July 16th

It's almost dinner time. Lucas is in the kitchen, helping Mum. I'm outside, on the bench behind the house. I can smell chicken roasting in the oven. I'll write as much as I can before I go back inside.

After that incident in the mountains, there wasn't much to report. Lucas has returned to his sweet, timid self, probably because he's under the watchful eye of the villagers here in Tazmily.

I've been doing my best to avoid Lucas. To be honest, it isn't easy. First of all, things are pretty boring without him. There aren't many kids our age to play with, since our village is small.

Second of all, he's as cute as a baby kitten. Cuter, actually. But you wouldn't understand what unnatural powers cuteness has. You're a leather bound stack of papers.

Anyways, this happened yesterday morning. I'd already given Lucas the silent treatment for two days, and it was beginning to annoy him. You could tell. He would watch me impatiently while I pretended to read a book. When I went outside, he would get up and follow. I'd tell him it was only to run an errand or to tend the garden. He followed me anyway, but I didn't give him any opportunities to corner me, alone.

We were having omelettes yesterday morning in the kitchen. Mum was doing the dishes while Lucas and I ate at the table. I was practically silent. The omelette would get all my attention, and Lucas would get none. This is revenge.

Lucas finished his omelette first. Then he went up to my spot on the table, put both hands softly on the edge, and said:

"Want to play outside?"

He said just that loud enough so that Mum could hear. I could tell Mom was listening.

In the quietest voice, I replied:

"No… sorry, I don't feel like it."

Lucas put on a pout that made me want to claw my heart out. I looked away. Remember the cliff, I told myself.

Of course Mum had to intervene at that moment. She said:

"Claus, I think you should go outside with Lucas. I haven't seen you two play in a while, and you need the fresh air."

I looked at Lucas. His face was still round-eyed and cute, but I knew it was masking an ear-to-ear grin.

"…fine," I said.

I decided that Lucas wouldn't attempt anything evil if we were in the plain sight of everyone. So I took him to the village square. He held my arm and lagged a half step behind me. It was all part of his act to seem like the quiet, shy one.

Nothing much happened for the next half hour. We bought some nut bread from the baker's and ate it on the fields. We went to the beach and collected seashells. By then, I'd forgotten what a rotten stinker he really is.

He even asked me:

"Claus, do you hate me?"

We were walking back to the village square.

"No," I replied. "Of course not."

He looked at me curiously.

"Claus, do you love me?"

"What?" I replied. After careful consideration, I answered, "…yeah."

Thinking back on that moment, I regret every word of that conversation.

"Good," Lucas replied. He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. His saliva left a little wet mark that burned on my skin. I flushed and looked around. No one saw.

It was a little bit before lunch time. Since we were in the village square, might as well fetch some fresh water for the house. So we went into the centre of the stone paved square, where the village well stands. You can always count on it to provide clean, sparkling water.

We put our heads over the well's wall and peered down. The water was deep and glimmering.

"Okay," I said, rolling up my sleeves, "let's do this."

Lucas didn't answer. He was looking around carefully.

I raised an eyebrow. "Lucas?"

He turned to me, and grinned, for real this time. Then, he hoisted me by the waist and dropped me into the well.

I slid along the sides of the well and plunged into the icy water. It was deep, much deeper than I could stand up in. So I treaded the water and thrashed around, panicking. Some water got into my mouth and I coughed.

"L-Lucas! What was that for?"

I coughed some more and tried to keep myself afloat. I could see Lucas' face, smiling that incredibly evil smile of his.

"You're terrible!" I gurgled, "Help me out! I hate you! I hate you, I hate you." More water.

Lucas just giggled calmly. "But Claus, you just said that you love me. I don't like liars."

I could feel my eyes welling up with tears. I should have never forgiven him.

"You stinker! You cheat! I'm gonna drown here, Lucas!"

He simply shrugged. Shrugged. Did he not care about my life? His own brother?

A voice called from above ground. I could barely hear it, with all the water in my ears:

"Lucas? Is everything all right?"

Instantly he switched back to his sweet, innocent voice. "Everything's fine. I'm just getting water."

I tried screaming for help, but all I managed was a mouthful of water.

Lucas put his elbows on the sides of the well and looked down at me playfully.

"You look so cute, Claus. Like a little kitten."

I couldn't talk, so I threw him a glare that said, "I'll kill you."

I think it came out as, "I surrender," instead.

"Okay, okay," Lucas said. "I'm lowering the bucket. Hold on to it, okay sweetie?"

I was about to drown when the bucket reached water level. I threw my arms around it and Lucas hoisted me up. When I was back at the surface, I was coughing, soaked from head to toe in icy cold water and shaking.

Lucas put his arms around me and looked at me with a worrisome face. "Claus? Claus! Are you okay?"

Lucas looked like he was about to cry. Fake, of course. I wanted to slap him in the face, If only I had the energy.

A girl from the village spotted us. "Lucas! And Claus! What are you two doing? Why is he all wet?"

"Claus fell into the water by accident," Lucas replied, innocently. His voice was shaking with fear.

"Oh poor thing, how did that happen?"

Oops. Dinner's ready. I have to end this entry off here. It's not over, by the way. It gets worse. It might be a while until I can find time to write in you again. Stay hidden and safe, notebook.

-Claus


A/N: I started a new M3 save file today, and just ran around Tazmily for inspiration xD. Random things I noticed: Lucas and Claus share a bed. Always. At Alec's and at home. Their home is also one big room, while at Alec's the bedroom is upstairs. Their bed is always right beside their parent's too. Guess they don't get any privacy. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews would be nice :)