"No! Stop it!!!!"
"Why?!!!!"
"Why did you do it?!!"
"They're our parents!! They're mom and dad!!"
His desperate questions were never answered. Not even once. He tried to ask for the reason, but he gained nothing. He tried to run away, but he got a confinement. He had chosen to end his life, but he received wounds and threats. He once tried to kill, but his soul got killed instead. He lost everything in a blink of an eye.
Aubrey got to know the news of his parents' death a month after he was locked up in the basement. He almost lost his voice when he screamed for so long in the cell. The news said that his parents died because of the fire.
That night, Adamson went to see him in the basement. His movement was restrained with chains around his ankle and his wrist. Aubrey didn't have any energy to even lift up his head. They were six feet apart, Adamson outside, while Aubrey behind the bars. The basement was clean and somehow extravagant than it was supposed to be. But Aubrey didn't give a damn about it. He was terrified.
"So you've seen the news.", Adamson said. He saw the newspaper on the floor. Who gave it to Aubrey?
Aubrey didn't answer. His head hung low.
Adamson sneered when his younger brother didn't say a word. Just a while ago he was screaming to be let out. The first day of his stay in the basement was even worse, Aubrey kept demanding an answer as to why he killed their parents. Now he didn't have anything to say? Had he had enough?
"I have to kill whoever dares to disobey me.. for example.. the person who gave you the newspaper.", his voice icy. Full of malice.
Aubrey's head shot up in desperation, his violet eyes that were once bright now was dim. He could hear his brother's sinister voice, dancing in his head for so long that he felt like throwing up. Adamson talked about death so easily..
Aubrey's eyes started to water again. He didn't know how many times had he cried for this one month of torture. His brother was not the same anymore.. he was someone else entirely. Aubrey felt like a stupid clown when he realized how naive he was to still have faith in his brother.
"Please.. stop this. Why are you doing this.. let me out.", the eight years old boy pleaded again. He was afraid to call him brother.
"If I let you out, will you be obedient and listen to me?", Adamson spoke coldly.
There was no trace of his loving tone anymore. It felt unreal. How he changed so fast. Perhaps he had always been this way, and Aubrey was too blind to see past his facade. But who could blame him? Adamson was his sibling, his real brother. There was nothing to doubt between their bonds. Supposedly.
•••
Back to present.
Aubrey began to get restless in his sleep. He was forced to remember many of his tainted memories. His brows knitted together forming a frown upon his face.
He started to sweat and was about to be consumed by anxiety when a delicate hand touched his forehead to calm him down. Another hand went past his waist and gone up to his back, patting him slowly as if comforting a child to sleep.
Aubrey's tense body began to feel lighter by each touch. The soft hand continued to soothe him back to his sleep. He felt safe. For the first time ever, he was able to sleep without waking up to a nightmare.
Aubrey snuggled his body closer to the side, he was now facing the half asleep Lucy. His head unconsciously went down to her chest, claiming the spot there.
Lucy was half asleep when she noticed that Aubrey was having trouble in his sleep, without opening her eyes, she squirmed closer to him and comforted him back to sleep. Aubrey's movement to her side made her feel strangely comfortable.
When he moved his head to her chest, she cupped him in her arms as if not letting him go. Her chin was rested on his head, she smelled her shampoo on his hair.
"Mmh...", she went back to full sleep mode.
Both of them continued drifting further and further asleep. As if the world only revolved around them. They didn't wake up until late afternoon. The first to wake was Aubrey.
He opened his eyes slowly, he was still groggy from the sleep. As soon as his eyes were full open, he scanned his surrounding. Hm?
The bouncy.. soft.. surface?
He became speechless. He was resting too well and fit in Lucy's chest! Upon realizing their outrageous position, his face started to blush profusely. He was so embarrassed he wanted to hide in a hole. He had never been in close contact with a woman before. Not like this! He was a caged man not too long ago!
He tried to move by inching away from Lucy, but she instead tighten her grip around his body. She was pulling him in like he was a pillow! Aubrey didn't know what to do, his face was crashed onto her body, he got to smell her closely. A very soothing smell of strawberry.. he liked it. It felt like home.
Huh?
He liked it? Home? Aubrey was frozen the moment he realized he was referring Lucy as his haven. The most shocking was that he did it without thinking twice. Aubrey forced his head to look up, he saw Lucy's sleeping face above his.
It was the first time he saw Lucy's sleeping face like this.. she looked so unguarded and peaceful. He found himself drowning in her arms. Ah.. so that was it.. he hadn't had any nightmare because she was here..
"...thank you.", he whispered softly to himself. Barely noticeable by others. Lucy also didn't hear it.
He was amazed to know that he could talk normally to Lucy. They didn't know each other for long, it was in fact, less than a week. But somehow something was pacing up very quickly between them. As if there was a force that pulled them together. He didn't know what it was.
Lucy stirred up when she saw she was holding onto something very tightly. And that it was not her usual bolster. What was she holding then? She blinked her eyes to see clearly. It was a man.
Her eyes went outside of her head when she saw the close distance between her and Aubrey. There was nothing that could go in between their body. They were too close! Her face became red. Now the tomato was ripe.
"Uh.. I..", she realized that Aubrey was awake and that he was trying to pull away. She was dead embarrassed.
'I locked him in my arms??', she wanted to cry when she saw how bold she was behaving.
Was she always like this before? She would nag at Mia for sleeping so closely to her whenever she crashes in her house. But seeing how she didn't dislike sleeping closely to Aubrey, she doubted herself..
'Am I that desperate to have a boyfriend now?!', she shouted in her heart. Lucy began to shot her body up immediately. The sudden movement made her sway indirectly.
Just before she was about to crash onto Aubrey, he held her in his arm. His grip was strong and neat, she came to realize that he was a man after all! Her body grew hot. Her face was red. She could feel the temperature rising inside her.