The sun blasted its rays right onto his face. Kruel tried to open his eyes but only saw blurs. He rubbed and blinked for a few minutes before he was able to see clearly.
He was shocked when he found himself in his room. He didn't remember coming back home. How did he escape those thugs? All he could remember was being attacked and then everything going pitch black. He thought he had died.
For a while, he just sat there, eyes scanning the familiar furniture as though it was foreign. His shelves, his desk, his window...everything looked like they had been there forever, yet somehow it all felt different. Distant.
He was in different clothes. That was even more confusing. They were stained with blood. Kruel got frightened again. The clothes were ripped and were trying hard to serve their purpose of covering him. It was the blood stains, however, that Kruel was concerned about. What happened yesterday, he wasn't sure.
He sat still, holding his breath, staring at the red-brown marks on the cloth. Was it even his blood? He didn't feel any pain. No cuts. No bruises. Not even the faintest scratch. His body looked perfectly fine. Clean. Untouched.
Kruel felt a lot lighter than usual. He felt… different.
His mind went back to what Jessica had told him. He was a "subject." So that meant things could happen. Strange things. Unnatural things.
"Maybe this is normal," Kruel said to himself, voice barely a whisper. "But I still have to do some research. I hope I'm safe. I hope my family is safe as well."
His heart thumped, slowly at first, then faster. The thought of endangering his family made something heavy press down on his chest. If something was wrong with him… if something was hunting him… then staying here, sleeping under the same roof as them, might not be safe. But where else could he go?
He brushed and bathed, the water cool against his skin, almost too cool, as though his nerves were reacting strangely. The mirror fogged up as he dressed, but not before he caught a glimpse of his face...paler than usual, eyes darker, like he hadn't slept in days.
He kept the clothes under the bed with a plan to burn them later. He didn't want anyone seeing them. He didn't even want to see them again himself.
He also wanted to talk to his dad. He would probably know what all this is about. But he had to be fast. His dad was leaving today.
He wanted to open the door, but it was locked. The key wasn't in the lock either.
Kruel scanned his room for a few moments to see if the key was normally where he kept it, but it wasn't. He began to bang hard on the door due to irritation. Each thud echoed through his room like a drumbeat, loud and hollow. Upon the ruckus he was making, Kruel was still able to hear footsteps out in the halls.
"Kate!" Kruel banged again. "Is that you? Mom?!!!"
"It's me, Kate."
"Can you get me the extra key?" Kruel asked, voice shaky.
There was silence, then Kate spoke again. "Are you… okay now?" she asked.
Kruel frowned even though she couldn't see him. "Of course I am."
"You sure?"
"Yes!! Why are you asking me that? Of course I'm fine."
"It's cause of what you've been doing."
Kruel paused. "…What I've been doing??"
"What have I been doing?" he voiced out loud.
"You missed everything," Kate said. "You didn't follow us to tell Dad goodbye, you missed our lunch with the Harveys yesterday. You acted crazy all weekend. Cold and ignorant." She then added, "You've been really weird lately and now you're pretending like you don't remember anything. It seems like…"
Kruel didn't hear the rest of Kate's words. What she had said was like a blow. If Kruel got her words right, it meant his dad had gone. And they had already had lunch with the Harveys. But his dad was to leave on Saturday.
Today is Saturday, right? Kruel thought. And the lunch was to be on Sunday. Which was tomorrow… right? Or maybe they held it yesterday.
Kruel didn't want to believe that he had slept through the weekend. That wasn't possible.
"But… but…" Kruel stammered before regaining composure. "So Dad's gone?"
"So it's now you're asking?" Kate dragged. "You have a lot of people to apologize to, you know. I'll go get your extra key from Mom's room. But just so you know, it's gonna cost you."
"Okay, please do," Kruel said in a fake voice as he heard Kate walk away.
His head was filled with confusing thoughts as he went to his bed. Kate said he missed everything. He didn't show up for their dad's departure or the lunch. And he was acting crazy. It meant he lived through Saturday but didn't really live it. Like his body had moved but his mind hadn't.
What had he done? Where had he gone?
He tried to remember anything but there was only black fuzzy images. Like someone had erased the weekend from inside his skull.
He heard a click and the door was opened. Kate stuck her head in for a brief moment, scrunched up her face and left. She came back soon carrying Kruel's drawing pad.
"I figured you'll need this," she said. "You're supposed to be grounded though. Mom's really pissed."
"Yeah," Kruel sighed. He took the pad. He felt Kate's gaze run through him and it reduced the level of how comfortable he was.
"Where did Mom go to?"
Kate looked at him with confused eyes. "She went to work. Where else?"
"But Mom doesn't go to work on Sunday," Kruel asked, with equal or even higher confusion.
"Of course she doesn't!" Kate said. She looked at him narrowly. "Wait… what do you think today's date is?"
"Isn't it Sunday?"
Kate's eyebrows drew together tightly. She knew something was really wrong with her brother. "It's Monday."
"What?" said Kruel.
The word dropped out of his mouth like a stone.
He laughed once and then stopped.
"Kate… stop joking."
"I'm not joking. Check your phone."
He snatched his phone from his desk, pressed the power button. The lock screen blinked awake.
MONDAY 9:47 AM.
Kruel's chest caved in. His fingers trembled so badly the phone almost slipped out of his hands.
Two days. Gone.
He stared at the screen until his reflection blurred in the glass. There were dozens of missed calls. A flood of texts. School reminders. Family pings. It was like he had been a ghost, and now that he was back, the world was throwing everything at him at once.
"Kruel," Kate said softly. She was still in the doorway, her voice quieter now. "Did something… happen to you?"
Kruel opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He couldn't say yes. He couldn't say no. Because he didn't even know.
Instead, he muttered, "I'm fine," even though every part of him screamed otherwise.
Kruel sat down on the edge of his bed. His thoughts were spiraling now, faster, darker.
If it was Monday, that meant he had blacked out for almost 48 hours. He had fought those thugs, at least, he thought he had, and then he had woken up here, in clean sheets, different clothes, covered in blood that wasn't his, with no memories.
What happened inside those missing days? Did he walk home on his own? Did someone bring him? Did he do something… wrong?
The fear grew sharper the longer he thought.