The Plague Doctor [RATED R] ✓

THE COOK

3RD HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE: FAMINE

LAURENCE ACCIDENTALLY CUTS HIS finger while chopping some onions, instantly making him curse. He rushes to the sink to wash the blood off. When the bleeding stopped, he opened a drawer and pulled out a band-aid.

     "Did you cut yourself again?" An old nun suddenly asks as she enters the kitchen.

     Laurence turns to her, making the nun spot the bandaid he's holding. She shakes her head and sighs, but she approaches him and takes the bandaid from his hand so she can put it for him. "You know, you have to stay focused whenever you're in the kitchen. Food is sacred, so preparing them takes extra time and care."

     "I know. You've mentioned that about a hundred times now," Laurence sarcastically says as soon as the nun finishes putting the bandaid on him. After that, he walks back to the counter and continues cutting the onions in silence. The nun stares at him for a while, but then she sighs again and joins him, grabbing the rest of the onions so she can help him with them.

     "Sister Catherine, you don't have to help. I can do this on my own," Laurence insists, but the nun, who Laurence referred to as sister Catherine, chuckles and continues to chop the remaining ingredients on the counter.

     "You always want to be alone in the kitchen, Laurence, and you always eat alone even though we keep on asking you to join us. It seems as though there is a piece of you that you left behind that simply wouldn't let you move on," sister Catherine says, making Laurence sigh.

     "I just prefer to be alone."

     "But people aren't meant to be alone," sister Catherine quickly fires back, making Laurence stop chopping. He lifts his head up and looks out of the window in front of him, and outside, Laurence sees children running around the courtyard, laughing and playing without any care in the world. Just merely looking at them made him remember his past.

     Despite the way he speaks or expresses himself, Laurence enjoyed his time at the manor with Marcelino and the others. He wasn't entirely happy, but he felt something more than sadness when he was with them.

     After the plague, the four of them decided to stay together like wanted criminals even though none of them were mentioned or named. If you thought about it, you'd think that the four of them just wanted to be extra cautious in case something were to happen. But the truth is...they just didn't want to get separated from each other. They were all just too scared to say it out loud.

     For a short while, they acted like they were a family, and that included Krimson. Even though he was still very much hard to control at times, everyone saw that he was trying. One time, when they were having a meal together, Alice suddenly came out, and then Autumn, and even Winter.  But during their short time together, Tomorrow and Bishop never came out. Alice and the others never talked about him either, so Laurence never asked. But even if he tries to deny it, he still does miss him.

    When the time for them to separate finally came, Krimson didn't say anything to them and just left without a trace. He didn't say goodbye, he didn't tell them his plans or where he was going, and he didn't even leave a note. Maybe it's because he didn't have any sort of attachment to them as Bishop did, or maybe he just didn't want to show what he really felt.

     Laurence left right after him. He didn't tell Marcelino and Adeline about his plans either, but he kept them updated. Deep down, Laurence knew that they were going to get separated either way, so to lessen the burden, he went out alone, knowing full well that Lino would be there to take care of Adeline.