Innocent wondering eyes silently looked at the other pair of eyes peeking from the slightly open iron door. The child with black hair and ice-blue eyes obediently stayed still as told.
Blink—
The child sat in the same spot and room, no longer looking at the peeking eyes through the door. Tiny, shivering hands clutching his what used to be neat, clean, and now messy black hair. There was not one sound coming from the boy. Just sitting there in the darkroom that was once brightly lit.
Blink—
The kid with slightly longer hair stood up from his usual spot in the darkroom and walked silently to the slightly opened door. His eyes were down, and his body was stiff.
Blink—
The teen with long black hair peeked through the same open door at the peeking eyes. He stared calmly with his ice-blue eyes before slowly pushing the door shut at the ever-curious ones behind.
‘There is nothing to look at anymore.’
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The Red Flower
Chapter. 2
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It was one of the rules of the Academy; none was allowed to enter the spooky forest without permission, especially at night. However, some might dare to sneak in without much trouble, and it rarely ever happens, if not at all. Given the rumors about the tree and the flower, nobody was willing to risk being haunted or getting caught and punished by the principal just because of a reckless curiosity.
“Remind me again, why are we walking out at this hour?” asked one of the two sneaking guys, looking with bored eyes at the time displayed on his phone screen, which showed 02:14 am. He suppressed a sigh for the 10th time in the past 20 minutes only.
“Y'know, everyone kept talking about that flower. I’ve never gone there, and we were close to the forest, so why not see it now?” the other sneaking guy asked back nonchalantly, striding closer to his friend.
“Go alone then. Unlike you, someone here wants to get some sleep,” complained the guy with bored eyes and a grumpy face as he closed his phone screen, taking away the only light source in that dim forest. He put his phone in his pocket and leisurely walked further into that dark place along with his friend.
“Huh? You never sleep early!” complained back the other, his voice very clear in the dead silent area. A moment of complete silence floated between the two as they walked. The curious one slowly moved closer to the grumpy one while glancing around them with wide eyes and asked carefully, “Hey… isn’t it too dark in here…?”
The other guy didn’t react much and teased his friend, “Oh, yeah? Is that why you’re touching my hand?”
“Wha- A-Accidentally!”
“Yeah, yeah. Accidentally holding my hand now?” the unconcerned guy looked like he finally found something fun to do, though his poker face didn’t move except for a little smirk he gave to his obviously scared friend. His friend fell for his provocations and didn’t pay attention to their surroundings, unaware of what was lying on the ground.
“Well, I can’t se— ELOISSSS!!!!”
“HUH?!! LET GO, YOU JERK!!!”
The sudden jump from the frightened one to the other, Elois, was about to cause them both to stumble and fall to the ground if it wasn’t for Elois catching his chaotic friend and balancing both of them. He tried to pull himself out of the trembling solid hug of his friend but found difficulty doing so. He was about to yell again when his friend finally decided to let go, only to grab Elois’s shoulders firmly and stare wide-eyed at him. “S-Something! There's something scary on the ground!!”
Elois looked at his frightened friend’s face in the dark and snapped back, “Your face is scary.” it was then that he took notice of the situation around them; he turned his head left and right and questioned, “Come to think of it, where the hell is that flower? It shouldn't be this dark right around here.”
His friend flinched and started to franticly look around for the flower, still holding onto Elois’ shoulders. “W-What?? Wait, it’s here? Where is it??”
“That’s what I want to know, stupid,” Elois sighed and grumpily yet calmly fished out his phone from his pocket again. “I'll use my phone then…”
“Huh…?”
They both froze, equally puzzled and shocked when the flashlight fell to the ground to show someone lying there, dressed in all black in the dark.
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“Thank you, sis! Sorry again for the trouble…” said a teen with fluffy pinkish hair and green eyes, taking the bag from his sister.
“No problem, well now I have to go, bye Johnie~” she gently smiled at her apologetic brother before turning to the building’s exit door, ready to leave the academy.
The teen frowned. “Wait! You’re going out alone at this hour?” He worriedly added, “Did you come here alone?”
The girl paused, recalling the kind and handsome stranger she met this morning. Grinning playfully at her worrywart brother, “Nope! Someone nice accompanied me! He was on his way here as well.”
The brother, John, stared helplessly at his innocent sister. “Oh… don’t go off with some random guys...”
She smiled more, giving her brother the peace sign. “Don't worry. He was too kind to me! Maybe I should find him and ask him for help again, ehehe!” she gave her brother one last smile before turning again and walking to the gate. “Anyway! I'm going now! Goodnight!”
John softly sighed while looking at her retreating figure, still worried for his sister but unable to stop her. “Fine, be careful…” he turned back to his room inside the dorms.
The girl hopped down the stairs, humming playfully and unbothered. She stopped when suddenly a tall, dark figure stood in front of her out of nowhere. She looked at the man’s pale face, light purple hair and red eyes. She was silently questioning if his eyes were glowing or just because of the lanterns lighting in the night. She thought they were beautiful, not noticing the gentle smile he oddly gave her.
“Hey, ma’am~ would you do me a favor?”
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“Ah, Ah~”
Davante heard a familiar, distant voice, but it felt so long since the last time he heard it. He distantly looked at the colorless scribbled-like figure of himself in the dark. It was looking at him with wide eyes, just as usual, talking to him despite not having a mouth visible.
“Something terrible is about to happen.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Said the figure with a hint of amusement in its voice.
“Will you stay there and do nothing… Again~?”
Was it mocking him again, or was it scolding him? He wasn’t sure.
‘Something bad…?’ He slowly felt himself drifting back to reality and out of his dream. He wasn’t even sure when did he fall asleep. Everything was blurry, but he could hear someone talking… or perhaps more than one person.
“Hey, is he alive?”
“Why would we bring him with us if he was dead then? Have some common sense.”
“No, but see, he didn’t move at all…”
“Dude, he is unconscious.”
Those were really unfamiliar voices, he concluded. He assumed they were talking about him. He forced his eyes open despite the overwhelming feeling of being too tired and weak to do so much as wake up at the moment.
“Oh, he is awake!”
“Hey, you’re too close.”
He was met with a young man with very long dark reddish-brown hair, sharp yet droopy ocean-blue eyes, and another guy with a unique hair color that goes gradually from light red to blond from up to down and tiffany eyes. He remained still on the bed with a stoic face as he took notice of how the long-haired man was literally sitting on him and pushing his face too close for his comfort; the guy gave a broad smile as if he found his face quite amusing. “Hey, look! His face is so kitty-kitty~”
He came even closer as if he wasn’t close enough to the poor teen, who widened his eyes at the sudden proximity and finally took in the situation.
He vaguely heard the other guy trying to warn his friend to mind the distance, but that didn’t stop the black-haired teen from moving all too suddenly and sending a perfect punch to the brown-haired guy, sending him down to the floor beside the bed. With a shocked groan, the guy held his swollen cheek and looked up wide-eyed. Davante didn’t wait and jumped quickly to grab the nearest object he could get his hands on and stood on the unfamiliar bed, his shadow looming over the two guys with his newly acquired weapon; a table lamp.
Staring viciously at them, he asked, “Who are you two? Answer me.”
Silence filled the room for a second; the brown-haired still looked quite stunned, and his friend looked perplexed yet amused at the whole scene. The orange-haired guy mumbled, “A lamp as a weapon…”
The brown-haired, still on the floor and looking up at the teen, pulled himself a little away from the bed. “No, wait, why is he staring only at me...?”
Davante ignored their commentaries and glared at a particular guy.
Finally, the orange guy decided to step in and answer him; he sighed, “Kid, we found you unconscious under the tree. We thought we could be kind enough and bring you with us. It’s no big deal, but be grateful.”
The teen’s face changed to somewhat calm and slightly puzzled.
“And I carried you on my back all the way here~” boasted the brown-haired guy with a proud smile and swollen cheek; the teen went back to glaring at him. He then stood up and smiled smugly, pointing his thumb at himself. “By the way, I’m Javi Cavalon~”
“Elois Feldstain.”
Davante silently stared at the two guys who had just introduced themselves to him. He finally felt the weight of the lamp in his hands as the situation became awkward and he no longer felt cornered or in danger. Both sides stared at each other in silence.
“……”
“………”
Davante wasn’t sure what they expected from him, but he wasn’t willing to start a friendship with any of them. “…Okay?”
“Just sayin',” they both said in unison as if expecting this kind of reaction from him.
He silently let go of the lamp in his hand, then stepped down from the bed and went straight to the door, reaching for the doorknob. “Thank you. Sorry for the trouble. Goodbye.”
“Sorry, but you can’t leave. Not until we know who you are,” said Javi, who came to Davante’s right side, casually keeping his palm against the door, preventing the teen from opening it.
He ignored the fact that they flash-stepped the distance within seconds and reached him at the door to effortlessly stop him from leaving when he was far from them.
“You were under That tree after all,” said Elois, who leaned back against the door on Davante’s other side.
“Plus, I don’t think you are a student here. Also, the red flower was nowhere when we found you, so you need to be questioned,” said Javi with a friendly, calm smile, bending down a little to look at the teen who had his face down and silent, unmoving.
‘Why… do I have a bad feeling about this…?’
Davante missed the lamp at that moment, regretting letting go of his only weapon.
.
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“So…”
Davante patiently waited for the smoking man in front of him to start his questioning. The Assistant Headmaster, with his dark-blue hair showing one side of his forehead and a scar over his left eye and brow, looked tired and wanted to be done with the whole matter as fast as possible. He blew the smoke from his cigarette and fixed his sharp dark blue eyes on the teen sitting in front of him.
Davante remained silent with his indifferent and expressionless face, aware of the two guys standing behind the black sofa he was sitting on ‘… I’m not in court or something, right?’
“What were you doing in the forest?” came the first question.
“Nothing.” was the only answer he had for them, as honest as that. Davante looked quite serious for someone to be kidding anyone.
The man was speechless for a moment, taking another inhale of the cigarette in his hand. He warned, “Please be honest. I won’t tolerate some silly lies.”
“I am telling the truth. All I remember was that I looked at the tree, then I was about to leave, but I can’t remember what happened after.” he didn’t expect them to believe him anyway, but he was more than okay with sitting there and repeating the whole answer all day if they wanted.
All three people remained silent for seconds before one of them finally spoke. Elois leaned a bit toward him behind the sofa and asked calmly, his voice doubtful yet curious, “Then what about the red flower?”
“I told you, I don’t remember anything other than what I said.”
The Assistant narrowed his eyes a little at the teen. “How did you get here in the first place? Clearly, you're not a student of this academy.”
“A girl asked me to escort her to help her bring over her brother’s stuff. The guards allowed me to come with her since they know her very well…”
The man sighed and rubbed his face tiredly with his hand. “Ah, Juli…”
Davante blinked, silently questioning if the smiley and cheerful girl was known for being a troublemaker; she did seem a little carefree and ignorant, but not to the point of rebelling against the academy’s rules, he thought.
“Oh! The pinkish siblings?”
‘Pinkish siblings…’ Davante and Elois were silently impressed by the brown-haired naming skills.
“Yeah, she comes to see her brother once every week. That’s why everyone trusts her. But to bring a stranger here without prior notice is… Anyway—” the man sighed, shifting from leaning on his desk a little to putting out his cigarette. He tiredly said while brushing back his hair, “You can’t leave. You’ll stay here until we know everything and find the red flower.”
‘………HUH?’ he was perplexed how the situation escalated and ended up like this; he remained silent and unmoving, however.
“Elois, Javi, you can leave now.”
The two friends immediately moved away from the sofa, feeling no longer involved in the matter and free to return to their usual routines.
“Yeaa~s, let’s skip the next class, Elois!”
“I'd like to, but not with you.”
“Ouch, that hurts.”
Their banter immediately disappeared once the door was closed behind his back. Davante had his head down, waiting for the man to do whatever he needed to do as the Assistant and be done with. He didn’t care anymore, not like he cared to begin with, but he was at least hoping to leave the academy by the end of the day.
The office was heavily silent for a long moment before the sound of flipping papers filled it. “Your name?”
“…Dante…” he lied.
The man raised his face a bit to stare at the teen, who still had his head down, his long black hair covering most of his face from the observing eyes of the man.
“Your full name?”
He remained quiet; he hoped the man would let it go even though he knew well enough that those were routine procedures that needed to be done naturally and must be fulfilled. There was no escape. He still wished for a way out, in any case.
“Do you have any relatives in this academy?”
“No” he wasn’t sure why the man decided not to ask anymore for his full name, but he didn’t feel relieved. The man obviously didn’t buy his lie from earlier.
“Your parents' names?”
Again, he didn’t know what to answer. He was internally panicking even though he didn’t look like it at all on the outside. He slightly flinched when he heard the man’s shoes hitting the floor while quickly coming closer in his direction.
“You… please be honest with me… are you………. Davante…?” the man’s voice wavered a little but didn’t care about it as he uncertainly reached his hand to the other.
Davante wasn’t sure what the man would do with that hand, but he flinched in his place and was ready to defend himself, though he paused at the exact moment the man stopped in his tracks.
Davante avoided looking at him and turned his head to the side, still keeping his hand up a little to prevent the man from coming any closer. He mumbled, “Stay away…” he reluctantly added, “Please…”
The man widened his glistening eyes as if barely holding back his tears. “It's… you…” voice shaking. “You're… alive… you're here…” he paused and wore a small smile as if pitying the teen for a moment. “You really… don’t know how to lie, huh? 'Dante'?”
Davante turned his face away to the side, awkward. He was always told he sucks at lying so badly.
And with a relieved smile, the man hesitantly asked, “How… have you been?”
“Alvis…” Davante’s eyes became colder for a moment before staring up at the man. “Are you seriously happy to see me?”
Alvis froze with his tiny smile for a moment before he pulled himself together and sighed, ashamed; he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Just so you know, he is here…”
“What…”
“At least allow me to help you just a little this time… Davante.” Alvis looked at the confused teen with hopeful eyes.
Davante realized what the other meant and looked to the side with his stoic face; he waited before answering with a cold tone, “Don't do anything for me, Alvis… just…” he paused, hesitating, he then continued, “Forget about everything.”
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“Waah~ been so long since I've tasted some fresh blood, haha!” said the guy with short purple hair, grinning and stretching happily and walking into the dark garden with a refreshed smile.
“Belvedere!”
He turned to the person calling him rather coldly; he found a tiny girl with the same shade of purple hair as his. The girl glared fiercely at him. “Where were you?”
“Yooo~ Emmie!” he happily called back and strode to the girl and bent down a little once he stood in front of her. “Heard from Albern about your game and decided to join! I'm so bored, y'know~”
He noticed how the girl stiffened and clenched her tiny fists silently; he smirked and stood straight, walking past her with ease. “Let’s have some fun together,” his own eyes turned cold while looking from the corner of his eyes. “My dear sister~”
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“What are you doing?” asked Javi, standing beside his grumpy friend while leaning on the wall and typing on his phone.
“Requesting a new ID card. Alvis told me to prepare one for that kid. He'll be studying here starting next week.” Elois paused his hand that was busy writing the resume for the new teen and glanced up at the reflective black glass; he curiously took notice of a pinkish-haired student who was walking hurriedly with a troubled look with the phone to his ear. He was moving frantically among the crowd of students in the brightly lit hall.
“What do you mean, mom?”
Elois narrowed his eyes at the reflection of the fluffy-haired teen, feeling the need to listen to the teen’s conversation with his mother more intently. He was, however, distracted when Javi beside him started talking to him again.
“Hey, Alvis says, "finally, you’ve got a roommate now" Aww~ our lonely boy won’t be lonely anymore~”
“HUH?!”
Meanwhile, two teen boys of the same age came in opposite directions to walk past one another. None of them paid attention to the other.
“Juli hasn’t come home since yesterday?” whispered the pinkish-haired boy while walking anxiously. The black-haired boy continued walking in the other direction, unaware of how similar the boy he had just passed by was to the girl he met on his way to the academy.
Walking with his usual cold and stoic face, Davante recalled his dream of the scribbled figure and his warning.
“Something terrible is about to happen.”
His face stiffened the tiniest bit. ‘What was that about…?’ he lightly shook his head. ‘Maybe it… is just a dream this time… nothing more,’ he kept wandering while trying to sound convincing to himself.
‘Nothing… just a dream…’
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A pair of eyes stared unapologetically at the fragile and little body of the fluffy-haired girl sitting limply on a bed, who was oddly lifeless with her pupils up. The area around her neck and the white cloth covering her mouth was blood-soaked. With a friendly tone, the man playfully apologized.
“My apologies for the mess he made, young lady.”
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The End of CH. 2