Luster

Act XI

Sunday - 29th of February

01:23
"It's okay Adrin, we're here for you."

"Yeah, screw Lights! You two are still human like me!"

"He's right, we never changed. These demons aren't stronger than us!"

"Come on, lift your head up now. You don't deserve to be this way..."

"Adrin... I know how selfless you are. Do it for us if you don't think about yourself. Stop burying your head in your arms."

"Remember the constellations? They're shining on us tonight, brighter than usual. Why not look at them together? Your smile would outshine them all..."

"Adrin! I'll seriously be in your nightmares if you don't stop this right now! Come on, don't make us wait any longer!"

"It's okay Liz, he probably just needs some time... Let's wait some more."

"Enough waiting," I felt a grip at my hair, "get up, Vincent."

His harsh fingers tugged at my hair upwards, lifting my head up forcefully. He was unexpectedly close to my face, looking at me soullessly. I slowly undid the hug around my knees and let them fall to the sides.

"I'm sorry guys... I just..."

Dustin grabbed Ragnar's collar and pulled him away from me. "What the hell are you doing?! Get away from him!"

Ragnar's fingers suddenly left me and as though I had no control over my neck, my head fell down again. I felt so sullen, I couldn't even find the energy to lift my head up. How did Adnachiel do this to me? How could someone as angelic as him...

Liz quickly rubbed my shoulder. "It's okay, we understand you. Still, we don't know anything for sure, right? Maybe this is all just a big misunderstanding..."

"Oh, come on," Ragnar still continued, "I was telling you since the beginning. I told you something was up with him."

Dustin yelled at him to shut up, but Ragnar kept rambling. I couldn't even hear them, my mind was clouded with shock. Was I the only one who trusted Ad this much? Is that why I am the only one who is hazy like this...?

"The Light of Time? An Angel trying to stop the devil? Ha... Hahahahah! It could be this ridiculous!"

"I told you to shut up! Can't you see him?! Have some sympathy dammit!" Dustin pushed him when he ran out of patience. Ragnar fell down under the shadow of the trees, still laughing like a psychopath.

Seriously... Maybe we should never have learned this. So what? What if he has horns? Liz is right, it doesn't necessarily mean he is a bad entity. But Ragnar is never wrong, he's so sure Ad isn't virtuous. Then... who should I trust? Should I just listen to Ragnar and break my deal with Ad? Or should I listen to Liz and continue trusting him? Or should I...?

My phone rang. It was in my pocket, Liz took it out. I heard her cuss under her breath. It was enough to make me understand who it was.

"Is it his dad?" Dustin bent down. "What are we gonna say?"

For some reason, I had a flashback. I could see it clearly, the day I showed Dustin the Bastion. It was the first time we talked about his family. After a week or so, we were here again, together with Liz this time. And that's the first time he ever listened to my family. I realized something I didn't back then: Dustin had a face expression of some sort. Something like abashment. I now notice that he felt like a whining kid when he was talking about his own family. Perhaps he found himself to be exaggerating his own situation when he listened to mine. Come to think of it, I notice other things like this. Small things that went unnoticed by me... Why am I seeing them now? Why couldn't I see them before? I heard Ragnar talking in Swedish, he has a soothing accent. It's hard to tell he isn't American unless you hear him speak in his mother language. How annoying, he's even good at hiding that he's foreign. Do I count as foreign? I certainly don't look like most my age in Canstead, especially because of my eyes. My eyes... I always thought myself to be unlucky to have them. It's not that they look bad, different colored eyes just look strange on me. They draw attention, I don't like attention. Which one was the green one again? Was it the right one or the left one...? Both my eyes have bright colors unlike my personality. Do I deserve these eyes? I think the gods made a mistake giving me these colors. Gods... no, it was my mother; she was the one with heterochromia. I wonder what colors hers were... Were they bright like mine? I'm certain these colors would suit her better. How ironic, Ragnar also has different colored eyes. But his are dark green and blue. I always thought they were cool, but I now understand how well they suit his personality. Dark and different, changing, irregular, unusual... Mother... I really believed that I could talk with you tonight. I know that it was stupid for me to even hope, but I really... I just don't know anymore... What's real and what's not, what or who I can trust... Maybe if you were here with me you could've guided me. Why am I even alive without you or dad? Why am I living in a stranger man's house? He's not even a relative. Why did you leave me here with this man... mother...?