The black vehicle swept past several rowdy streets. Sherdan focused his attention on the road, while Lucian slept beside him.
When the car finally entered the border between the town and Lucian's, silence enveloped the space.
"Agh" The sudden turn caused a sound of a head hitting against a hard object. This made the sleeping Lucian wake up. Sherdan glanced his way, feeling apologetic.
"Youre awake? Sorry." As he is currently driving, he could only squeeze out a few second to look his way. He returned his gaze on his front almost in an instant.
Unable to hear what Sherdan had said, Lucian shook his head lightly to get rid of the stinging pain that assaulted him the moment he woke up. He could hear a ringing in his ears, as if his head was smashed by a hammer.
"W-what happened?" With his eyes still half closed, he asked Sherdan, upon finally seeing where he was. It was not without difficulty, as he found even opening his eyes too high of a hurdle.
"You lost consciousness. You were sick, Lucian. You should have told me. " Sherdan pushed out the words from his mouth. Making it seem as though there was nothing amiss was an easy task for him.
"O-oh... that's right."When the ringing in his ears finally subsided, the pain soon followed. Lucian's vision adjusted back to normal. And he realized they were inside a moving car.
The sky tinted black could be seen outside the window, and the silence made him blank out for a second. When he finally regained his wits, the first thought that registered in his mind was that Sherdan was the one driving.
"You're underage right now." With a hoarse voice, Lucian tried to crack a joke. Sherdan, however, didn't find it funny and just frowned for a short while.
"The driver was sick. I don't want to bother anyone."
Hearing this kind of nonsensical answer, Lucian ended up laughing. Though the supposed laugh ended up sounding a little pitiful,
"If the car got confiscated because an underage drove it without a license, you'd end up troubling them anyway." He leaned his head against the seat and stared outside.
Stars illuminated the night, making the several lines of trees beside the road appear creepy. Thinking of that, he ended up avoiding his gaze. This scenery was enough to incite his paranoia.
Sherdan didn't chime in with his jokes and shifted the conversation elsewhere.
"I didn't wake you up. Are you feeling better?" Sherdan asked.
After minutes of travel, the car finally reached the complex. Sherdan maneuvered the car and parked it before he leaned in and fixed the jacket he had wrapped around Lucian earlier. He then placed his palm against the other's forehead to check his temperature.
Lucian had no energy to even react to the sudden intimacy, and so he quietly let Sherdan examine him.
"No, I feel like shit," he muttered, leaning on the warm hands casually. He wondered at the back of his head why this felt more like a charity than a worry.
Sherdan pursed his lips at his response. The Goddess never told him anything about the side effects. The only thing the Goddess told him was that erasing the memories would affect the threads. And the threads could only damage them once everything was finally settled. But never this, Clepsydra never told him that it would affect Lucian's body negatively.
The miniscule amount of trust he had was reduced once again. Sherdan couldn't help but feel as though the decisions laid before him had become harder to even consider.
"I'd carry you then." Sherdan opened the car and went to his side. He carried him even before Lucian gave a response. In the end, the latter could only keep quiet and let him do what he wanted.
On the way to Lucian's floor, the two were quiet. The other does not know what to say, while the other does not wish to say anything.
Gila opened the door for Lucian and Sherdan after the bell rang.
"Oh Goodness! What happened?" She checked his temperature. Her son asked for permission to go to the town earlier in the morning, but came back at almost quarter to ten.
God knows how worried she was.
Lucian didn't contact her, and even Sherdan, who he said he was meeting with, was unreachable.
It was as if the two dissappeared from the face of the world.
"I'm sorry auntie, I didn't take him home earlier. The rain was too strong and there was a problem at home." Sherdan was invited to go inside. When they finally laid Lucian on his bed, Sherdan started explaining.
Although she does not like how they failed to contact her, she chose to atleast hear out her child's friend.
"Is that so?"
Sherdan bowed. The figure of a young teen apologizing sincerely made the worried mother feel a little guilty. But she hardened her heart nonetheless. No matter how she sees it, it was also Sherdan's fault for not contacting her. If he had contacted her, she wouldn't have ended up this worried.
"I had our family doctor check on his condition. It wasn't severe."
"I'm sorry Auntie"
Gila sighed. She held herself back from scolding Sherdan. He wasn't her son, so no matter how much she wanted to do just that, she had to calm herself and remain rational.
"Why didn't you atleast call me? I was worried."
Lucian, who was placed on his bed and tucked underneath a thick sheet, listened to their conversation. Curious to the reason why Sherdan failed to do that as well.
"I'm sorry Auntie. There was a problem at home that had me occupied." There were no other excuses and lies he could make up, so Sherdan decided to give an answer that would make the old lady unable to ask more questions.
He never expected that Clepsydra would be unable to cover this mishap. It seemed the only thing she could do in this world was to reach out to him and create a space that Moirai could not enter. Realizing that she could no longer ask for any more question,
Gila sighed and brushed her hands.
What's been done has been done. Although she's against the actions of these teens, her son was'nt neglected. That's all that matters.
"Don't do it again."
"Yes, Auntie"
The next day soon arrived, and it was already Monday. Sherdan skipped school for the gathering that happened on Thursday, and didn't go back even on Friday. Before they knew it, the end of September was just around the corner.
Arice entered the room with his usual annoying smile plastered on his face. Behind him was Sean, who kept on sighing at the sight of him. To think he was seeing this face everyday, even on weekends.
He was so tired of it that he could puke.
Arice looked around. His eyes scanned the room in hopes of finally seeing Friedde. But just like the day before, and the day before the other day, Friedde was nowhere in sight again.
"Eh? How am I supposed to play with him if he isn't coming to school? " He took out the lollipop from his pocket and unwrapped it. Unlike the usual pink lollipops he always sucked on, what he was holding right now was something he got from a young kid.
A swirl lollipop with a rainbow color.
"What are you? A kid?" Sean frowned at his dumb face. He walked past him and flopped down on his seat.
Arice only laughed and followed soon after. "What? We're making a kid? " When he sat down, he twirled his tongue around the lollipop. Tasting it in a teasing manner while looking at Sean.
Sean made a face and felt chills run down his spine. That was too gross!
"What are you? A fuckboy?"
Martin walked in and saw the two having their usual quarrel. If this was before, he could continue minding his own business, but right now he felt as though this teasing wasn't something normal guy friends would do.
'Am i corrupted now?' Martin shuddered at the thought.
He has no prejudices against people of the third gender, but he certainly does not want to be one!
Who the hell acts like a woman? I certainly don't want to!'
Just as the three were almost lost in their own worlds, Sherdan entered the room. A teen couldn't help but call out to him in delight, earning the attention of Sean, Martin, and Arice.
"Oh the man is baaack!" Arice let go of Sean's cheeks.
"Ah shit, you jerk! " Sean massaged the stinging area and kicked Arice in the knee. When all the actions of revenge were done, he turned his gaze towards Sherdan.
The tigress turned angel Sean, went back to being the usual kind-Sean.
"You're back! How's the gathering?"
Arice looked at the guy, who once had a frown on his face, with a scrutinizing stare.
"Look at this man..."
"Shut up!" Sean shoved Arice' face before he could even continue his sentence.
'Please stop flirting' Martin cried with invisible tears in the corner.
He was so bothered by the unusual scene of his friend flirting that he couldn't even greet Sherdan.
The first time his mind started thinking of this idea, that his best buds were gay, was when he realized Sherdan was probably swinging that way.
Martin couldn't help but wince. He sees all this as torture.
'Have they been flirting before? For a long time now? Why did I only notice this? '
Sherdan stared at his messy friends and couldn't help but chuckle.
Right, he had been so preoccupied with all these problems about God and death that he had forgotten.
'He came back and had a chance to relive his teen days'
Just as he was about to greet them back, the teacher entered the room. She looks as though she's extremely worried and troubled about something.
"Everyone go back to your seats and stop chattering!"
"Where are the others?" She massaged her forehead.
"Well, whatever. Since there were a lot of people who had arrived, I'd announce the news. "
The teacher sighed for the nth time. Remembering the news she had received from the hospital once again, she recited them out loud.
"Your classmate, Friedde, was hospitalized..."
"Attempted suicide"
'Attempted...suicide?'
"Friedde?"
"Did that?"