Oliver & YOHIOloid © PowerFX Systems AB.
Warning creepy grammar.
Beta CityOfReverence.
Cursed Sons
Ten years old Oliver found him under an Oak tree.
It was a warm evening that day. He was walking around his father's garden, when suddenly a child's crying voice was heard and caught his attention. Curious, Oliver folded his shirt's long sleeves to elbow, surfed through Grape trees until he reached the edge of the garden. There, he saw a crying boy under a very big Oak tree.
The boy seemed to be exactly at the same age as Oliver. He was pale and thin, which made Oliver suspicious if that boy may suffer from a terrible sick or something. Well, it's not Oliver's fault to make such assumption anyway. Oliver was thin and white, too, though his skin wasn't as pale as him.
"Why are you crying?" Oliver asked, taking one step closer. He never met that boy, but a familiar thumping sensation on his chest told him the otherwise.
"No! No!" The boy didn't turn his head, or looked at Oliver. Instead, he answered, "Stay away from me!"
Oliver heard him. Loudly and clearly, but he stayed still.
"It's okay. I'm trying to help—"
"I don't ask for any help."
"But you seem to need one."
"No, I don't." A pained sniff. "A monster like me doesn't need any help."
"Monster?" Oliver blinked, felt a bit silly with this conversation. "Err…. I beg your pardon, didn't understand."
"There's no way someone doesn't know about monsters."
Sure I do, but the problem is that my mom always said that a monster is big, and fierce, and have smelly breath even if you look completely normal. Just like another scrawny little boy, was what Oliver wanted to say. But instead of doing that, he merely hissed sarcastically. "Yeah, right, Monster-Boy. I can see that you have two heads."
"I don't have two heads."
"Then, you must have a tail and claws."
"I have none of them."
"How about a pair of horns under your hair? You have those, don't you?"
"Nope."
"Then which part of your body that makes you think you're a monster?" Oliver growled, crossed his arms in a challenging manner. That boy was weird and maybe the sun baked his brain. "You don't look like a monster at all!"
"They're my eyes, you know."
Oliver raised one of his eyebrow with bored look. "Oh, you have more than two eyes?"
"Two, but both of them have been cursed," he answered with small whips. The voice was pathetic, as if he had been trapped in wilderness for a long time, and he felt so much hurt because of it. "Stupid eyes."
It took seconds for Oliver to realize that the boy didn't let them to have eye contact along the conversation. He started wondering why. Oliver remembered that his mom always stared him at his blue eyes while they were talking. Everyone does it. Mom said, it means that you are respecting someone who talks with you. Also, it's the best way to identify lies. So, was the boy lying? Oliver didn't think so. Oliver could see that his body was in tremble, but his voice was clear without hesitate. Even so, Oliver could feel fear in his tone, but no lies. Again, the way he kept his gaze away from Oliver was different from someone who told lies. That's why Oliver said nothing. Let that boy talks.
"Mama always told me not to go outside." The strange boy sniffed. "I may hurt them with these eyes, she said. Everyone on earth shouldn't look into my eyes."
"Do you believe her?"
"Most of the time." Hiccups. "But today I ignore her by secretly leaving my room. I meet people out there, but … but I turned them all into stone!"
Tears broke for once more. He cried and cried and Oliver didn't know how to deal with those tears. Cheering people up were never his forte.
"Don't cry, crying is for girls!"
"I-I didn't mean to do such thing!" He cried. "I only want to make friends, really. Huwaaaaahh!"
Again, Oliver took one step closer to the boy. His fingers stroked the back of his head. "Come on. Don't cry…."
"Huwaaaaah!"
The boy didn't stop crying, and it made Oliver out of ways to calm him down. Crying was indeed a weird action.
"Stop crying!" Oliver growled desperately. "You said that you wanted a friend, right? Then, I'll be your friend. You're fine with that, aren't you? Now, stop crying."
He stopped. "Eh?"
"I said, I'll be your friend." With his hand clenched on his chest, Oliver grinned. "If I become your friend, you'll stop crying, right?"
"B-but you can't befriend a monster. I can easily turn you into stone, you know."
"Oh, yeah. Those eyes," Oliver murmured. "May I see them?"
"No!" The boy shook, terrified. "Don't you hear my words? Don't you believe in me? Those are true!"
"I believe in you, but—"
"You are nice, and I don't want to turn you into a stone just because you see my eyes like those people! No!"
"Children who have been cursed is not only yourself, you know." Oliver yelled at him. He stared at that boy with a disturbing sight. "I have those too."
Silence dominated for a moment, and then the boy asked, "Y-you have those too?"
"Yeah." Oliver's sapphire eyes looked at the oak tree as if it was the biggest tree he had ever saw. He always turned his eyes to other direction while talking about his deepest secret; his curse. It's embarrassing, and Oliver didn't think that he wanted to spoil it with anyone but his family.
It was a different story since then.
That stranger boy was completely similar like him. He was also a cursed child. He didn't have any friend, nor a single one because of his curse. The same thing happened to Oliver. Well, not exactly the same as him, because not all people completely ignored him. Oliver still has his family (not complete though, but at least he has them).
The boy? Well, Oliver didn't have a clue. But the pain that he felt from those boy's tears, he guessed that the boy had nothing in this world. Except for his Mama, of course.
So, Oliver thought it was fair enough to tell him about this, since he already did that.
"What kind of curse?" The boy couldn't help but asked with a tone that hid curiosity. He couldn't believe it. There was someone who had been cursed, too. After all, he was not the one who suffered in pain!
"I was born as a twin."
The boy blinked. "Eh? What's the matter with that?"
"Twin is a symbol of misfortune in this country, you know."
"Misfortune?" The boy repeated.
Oliver nodded. He sat beside that boy. No eye contact because the boy still gave his gaze to nowhere else but the grass under him. The boy's eyes were covered by his blond bangs.
"W-what do you mean with misfortune?"
Oliver shrugged and told him that it meant everything that he touch would be broken. A fine wine glass would crack even though he picked it very carefully. A mirror would break when it reflected a single inch of his face. He used to believe that nothing good would come to him. Maybe in his previous life, he did something unforgivable and karma got him.
Back then, Oliver's family hadn't believed that stupid suspicious. It was just merely a piece of trash, they said. For them, the twin is a gift. But then, few months after he and his brother were born, the first misfortune came. Granny was the one who died first, and uncle followed her by attempting suicide not long after. Even his twin brother died because of the misfortune when they almost reached two years old.
Started from there, many people in the town would ignore and avoid him in an obvious way. They didn't let their children played or even talked with him. People shut him out of society.
"Misfortunes are my destiny, and maybe I should marry them someday," Oliver laughed as he ended the tale.
"That's terrible!"
"You think so?"
"Of course!" The boy said. "How come you were judged as a misfortune just because you were born as twins?"
Nice said, Oliver complimented him silently. But of course, Oliver wouldn't tell that. He grinned and answered the boy with;
"Well, the same thing goes with you, anyway. How come you judge yourself as a monster just because you have those eyes?"
"…"
Silence. Silence. Silence.
Those two were silent. The wind was breezing. It was warm, and smelled like spring breeze.
"So," Oliver talked again after a while, "can I see your eyes?"
"But, what if I turned you into stone?"
"Don't be silly!" He laughed. "I am cursed. You are cursed. We are cursed! Do you think the curse still works on another cursed person?"
"I-I don't know…," answered the boy. Confused. That thought never came into his head.
"Me too. Let's give it a try, then!"
"Are you sure? Do you think it's safe?"
"I don't know." Oliver said, sounded like a little bravery. "Now, let me see them!"
The boy needed several minutes to respond. He wasn't really sure, of course. The idea wasn't that bad, actually. But, what if it ended up as a failure? He didn't want to hurt someone again and again. Heck, he hated it terribly. He had been suffering because of that curse. He wouldn't even forgive himself if he turned that boy—the child who was born with misfortune— into a stone like those folks. He was the first person that have talked to him for such hours. He also said that he wanted to be his friend, despite the fact that he was a monster. How could he do such thing? How could he—
"No need to worry." Oliver cut his mind's arguments. "I am protected—by the curse, remember?"
"But I—"
"We don't know what's gonna happen, before we try it." Oliver added after a while, "Well, if I'm not protected, at least you could turn me into a nice statue."
"How stupid you are!"
Oliver laughed. Probably the stranger boy did too because his shoulders were shaking a little bit.
After a moment, their laugh was gone. Oliver waited for the blond to speak in silence. The other kid was silent too. No conversations. But slowly, the boy lifted his head up until his eyes met with Oliver's.
It was their first time to glance at each other, and Oliver couldn't help but gasped. Sweat trickled down his forehead.
Those eyes were strange, and Oliver was sure that it wasn't because of those tears in those eyes or because of the wet eyelashes. It was about the color. The color was not blue, or green, or even black. It was red as red wine; as ruby; as blood.
Oliver has never seen red colored iris before. Nobody encountered him with those eyes.
"It's red." Oliver said in spontaneous, more like amazed than scared or disgusted.
The boy was jolted for a moment, then he reached Oliver's shoulder quickly. "You're speaking!"
"I am."
"No!" The boy said. Joy and laughs were mixed on his voice. "I mean, you saw my eyes and you're speaking. Y-you're not turned into stone! My curse—it's not working!"
The boy drowned in happiness and Oliver grinned. He didn't know that his idea would work somehow, but he thought that it was good if things went smoothly. The most important thing was he didn't need to worry if the boy would turn him into a stone.
"I can't believe it! Finally, I met someone—someone who don't get affected with my curse!" The boy said cheerfully. His eyes were dazzling like ruby. Dark clouds which floated inside his eyes has gone to nowhere. "We should be friends!"
"I am already your friend, stupid."
The boy laughed. "Oh! Oh! What about your twin? He had the curse too, right? Maybe we could play together!"
"He's dead. I've told you, haven't I?"
"Ah…. You're right." Silence. "Well, tell me about him. You're twins and you guys must be looked alike, like a mirror."
"I don't remember him." Oliver answered honestly. "He died when I was two, anyway. But my mom said, we didn't look like twins. I mean, our faces were not similar."
"I see."
"By the way, I haven't introduced my name yet." Oliver gave his hand, smiled brightly. "My name is Oliver."
"Nice to meet you, Oliver." He reached Oliver's hand and smiled. Blush splashed on his cheeks. "My name is Yohio."
Oliver blinked owlishly before laughing a bit too loud, and it annoyed Yohio to an extent. "What's so funny about it, Oliver?"
"B-because of your name!" Wiping his tears, Oliver said. "It's funny … to think that you shared the same name with Yohio—my twin brother!"