XURDEN was not wrong that Yric went to Vivian’s house. He could feel his energy from the road where Sebastian parked the car. People were simple to understand. They could not let go of the things they were used to. They would still come back in the end, just like what happened to Yric. The younger boy thought differently, but he still really wanted to be friends with Vivian and Noah.“Boss, how did you know that Yric’s here?” Sebastian asked him when he turned to him from the driver’s seat.“I just guessed,” he said to his assistant. “Both of you stay here. I’ll go out. It might surprise his friends when they see me with other people they don’t know who.”“Alright. We’ll just wait here,” Marco said.He couldn’t wait for what his two assistants had to say, so he got out of the car.Xurden felt strange again as he stared at the big gate of the house. After closing the door with his hand, he walked towards the small gate. Apart from the restlessness of his chest and energy, his body felt
THEY didn’t go straight home when they passed the park. The weather that day was clear. It was peaceful to look at the park, where the green plants and flowers were growing. Xurden could see other people strolling, mostly lovers. There were only a few groups of family and friends. Singles who just walk quietly would not disappear either.He could see all of them from the road where the speed of the car slowed down because of the heavy traffic ahead. The car couldn’t pass because the traffic took so long to end.Xurden only turned his gaze to Yric. The younger boy had been staring at the park since earlier.“What is your problem?” he asked him.The younger boy turned to him. “Nothing. I just want to go to the park. Let’s get some fresh air while thinking,” Yric replied to him.“What else do you have to think about?” he said to Yric.“A lot. You just don’t know.” Yric looked back outside.He sighed deeply for this. He looked at Sebastian, who turned to where they were sitting in the bac
XURDEN found himself again in the bar. He had a lot to think about, and staying in the house would not help him find an answer to all of his questions. Hoping that the liquor would solve his problems, he drink everything without a pause. No matter how much he drank, it didn’t make him tipsy even a little. He was in his fifth bottle of brandy when she noticed this woman coming over to his table. He scowled in an instant when he realized who it was.Arasia wore a black dress that night, showing her curves. That’s why the other customers were looking at the way she walked, and even the women admired the deity. She calculated her every step, which was heavy, like she wanted to break down the entire bar. She sighed a few times before she reached his table. Sitting in the opposite chair, she let out a sigh one last time before putting her small bag on the side.“You’re here as well. I am so tired,” she said as she looked at how much he had already drunk. The empty bottles greeted her. She r
THAT DAY, the professor took the entire class to a heritage house for a tour. The house was not just a simple building as Yric saw it from where he was sitting on a bench under the shade of the tree. It looked like a mansion with seven floors. He could tell the height of each floor through the tall painted windows. The lawn in front of the house was wide, and the professor let the entire class spread out on it. He was not with his two friends at that moment because he was tired from walking and also because of the heat. The weather was hot. He couldn’t handle it since he was dizzy. That was probably because he lacked sleep. He couldn’t sleep well last night after returning home. It wasn’t because demons visited him again, but it was something else. The conversation he and Xurden had before they went home played in his mind. Yric just smiled as he remembered those moments. He really enjoyed talking to Xurden especially when he annoyed the man. It pleased him when Xurden’s face displa
AFTER RECEIVING a call from Yric, Xurden went directly to the mansion, together with his two henchmen. Cars couldn’t enter the private lawn, which was the most basic rule of that place. They had to leave the car at the front gate and walked on the bricked pathway, ignoring the searing sun. Students were going back to the buses. He checked every one of them as they walk searching for one particular boy. But he couldn’t find Yrc. He paused when he saw a familiar face. Vivian also stopped when she saw them approaching her. When the girl realized Yric had called for him, she walked closer.“Where’s Yric?” he asked the girl. The students just passed by without a sparing glance at them.Vivian hesitated to answer, but when he stared at her, she finally spoke. “He’s still in the mansion. He said he will stay even though the professor already told us to go back to the bus,” she told them. “It is dangerous for me, so he insisted that I also have to go.”“Who else knows that your other friend i
EXTREME SILENCE broke inside the woods when Noah ran beside the biggest tree. Behind the boy was the cat-masked demon chasing his wit. Noah switched to all four to run faster on the dirt, covered with dried leaves. He gained distance, but it didn’t last long. The cat-masked demon jumped from the branch of the tree and landed on Noah’s back, making the boy groan hard.Noah turned around his body violently to remove the cat-masked demon’s foot. He freed himself with that big turn. The cat-masked demon jumped back a few steps away from the boy and waited. Noah stood on his two feet and was still a little disoriented. The cat-masked demon could see the difference in Noah’s complexion. He knew there was something serious happening to the boy. Noah’s eyes turned all black, and he was still drooling.Noah didn’t wait any longer. He rushed toward him, crawling. Then, he jumped afterward to reach him in a second. It was unfortunate for Noah because the boy was pretty slow. The cat-masked demo
CONFUSION wrote on everyone’s faces except for the two brothers, who were the reason for the tension on that side of the room. Xurden couldn’t help to think about what unforgivable thing the man had done, which made Yric feel rage toward him. From what he could see, the effect of their fight was their separation and not talking to each other. He didn’t also forget the possibility that Yric already had forgiven the man. That’s why the younger boy checked the patient’s current condition.“I am really sorry, little brother,” the man said, still vowing his head. He really didn’t care if he looked pitiful in everyone’s eyes. “I hated my life before. It didn’t make me happy. I am sure you came here trying to understand why I chose this life now.”Yric stared at the man without a word and blinked his eyes. Xurden wondered what the younger boy was thinking during that time, which made Yric fall into silence. The younger boy didn’t even speak and waited for something to happen.No one dared to
THE WEATHER became so bad after a couple of hours. Dark clouds had formed in the sky. Lightning also flashed several times, blinding the eyes who stared at it. But below, in that kind of atmosphere, Xurden still sent his two assistants outside to look for clues about the cat-masked demon. He already concluded to talk to him after thinking for a while. He didn’t know why, but he had this feeling that the cat-masked demon would listen to him. The only problem was the effects he could get because he wasn’t supposed to do that. No one should know that he would talk to the demon. That’s why he asked his two assistants to ask questions about him in secrecy.While waiting in the hospital’s private room, he watched the television to kill his boredom. He didn’t like it when he had nothing to do. That’s why he had a lot of books. He filled his empty time by reading. But since he wasn’t at home, he could only rely on the machine, which he rarely did.Yric was still there in that room, but the yo