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Chapter 5: Sylvia

"Rafael is dead."

As soon as those words left his lips, we all snapped our heads towards him, and he put a hand to his mouth realizing the gravity of his words.

"What??!"

"Rafael's dead?!"

"This can't be true..." I muttered under my breath, mind searching for answers. Rafael, our classmate, and friend, was no more. He was dead. And he wasn't coming back.

"B-but... How?" Al cried out, her voice quivering with grief. Even though I never really got along with Rafael, I couldn't help but feel devastated too. I didn't really like Xander either. Juem was actually funny, but Xander just hated us for no reason at all. It was weird. I always wondered why he was the way he was.

"They died from an experiment," Jonathan told us simply.

"Juem and Xander. What happened to them?!" Clara was furious. "Look, even though I'm not a big fan of them, I can't idly sit here and question if they died!"

"Juem... Juem and Xander, I don't... I don't know... I just blacked out, for some reason..." Jonathan muttered. He started to shake, and he stared at his hands, taking deep breaths.

That's when I started to notice that he was like this from the moment we met. He was worrying, left and right, and seemed to get random anxiety attacks. Or were they panic attacks? I'm not sure.

"Jonathan!?" Al raced to his side. "Are you okay?!"

Jonathan nodded, and looked up. What was going on with him? I guess his past was just THAT bad. But I didn't believe what Jonathan was saying. "I don't believe you. Xander and Juem must've died," I said suspiciously.

Jonathan sighed. "Well, if I must, I will show you," he led us to his bookcase and pushed it out, revealing a secret safe built into the wall. He punched in a code, and it opened, revealing a small chest.

"I always keep some of the ashes of the children I've killed," Jonathan sighed.

"Creepy. Why would you do that?" I asked. "And what happened to the rest of the ashes?"

"The whole body doesn't turn into ash. Only the bones, after the flesh is stripped away. And about your other question, I don't know..." Jonathan muttered. "I just keep them," he said. But I could tell he probably kept them for some other reason. I wasn't sure. "I suppose I keep track of my failures. There are a lot," he laughed softly.

Ah, there it was. His past. It was then I noticed his sadness, like a heavy burden weighing on him. His past was shrouded in shadows and seemed too painful for him to speak about. But I paid it no mind. It wasn't important to me, anyway. "Still creepy, but-"

"That's not healthy!" Al said. "Do you just stare at those and cry!? You should just throw those out-"

"That's not the point," Jonathan interrupted. "Look for Xander and Juem's ashes."

We searched for so long, but they weren't there. I was starting to gain hope. Maybe they were alive. But it seemed almost impossible. I thought Jonathan said that we were the first people to try the experiment and die. Maybe they didn't try the experiment?

"Are you done yet?" Jonathan yawned. "It's been two hours. They're not there."

He frowned. "And I know that. They caused me a lot. I wish I could have killed them."

"What?!" Clara exclaimed. But Jonathan didn't say anything.

"W-well, what's going on?" Jonathan continued. "Are you done yet?"