‘Was it wrong?’

‘Was it wrong… to love and trust my mother?’

‘Was it really all my fault…?’

Flashbacks, dark memories, and all miseries passed before his eyes.

Flashes of his brother clutching his tiny hand and trying to stop him from going any further towards their mother.

Blood, corpses, snow, cries.

A chuckle, a cold one, feigning innocence.

A retreating figure.

Following the broken and scattering shards of memories, reaching the broken mirror with a beautiful woman reflected on it, awaiting a hug from him with a sweet smile.

‘Or should I blame it all on you?’

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The Red Flower

Chapter. 11

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“That’s a cute art, Elois.” said a beautiful woman with wavy, long reddish-orange hair, smiling with light cyan eyes at the paper in her hands. Before her, two kids with the same reddish-orange hair sat with her in the tiny playroom. “Another one to my cute collection. You love mama so much?” she chuckled and ruffled Elois's hair playfully.

The small Elois brightened innocently, smiling happily and proud of his gift to his mother, “Yes!”

She slightly widened her eyes before giving a hesitant smile, “Ah…” she laughed a little, ducking her head down to rest her chin on her knees, looking at the floor with empty eyes, “Children are really honest and happy… must be nice, huh?” mumbling to herself, forgetting about the two kids as they stared in wonder, “So… if mama needs help, will Elois help her?” she chuckled a little at the thought.

“I will!” Elois nodded eagerly.

The mother widened her eyes and raised her head too fast, looking at her son in disbelief, “…You'll do anything to help me?” she asked him again, making sure of what she heard. “Yes!” Elois answered excitedly, nodding vigorously.

“Anything, anything?”

“Mm!!” Elois said, nodding numerous times; seeing his mother quite happy made the kid smile happily as well. The mother lowered her head again as if trying to comprehend what she heard from her son, laughing a little with eyes wide in wonder, “Ooh… I see, I see… you'll do anything…”

“You… look so happy.”

The mother froze at the cold tone from her second son, feeling his eyes on her. Standing up, the mother smiled sweetly at the kids, “W-Well then! I'm going to prepare lunch. let's eat once papa comes back, okay?” she turned to the door and left happily. Elois answered her cheerfully as usual while the other son stared at the door silently, then turned to Elois, looking at how his brother was satisfied by their mom's happiness.

.

.

“Let's go, Elois, Owin~” the mom said sweetly, standing in front of the door, ready to leave the house with her two kids. The two kids stood before their smiling mother, fully dressed in warm coats and boots for the cold weather. They looked at their mom, puzzled as to why they were suddenly dressed and out, ready to leave to who knows where early in the morning. “Where to?” asked the younger kid, Owin. “To the amusement park~ I'm sure you've been bored this past week!” their mom answered cheerfully before grabbing Elois's tiny hand gently, smiling sweetly at the obedience of the older kid, “Let's go!”

The way she grasped Elois’s hand with a sweet smile triggered something in Owin, who grew restless suddenly and grabbed Elois's other arm, pulling his older brother back to his side. “Wait! Where are we going?!” he nearly shouted at his mother, who looked annoyed instantly and turned around to stare at him coldly, furrowing her eyebrows, “I said we're going to the amusement park, right?” Her voice grew cold at that, which didn't help to calm down the restless kid one bit, “Just say where ar—”

“Owin, we're just going out to play as usual… are you feeling unwell?” Owin was stopped by a warm, tiny hand on top of his own that was grabbing Elois's coat; turning his head to his older brother Elois, who looked concerned, genuinely worried at his brother’s restlessness.

Owin widened his eyes, looking somewhat hurt for a moment before lowering his head in defeat, “No… but…” he muttered, raising his head again to look at his mom carefully, who was crossing her arms, looking impatient at her son, “What about dad and uncle Alvin?”

She shrugged, “Your dad is at work, and your uncle is too tired to move. You know he's sick.” she turned around and walked to open the door, “Now, let's go~”

Elois brightened and followed his mother, tugging the younger with him. The little brother allowed himself to be pulled by his big brother, silently walking behind the two.

.

.

Elois heard the front door closed with a thud and opened his eyes groggily; his neck hurt a little because of the uncomfortable position he was sleeping with his brother in the back seat of their mother’s car. Looking around him, he saw no one beside him other than his little brother, “Mama…?” he weakly called out, looking at the empty driver seat. He looked to the side and outside the window close to his right, ‘It's snowing…’ he then observed the place they were in, there was nothing but snow, and the car was parked in front of an unfamiliar cottage, ‘Where are we…?’

* Deafening Silence -

He stayed like that in the quiet and cold car, eyeing the numbing nothingness outside, and then heard a thud coming from the other side. He turned to the other window to his left, and there he found his mother, looking down with wide, panicked eyes and hands trembling, saying something with trembling lips as she dove into a very tall man’s chest. The man leaned down a bit to listen to her, keeping his hands in his pockets as he smiled casually and said something to the mother, who wasn’t looking at his face and was busy hugging him. Elois looked at the man, with long black hair, a messy, loose ponytail resting on his left broad shoulder, wearing strange sunglasses and a bit of beard on his chin, with a white coat making him look like a doctor. The man was grinning wide; a chill ran down Elois's spine immediately, and his eyes widened slightly in an unknown fear.

Elois hurriedly nudged his still sleeping little brother, lying clumsily on his tiny thigh, “Hey, Owin! Wake up!” he tried to lower his voice in a whisper. Owin stirred awake with a groan, blinking the sleepiness away from his eyes, and looked at his big brother with a pout, “Hmm… Elois? What…” he rubbed his eyes, and he then realized Elois's scared and panicked expression he shifted so he was sitting properly now.

Elois looked back at the two adults outside; Owin turned around to look at whatever his brother was looking at. He recognized the sign on the man’s coat and froze in place, “Elois... I think we should get away from here…” Owin said, all sleepiness from seconds ago gone. Elois looked troubled and uncertain, “That— But… shouldn't we wait for—”

Owin shook his head firmly, “Dad said we should be careful around mom. She said we were going to the amusement park, but that was obviously a lie! And we both agree that man looks dangerous so let's run away. Listen to me this time, Elois!!” he grabbed Elois's shoulders to emphasize his point.

Elois remained quiet for a while, looking at his little brother's stern eyes, then at the two adults outside, then back at his brother. He hesitantly grabbed his little brother’s hand, pulling the younger slowly to the door away from the two adults, opening the door as quietly as possible. Both kids set their legs and sank into the snowy ground; Elois looked around the empty area, ‘… there's nothing but snow here…’

“Oooh~ I wonder where did your kids go?~”

They both froze at the chilling voice close from behind, feeling the shadow of the man looming above them, staring at them by the open window like a child enjoying the view outside the car with a wide smile.

* Fear -

Elois tightened his hold on Owin’s hand and ran as fast as possible and as far as he could from the man, ignoring the calls from his mother demanding their return. They ran for quite some time, but there was no end to the large area around them. Elois looked around; panic was the only thing he felt; no matter how long they ran, there never seemed an end to the open, wide snowy area. ‘Snow… nothing but snow…’

* No way out -

He didn't notice he had stopped, ‘Where do we go…?’ his hands fell to his sides, eyes looking at the nothingness around him. He suddenly heard a thud from behind and turned to see his little brother kneeling on the ground, trying to catch his breath. He widened his eyes and ran to his brother, “Owin?!” he sat down to look at his brother, but when Owin started to breathe calmly, he felt relieved; soon, he was overcome with guilt, “I'm sorry… I don't really get what's happening and why we're even here with mom— I-I know that something feels odd about that man… but… I'll make sure to keep you safe…”

Owin looked down with angered eyes and mumbled quietly, “She lied… she's a liar… I knew it.”

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Elois looked shocked by the sudden shift of his little brother's demeanor; he wasn't sure how his usually cheery, happy brother became so cold suddenly, “Owin…?”

Owin got up with eyes filled with loath, walking a little with his back to his brother, and remained oddly calm despite the situation; he narrowed his eyes and looked at a forest from afar, and pointed at it with his reddened finger, “Let's go to that forest, maybe we can find our exit there.” He decidedly walked forward.

Elois stood hurriedly and walked closer to his little brother, still confused by the other's words, “Forest?—Wait, Owin…” seeing as his brother stopped at his call, “What do you mean you knew?”

Owin looked down with a frown, not facing his oblivious older brother, “All that she says are lies. Her only motive was to use us for something with that man.” he clenched his fists in anger, “That man, his coat… he must be working in Anfinrud's company, the place dad worked in. Dad said it's a dangerous place and we should stay away from anyone who wears the same coat and works there. She lied to dad. Last night, I heard her talking to him. She said she would stay home with us so dad could go to work without worrying about uncle Alvin and us.” He gritted his teeth and turned to face his shocked brother, “So why are we here then? Why did she suddenly decide to leave the house the moment dad left to work?!”

Elois was dumbfounded, staring wide-eyed at his younger brother and in disbelief, “…I never heard that… and dad never told me about his old job… he didn't tell me to be careful around her…” he didn't know whether to feel lost or sad of being left aside of everything, maybe both.

“He couldn't tell you, Elois… dad knows how much you love her,” Owin said, apologetic and reluctant; he tried to avoid looking at his brother and turned to run again.

Elois remained silent, didn't know what to say or what to feel; his legs numbly moved to follow after his running brother and toward the forest. ‘…what's happening…? Dad…? Mom…? If… if what Owin says is true… then…everything…’

He ran beside his brother with a hazy mind. He didn’t notice when they had entered the forest covered with snow. Just when he caught a glimpse of a smiling man from afar and between the trees, something came flying quickly from a distance and hit Owin, causing him to fly back and roll on the ground with a groan. Elois stopped abruptly and turned to see his little brother groaning in pain, confused by what just happened, “Owin…”

“Found you~”

Elois flinched in place at the familiar chilling voice; he quickly turned around to see the tall man, grinning casually and slowly approaching, “That was fun. I wish we could play some more.” he got one hand out from his pocket and moved it to rest it on his broad chest, “Let's introduce ourselves first…” he stopped with a short distance between him and the two kids, Elois took a step back.

“I'm Lucas.”

Elois wasn't able to say anything in return; he was too scared to utter a word. His hands and legs were trembling and unmoving.

“Your turn?” the man gestured for Elois to speak.

Elois turned back to his brother in panic, “Owin—”

He wasn’t expecting to be met with his mom sitting on her knees behind him and tightly holding a groaning Owin in a painful hug, glaring at Elois with wide eyes; she looked nothing like the mother he knew.

“Mom…” Elois couldn't recognize this woman; he stared wide-eyed, lips trembling as he weakly called for her to snap out of it and come back to her senses that this was some prank.

And a huge, cold hand rested on his tiny head, slowly ruffling his short fluffy hair almost fondly. He didn't have to look up to know whose hand it was; a chilly voice spoke then, “C'mon now, it's too cold outside here, isn't it?”

.

.

The sound of the snowy wind could be heard in the small, wooden, and dark room. The two brothers sat on one bed despite the room having two separate beds on either side, both under the heavy blanket and away from each other, looking down in complete silence in the dark room lit only beside the small candle by the small window.

“Owin… I'm sorry, in the end… I couldn't do anything at all…” feeling weak and guilty all over again, Elois weakly said as he frowned down.

Owin hugged his knees tighter as he mumbled, “It's not your fault. No one could blame you for this…” he scooted closer to his older brother with a pained expression, “But… please… believe me… she's not the mother you think she is… you should stop listening to her, please…”

Elois looked at his brother, who had his head down and was about to cry; he gently pulled him into a hug with a calm smile, patting his head affectionately, “I know you aren't lying to me. I trust you.”

“Mm…” Owin clutched his brother’s clothes tightly as he basked in the warmth.

There was a moment of comfortable silence before that moment was interrupted by the sound of the door opening slowly; they saw their mother walking into the dark room with a contemplative smile, “What would you like for dinner~?” she asked sweetly as if everything happening was normal.

Elois stared at her, careful yet troubled. Hugging his little brother protectively to his chest as he asked, “Why are we here?”

“So you hate me now?” Her eyes turned cold for a moment before she smiled sweetly and innocently, “We're in our new home with your new dad, Lucas ~”

“YOU CRAZY—!!!”

Elois hurriedly pulled the upset Owin back to his side, hugging him securely, protecting him from their own mother, “Please leave us alone!!” he looked at her, eyes slightly cold for the first time towards his mother. He stared at her, hoping for her to leave immediately, which she did, closing the door with a lingering glare at him.

Owin growled silently in his arms and voice wavering, “I hate her…”

Elois calmly patted his head and brought the blanket back to cover his brother on his lap, “Calm down, dad will definitely do something…” he couldn't believe his own words, but someone had to stay positive and collected in their situation.

Owin forced himself up and away from his brother’s warmth, looking dejectedly down, “…No,” he mumbled. Elois stared at him, confused, “What?”

“Dad has no idea of where we are now, and she drugged uncle Alvin so she can make her move without anyone interrupting her. I’m sure she gave him something else instead of his usual medicine. He was sleeping deeply for quite some time and didn't move for hours… as if… as if he was dead… how… how can anyone find us now…?” the little brother was barely holding back his tears as it was becoming too much for a child his age to hold all the suffocating feelings in only one day.

“So you say… she killed uncle Alvin…?” Elois looked down with wide, unbelieving eyes as he couldn’t differ what was real anymore. He soon took the blanket and put it over his brother’s head, then pulled Owin again into a hug, “Alright, come here,” they fell on the pillow; Elois patted his brother on top of him with a smile, “You're tired. Sleep, let's hope for the best.”

Owin raised his head from Elois's chest, frowning and troubled, “What if she came an—”

“I'm with you, and we’re together here, don't worry. Besides, I don't think she'd kill children.” Elois reassured him with his easy smile, cupping his little brother’s chubby cheeks playfully, making Owin huff and take Elois’ hands away from his face, “Alright…” he went back to lay on top of his smiling brother, forcing himself to relax at the sound of his brother’s heartbeat and calm breathing. Only then did he realize how exhausted he was as his eyelids became too heavy to keep his eyes open.

“…sleep well, big brother.”

.

.

Elois opened his eyes in the darkness, eyes bleary; he could hear hushed and distant voices. He slowly closed his eyes again, and then came a whisper, “Be a good boy as always and sleep well, sweetie. Love you~”

He tried to squint his eyes open again but could still not see a thing, so he closed them back. He heard muffled screams, like he was underwater, ‘Someone's screaming my name… I can't hear them well… am I drowning…?’ he drifted further away from reality and deeper into the dreamland, feeling like he was sinking deeper down the water, ‘Ah, right… Owin doesn't know how to swim…’

‘…Owin…’

Click—

‘Owin!!’ Elois jolted awake with his eyes wide open, the sound of the door closing softly in his dream oddly echoed in his ears. He quickly pushed himself to sit on the bed, ignoring how sweaty he felt, and looking around the dark room, he clutched his throbbing head, ‘My head— feels so heavy… what happened? Why am I alone? I'm sure he was in my arms!’ he stared at his two hands, pupils shaking at how empty and cold his hands felt.

He suddenly froze, noticing he wasn't alone in the room as a big, familiar figure was sitting close to him on the bed, “Did you sleep well?”

He didn’t know how he missed the towering man by his side, either from his panic or how dark the room was without the candlelight. He remained still with his eyes wide and faced down. Noticing his fear, the man cooed in his chilly voice, “Oh, please~ Don’t be scared of me. I’m not the one who took your brother somewhere else.”

Elois clutched the blanket on his lap and forced out a question, still looking down, “Where… is he…?”

Lucas turned to the side with a playful smile, scratching his head lightly, “Oh, he's not here and won't be. Sorry about that.”

Elois gulped, hesitating before turning to look at the unregretful man, “What… do you want from me...?”

Lucas looked back at him with his casual smile, eyes covered by the round sunglasses, “I knew you smelled different, I thought my sister had finally started her move to stop me, but I am yet again disappointed. She has always been a softie. That won't do, not good. So, we'll have to fix that,” he leaned closer to Elois on the bed to playfully poke the little nose of the petrified kid, “Don't you think so?”

Elois gulped; he whispered, “…mom…”

Lucas pulled back with a sorry look at the kid, standing up, “Oh? You still call her 'mom'? That's not good. You're so innocent. She gonna use you as much as she can if you keep trusting her blindly y'know.” he patted the kid’s head, which scared the kid even more with the cold hand covering the top of his head, “Okie~~ wait here, Elois Feldstain.”

He left, leaving the door open behind him and allowing some light into the room, yet Elois still couldn’t feel himself breathing or calming down as he remained unmoving and repeated the name in his muddy head, ‘…Elois… Feldstain…?’

“We're in our new home with your new dad, Lucas~”

His mother’s words echoed loud in his head at that moment, ‘Lucas Feldstain…? But… how… what about dad...?’

“Elois! You're awake!” his mom came running happily into the room and eagerly sat on the floor while resting her elbows on the bed and looking at him sweetly. “Did you sleep well, honey?”

“…you drugged me, didn't you…? Why are you doing this…?” he asked, voice shaky and low and face looking down. “Hmm?” She moved to look at his face with a smile that told him the answer was obvious, “You said you'd help me!! And your brother was trying to stop you from doing so!”

Elois stared at her, not believing what he heard, “Help you…?”

She nodded excitedly, “You said you'd do anything to help me, remember?~”

Elois stared at her with wide, confused eyes, a look of utter disbelief on his face, “Help…? Help?? What do you mean by helping you? Can't you see? I'm the one who needs help here… what's with you and that fake smile of yours...?”

She widened her eyes at her son, who glared angrily at her for the first time since the moment he was born.

“What about Owin…? My brother— your son? What have you done to him? YOU LIAR!! I WANT MY BROTHER BACK! I WANT MY FATHER AND UNCLE BACK!! I WANT MY FAMILY BACK!!!! IF YOU REALLY NEED HELP, WHY ARE YOU DESTROYING OUR FAMILY THEN?!!!”

“I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!”

The son instantly stopped at the mother’s sudden outburst, looking up at her wide, shaken eyes. Her mad eyes softened a little at the scared eyes of her beloved son, feeling equally afraid with a trembling smile as she kept on admitting to the confused son, “I'm scared! They'll kill me! I can't fight them back… it's only normal to run away, right? This is… this is the only way for me to live!”

Elois looked silently at her before slowly reaching his trembling hand to hold her pinkie and pleaded, “Let's go home… I… I'm sure dad and everyone will be able to help you…”

She slapped his hand away furiously and pulled him by the neck with both hands, “NO!! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! I’M FORCED TO DO THIS!!”

She then realized what she was doing and slowly lowered her son back onto the bed, smoothing out his clothes, leaning her face close to his and cupping his cold cheeks with her trembling hands, staring with eyes that looked insane to Elois, “You love me, right? Then help me, then we'll go back home… help your mom, and I'll help you because I love you a lot!!”

* Lost -

Elois looked down with frozen and lost eyes, “o…okay…”

She jumped to hug him tightly with a big smile, “You're such a sweet son!!”

“Forced? Aren't you using the wrong word here? Aaah~ you really are a bad mother, Ashley. Using your son horribly like that…”

The mother stilled with wide, panicked eyes, slowly letting go of the kid in her arms and turning around to look at the long, big figure standing behind her.

Lucas looked at the sharp knife in his hand with his usual smile, passing his finger slowly along the unsharp side, “Here is an amusing fact. Listen carefully, my lady. Those who take advantage of others' pure trust for their own selfish benefits are surely used by others behind their backs, or not really behind their back. Some are too dumb to see anything anyway, haha,” he turned his head in her direction, “You agreed to the requirements like it was nothing just to run away from your mistakes, and you call yourself a mother?”

She trembled and tried to back away from him, looking up with eyes wide in panic, “N-No… I just…”

“You can stop running now. Your role ends here. You can finally rest in peace~” he flicked the knife in his hand, and in a second, he started stabbing the woman several times enough to kill her for once and all; blood spattered across the small room, all displayed to the wide-eyed and motionless child on the bed.

Elois heard the sound of flesh getting stabbed and blood splattering again and again, a stab after another after another. Only when the noises stopped did he chance a look at the woman on the floor, who looked nothing like the one seconds ago. ‘Mom…?’

He couldn't move when Lucas carelessly threw the knife on the ground beside Ashley's corpse and walked toward him. He couldn’t move even when the man slowly moved to blindfold him.

‘Wait… wait…’

* Can't move… -

He doesn't remember why or when he was brought to a place that looked like a surgery room, he could see the light of the lamps flashing on above him while he was forced to lie on a cold bed; he started trembling, tears already staining the fabric over his eyes.

“You know, Elois?”

Something was pressed beside the bed, sounding like a button; his neck, ankles, wrists, and middle, and almost all of his body was pinned to the bed by something solid and hard, making it impossible even to struggle a bit.

“People are so horrible, and your mom was one of them. She was too horrible. I couldn't stand her no more,”

“She used you so heartlessly.”

“They are all ugly.”

“All of them.”

“Ah, I hate them.”

The man heard a sob from the little boy on the bed while he was preparing a needle, “Hm? Oh no, don't cry~ I'll use a veeery small dose on you. It'll be quick so that it won't hurt at all, okay?” he moved and sat beside the child, “Your mom's the one who chose this way. We can't do anything about it, right?” expertly inserting the needle into the child’s tender skin, “Ah, also… no need to cry over someone as filthy as her.” Lucas gently pulled the needle out, smiling all the while, “Sometimes you should throw away your emotions to protect yourself. Feelings and emotions could kill you if you stay the way you're now, my son~”

“Someday…”

Lucas tilted his head to glance at Elois.

“I will… KILL YOU.”

Lucas looked surprised for a second but laughed right after, “I'm looking forward to that day then~ But, just so you know…” he removed the blindfold from the kid’s eyes. He moved his hand to take away his sunglasses and reveal his sharp eyes to the child’s tear-stained face, smiling coldly with red crimson eyes. “I'm already dead, Elois Feldstain.”

Elois only glared in silence, feeling his body numbing and couldn’t feel anything anymore.

“Now, have a nice sleep~”

And with a whisper, the child closed his eyes to blackness.

.

.

.

.

Gasp—

The teen Elois with messy hair and heavy eyebags jolted from his sleep and sat on the bed with labored breathing, looking around the small room with confused, hazy eyes.

“A… dream…?”

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The End of CH. 11