Heartless

Chapter 1: The Past Remains Relavant

I have a story I'd like to tell you.

In a secluded old New England home lives a family - The Nesi Family. They are all normal. All joyful in each other's company, with no issues between them. Taking a look at them, you'd see bright, genuine smiles spread across all of their faces. They're busy and energetic and stable. And everything is perfect.

...

But.

Nothing can ever stay perfect; In fact, nothing ever was.

See, in every generation, one member of the Nesi family is born with a special condition that has never been recorded anywhere that they could find. When the first child of that generation is born, they have it. Within their journals that I've researched, they call the condition "Menotine".

The member born with Menotine isn't sick or constantly in pain; It takes away your ability to feel emotions. You, as someone without the condition, may find that nice because nobody would be able to hurt your feelings - but you wouldn't be able feel any positive emotions either. You'd almost feel hollow - as if there was something and yet nothing missing simultaneously.

Based on my studies of the Nesi family's history, though, one of the worst parts of Menotine was the disappointment others had when they learned that someone had the condition. At an early stage in the kid's life, the parents would soon realize that their child wouldn't be normal. They may be disappointed that their kid won't have a regular childhood, or maybe that they won't really get to have any happy memories with them.

But it seems as if the children with Menotine realized what their parents thought of the condition. They watched the adults in their life become sad, hopeless, and desperate. All they wanted was for their kid to live a typical, happy, healthy life. And this unavoidable condition took that away from all of them. So, in every journal I have read thus far, the family member with Menotine simply pretended to have emotions.

Many of them had written down different emotions to memorize when and in what situations to use them in their journals, as if they were studying for a test. Most had constantly spied on their peers' conversations to take note of their tone of voice and expression until they were able to talk well-enough with others, furthering their studies. Personally, I failed to do this at first, but after a few more attempts I learned how people express themselves in unique ways.

Upon realizing the change, parents of the child would become overwhelmed with joy; The act was to make them happy, after all. The children would try to keep the charade up at school as well, occasionally earning the friendship of other kids. It was as if their friends were caring about an actor's role, not knowing there was someone else in there. Not that the child with Menotine would care - it wasn't their friend's fault they weren't aware of the truth. Really, nobody other than the child with Menotine knew that they hadn't changed; But eventually, someone would find their journal and realize it was just a fantasy.

Even after everything that happened to the children, they always remembered one thing - the myth of the Amerta Crystal. The Amerta Crystal, or simply Amerta, was a glowing bright blue crystal, giving power to those who wield it. This power gives you whatever the crystal feels isn't present. It strengthens what you're weak at, and provides what your person needs; And for those with Menotine, they knew exactly why they needed that crystal.

Like the condition, there were no public recordings of the crystal, so they have only what their ancestors left them to go off of. I found another journal with "Amerta" written in cursive on the cover, with two names underneath. The top name was "Rebecca Nesi", and the second "Mason Nesi". Mason's name was the least faded of the three marks, so Rebecca was most likely from an earlier generation.