The Villainous Children Retire

Chapter 14

"Today, we're going to catch a frog."

Cheryl and Esther's noses wrinkled in disgust at Eli's words.

"Ew!" groaned Cheryl.

"Gross Eli!" whined Esther.

"Don't blame me," he said crossed. "Blame Ms. Dunley; she's the one who's making us do this for an assignment." He turned to Bryce and asked, "Do you have the bucket?"

Bryce lifted the little blue bucket and swung it back and forth. "Yep, it's right here!"

Cheryl and Esther walked closer to the boys.
"Why do we have to catch frogs anyway?" Esther's question was directed to anyone who knew the answer.

"Don't know," Eli answered. "I just do as I'm told."

Esther glared at her unhelpful brother.

"I don't know either," Cheryl answered. "I thinked she told us, though."

"Think," the twins automatically corrected her. "Thinked is not a word."

"Ah!"

Bryce's loud voice made everyone turn to him, startled.

"I remember! She told us we have to study amphibians!"

The twins were immediately proud of Bryce for remembering such a big word. Their inner selves wanted to congratulate him for it.

"Amphibi what?" asked Cheryl loudly. "What's that?"

At the same time, they wanted to scold Cheryl and express their disappointment in her memory skills.

"Amphibians are animals that can survive in water and on land," explained Bryce.

Indeed, Bryce was the best. The twins had both thought that simultaneously.

"Let's get going then!" cheered Cheryl.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

They decided it was best to stay together in case catching the frog proved to be more difficult than they thought.

They searched behind trees, in bushes, in little and dark crevices, before finally finding one in a small creek.

After a troublesome time trying to catch it, ending up all dirty and wet, they were able to present the frog to their teacher and were one of the few groups to get an A.

That was only the beginning of their adventures.

From then on, they played and went out exploring almost every day, and without even being aware of it, the twins had grown fond of their little games.

As they got dressed in their pajamas and began fixing their beds for the night, the twins could only imagine what fun activity they would do next. Without meaning to, they both suddenly blurted out, "I wonder what we're going to play tomorrow."

Their eyes widened, and they both turned to the other in shock.

"What did you say?" asked Esther quickly.

"What did you say?" asked Eli bewilderedly.

"I asked you first."

"Well, I asked you second."

They sighed and slowly sat on the edge of their beds.

The dim light of their lamp barely illuminated her golden brown eyes as Esther studied her folded hands closely. Eli simply stared tensely at the floor.

"Since when did we begin to like the childish games?" Esther asked with a heavy heart.

Eli, who couldn't offer her any answer, just sat silently with a hardened expression.

"We shouldn't like hanging out with those children so much. It isn't right. I mean we're adults, after all."

"Yeah," Eli answered; his voice sounded strained with strife. "But our minds regressed, so aren't we technically children now? Just with more life experience?"

"Is it okay to think like that? After everything that's happened, after everything we've done? Is it okay to just write off our past like that?"

Esther thought Eli had a clear answer for it, but when she finally found the courage to look up at him, she realized he was just as lost as she was.

"I don't know," he answered. He looked filled with anguish. "I don't know what the right answer is anymore."

Esther opened her mouth to say something, but Eli continued. He was in deep thought about the subject.

"But I don't think we should simply write it off. I mean, the people from our past would never forget the things we did. He especially would never forget and forgive us."

Esther could feel her hands unconsciously grab onto the bed sheets tightly.

"It doesn't matter what he would think," she replied with a hint of anger in her voice. "He's not here anymore, and neither are they. We'll never have to see them ever again, so why shouldn't we be able to write off the past and move on from it?"

"You know why."

They already knew the answer; they had a vague sense of it since the start of their conversation.

They can never move on from the past, no matter how much they want to.

No matter how often it kept them up at night, haunted their dreams, no matter how badly they wanted to forget about their powers, the demons, the fights, and their deaths, they just couldn't.

The main thing they couldn't understand that bothered them just a little bit more than their past was their reincarnation. Why had they been reborn? They certainly hadn't done anything to deserve it.

Esther broke their thickening silence. "So, what is our answer? What should we do?"

She wanted her brother to answer her, but no answer ever came. They knew neither one of them could answer the question. It didn't matter what they would come up with that night, it would only make them feel like it was an excuse.