"Oof..." Aefia felt a surge of breathe leave her as she slammed down her small luggage onto the high deck of the train. "Anything else..." She spoke while placing one hand at the top deck and another at her back which as aching thanks for the useless, lazy, silver-haired brother who came in and decided to just slump onto the seats instead.
"Oh yeah... Can you pass me my luggage?" Lewis spoke while propping his head up to look at her tired face.
"Which one?!" She shouted as frustration hit her like a bus. "The big one." He replied as if teasing.
"You son of a turtle! Do it yourself! You are the older!" Her voice echoed against the walls of the entire coach they had booked.
"And you are the stronger! Use your skills!" He laughed while sitting up to lean back with his elbow.
"Ugh!" Aefia looked away with annoyance.
"Then use it for five seconds only!" He shrugged.
Suddenly, out of sheer anger, she threw a bag of candies at his face and walked towards the foldable bed of her side of the coach. "Ow!" He shouted while sitting up as she slumped onto the seat and spread her legs in front of her. "Well you have gotten lazy haven't you?!"
"Lazy?! I have been carrying your bags for up to an hour and you keep telling me to pull it down and up and down like they are a few exercising equipments and you are my trainer... Which I don't need!"
"Well you don't want to pull down the luggage for me!"
"You have two luggages! Which one is it that you want?! You man-looking woman!"
"The big one! Only for once! It has my gaming console in it!"
"You are going on a five days trip and you need a literal gaming console?!"
"Well how do you relate to that?!"
"You have a good darn phone!"
"Okay but I want something else and not only the gaming console!"
"I knew it!" Aefia raged with as she stood up finally, after slamming her palms into the leather bound headrest of the seat. "What do you want?! Say it fast!" She shouted while abruptly standing up and placing her hands against the edges of the overhead compartment for a grip, as she climbed onto the seats and stood on her toes to reach up.
"You seriously are hectic... Even when you find a bottle of toxic sleeping pills, you will never give me the peace I want!" She shouted while holding down the luggage and then getting down. "Quick! Whatever it is... Pull it out and I will finish my last task and go to sleep. My throat is burning!"
"..." He breathed out heavily as he stood up and pulled out a hoodie from his pile. "That should do... Now put it back!" He commanded with a smile and acting as if she were his personal servant. "I believe I don't have anything else expect one more item inside the smaller luagage..."
"Huuuh?! What the heck is wrong with you?! Why do you need to be like a woman everywhere you go?!" Aefia asked while standing up, but with the complete frustration and rage, her mind had turned foggy as she stood up on the seat again to pull out the little suitcase. But suddenly, she turned silent and motionless all at once.
"My vision is playing tricks on me!" A laugh escaped her mouth as she tried to grab a void where there was a second small suitcase.
"Since when... Did you... Pack a third luggage?" She smiled while looking down at him with a playful and mocking tone.
"What third luggage?" He asked back with an eyebrow lifted in a questioned gaze.
"I don't know... An identical blue suitcase as the smaller one?" Her reply came back shortly afterwards.
"Wait... Are you simply seeing a ghost right now?" He sat up straighter as he watched her struggle to pull the luggage forward. "No... And it just got heavily... I think I am light-headed..." Aefia replied while slamming the bag down on the train's floor and then slumping down at the same seat as him.
"Don't disturb me... I really need to rest." She spoke while bending forward to reach for a water bottle at the side of his bag.
Suddenly, he stopped in front of her and tilted her head back with a sudden motion. "Hold on... You are kidding me right now... Right?!"
"No... It's more like I am the one who is being tricked... Why?"
"Are you still taking those sleeping pills?!"
"Hm... Well I need to sleep right?"
He gritted his teeth in response. Immediately, he grew concerned and irritated at the same time. As he reached into his own bag to pull out a second vile of his own medicine.
"Aefia... Listen to your brother and sit up." He spoke while grabbing out a gauge from her bag.
"Brother? Wasn't I more like your servant?" She answered back while sitting up finally, but grabbing onto her forehead due to a headache. Suddenly, she pulled out a thin silver chain and a locket at her neck, which within seconds, she was trying to tear off her neck. The locket featured a eight-pointed star with a single red stone at the centre in the shape of a kite.
"Was this the thing mom took you away for?" He asked while sitting beside her and leaning a bit to take a closer look at the necklace.
"Yes... And the odd fact was... She had my face at her hands and then she was just kissing my face like I was little kid. And she was telling me to stay safe and not to be stupid and wonder off and she would be anticipating somethings from me if I were to go back home... Ah! That woman is strange!" She laughed while covering her eyes with her left hand.
"And what did you say?" He asked back.
"I said she shouldn't keep her expectations high because I might as well not return..." Her reply came after a short moment pause, with a smile settling on her face.
"What does that mean Aefia?" He pulled the hand from her eyes while placing his other hand at her head.
"I don't know why... But I somehow feel like something is wrong, like the time before Brittany, Ms. Avry and Stephany died... I fear someone else is going to die, however, I am not certain who. I am just... Afraid of losing my mind again."
She replied as her smile got wiped clean, replaced a void stare. "But if something really does happen like that, I am sure to chose a faster way to take my–"
"Don't even dare say that in front of me." Lewis spoke while slamming his palm over her mouth to keep her shut. "If anything, I have this bottle of pill here which should help you get a much easier sleep. I have tried it myself, and it works even without needing to increase the dose. It's much more herbal and can help recover the toxicity over the time." He spoke while removing his hand off her mouth. Then, he twisted off the bottle cap and held a few capsules out onto her palm.
As she bit down on one of them, he looked down at the locket around her neck. This locket... Doesn't mom where it everytime she leaves the house? And it is something that she deeply treasures... She gave it away to her that easily and without asking...
"Why are you suddenly suggesting it? It's not like there is any cure that can remove the toxins that would kill me eventually."
"Can't you just shut up?! And I don't anticipate you to be sick while travelling, so you better not be coughing whenever you are outside." He scolded her, with a brotherly concern.
"You can't cough and consider it a sickness if it isn't a cold. And how do you know I won't cough once or twice?"
"Are you sure about this?" He asked while folding his arms and staring down at her with an arched brow.
"..."
"So? What is your answer?"
"I don't think– Huh?! *Cough*"
Splatter...
Aefia looked down at her palm suddenly as she slammed it against her mouth, her lungs burned and she coughed out blood that stained the train floor.
"I figured it out without needing your answer... So what is it going to be?" Lewis asked while handing her a handkerchief. Then, he stared down at her face and how her hands were clasped over her mouth in a way to stop the blood from spilling.
I figured... Not long after meeting her... That every pale and expressionless face has a perfect match to the colours deep burgundy, crimson and maroon. I don't know shades... But they definitely illuminate a difference if she ever wears them. Her personality reflects better with a darker more bloodier shade... As if she was meant for it.
"Well that medicine made it worse... So what do you have to say about that?!" Aefia managed her speech a short while later. She rasped as she leaned forward and let out a few more cough, until it made her tired, and until her eyes were watering.
"Don't blame the medicine. Your time is short anyways..." Lewis spoke while placing hand at her back. "If you blame a good medicine after doing this to yourself with a bad medicine, then it is the same as blaming yourself."
"Well of course I blame myself! It's not like I never blamed myself for what has happened to the people close to me!" She spoke in a muffled voice as her coughed died down a short while later. Immediately, she slumped against the seat and shut her eyes, slipping into an instant sleep.
***
George looked at the way Aefia had been staring at the same thing at the stall for a long time. A few snowflakes settled onto her dark hair and then blended into her silvering hair at the ends. Her face was a bright contrast in the winter with her much paler complexion. "Everyone has gotten something, do you want to get that?" He asked finally which caused her to set it back and look up at his face with a long moment of silence stretching between them.
"I think... I want to go for a walk myself. Is it alright?" She finally responded while glancing towards the crowd. "I am old enough to navigate the crowd and return to your location and I have a phone so I can message you. But I just want a moment for me to think to myself."
He thought for a while, his dark purple eyes scanning hers for a while and then finally submitting to her request. "Fine. But don't try to run away or we are dead when we return to the palace. The duchess won't spare me in specific." He watched her walk away and dissapear into the crowd and then looking at his brothers at the opposite side. "We are done... If you are going to pay now?" Lewis spoke while dusting away the snowflakes from the fur at the end of his hood.
Meanwhile, Aefia dragged her steps against the stone steps as she climbed towards the park at the end of the bazaar. "I am alone... At my own will now." She whispered to herself while walking towards a bench in front of her which seemed to be empty. Just as she was about to reach it, someone spoke from her side as he reached out to the bench.
"Hey! Is it alright if we take this bench?" Diego asked with a smile. Suddenly, his eyes diverted towards the locket at her neck then he immediately bent his head low in front of her. "Oh I am sorry... You can take this bench. I hope you have a safe travel and a safe trip back to the capital."
He was about to leave following that, however, a blonde person came forward next.
"Why did you just give up the seat?!" He asked while looking towards the person in front of them, before falling completely silent.
"I will just leave... I am not here for long so... It's no problem." She smiled when sensing the awkward situation. Then, she turned and headed towards the stairs again.
"Hold on! Aefia!" Helio shouted as he ran behind her and catching up in time for her to turn around. "Are you going to leave without asking about us?" He asked while lifting his gaze at her pale face, before his gaze picked up her deteriorated health. "Why are you... Why do you look like you were slaughtered and brought alive?"
"I am sorry, but I don't quite understand what you mean by that. However, I was going to ask about why the other participants were here." She replied while keeping her expressionless face. "I was going to ask it the time I saw Diego, however, I realized that some of you may not remember me."
"You look exhausted... That's the thing I am trying to ask." He added with a stern face. "Well... I... Am not certain why we were brought here."
"But if you are silent about this... And us too are sickled to a mystery of things... Then Guardian of Silence... would be the answer to all questions..." He whispered as he bent his head downwards.
"What the heck are you hiding?" Aefia added with her face turned into a fierce and angered expression. "Where. Is. Nada?" She asked as her eyes turned shadowed and widened. "If you aren't going to speak within the next five seconds I will force it out of you... I have the power and authority to do so, if you have forgotten."
A hesitation leaned onto his face as he searched for the courage to bring up the matter in front of her. "Missing... And that is why we all moved here..." Helio replied while gritting his teeth.
"Darn it!"
Aefia shouted almost quietly, in dissapointment. "I knew this would happen..."
"What?" Helio looked up at her face.
I had this feeling for quite sometime now... No wonder that I am suddenly so frustrated... Why am I always so far away from this sort of things happen?!