’It looks like it’s finally time…’ Brenden, tossing aside his aggravation at me getting taller, stopped fussing and turned to face the TV with a similar stance to mine, one the both of us had no doubt gained from observing our father our whole lives.
Even now, as he sat on the couch, Dad’s body posture was imposing, arms crossed, sitting perfectly straight, and staring forward.
’The timing is about right, according to what Emilia told us, when she was in the tower, the Players were struggling to complete the second floor. That’s not all either; 10,000 players must cross the Final floor and access the First Peak in order to open the gates; with that being the case, it’s safe to assume that at the bare minimum, we will have 10,000 Pseudo-Rankers emerging in the coming hours.’ From the other side of the room, Xilia, who had been helping with the groceries, chimed in, causing Brenden to nod.
He had been extremely worried when I presented the plan to have Emilia enter the tower by herself; however, with her ability to conjure barriers being stable from the moment she obtained her talent, I had concluded that no matter what the first peak threw her way, the girl would be able to handle it, and my thoughts were proven correct.
Although it took her a few years, and she was among the first people to start from nothing and cross the first peak, it was through her that we were able to understand the inner workings of the Undead Tower, or should I say confirm the things I had surmised from the runic inscription.
Buzzzz, Buzzzz, Buzzz
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my Moto-Raz flip phone and saw it was Amanda calling again.
Over the last year or so, she had made a habit of calling my brother and me a dozen times a day, and every time, we would send her straight to voicemail.
Sure, I could have blocked her, but with how sudden her spam was, I had a feeling that if I did answer the call, she would have some type of annoying information to tell me.
With the divorce having gone through not long after the events in Colorado, the woman had been completely removed from our lives. She lost any right to call herself our mother in the eyes of the law, as Dad was given sole custody of my brother and me.
And as she had before in the Origin Timeline, Amanda ended up marrying that dumbass Seth and moving to Illinois. For her to be calling me out of the blue after having ZERO contact with us for almost nine years could only mean one thing…
Knowing that this would continue to go on, I bit the bullet and flipped open my phone using my thumb.
"What do you want," I said in a cold tone, making everyone in the room lock up and look in my direction.
"Oh…shit…" I heard Brenden whisper under his breath. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind about who would be on the other end of the call, and for me to have such hostility in my voice could only mean it was Amanda.
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"T…Taylor…you…*sniffle* finally answered." Choking down tears, the voice I hadn’t heard since 1998 came through the speaker, making me take a slow breath.
"What do you expect? Not only have you abandoned your family just like your father did, but you have been harassing me and Brenden to the point where it became more bothersome to duck the calls than actually answer; now, speak, you have one minute until I hang up the call." Glancing around at everyone in the room, only Paola and Abuella seemed to be out of the loop until they realized who I was talking to.
They were no strangers to the name Amanda, as even though we never mentioned her, my father had told them about the woman.
For a moment, there was no sound from my phone but that of sobbing until I heard it faintly in the background, something I had a feeling would happen eventually, given one of the big changes I had committed to back when Brenden was born.
"Mommy, why are you crying? Do you have a booboo?" The voice of a little girl…and that wasn’t all; there was a second voice besides the first…
"Mommy…did a bad person make you sad?" that of a little boy.
"No, Nicolas, there are no bad guys, and Nichole, mommy doesn’t have a booboo; she’s just really sad, is all…" Hearing Amanda address two small children by name, I couldn’t contain myself and burst out laughing.
"HAHAHA, WOW, this has to be the funniest fucking thing I’ve heard in years! Not only have you abandoned your first family, but you straight up made a second one, Nicolas and Nichole; let me guess, you even had TWINS; this is fucking rich!" Beside me, Brenden stiffened as horror painted his face.
Unlike me, he found no humor in the fact that we now had two significantly younger siblings. To him, this was a MASSIVE deal, especially since he had always been the youngest and wanted to be a big brother.
"Taylor, please…please listen to me…I never abandoned you; it was all your father; you don’t understand the torture I went through." Pleading as she continued sobbing into the phone, Amanda desperately tried to talk, but I refused to let her.
"And now you’re shifting the blame to Dad; you listen to me, and listen to me well, for I will only say this once, Brenden, and I want NOTHING to do with you or your new family. Don’t ever fucking call us again, or I swear to god I will destroy everything you have built, the family, your little life, even those fucking spawn you have created; NOW LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE!"
SMASH!
Giving in to my rage, I hurled my phone across the room with such force that it exploded into pieces of plastic before spinning on my heels and heading upstairs.