the hospital. But the birth was no less difficult than the rest or the pregnancy and I lost conciousness midway through.

I woke in a dull sterile hospital room. To my surprise my mother was there with me. Mum was never around much when I was growing up and it touched my heart that she was here now for me.
"Nuala dear," she said quietly as she saw me stir.

She sighed as she sat down next to me on the bed. "My dearest daughter."
"Mum," I struggled to sit up.
"Don't try to move darling. You too weak and it is best if you stay in bed,"
"Mum where is my baby?" I didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl yet. Plum and I had wanted it to be a surprise.
Again she sighed. "Nuala dear. I have some bad news. The birth didn't go well and the baby was struggling. About the time you lost consciousness the baby's heart stopped beating. In the end the doctors had to do an emergency caesarian. But it was too late. My lovely daughter your child was stillborn."
There are no possible words to describe the pain I felt at that moment. It was as it my heart had been ripped out of my chest and the hole that remained was a ragged mess. Slowly and with sobs racking my voice I found the nerve to ask, "Was it...was it...did we have a girl or a boy?"
"It was a boy." She said sadly.
A son. I had a son. The pain exploded in my chest and was beyond anything I could handle.

I woke again in the middle of the night. Mum was still in the room reading quietly in the corner.

The pain gone but so was everything else. I could feel nothing. It was as if my soul, the very core of who I was, had been torn from my body leaving an empty shell.
"Nuala?" I could hear what she was saying but it washed over me.

"That's it. I'm getting you out of here!" With the support of my mum we left the hospital

I have no memory of time after that. I must have ate and slept but I can't remember any of it. When I became aware of my surroundings I found myself in an austere room. While it had the basic necessities it was clearly not a lived in house.

Wherever I was mum must have been close. She came into the room almost as soon as I sat up in bed.
"Good morning Nuala. How are you doing today?"
"Mum, where am I?"
"Oh Nuala you don't know how happy I am to hear your voice. You are somewhere safe dear."
"But where? And where's Plum?" For the first time I noticed he wasn't here, wherever here was.
"Plum is...Well he left."

"I'm sorry dear but the loss of you son was too much for him. He's gone and he has made it clear he doesn't have any intention of coming back."
That was enough to send me back into my state of walking unconsciousness. The next time I became aware again we had moved. I was shocked to find myself in a different house with no memory of how I got there.

Mum must have realised that she needed a more active intervention at that point.

"You don't remember how we got here do you?"
"No, mum where are we? What's going on?"
She sighed heavily. "I never wanted you to find out at all, and certainly not this way. Nuala I work for the government. I am part of a top secret agency who seek out information and protect our country from those who would do it harm."
"I don't...I...what does that mean? I don't understand."
She sighed again this time but this time there was a hint of frustration. "I'm a spy Nuala. We had to leave Sunset Valley because there is an organization bent to taking over the world that moved into the town. In order to keep our efforts a secret we left. I know it is a lot to take in but, when you're ready, we would like you to help out a little. Even if it is just in a small way. It will help."
She was right it was a lot to take in. Nothing was the same but in my emptiness it didn't really matter.

I started small, typing up reports and generally doing any administration that was needed.

It wasn't much and I am sure they would have managed just fine without my help but mum was right again. I may not have been able to feel much of anything but knowing that I was doing something, no matter how small, to help the country and protect the Berry way of life got me out of bed in the mornings.

Years past and while I never got to the point I felt like me again I became involved in life again. I learned a lot about the world that I never knew. It was good to know there were people like mum out there protecting us from the evil organisations in this world. Eventually mum decided it was time to take me with her on a mission. I had no training but I guess she felt it was time to break my pattern once again.

We weren't the first to arrive and mum had me wait outside until she distracted those dastardly berries that had gotten here first and were trying to steal a tablet. When I was finally signalled to move in I almost fainted from shock at seeing who was there to steal the tablet!

But I did my job got the tablet and got out of there.

When we got back to Twinbrook I confronted mum about Rosé and Blue.

"Did you know about Rosé? What was she doing there? How on earth can she be mixed up with these people?"
"Slow down Nuala. Breathe."
"But Mum?!? Rosé she was..."
"I know dear. She has been working for them for awhile now. I'm sorry, I didn't know they would be there, I didn't know you would have to see that."
"She can't know who she is working for. She just can't. I can't believe that Rosé would intentionally work for such an evil organisation. I have to talk to her to let her know the truth."

"Sit down Nuala. I don't think you know your sister as well as you think you do. She has been working for them for a long time now. She knows who she is working for."
"No, Rosé may be a bit on the sad side but she isn't evil. She has been tricked or lied to or..."
"No Nuala she hasn't. She knows, she understands and there is no getting her back." She sighed deeply. "There is something you should know about Rosé. After we left Sunset Valley she and Plum moved in together. Nuala, they are having an affair."

"No. It can't be. Rosé would never do that to me."
"It's true. She.."
"Stop it! You can't be right. There is some mistake!" I ran out of the house. She had to be mistaken. I jumped on my bike and drove through the day to get to Sunset Valley. It didn't take long to find the house. When I got there I stopped the bike but I didn't even get off before something in the window caught my eye.

That little Berry! How could she do this to me? That's my husband. And my twin sister is...is... I couldn't even finish that thought. It was to much. I drove off right away.

From that moment I threw myself into the organisation's work.

But the thought of Rosé wouldn't leave my mind. It wasn't helped by the fact that she seemed to be everywhere. It wasn't long after I saw the two of them that my once beloved sister snuck into the camp where we had the tablet and stole it from behind my back.

Time speed by after that. It seemed like we were constantly in a race to get the pieces we needed but with the loss of the box we were always one step behind. Almost a year past and one of my informants contacted me and let me know that Plum had moved out of the house that Rosé and Blue were sharing. Hoping that meant Plum and Rosé were no longer together I took a chance and went to Sunset Valley.

Once again I was wrong. There they were cuddling what was clearly their baby, their son. She had stolen my husband and she now had the life that I was supposed to be living. I decided it was time to do something drastic.

Which lead to where we are now. We have the missing piece of the puzzle and we have the two best agents of that evil group. And I have my chance for revenge.
Time to wake up sister dear