Chereads / Flavoured: A sextet in six acts / Chapter 43 - Dear Vanilla

Chapter 43 - Dear Vanilla

"Yes, this is me, a side character of this story I might add who is also very much with the main one, you, and has every right and reason to be.

Because, why not?

Let's go back, hmmm?

My name is Paris, no last name because Mother had abandoned both me and my little brother, Yuri at the steps of an orphanage that was actually a good enough place for abandoned pups like me.

If anything, I was three years older than my brother Yuri, so therefore I had to be the responsible one all the time which was annoying really because Yuri cried about almost everything.

He ALWAYS wanted to have the other kids toys.

And you see, such a stubborn trait was not welcomed anywhere.

So for that simple reason, I became the good one.

I was quiet, polite, obedient, sweet, even when I wanted rebelling, all because I wanted to get my brother and I adopted. Still, this made the guardians there dolt on Yuri and I which the others hated though then as a child I was blind to the whole hate thing.

They asked to be my friends and I, desperately, agreed. Happy that I had new friends.

Until they ratted out on me.

You see, for some reason, I hear voices in my head. Strange right? Oh well, the voices tell me to hurt things so I do.

I hurt animals only, random ones I find around the house, which at age ten I knew was a bad thing.

Still, when I found out my so called friends had told on me, not because they were worried about me but because they wanted me to be punished by them, and possibly hated, the need to kill humans for the first time came up.

I fought the urge.

The guardians however were not mad but actually compassionate and sweet about the whole ordeal, only that their eyes on me increased and the voices became louder that I had to now hurt myself.

And you see, that is where you come in.

I first met you when you were seven, I suppose, and the thing I noticed about you first was the hair...

White hair was so rare and unusual, still, you had it.

And weirdly enough, you were able to talk, but refused to, and no matter what the guardians did or said, you never did, and if anything, it made me fall deeper for you because of your bravery.

Due to the fact you were silent, no one wanted to be your friend, but I was intrigued at your sight really and tried being friends with you.

The first time I walked up to you and asked, you only stared at with a blank expression on your face and walked away.

That was my first rejection, you see.

And I was so terribly hurt by it.

Do you know you're the only living being in the world to reject me six times with your bones and limbs still intact?

That is why when I think of you, I realize how special you are and the thought that you're not here drives me insane the more.

After a while, I gave up on you, even though I enjoyed staring at you from a distance until one day, something short of a miracle happened.

Yuri started his tantrums again.

Except this time, he wanted your crucifix.

I watched the guardians try to calm him down as he fussed and kicked, pointing at you at the far end of the hall, a scared expression on your face.

I wondered at that moment what you would do.

You didn't do what I expected.

Instead, you marched up to Yuri, held his hands and began to run out of the house with him.

I followed closely of course, to keep an eye on You.... And Yuri, and found you both standing under a peach tree....

And it was the first time I heard your voice.

It always and still does amazes me.

A collection of different voices merged into one perfect harmony that wasn't soft or rough, loud or quiet....

It was ethereal really.

"I can't give you this. My Pa gave it to me before he travelled. He'd be mad if I lost it" You had said.

I wondered if you didn't know that this was an orphanage, which meant you had no parents anymore which even Yuri, who was your age had said.

Still, you shook your head and said "He'd come back. Daddy always comes back"

That marked the friendship of you and Yuri.

He was always with you, and though I was furiously jealous, I acted happy for my little brother.

You treated him like he was your son, and that was why when he called you Omma, mother in our korean language, I only accepted it.

Because that was what it was.

And though you did not accept me until a year later, I already had stalked you enough to know everything about you.

How you clutch the crucifix when you're scared.

How you have this scar just below your ribs.

How you loved opera desperately to a fault and would melodiously sing for Yuri and I, under that same peach tree, only for our ears and sound like an angel.

How you loved chocolate almost to a point of obsession.

I knew all this.

Yet....

I'd never forget that day. It was supposed to be the best day of my life, but honestly, now that I think hard on it.

I wish it never happened.

"You and your brother are getting adopted"

I.... I was elated at first, excited because I was sixteen and I was.... Happy, until I realized...

"Is Omma coming with us?"

The guardian had said with the saddest look on his face "I'm afraid not Paris"

"Why not?"

"She scares them off with the fact she refuses to speak"

And yes...

You only spoke around Yuri and I, which made us feel very special then you see.

"What if I make her talk? Would you let her come along?"

"Paris, it doesn't work like that"

I knew it did not, but the thought of not seeing you again was worse than living.

I tried to get you to talk in public though, Yuri and I, but you wouldn't budge.

"If I get adopted, how will Daddy find me?"

That was your reply every time and the urge to kill, the urge that had stopped ever since you came into our lives, resurfaced again.

You had hugged me and told me it was okay if we got adopted, that we'd meet outside and finally have as many chocolates as we want.

How can I say no to that?

I finally agreed to follow my new family, promising to write to you, everyday and you promised to respond.

Yuri and I moved to Russia, and there, we decided to dance ballet, because it was our own way of reconnecting to you.

And I did write, every single day.

You never responded.

I did not have the courage to tell Yuri that so I made up letters for him that always made him happy while I died inside.

Had you forgotten about us?

Had a new family adopted you?

Were you okay?

Three years passed and I tried to forget you.

I dated both men and women, I danced harder than I would, and though this satisfied me to a certain point.

The voices would drive me crazy.

They wanted you too, just as much as I did or maybe even worse.

And just like that, when it became too much to handle, Yuri and I travelled back to Aeira but getting there, we found out the orphanage had caught fire immediately after we left, which meant you never got my letters, and also that you could be anywhere in the world, or worse, dead.

We spent three months hunting you down Omma, we searched tirelessly, I spent millions on you, looking for you.

But there was so much I knew.

That your real name was Vanessa and you sang the Opera and adored chocolate to a fault.

Which was as random as random went.

Yet, by a stroke of luck one day, I find out you had an aunt who took you in for a while and then sent you off to a sort of convent boarding school for girls.

This I found out after the little scandal that had happened there.

At that moment, my need for you increased, because I wanted to kill them, all of them, for hurting you, but finding you was way more important still.

Your Aunt had sent you off somewhere and then gone into hiding, perfectly if I might add and while that happened, I waited in Aeira, picking out a nuns fingernails with a scapula because those were the nails that bore the hand of who hit you, you see.

She's very much alive though, bleeding and all, lost all the nails on her toe though but she breathes.

She wants death, but I can't kill her until I find you.

Because I know that deep down, even though you might detest them for hurting you, you'd never want them hurt in return.

So I'd keep her as a bargaining chip, until I find you, until you ask me to let go so I can keep you instead.

Because what is the use of two boys without their Mother, hmmm?

Love, your son"