Hello again! Much thanks to Black Light Princess and DevirouBa for reviewing! I always love reviewers who give good feedback and say more than "good story" or "update soon." So thanks!
I wish more people would come along and read this because I love feedback as much as the next person, but…I guess I'm just too used to getting tons of reviews from the people over in the Kirby section. Oh well. Even if I have a small audience, I will still be putting up chapters! And maybe I can someday put this on !
Oh, and thanks to Black Light Princess, I realized I don't have a very interesting summary. Since I would like to grab more people's attention, everyone feel free to make a suggestion since I want a good summary that will get me more reviewers!
Well I'm done wasting time. Here is the next chapter of The Cost of Living!
"I found them! Over here! They're okay!"
Every part of me was soaking wet. Every bone in my body ached with fatigue. Yet, I couldn't believe that I was alive. Blinking water from my eyes, I adjusted to the darkness around and spotted my twin brother lying downstream of me, his body half out of the water. For a fleeting moment, I thought he was dead, but then I could see the faint rise and fall of his chest.
Before I could take in any more, a strong pair of hands picked me up and started carrying me away from the river. I shivered as the cold water clung to my clothes and dripped off of me, snaking down my back from my matted hair. What had happened? My mind kept sliding in and out of consciousness, as if this were the worst sort of nightmare.
Then reality came crashing down like a fatal blow. I gasped. Mom! What had happened to her? The Drago attacked and…she just had to be okay! She had to!
Panic rose in my chest. I looked around weakly, trying to see her in the crowd of villagers that hurried us away from the river. "Mom! Where's Mom?" I cried out hoarsely, my own unrecognizable voice taking me by surprise.
The villagers shushed me, pressing their faces close to mine as if to comfort me while we ran. I wanted to slap them away and scream for my mother, but my arms felt too heavy to move. Moaning, I let them rush me to wherever they were taking me.
When we arrived at a campfire in the woods, I was shaking so badly with fear I couldn't sit still. Tessie, one of the nicer villagers, sat us down and began to strip our clothes off. Others there, including one of my friends Fuel, looked on quietly.
"Don't want-!" I protested weakly, but broke off into a fit of coughing. She ignored me and grabbed two soft brown blankets to wrap around my brother and me. I looked over at him, but he would not meet my gaze. He merely stared into the warm fire before us. Had he seen what I had?
Without saying anything, I pressed my body against his, as if to tell him that everything was going to be okay. He seemed to get the message and smiled, but the smile didn't touch his eyes. Then he turned away and continued to stare into the fire. I wrapped the blanket tighter around me, trembling.
"Claus…Lucas…" Came a familiar voice from behind us. Flint, our dad, came walking toward us slowly. He stopped in front of us, his eyes shadowed with worry.
"…Dad…" Lucas whispered, his voice choked with emotion.
We rushed forward and embraced our father. His strong hands gripped us firmly and his chest warmed my face as I burrowed into his arms. I wished I could have stayed like that for the rest of my life—being slightly crushed by someone I loved. It seemed all too soon when he let us go.
We backed away and sat down in front of the fire again, watching our dad. It had seemed like forever since we had seen him. I wanted to tell him what happened…but I couldn't. When he looked at me, concern etched in every line of his face, I couldn't say a single word. So instead, he turned to Tessie.
"It seems they both fell into the river and got washed downstream." Tessie explained, when Dad looked to her for answers. "Poor little things…"
Dad turned and began to walk to the other side of the fire, but a loud voice made everyone freeze.
"Flint!" The desperate cry echoed throughout the forest. Bronson, a rather large and muscular villager, came sprinting out of the trees, his face filled with terror. Gasping for breath, he stopped in front of the fire. Everyone gathered around him, looking curious. Had they found Mom?
"Flint…" He panted, "…I'm not sure what to say…but just stay calm and hear me out." He straightened up, composed himself, and continued on. "I have good news, and I have bad news. Which do you want to hear first…?" Before Dad could say anything, Bronson decided for him. "No…let me start with the good news first."
Everyone moved in closer.
"I picked up a giant Drago Fang. It'll make for a great weapon. I figured you could probably use it…as for the bad news…" In the long pause that followed, I could very well hear my heart beating. It seemed hours later that Bronson finally took a deep breath and continued on…
"The bad news is…it's where I found the Drago Fang. It was…in your…" He looked away. "It was pierced through your wife's heart…!"
Everyone gasped. Dad stared at him, eyes wide, and took a step back…and another…and then his legs gave out from under him. Head down, he pounded his fist into the ground three times before his shoulders slumped and all his strength seemed to leave him.
Pain shot through my body, as if I had been torn apart. My breath came in short gasps as the shock of it gripped me. Mom wasn't dead! She couldn't be dead! It just…it wasn't fair! It wasn't right! It was impossible!! Silent tears were streaming down my brother's cheeks, his face contorted with grief. Still, no tears left my eyes…my face felt frozen with shock as I watched Bronson step forward and talk to my father sternly.
"Flint…just try to stay calm. I think the only reason Claus and Lucas are safe and sound now is because Hinawa risked her life to protect them."
Tessie moved forward, her eyes glazed with sympathy. "Flint…" She reached out a hand to comfort him, but he knocked her away, hitting her with his elbow. She fell back and sat there, looking stunned.
Then Dad stood up and faced the fire, a mix of emotions burning in his eyes. He reached into the flames and grabbed a stick. Lifting his torch into the air, he swung it at the fire, scattering the twigs, then turned back around. Tessie covered her face as he nearly hit Bronson with his weapon. Bronson stepped back, but Dad moved forward, his eyes filled with anger and confusion, his head hanging down under the sorrow it tried to support. Other villagers moved in closer. Their mistake.
Ollie came forward, murmuring, "Flint…"
In response, Dad smacked at the ground with his weapon, as if warning the approaching man to back off.
"Flint…I'm not sure what to say…" Abbot said, "Please try to pull yourself together…"
Dad looked up at him, rage flickering across his face. He thrust his stick at Abbot and the villager was thrown back. He lay on the ground, stunned, clutching his chest. Dad swung the stick through the air once more, almost as if he was challenging the others to try and stop him. Tessie hurried over and stood in front of us, trying to comfort us. Lucas squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block everything out, but I stared past Tessie at the scene unfolding before my eyes.
As Abbot sat up, shaking his head, Ollie tried to snatch the stick away from Dad. In return, the man received two hard thwacks to his head. He lay on the ground, blood appearing at the corner of his mouth. Dad raised the stick to hit him again when Bronson took action.
"Flint!" The sturdy man shouted, leaping forward to wrestle with him and take his weapon. "What are you doing?! Claus and Lucas are watching!" My father brushed him off. Bronson prepared himself for a fight, but before anything could happen, Lighter, Fuel's father, came running up from behind and hit Dad across the back of the head with a large log.
My father collapsed facedown on the ground and lay there, unmoving.
"Dad!" I shouted, my voice cracking feebly. Lucas was crying out under his breath, tears flooding his face.
"Come on." Tessie cooed, trying to place herself in front of us as the other men dragged my dad away, "Come on, let's get you home."
I couldn't believe this was happening. It was as if everything were moving in slow motion…as if this were all a dream. Just a horrible nightmare that I would wake up from and forget by the next day. Yet, no matter how much I wished it for all to be a dream, I knew deep down inside that it wasn't and, one way or another, I was going to have to wake up and come face to face with reality.
The next morning I woke up in my own bed, next to my beloved brother. I figured that after the terrifying events of the night before, Tessie must have taken us home, but I didn't remember what happened after Dad was dragged away. I looked at Lucas. His face was streaked with tears from having cried himself to sleep. He held onto his pillow, whimpering under his breath as he slept.
"Lucas." I said, reaching over to place a hand on his shoulder.
His eyes opened and he slowly sat up to look at me. My chest tightened. I never knew that someone's eyes could look so lifeless…so full of grief. Gripped by a sudden impulse, I reached over and hugged him tightly, but he didn't react…just stared past me. I squeezed him hard, willing some of my strength to pass from me to him so he could stop looking so desolate. When I let go, he lay back down and closed his eyes, new tears staining the pillow beneath him.
With a sigh, I got up and got dressed into my normal brown shorts and striped shirt. Seeing the empty kitchen before me brought a pang of sadness into my heart. I looked at what we had to eat, but I wasn't sure how to cook so I abandoned eating breakfast for that moment. I was too upset to feel hungry anyways.
So instead, I left to see my mother.
When I walked outside, I nearly tripped over Boney, who was lying in front of the door. The brown dog lifted his head and thumped his tail once in greeting, yet his normally friendly brown eyes seemed to be empty as well. Then his head sank back onto his paws and he stared dejectedly at the ground. Even he seemed to know that something horrible had happened.
I left our house and walked into Tazmily Village. A kind of gloom seemed to hang over the little neighborhood and most everyone seemed unwilling to speak to me or even look at me for that matter…not that I wanted them to. I knew they were avoiding any awkward conversations about my mother, but that was okay. I didn't want sympathy. Careful not to make eye contact with anyone, I began to head north to the graveyard.
The graveyard was a creepy place full of aging tombstones and rotting trees. My insides felt cold as I walked over the long-dead bodies of villagers. Yet, none of the tombs looked new, and I couldn't seem to find where my mother was. Then I saw it…
A bright new tombstone stood out on the edge of the cliff, apart from the other graves. It shone in the sun and was surrounded by many flowers…sunflowers.
Mom's favorite.
Drawing closer to it, I read what was inscribed on the smooth, gray stone.
Hinawa~ Daughter of Alec, Wife to Flint, Mother to the twins Lucas & Claus
I closed my eyes, trying my best to hold back the tears. My body shook with silent sobs as I forced my cries back into my throat.
"Mom…" I whispered, my voice hoarse, "I'm sorry…I should have…you weren't supposed to…you…!" I tried to force the words out, but they wouldn't come. Grief threatened to overwhelm me. I wanted to throw myself at her grave and cry my eyes out, but I stayed where I was.
What had my last words been to her? What had our last moment together, as a family, been like? I had so selfishly grumbled, "Fine" when asked to join the last conversation we would ever have. As she and Lucas had talked so tenderly about our loved ones, I had idiotically changed the topic to omelets. I was a self-centered fool. If only things had gone differently. If only I could apologize.
But now she was gone.
I felt so ashamed. I buried my face in my hands, pressing my fingers into my eyes, forcing back the tears. I was so sick of all the sorrow that had consumed me for the past twelve hours. I wanted it all to end. I needed to find some way to make the unbearable grief evaporate. I needed to get away from her grave. Remembering my mother was too painful…
I turned to leave, wondering where Dad was. As I exited the graveyard, a familiar, gentle voice broke through my depressed thoughts.
"Claus!"
"Mom…!" I gasped, whipping around, eyes wide. She wasn't dead! She was alive! It had all just been a dream after all, a horrible nightmare, and--
And then my heart fell. It was just Tessie…but her brown hair and kind eyes looked so much like Mom's that I had mistook her for my mother. The resemblance pricked at my heart painfully, an agonizing reminder. It felt as if a giant hole had opened up in my chest and it was just going to keep getting wider. I don't know the expression that was on my face at the moment, but it must have been a gruesome one, for Tessie frowned at me, her pretty features worried.
To show her that I was okay, I forced a small, sad smile. But my chin quivered, shattering my smile and breaking through my "I'm okay" pretense. I turned my face away from Tessie and ran for the village, so she couldn't see that I was on the verge of tears. I didn't even look back when she called after me, sounding so much like my mother when she was concerned about me.
By the time I was back in the town, I had calmed myself down enough to look for my Dad properly. Yet, no one would tell me where he was, even if I asked politely. Then I came across Grandpa after some walking around aimlessly.
"Grandpa!" I said, a little surprised to see him so far from his home.
"Hello Claus." He said, his voice grave, "I came to see your mother."
"Oh, I'm…going to see Dad." I replied.
Grandpa looked at me curiously. "Well, the funeral is going to start in a little while. Make sure you're there, okay?" He reached over with a gnarled hand and gave me an awkward pat on the head.
"Okay." I promised. He gave a curt nod, but had a faraway look in his eyes as he turned and ambled away.
"Looking for your old man, huh?" Came a familiar voice. I turned to see Ollie glaring at me. A bandage was wrapped around his head tightly. Normally the man was friendly, but now he seemed bitter over the fact that my dad had attacked him.
"Where's my Dad?" I asked, walking over to him, "No one will tell me."
"You really want to know where he is, huh?" Ollie growled, his features looking stuck somewhere in between smug and angry. "All right I'll tell you…he's in jail! And he ain't never coming out! What do you think of your daddy now?"
I glowered at him, the urge to stand up for my family gripping me tightly. Instead, I turned away, headed directly for the jail. Then I realized…what use would I be to him if I just walked in to see him? He didn't deserve to be in there. He had to go to the funeral. He had to get out and be there when everyone said goodbye to Mom…I needed to help him get out so he could do that.
I remembered back to one summer Lucas and I had found a bird stuck in a trap. Not knowing what to do, we had showed Mom and she had helped us cut the lock off by using a nail filer. Sprinting home as fast as I could, I burst into our house and began rooting through the drawers, careful not to wake Lucas. It didn't take long to find a filer.
Hit by a sudden inspiration, I grabbed an apple off our counter and shoved the nail filer through it. If there were prison guards, they wouldn't suspect an apple! I couldn't wait to tell Mom later on about my genius. She would be so proud! Just like when—
I froze, my happiness short-lived as reality once again caught up with me. My heart twisted painfully and I winced.
"Hey Claus. What are you doing?" I jumped, not realizing that Lucas had gotten up and dressed while I had been putting my plan into action.
"Lucas!" I exclaimed, "Dad's in jail! Come on, you gotta come help me get him out…" I trailed off at the heartrending look that hung over his face like a cloud.
He shook his head, his bottom lip trembling. "No, I…I want Mom."
"But Dad needs us!" I argued. He looked away; his face puckered with misery, and he gave his head a slight shake. Annoyance washed through my veins, sick of everyone constantly reminding me of a sorrowful subject that I didn't want to talk about. "Okay, you go cry some more while I help Dad!" I snapped, clenching the apple tight in my fist as I started towards the door.
I ignored the fresh wave of tears that swept across his face and left to help my Dad, brushing off the guilt that clawed at my torn insides. I didn't need to look back to know that my brother was heading for my mother's grave to mourn along with the rest of the town.
"Dad." I said, opening the door to the prison and entering, "It's me. Claus."
Dad's face appeared as he looked at me from inside the bars. "Claus?" He said, in disbelief. He sounded tired. I ran up, relieved to see him. "I told Lucas to come too, but he's been crying at Mom's grave all this time." I told him quickly, taking out the apple and placing it on the ledge under the barred window. He looked at it curiously.
"Dad." I told him meaningfully, "I'm gonna leave this apple here. The core might be hard, but…the core…" I searched for the right words. "The core might be too hard to eat, but be sure you eat it!"
I turned to leave, but something stopped me. I halted, as my mind was flooded with sudden images. Dad's burning eyes as he learned the horrifying news last night…Lucas's tear-stained face in bed this morning…Mom's smile as she talked about going home…then I saw the Drago that had killed her, it's eyes blazing, it's mouth gaping to show pointed teeth, the teeth that had so cruelly ended her life. At that moment, something began to burn within me…as if someone had lit my heart on fire. I closed my eyes, struggling to contain the inferno that was raging inside my body.
"I'm gonna get stronger." I murmured, remembering back to the last happy moments I had spent with my family, "…I'm gonna get so strong even Dragos won't stand a chance against me!"
Then I remembered where I was.
I looked back at my father. His eyes filled with pain at my words. Guilt stuck me as I took in his anguished expression. "Dad…I…!" My throat closed up with grief. I turned and ran out of the prison, once more running away and hiding from those who cared about me so they couldn't see my face give away how much I hurt inside.
Yet, no matter how much sadness or pain that enveloped me, my heart still burned with a new feeling that felt like a blazing fire, lit inside my aching heart.
A fire that burned with sorrow and revenge.