Greed Fischer (BXB)

Chapter 17

The boards blocked most of the sun out, but streams of light faded the tapestry as it seeped in through the cracks. The living room led to a kitchen, which had been peeled away by time and vermin. I watched Greed's back and didn't say a word as he walked up the creaky stairs. What was he looking for?

His effort to search made me feel like I should too. I scanned over the bookshelf, but all I could gather were strange classics and gothic literature that made my spine tingle unsurely.

I was stepping past the coffee table when I bumped into a side table and the book resting on it, clattered to the ground in a whirl of dust and old paper. The rats in the ceiling scuttled in surprise.

The book was different to the others, even though there was nothing special about the soft, faded brown cover. Like a notebook, it had a string attached to the spine that curled between the pages. I tentatively opened the book to see scrawled writing endlessly scattered across the pages.

I flickered to the last page and frowned as the last entry caught my attention. My heart lurched in my chest.

24/11/1989

Today is the day that I die.

I no longer fear death as the unknown. Losing Tilly was painful and still so, but you can only run away from pain for so long, until you must embrace it.

I have never feared death, but maybe it's impossible to fear something that can never happen to you. Immortality was a curse, disguised as a blessing.

I don't know much about this curse. Only that I cannot die unless the person I love most kills me. My sweet, gentle Rene.

Although, the little that I know about it, only few will understand its cage. For my predecessor's sake, I hope they never experience the fragility of time on their loved ones. For I know all too well the bitterness of mortality.

Possibly if I had more time to find another way out...things would have been different.

Is it selfish of me to ask her this? To kill me? To bleed me dry by her hands? Isn't this so disgustingly perverse, that the person I love most is destined to kill me?

If Rene does not kill me, then I cannot escape. I will live eternity without my family. I will watch them die. I can't do that.

So, I'm sorry...if it is selfish of me, Rene...but I would rather be selfish now than live an eternity without you.

Goodbye, darling...

I will love you even in death.

Earnest Fischer.

"What are you reading, Iniko?"

On instinct, I snapped the book closed and jolted in surprise. A cloud of dust erupted from the diary and I sneezed.

"Nothing interesting." I coughed out a lie.

Greed stood at the bottom of the stairs with his arms crossed and those violet eyes simmering with darkness. I swallowed nervously as I willed my heart to slow down.

Greed nodded before he gestured to out of the house, "Earnest Fischer is dead, Kaleidoscope."

I know.

"How do you know?" I frowned.

Underneath the Japanese Maple tree were three graves.

Tilly, Earnest and Rene Fischer.

A sliver of guilt dripped into my stomach as I looked over at Greed, who was staring darkly at the three graves. I should've told him.

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