Anderson was back in the familiar darkness. Since he had been there a few times, there was no fear on his face. Although the place was dark, he could somehow see a few meters away from him. There was no source of light, yet he just could. He looked around, seemingly searching for something.
“Looking for me?” A familiar voice sounded from behind him. Anderson turned around to see the familiar face staring at him with the mouth open in what Anderson could only assume to be trying to make a scary face. “Well, you’re no fun.” Seeing no reaction from Anderson, the other figure stopped trying and moved back. Anderson stared at the fellow that had stepped back. Same burnt face, same bloodied mouth. Finally having a proper look, there was not a single hair on his head either. It was all burnt away.
“If you keep staring at me like that you’ll make me blush.” The guy chuckled seeing Anderson checking him out like that. Anderson sto
Anderson walked out of his room into the creaking corridors of the second floor. The orphanage was a two-story building, and all the bedrooms were on the second floor. It was a very old orphanage, and everything was either very old and barely working or just broken down and collecting dust. Walking down the stairs, Anderson heard and felt it creak, causing him to slow his walk down. Although he knew, or more specifically, remembered that was how the stairs had always been, Anderson felt the memories that he had of his decade and something years he had been in the orphanage felt more like autopiloted than him actually experiencing it himself. It was like a murky layer had been removed from his eyes, allowing him to see things clearer.“Count Dracula finally rises. Muhahah!” Reaching the ground floor, Anderson was greeted by a familiar exaggerated voice. Anderson turned to a pretty dark-skinned teen feeding an eight-year-old girl seated on her lap. Kira: That was he
The top floor had all the bathrooms and bedrooms. Facing the stairs along the long hallway were five bedrooms. From the looks of it, it seemed the orphanage in the past used to hold a lot of children and matrons. Now that there were not that many, Anderson and Carson were given the opportunity to have their own room since they were both old enough to have their privacy. Unfortunately, only one person would get that opportunity since the other would have to stay with the boys to help take care of them.Anderson occupied the last room on the right which was said to be the room of an old matron after winning it in a very long game of rock-paper-scissors. The room next to his was occupied by the twins and Carson. It was much larger compared to Anderson’s room. It had four different bunk beds. One occupied by the twins and another by Carson. You would think the twins would each occupy a bunk bed, but the refused to be separated from each other even if it meant sleeping on di
“I heard the orphanage was getting a new member soon.” The old man suddenly changed the subject while he was giving Anderson his payment. The abrupt change startled Anderson a little. It was only this morning they had heard about the new addition to their orphanage.“Wait, how did you?” Anderson could not help himself but ask.“This is a very small town. Everyone hears everything. Haha” Old Cabbage laughed at the confused expression on Anderson’s face. He had really begun to love the little different expressions on people’s faces recently. Even he had no idea when he picked that up. “Well, not that it matters. It’s only unfortunate that this time, it’s you three who are going to be leaving soon.” There was a little bit of sentiment in his voice.Anderson became even more confused hearing the words of the old man. And what did he mean by three of them? Was he talking about Carson and Kira as
“So, what’s on your mind, kiddo?” While Anderson and Miss. Agnes stood in front of the kitchen sink doing the dishes, Miss. Agnes finally asked. She had realized Anderson looked like he had quite a bit on his mind but did not want to say with everyone present. That was why she agreed to let Anderson help her even after she insisted on driving everyone to bed.Anderson took a deep breath to compose himself and questioned. “What happened to all the children?” Anderson saw Miss. Agnes freeze slightly. She picked up the knife in the sink and slowly began to wash it with a distracted look. “How did they leave? I heard no one had ever come to adopt anyone. It’s fine. You can tell me.” Anderson held her hand, comforting her which caused her to slightly relax.The knife was the last of the dirty utensil. She picked up a napkin and wiped her hand. “Sit with me.” Miss. Agnes motioned to the dining chairs and sat with An
Anderson slowly opened his eyes and stared at the old ceiling above him. He frowned slightly and was immediately put in a bad mood. He knew morning would come, but he felt it had come a little to quick. Anderson felt the night had passed too quickly. Anderson was almost about to blame the morning for forcing him to face what he would have to face today.Regardless of what he felt, morning had come, and he would have to face it regardless of his desires or lack of it. Slowly waking up from his bed, he showered and made himself ready for the day. Anderson grudgingly made his way downstairs where everyone except Miss. Agnes was waiting to have breakfast. It looked like they were having leftover stew from the previous night for breakfast.“Woah. Someone is in a bad mood.” Carson spoke up the moment he saw Anderson, drawing everyone’s attention towards him. Anderson had not realized it, but a small frown had made its way onto his face. His entire person wa
Mary stood in place not moving an inch. She slowly raised her teddy bear towards her face trying to hide behind it. No one knew particularly the reason but assumed she was still shy or maybe still a little scared. “Okay, everyone.” Miss. Agnes walked over and stood behind the young lady. Anderson walked back and joined the group by the stairs who were still giving him worried looks. Their attention was finally drawn to Miss. Agnes who was now urging Mary slowly over.“As you have already heard. This is Mary.” Miss. Agnes made a general introduction of everyone, calling everyone by their names. “Welcome to the family.” With a bright smile on her face, standing in front of everyone, she welcomed the new addition, Mary.“Family?” Mary asked in a confused fashion. For all she knew, where she in was an orphanage, yet the lady called it a family. Everyone smiled warmly at her. Kira walked over and picked her up, walking her to
Anderson sat there wondering if it was fate that she had been sent to him the first time, seeing how she had been sent to him again, or if it was because it was just some sick and twisted game being the reason she had been sent to him. Was this Mary supposed to be sent to another orphanage but had been sent to him to play with his mind, to torture him?Anderson held his clenched fist under the table, hiding it from his two friends who had been staring at him quietly for a while. He subtly breathed out and looked at them. “What?” He asked. Their piercing gazes were a little uncomfortable for him.“What do you mean what?” Kira whose glare felt looked like it might pierce through his face, snapped. “What happened to you? And don’t you dare say nothing.” Her face looking like she was not ready to listen to anything other than a proper explanation.“Bro, what is happening? First it was yesterday. I had to shake you for
The night was long for Anderson. That night he saw nothing. Darkness and absolute darkness. There was no dream that came to him, yet for some reason, Anderson felt conscious of it all. He had no idea if it was because he had questioned it earlier, and had thought of testing it out or not, but this time his sleep felt different. Surprisingly, he did not feel any kind of fear from the darkness he was in. If anything, it felt more like an embrace. A warm embrace.Although comfortable, Anderson had the feeling that if he allowed himself to fall completely into that blissful feeling, he would not be able to ever wake up. Understanding this, Anderson allowed himself to “passively” enjoy the feeling while trying while to wake himself up. Not to his body back at the orphanage, but to the dark room with Leash. Anderson already knew his original body was not what was with him, but his soul instead. If so, didn’t that mean that every time he went to bed, the darkness h
Anderson did not know if he should be grateful for getting the opportunity to see his wife so many times, or to be angry that he was meeting her under such circumstances. In the report in his hands was a full-grown picture of his wife, Mary. It was obviously not his actual wife, but this world’s version of her. His actual wife was lying in a coma back on his earth. Anderson shook his head. That was right. His wife was in a coma back on his earth. All that he was going through was for her. Even knowing something like this, Anderson could not help but allow a small smile to appear on his face. Anderson remembered the mission before his frown appeared again. The mission was a dangerous one. Aside from it being about the person that looked like his wife, Anderson was beginning to regret taking the mission. The Mary in the profile was one of the world’s leading figures both in the light and in the underground world. She was one of the world’s richest and most powerful. I
Anderson took cover in the control room. He was fully geared in his tactical attire with all types of guns and knives hanging on him. He looked like he was preparing for war. His entire house was made from bullet proof glass. The house was located away from town, on a remote large acre of land owned by Anderson. It was because his work was dangerous and could easily attract enemies that he secluded himself away from town. His house was surrounded by multiple cameras at all angles in order to catch any intruder that intended on sneaking up on him. With the sudden disappearance of Suit, especially the look on his face before he disappeared, Anderson was not going to take any chances. He had no idea what the demon was going to prepare for him, thus he needed to be on the alert. It was at this time that he was grateful that his home was designed in such a way. Currently, Anderson was staring intently at all the cameras, but could not find anyone or anything out of place. That, h
The angel looked at Suit and unfurled wing about the same size as her from behind her. She lifter her head proudly, puffing out her chest in the process. “I told you. Today, nothing will save you from me.” She walked confidently towards Suit and raised her large sword with both hands without difficulty. With a hard swing, she struck horizontally with all her might aiming to decapitate Suit in one quick swing.The Angel had a victorious smirk on her usually stern face. She was already seeing the head of the meat body the demon was inhabiting rolling on the floor. Her only regret was being unable to save the person much sooner. With how comfortable and in control the demon looked, there was no doubt about the number of decades, even centuries the demon had inhabited the body. Usually, that mean the soul of the human had long since died.The blade was inches away from severing the demon’s head. That was until it stopped. No matter how much the angel push
Morning came quicker than Anderson had wanted it to. The blinds to his room automatically opened at the stroke of six, adjusting itself to the perfect angle to let in the right amount of sunlight. With the amount of money this world’s Anderson had made throughout his life, he had been able to properly live a life of luxury without care. Especially since it was all legal money, he had nothing to fear or worry about. Anderson knew as well that even if it was dirty money, he would still show and spend it openly without a care.Anderson quickly pulled out a gun from under his bed and fired two quick shots. The bullets entered a chair that was in his room. The target was none other than Suit who merely sat there eating chips. He smiled, declining to comment on the continuous futile attempt of Anderson to try and shoot him, leaving him to his, as he put it, therapeutic designs. “Good morning to you too.” Suit greeted.“Don’t you have anything be
It did not take long for Anderson to wake up in the dark room again. “Eey. Look whose back. Did you miss me?” Before he could completely open his eyes, he heard a familiar hyperactive voice right beside him. Anderson slowly opened his eyes and saw Leash squatting beside him, staring down at his with a happy expression. Anderson felt the demon had spent too much time alone for him to be the way he was. Anderson lay there quietly for a while before finally siting up. He was now used to everything that was happening around him.Anderson looked around the room they were in. There was nothing else in the room except the happy looking Leash. Anderson wondered if nothing could be brought in such a place. He would have probably gone insane already if he had to stay in such a place even for one minute. Who knew just how long Leash had been in such a place, and how time flow worked there? It was no wonder the poor happy go lucky demon had already lost his mind. Anderson tur
A few minutes passed and Anderson slowly opened his eyes. His face was wet with tears and a deep frown was etched on his face. He had just lost something precious to him. Although he could not remember exactly what it was he had lost, he could feel it in his heart that he had not only lost something, but it was also something very precious to him. Anderson had no idea whether it was the mechanics of it or that was just how Suit had set it up just to torture him.“Welcome back. I must admit, you were so close to surviving there. I was actually rooting for you.” The demon’s words brought him out of his thoughts. He glared at Suit, but he only stood there with a smile on his face, completely ignoring the glare he was receiving. Anderson did not even bother with asking Suit to return what he had taken because he knew very well the demon before him would not bother to pay him any heed.Anderson sat up. He was finding a bit of difficulty in talking. He was
“Oh my, to what do I owe this unpleasant visit?” Suit looked to the three figures that were standing a few feet outside the bloody circle and spoke. His smile was as pleasing to the eyes as ever. Even after he just called their visit unpleasant, he still looked like a host welcoming their guest with the utmost courtesy, while occasionally stealing glances at the screen in front of him.The three that had arrived, two men and a woman, did not seem the friendly kind. To them, the smile Suit was sporting seemed to irk them even more. Their hate and displeasure, evident from the glare and sneer on their faces. Regardless of all of that, Suit did not seem to mind. His smile was still ever present on his face, and his concentration drawing ever more to the screen in front of him.“What are you doing?” One of the men, a little shorter than the other huffed in displeasure. The frown never once faltering on his face.“Pardon?” Suit sti
Agnes Harth. Age eight. Agnes grew up in a home where neither mother nor father had any time for her or her siblings. Her father, whom she loved very much regardless of the amount of time he spent with her, always came home to a very dissatisfied wife who complained at the littlest of incidence. As time passed her mother complained more and more, and her father, returned home less and less.One day her father came home to find little Agnes crying in her room. When she was asked, she replied, “They say you will leave and never come back.” The little Agnes had been terrified. Her sister who was already a teenager told her their family was going to split apart. Her favorite daddy was going to leave and never return. It may have been the rage ramblings of a teenager who was barely shown any time or affection.“I promise. I will never leave you. And when you wake up, I will be right here.” Her father kissed her little forehead and made a promise. The
“Wait.” Miss. Agnes suddenly spoke before taking a few more steps back. “The knife. Toss it away.” Anderson felt a little upset He had been hoping because she had a gun, she would get complacent and let him keep the knife. Thinking about it, it sounded a little dumb, even for him. If it were him, of course there was no way he would let his prisoner keep their weapon. Anderson tossed raised the knife up slightly, but heard the gun cocking behind him. The woman was every bit as alert as she could be. Anderson tossed the knife away after a slight hesitation. “Good boy. Don’t be a pouty baby. Besides, I have a surprise for you.” Miss. Agnes spoke after seeing Anderson continue to move right after tossing the knife away. She was delighted that he was moving on his own accord, granted it was under duress, but still. She looked like she had a plan, and it was better with them moving away.“Where are we going?” Anderson asked the