Chapter III – Broken harmony

“If you’re going to live like this, you better watch your manners around the house! I do not want this kind of behavior here. Understood?!”

Mom thought it was either Vance or Gale who threw up on the balcony, since it reeked of wine. It surely couldn’t have been me or any of the sweet, innocent girls.

I peeked inside the living room. They were both hanging their heads in silence, clenching their fists. They knew mom wasn’t going to listen to them, despite their repeated ‘’it wasn’t us!’’.

I really wished I could clean up, but Erika could have been there any minute after we finished talking, since it would have been the second time she sensed the ‘’bad aura’’. I had to hurry. Ferya felt very bad because she couldn’t clean it in time, letting my mom see it.

“Yes, mom. We’re sorry. We won’t get drunk around the house again.” Gale said, his long, blonde hair swaying as he stood up with his shorter brother. “Can we go now?”

“Yes. Go.” She shooed them with her hand, going back at her book on the couch.

They both came out of the living room.

“I can’t believe it. I bet it was Kruz! Fuck!” Vance said. But then he bumped into me and gasped. “Oh! Lillya!”

“Sorry for the bad word, princess.” Gale chuckled, petting my head.

“I am sorry.” I smiled faintly. “Mom really got angry, huh?”

“Yes, she did.” Gale sighed, crouching and smiling at me. “Thou shan’t worry, though. We will make up for her tonight! We’ll bring her some new perfume and she’ll be happy again!” He brushed my arms with his warm, big hand.

“Yeah, she loves those.” Vance giggled quietly as Gale stood back up. “My gosh though. How can you be THIS cute!? Worrying about two idiots like us!” He ruffled my hair, making me giggle.

“I just don’t like seeing you being scolded! You two are the best brothers!” I pouted. We started walking along the corridor, I stayed between the two.

“Ah? Is that so? Lost your crush on William?” Gale asked, Vance laughing audibly.

“E-Eh!? I don’t have a crush on him! We’re siblings! Gross!” I felt my whole face burning. I crossed my arms, puffing my cheeks.

“Hahah! But we’re not blood related. It might be normal for you to be attracted to one of us, no?” Vance said. Gale immediately smacked his arms from the side.

“Vance? What the hell? She’s a little girl! Come on!”

“Okay! Okay! But she hit puberty, didn’t she?” Vance shrugged. “It’s not like I’m telling her secret stuff.”

I giggled nervously and started going upstairs at the next chance I got.

“We’re going out, then.” Gale told Vance. I heard their voices fading away.

I took a deep breath, my lips started quivering.

She was right. It wasn’t hard to feign calmness and happiness. But it was killing me – my heart ached, my chest burned so much. A lump on my throat was getting heavier and heavier.

It was only eleven in the morning. I still had to go through the whole day with Nelya.

And so, I ran towards our room as fast as I could.

I closed the bathroom's door shut and opened the faucet. Tears started running down profusely. I cried, moaned and hit my own head with slaps, trying to make the pain I was feeling go away.

I was a puppet, yes.

But I was human too - my heart could ache, love and hate. My feelings weren’t erased just because of a smile...they were just suppressed.

I wondered why that witch made me this way.

Why couldn’t she just make me a lifeless killing machine with no real feelings?

Why did I have a heart? Why did I have a damned real, beating heart?

The answer to that question was still far at that point.

But I would have discovered it.

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“No! No! Don’t tickle me there, pleasee!! Hahahah!” Nelya giggled as I tickled her under our tree.

That day too was joyful. Her homework were few and she had no worries about them.

I was smiling at her as she laughed, seeing her so happy.

My heart was beating loudly as I tickled, tickled and tickled.

My brain had this itchy thought every second that passed.

At some point, I will have to kill her.

I could not make it go away. Not matter how hard I tried to smile and have fun with her.

I was hopeless. The punishment that the witch showed me couldn’t even make me a martyr. At that point, I was that desperate that I could have agreed upon killing myself to stop her plans...but both my body and mind refused. They refused to go through that pain for as long as that witch lived.

She was an ethereal being bound by no law of the nature. Who knew for how much time I’d have had to endure that constant pain? And who knew if it would have even stopped when she met her demise?

I could not. I could have never chosen that path. I ‘’preferred’’ seeing my family die instead.

And so smiled as I tickled my dear sister, whom I loved with all my heart and flesh. My fingers run up and down her sides, her armpits, and then on her neck-

“Lillya! Stop!!!”

She suddenly grabbed my wrists, her breathing ragged and her face red. I looked at her with a dazed expression, swallowing awkwardly.

She then pushed me to the side, sitting up. “What’s wrong with you? I couldn’t breathe! Tickling is funny but at some point...you have to stop!”

I stared at the sky, then I looked at my pale hands.

“I’m sorry.” I sat up with her and scratched my head, chuckling nervously. “I just loved seeing y0u squirm like that. I didn’t realize I was hurting you.”

“Do you really tickle fight at your age? Gross.”

Annaliese suddenly appeared, walking out of the doors. A pencil and a sketch book in her hands.

“What are you even doing here?” Nelya asked, getting up and cleaning her butt. “This is our spot!” She suddenly forgot what I did to her, taking our defenses.

“Your spot? Lady I live here with you two. Do you know that or not?” She retorted, staring at the tree. “Move! I gotta do a sketch of this tree for an art project. I don’t want to see your ugly faces as I draw.”

“You are ugly! Bleeh!” Nelya wasn’t giving up. She even looked at me with determination. “Right, Lillya? We’re beautiful and she is ugly! Tell her!!”

“My God, how old are you again?” Annaliese rolled her eyes, “Move the hell out! I want to do this as quickly as I can! Come. On!”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Steelia suddenly came out from the mansion’s left corner, a pair of big scissors in her hand. Her uniform had leaves and grass on the apron, her white gloves blackened and worn out.

“Ah! Thank you!” Annelise pointed at us. “Steelia, I order you to move these two little pests someplace else!”

“I...I don’t know if I-”

“Obey me! You’re my servant, right?!” She exclaimed.

“Come on, Nelya...let’s just go.” I stood up and grabbed her hand. “Let’s not make things difficult for Steelia. She doesn’t deserve it.”

“But...but…!” Nelya glared at me. “This is our spot! We can’t let her win! She-”

“Nelya! Quit acting like a child! Let it go!”

I suddenly froze.

The three of them looked at me, shocked in their own way. An awkward silence making my body shiver.

That was the first time I’ve ever shouted angrily. At anyone. I grew ashamed quickly, hanging my head and walking past Annaliese, towards the doors.

Nelya quickly ran inside with me, keeping my fast pace as she looked at me worriedly.

I looked at her face, and then my heart sunk.

I couldn’t let her notice something was wrong…or that pain would have came back.

“I am sorry, Nelya.” I sighed, giggling as I stopped walking. “I was faking.”

“Oh? Really?!” She widened her eyes.

“Yes.” I nodded, sighing and shaking my head. “You know how Annaliese is. I talked to you like that so that she stopped teasing us.”

“Wow, that was so realistic!” She laughed audibly, gripping my shoulders excitedly. “Then...you’re with me, right?”

“Of course! She is a meanie!” I crossed my arms and pouted.

“Then we should get our revenge! Let’s pour cold water down her head from the second story! I’ll go to search the perfect spot, you go searching a bucket! Ask Ferya for one!”

She ran up the near stairs, giggling.

I took a deep breath and leaned against the window. Looking out and watching my older sister's sitting figure. She quietly sketched, probably still surprised by my behavior.

I had to make sure she too didn’t think anything weird of me. So, I followed Nelya’s instructions.

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“Kya-! Y-YOU STUPID BRATS! My sketchbook! Ahhh! Noo!”

Annaliese stood up and ran back inside whining after her whole body became drenched with cold water. We held each other from falling on our knees because of how hard we were laughing.

Nelya put the bucket on the floor and put her hands on her hips, smiling triumphantly.

“Hm! She deserved that! She is too mean!”

“Y-Yeah…” I nodded and sighed, looking out of the window once more.

I actually felt bad for her. After what the witch commanded me to do, I started caring about everyone that lived there. Seeing them suffer and experience bad things was heartbreaking for me at that point.

“Let’s go back at the tree now.” Nelya suggested.

“No, we shouldn’t.” I shook my head. “Annaliese will probably come back to scold us...and she also has to re-draw the whole thing. Let’s go play somewhere else.”

Nelya shrugged and nodded.

That’s the least I can do, Annaliese. I am very sorry.

“Ah! Look at who I found scurrying around.”

“Daddyyyy!”

“Dad, hi.”

We both hugged him. He chuckled dearly as he embraced our tiny bodies with his strong arms.

“How come are you out of your study today?” I asked him.

Even if he didn’t need or have a job, he still spent most of his time in his study. He studied, just like me. He bought tons and tons of books and studied many things. He was very knowledgeable.

His objective was to become one of those wise old men, who knew everything and had their mind sharp. He wanted to avoid dementia...and the best way was to keep studying.

“Ah, why such a question?” He sighed, faking a sad expression. “Can’t your humble father just walk around his own house and see his beautiful flowers?”

“Aw, am I a flower daddy?” Nelya clung to his shirt even more.

Nelya adored dad. She literally became a little baby when he was around.

“But of course you are. You all are flowers. Rosie, Kath, Anna, Erika, Nelya and Lillya. You are all beautiful!” He chuckled, looking out of his window. “I will never be able to tell you enough times.”

“Ah, here you are.”

We all heard her voice appearing out of nowhere.

Erika stood in front of us, her eyes on me.

“Can you please follow me for a second? I have to show you something.”

“Ah...uh…” I looked at Nelya. Then I chose to shrug and act confused...even if I knew what we were going to talk about. “...okay, Erika. But be quick, I have to play with Nelya.”

“I’m coming too!” Nelya protested.

“No. You aren’t.” Erika shook her head.

“Come on, Erika.” Dad intervened. “Why don’t you all play together and be good girls?”

“I am not playing, dad.” Erika retorted. “I just have to talk to Lillya. In private.”

"What? Lillya...do you have secrets with her?!" Nelya widened her eyes, dumbfounded.

"W-What? No...I-"

"Lillya, please I want this to be quick." Erika urged me.

Dad scratched his head, confused. Then he grabbed Nelya’s hand and smiled at her. “Why don’t we have a walk, Nelya?”

“Fine!” She glared at me. “I didn’t expect this from you, Lillya!”

They both left, leaving the two of us alone.

“Why are you so attached to such a stupid moron?” Erika asked me. “She is problematic.”

“You wouldn’t get it.” I brushed her question off. “What’s up, anyway?”

“Follow me. I’ll show you something.”

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We soon found ourselves at the balcony. She looked at me, her arms crossed.

“Do you know the recent story behind this place?” Erika asked me.

“Y-Yeah. Mom blames Gale or Vance because she found a vomit stain this morning.” I replied.

“I felt it last night too.”

“The bad aura? Again?”

“Yes.” She nodded, sitting on one of the chairs.

“And what are you trying to say? That whatever ghost there is...it puked on the balcony?”

I couldn’t help but look at her weirdly. I had to pretend I was a clueless girl...and she would have looked weird in front of anyone else.

“I-I didn’t say that!” She got mad for some reason. “I’m just saying that...usually, Vance and Gale would pull out their tongues and scratch their heads whenever they did mistakes. This time, they got really mad at the situation and started going around blaming everyone...even dad.”

I didn’t want to stir up such a heated situation just for some vomit. I felt guilty and really wished I didn’t try to get rid of whatever was still in my body anyway.

“So? Either it was someone else for real or the ghost.” I shrugged. “But what do you want to do with this information?”

“Nothing, actually.” Erika sighed. “But, this strange occurrence might have happened right when I felt the bad aura. At around midnight.”

“Why didn’t you go check around?” I asked her.

“What if this ghost gets physical? Do you want to see my dead corpse around the corridors?” She stood back up, stretching her back. “No. I must approach this in a calmer way.”

“Listen, Erika…” I looked on the ground, clasping my hands together. “I think you’re overthinking. Really.

“What?” She widened her eyes. “Weren’t you...interested in what was going on?”

“Yes, but...I think you are just having bad dreams.”

She looked outraged. “Hmpf! Such a turn of opinion. Why is everyone so fickle in this damn house!?”

“I am no ghost expert, but I do think they are not real. You shouldn’t be scared. Just get more sleep.”

“I am not even scared, you stupid brat!” She replied. “Alright then. I thought you cared, but it looks like you don’t after all. Don’t come crying to me if something happens!”

She walked back inside, leaving the two windowed doors open.

It was hurtful to ‘’betray’’ her like this. But the witch had been very clear. I couldn’t risk helping Erika in any way. I didn’t want to suffer that pain.

Then, William suddenly appeared. He was wearing a simple tank top and comfortable pants. He sat at the table near me, smiling. I sat with him instinctively.

“Since when do you talk with Erika?” He chuckled, looking afar.

“Since...some days.” I shrugged.

“Hey, how are you?” He asked me, putting his hand on mine. “Are you alright? Any more bad dreams?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Everything is fine. Not even the joints have been bothering me lately.”

“Ah, that’s good.” He nodded slowly. “By the way. I saw Nelya...she is in your room. She is angry at you.”

“I know. Just because I went somewhere off with Erika.” I sighed, standing back up. “I should go to her now.”

“Alright. See you.”

I finally also fixed William's worry for me. The witch didn't have any excuse to make me suffer.

I reached our bedroom, but...

“Go away!”

Nelya did her homework. Angry at me.

“Hmpf!”

Then Annaliese walked right past me. Her extra sketchbook under her arm.

I walked towards the tree, slowly.

Not matter how much I tried to act normally,

that day was ruined since its start.