One day as the three were taking a stroll down the same ravine they had been in, two weeks ago, they came across a familiar face. Standing on the other side of the river, now a little deeper, was Zayn Somerhalder. His face was different than the way it had been a fortnight ago. There was a scar, so deep that you could see some flesh. And it raced from his left eye to the corner of the lips and it looked fresh and dead as death itself at the same time. He had on a cap, with some nicer clothes on, with no tears or food or dirt smears on them. It seemed he had gone through a transformation of his own. He looked neat, like a normal average fifteen-year-old teenager. The three stared at him longingly before Dylan and Ethan turned to head back in the direction they had come from, Karl waiting for some signal or something in order to do the same.
"Wait! Don't go!" Zayn Somerhalder called out to the three. They stopped, turned, and looked at him wondering what he wanted from them now. He walked on the stone bridge on the water and headed towards them skipping up whenever he took a step. The twins took a step back, and one more and another as he approached. He waited till he was firmly on the other side before he spoke up. "Please, I want to talk."
"Okay, talk," Karl told him, taking the initiative of being the spokesman since he was the oldest and closer to him than the two boys. "Our parents told us to avoid you at all costs."
"So did mine…" Zayn spoke in a calm voice. "I want to make peace. I want to tell you, all of you that I'm sorry. I really am." The latter kept quiet as they exchanged weird gazes with each other. They didn't know what to tell of him; whether he was being sincere or not. "I'm sorry for trying to hurt you, Dylan. What happened was a mistake and I forgive you for it." Somerhalder finished. He stretched out his arm to greet Karl. The three stared at the hand strangely and their eyes picked up the missing index finger on the other hand. They drowned themselves in utter shock and made some retches. Zayn hid the hand behind his back when he noticed that the three had seen the anomaly.
"Don't mind about that. The doctors said if it were not removed then my whole hand would have rotten in a week and it would have been amputated. Come on, don't mind it. I'm perfectly fine." He sounded sincere. Karl took a quick look back at his brothers who were still in shock. He turned back and looked at Zayn strangely. He finally stretched his arm and greeted him. Ethan followed afterward and Dylan was last. He was still shaking out of fear. After a long gaze with him, Dylan greeted him in the full grip of his hand. Older kids seemed cool enough to hang out with and he wouldn't mind peace for starters with the giant before him.
"Zayn…" Dylan stammered, "I-I wanted to ask for... for your forgiveness for what I-I did…"
The fat boy patted his back as he hugged him, "Dylan, I forgave you. It was a mistake. Some accidents happen and we were all unfortunate that day, so please don't mind about that too okay?" Dylan was still dumbfounded by the sudden response and how it was delivered. Zayn sounded to be over the fiasco. Dylan nodded, relief in his heart. "I was asking if we could all play together like we once did," Zayn said, releasing Dylan. The three stood opposite to him.
"But our parents said that we shouldn't play with you," Ethan spoke up boldly.
"But they don't need to know. It can be our little secret." Zayn urged them. "My parents won't know too… I promise. I'll be good to you guys. We will play safe games."
"Really? How can we trust you?" Dylan asked him. He was not easily fooled.
Zayn answered in a sincere honest voice. "My parents took me to hospital after the accident. And waited for me to get better. After that, I received a whole beating on my ass… damn I got the memo!" He said chuckling out in the end. "Plus you three are so awesome to hang out with." He finished. It wasn't a lie. Hanging out with the twins had its own awesomeness.
They debated for a while before Dylan and Karl finally agreed that they would continue being friends and play together in secrecy and that Ethan wouldn't tell on them to their parents. Ethan was against the idea, however. As much as he was angry at Zayn, his rage towards him couldn't be compared to what he felt against Karl. He was literally dragging his brother back to this enemy. Back to the danger itself. As usual, Ethan's voice was left out again and he sat by the bank again as he watched the three play by themselves. They splashed water at each other, played police catch the thief game, and even submerged their heads underwater to see who would hold his breath the longest. Zayn won in all rounds, beating the two youngsters without much of a try. They played and played, until dusk as Ethan bored himself of stares at the three. They played the day, and the next and the one after that. They played together in secrecy for a whole week, Ethan as the watcher.
The habit continued into the first day of the following week before Ethan finally felt bored of them. On that day, he called out Dylan so that they could play together, whatever game he was going to invent that was cooler than Zayn's. Dylan shrugged at his brother's idea and left him seated by himself as usual. Ethan was fed up and decided to walk back home from the woods like a lone soldier that he was. He found his mother in the living room as she suckled the baby. He walked inside the house, his face showing sadness and betrayal. He threw himself on a couch and kept shush. Mother noticed son. She put her heavy breast back in and covered herself. She laid the baby on the seat and headed over to where he was and fixed herself on the remaining spot of the couch. She took his head and rested it on top of her laps. She stroked his hair gently.
"Ethan, baby what's wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing?" He answered. His voice was heavy and it carried a lot of hurt. She stroked him more and more slowly. The baby on the couch giggled as she stared at the ceiling. Mother took son's face and made him face her.
"Little Ethe, what's the problem. Come on, talk to mommy…" she egged him. Ethan sighed before he opened his mouth to speak.
"It's Dylan, mom." He answered. "He doesn't want to play with me anymore." Layla looked at her youngest son wallowing as she chuckled.
"And why do say that?"
"Because he likes playing with Karl and that Zayn guy and not me." He answered once more as he looked at his mother realizing he had ratted them out. Layla didn't seem to be in shock whatsoever. Ethan was perplexed. "You don't seem surprised." He said.
Layla nodded. "I know, Ethan… I know."
"You know?" He squeaked.
"Yes… Dylan and Karl themselves confessed to me and your dad. They told me that Zayn had changed. We talked to Zayn's parents and we've allowed them to continue playing together unless they misbehave."
"What happens if they misbehave?" The boy asked.
"Then we will be forced to punish all of you severely, and send Karl back to his parents."
"Why can't you send him now?" The boy said after a long deep thought.
"His parents are still under the police thing we told you about." She had an immediate answer for him.
"Mom, send him away now." Ethan cried out, grabbing his mother's hand. "Please send him away!"
"Ethan why? Why would you say something like that?"