It's always been you

Two lifetimes and counting

Happy ever after is not the ending of a story. It is just the beginning...

~~~

"Shi De! Shi De! Erzi!"

"Mama! Mama!"

"Shi De... son... take my hand... hold on."

"Mama! Mama!"

The thin pale little kid rose up to a cold dark room, panting heavily. Beads of sweat forming on his forehead and his whole body was shivering from a mixture of fear and apprehension. However, no tears are marring his face. The kid was born lacking of normal feelings. 

His late mother told him when he was born, he never once cried even if the doctor was hitting his bottom over and over again until it was bruised. As he grew up to this day, not once did he shed some tears. Even when people told him he was now alone in this world after his mother died due to the plane crash, the kid not once drops a single liquid from his big dark eyes.

He knows he was abnormal. Other children don't like to play with him because they call him a psychopath. The kid doesn't care though. He doesn't feel anything so whatever others say... the words only pass through his ears never to be taken at heart.

The kid looks down at his bony hands. "Where is that bracelet?" He muttered under his breath. He likes that leather thing with its little dangling lock ornament. He likes shiny pretty little things. And when he likes it... he takes it. His mama told him it is not right. But he doesn't understand that concept. Why is there right and wrong? What's the difference? Who dictates and decides that there is a distinction between the two?

So the kid makes sure his mama wasn't aware when he takes what he wants. He kept it a secret... until now. Because starting last week he was free to take whatever pleased him. No one's gonna told him it is bad anymore.

The door opens and the light from outside came in. A young woman enters and she heads to the window. The woman pushed open the heavy curtains basking the entire room with sunshine. The kid likes dark places. He hates bright areas, but he refuses to speak up. 

The woman then approached him with a smile. She lowered herself on the stool beside the bed and takes out a handkerchief. She gently wipes the beads of sweat off the kid's forehead. "Had a nightmare?" She asked.

The kid refused to answer and just gave her a blank look. The woman pats his head before sighing. "Do you know today is a special day, Shi De?"

Special day? Are there things he could steal? Will it rain heavily while this entire place is covered with melancholy? Will this lady cry instead of smile?

He watched the woman and waited to clarify her words. "You will be adopted, pumpkin. Someone will take care of you from now on." Her enthusiastic voice doesn't affect him. Adopted? New parents?

The kid thinks that he doesn't need that. Parents only mean new rules to abide by and more talk about what's right and what's wrong. He prefers this dark room. He prefers being alone while he looks and counts all the things he took from unsuspecting people.

"Do you want to meet them?" The woman asked even though her tone doesn't necessarily represent a choice from his end. He just looks at the woman but this time he nods his head. There is nothing to take from this place anyway. It is barren and the objects here aren't pretty at all. He has to go to a greener pasture.