Exiled | Rosékook

Chapter nine

Hyunjin and I go back to the estate, marching through the quiet streets, and into the alley of poverty. While we were stalking through the streets to my home, we noticed the roads being nearly quiet. We asked some passengers about what's happening, and we soon found out that more deaths have been occurring. More dead families, and friends dropping dead with no trace of who committed these murders. Some reporters we saw have given similar symptoms to each murder; claw marks, shredded flesh, and empty eye sockets–just like the ones I saw in the restaurant the day I met the thieves.

The moment I saw these exact same symptoms on my mother's and Chaeyoung's bodies in my family's manor, I knew that one single creature could be behind this madness. One single monster would want to tease me for disobeying him by stealing my loved ones; Killer. All this time, and it hasn't occurred to me once that it was him torturing my people, my neighbors. These claw marks belonged to the moon wolves I witnessed run into my house's chambers, the ones Ginatnos claimed are for a safe pathway for our so-called 'Journey'. Turns out, the brilliant creatures I have come to admire are nothing but weapons for torture.

Killer did all this under our noses without us even knowing or seeing people disappear. I was drawn within my thoughts, completely ignoring the consequences and debt I'll have to pay for my mistakes–for disobeying his enchantment. And here I did pay them, with my family dead and my people gone without a trace.

Deep inside my bones, my marrow; I know I shouldn't have run away from him, I know that if I didn't I might have saved many lives in my wake.

...

I gaze at the fireplace in front of me, again admiring the flames' ark. The moment I laid my mother's and sister's bodies in the grave, I felt a part of me go empty, hollow. Lisa beside me on the fuzzy couch, scheming and planning for our leave. I plan on thanking her later, not now, not when I am barely able to sleep, eat, or talk.

What a filthy liar. A small voice inside me speaks. Granted, I am indeed lying to myself; I never slept this past week, nightmares haunting my every breath. Always closing my eyes and seeing my mother and sister dripping blood into the floor. Drop, drop, drop—

I know I made the right choice; going back to my house to bury them, finally bringing peace to their souls. But I also have sacrificed a piece of my soul in the process. A piece of my being.

''When are we supposed to leave?'' asks Nayeon, her voice seeming far, far away. She's a metallic guardian, just like Hyunjin.

She and the other Midnight cats arrived yesterday night. After me and Hyunjin came home with our clothes soaked with mud and filth after digging the graves. Those moments, when I plumped my hands across my sister's body to wash off her blood, would undoubtedly haunt me until I lay on my deathbed.

Nayeon is towering for a woman. She has short ivory hair that has soft curls beneath her ears. Her nose is wrongly shaped, with its end bending more on the left. Her eyes lawn like winter leaves. Her muscled body radiates with an autumn, chilly aura–I like it, it's special.

''I don't know.'' Lisa sighs, rubbing her gray eyes. ''Maybe a week? I guess we'll have to see what suits us best.''

I haven't said a word for merely a week, no one pushed me about it, for which I am grateful. I sometimes swear Lisa's eyes are burning with soft blue flames, concern eating her from the inside because of my never-ending silence. I would grit my teeth hard enough to break, for that I feel anger at her for caring for me. She shouldn't.

I failed everything ever requested from me–I failed everybody.

Chanyeol wouldn't meet my eyes, but I don't seem to care. The last time he addressed me was to call me for breakfast. Which I didn't attend.