'My body's still cold… but I can feel my fingers and toes…'
'Can hardly breathe… but not suffocated anymore…'
The teen with a fragile body was standing in silence. White was all around him; everything was white, cold, and silent. He slowly turned around to meet the wide eyes of the mouthless, scribbled figure behind him from a distance.
'I can still feel its presence… the noise.'
'Standing still… watching me in silence… waiting… waiting for me to take a step…'
'Either I step back, back to it… or away from it…'
'I still don't know… part of me is telling me… I shouldn't be away from it.'
'That I still… need it.'
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The Red Flower
Chapter. 25
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"That bastard! Taking Ellmer from us, he has his full attention and time! What's so important about him anyway?! We were with Ellmer way before him! He's definitely taking advantage of Ellmer's kindness and concern! I will never forgive him! So what if they're blood-related?! He's still a stranger!!"
A loud sigh couldn't even reach the complaining boy to stop his rambling. Kito rested his elbows on the railing behind him, back facing the academy's huge view from the balcony. Taking his time to enjoy the cool breeze, he even started humming without knowing.
"HEY! I'm struggling here!! At least listen to me, dammit!!!" Kyle yelled at his unbothered twin, though knowing the other would surely ignore him anyway; he went back to rest his chin on his folded arms over the railing and pouted, "…it's been a while since I've last seen Ellmer… I hate that spoiled kid…"
Kito glanced by the side of his eye with a teasing smile, "You know, maybe it's because you're like this that Ellmer left you in the first place."
Kyle scowled at his twin, who resumed humming leisurely. "What do you mean?! It's THAT brat's fault—"
"'That brat' is still much more mature and cuter than you, I'm sure everyone knows, at least Ellmer and I do."
"Why would I want to be cute?!!"
"Well, I'd rather have a cute little brother to take care of, y'know."
"Speak for yourself!!"
"Hm?" Kito paused to look closely from the balcony at a particular spot down. Kyle turned to take a look out of curiosity. "What now?" he recognized the two guys immediately, both strolling at night. "Ha! The dumb and the dumber, they wouldn't be breathing now if it weren't for Ellmer saving them from the dumbest fall ever."
"I wonder where they're going at this hour…" Kito stared at the two friends who appeared to act awkward; it was obvious to him even from afar.
"Who cares about them—"
"Ellmer told us to report to him anything suspicious about them."
"Leave them be.” Kyle scoffed as he rested his cheek on his palm, “Better they die of their actions. Two people to get rid of, heh!"
"Yes, yes. Understood. Take care." Kito said to the earpiece as he received the orders from his big brother.
"LISTEN TO ME, YOU JERK!!"
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Awkward, that's the only thing Elois felt. It was too silent; the aura between them was neither heavy nor light. Elois eyed the other from behind, merely following the other without knowing what to say or where they were going even in the middle of the night. 'He's being too quiet… perhaps still angry at me after our fight…? No, but he was pretty chill right after Owin left us in the room alone that night. We even tried to cook dinner together but created firecrackers instead… then what is it?' he frowned deeper at the brown-head, 'Ugh! I'm too bad at reading people! Since when was it this hard to understand Javi?!' he lowered his head a little, somewhat ashamed. 'Do I even know him…? Thinking about it, I never tried to look deeper into his actions or words… Davante too…' he looked down at his feet with a frown again, ignoring the fact they stepped into the forest for some reason. 'Well, sorry I'm too dumb to understand you guys when you don't say any damn thing at all!!' he deflated back again with a light sigh. 'Okay, maybe I'm to blame as well…' he glanced up at Javi's back again, determined, 'I have to try at least…'
"…are you—!?" he stiffened when the other jolted suddenly. Both were silent and still for a moment; Elois widened his eyes with a little smile, "Wh-What's with that reaction?"
"No- uh- see, you were too quiet and…" Javi scratched his cheek with his finger as he awkwardly smiled at the other, his eyes looking anywhere but Elois.
"Huh?! You're the quiet one!—…" Elois halted, noticing he was back to being a temperamental and thoughtless jerk; he took a deep breath and calmed down again. "Hey, are you, um… are you okay?"
"What's wrong with you?!!" Javi suddenly yelled, finally looking at his friend.
"What's wrong with YOU?!!" Elois yelled back, confused.
Both faced each other with wide eyes, completely lost and confused at each other.
"You stopped texting me after that night! You've been too quiet! And you've been creepily staring at me the whole time since we left the dorms! And now you're cautiously talking to me!! Also, you've never grown your hair longer before! Why now?! HUH?!" Javi complained out loud, shocking the other with his outburst.
"Wha—!! My hair— I was just—” Elois sighed and ruffled his fluffy hair that got a bit longer now, “Ugh, fine!! I'll ask. You just have to answer me honestly, understand?!"
Javi got quiet immediately and patiently waited for Elois to ask, who was busy inhaling and exhaling deeply.
"Are you mad at me?"
"Why would I…” Javi blinked, “…no."
"Sure?" Elois stared intently at his friend’s calm face.
"Sure."
Somehow, he wasn’t satisfied with that answer, "Are you okay? You look… anxious for a while now… something on your mind…?"
"I'm…… I…" Javi looked away as he struggled to answer.
"I-Is it me?" Elois smiled dreadfully as he backed away.
"Huh? No! Just— it's too much, I don't even know how to start— or what to say… but you're okay— we're… okay, still friends and…” Javi slowly lowered his flailing hands, looking unsure, “We're friends, right…?"
"Yes, we are… if you're okay with… someone unstable, with some kind of mental disorder… who killed many before and would probably still kill… out of panic and anger that is…" Elois trailed off, looking down while anxiously rubbing the back of his neck, trembling with an empty smile.
"Oh, um…” Javi looked down to the side with an equally awkward smile, “I killed many others… more than you did, I guess… so…"
Silence; both were looking down, and both were ashamed.
"S-So why did you suddenly ask me to go to the forest with you?" Elois asked with a casual smile.
Javi joined his friend and smiled back cheerfully, turning around to walk again. "I was just thinking! Maybe we'd find out something if we looked more into the whole thing about the red flower and that big tree…” he looked down in thought, “We found Davante in there, y'know…" he frowned when he felt the other ignoring him, he turned around with a scowl, "Hey, are you listening?"
He stilled in place; he slowly furrowed his eyebrows in worry, "Elois…?"
No sign of his friend. He was suddenly alone in the forest.
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"Aren't you going to do something now?" Ivailo asked with a cold smile, waiting for the blonde man to answer.
Kaven sat on the bed in his room in the dark; head slumped down in frustration. Seeing no reaction, Ivailo maintained his smile and urged the other to speak again. "You know he's in the hospital now and will be for a while.” he noticed the little flinch at that; he knew he grabbed the other's interest now. "It's a valuable chance. He’s way too weak at the moment. Furthermore, his connection with Yeolard is as weak as ever now, with no notes to communicate with."
The blonde slightly raised his face with wide, crazed eyes.
Ivailo was pleased with the reaction, "And you don't have to worry about the little pups. Most probably, they'll die tonight… or maybe come out as our little hero's enemies."
Unbeknownst to them, someone recorded every single word said in the darkroom. Owin kept the earphone on and immediately grabbed his other phone to make an urgent call.
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"Sorry for troubling you, Neron. Ellmer couldn't have time to help me change the room again. We need to change locations from time to time, so it'd be harder for anyone to target him," Alvis said with a tired smile while folding his coat neatly and hanging it on the chair.
"He hasn't healed."
Alvis stopped and turned to look at the quiet purple head who only stared at the sleeping Davante in the dark; Alvis had no clue what the guy thought most of the time. "What?"
"He's struggling to breathe…"
Alvis couldn't see the other's face to know that he looked slightly pained as he looked at the sleeping teen.
"They're all around him…"
Alvis blinked, not understanding a thing the other was saying. However, the pain was evident in his voice, "Neron…?" a ringtone suddenly cut through the air in the room, making him jump in place; he hurriedly fished out his phone from his pocket and walked to the door. "Ah, sorry! I have to take the call— Owin?"
The door closed quietly, leaving only Neron with Davante in the room. Neron stood still in complete silence for a while; he then slowly looked with his eye behind his hair at a specific spot by the window.
The one soul by the window turned to him with a faint smile. "I'll take care of Mr. Fixsen."
Neron didn't react as he kept staring at the blurry soul.
Yeolard calmly looked out the window. "The spirits feel more uneasy tonight… You must go."
Alvis opened the door after some time with an apologetic smile. "Sorry again. I'll watch over him now. You can…” He halted by the door, “Neron…?" he stared at the empty room, finding only Davante sleeping peacefully in the quiet room.
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Bren jumped over the academy’s gate. "Safely arrived~" before landing on a branch from one of the trees inside, he noticed a familiar person standing above the academy’s huge wall. He kept his presence unnoticed as he silently stopped on one of the branches and behind the bushes, looking at the woman with dark skin and yellow eyes standing still over the gate with something in her hand.
"Gasha Anfinrud?" Confused, he looked at the thing in her hand as she looked coldly down at the academy, "Shouldn't it be Chronos Anfinrud to bring the painting to the Academy after a week or so…?"
“Oh!”
Meanwhile, at the Anfinrud mansion, a young man with heavy eyebags and holding a creepy teddy bear in hand stared blankly at the empty spot on the wall, “Hmm…” he blinked and slightly pouted at the thought of the missing painting.
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The End of CH. 25