I Wish We Met Sooner (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 6

Daniel

MISSION FAILED. AT LEAST I didn't leave empty-handed.

I stand under the shower with the cold water raining over me, gazing out the bathroom window, watching a ray of sunset disappear before the moon takes over. It is already there, waiting to be the primary light source once the sky is fully dark.

The water may be cold, but it burns the wounds I got earlier today. Though it burns, I felt no pain. I've suffered worse injuries than this and still felt nothing. Sometimes I wonder if I'm considered a human being when I can feel nothing. It's like I have the body of a human, but it functions like a robot. Numb and dead.

That kid, Oliver, is his name. He's a strange one. A bizarre one. I never came across someone like him who was calm at being kidnapped. He cooperated without questions when I commanded and even followed me back just because I told him to. Most people would've attempted to flee, but he didn't.

What's weirder is that he offered to help with my injuries. "Let me help you." Since I locked him in the gym room, his words ran into my thoughts.

It's been a long time since someone ever used that word on me. Since dad left. I remember when he would offer his help when I was completing my homework. He was always good in Maths and Science. I wouldn't have made it out of preschool if it weren't for him. But also, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have turned out like this.

I didn't get any money for the stolen jewelry, nor did I take it back. But I kidnapped a kid without a purpose. I acted under the influence of rage and got myself into potential danger. If I were to let him go, he'd call the cops because he knows where I live.

What was I thinking, bringing him to the only place I live, where no one could find me?

God knows how long I've been standing under the shower, but it's officially nighttime. The crescent moon dominates the sky and billions of stars surrounding it. I turned off the shower and dried myself with a towel before making my way out.

I opened the door to see grandpa by the kitchen, and judging from the mouthwatering scent, he was cooking dinner.

"How's work?" I made conversation while drying my hair with another towel.

"The usual," he scoffs. "I've been tasked with completing an old project with an excellent payment. However, it's not something I'm looking forward to."

"What do they want?"

"Daniel," he turns around with a bowl of soup in his hands. He set it by the counter and started chopping some parsley. "The government paid a visit to our laboratory today and assigned me to invent a device that would instantly annihilate its victim."

"Can't they just use a gun?"

"No," he said. "Because that's not all. This device will kill the person and cease their entire existence. A gun to the head and the person dies. But people will remember them. However, with the use of this device, the person dies, and people will have no memory of them."

"Is that even possible?"

"Apparently, because it's one of my delayed projects. I stopped working on it because, in the wrong hands, there's a high chance the world will fall," he said. "The government wants such a weapon because of you, Daniel."

"Me?"

"Haven't you seen the news channel? The Red Demon slaughtered two people and kidnapped a twenty-year-old kid?" He sounded stern.

So, the kid is three years younger than me.

Probably a piece of information I could use somewhere in the future.

"The government is tired of your shenanigans that he tends to wipe your existence from the people's minds because nobody wants to remember the Red Demon, the person who's killed countless innocents for the last decade," he's angry now, or sad.

"So be it," I shrugged my shoulders. "I've never seen myself dying out of old age. I don't know how I'll die, but so be it if this is the way."

"How could you say that?!" Our eyes met, and his were red and welled up. "You think I'm going to use my own creation against you? My only grandson? You're sadly mistaken."

"Didn't you say they'd pay you handsomely for it?" I reminded. "Look at this house, gramps... you could use that money for retirement someday than living in this ghost town of a neighborhood. You deserve to live someplace where you can stretch your arms under the sun and feel the breeze pass your skin."

"That's thoughtful of you, but I've devoted myself to taking care of you, and that's what I'll do," he said. "No matter what, your life comes first."

It's pointless arguing with grandpa. Living with him for more than a decade, I understand how stubborn he can be, and most of the time, he's doing it for my sake. Before I came along, he had a good life. He lived in a serene neighborhood nearby the city where everyone knew him. He had a few drinking buddies who would constantly accompany him to the bar after work.

In other words, he was happy before.

I should be feeling bad or grateful. But I don't. And it's not because I don't want to. I just can't.

"How about this," I suggested. "You create this device, get the money, and we'll start over from then on."

"You mean..."

"Yes," I finished his sentence. "I'll learn to stop killing so the people in power will never use it on me—the Red Demon. Because he no longer exists."

Gramps stares at me with those navy-blue eyes. The wrinkles at the corner of his eyes are more noticeable every day. He scratched his entirely gray mustache now and pans his vision down to his feet. Soon, he began nodding before meeting my eyes again.

"Alright," he mumbled. "I would like that. Very much, actually."

"Good," I slung the towel onto my shoulders and headed to my room.

"Just a moment," he said. I stopped and turned around. "What are you going to do with the kid?"

My eyes peer to the shut door in front of me where the boy is.

"I don't know," I said. "Rest assured, I will not kill him. Not yet."

"Not yet?!" He gasped. "The boy's only twenty—"

"I've killed a toddler just a few days back," my voice raised. "And I sure as hell didn't give a shit about it."

Silence filled the atmosphere before I could speak up again.

"Besides, I said I will leave the Red Demon behind only after you get the money," I reminded him. "Until then, he stays."

"Alright," he sniffs and looks away. "Will you at least give the boy something to eat? I've made an extra serving of chicken noodles, so there's plenty to go around."

"I'll think about it," I entered my room and slammed the door behind me.

Rather than walking toward my wardrobe, I leaned against the door with endless thoughts circling my mind.

Oliver. I have no reason to kill him. Not yet, at least. But I have to get rid of him.

How do I do that without having him call the authorities on me?

"FUCK!" I screamed, unaware that I kicked a stool in front of me. It crashed against the wall, having two legs detached and a small crack on the wall.