Time: 21:36
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The moon hangs high in the sky, illuminating the old dirt path in front of me, guiding me back to my old home.
I can still hear their laughs—the other kids that lived with me—playing in this same forest, collecting bugs in the summer, and running around in the snowy winter.
It wasn't the best; most of the workers never cared for us, but everyone took care of each other, even with the constant fights to see who would marry who in the future or who stole the sweets from the others.
Simpler times—I even dare to say it was the best time of my life. Even if I broke my arm climbing down the second-floor window to go to the city with Tina, to do what we always did.
Steal beers from gas stations and smoke cigarettes on the front porch of old Pierce's house. How long ago was the last time I had a smoke? I don't even remember.
My feet leave marks on the soil, marking my path forward; the dry leaves crunching beneath my boots sound like an old melody. I left Flamma and Jax in the car; I can't risk losing them.
I don't feel better than I did before; there's still a sharp pain in my stomach. I guess vomiting blood is not a good sign. The sides of my vision darken, and my lungs have difficulty filling themselves with air.
Why me? That's the real question I've been asking myself lately. I know I was never lucky, but this isn't just me being unlucky. What did I do to deserve such pain?
Pushing the heavy old wooden door of the orphanage, my eyes focus on the old hallway leading to the second-floor stair, the worn-out planks marked with everyone's foot, forever printed on the floor.
To my right, the door to the kitchen is open, and on the wall next to it, I see markings of colorful chalk, marking the height of the boys, and just next to it, the height of the girls. I always forget how Tina forced me to do this stupid height-mark thing.
Crouching down, my fingertips linger on my old name right next to Tina's, in my ears, I hear her voice like it was just yesterday.
"Come on, Ollie, no one will notice," I remember her closing her hand into a fist and grinning—a grin that would make anyone afraid of her. "And even if someone says anything, I'll just take care of them."
The woman who took care of us at the time, Mary; saw the wall and because of it, she had a long talk with me, and in the end, she helped me a lot. I'm grateful for what she did and for Doctor Foster too.
Raising up, my vision darkens for a moment, making me take some steps forward. While trying to balance myself, I feel my shoulder bump into a door, making it open.
Gravity sucks, I fall to the ground. My shoulder hurts, and my back too. Blinking my eyes, my vision returns like before, and I scan my surroundings—the big dinner room.
Long tables and benches were just perfect for the number of kids there were during my time here. Mostly broken now, and focusing my eyes a little more, I see some shapes I don't recognize.
Grabbing my phone, I turn on the flashlight, and once it reaches the forms, I realize.
Cages, mostly small cages covered with old cloth, with the exception of one, a big cage in the middle, big enough to fit three of me inside.
Getting up to my feet again, I start limping to them, and once I reach them, my fingers slowly take the cloth off one of the cages, revealing what's inside.
Faes—lots of them. Looking at my face, they try to hide from me. I can feel how afraid they are.
"I'm here to help," I say weakly. "Just stay away from the lock; I'll free you all in a sec."
The faes look at me with fear still, but they nod their heads slowly. Looking around, I try to find something to open the cages, but there's nothing.
There is neither a knife nor a hairpin; the place has nothing but furniture. With a tired sigh, I grab my pistol, taking off the mag, and putting it in my pocket.
"Sorry, but hold on tight," I say this to the faes, who hug themselves and close their eyes.
I raise my pistol, grabbing it by the barrel and using the grip to hit the lock. I end up using most of my remaining strength; that isn't much, but I manage to break the lock, opening the cage.
While I take a seat on the bench to breathe, the faes come around me, studying my face before one of them gives my cheek a quick peck, making me blush instinctively.
The faes laugh before flying to the other cages, waiting for me to open the remaining ones. And with a groan, I get up and start doing that.
After some minutes, all the faes are free, and to my embarrassment, all of them give me a kiss on the cheek before parting back to the forest, leaving me alone with the big cage.
I hear no sounds from it, and without hesitating, I pull the big cloth covering it down, revealing inside the figure of a woman.
Her dark skin glints as the moonlight reflects on it. Red eyes stare at me, a slit in them like the eyes of a snake. Long white hair adorns her face, making her facial features stand out more.
Something inside of me screams to not free her, but I ignore it, pushing it away. Looking at the lock, it's bigger than the other, and stronger, it seems. "I'll have to shoot this one open.
Cover your ears, okay?" I ask, but the woman doesn't seem to understand, and so I put my hands on my ears, waiting for her to do the same.
And after tilting her head slightly, she imitates me. I load my pistol again and prepare to shoot.
A loud boom echoes together with the sound of metal hitting metal; the lock hits the floor, and the cage opens.
The pistol in my hand is now missing its barrel, and the metal is distorted. I feel some blood dripping off my hands; dammit, the gun exploded. To my luck, my hand is still in one piece, with only some minor cuts on my fingertips.
The woman gets up to her feet and walks to the door of the cage, and the closer she gets, the more I'm able to study her features. She's wearing clothes I've only seen in movies—an old tunic paired up with a medieval hose—and no shoes.
But her hair is what catches my attention more; her white hair is definitely not a sign of age; she doesn't look to be older than me, and wait... her hair has red eyes?
White snakes look at me; her hair wasn't snakes a second ago. With their tongues, the four snakes seem to lick the air in my direction.
She gets out of the cage and takes a step closer to me. I try taking one back, but there's not much room behind me. Once close enough, her snakes slowly move closer, most close to my face and one close to my hand.
The three of them retreat soon after and disappear, becoming her hair again, but the one close to my hand licks the blood dripping from my wound before raising up to my face and staring me down quietly.
It starts talking, but I don't recognize the language.
"Τέκνον ἀνθρώπου, διὰ τὰς σου πόνους, ἐγὼ σε βοηθήσω ἐν τῇ ἐγγύτερον ἐποχῇ τῆς ὁδοῦ σου.
Νῦν δὲ σοι ἀποχαιρετῶ."
Even without understanding a single thing, I nod my head, praying that it will be enough of an answer to whatever is being asked or said.
The snake opens its mouth, and when I think it will bite me, it spits out a ring, and before it can fall to the ground, I catch it... gross.
It retreats back to the woman, and just like the others, it becomes her hair again. Now her eyes are the only ones staring me down, waiting.
Putting this on can mean so many things—a curse, a pact, a sentence of death—but as I try to walk away without putting it on, the woman blocks my way.
"Whatever happens, right?" I laugh to myself. "It's not like I'm knee-deep in shit."
I try putting it on my index finger, but she hisses at me and I gulp slightly, I move it again and again till I reach the fourth finger on my left hand, where she stops hissing and only watches.
Putting on the ring, the metal of it becomes little snakes, wrapping around the base of my finger and tightening so I can never take it off.
I feel a slight pain. The ring drinks some of my blood, which becomes the color of the snake's red eyes before it stops moving. A magical ring of snakes—Just what I needed...
When I look back at the woman, she's no longer there. I only catch a glimpse of her white hair as she leaves the building. Okay, this goes to the list of my strangest encounters and worst red flags.
Resuming my limping around, I go to the stairs. A blood message on the wall reads, 'Come, we're waiting', not creepy at all.
Climbing up the steps, I get to the second floor. All the doors are still with the names of each one of us: Jhonny, Kate, Tina, and a lot more. My chest feels cold for a moment and tight too.
I see an arrow of blood drawn on the floor, pointing to the door in the middle, to the right. Wait, Cole's room? I remember him well; he used to bully me a lot. He was the same one who had one of his front teeth broken; the orphanage almost threw Tina away after that.
But in the end, Cole was sent to the juvie after apparently almost stabbing one of the other kids after a fight. The same Cole who had big spikey hair, the same Cole... I get it now.
I get to the door, and pushing it open the inside comes into view.
Cole is sitting on a chair, as Tina and Verda are each lying down on the floor next to his feet, both unconscious. The only source of light in the room is a lit candle near the window.
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"Well, you remember me now?" Cole smiles, his hand gripping a large steel pipe wrench, resting it between his legs. "It really was difficult to find you; after all, you're not Oliver anymore, are you?"
He laughs dryly before it dies down, the silence between us loud enough to hurt my ears.
"Why?" I ask in a low and composed tone, which isn't that difficult to do; after all, I'm barely alive right now. "Why me and Tina?"
"WHY?" Cole screams before laughing out loud, anger pouring out of him. "You are really funny."
"After what you and Tina pulled off, you thought I wouldn't come after you two?"
I raise an eyebrow. "Me and Tina had nothing to do with the reason you had to go to juvie; you did it to yourself."
His anger only grows, and his face contorts into a deep frown. "I know you were the one that ratted me out; you knew I had a pocket knife because of what my family did to me, and yet you told them.
They said I tried stabbing Tina, but I never did; they lied to throw me away, and you knew that, didn't you?."
My eyes widen if what he's saying is true. "Cole, I didn't tell them about that." I try to take a step closer to him. "Why do you think it was me in the first place?"
"I just know you did." He doesn't react to me stepping closer, but he continues talking. "They drugged me, tested me with their 'medicine', broke my mind.
That was till a man rescued me and gave me purpose; he showed me I'm not broken, that I never was." He hugs himself; even with his words, he doesn't seem to believe in himself.
I take another step closer to him; no, we are just a meter away." I didn't know Cole; if I had, I would have tried doing something; you know that.
How many times didn't I help you? Even when you punched me, I still helped you with your homework, remember? And when you said you liked Chloe, who helped you confess?"
Cole brings his hands to his head, taking a step away from me. "Liar, LIAR. You never cared; you did this to me, YOU."
I put a hand on his shoulder, which seems to have made him return from his crisis, at least for now. "You can believe me, Cole. It's okay; we can let this behind an-"
Cole's hands wrap around my neck, tightly squeezing it and locking my windpipe. The both of us fall to the floor, and he holds me down.
"It doesn't matter; I'll save everyone, and that will be enough to redeem myself." I try kicking my legs up in hopes of hitting him, but he only squeezes my throat more, I even try punching him, but I lack the strength to.
I struggle to breathe; I feel like my head will explode. I try talking, but the only sound I'm able to make is muffled groans.
"I already changed Tina's blood; the mutation will now either kill her or make her become the next step in human evolution.
Glad I killed that vampire doctor; his research was of great help to open my eyes. Sad he killed that girl though; if he hadn't, you would never have gotten in my way."
His words ring in my head: the girl, the first death, the reason why it all started, and now he's doing it to Tina. We will both die if I don't do anything. I grab the flashbang from my pocket and pull the pin out, putting it inside of his pants, and at my action, he lets go of my neck.
Taking this opening, I use my feet to kick him away, making him fall to his back.
**BOOM**
Flashback Scene
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I'm sitting outside Mary's office, dangling my feet as I wait for things to calm themselves. I stare at the little smile I have drawn on my shoes, the quote 'Smile more, a reminder' written with permanent markers.
Not much time later, Mary leaves the room with Cole hiding behind her. She carries the same smile she always does: gentle and caring, sweet to the eyes.
A woman easy to attach to, so it's no surprise Cole is so glued to her. She looks at me and pets my head. "You two need to talk while I'll talk with Poname about what she did, okay?"
We both nod our heads, our voices in unison. "Yes, Miss Mary."
At our response, she smiles more before pushing us to our way. Without many options, we start walking toward the outside area, where there's a swing where we can sit.
Getting to the swing, I notice that Cole isn't opening his mouth or talking, probably because of his broken teeth. Even if I know why Tina did it and love her for protecting me, I still think it was much more than it should have been.
"I'm sorry for your teeth, but they will grow back, right?" I try smiling in hopes of making this situation less awkward.
I watch as his shoulders get less tense as a heavy sigh escapes his body. "Miss Mary said it will, but still." He looks away from me. "She said that what I did was going to be discussed later with the owner; I'll probably have to clean the kitchen this week."
We start swinging, enjoying the air on our faces as the sun starts going down at the horizon, disappearing between the trees. "Everything will be fine."
I say, to which he stops swinging, his eyes locked on the ground, sadness on his features hidden beneath a mask of indifference to the situation. "I'm sorry I said you're weird earlier; I was just angry an-"
I stop swinging, reaching my hand on his shoulder, his eyes finally meeting mine. "Just forget it; we are good, right?"
He nods his head slowly. "I guess, yes."
"Then that's all that matters." I grin widely, earning a smile from him. We spend more time talking about various things—about the other kids, Miss Mary, what we think will be the lunch for tomorrow—and without noticing, night arrives.
We get out of the swings, and Cole looks at me with a smile on his face. "I just wanted to say... you're cool."
After saying that, he runs inside the orphanage, leaving me outside.
After getting inside, tired from all that had happened, I beelined to my bed, sleeping soon after. And in the middle of the night, Tina entered my room, and Miss Mary was going to someone's door.
Tina sat on the edge of my bed, prompting me to raise my head in a half-awake state, but before I could say anything, Tina talked.
"I take care of things; we will be safe now," I remember her expression—a mixture of anger and accomplishment on her face.
But I was so tired that I just ignored her, and soon after, the night was gone.
Waking up the morning after, Cole grabbed his things, putting his toys and comics on a backpack before running away in the hallway, avoiding my eyes.
That was the last time I saw him, his eyes puffy from crying and his hands red from punching something.
Back to the present
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A loud noise creates a buzz in my ear, blood splattered on the floor, Cole's left leg now with a hole in it, his bone exposed, and his muscles burned.
He lays on the ground, screaming in pain and agony. I cough, rubbing my neck, and slowly the buzz in my ear dies down. "I'm sorry, Cole."
I look at Tina, and I remember now fully that she lied about Cole to keep me safe from him, but she shouldn't have done that; she didn't know Cole as well as I did.
Hugging myself on the ground, tears escape my eyes as I understand everything now; it was all because of me again.
I scream as loud as I can—a scream of pure agony, just like Cole's, but born from a different kind of pain.
As I try getting up, I feel a pair of hands wrapping around my shoulders from behind, hugging my back, and as I look at the person hugging me, she starts singing a lullaby, putting me to sleep.
Dalia POV
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Standing outside the orphanage, we wait. Colette insists that we let the detective do her thing before intervening.
Something on my chest makes me worry. If I could just go there, save her, and keep her safe from all of this, I would.
Getting here was easy; the smell of the detective's blood made Yui able to track her, but with this amount of blood lost, she must be on her last strength.
Yui climbs a tree and starts to get a view of the detective. Apparently, she is on the second floor or so; said the faes were running back to their forest as we got here.
A scream rings, making some birds fly away from the ceiling of the old building—a scream I know doesn't belong to the detective—that is until a second one comes.
Pain, agony—the detective screams so loudly that Colette puts a hand in her ears to block the sound.
We rush inside, and we reach the second floor. An open door, and inside a man with just part of his leg bleeding all over the floor as the detective is in a fetal position. Her cries make my heart feel cold.
I watch as the detective tries to rise to her feet, and before she can, I hug her back, my lips close to her ear as I start singing a lullaby, putting the detective to sleep soon after, away from her agony and pain. She's all hurt and beaten, her neck with marks of fingers, and the palm of her hands with cuts all around.
It will sound morbid, but it was a good thing she bled this much. It made it easier for Yui to track her scent that way.
I watch as Colette grabs the man responsible for our headache by the neck before headbutting him, making his lights go out. Our eyes meet, and we have the same idea: even if we wanted to kill the man, the agency would still want him alive for questioning.
So I'll focus on my only job right now—the only important thing. With the detective in my arms, I rise to my feet.
"Go." Colette says to me, "I'll call JB, and we will stay here to deal with this; just take the detective home."
Crossing her arms over her chest, she didn't wait for an answer before turning her back to me, a small smile on my lips. I'm glad she didn't get mad at the detective.
Yui stops in front of me as I'm about to leave. "Take care of her, just not too much." They smug before patting me on the shoulder and joining Colette.
And with that, I start taking the detective home.
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