Chapter 24 - It's Family Day : Part 2

"We're going to hold a Family Day next week. Since it's Halloween, the school decided to make it the main theme for this year's Family Day. Please notify your parents about this."

The teacher glanced around the room once more, looking at her students one by one.

"Class dismissed, you may go home now." She left the class right after, leaving the students waiting for her to vanish from their sight.

The whole class groaned as soon as she left the class. Family Day was every student's worst nightmare in this school. They had to spend the whole day with their parents and siblings too, letting the parents brag about them, and the siblings embarrass them.

Though there would be so many foods that day. There would be some competitions too to see who was the best family of all.

Axel never won any though.

"Halloween costumes with your parents in the school? Sure, it'll turn out amazing." The girl on the back row muttered sarcastically as she tidied up her makeup.

"I'll take what I can if it means no studying for the whole day." A boy on the front row chimed in, the bags under his eyes were the indication of what the school had put him through.

"My mom will embarrass me so much, I can feel it." A girl behind Axel shivered, she hugged herself as she imagined the Family Day.

Axel and Rune turned their head to each other at the same time, Rune smiled apologetically at him while shaking her head. Axel shrugged his shoulders at her before looking at his table.

His thoughts went to Kiaran who had not come home since yesterday. He thought about Adreanna too, she would hate coming to an event like this. She hated social interactions.

And father was- father would not come anyway.

"Maybe this time one of them will come," Axel muttered to himself, looking down at his books on his desk with absent eyes.

"What? Little Vergessene is sad because his little perfect family can't come?" A taunting familiar voice caught his ears. Axel slowly looked up to see Aster walking over to him with a bag on his back.

The black-haired boy sighed, he stared at his bully with tired eyes. "What do you want, Aster?"

"Oh, nothing. Just here to be your daily reminder that you are a nobody." Aster smirked, his two minions cheered him from behind, looking at Axel with mocking eyes.

"Maybe that's why your family abandoned you, ever think of that, loser?" The bully continued, green eyes full of deriding as he watched the blue eyes widen at his words.

"Alright, that's enough." Rune stood up from her seat with glowering hazel eyes. She stared at Aster angrily, clenching her fists.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry, miss white knight." The blond boy snarled, holding both of his hands up in surrender before finally leaving Axel and going out of the class. His minions followed him right after.

Rune kept staring with despise at Aster until he got away. She quickly looked over to her best friend when he made sure the bully was gone.

"Hey, Axel." Rune walked closer to his desk, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You know your family did not abandon you. They are busy just like my dad! He did not really spend much time with me too since he's the president."

Axel's dreamy eyes caught the hazel one. Rune always tried to cheer him up. She was always there for him. He did not want to lose this girl.

He forced a smile at Rune as they stared at each other. Opening his mouth, the boy managed to fake a happy face.

"I know."

He knew he was abandoned by his father anyway. He also knew Kiaran was still there for him. At least.

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Axel tripped over his own feet when he arrived at his own bedroom with a bunch of cardboard in his hands. The cardboards went flying to the air as they broke free from the boy's hand.

Axel gasped when he noticed he was falling. The boy quickly flipped over to the air, defying gravity right before he touched the ground. His fluffy hair fell over his blue eyes when he landed on the floor.

"That's a close one," Axel whispered to himself. His ocean blue eyes looked around at the mess below him.

The 14-year-old bent down to pick cardboards on the ground. He brought them to his study table in front of the mirror.

The chair made a little creak sound as he sat on it. His right hand was holding a scissor while his other one was holding a whiteboard marker. A fixed look adorned his face when he began drawing lines on the cardboard.

Firm blue eyes darted around when he finished drawing the lines. The boy finally started cutting the cardboard. He bit his lips. Sweat ran down from his forehead as time passed by.

He stood up to take a black paint that he bought earlier with Rune when they had walked home together. Rune was pretty insistent to walk him home because she was afraid that he would disappear again.

The boy was standing in front of his study desk, proudly looking at the cardboard that he just finished carving. He started to paint the cardboard black, following some lines that he already marked before.

He wiped his forehead with his hand. The paint that was spilled on his clothes and hands went unnoticed by the boy as his forehead was stained black too.

He brought up the black cardboard wings for his Halloween costume to his face. When he felt that the black cardboard wings were perfect already, he started attaching them to some black rope, making the wings like some kind of a bag.

He glanced at the royal clothes that he borrowed from the demon world two days ago. He hoped that the demon version of his family would not mind if he used it for Halloween. He really did not know what to wear so he just decided to be a demon.

He sighed as he picked up more cardboard and started to make three more black wings. Deep down, he knew that it was impossible for all the wings to be worn by the time he reached Family Day.

He made them just in case all of his family members would come.

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Axel looked over his messages for the tenth time today. He already told Kiaran about Family Day as soon as he finished with the cardboard wings. His brother had not answered yet, he already read them though.

He sent it to Adreanna too, she did not read his messages. It was the same case for his father. They were probably busy, they would read them later. Maybe.

He put down his handphone and decided to wait for Kiaran to come home. He went to the couch in the living room and sat down. He would wait until he was asleep on the couch, skipping over dinner.

A day would turn into two and the boy was almost late for school. He skipped over breakfast just to make it in time. Rune would yell at him when she found out he hadn't eaten anything yet. She would shove some bread into his mouth right before the class started.

In between the third and the fifth day, he was contemplating whether he should call Cain or Adreanna. In the end, he did not call anyone and waited on the couch again.

On the sixth day, he stood in front of the mirror, hoping that the demon version of his family would talk or just say hi. It was getting lonely in his house. Usually, there would be at least Kiaran to accompany him.

Besides, it was forbidden for him to get out of the house unless it was school or Kiaran's command.

Without him realizing it, Family Day had already come. He threw away the three cardboard wings to the trash behind the house.

It was finally Family Day with only him as the family.

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Axel stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom. He examined the black cardboard wings behind him. The red contacts that he wore were kind of itchy, they made his eyes a little watery. He wore a black horn headband too, Rune gave it to him yesterday.

He brushed off the invisible dust on his borrowed clothes before finally leaving his bedroom. He could hear Rune's car outside his house already. She wanted to go together since she dressed up as an angel after he told her that he wanted to be a demon for Family Day.

She also knew that his family could not make it.

When they arrived at school, it was already full of students with their families. Rune told him that her father would not make it too, that's one of the reasons why they went together.

She let her red hair loose today and tucked it behind her ears. She wore a halo headband and white wings that she bought from a costume store. Rune's short white dress went along with the white high heels, making her look like an actual angel.

Axel looked around the school. A student was sulking as her parents tried to talk it off to her. Another student was running with his little brother, playing around the hallway. They laughed and talked together with their family.

Somehow, he felt alone in this crowded place.

Rune noticed how Axel was looking at the surrounding with a mix of envy and sadness. She quickly grabbed him by the hand and dragged him along the hallway. Axel went goggle-eyed at the movement and tried to match his best friend's footsteps.

"Let's steal so many foods and go to the rooftop. We'll make it our hiding place." Urged Rune happily while keeping their hands intertwined with each other.

Five minutes later, their hands were full of all kinds of foods and drinks. Axel tried not to spill anything and made sure Rune did not either.

They stealthily walked to the rooftop, trying to stay away from the teachers' eyes. Rune and Axel quietly giggled, their voices would echo a little, and they would try to shush each other right after.

When the two best friends finally arrived, they quickly put down the food on an abandoned table on the rooftop. They took two dusty chairs and set them down for the two teens to sit down.

"I don't know no Family Day. I only know Food Day." Rune joked as she got ready to shove some foods into her mouth greedily.

Axel let out a stifled laugh while holding his stomach. "Don't-" He choked while trying to stop his laughter. "Don't let your dress get dirty, please."

"Don't worry. I am the first lady of this country, I am a gentlewoman with a great attitude. There is no way I'd-"

The cupcake in Rune's hand fell down to her chest when she spoke. She blinked at her dirty clothes before looking back at her best friend who was looking at her with disappointment.

She grinned at him apologetically. "Can I take back what I said?"

Axel offered her a tissue while sighing. "You better."

In the end, they ate together, looking down from the rooftop as the opening ceremony of Family Day started. The breeze was watching with the sun as it blew around the two teens' hair.

"You losers are helpless."

Rune and Axel snapped their head to the source of the voice. Aster was walking toward them with sleepy eyes, yawning as he stretched both of his hands. He was wearing a Dracula cloak with fake fangs and white-gloved hands.

"I mean, sitting on the rooftop in Family Day? Fucking sad." He snarled as he looked at both Rune and Axel with belittled eyes.

Rune took another bite of a pie while frowning at him. "You're here, though?"

The three of them went silent.

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"This cupcake is the fucking best," Aster muttered with his mouth full. Rune and Axel nodded in agreement as they ate another one.

The three of them had been sitting on the rooftop for a while now. The opening ceremony just finished. They watched students and families go out of the building to the food stall outside.

They probably ran out of food inside because two certain best friends stole some of them.

"Damn, what a fancy car," Aster commented when an expensive car stopped in front of the school.

Two suit-wearing guys came out of the car with sunglasses. One of them opened the door while bowing respectfully. A red-haired man with a fancy suit appeared from inside, his hazel eyes scanned the school area as he stood in front of it.

Axel recognized the man. He looked over his best friend so quickly that he was sure his neck would crack. "Wait, Rune, that's-"

"Oh shit." Rune dropped the food to the table, standing up from her seat while trying to clean the food stain on her clothes.

"Daddy finally comes, miss president may go now." Aster leaned his chair back with a cupcake in his right hand, staring lazily at Rune.

"But I did not tell him about today." She whispered at herself, probably only meant for her. The two boys caught what she said since technically they were the only ones on the rooftop.

"You did not tell your father that today's Family Day." Axel flatly stated rather than asked.

Rune's eyes still looked down at her father who started going inside the building. "Well, in my defense, I knew he was busy so I didn't tell him anything." She stated in panic.

"Oh, oh. Daddy is probably mad then." The blond boy chimed in with a bored tone, teasing the red-haired girl even more.

"Aster shut the fuck up." She growled with a frustrated tone.

Aster mockingly bowed at her. "As you wish, miss president."

She groaned at the blond boy before looking at Axel. "Sorry dude, I got to go. See you later?"

"Yeah, sure." Axel waved his hand dismissively to her. "Hurry up, your dad is waiting." He got up from his seat to push her into the rooftop door. She quickly ran down the stairs in hurry.

He closed the door when Rune was already gone. He went back to his seat and took a slice of cake, looking down at the front of the school again.

He and Aster went into an awkward silence. Somehow, Axel felt deja vu again just like that day when they were in the prison together.

He stole a glance at Aster who was looking at the front gate with a serious look. He then looked down and noticed the red and black shoes he gave to him that day.

Axel cleared his voice. "Nice shoe."

"Thanks, I got it from a criminal." Aster was still looking down, he answered Axel without giving a single glance at him.

"Oh, cool." The black-haired boy looked away from him and fixed his gaze on the table, bracing another awkward silence.

"Yo, loser," Aster called, catching Axel's blue eyes before pointing down with his finger to the front gate. "You should have worn something like that, those wings are dope as hell. Yours are lame."

Axel raised both of his eyebrows, intrigued by another wing-wearing person that his classmate mentioned. He quickly diverted his gaze down to see-

He stood up so fast that the chair he was on fell down, making Aster startled. He made sure the second time that he was looking at Kiaran, Adreanna, and Father down below.

Something was weird though. Those black wings looked so real- too real to be a costume.

Oh, wait.