Chapter 12: 10 | tragedy; a murderous loneliness

tw: mentions of suicide

———xxx———

"Are you... in a bad mood, perhaps, Lucas?"

The man had returned home, soaked head to toe in water as it dripped from with body, and a sour expression of having been scammed on his indifferent features. He dropped a few bags of simple groceries onto the clean counter and slumped into a chair.

A white beluga under one arm, and a young boy with tender, round eyes that followed quickly behind.

He nodded. "I met an idiot. An idiotic thief."

"Did they steal something important?" wondered the woman worriedly, sitting in a nearby chair—old, worn-out fabric that seemed to have been taken off the streets.

"Yeah, but it's fine. I'll get it back later."

"You know who they are?"

"Unfortunately."

Nora smiled in relief. If it was somebody that the other was somewhat familiar with, then the object that was stolen wouldn't be completely lost, at least.

She glanced around, letting the other sulk silently in his seat. 

She'd noticed it when she first entered, but there was something incredibly lacking about this small apartment. Empty floors, cabinets filled with nothing but one or two plates, and absolutely no substance.

It lacked life.

And Nora couldn't help but wonder why that was so.

"How long have you lived here, Lucas?" asked the woman softly.

The other shrugged. "Almost a decade now."

A decade of nothing, no memories, no items. It must've been a lonely time, to stay in this small space that seemed almost abandoned. Of course, she didn't want to jump to conclusions—perhaps this was how he enjoyed living.

Yet in watching this stranger she'd only just met, she was overwhelmed by a creeping, faint pulse of powerful sadness, hidden within snowy eyes.

She sighed. 

Currently, it wasn't really her business, and he seemed to have no intention of letting anybody pass those sturdy walls he'd built. "What do you plan to do?"

Lucas glanced over. What he lacked the most right now was power, and he needed something that would quickly allow him to rise in heights. There was obviously no potion or magic that could make him invincible, but he could at least come pretty close.

The benefit of an author—what he knew surpassed all others.

Hidden powers, secret rules; all fell into his open palms.

There was a person who could grant him power.

Or, it might not be quite accurate to call her a 'human' anymore, plagued by the apocalypse and turned into a walking Title.

Some called her a witch, a mockery and disgrace of what a human had once been. Others called her a reaper, insanity following her wake.

For Lucas, all that she needed to be was useful. Because he too, could be useful for her.

The Joker of Ruined Sanity.

Her human name unknown, the Joker was cursed and murdered by a Story, manipulated to become something that wasn't alive or dead. 

She became an object, a part of the cursed world. Many people sought her ability, but she wasn't something easily controlled.

The only one who could claim her Title were those she chose to enter a contract with.

What he needed to find was 'Contract Paper'. It wasn't rare, but difficult to find in the beginning stages of apocalypse.

There should've been a store, around an hour away where he could find a trading store that opened up. They were run by merchants, likely owners of their own story, selling equipment to humans.

All the stores were in inconvenient and strange places, but they'd be marked down once discovered, shared with all of humanity.

He glanced at the stuffed toy in his arms. They would likely agree to making a trade with a rarer item compared to the basic sheets of paper.

"Let's prepare for the next Story."

It was unknown what terrors they'd face next, but Cinderella had undoubtedly been one of the easiest. The next time, more would die, in increasingly terrible ways.

"How do you want to prepare?"

He scrolled through his phone. "There are some sightings of a mysterious store opening up. We'll take a look—if it's part of the apocalypse's schemes, then there might be some useful items."

Nora thought about it before agreeing. "Is there any way of predicting what Story we'll fall into next?"

"None. It's a matter of luck. We entered Cinderella because we happened to be in that area. Other locations would've been forced to enter their first game of varying difficulties."

He also noticed something else in his building. There was a couple with a young baby that lived next door, often stirring up such a racket that he wouldn't be able to sleep at night. But right now, there wasn't a single sound.

The entire building was shrouded in an eerie silence, which only felt creepier considering that it was old, and the walls were thin and peeling.

He paused, then walked into the kitchen to open a drawer. It was the only one that had anything in it, and he pulled out two large knives.

"Take this." said Lucas, crouching down to the little boy who'd sat on the couch where he was sitting earlier. "Don't lose it. Put it somewhere easy to take out. This could save your life."

Then he turned to Nora, unwrapping the holster and handing back the guns. "Keep it. I don't know if we'll be separated next time."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't need it."

After examining his eyes and noticing the resolute confidence in them, she conceded and accepted the weapons. Lucas took another glance over the hollow space that he'd lived in for a decade.

Although the time had been long, he had no attachments to the place. Who knew when he'd return, or if he'd be alive to make it back.

They hoisted the shopping bags down to the cars, and Lucas stopped by his neighbours' apartments to take a look inside. One of the doors—the one to the loud family—was unlocked. It was the complete opposite own, creating a striking contrast.

Various colours that were neatly organized on the counters and shelves, and a well-maintained living room that gave an air of comfortable coziness, plants sitting sweetly in the corners. There were a few little stuffed toys lying around, most likely for their child.

It brimmed with life, seeping to the edges of decorated windows and fluffy rugs. Lucas fell into a short daze before rapping lightly on the open door.

"Hello?"

There was no answer, so he fully entered, a hand gripping the knife tightly.

Somebody had scattered items across the carpet chaotically, directly ruining the neat and clean atmosphere. Most from the earthquake's trembles, but there were toys torn and things ripped apart as if human hands had done it.

"Is anybody there?"

He carefully stepped over shattered plates, a creeping chill running over his skin. 

No sound greeted him, only bitter silence.

A gust of wind brushed the groove of his ear, and he turned to see the slightly ajar balcony doors. There was an odd smell in the air that mixed around and dispersed among the breeze, but remained vague.

The smell of... copper?

Lucas narrowed his eyes into slits at the bedroom door before slowly stepping forward, curling his fingers around the handle and pushing it open.

His eyes dilated, and he froze where he stood.

A bloody mess greeted him, red stains smeared over the white bedcovers, and items knocked over everywhere. He flicked on the light, fully taking in the horrible sight.

The worse thing, however, wasn't the blood but the corpse that sat hunched over on the bed, wrists loosely flipped as torn pictures surrounded it. 

A pale, gaunt face that had likely been dead for several hours now—the skin was still slightly warm and soft. Streaks of dried tears imprinted onto his cheeks.

After confirming that the man was truly dead, Lucas approached the photos, lifting them up at the clean corners.

He recognized the happy couple, and the sweet infant in their arms, playing around and joyous in every image. They'd been loud for this place that had thin walls, but he didn't despise them despite getting annoyed at times.

After all, wasn't the sound of family and love something comfortable to hear?

He looked around for anything else, spotting the bloody knife in the man's hands and the wound that gaped from his wrists. Finally, Lucas closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

Suicide.

From the looks of it, the man's wife and child likely met their end in the Story that they were in, and he tore things up, going mad after before finally deciding to kill himself. 

 It was a tragic, yet common occurrence.

If Nora hadn't heard it, that meant the man had been sitting quietly for hours alone before finally deciding to take his life.

You are reading story Of Everlasting End at novel35.com

For some people, after losing everything they strove to protect, they would decide it wasn't worth living anymore.

Lucas stepped forward and closed the man's red, half-open eyes before returning to the kitchen to wash the blood off his hands. Even though his hands were clean, there was still the sticky sensation of something covering it.

Perhaps the psychological weight; a mental delusion created from what he'd seen.

His eyebrow twitched, and he decided to wash it several more times before pulling out his phone. He stepped outside the door, leaning against it with a sigh.

The man stared at the screen before tapping on a familiar app and pausing for a few moments. Finally, a few words appeared off the screen.

[L: Have you ever seen somebody die before?]

Lucas had many times over. Yet, thinking of the noisy family that had once been alive, he couldn't help but type out the question. Once again, the response came almost instantly.

[Kane: I have. Have you?]

[L: Just now... it's so scary T^T It was a family I vaguely knew.]

Despite his mood, Lucas didn't forget to add emojis and the emotional touch of a bright and lively student. There was a restless reassurance in seeing the text alongside the name, one that he'd avoided for so long.

[Kane: I'm sorry to hear that. I have witnessed many deaths, and it, without a doubt, gets no easier, especially if they are people you knew. But it's better to remember the lives they lived, than mourn for the one they could not.]

[Kane: Of course, there is nothing wrong with mourning either. However, the unfortunate truth of life is that we will only inevitably die.]

Lucas fell silent, rereading the words several times. He had the ability to empathize with most people, to understand how they'd feel despite his indifferent air. Yet Kane Silvius was the one person he could absolutely not make out.

Or more correctly, he never bothered to try. He ran away from his elder brother, just as he ran away from their parents' deaths.

He wondered what went through that person's mind during all these years.

[L: ...thank you.]

[Kane: If you ever need to talk, I'm free to listen.]

[Kane: L]

Lucas froze, quickly typing out, [L: L?]

Although he'd set the phone name to 'L' on his own side, the other should still be an unknown number or a random nickname set by the other. Lucas swallowed, his heart beating rapidly.

What if...

[Kane: I apologize, I sent it too early. I meant to say, losing people is never easy, and it's best to share those feelings than to keep it to yourself.]

A mixture of disappointment and relief spilled into his chest.

It was funny, really, how his entire purpose circled around finding his brother, how he had no doubt in his desire and intent, yet at the approaching moment of reconciliation, he wanted to run away.

A coward—pitiful, escaping trash. 

Those were the words Lucas would use on himself, well-aware of his actions.

When he arrived downstairs, the earlier events still floating in his wandering thoughts, Nora beamed and waved, seeming to be writing something on a paper with great enthusiasm.

"This is the ticket I received in the first Story. I've been examining it, and after writing some notes on it, I received a reply!"

"A reply?"

She flipped the ticket, its front covered in strange and twisted patterns, revealing the text on the back. Bold, straight strokes of pen greeted him to make out two, simple words. 'You're welcome.'

"After communicating with the person, I discussed the current situation and they helped me solve the issue of my car." She gestured towards the vehicle waiting outside. "I'm guessing that the ticket ties the two of us together in some way."

Lucas lifted his gaze, a scary questioning in the swirling eyes.

"Are you sure the other side is a human?"

She faltered immediately, her smile growing still. Normally, one would immediately assume that the other side was a human—after all, Nora didn't believe in supernatural entities.

However,

Her expression twisted, and she poked at the paper. "I suppose that's something I didn't consider. Should I throw it away?"

Lucas stared at it before borrowing the pen and scribbling across it. Unlike the charming boldness of the other's writings, his were messy and near unreadable. Not to mention, unhelpfully tiny.

'Are you human?'

"Lucas... perhaps, do you think that's a little too blunt?" wondered Nora as the words faded into gold, melting into the white paper.

He shrugged as another answer arrived. 'Based on handwriting, I'd assume you're the inhumane one, no?'

"....."

'Yes or no.'

'Maybe?'

Lucas stared at the answer before handing the paper back to Nora and saying simply, "Probably not human. It's better to ignore strange things."

Nora had watched the entire mini conversation, sensing animosity seeping from both sides. Although she had to squint and tilt her head to read Lucas'... wonderful handwriting, whatever answered them took amusement in irritating the man.

Strange, considering their helpfulness with her car.

Lucas long dismissed the option of communicating with the thing that continued to write, and stepped into the passenger seat without hesitation.

Nora soon followed, the child already listening quietly in the back, before asking, "Wouldn't it be better for you to drive, Lucas? I don't know where you'd like to go. We can switch later if you get tired."

"You can drive." Lucas rested his tired eyes. "I don't have a license."

"Ah, have you never been interested in taking the test?"

"I took it."

The woman blinked, starting the ignition. "How did it go?"

"Great, my driving was fine." explained Lucas shamelessly, with his irritatingly aloof face. "But I decided I don't like driving, and rejected the passing mark."

Nora faltered, stiffing a surprised laugh. To think that there were so many who struggled to attain their N—she'd been one of them—yet there would be somebody who rejected their pass, after taking the test.

Regardless, if a person decided not to drive, then there was nothing wrong with that.

Lucas slowly opened his eyes before reaching over to type in an address into the GPS. Nora frowned, seeing that it was in the middle of nowhere, but stepped on the pedal nonetheless.

If the only options they had were to die today, or die tomorrow, then avoiding risks and questioning things became pointless.

The rest of the drive was more or less quiet, with one being too lazy to speak, the other focused on driving, and the youngest of them all dozing off in the back.

Eventually, Lucas too started to doze off, his head creating a rhythm as it thumped against the window with every bump in the road. Surprisingly, he slept like the dead, even when the car suddenly jerked and his skull made a particularly loud sound.

Thump, thump, thump.

The sound, when nothing else could be heard, was incredibly noisy.

The boy jolted awake, peering around before noticing a faint redness on the man's sleeping forehead. "Um, miss... is he okay?"

Nora whispered back, "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

She swallowed back the 'I think', glancing at the slumbering man's forehead. Two worried gazes rested on the blossoming redness.

Lucas, dead to the world and everything around him, only woke as they approached the destination, as if he had a sixth sense wired into him. Honestly, it'd explain a lot of things if he did.

The car screeched, coming to a complete stop in front of an incredibly narrow and dark alleyway, covered in overgrown weeds and moss lining the old walls. Had any other person brought Nora here, she would've turned around and left at that instant.

Everything about this place, even the air that surrounded, dripped with a dangerous threat of caution, making those nearby feel ill.

She swallowed back her sickness, ignoring the discomfort in her stomach. She glanced at Rome, whose face grew slightly pale but showed no signs of staying behind. A mature, brave child unlike that she'd seen before.

Nevertheless, Lucas didn't care whether anybody followed or not and stepped into the darkness.

Nora watched his figure disappear, eaten away into the eeriness stretched out ahead, hesitating for only a second longer before grabbing the boy's sweaty hands. 

How could she not be scared? How could she not be cautious, wary of what lied beyond?

But how could she survive if she let fear overwhelm her?

Rome tugged at her hand patiently, though eager to follow Lucas behind. "Are you going, miss?" He had no intention of waiting with her if she said no.

Nora smiled and took a step into the unknown.