"I wonder when Ferrin will wake up?" Aoci, feeling a lot better after a few deep breaths turned her gaze to the unmoving kid.
He was only fifteen, after all. She was way older, like the rest here.
As for Ferrin, the question held no meaning as the awake guy silently heard them talk while half-pretending to be unconscious.
Half, because he lacked the power... the desire to get up. He just wanted to rest for a while, near his mother, while hoping he would wake up from this... nightmare.
He wanted his mother to come scold him while telling him he would be late for school. He wanted to try the new, energy drinks she made.
He wanted her to pat him on the head as he went off to school. He wanted her to stalk him secretly, to see that he reached the school safely before heading off to her own work. Whenever he collapsed, she would just pop up and say, "Oh! I was just passing by, look who's here!" While helping him get up to his feet. Giving him the power he needed but never possessed.
'Mom... I feel weak. Can you... help me? I don't like it here... I feel suffocated... I don't want to stay here. I am fine being that fat-loser that people called me. I can be happy with just you by my side. So please, lets go, Okay? Far away... far, far away from here, from deepest shadow of this accursed place.
'Back to the life... to that life I always detested. I want to go home... This place reeks and.... and,' Ferrin's body trembled slightly, tears silently sliding down his eyes, 'This place is.... it's making me reek as well. What's is happening? This joy? This anger? These words? These desires... they are... they are not me!'
Ferrin's heavy eyelids moved slightly, giving way for him to see the blurry roof over his head.
"Fe-Ferrin!?"
The three girls slowly peeked at him, at the tiny gap in his eyes. Their stuttering words voicing out in concern one by one.
'When was the last time? I cried in front of someone other than my mother?' Ferrin's arm covered his eyes, blocking his view. Maybe he thought, the shame would go away?
'Ferrin... oh FERRIN! Listen to me, Ferrin BrightGold! Is this the courage your mother has instilled in you? Are you so weak that you can't even do something to help your injured mother escape from here? CAN YOU SAY YOU ARE THE ONLY SON OF THE BRAVEST WOMAN ON EARTH?!' Ferrin's enraged inner voice pierced through the looming darkness inside him.
But it didn't come carrying a bright ray of hope and instead, it came with a darkness even more dark than what consumed him.
Ferrin's eyes shot open, only the fresh stains on his face could tell that even these beastly eyes his could cry.
He opened his mouth and inhaled deeply, before letting it all out of his chest with all the weight.
The weight of Ficko's and Paul's death. The weight of the fear that he wouldn't be Ferrin anymore. The weight of his mother's injuries. The weight of this messed up game that that accursed Genius was playing with him. The weight that he had to protect Ano, Seilo and Aoci. The weight of the fear that he would let them die as well. All of it came off, and he sat up, his hands supporting his slightly chubby body.
'I WILL WRECK YOU TO SHREDS! YOU WHO COME IN MY PATH!!' Ferrin lips parted into a vicious and cruel smile.
"Hahahahaha!"
The world turned silent, as if acknowledging the wrath behind that harmless laugh. An eerie fear gripped Ano's and Aoci's heart. While a small smile bloomed on Seilo's face, before quickly receding.
As Ferrin's laughter died down, he glanced back at the three with a gaze that betrayed him, a gaze that didn't belong to Ferrin. "I will," a confident smirk formed on Ferrin's face, "Protect you! Have no doubt, you will live until you crawl away from my shade!"
Ferrin laughed out again, his eyes peering at the moon through the window. 'Oh Genius! Wait, just wait! I will repay the two deaths you presented me with, twofold!'
Hearing Ferrin's vow of protection, Seilo's eyes trembled slightly before squeezing together resolutely.
"Lets go!" Ferrin got up and transformed into a six-feet-tall monkey, his hands gently embraced Aria and took off towards the stairs.
"Now?" Aoci blurted out, her eyes glancing at the dark night in bewilderment.
"Keek!" Only Ferrin's incomprehensible screech answered her.
"Well, no time like the present, right?" Seilo shrugged and walked behind him. Followed shortly by Ano.
"Seriously?" Aoci muttered under her breath and walked off.
As they walked outside the four-storey building, Ferrin's gaze swept past the empty streets. 'No monkey, huh?'
"Phew!" Aoci wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Ferrin glanced back, before his eyes drifted from roof-to-roof. Searching for the scum he wanted to kill before he could continue this game.
'Where?' Ferrin's large tail began to sway behind him, seeing no sight of him. His brows furrowed together and he started walking again.
His aim? Aimless! He just wanted to find that scum and beat him up.
He walked through the barren streets, no mannerism of sound reached his sensitive ears, yet he kept searching and searching.
He walked through the streets and into narrow alleyways, through a few suspicious buildings but found not even the shadow of a normal monkey, much less the genius.
'What does he want now? And... where is she? Should I go back and check up on her?' Ferrin scratched his forehead with his tail and decided to do just that.
It seemed like a better option than just randomly walking around.
As the familiar sight of the four-storey building appeared, two faces flashed in front of everyone's mind.
Unknowingly, Ferrin's grip around Aria tightened. 'They died because of me, because they involved themselves with the game he wanted me to play.' Ferrin's eyes trembled slightly, 'That could've been my mother as well, you damned Genius!' Ferrin's teeth grinded in hate, his claws slightly peeked out as he imagined the disgusting face of the monkey.
'What do you even want from all this? What is your goal? What is all this slaughter, this carnage for?' Ferrin's eyes squinted, 'These dumb monkeys are all just being used by him. They are also casualties. What does he want? So many of his own kind, us humans. How many else has he killed already?'
Ferrin felt something bitter in his throat, he knew, he always knew the answer, 'Fun.... enjoyment and pleasure!' Ferrin spat besides him, his eyes landing upon the monkey corpses littering the street.
His eyes flickered with rage and he kept walking, his feet trampled over these monkeys without remorse, 'It's not my fault you all chose him, since you are going against me. This much is justified!' Ferrin sighed and kept walking atop the piles of corpses.
This wasn't his handiwork, nope. It was all done by one person and Ferrin knew who, all too well, 'The guardian. I wonder what the other guardians are doing? I didn't hear any sounds of that Giant for a long time either.'
As Ferrin retraced his step, more and more corpses appeared in the streets, it was pure carnage.
Ferrin snickered, 'Serves you right for harming my mother but... where is she?'
Only more corpses greeted him, she just seemed to have vanished. Even as he reached the same place where she came to his rescue, only a pool of blood and corpses littered around Ferrin's feet, no trace of her.
Ferrin sighed helplessly as he gazed back, the girls were tired. They almost had gotten no rest and sleep had began to settle in.
Letting out a sigh, Ferrin understood yet again, 'So Genius, you don't find pleasure in playing with tired players? Humph! What should I call you now, generous? Magnanimous?' Ferrin snorted and barraged inside a nearby house.
As they stepped inside, a pungent scent assaulted them. The girls hardly frowned, the previous few places they visited were no better.
Ferrin casually opened a door, there was a bed and a few sofas present inside. The room had thankfully no corpse. He carefully placed Aria on the bed and morphed into his human form.
"Rest up! Tomorrow.... this hell will end."
"Hmm?" The girls glanced at him in surprise. They didn't know what he meant but unease slowly settled inside.
Something was going to happen tomorrow, something big! They were sure of it.