“P-Please!! We don't mean you any harm!” said an old man, trembling and scooting back on his elbows, getting away from the teen who slowly approached him, ignoring the stinging coldness from the snow beneath him.
“Hard to believe. How many times has it been now? 10? Or maybe 20? And each time you bring more freaks with you, is Lucas sending you to me?” the messy-haired teen asked coldly while playing with his odd-looking dagger.
“No! Mr. Xenos asked us to bring you to him! L-Lucas is no longer working with us! H- He disappeared long ago!!”
“Oh? Doesn't hide the fact you are a creep, just like him.” The boy got closer to the man missing a limb, ignoring the sound of crushing limbs beneath his feet. He leaned down in front of the terrified old man with a familiar lab coat, “How many kids did you play with until now, old man?” the boy gave a wide smirk with wide eyes, aiming the bloody dagger at the whimpering man.
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The Red Flower
Chapter. 12
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Elois snapped his eyes open with a gasp, finding himself sweating and panting in the small-dark room, lying on the old bed while hugging his knees. He gulped after collecting his breath and pushed himself up. He looked with wide eyes at the small window, white, cold, and quiet outside, as always, “Was it a nightmare…?” He silently stood from the creaking bed, grabbed his coat that was left on the floor and wore it in a daze. He then headed to the door, passing by a tiny dining table. He glanced at the prepared and covered food on the table with a letter with only one word, ‘Enjoy!’, as always.
He widened his eyes, “Lucas?!” he roamed the dark place in a hast, quickly snatched the door open, and ran out.
But there was nothing, like always. He took several slow steps to the wide-open area with only snow, “…no one…? Again…? Or…did I prepare… no… no…” he walked a little and turned left and right, calming down a bit, “No blood either… so it was a nightmare…” He then noticed a paper half buried under the snow. He pulled it out to find a ripped paper of someone’s data; the house address was also written. Elois only stared with wide stilled eyes at the picture of the familiar man on the paper.
.
.
A girl with short black hair was heard singing in the kitchen, swaying slightly as she danced with her melody while preparing a cake. She turned suddenly with a broad smile to look behind her and at the kitchen’s entrance, “Hmm?” she tilted her head slightly to the side, smile still on her face as she eyed her unexpected visitor with her crimson red eyes.
“So you're his daughter? Wow, he's a father, really… that monster…” A cold voice asked, sounding shocked and in disbelief despite the flat tone and lack of emotions shown.
The girl blinked, then smiled happily, “Oh! You must be Elois! He talks a lot about you!” she walked eagerly closer to Elois, who slightly flinched at her sudden approach yet remained still with his dead eyes, “Ah~ My father is so happy now!” she came closer to Elois's face, “He says—” then she stood on her toes and covered around her lips with her hands as if whispering a secret no one should know of, even though there was no one but the two of them. She excitedly whispered—
“Nice to see you again~”
Elois instantly widened his eyes, felt a cold and violent shiver run down his whole body, and the next thing he knew, he stabbed the girl with his dagger in her stomach and dragged it to her sides. The creepiest thing was that she was still smiling even after falling to the floor with her scattered insides and limbs, bathing in her own blood with her glowing bloody eyes, “He is laughing! My father is… HAPPY! HAhaHAha!”
Elois stared down at her and unmoving. Unaware of the smiling man standing by the entrance behind him.
“Awh~ she was pretty useful, oh well.”
Elois jumped with a loud gasp and his eyes wide open and found himself in the familiar room, looking down at crumpled paper beneath his cold and pale hand on the bed. He stared at it for a long while with the loud sound of his rapid breathing in the room.
.
.
He stopped in front of an ordinary-looking house, sneaking carefully inside as he found the front door open, warily eyeing the house inside after closing the door behind as silently as he could, looking at the odd choice of interiors and the dark theme all over the place. The house was dark except for one lamp with red light from the roof before the kitchen entry, ‘So this is… his house…?’ he hesitated before walking to the familiar kitchen. He looked at the floor beside the table. He sighed out of relief, “No blood… no corpse… was it… a nightmare, again...?”
“Running away, are we?”
He jerked around, panicking for a second at the familiar chilly voice from behind. He could swear he felt the man standing behind him for a second, but no one was there. He could hear his heart still beating fast and loud, “Lucas…?” he voiced out, but all he heard was his own voice echoing in the lifeless, empty house. He felt he was being watched, but he knew there was no one in the house, “Is this really his house...?” he mumbled to himself, looking around him in the kitchen; his eyes landed on a glass door leading to a small garden outside and a wall separating the house from the neighbors. He opened the door slowly, noticing an odd lump on the ground, like someone tried to hide something by digging messily and piling the sand right back. He walked to the spot with slightly trembling legs, staring worriedly with wide eyes at it, ‘The… the corpse… is it… here…?’ He was about to dig inside and inspect, but a watery sound and a clatter cut all his thoughts in a split second, and he turned to the wall beside him, not too far.
He eyed the direction of the sound suspiciously, ‘Lucas’ neighbor…’ he slowly stood up and moved away from the spot, forgetting about the corpse. He climbed the wall and stood on one of the big trees inside the neighbor’s garden, looking down at a lively garden with trees and beautiful flowers everywhere. He walked carefully on one of the large branches and looked down, noticing a small figure.
A kid with silky black hair, ice-blue eyes, and pale skin, he was watering the flowers with a small smile barely noticeable. Elois blinked at the kid who seemed to be around 8 or 9 years old, “A kid…?” he muttered to himself as he wasn’t expecting to see an innocent child, observing the black-haired kid who was getting ready to calmly step back inside the house with a pot of beautiful flowers.
He was so focused on thinking about Lucas and his neighbor that he didn't notice his leg slipping slowly from the branch, “HUH?” He quickly lost his balance and fell straight to the inside of the garden. “ACK!!!” He landed painfully with a groan, followed by a few scattered leaves slowly falling around him and above his head; he shifted and rubbed his back with a grimace, “Ow…” he weakly groaned at the pain, forgetting his surroundings for a second before a calming voice interrupted him.
“Wow…”
Elois raised his head to meet eyes with the kid who looked down at him rather suspiciously yet indifferently, with no hints of the soft smile he was displaying seconds ago. Elois blinked up at him, “W-What?”
“Couldn't you use the door?” the boy asked back, voice calm and tranquil. His voice calmed the other down unknowingly as Elois forgot anything related to Lucas and tried to answer the boy, “Uh, well, um… I-I was…” he trailed off, looking down at his feet; he thought for a second as he suddenly realized, ‘I'm… talking to a normal person… no- I am speaking normally…’
The younger sighed lightly, “If you have nothing to do here, then please leave.” he turned around to leave Elois alone in the garden, expecting him to leave the house soon after. Elois scrambled to his feet, “No! I mean, wait! Bathroom!!”
The boy stilled, slowly turning back to Elois, who looked unsure. The boy stared with his unreadable face, “Bathroom...?”
“I… need the bathroom…”
“Why…?”
Elois blinked, standing awkwardly as he answered, “Uh… for… daily operations…?”
Both stared blankly at each other for a long minute; the situation was weird enough to render both boys speechless.
The raven-haired boy calmly nodded, surprising the orange teen, “…okay… follow me.”
.
.
The boy stared outside the large window, observing the stormy weather as the window rattled every several seconds. He heard the sound of the bathroom door opening. Elois walked to the living room, standing behind the boy with a decent distance between them, “Thank you… um…”
“On second thought, I think you should stay here for tonight.” the boy announced calmly, turning and walking to the kitchen as if nothing was wrong, “Do you want a cup of warm milk or maybe coffee?”
Elois blinked, stunned, “Uh, I'll just leave…”
“It will be wild outside soon. You can leave if you want, but if you don't want to freeze to death… then stay here.” the boy stared at Elois from the corner of his eyes before disappearing into the kitchen. Elois was confused, he wondered if the boy knew he took a long time in the bathroom on purpose to stay a bit more in the warm house for some unknown reason, and now he felt that the boy wouldn’t let him leave that easily, so he just sighed and walked around the room while taking off his cut denim jacket. The house was simple despite the size of the house but comfy; the furniture looked almost new as if not touched, not even once. He thought maybe they had just moved in, or the people here were just too clean and tidy.
He stopped at a table, looking at a flipped-down photo frame. He walked and raised it up to reveal a photo of two parents and a child, a blond man who looked to be in his late twenties carrying a child whom he assumed was the black-haired boy, and a woman with long silky black hair, both parents smiling except for the child who looked almost emotionless. He lightly tapped at the photo. “Where are your parents?”
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“Not here.” answered the boy in the kitchen as he prepared warm drinks for the both of them.
“You live alone?” Elois asked again; he didn’t know what came over him to ask personal questions of a welcoming child who oddly didn’t kick him out yet.
“Yes.” again, the boy gave him a short reply when he could just ignore the other.
“Why?” he wanted to stop, he was aware of being oddly rude, yet he couldn’t stop himself after seeing the picture.
“My father left long ago, and my mother is dead.”
Elois' eyes turned cold at the mention of 'mother,’ remembering his mother's death, and asked next without much thought, “Was she killed?” he widened his eyes as he realized too late what he had just asked.
The clutter in the kitchen stopped for several seconds. Elois tensed, “S-Sorry! I shouldn’t—”
“Yes, she was killed.” came the unbothered answer right behind him; he hadn’t noticed when the boy walked out of the kitchen with two cups in his hands.
“I'm… sorry…” he mumbled, looking to the side in shame. “It's okay.” The boy moved the cup closer toward his guest, offering one to Elois, who stood still and blinked before hesitantly accepting the cup with warm milk, ‘Why did I ask him all that…?’ standing in place when the boy turned and calmly walked to one of the fluffy sofas and sat down, taking a sip.
Elois stared at the boy from behind, blinking blankly before walking to leave the jacket on the other sofa.
“I guess you should inform your family that you will spend the night outside.”
Elois stiffened for a brief second, glancing at the calm kid who wasn’t looking at him and walked to sit on the sofa a little away from the other. Both sipping the warm liquid silently, the rattles of the windows were the only thing heard in the place.
Elois stared at the cup in his hand, “I… don't have a family, I think…”
The boy stopped his hand holding the cup and silently glanced his way.
Elois remained silent for a while. He tightened his grip around the warm cup to calm himself, “Our mother kidnaped us, both I and my little brother… things happened, and my mother ended up killed by the man she worked with… and my brother went missing somewhere else, I'm not sure if he's still alive… I'm not sure what happened after, but when I opened my eyes from a deep sleep… the man who killed my mother had disappeared… I was just… alone…” his eyes stared intently at the gentle steam coming from the warm drink, “My uncle is assumed dead… and my father…” he stilled, lips hanging open in a moment of hesitance and uncertainty, ‘Why am I telling him all that anyway…? He didn't even ask to begin with…’
The boy nodded silently as he took another sip, “You can stay here if you want, until you find your family.” he said, staring indifferently at the now-empty cup.
Elois widened his eyes and sat straight, setting the cup on the table before him and flailing his arms as he tried to reason with the careless kid before him, “Wait— you can't let a stranger stay here just like that?! What if I was lying?? And aren't you too young to live alone—”
The boy calmly looked at him, standing up with the empty cup in hand. “Well? Are you lying?”
Elois blinked, flabbergasted by the simple and indifferent question, “…No… but…”
The boy nodded and started walking to the kitchen, “As I said, you don't have to stay if you don't want to. I’m not insisting,” he turned his head back to look at the teen, who lowered his head to look down in silence, “My name is Davante by the way, Davante Fixsen.”
Elois stared down at the floor, hiding his eyes from the other, “You don't know me… you shouldn't let someone like me…” his voice got weaker with each word, couldn’t bring himself to say the rest.
“I don't know you,” Davante agreed and waited for the other to glance at him, offering a small smile, “But somehow, I can get a quick glimpse of what kind of person you are just by looking at your face.” he turned his back to the silent teen and walked further into the kitchen, not waiting for an answer.
Elois was left speechless. He looked at his hands with wide eyes, flashes of corpses on the snowy ground, bloodied limbs scattered everywhere; darkness clouded his mind in no second. He felt his hands shiver, and suddenly his hands turned horribly red in his eyes; he widened his eyes in fear, ‘Who… am I…?’ he thought, recalling how he denied the fact he killed lots of people who may genuinely mean no harm to him, he recalled how he betrayed Owin and lost him for once and all, he recalled how he was stupidly naïve and believed in everything his mother said just because he loved her so dearly and she was lovely and sweet to him; all turned to be only a façade to lure him to a dirty trap.
His mistakes aren't going to be fixed; he lost his brother, father, and uncle, and maybe he could have saved his mother.
He lost himself. A shiver crawled down his spine at the ignored reality.
‘Murderer…’ he killed many.
‘Liar…’ he lied to his brother for a halfhearted trust.
‘Naïve…’ he believed in his mother.
‘…Coward…’ he lied to himself to feel safe.
“I am the worst…” he whispered darkly with so much hate in his voice.
“She's not the mother you think she is…”
‘Owin…’
“please… believe me…”
* I’m sorry… -
Shocked at the hot tears falling down his cheeks to his own trembling hands. ‘Years had passed… why am I… crying over everything now…?’ he gritted his teeth to force himself silent as more pearls of tears fell down and never-ending; he moved his trembling hand to his head in an attempt to silence the shrieking thoughts inside, bringing the other hand in a fist to cover his quivering lips.
He was trying hard to stop what was happening to him when smaller hands wrapped around him; he jumped slightly at the sudden gentle embrace. He blinked in an attempt to see around him, but his vision was blurry, eyes full of tears. A small hand started patting his head soothingly, “You… miss your family, right?” the familiar tranquil voice said in a low tone, enough for Elois to hear.
Elois wasn't sure why, but something snapped deep inside him, and suddenly he hugged Davante's small frame tightly, burying his face further into the small chest of the kid, and started sobbing loudly; he nodded weakly, unknowingly rubbing his tears in the other's sweater but the other just let him.
“Mm… I want to… I… I want to s-see them… again…”
Davante patted his head calmly and whispered, “Then… don't throw yourself away…”
Those were the last words he heard from Davante that night before everything went black…
.
.
His swollen eyes fluttered open, hardly seeing anything in the dark, but he could blearily see a small figure standing beside him as he lay on the sofa. He squinted his eyes in the dark, ‘Davan… te...?’
The small boy stood with his back to the half-awake Elois, he couldn't see what Davante was doing when facing his back, but then Davante put something on the table and silently left his side. He tried to open his eyes properly to see what was on the table, but the warm blanket, fluffy pillow, and peaceful air lulled him back to sleep.
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.
Clank—
Elois jumped straight into a sitting position at the loud sound in his sleep, sitting still with his back straight with wide, unblinking eyes. He caught softer sounds behind him, recalling where he was, identifying that the sounds came from the kitchen. Elois jerked his head to the table and widened his eyes when he noticed his weapon, the unique dagger, was left on the table beside the sofa; he quickly grabbed it. It came back to him what happened when he fell asleep last night; he was sure he wasn't dreaming when he saw the kid leaving his weapon, which was supposed to be hidden under his shirt, on the table late at night. He slowly hid it back in its place, warily eyeing Davante, who was putting some food on the table just about his height. ‘My weapon… how did he… so yesterday he was just—’
“Good morning.”
Elois halted, not expecting the simple and peaceful greeting, not right after he was suspicious of the same boy who helped him last night.
“Breakfast is ready,” Davante said calmly, walking back inside the kitchen and sitting on the table. “Oh… okay…” Elois was, again, speechless; he couldn't understand the boy at all; he hesitantly walked silently to the kitchen and was surprised by the pleasant meal awaiting him, ‘Wow… he knows how to cook… is he really a kid…?’ he sat on the other side, facing the boy who just sat silently with a cup of what he assumed was milk again.
“Um… let's eat?” Elois awkwardly asked, looking at the kid who didn’t seem to eat any time soon.
“I'm not hungry. This is all yours,” Davante answered calmly before sipping his drink in silence.
Elois blinked; he picked up a fork hesitantly and looked at the food, “…Thanks…” He glanced at the other, who was not minding him at all. “Uh… I'm… my name is… Elois…”
“Hmm…” The kid just took another sip of warm milk and indifferently responded with his eyes down at the table, “Nice to meet you, Elois.”
Elois averted his eyes awkwardly and took a bite of the cooked sausage, ‘It feels like… talking to someone older than me…’
.
.
“The snow is all over the garden…” Elois said, looking through the window in the kitchen with a wet plate and a small towel in hand. Davante, by his side and washing the dishes, only hummed in response. Elois turned to look at him, “Something wrong…?”
“No… it's just… I hear some people talk about it, but…” the younger paused; Elois waited.
“What is… a snowman?”
Elois fell silent and stared, face unmoving. He took a step closer, “You… don't know what a snowman is?”
“Hey, you…” Davante slightly squished the sponge in his hands, glaring by the side of his eyes with a hint of annoyance shown to the other, “You were… you were definitely about to laugh just now, weren't you…?”
‘Oh…’ Elois blinked at the secretly embarrassed kid, “I wasn't going to laugh…”
Davante remained silent and turned his attention back to the dishes with a slight blush and a frown; Elois looked at him before moving to his jacket, “Alright, I'll show you a snowman.” Fixing his jacket before walking to the garden as he satisfyingly thought, ‘He can be a child sometimes…’
.
.
“Hey, Davante.”
“…”
“Davante?”
“…”
“Da—”
“Stop calling my name.” came the quiet and grumpy answer at last.
Elois blinked at the kid, who sat with his arms on a pillow resting on his knees and head resting on them with his eyes closed, making himself warm with a blanket covering his tiny back, “Are you all right…? Um… do you hate your name or…?”
“Yes.”
‘Huh?’ Elois blinked again and scratched his slightly reddened cheeks from the cold, “So you… don't like your name… then… Dante…” he then leaned somewhat toward and behind the small snowman he made and pointed at either side of its mouth, “Dante! Look here, Mr. Snowman wants your attention~”
Davante frowned at the name as he finally raised his head and was met with the so-called snowman; he silently stared, “It looks…………” he blinked, “Stupid.”
“What? Don't be cruel! He's even smiling to you!” Elois looked genuinely hurt even more when Davante scowled at him in disbelief.
“…how old are you?”
“HUH?! That's rude!!”
“How so…?”
“Show some respect, you brat!!!”
“You're not much older though…?”
“That's…! Well, maybe that's true, BUT STILL!”
“But seriously, how old are you?”
“See?! The snowman is crying now! It's your entire fault!”
“Did you just draw tears— he looks creepy now…”
“Good, have some nightmares from it now! See if he smiles to you again!”
“Why are you offended?”
.
.
“Phew~” Elois looked up with slightly pink cheeks, standing under the big tree in the forest, noticing how the place was almost deserted and no one seemed to visit it often, too empty and quiet, ‘So this's the tree Davante talked about before… he didn't tell me it was inside an Academy, I had to sneak in somehow…’ He blinked. ‘But I don't see any girl… Dante said he had seen a girl when no one did, but where could she be hiding in this open area…?’ he thought, turning left and right, expecting to see a girl according to Davante's description. Elois looked at the tree again in wonder, “What a huge tree…”
He suddenly recalled Davante's last words before he left the house. Elois chuckled, fixing the scarf around his neck, “Let's go back, can't have my little friend get mad at me for being late.” then he turned to leave with a small smile, ‘It's been a month… ah, he's really… like a little brother to me now…’
* “BUT YOU'RE A MURDERER.” -
He froze in place at the piercing, snickering whisper.
‘Huh? That was… my own voice…’
“Elois?” came a familiar voice; he noticed a small figure from a distance walking closer to him, “Why are you still here? It's too cold outside. Let’s go back.” Davante said with his usual calm voice.
Elois smiled in relief with slightly wide shaking eyes, stepping closer to the younger, “Davante…”
“Careful.”
Elois suddenly felt a familiar presence behind his back, he could feel Lucas's long frame looming over him and his big, chilly hands grasping his shoulders to keep him in place, leaning down to his ear to whisper with his usual smile, “You're going to kill him sooner or later, right?”
“No… what…” he mumbled.
“You're just like me now. It can't be helped. People like us are just like poison to others.”
“no, no no, NO NONO…”
“Elois. I'm proud of you, my son~”
“C-Can't be helped???”
He stared at his own trembling hands, bringing them close to his face to look at them closely before smiling with crazed eyes, “Oh… That's right… That's right! Right!! Even if I'm like this now!! It's your entire fault!!! Not my fault! No one can blame me!!! It can't be helped indeed!!” he threw his hands in the air, grinning with his pupils shaking, looking like a lunatic, “THIS IS HOW I AM!!”
In his panic, Elois noticed Davante again, grabbed the kid’s shoulders roughly and yanked him closer to his face, still smiling like a maniac, “You don't blame me either, right, Davante?!”
Davante couldn't help but stare silently at Elois.
Elois shook the boy's small shoulders, impatient, “RIGHT?!!”
The ever-calm face of his friend broke into a cold, pitying smile, “You can't run away forever, Elois. A murderer will always be a murderer.”
Elois felt like time had stopped around him, staring wide-eyed at his only source of sanity hanging by a thread.
‘Huh…? Wait…’
He felt everything go black for a moment. When he opened his eyes slightly again, he vaguely caught glimpses of Davante's last smile before walking away from him, as cold as the ever-falling snow.
‘Why…?’
He tried to call out for Davante again but couldn't even move an inch of his body, and he slumped back against the tree behind him.
.
.
.
.
“If you knew all along that I was a murderer… then why did you help me? Were you toying with me? I looked too pathetic to play with, was that it? Was it all an act?! Were you having fun looking at a miserable murderer?! Was it satisfying to see me like that?!” trembling hard, Elois was barely breathing as he questioned his roommate before him while facing down, unable to meet his past friend in the eye after everything.
“……”
“Say something…” he gritted his teeth to hold back his frustration.
“Elois… I'm sure I wasn't in the forest… that night…”
Elois slowly raised his head, not sure he heard that right, “Huh…?”
Davante looked straight at the stunned Elois, slightly shocked himself.
“…I was in the castle.”
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The End of CH. 12