Always and Forever.

Chapter Ten: Behind the Mask

Night time has arrived and to round off a awful day, it was another wasted evening. Eren climbs through his window and he throws his red scarf to the floor in anger. His room is a messy clutter so he isn't doing too much to help that. He collapses onto his bed and buries his head into his pillow. "What do I do now?"

"You can start by telling me where the hell you've been!" Eren's gaze takes his attention to the source of where the voice is coming and spots Carla sitting ominously in a dark corner of the room. Her arms crossed and one leg onto of the other.

"The hell you doing in here?" Eren asks.

"I'll be asking the question's here." Carla approaches Eren's bed. She folds her arms again and her brows narrow. "I got a call from school saying you got into a fight! They also told me you are skipping lessons! What's wrong with you, Eren?!" Carla yells.

"What's wrong with me? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?! I'M A MONSTER! I NEARLY KILLED SOMEONE TODAY AND I DON'T KNOW WHY!" Tears stream down Eren's face. He forces his face back into his pillow giving his tears somewhere to pool up. Carla approaches her son, realising her choice of words was very poor, and takes a seat by his side. She caresses his back hoping to soothe the boy.

"I'm sorry, Kiddo. I shouldn't have shouted. I'm just worried about you. I got a call from school and then you didn't come home."

"sorry," Eren says. His sobbing voice muffled by his pillow.

"Eren, please tell me where you keep disappearing to. I know this isn't the first time." Eren doesn't respond. He doesn't know how to. On one hand, he doesn't want her worrying more than she already is by telling her the truth. On the other hand, she will be able to tell if he lies. She always does. "It's about your powers isn't it."

A few minutes pass and Eren is now sat up next to his mother, resting his head on her shoulder as she strokes his head gently. He gives her all the details of what happened in school. Well, not all the details. He glosses over the part of him missing lessons. He's not brave enough for that.

"And that's why I need to know more. If I can't get rid of this dumb curse, I need to learn how to control it. Because, what if he didn't block the punch? Or I hurt someone I care about? Like you, or Armin, or Mikasa?"

Carla hugs Eren tightly. "I understand that, Kiddo. I do. But you got to understand it scares me when you sneak out going who knows where. You could get hurt."

"By what? Any thug I come across doesn't stand a chance. And besides I would just heal up anyway."

"We'll have none of that talk, you understand?" She stands up and makes her way to the door. "I'll go warm your food up. Oh, and before I forget." She starts to smile. "Mikasa came to check up on you. She looked worried. Maybe drop her a text but don't ring. She could be asleep."

With his mother gone, Eren is left alone in his room. He lies flat on his back and stares blankly at the dark ceiling. He replays the conversation that he just had with his mother over and over in his head and eventually reaches for his phone. looks like Carla wasn't the only one with the idea of sending a text. His notifications bombarded with them. All from the same person. He reads each message over and over, trying to formulate the perfect response to answer them all. Something he is struggling with all of a sudden. Too short will probably come across as half-assed. Too long and she might find it weird and not read it. So, what is the golden number? (No seriously. What is it?) "Ugh, stop over thinking. Type something out and press send. It's not that hard."

He speed types a message and is about to press send until he notices it is riddled with spelling mistakes and decides to delete the whole message. He writes the message again, this time much slower, and finds himself sounding like he is writing an essay. "No, no, no," he says deleting the message once again. He takes a deep breath. "Okay, third times the charm."