The Obsessive Villainess Vol. 1 ✔

30. A trampled-on trifle

Chapter 30: This film is dedicated to all those whose sole source of indignation is a trampled-on trifle. - "Sedmikrásky" (Daisies), 1966

I bid Mr. Viridis a farewell in the corridor and then made my way into my room, shutting the door behind me. I walked two step and then gasped, almost falling back with shock.

"Hello, and goodbye. You seem to have a problem initiating these words like a normal person!" I fretted, heading towards the blonde boy lazing on my couch.

Rezel lolled to his side and peeked open an eye to regard me. "Hello."

I tilted my head, figuring something was off. He looked more tired than I had ever seen him.

"...Did something happen?" I asked him softly and he sighed, placing an arm over his eyes.

"I just want a nap."

I gently pressed my lips together, a worried crease forming between my brows as I wondered about him.

"Should I tell you a story?"

I noticed a bitter smile form on his lips. A soft scoff-like exhalation.

"I'm not in the mood for heroes."

Ah...

It must be that sort of a day.

Delicately, I eased myself to the ground beside him and rested my back on the side of the couch. My head was by Rezel's torso, and I regarded him for a moment.

"Then let me tell you about my day. You're the only one to hear of it now."

He didn't reply so I began in a soft voice. I didn't talk much about my father, or the fun I had with him. Instead, I spoke about the place I went to. I talked about the green water and the fishes that occasionally jumped out. The sound of the trees and how the sky was just cloudy enough for me to not feel too gloomy.

"I think we should go there someday." I told him and he removed his arm from his eyes to focus on me as I spoke. "I set some birds free, too."

"Did you speak to them?" He asked quietly and I felt gentle fingers caressing the flowers in my hair.

I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them. "I did."

"What did you say?"

I turned my head slightly and viewed him from the corner of my eye.

"...I told them that nothing mattered."

I noticed how his eyebrow trembled slightly, as if he was holding back an expression. A sad expression.

"But then I told them to just live anyway. That I hope they'll find it someday." I played with the fabric of his robe that was falling to the ground beside me. It was soft silk and it felt like touching clouds.

"A reason."

Something that makes them believe it matters. A reason to believe in... life. For their existence.

I shut my eyes tightly and made a pained expression to myself.

"To be honest, Rezel... I am a person without much hope for my future. So I really don't know how to comfort people."

There was silence and his movements in my hair stopped. Then a murmur reached my ears.

"Sometimes... being understood is enough."

He reached out for a lock of my hair and I looked at him with sad half-open eyes.

"And I feel like you know... how fucked up I'm feeling."