Maple's vision turned blurry and she stopped thinking when she heard Jason confirming his identity. She knew it, deep down, she knew that he was that same monster with large glowing blue eyes and even larger teeth, but hearing him admit it frightened her to no ends.
"Does that frighten you? Me being the big bad wolf?" Jason asked and Maple reluctantly nodded. Jason kneeled down until he was directly facing Maple and asked her in a quiet voice, "And what will you do?"
Maple gazed straight into his calm eyes before whispering, "I don't know." She could barely shake her head as she murmured her answer truthfully.
After some hesitation, Maple slowly raised her hand and reached out to touch Jason's face. She felt his soft but sculpted hollow cheeks, and his bristling beard that pricked her hands like needles.
"Why pretend to be a monster?" Maple asked with confusion. "Why wear a scary mask? Is it to scare the bad guys?"
Jason gently pulled her hands away from his face as he chortled. His coarse laughter was full of mirth and helplessness and he wiped the tears from his eyes as he answered her, "Kid, this is my mask."
"I don't get it," Maple frowned, not understanding why Jason was currently gesturing at his empty face.
"It's better if you don't," Jason shrugged and answered her gently before holding his pinky out. "Let's keep my secret a secret just between the two of us, hm? Pinky swear?"
"Ok!"
The two crossed their pinky fingers before and then Maple's head twitched when she heard Melanie calling out for her.
"Go to her," Jason said and Maple nodded before leaving.
He stood silently after Maple trotted away, his mind thinking about the events that occurred here. He knew his actions with Emily and Maple would have consequences, but he wasn't sure how it would affect him and those around him. All he could do was sigh once more before picking up the bag of flour and exiting the storehouse.
On his way to the kitchen, Jason heard the ghostly giggle once again. Turning his head, he caught sight of the shape of a girl, dressed in white running past a door. Her curly black hair was tied into a ponytail, and her white dress reached her shins, but Jason wasn't able to catch a glimpse of her face as she frolicked away. Placing the flour bag down, Jason followed the direction the little girl ran too, his steps slow and steady as his heart pounded in his throat.
"Allie . . . I'm coming to get you!"
A voice Jason heard only a few weeks ago echoed through the room, full of joviality, and he stopped moving; his breathing stilled and he closed his eyes to force the tears that were threatening to leak out back into his eyelids.
"You can't find me, you can't find me!"
The little girl's voice echoed as he walked to the orphanage's reception. As he entered the reception, the little girl in white raced by him and scuttled to the table. She pulled the white cover and hid beneath the table while covering her mouth, trying her hardest to contain her infectious laughter.
"Hmm . . . now, where could she be?"
A second voice came from behind Jason and before he turned to see the newcomer, she walked past him. Her dirty blonde hair was draped with a white lace headband and her black and white maid outfit couldn't hide her youthfully budding body that was lithe and supple.
Katie . . . Jason thought as his chest ached with pain. He closed his eyes as he heard Katelyn play hide and seek with Alina.
'You're seeing your inner demon,' a wise but wizened voice said from beside Jason and the latter sneered with gritted teeth.
"I thought I shut you up," Jason said out loud. "All of you."
'We can't be silenced, child,' the voice replied. 'You may have weakened the connection, but it is impossible to completely erase us. We are a part of you, there is no separating from yourself. Especially now that you have unsealed your powers after reaching this world's limit.'
"W-what do you want from me?" Jason asked impatiently.
'Nothing. It is why I have not spoken since you blocked the others,' the sage answered. 'I only wish to guide you on your path, child. Nothing more, nothing less.'
Despite being defiant, Jason understood what the sage was saying. Unlike the other personalities, he never manipulated him. He would instead ask if Jason was certain over the choices he was making only to be drowned by the voices and emotions the others had.
"To be honest, I'm glad it's you who's in the backseat," Jason said as he watched Katelyn catch Alina who tried running away. "I still owe you for teaching me the poultice's recipe."
'We all have something we wish to impart to you,' the sage answered. 'The others are more . . . enthusiastic about it. But enough about the dead. Tell me, what do you see?'
"I see Alle . . . and Katelyn," Jason replied tearfully, his voice breaking multiple times. "Playing hide and seek, during a time when life was simpler."
'You regret your decision?'
"I do," Jason wiped the wet corner of his eyes with his fingers before massaging them as he answered. "I regretted it for years, maybe as soon as I did it. But I was too proud, too arrogant, to change my mind."
'But that is not the guilt that is consuming you, is it?' the wise voice asked. 'It is the fact that you will have to reveal the truth to her.'
Jason's eyes went to the hallucination of Alina who was laughing joyfully as Katelyn swung her around.
"It is," he whispered hoarsely as he closed his eyes in an effort to ignore the visions, but the ghostly laughter reverberated in his ears continuously. "More than anything, it is. I have to tell her that I abandoned Katelyn . . . that I kill - that I tried to have her killed."
The voice sighed, the sound cracked with age. 'The longer you take to admit it, the worse the outcome will become.'
"I know."
'Then you know what must be done.'
"I know."
"Jason?"
Jason shook his head and turned around to face Melanie who called him out with concern.
"You okay? We've been calling out for you for some time," Melanie asked as she checked his clammy forehead for a fever.
"I - I'm fine," Jason answered throatily. "Was - ahem - was there something you needed?"
"Yes. Some of the kids want to help you make the bread. Are you . . .?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'll do it, sure," Jason nodded before plucking the flour bag from the floor.
'One last piece of advice?' the voice of the sage rang out as Jason left Melanie for the kitchen. 'Be wary of that . . . girl. She is not only conniving but venomous. And as attractive as her kind may be, she is too dangerous.'
"Melanie? She may be unstable, but I can handle her," Jason muttered to the voice who sighed inwardly at the former's confidence.
That is what he thought as well, the sage thought morosely but didn't voice out loud. To think that you would meet her again after all this time . . . Fate is truly fickle.