Every mouthful felt wrong, the sliminess claiming every bit of my mouth, I wanted to describe the sensation, the feelings and emotions I felt, but nothing felt right—no word could perfectly describe his feelings.

Still, I forced down another handful, my throat tightening with every swallow. The plate was soon clean, every crumb consumed. There was no doubt in my mind: if she could kill Father, she could just as easily kill me.

Licking my lips and wiping my mouth with trembling hands, I muttered a quiet, insincere thanks. She didn't even glance in my direction, her gaze fixed on the table. I preferred it that way—her indifference was safer.

Xuanlan's hand twitched, her fork clenched tightly as if she had reached a decision.

I pushed back my chair slowly, movements deliberate, As I made my way out of the dinning room.

Walking into the hallway, I carefully avoided every squeaky panel, not wanting to snap her out of the trance she was in. Who knew if she would randomly go psycho on me too.

The house was silent, the kind of silence that made goosebumps crawl up your skin.

My gaze drifted to the peeling wallpaper, the faded flowers barely visible under layers of grime. The walls, once adorned with family portraits, now stood bare—each photo with Father's face had been torn apart, discarded onto the floor.

The sight sent a shiver down my spine, as if I could imagine her standing there and tearing down the photos myself.

At the end of the hallway, I reached my door and carefully turned the handle. The creak echoed, and I froze looking behind, she was still fixated on the plate in front of her, she didn't react at the sound, I let out a sigh of relief, No reaction. I slipped inside my room letting the door click shut behind me.

Walking into my bedroom, it was the only room in our whole house that didn't look like a robber had broken in and smashed everything he could see, I went to go sit on my bed, whatever had happened at that dinner table was starting to take a mental toll on me,

I sat on the edge of the bed, the mattress groaning in protest, Moonlight streaming through the window onto the soles of my feet, I let my mind wander a little as I fiddled with the candle, running my fingers along its smooth edges, No emotion crossed Haowei's face, only a blank stare was present on his face.

A faint creak from the door snapping me out of my thoughts. My grip on the candle immediately tightened as a shadow emerged from the door, Hiding the candle behind my back, I went to go and sit up, It must be mother I thought, plastering the biggest smile I could onto my face, I got ready to greet her.

Instead of the warm smile I expected to be greeted with instead bloodshot eyes staring at me, I didn't say anything staring right back

I instinctively knew this was the gaze of a hungry predator who had finally found their prey.

The moonlight streamed onto Xuanlan's face before she charged at me, catching me off guard.

THUNK.

Xuanlan's face was suddenly in front of mine and pain exploded in my skull as something heavy slammed into the side of my head. A pot..? The room tilted, my vision blurring as I struggled to comprehend what was happening,

before I could even collect my thoughts, She swung the pot down again.

THUNK

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Everything was too sudden I had no time to really comprehend what was happening, my head still aching as I touched the red liquid dripping down my chin, soaking into the carpet, forming dark rivers that snaked its way underneath my bed.

She kept staring at me, with this cold look; as if I wasn't her son but just another stranger; goosebumps ran up my arms, my eyes stinging with unshed tears, the reality of the situation hit me right then.

I clenched the candle still in my hand attempting to swing it, missing before it clattered onto the ground, she jumped a little at the sound, her attention diverted onto the candle, this was my chance.

I didn't waste a single moment in between and rushed at her, pinning her to the ground, My mistake was looking down and seeing her eyes dull and lifeless eyes, hysteria clear on her face. The look she gave me made my actions pause for a moment, that second of hesitation was ultimately my demise; Xuanlan swung the hefty pot covered in a thick red blood at my head once again; I raised my hands up to where I knew she was going to hit, in a desperate protest.

She had successfully landed the blow on me, making me collapse on top of her body,

A feverish hotness came over my body as I collapsed into her arms, it felt as if she was giving me a hug, tears pricked my eyes, was this it? Would my life amount to being nothing but another soul murdered and cut up just to be served at a dinner table, any defiance I had in me thoroughly snuffed out

This is the end..

Xuanlan had seemed to realise I couldn't fight back anymore, so she pushed me off herself without any concern for my safety; but instead of getting up to finish the job, she sat right next to me;

Staring at me, I could feel her icy finger tips caressing my face; how creepy, she reached into her pocket taking out a pill the size of her fingernail; looking at it with more longing and compassion than she had ever shown me,

What was she going to do with the pill? I could tell just by looking at it, it wasn't some regular drug; was she going to force-feed it and somehow prolong the torture? I always knew she wasn't sane, everyone here isn't; but doing this to your own flesh and blood isn't something the regular citizen here could do.

I waited for her to force-feed me the pill, prying open my mouth and hand coated in saliva, forcing it down my throat,

However she didn't do what I had imagined, nothing rarely goes my way, she had popped the tiny pill into her mouth, swallowing it whole, mouth foaming up and bloodshot eyes rolling back, her body hit the floor; the whole time Xuanlan hadn't said a word; but now it felt agonizingly quiet.

Unblinking, I stared at her now lifeless body, Ha, how funny; she wanted to torture me like this, then give herself a painless way out, how kind.

The pill she had in her pocket and the unwavering attitude even as she smashing my head in, it was obvious this wasn't just a spur of the moment decision, she had planned for god knows how long for this very moment, I couldn't help but look back at every moment I've had with her, was it months? or years. Before she had decided to execute this plan.

I looked back up at the ceiling, there was small luminescent stars dotting the roof glowing slightly, I had been given these as a present not too long ago,

Knowing all the affection she had shown me were fabricated, lying through her very teeth, I wanted nothing more then to rip every single one of those stars out, stomping on them and getting rid of any light they had in them.

Everything around me slowly started to fade out of view, it started from the ground I was on, until the whole room was covered in a heavy black mist, I knew she was going to get what she wanted, all of us dead in this room, father alongside resting in our stomachs.

Haowei's body slumped, at that moment any life in him had vanished, everyone in the room was dead, the candle that was thrown around haphazardly shimmered, the blood that was covering its hilt disappeared without a trace.

Conditions have been met for item usage.

The [Candle] has transformed into [Althea's Candle].

The user is currently in the Bardo. Soul retrieval is in progress.

Error detected: User's Life Essence is tainted.

Star Terminal has taken executive action in terminating the player.

BZZTTT—

[Althea's Candle] has overridden the Star Terminal. Soul retrieval initiated.

Revitalizing user's life force...

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A faint green glow emitted from the candle, its long green tendrils wrapping themselves intimately around Haowei's body, underneath the moonlight dancing onto the crime scene, you could see his grey cheeks gradually gain colour,

and the large indent in his head snapped back into its original state, with a resonating pop sound, the boy who was murdered in cold-blood, now looked healthier then ever, blissfully nodding off in a pool of his own blood.

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