Madman [discontinued]

Chapter Four: Heart on the Window

"Are you two okay?!" Rose, Virgio's Mother Number One, asked as Feferi and I entered the hive and shut the door behind us.

"I think we saw Makara." Feferi panted, bending over with her hands on her knees.

"Oh Gog," Kanaya muttered, carrying an empty plate to the sink.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't get hurt," Rose said. "Or worse," she let out a breath. "Killed."

Gamzee Makara's horns were curvy, like Troll Oprah. The blood of my mother had been stained on his clothes; I shivered, my eyes welling up with tears as I thought about the horrible sight.

"It's okay," Feferi reassured. "I'll alert Sollux right away; I just hope he and Terezi will be able to catch him this time..."

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders, rubbing my arm for my own comfort.

I wiped away the violet tears that threatened to spill. I am NOT going to cry in front of everybody.

"Well, you best get to bed, both of you," Kanaya said. "We have a big day tomorrow."

"What're we doing?" Virgio asked, wiping jelly off of her lips.

"It's Taurittus's wriggling day." Kanaya replied, not looking up from the plate she was currently scrubbing.

"Why're we going to be celebrating a troll's wriggling day when there's clearly a killer on the loose?!" Feferi said, her voice rising in anger.

Kanaya looked up from what she was doing and squinted her eyes, which were bright yellow with jade-green irises, at Feferi.

"He could die at any moment; we all could! We should at least throw him one last party before he gets offed." Kanaya said curtly.

Feferi wrinkled her nose at her, obviously disagreeing with her choices.

There was a time that Feferi wasn't so... argumentative. She was full of joy and life. I was, too...

Makara's actions ruined everyone's lives, and turned my dancestor into something she's not.

I faked a yawn. "Well, I'm going up to bed. See you in the morning."

"Hmph." Feferi muttered, her fuchsia gaze not leaving Kanaya's.

I ascended the stairs and turned to the left, coming to the door of my respiteblock. Actually, correction: Virgio and I's respiteblock.

It looked better on the outside than it did on the inside; a bed was on either side of the room, one half of the room painted dark purple, the other a lighter shade, violet.

Everyone in the hive had switched to beds from the usual caves of sopor slime we were used to, since the slime was so rare these days that only the royal trolls had it.

I climbed into bed, and closed my eyes. It took me a long time to fall asleep, but, eventually, the soft arms of slumber engulfed me.

----

I was awoken by a gentle tap on the window. I sat up from where I lay and let my eyes adjust to the darkness before looking to see what had woken me up.

My eyes widened in horror at what I saw.

I suppressed my gasp since Virgio was fast asleep on the other side of the room.

Gamzee Makara was standing right outside my window, his clothes caked in a fresh layer of blood; it was all red. I hoped it was just beast blood, and not the blood of mutants.

He dabbed his finger on his chest, where the blood was coated most, then drew a heart on the window.

Oh Gog. Oh Gog oh Gog oh Gog!

Makara gave me a smirk, then scampered off into the trees.