Opposing Sides

Chapter 14: Family Communication

  Eighteen Years Later

A girl with white hair stands by a tombstone next to her father. She tugs the left leg of his navy blue pants. “What is this?” She asks as she points at the tombstone. “It is your mother’s gravestone,” her father says. He places a dandelion on the gravestone.

“My mother is in there?” She asks her father. “She is underneath it. Do you have anything to tell your mother before we leave?” Her father says as the wind pushes his white hair out of his face to uncover bright silver eyes. “Today is my birthday,” she says looking at the grave.

“Tell her that you love her,” he says. “I love you, mother.” The girl says and runs towards the three little boys standing behind them. The oldest boy walks to a black van and a royal guard opens the door. He looks at the guard.

“Is this the last time we will be coming here?” He asks. The guard does not answer him. The scene blurs into a solid black color. Vlam wakes up on the floor of an abandoned home. He walks past a guy with waist length white hair leaning on a wall.

He walks into the bathroom and looks in the cracked mirror. He glimpses at the being squatting on the closed toilet seat. Silver hair covers their face and knees. Vlam opens the sink’s cabinet and grabs a soft brown towel. He wipes his face and the guy with white hair stands in the doorway. “Father wants you to come back home,” the being sitting on the toilet whispers.

“We do not have a home,” Vlam says as the being sitting on the toilet stands up. “You should not be alone and away from the rest of the family. We do not hate you.” The guy standing in the doorway says as he pushes the loose strands behind his ears to reveal a pallid face with no eyes. His lips are absent and the only thing in their place is an uneven slit that looks like a tear that a surgeon with a shaky hand created.

The boy with the silver hair opened his eyes and blood began to leak from the red irises. Vlam turned around. “Close your eyes,” Vlam says to his youngest brother. The boy shakes his head. “Come back to us, Vlam.” His other brother says.

“Close your eyes, right now!”

“If you want him to close his eyes, you must come back to us.”

“You do not need me. None of you need me.”

“We do need you.”

“Cole, close your eyes! Night, leave me alone.”

“We will be waiting for you.”

Cole closes his eyes and restrains Vlam by putting him in a chokehold. “You are coming with us no matter what. Did you know that Cine’s birthday is today?” Night asks. Vlam’s jaw muscle tightens as he releases a low hum from his throat and made them fall to the floor. “I will go when I want to,” Vlam says. Cole opens his mouth and a shriek escaped. Vlam jumped over Night, who is still kneeling, and he runs towards the front door. He sees a girl with white hair leaning on the door. “What are you doing here, Cine?” Vlam asks. “You are not supposed to say that when you see me, especially today.” Cine says.

“Happy birthday, I have to go somewhere so I will see you tomorrow.”

“You always say that but you do not ever come back. Why do we have to chase you all the time?”

“I do not ask or want you to chase me, Cine. You do not have to be here.”

“Daddy wants you to come home. We live in the apartment building four blocks away from here.”

“Is it abandoned?”

“A lot of the buildings on this side of town are abandoned. It is probably because of the big wolves.”