Next day Leon came to school. Alive. With a bright smile on his face. Though, who knows if he’s actually smiling.
Our third chapter starts in night time. Unlike other chapters my sister isn’t here to wake me up, but she is still with me. You could say I’m keeping her as a guide—however unreliable she actually is, I don’t think I can open up to anyone the same. Show my emotions, ideas, the same.
This hasn’t changed—for a time now.
Not changed.
Not renewed.
Is this to ask questions, or mindstorm answers—I don’t know. Maybe neither.
I asked her if I could talk to her about things that are weird, really just bizarre. She simply said, “No!”
So I caught her and rolled her in my puffy blanket, thus she’d listen.
“Hmm, now that you are here, I just noticed I have no idea how to talk about this. I need to think, hmm. Okay, I remembered! It was about the new Mario Movie! Wasn’t it fun as hell?”
“You kidnapped me to say that?!” she shrieks.
“We are in the same house, this can’t be called kidnapping.”
“Oh yeah? Wait and see how it will not be a murder when I kill you!”
“That’s taking things too far…”
“Kidnapping isn’t?!”
“Of course not. I’m your big brother.”
“How does that make sense!”
Pff, children. They don’t understand the intricacies of life.
You’ve been kidnapped ever since you were born!
“And Mario Movie isn’t even new,” she says with her face scrunched up. “That’s like dad trying to catch up with animes. You geezer.”
“Can you stop making false speculations about dad?”
He seriously isn’t that fantastical—maybe that’s why Nini uses “him” constantly in her weird fantasies.
“Will every chapter begin with banter with you?” I question. “It’s becoming a custom, sort of.”
“In three chapters? How short is your attention span?!”
It’s not long to be frank. Not sure if it’s ADHD, or plain indifference.
“So, what was the reason I tied my little sister up… Can’t recall. Any idea?”
“How should I know!”
“Too bad then, you are living as a cushioned human sushi from now on.”
Not that I’d complain.
“Wait wait wait! I can come up with ideas! Yeah? I—I can! Gimme a second chance big bro!”
“Nah, I’ll notify mom and dad of your fate. I’m sure they’ll mourn for a few days.”
“I’ll fu—”
“Hey, no swear words in my story.”
“It’s tagged with profanity! What the fuck are you talking about!”
“And stop overspending exclamation marks—they are losing value by seconds.”
“It’s in the stock marker?!!!”
“You are doing it on purpose—”
Oops, I was about to use one of them again. Jeez. Can’t afford it more.
“Fine, I’ll stop… If you free me from this roll, that is.”
“Is that extortion? Excuse me lady but—”
“Can we skip to the point… Readers have already given up on the story because of you.”
“Since when have you been a meta character? That role is mine—you hear that?! Anyway, you are right. Here, I’ll loosen that bind for you.”
I do it.
What?
Nini is evolving!
Now she is in a baggier cushion roll.
“I hate you…”
“So, yesterday I gave you a very hypothetical answer. Remember? About being followed by lightnings and such. Something took place since then, and it is all just a fantasy I made up. Nothing about it is factual. Okay?”
“It’s hard to believe that when you say it.”
“Mom and dad will indeed mourn you.”
“Okay okay! I believe you.”
“Good girl. Now, imagine a class of thirty. You are a third grader, you can count to thirty right? Yes, as a responsible big brother I kept up with what grade you are. Take that mental image of the thirty people in a class, and tell me if someone got replaced by a twin it would be noticeable. Though there is no record of a twin brother, as far as I can tell.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“…What are you talking about again?”
It’s bad! She can’t count to thirty!
“I can count!”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Your question… it doesn’t make any sense.”
It makes to me.
After all, if a dead person hasn’t revived, either a secret twin of his in our class came today, or he revived.
“But he did name himself Leon…”
“Oh, you mean a certainly dead person with an unknown reason of death suddenly appeared in your class and you are questioning how could that even be.”
“You are sure sharp?!”
With that answer, she may even be a genius.
“That’s true though,” I admit. “Hypothetically.”
That overused word.
“I think it’s just as unreasonable to have a secret identity thief twin, as being revived.”
“That’s a wild answer.”
And it’s false.
Her chance of being genius eliminated.
“Anything else?” she asks, clearly fed up and ready to be free.
“Don’t you think it’s possible that he just pretended to be dead?” I ask.
“I doubt you didn’t check…” Though her tone is very suspicious of my IQ, and she is right. I didn’t check. “Anything else…”
“No, not much. Let’s put you into the washing machine, you cute little laundry.”
After putting her into the washing machine I return to my room and begin contemplating.
I’m not sure how to explain it all, but I’ll try. I was flying two days ago while, weirdly enough, lightnings targeted me like I’m a prey. I suspected someone, a particularly suspicious someone, to be the perpetrator—and maybe I was right. The trouble is, that person anticlimactically submerged dead. I found his corpse in a street. I didn’t check his pulse or anything, but I’m sure of it. That person was dead.
Then why is he still alive?
I don’t know. But no matter how much I try to look away, he who must be dead, seems to peer into my eyes. Is there even an escape for me from this anymore? Doubt it.
I don’t wanna bother myself with it, I don’t wish to be forced into a troublesome situation, but there is so little I can do to fight back. This puzzle needs to be solved.
I will go there, to the street I found him in, and search for clues. That seems not the worst idea—or rather, it is all I have.
It is already night time, so I won’t bother with bus or walking. I will simply fly there. With my sister locked up, there is no one to witness it in the house. I must be free to do whatever I want.
“But am I qualified to investigate?”
I know enough about myself—that I’m a lost cause. Neither smart nor talented, less than average for all that is worth. If I’m to search for clues, make deductions, alone, I’ll fail.
On top of that, there is no one willing to help. It’s not like I can reveal my wings to anyone, or ask them about a corpse that has come alive. No one is as stupid as my sister.
“I’ll do my best.”
With that, I leave through the window. I uncautiously open my wings the moment I leave, and take off. The scene takes shape, as streetlights, world of sleep in this suburb where houses half awake and half in dark, seems farther and farther way till it’s the midnight ocean of stars that is prevalent.
Moon high today, houses lined in a fashion under, city closer and closer—are in place. And soon it’s the rushing city where no one sleeps, where cars fill the roads thundrously, sidewalks stay alive with flood of people, day never ends.
I’m right where I should be. Flapping my wings at the top, looking down. Unsurprisingly, there is no corpse there. That is not to say the street is completely unloved. Someone, as if reaching out to my request of help, is there. The only person who could help, whom I don’t have to hide my wings from.
There is one character suitable to that role.
“Hey,” he says looking up, smiling as always.
Blue eyes and a blue coat, orange flaring hair.
I land.
“…”
Leon continues to smile with no disturbance.
“Won’t you say ‘I’ve been waiting’?”
“Ha? Should I? I don’t know, but it’s true that I’ve been waiting. I couldn’t tell when you’d arrive so I’ve been standing here for hours. No doubt my predecesor died from hunger for this.” He flashes a smirk. “I’m joking, that wasn’t a plot twist or anything. I’m not a clone or a new product to replace Leon. I am, very much, himself.”
“…”
“Doesn’t that take away all the mystery? Yep. I’m sorry dude, I left you no reason to ‘investigate.’ Hope, that’s not a deal breaker?”
Why is he standing here explaining all this to me, out of nowhere. The only reason I can think of is, is that he is trying to mess with me. Pre-emptively break my attempts to uncover or just play around.
Can’t tell.
“When I say, I don’t lie, I mean it. I don’t lie. I’m Leon, that’s true. When I say I wanna learn about you, that is also true. And when I threaten you with death, that’s not a contradiction.”
“Then you’d explain how come you are alive.”
“I never died in the first place,” he says simply. “That was your assumption. Don’t look at me like that, I never lie okay?” His positivity remains. “When I turn into electrical force, I have to leave my body. And as you can presume, I tried to attack you that night.”
“But you never did.”
“I couldn’t.”
Huh?
“Attacking you is impossible without your wings. You are only a human without them—I can’t harm you.”
I still carry many of the abilities though? But that’s not the contradictory part.
“I didn’t land for quite some time, you could’ve targeted me by then.”
“Yep, but you are missing a point.”
He points at the sky.
It’s clear as glass.
“I can’t conjure a storm. Though it was cloudy yesterday, it was nowhere near enough for me. Finding my body, in a way, helped you survive the last moment.”
Survive.
He was intent on killing me.
But was unable to do it due to weather conditions.
Alright, that answers all my questions—almost. There is one remaining, which wouldn’t have been there if not for him. Waiting.
“How did you know I’d arrive.”
“I didn’t.”
“Huh?”
His smile falters just a little.
“I’ve been waiting for you, but not here.” Once again he points, and once I look, it’s easy to spot his intent.
The building I’ve been leaping off from.
“You were waiting to hunt me.”
“How could I know you’d first visit here. You looked pretty indifferent about everything. I thought you’d skip my corpse as a detail and go straight up. Anyways, we have a lot more discuss. But clock is ticking. So, next time,” Leon says and walks off to whatever other business he has.
There’s something wrong with what he said, but I can’t pinpoint exactly…
Something terribly contradictory.
No good.
I’ll go home for now—despite saying what I had in last chapter, it is better that I stand away for now. First, I fly off and then go the other half by walking. This is all I can do for now.
It is pretty late now. Thankfully, there is no school tomorrow. I can sleep as much as I want and no annoying little sister can wake me up. It is for the best.
But.
There is a darkness surrounding my life now. Every move I make is being watched, my freedom is being seen as a threat by others—who are those others—as if a pit is being dug under my shoes.
I enter my house.
My sister seems to have taken a shower (why this late in night?) and is sleeping peacefully in her bad. I carefully close her door and go to my room.
What should I do now?
1-Play games.
2-Go to AITA and write YTA.
3-Sleep.
4-Read more Webnovels.
They aren’t ranked by importance, mind you. I just wanna spend some silent time on my own and rest. It’s taking a toll on my body, all these problems, one after another springing onto me. Ever since 4 months ago, my days have been ticking away, and the cuckoo bird is waiting to unleash its song.
I opt for reading. Out of all, it feels the most solitary, the most isolated.
While reading MOL, my eyes slowly slip. This only happens with good fiction, when my mind doesn’t need to think anything else except the story
Slowly sleep sinks in and I sink into it, my feet no longer on top of the bed, but on air. Dangling on the air, where dreams occur.
When I wake up it’s daytime, and she didn’t wake me up. It’s silent both outside and inside. A free roaming room to relax.
I dreamed a bird, it sung a pitiful song. Yet I didn’t wake up.
After cleaning my face, I pull a chair in the kitchen and idly sit on it. Across the table, sits my sister’s head, separate from her body, dull and dead.
I scream.