(Lilith's POV):
Twelve years ago...
An incident occurred on my neighbor's house that involved the death of parents... The person who was involved was my childhood friend Denzel...
My name is Lilith, Denzel's neighbor. We used to be great playmates and hung around each other's houses from time to time. We went to the same school and kept each other company for most of the time. At first we were just having never-ending chat and playing around in our houses, until an incident occurred on Denzel's family.
Denzel's parents died...
It was said that their death was because of something bad but it was also when my parents began to strictly monitor me for some reason. I couldn't stand the thoughts of leaving him alone in there, specially when his parents died just like that.
"Why can't I meet him!? He's not okay!"
"Just shut up and listen Lilith! We're trying to protect you from any harm whatsoever!" - Mother
"Then why aren't you letting me see him!?"
"Because he's..." - Mother
She's hiding something from me...
"I don't care! Just don't meet him again!" - Mother
Those were the last words I heard before I got locked into my room...
"Denzel... I hope you're okay..."
Every night, I try to sleep early but I always get interrupted when Denzel starts crying badly in his room. When looking through the window, I always see the curtains to his room being closed so I couldn't try to interact with him.
And again, I started to hear painful crying...
I covered my ears and pretended that everything will be fine. However, the noise was too loud that it still resonated within my ears...
"He's... Not okay..."
I was eventually affected by Denzel's constant pain and despair and cried for him. He's such a nice person... Why mom... Why...
I simply stayed up the entire night continuously crying and sobbing nonstop. Denzel eventually stopped crying after some time and went to sleep, but I still couldn't... I was wondering on how he's feeling, what he's doing, and why he turned that way. The sun rose up and I wasn't able to catch enough sleep... I prepared for school as my parents want me to push through. When they saw me not being able to catch some sleep, they started being furious because I was staying up instead of preparing... I can't help it! Denzel is in pain! I can't sleep if the best friend you guys introduced to me is not okay! I want to help him...
I looked at Denzel's house as I left this place for school... The lights are off but I could see Denzel faintly as he's watching from the window. He looked very sad so I tried to get out to visit him but, I was stopped by my Mother...
"Lilith, don't." - Mother
"But!"
"No buts! We have to go to school now!" - Mother
Right... I could meet him in school right? I hope I can...
That hope was easily betrayed when I never heard his name on the rollcall...
"Denzel... Denzel? Is Denzel around?" - Teacher
"Huh? Ah! He's not around!"
"Ah... As expected, his family is gone now after all... Did his relatives take him Lilith?" - Teacher
"No miss..."
"Did you visit him at least? Can you check on him later?" - Teacher
Ah... At least my teacher is so kind...
"But... My parents don't allow me... I don't know why..."
"I see... I'll try talking to them later... You and Denzel are very close right? I'll try to convince them." - Teacher
"Thank you... So much..."
All of a sudden I started tearing up again...
"Ah! Lilith? What's wrong?!" - Teacher
"Ah, it's nothing! I just feel, happy..."
"I see... Alright then, let's begin the classes!" - Teacher
The classes went on normally without much trouble, my life somewhat returns to normal when in school except that... Denzel isn't around. I was talking to some other female friends that were also worried about Denzel.
"Lilith, how's Denzel right now?" - Bella
The two of us are in the canteen just simply talking about how Denzel is right now. There are two more friends that are also worried but they decided to stay in the classroom for now.
"Honestly, I don't know... His parents are now gone, his aunties and uncles... Didn't take him under their wing... Now, he's just alone in his house without company..."
"I see... We can visit him soon enough altogether, is it fine? - Bella
"Yeah, I hope so..."
Upon returning to the room, we can hear the male camp celebrating for some reason. They were shouting and being loud saying something like: "The chick magnet is out! Let's make our moves!" Ugh... They don't even care about him, he's completely alone now...
We saw May and Ashley, the other two friends who I also introduced to Denzel looking very annoyed to what they're saying...
We're just girls trying to study here and have fun but it seems like we're the popular group of girls due to how attractive we are... Students all over the school try to get our attention but we're just trying to learn some things... Denzel was also somewhat popular but there's more people that are jealous because he's close to us. He was formerly bullied for it but he somewhat got over when he shut them down completely...
Some other classmates try to ask me about Denzel's current state as they are also worried about him. I just gave them the gist so that they won't really feel bad. We try to donate some money to his cause so that he could try to be up but I don't think that money alone will help him...
After classes, my parents came to pick me up but it was stalled as my teacher went to discuss with them for a while. Bella and May had already been picked up by their parents so I'm currently with Ashley.
"Ashley, do you think Denzel will be alright all alone there?"
"Yeah... I hope so... It's quite bad in his case right now, I want to visit him soon enough." - Ashley
"Yeah... I'm gonna check on him a lot but we should visit him as a group. He'll be happy to have us with him still."
"Right, we have to make sure he won't be sad..." - Ashley
"Ah... Speaking of being sad, I saw him on the window earlier... He really looked sad, I have to visit him as soon as I can but, I somehow feel scared for some reason..."
"Why is it?" - Ashley
"Well, I somehow see something red on the window... I don't know what it is..."
When I said about something red, Ashley immediately covered her mouth and showed a very scary face.
"What is it Ashley? What's wrong?"
"Ah, I'm sorry... I just thought of something real bad that I don't want to see." - Ashley
"W-what do you mean? Ashley?"
"Oh no, my parents have arrived... Lilith, please take care of Denzel when you visit him." - Ashley
"Ah, oh... Alright..."
Ashley moved to her parents and went home. I was left alone with thoughts that could be scary when it comes to a person's life or so...
When my parents finished their discussion with my teacher. They got out with somewhat dissatisfied faces. My teacher was smiling happily when it seems like she has managed to convince them to allow me. Thank you so much teacher...
When I returned home with my parents, they were in a phone call so I wasn't really interested. My mother allowed me to visit Denzel by handing down the missed lessons he had along with some money the class gathered up...
I rung Denzel's front door and tried to call out for him.
"Denzel? It's me, Lilith... Are you in there?"
There was no response... I stood there waiting for him to respond. I waited for a few minutes when he finally opened the front door.
"Ah... Oh... It's just you Lilith..." - Denzel
He looks... Horrible...
Denzel finally showed himself where he has various bruises, cuts, and red stains in his body. When I saw such a sight of Denzel being hurt, I lost my grip over the printouts that were given to me and I ended up giving him a hug.
"What happened to you!?"
I wasn't able to hold back from seeing him in a terrible state. I gave him comfort which was already late but somehow, he looks like he's smiling and relieved.
"Thanks... Lilith..." - Denzel
"Ah, I'll prepare some food for you later!"
"Thanks..." - Denzel
Denzel sounded dull but thankful to me...
"C-can I c-come in?"
"Huh? Ah, sure..." - Denzel
I entered Denzel's house and had a short talk with him about how he feels right now. He was clearly sad but he managed to use very hard to understand words but I understood him. He was trying to live alone despite everything that happened to him...
"Ah, I'll go shower a bit... You should return home and come back here at a later time alright?" - Denzel
"Uh... Sure..."
Denzel went to the shower and urged me to leave for the time being. There was something that I'm curious about on his place... I went around and checked on various rooms that could know what happened in this place... Cameras have been placed in various rooms and I found the computer active. I used the computer to see about what happened here last night. The first thing I saw was Denzel holding a knife, doing the unthinkable.
I covered my mouth out of terror and turned away because of something that scares me. I immediately cut the recording and looked for the other ones.
"Ah, it's Denzel's parents. W-wait, what in the world..."
The recording that was played, was the bodies of Denzel's parents bleeding down and someone leaving the room while carrying a briefcase...
"He's... Not okay..."
I ran off from Denzel's house and returned home.