A lie doesn’t solve the problem; it just delays it– Senseless

Jen had always tried to be a good mother. Although she could sometimes be demanding and hot-tempered, she was mostly gentle and caring. However, Jen was also easily scared and often stressed over the smallest things. It was quite embarrassing to admit, but sometimes it felt that her young children were more fearless than she was, especially Sen. Even at the young age of four, somehow he could hold a conversation with an adult without stuttering or searching for words. But as much as he was different, he was still a kid.

A kid who could get hurt… a kid who could cry. And she wanted to be there whenever that happened, with her arms open, ready to embrace the poor thing. That went for Hana, too, although she seemed to be quite strong already, taking on more of her mother’s hot temper than her anxiety. She was just thankful. Thankful to have such amazing kids.

But they weren’t the only people she was thankful for. Yami, her husband, always helped and supported her, even with his busy schedule as a scientist for the AOK. It would be an understatement to say it was love at first sight. His always understanding, cool-headed personality perfectly contrasted hers and kept her modest. She couldn’t imagine a more perfect father for her kids.

But it would be a lie to say there weren’t any difficulties in their relationship. Yami was an amazing man… who had been crushed by the world's cruelty.

She would often listen to Yami’s stories from the world war that happened a little over eight years ago, before she met and married him. Stories of how he had killed his first adversary and times when he had almost died from a bullet in his abdomen. He always told those stories with a smile, almost as if he was reminiscing a nostalgic memory, but his actions told a completely different story. Constant nightmares would leave him screaming and begging for someone who’d save him. Sleepless nights left him sleep-deprived and ghoulish, refusing to relive it in his dreams.

Those were just some of the things that came with being together with someone with such deep wounds. But she never once regretted her choice. She wanted to help him and give him the love he deserved. No matter what he had done… she would always love him.

“Mommy…” the young voice of Hana brought her back from her thoughts. The six-year-old girl was tugging her mother's skirt while she sat on the living room couch, holding a cup of Lotus Flower Tea. She smiled at her daughter, noticing how much they resembled each other. With her long white hair and pale blue eyes, she was certain they would look like sisters when she grew older. If Jen didn’t age too poorly, that is.

“Yes, dear?” Setting aside her tea, she stroked Hana’s silky hair, placing a hand on her cute rounded cheek.

“I’m bored, when is Senji coming back home?” Hana pouted, hopping on her lap while relaxing her head on Jen’s chest. It almost knocked the air out of her, given how heavy she was becoming, but Jen didn’t complain at all; the fact Hana still wanted to hug her was more than she could ask for.

“Your father took Sen to his workplace to teach and spend more time with him,” she replied.

That response only seemed to worsen her mood. “Aww, it's been like two days! Why couldn’t I come too?”

Jen wasn’t too sure about that, but it would have been wise to devise a valid excuse before Hana threw a tantrum. “Well umm… I heard he’s planning to take you next week.”

Sorry, Yami. Jen did a silent prayer. When they came home, she was going to need to convince him to take her next week as well.

“Really?!” Hana’s eyes shone.

“Really!” She agreed with a kiss on the forehead. “But in the meantime, let's play a game. Draw something, and I'll try to guess it, okay?”

“Yeah! Let’s do it!”

Seeing the bright and childish smile on Hana meant the world to her. She could die happy if things were like this for the rest of her life. With a narrowed brow and tongue sticking out, Hana struggled to draw as her mother patiently waited for her to finish. A few minutes later, with an excited giggle, Hana proudly showcased the drawing. Jen studied it for a moment.

“Is that a tree?” Jen wondered, looking at the depiction of a large brown trunk and green foliage.

Hana nodded eagerly, “And what else?”

She looked at it again and finally noticed a small stick figure beside it. “Oh, it’s a person, well done.” But the more she examined it, the quicker she realized that the stick figure had a frown. “Who is that? Why are they… sad?”

Hana placed her index finger on her lips in thought, looking above. “Hm, I don’t know. I had a dream about it.”

“A dream about…?” Jen blinked in confusion, looking at her daughter’s drawing again. “A sad man next to a tree?” She wasn’t aware that a child could dream something like that. Usually, children had odd and incoherent dreams due to their embryonic brains, or on rare occasions, just very simple ones.

“Yep.” Hana nodded keenly. Soon, however, her optimistic attitude became dejected and gloomy. “It was a very sad dream. I felt so sorry for him.”

Jen grasped the drawing again and eyed the stick figure she had illustrated. “Did your dream show why he was sad?”

Hana shook her head, which only made Jen more muddled. Dreams are often unexplainable, so it's unsurprising, but having such a sad, realistic one at her age is uncommon. “Must have been a show you watched–”

“He was crying when he looked at me...” Hana’s voice became soft as a mouse; It seemed like, at any moment, she would break down in tears. But yet, she stood strong, almost as if someone had told her so. “All he wanted was someone to talk to.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Jen felt a shiver run down her spine. Hana's sad and eerie words frightened her beyond her usual concern. The words themselves could be dismissed, but the more disturbing fact was that Hana meant every single word she said. No… it almost felt like Hana believed every word she said.

Her daughter was never this serious, and at this age, even if she were to be influenced by something, she would have a hard time processing and grasping it, so it couldn’t have been something as simple as a movie or a show she had watched. This was something much different, and that simple realization terrified Jen.

“Hana… when did you have this dream?” Jen turned seriously at her, putting her hands on her tiny shoulders. Meeting her mother’s gaping expression, she replied disconsolately.

“Yesterday, I think.”

“Yesterday?...” Jen whispered. What happened yesterday? I took Hana to school, and we had lunch. Yami took Sen to his workplace in the AOK, where he said they’d return in a few days. Then, after, I read a bedtime story to her. I don’t understand what could have caused her to have a dream like that. Jen wondered. Maybe she was overthinking things. After all, it was just a dream–

“Ring… Ring… Ring.”

Amid her conflicting thoughts, the sound of the doorbell rang throughout the house. Sighing in relief, she realized it must have been her husband and Sen. Patting Hana one more time on the head, she stood up from her chair and leisurely left the living room. Facing the large wooden door, she didn’t even bother checking who it was through the peephole before twisting the knob and opening it.

“Good day… Jen Ano.” A voice spoke in a low and forced tone. Wearing a long black trench coat, a broad-shouldered man stood there, his face hidden by an oversized brown fedora slanted downward. The only feature she could see was his silky, long black hair. Before she even had a chance to say hello back, she screamed.

“SEN?!”

The man was holding her four-year-old child in his arms. And he was unconscious…

Her first instinct was to grab him out of his grasp and check if he was alive. And that’s precisely what she did. Her body reacted on its own, unlocking her Sense, Touch, and power spread throughout her body as a blue hue flickered in her eyes. In these situations, a sense almost unlocked itself when faced with a dire situation.

Ripping him free from the man's possession, she held him up and carried him inside without asking any questions. Gently laying her child on the hardwood floor, she slammed the door before the black-haired man could explain.

“Miss, I–” his reaching hand vanished along with his words as she locked the door.

Jen quickly knelt on the floor to check her son’s pulse. She was expecting the worst, but thankfully, a regular thump was felt reverberating against her fingers. Jen sighed in relief, attempting to steady her own pounding heart.

Almost instantly, her Sense started to flicker away, soon being replaced by her normal white-blue eyes. The adrenaline had momentarily masked the ache, but as she calmed down, the throbbing became evident, leaving her breathlessly hunching over her son’s body.

It felt excruciating... the pain in her chest. She always ignored how weak and frail she had become, but this moment made it clear she was sick… But it didn’t matter. She had to make sure her son was alright. If she collapsed at this very moment, no one could defend him.

I have… I have to take care of my baby.

Groaning in agony, she wobbled and stood up, leaning her hand against a small console table. At that moment, Hana heard her and rushed into the front corridor, looking at her little brother’s limp body in utter horror. Her daughter wasn’t even sure what to make of the situation before screaming out.

"M-mommy? What happened?!"

“Shh, shh…” Jen grumbled. “It's okay, dear. I overreacted. Sen is just sleeping.”

Hana looked uncertain of her mother’s words and Jen couldn’t blame her. After all, she was struggling to keep a brave front herself. So, she kept lying. “A kind man dropped him off, that’s all. Could you please lay him down on the living room couch? Your mother is going to thank him.” Smiling hazily, a drop of sweat ran down her forehead.

It felt impossible to utilize her Sense; she simply was too weak to do so. At any second, it felt as if she could faint on the spot, but something kept her going; some protective instinct refused to admit defeat. It refused to leave her children in danger. Faced with her mother's unusual certainty, which she rarely portrayed, Hana calmed down and followed her orders, soon taking her little brother to the living room in safety.

Once Jen was sure they were out of harm’s way, she let out a large sigh. Whipping her head back to the peephole and looking through it, she found the same man standing just like he had a few moments ago. His finger tapped the railing by the front door impatiently, but surprisingly, he seemed fairly unthreatening and docile. Like he had done this a hundred times. His demeanor didn’t look like that of a scary or malicious man but more of a composed gentleman.

There was an urge to open the door. Jen wasn’t certain from which source, but that urge was overpowering. She wasn’t even sure if she was in control of her own body, but before she knew it, the door was wide open, revealing the silhouette of the long-haired man.

“I apologize for the scare, Ms. Ano,” he bowed courteously.

“It’s Ms. Huya…” Although the man only seemed polite, that didn’t change her tone from being bitter and cold. She would need a very good explanation for why a random stranger had her son.

“I see.” He murmured almost with amusement. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be passive-aggressive or anything. I just only know that name.”

“I could care less about what you call me. Even ‘bitch’ would do,” she spat, trying to lean against the door frame to support herself. She felt hot…. Uncomfortably hot, even though it was April. “Just tell me what the hell you were doing with my son.”

“You’re ill,” the man said, straying away from the topic. “Very ill.”

“I am not,” Jen blinked in surprise and tried to remain stable and stern, but it felt useless. Releasing her support from the door frame was all it took for her to start fainting. Almost instantly, she lost strength in her body and felt the cold air whisp around her face as she plummeted face forward. However, the man didn’t take this as a lurching attack. It was quite the opposite.

The next moment, Jen was in the arms of the mysterious person. He had supported her from falling face-first, grabbing her shoulder with one hand and his other securing his fedora from revealing his face. Why? Why is he so kind to me? She barely had the energy to keep her eyes open, but Jen managed to ask one question.

“Who. Are. You.”

He didn’t reply at first. Instead, he simply placed a piece of paper in the palm of her limp hand and whispered close to her ear. His words were filled with bitter hatred and sorrow. She had never heard such a tone before, such a sad and empty voice—one that had no faith.

“I’m someone you’ll know,” he whispered. “More importantly, your husband has been conducting human experiments with your son. He’s trying to make him into a monster. I brought him back so he wouldn’t undergo any more inhumane tests ever again.”

There was no energy to gasp or even reply; there wasn’t even a strand of will to think. But yet, she understood how important it was to listen.

“All the proof is in that note,” he stated. “All I need you to do is believe that Yami Huya died today. In a fatal car crash.” The warmth of the man’s hands slipped away as he settled her by the front door he shut. Her head leaned against the front railings, barely conscious. No… don’t leave me, her thoughts echoed. Don’t leave me in the cold.

In the next moment, her wish suddenly became a reality. The man took off his jacket and placed it on the unconscious mother, her mouth quivering and slowly turning into a smile when comforted by the sudden warmth.

“In a few hours, I want you to tell a big lie to your daughter and son,” the man said, his voice growing softer and familiar. “A lie that will change everything…”