Chapter 46 - Amusement Park : Part 1

Silence filled the air. A 12-year-old boy with a sharp jawline and a pointed nose sat across his older brother in the dining room. The kid's ocean blue eyes glued on his breakfast.

Sometimes, one or two times, he would glance over his brother. But he kept his silence and waited for his brother to at least say something—just a couple of sentences.

"Are you going to eat your breakfast, or are you just going to stare at it until it rots away?" Finally, a sentence came through Kiaran's mouth.

"Ah, sorry." Axel quickly apologized, not wanting to antagonize his brother any further.

He grabbed his spoon and ate his cereal slowly, still glancing over his tired brother sometimes. He noticed how his brother's messy black hair that's identical to his own covered his right eye with bags under it.

It had been three months since their father flew away with Adreanna. He was always on his trips to god knows where.

Axel used to sit by the front door waiting for Cain and Adreanna to come back home until he fell asleep on the floor. Kiaran would carry him to his room, and the boy would wake up on his bed.

He stopped doing that four years ago, though, knowing that his father would be gone for a very long time with Adreanna.

Sometimes, he wondered why Cain never brought him or Kiaran along.

Cain would smile softly at Kiaran, and he would smother the secondborn with lies and reassurance that he would only be gone for a while.

Though when Axel popped out of the doorway in the hope that he would get a goodbye from his father too, Cain's smile would disappear, and he quickly gave the cold shoulder to him without even trying to look at him at all.

One week trip would turn into a month, and Cain would return just to vanish again. His record was four months long, though, Axel still kept that on track, and it was just a matter of time until he stopped counting too.

"Hurry up and finish your breakfast, or I swear I'm going to leave you behind." Threatened Kiaran with venom in his voice. His brother had already finished his breakfast and walked away to a dishwasher.

That did make Axel come back to reality and snap away from his thoughts. He hurried his movement and almost choked on his food, but he swallowed it anyway. He drank all the milk in the bowl and clumsily brought it to the dishwasher.

"Just put it there. I'll wash it." Uttered Kiaran while nudging Axel to the side. "Go grab your bag, and don't forget about your lunch. It's on the dining table." Continued the 14-year-old without looking away from the dishes.

Axel put his bowl away and silently went to his room. His brother could be a lot sometimes. Though he never blamed him for it. He knew that his brother was trying his best to take care of him despite Kiaran's young age.

The fluffy-haired boy snatched his bag from the wall hanger by the study table. He gave a glance toward the mirror in front of him and was met face to face with his reflection. All he saw was him, though. Sometimes he wondered if there was something in the mirror just like those horror movies.

The breeze of the wind outside the window danced with the leaves and it managed to catch Axel's attention.

He tried to discover, in the hushed whisper of the eerie silence, the tragedy behind the Livedam city. The stories and rumours, the legend and the myth, and the paradox of reality and fantasy were all part of the city.

He was not making it up. Rune was the one who told him about it. She said she was going through her father's ministries' files and found some scary secrets that were written in them. However, she said that the words were too complicated to understand.

"Axel! Hurry up. We're going to be late for school!" Yelled Kiaran from downstairs.

"Coming!" Axel ran from his room to the front door at a quick speed. On his way over to the front yard, he snatched his lunchbox from the dining table, causing it to almost fall from his hand.

Kiaran was already there. His tired gaze glared at his little brother. Axel was huffing out a short, mumbling a quiet sorry to his brother.

The older quickly nudged Axel out of the way to lock the front door and put the key inside his pocket afterwards. Then the two walked together, with Kiaran leading the way, and Axel followed on his tail.

While on the road, he noticed an amusement park along the way. It was newly opened, and everyone in the school was talking about it.

He glanced at his brother, who was too focused on the road, debating whether he should ask him to bring him there or not.

"Hey uh, Kiaran?" The younger hesitantly called. Hands fiddling with his bag as he tried to keep up with the older.

His brother just grumbled a 'what' to him. If it were not from the silence that was decorating the road, Axel probably would not hear it.

"Can we go to the amusement park sometimes? Maybe this weekend? Or- well, next week is okay too. I mean, it's not like it's really important, but it's just so huge, and everyone in the school was talking about it, and I-"

"Oh my god, Axel, can you shut your mouth for like a second?" Kiaran cut through his rambling.

"I have a really rough day, okay? Just- be silent." Continued Kiaran with a heavy sigh at the end of his sentence.

Axel's hands nervously moved around as he tried to explain more. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to bother you, it's just that I was wondering since we rarely go out together and you always forbid me to get out of the house so-"

"Oh my god, shut up!"

Axel was startled by the sudden yell and snapped his mouth shut. He bit his lips and mumbled an apology, quickly looking away.

Kiaran sighed and messed his own hair. "No, it's just- it's been really hard, okay? With dad gone, and didn't even answer any of my messages. And I have to take care of you while I can't really fucking take care of myself."

Axel stared at his own feet and nodded. Kiaran gave a quick glance and sighed again. "Just be silent for today, okay? I'm not in the mood to talk."

Axel nodded again. He understood. He really did.

He just sometimes felt kind of lonely. Kiaran was the only one who was actually there for him. The boy really did not know what would he do without him.

Then the two fell into another silence, walking together in an empty road of the city. They had to walk early every morning just to go to school. It was tiring for Axel. But if he was tired then Kiaran was probably more tired than him.

Both of the Vergessene brothers lost in their own thoughts. They also were at a loss for the danger around the corner.

Both of them realized it too late when suddenly, a broad shoulder man was holding a gun to Axel's head, locking him in his harm at a quick speed.

"Move, and I'll shoot his head." The man stated, tightening his grip on the boy as Axel choked.

Kiaran snapped his mouth shut. Face completely went poker as he faced the man. "What do you want? Money?" The older asked. Blue eyes darkened as he watched Axel's struggling.

"Come on. I'm not that petty to take money from kids." The man laughed maniacally before staring at Kiaran with a big smirk. "I'm here to take both of you for money, actually."

"That's still petty, actually," Kiaran commented, sending back a belittled smirk at the man. "You're trying to flex by stealing kids? Huh, no wonder your girl left you."

The man seemed to be startled by the sudden accuse. He frowned at the kid, wondering how Kiaran knew about it.

"Come on, it's obvious. There is a slap mark on your face. It's really embarrassing, you know?" Kiaran continued, taunting the man even more.

The man gritted his teeth. "You know what, I was being nice and was going sell you alive, but I think it'll be better if you are dead."

Suddenly, the gun was moved to Kiaran's forehead, and all Axel saw was red.

Axel threw his head to the man's chin and kicked the gun away from his hand. He was moving just like Adreanna, copying her movement from her training after watching her for so long.

The flash memory of Adreanna kicking a dummy's chest was copied by Axel to the man. Then another memory of her shooting the dummy's shoulder just enough to make him bleed was yet followed by the boy again.

Although it was not perfect, he still managed to shoot the man.

Axel's chest heaved up and down as he stared down at the wailing man coldly. Though it quickly disappeared when he realized what he had just done, causing him to tremble in his place.

Shakingly, the boy tried to look at Kiaran, not knowing what to expect. Though when he saw his brother, Axel quickly frowned in confusion.

Kiaran was... different. There was no anger on his face like earlier in the morning as he stared at him. There was something distant in the older's eyes, but Axel could not really catch what it was. It was almost like amusement in his eyes.

"You know, Axel. I'm kind of getting tired of getting left behind." He began with a melodic voice. There was a dangerous glint in it.

"So why don't we start our own things?" Kiaran put a hand on his shoulder and turned Axel's body to face the bleeding man again.

The older brother put a mouth beside Axel's left ear. "I'm so done with waiting." He whispered slowly, dangerously.

"Here, try it." Kiaran wrapped his hand on Axel's hand and made the gun point at the man again.

"What?" Axel croaked confusedly in a haze of panic. He looked over to the secondborn just for Kiaran to forcibly move his head so he could face the man again.

"Try shooting him again. Then maybe we'll get his petty money or maybe more." Kiaran whispered again, more maniac right now.

"Why?" Axel trembly tried to steady his hand as he asked again.

Kiaran tilted his head, staring at the man with a dark triumphant look, taunting him. "Don't you want to make our father proud?" He quickly looked over to Axel with a smile

"Shoot him-" Kiaran adjusted Axel's hand. "Right...." He pointed right on the man's head. "-there."

And that man became Axel's first kill as another shot rang in the silence.