Claire had not left Kage's side since the moment he was laid to rest. Hours may have passed but it did not matter to her. She would stay no matter the time allotted. It was simple as a creeping worry which infected her being. Were she to leave the boy alone, he then may disappear forever. The very thought snatched her reasoning, forcing the behavior to stay. Behavior wrecking her eyes with the darkest of circles telling the tale of a plagued mind slowly poisoned.
In those branches of thoughts came ones that found a beating pulse to herself when the boy's chest rose. Stubble now dotted his narrow jaw from a prolonged period without shaving. However, the stubble broke apart when the splotches of red ran across, making bare of the dark shadow which enveloped his chin. Next in view were the broad shoulders stricken with self-made strength. The muscle-bound body encasing the bone of Kage's skeleton was one feature Claire found comfort in its widening grasp. How amassing his figure was when stood beside it, the shadow lengthened from such structure that forced her into great warmth. It was as if the worries ebbed away with no sense of direction.
The briefest of sallow gasps tousled Kage's hair, a mat which lay a greasy mess that hung low to the top of his spine when standing, but now draped across the cover of the splotched pillowcase. Claire recognized the sight akin to a princess splayed out over her own bed, deep in eternal sleep awaiting the kiss of her hero. The sick stricken, virginal, beauty molded by great torment to be saved hand-in-hand with its protector.
'Is it the same?'
That idea drew her closer to just above his forehead exhaling her warm breath over the sweaty surface, plump lips considering their move. For too long her mind wandered, too long her process ceased as she wished to partake in the forbidden fruit. Since their first day at the academy, she ached at his sight. At his prim and proper appearance, she knew her decision was ill-made to grasp the hand of Gan before surveying the world around them. Otherwise, she would have realized sooner the reality of her heart.
'Maybe… before he wakes...
Can I?
I will.'
Claire's lips puckered ever so slightly as their tip plunged for the protruding cranium of Kage's head. They glistened with her own contemplation as the decision was routed, punctuated by the impact they produced. She felt a lift in her body as the feeling was now formulated into direct action. All too soon did she fall away from this emotion, giddy with herself but also encompassed by shame. The one she loved hadn't even been awake. He was already with someone, yet she harbored this compassion which could be told.
Broken all too soon from her swooning heart, Claire glimpsed upon her mistake. At the very location where her lips dipped onto Kage's skin, what remained was the subtle impression of a rose flowering upon their touch. Hastily, she jumbled a Kleenex from her pocket making way to cleanse the location of the mark however all the same she was interrupted before the act could be completed. Thus, smearing the mark into a cloudy blotch.
'Knock! Knock!' Her attention swept by the pound on the door came to a close as Isaiah stood there. Claire tried her hardest to place her frame over the scene of her crime. Even then, her worry exacerbated at the realization that Isaiah had been standing there long before he knocked on the adjacent door. Yet, he was a frame late away from the deed, instead caught watching painted horses dance upon the wallpaper of the dimly lit room.
They galloped diagonally across the surface; ridden by a cowboy waving his lasso in the hunt of a fox prancing away from the rider and his steed. For a moment longer there was quiet worry as Isaiah plotted a course that the rider could take; a course was what they needed as well. They were hunting, trying with all their might to catch the prey that was their friend. Hopefully, Kage could paint that path for them. Otherwise, the simplicity to their travel may be an unknowledgeable one. After all, Isaiah had just about salvaged what remained of his nerves to maintain a calm mind. All the while, his friend's convulsing spit still rang without a barricade in the boy's thoughts.
Isaiah flinched at the realization. Once more they were strung to his tune. He had the cards ensuring that he alone was the one in control of them. Isaiah had been sure that their talk so long ago was manipulation to push them away with not a lick of truth to the statements made. However, all of this now was too convenient, it was exactly how Kage would have planned for; granting him the leisure to spin their movements to his desire. The ones untrusted were away leaving just the two of them who would actually pursue and aid in finding Daniel. That idea would become fact if the boy awakened at that very moment asking for their assistance.
Yet, he had not. Kage labored to rest for however long required of him. It was an act that Isaiah could not decipher as the breathing seemed too constant to be anything other than a deep slumber. Then again, he was an exceptional actor.
That fact coupled with his own willingness to aid Kage despite the repeated errors nearly disgusted the boy. He should feel anger, possibly hate at the murderer in their midst, perhaps seek recompense for his incompetence. All likely emotions that would dictate a swift end to the criminal's actions. A concept never bestowed to them. Neither turned to the ideas as little more than sinful misdeeds, a betrayal. Nevertheless, Isaiah broke the flesh of his lip with his teeth as he gnawed at the way they were all being strung about.
He tossed the prospect to the side then spoke, "I'll be back in a second. That doctor doesn't seem to be coming back tonight and we need food. There's nothing in any of his cupboards."
"Ah, yeah." Claire said in a hushed tone. Her gaze drifted elsewhere from the conversation.
"I saw a market on the way here. I'll get a few things then we can talk things out a bit more." Isaiah was now watching the girl who sat too close to Kage. For a while he knew of their proclivities to lustfully take in the other, but he never thought it had evolved past simple swipes. In this room lit by a singular nightlight in the far corner, Claire sat not a foot from Kage whose forehead sparkled with a leftover smidgen of lipstick. The girl's fingers twiddled themselves as a bead of fear may happen to drip down her temple. Isaiah chose to look off from the sight, darting his eyes back to the horses. "Should only be gone a half an hour at most. Stay and watch Kage."
Spoken the last piece of information, Isaiah hastily approached the door casting a last second survey of the home. His vision had been playing dances on him as the shadows to the walls elongated creeping ever closer to the arbiter of their wills. They seemed to be made of hands customized with claws to snatch the soul away. Claws which belonged to a hidden cretin far from view, unable to be perceived no matter the skill.
Isaiah concluded the simplicity that something was watching them, It was the same thing that he surmised had been with them all along.
It played tricks on him as the darkness manifested into gory images of falsity. Each of them wrung head to toe while the organs seeped out their mouths. Next, sought by a pointed hat which snapped heads away to create demonic balloons.
Then, a woman. That was the sight which conveyed more than the horrific wall scribbles. A simple woman whose hair wafted in the wind, a ball… No, how could he have ever considered the object to be a ball. Instead, the rotundness dictated it to rather be titled a SPHERE. One which placed itself in this woman's hand. A SPHERE that bounced forever against the wall that never moved.