Chapter 9: Last Living Souls
AN: This is the part that needs a warning. I would appreciate reactions if it worked or not, in the writing of this story, I had cringed many times. Imagine what more on this one. Thanks to those still reading.
"Don't make me puke. We've only started this thing last month," Tomoki said, as Tomoko still bothered him in his room and joked about what they talked about outside.
"But we've known each other all our lives. I think it wouldn't make a difference!"
"You aren't serious, right? Stop getting crazy ideas in your head. It would be weird. It would be wrong."
"Aren't you the one who said you didn't even want to hear the word wrong? And forbidden? Or guilt?"
"That's different."
"Since we can't get married anyway, we'll eventually do what... married people do."
"Whatever. Like, doing that would be worse than seeing your parents get it on. Oh wait. We have the same parents."
"Huh? That's odd for you to say when both of us wouldn't even exist if it weren't for our parents doing that, but I sure feel weird when I see Mom and Dad get all touchy-feely with each other when Dad's been away for so long."
"Yeah, seriously. It's like they aren't even aware that we're walking around here."
"Remember that time when dad was away for a month? I think they made out in the sofa the whole afternoon while watching movies. They're worse than teenagers."
"Yeah, I didn't go down from my room that day."
"But you've seen irritating students so into their public displays of affection. I saw one couple making out near a river and I was tempted to push them both to the water and run away. They should just keep that to themselves."
Tomoki sneered as he recalled that they both had their own share of being touchy-feely with each other, even kissing, but Tomoko never ever asked him for that - he's always the one initiating it. He hasn't done that for some time, but in those first days he couldn't get enough of touching another person.
"So, would that be your birthday gift for me?"
"Fuck off."
"Good night, then. I mean good morning," Tomoko said, glancing at the clock before closing the door to leave for her room.
#
Come sunrise, she was still awake and slouching in front of her computer, clicking on tabs but not reading anything on the browser. The morning sky was slowly waking, sunrise swathed in soft pinks and greens, but her eyes were glazed over and shining with tiny reflections of the screen. Today is her first day as eighteen years old. Not that birthdays matter at all. It only reminded her that she was older and in two years of high school, she was still more or less the same as how she started.
An eighteenth birthday was supposed to be special, a debut. Maybe others had grand balls and eighteen roses, a soiree for all the relatives, but she can count her friends on one hand and she didn't know most of their family. Today will not be like that, it will just be like all the other birthdays, celebrated as an obligation, but there will be cash and gifts from her parents so she isn't complaining. She checked her phone, and read texts from her dad and Yuu greeting her happy birthday. Yuu saying that they could meet next time since she can't go today. Her dad saying he's in another place for work but will be going home next week. Tomoko didn't feel like going out anyway. She'll celebrate by sleeping for the whole day. She turned off the computer and collapsed to her bed, slept the morning away.
Lunch time, her mother opened her door and she woke her. "Happy birthday! Go down and eat," greeted her mother.
For lunch her mom cooked her favorite dishes, and there was a chocolate cake with her name and happy 18th birthday written in white frosting. Their father wasn't around. Tomoki was already eating on the table, he didn't even greet her. He even ate more than her.
After lunch, they ate slices of cake while their mother washed the pots, pans, and dishes.
"Hey, Tomoki, have you decided your gift for me? Or will it be a surprise?" Tomoko asked.
"I have none. Hell, you don't give me anything when it's my birthday," he said, taking a bite off the slice of cake on his fork.
"Jeez. It's my eighteenth birthday. So, you agree to what I said?"
"Yeah, fine," Tomoki said, and it was Tomoko's turn to choke. She wasn't serious at all, she knows Tomoki will brush it off, but then maybe it was her brother's idea of a joke, saying yes all of a sudden.
"A-Are you serious? Is this about what I said last night?"
"You're the one who wanted it. I said okay, and now you're asking me if I'm sure? When did I mean other than what I said?" Tomoko asked, looking her straight in the eyes. She could not meet it, but she couldn't look away from it either. It felt like he could see her falter, like he could read her mind. It was a joke but a small part of her wanted it to come true, and now that Tomoki agreed she couldn't believe her luck. Tomoki didn't mince words, what he thinks he says right away. If he says he'll do it, he will. Tomoko liked that about him, but at the same time it was the worst about him... like right now.
"But when..." She stopped when Tomoki kicked her leg under the table. He looked at their mother, who was oblivious to their conversation. Their mom finished washing the plates and walked to the bathroom on the other side of their living room.
"Mom's leaving before evening. She's said she'll go to the bank to withdraw money and shop. She's leaving round six, she said she'll be meeting a friend and she'll go back by eight. So, your room or mine?" Tomoki said in a whisper as if it was nothing at all, and Tomoko choked for the second time on her Coke. She sat up straight, breathed. She almost wanted to bang her head on the table to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. This was happening too fast for her to process.
"It could be in my room," she said, finally.
"I'll just go there, then. When Mom leaves." Tomoki said, and went to the kitchen with both their empty plates and washed them on the sink. Then their mother went out the bathroom and turned on the TV. Tomoki got a throw pillow from the sofa, went outside to sleep on the wooden bench under the only tree in their garden. He lied down, and the tree's shade draped over him and he closed his eyes. Tomoko wanted to go out there too, and curl up next to him but the bench only had space for one, so she went back upstairs to sleep in her own room instead. Tomoki was outside, so he'd know if their mother will leave. She could just wait for him.
#
Tomoko was like under a mist of sleep that day, since for the previous night she stayed awake. She woke again and it was already a quarter to six in the evening. She woke alarmed, remembered that she and Tomoki had an agreement earlier. That was fast, and she still couldn't quite believe it. Was it really going to happen, today? To her? With him? Is this all a dream? To do something that was only ever possible in imagination, that the prospect of it seemed like the thought of death – remote and far away. She only entertained it in secret, something exclusive only to fantasy that the fact that it could happen any time tonight, she was getting nearer to it as the minutes passed, their mother would leave soon... it was like having a thing from a dream step out of her sleep and into their garden.
It was the subject of many jokes by blushing girls, but it only seemed to her that she would partake in a bizarre ritual, like being killed and sliced up and offered to the altar for ancient gods. Why was it so weird to her when it was the very thing that perpetuated the human species? But it wasn't 'sexy' at all to her, right now. Like her previous fantasies of being gang-raped, she felt phantom pain below her navel, maybe there will be pain like never before, like having yourself gutted and chopped and axed down. It made her think of things like dark space before planets, chaos of a time before time, of points exploding to universes. In a sense, she will soon partake in an act of creation. It wasn't sweet or romantic at all but murky, violent, like she'll be experiencing something so unreal and remote from her life it was almost mythical.
Until now she couldn't believe it and all she could think of, was it really going to happen? Any time today? With her? With him? She was pressing both her hands on her head, a puzzled look on her face.
Instead of thinking, she started to clean the clutter in her room to somehow relax all her thoughts. She gathered all scattered books, papers, unwashed clothes, and game CDs all over her room. She refolded the clothes and stashed them in a drawer near her shelf. When she opened the drawer, she found that old green dress she bought on a whim and which she never used again. Maybe she will never get a chance to wear it again. She took it out and placed it on her bed, she had forgotten the designs, and so she touched it again to examine all the details. All stunted vines and dark green designs embroidered with outlines of leaves and flowers that hinted of a night in the forest. It would have looked nicer on a better-looking girl who had the shape to fill it out. There was a tear on the side of the skirt, from jumping off a gate lined with barbed wire... when she escaped prom with Tomoki months ago.
She took off her house clothes and tried the dress on again. She examined herself in the mirror. It didn't look nice on her, and maybe she should sell it... it might be cheaper because of a tear she didn't know how to mend.
She was about to take it off again and change back to her previous clothes, but then she heard her door open.
#
Tomoki woke up, and stared at the dense leaves above him. He woke alarmed, remembered that he and Tomoko had an agreement earlier. He could hear his mother inside the house, she hasn't left yet.
He wasn't really thinking when he agreed to his sister's strange proposal, which started as a half-assed joke on her part. He himself sealed the deal and they're only waiting for their mother to leave. Sex to him was something natural, something that will eventually happen sooner or later... like death, somewhere out there but it's not in his head while he's living. They were in the age where teens were crazy with new hormones, enstranged and fascinated at the changes of their bodies. Tomoki was just like any other boy, he was curious too. It was normal, to him, everyone existed because of it, but it seemed that the whole world was making it so overrated.
As he stared at the sky, he felt cold all of a sudden and he trembled slightly with fear. He only realized now the weight of that decision. Words like copulation, penetration, ejaculation, contraception, all terms related to the act replayed in his head with intensity and disgust. Charts of human biology and drawings of internal reproductive organs flashbacked through his mind. That moment Tomoki's whole being was revolted at that idea, he couldn't imagine himself there. He cringed, grit his teeth. What the hell made him want to agree? They would be committing, the worst of all words: incest, and now it would be down-and-dirty actual.
But then he had said yes, and after all the weirdness and slight nausea he felt, was anticipation. He calmed himself by imagining him and his sister free and alone, finally confronting it, lying in afterglow. The way desire eats his heart when he knows that she is his alone, the way she melts into him when they kiss. It would be more satisfying than mere kisses or what keeps him up at night sometimes, something necessary but not that fulfilling or satisfying. Whatever inkling of desire he had the night they slept together in his bed long ago, was now going to bear fruit, and be consummated.
"Tomoki, I'm going. Is there something wrong with you? Do you feel sick? You look pale," his mother said, peering on his face.
"Nah. I'm okay," he replied.
"Treat your older sister better, okay? It's her birthday after all," she said, and opened the gate to leave.
"Yeah. In fact I'm going upstairs to–" he said but was cut off, his mother has walked out to the street.
Strong wind shut the gate closed, leaving a resounding echo on the metal. There was a sudden rustle of leaves, and dry ones fell like rain. What had he meant to say anyway? I'm going upstairs to sleep with her, Mom. It would be our first time. You really need to know.
They were now alone. The silence was deafening, and his heart started beating fast. He went in the house and ran up the stairs, told himself to get over it and just do it. He went to his room to get something from his desk drawer, a ravioli-shaped pack - contraception once handed out for free in Biology class, when they talked about reproductive health. He recalled it was an embarrassing lecture, but he can't remember the details, it was so long ago and they have been sitting in his drawer unused.
He paused and took a deep breath before opening the door to her room.
#
"What are you dressed up for?" Tomoki asked as he entered, Tomoko didn't face him but their eyes met in the mirror. He locked the door.
"We're getting married," she said.
"What the hell are you talking about? Brothers and sisters can't be married," he answered.
"Are you," Tomoko said, turned around and looked at him but he shifted his gaze to continue looking at the mirror behind her. "...sure about this?"
"It'll happen anyway, sooner or later as you said, right? Would it make a difference if we get over it now? But if you don't want to, then we don't have to."
"I want to, but I'm kinda nervous. Really. But it's you, so... but what do I do?" Tomoko said, almost whispering the answer to herself.
"Then just imagine we're the only people left in the world. As if this was our last night on Earth."
"I can't believe I just heard you say that."
"Whatever. You're not the only one who's not sure, you know."
"I think I hate this dress. I don't want to see it again."
"Then take it off."
She unzipped the dress at the back and let it fall to the floor. She wore nothing underneath. He looked at her from her face to her feet, but then she's not so nervous anymore, as he'd seen her naked before. Tomoki kept the light off. It was twilight, they could still see each other, but darker night was nearing. He stripped off his clothing one by one, the shirt first, then his shorts, and last, his boxers. He folded all his clothes to a neat pile on the foot of her bed.
The day ended and night dawned outside, the last streaks of orange from the sun gone faded to welcome evening, and the cicadas were screaming. The sky isn't that dark yet, but colored bottle-blue. It helped to focus on something else, as he tried to act like this was nothing, when being naked made him so self-conscious. He tried to look like he didn't feel anything. He stood straight and masked all emotions from his face, but he couldn't do that for long – he slouched, looked down the floor and blushed. He felt his hands tremble and his cheeks burn, blood ever-turning fast inside him. He swallowed spit, as if to calm himself. He closed his eyes and breathed deep to help stop it. He looked at his sister again, who was looking at him, and he felt trapped under her hesitant gaze.
#
Tomoki looked just like any lean, normal guy when he was clothed, but when he took off his clothes all she could think of was the old times when they still took baths together. Long ago, Tomoki still had baby-fat, and there was no shame in nakedness then. She was even the one who helped him bathe. Tomoki's body now had defined muscles, there was strength in his arms and his legs, a fine body for a man. Aware of her nakedness, she felt malnourished and inadequate compared to him. It was the farthest from the ideal woman's body in her head, she looked like a deformed girl with stunted growth next to Tomoki.
"Stop looking at me, will you? It makes me feel so embarrassed," Tomoki said, and only when he mentioned that did she notice she was looking at him for so long. Tomoki was always irritated and self-assured, but it was rare to see him blush like this. She had thought he'd be the one in control here, and she learned she wasn't the only one with no idea where to begin.
He sat on the bed. "Come on," Tomoki said, and she took slow, hesitant steps to sit beside him. He pulled her close, covered her face with his, and led her down.
The floor carpet dissolved to rain-damp soil and the vines grew out her dress left forgotten on the floor, filling the room with growing tendrils and smothering near their faces with roses. Their bed was rainforest floor, and the ceiling was dark and the stars were beginning to brighten. They might as well be in a forest underneath a canopy of vines and leaves, midnight flowers blooming just for them and for this.
#
Afterwards, when the illusion dreams of forests and flowers around them had faded, they'd lie still on the bed, both naked with sweat drying on skin. Tomoko was looking at the ceiling with eyes wide, as if startled. Tomoki was lying on his side with his back to her, knees drawn up his chest as if he was holding and hiding himself. He scowled and looked at the wall instead, as if puzzling over some incomprehensible shadow on the paint. The light was still off but the room was illuminated by the streetlight's glow. It wasn't what he expected, after they were done.
He had imagined a different aftermath than this: them both in blissful exhaustion, her sleeping and safe in his arms, the promise of peaceful sleep without nightmares. But during that they were both fumbling, almost ready to jump in their clothes again at any sound similar to the gate unlocking. How can a locked door induce anxiety? Now he was sure his sister thought the same thing: what the hell did we just do.
The sound of cicadas played loud like a tormenting pop song. The clock flipped by, a sound like resounding heartbeats in the dark. Then there was the sound of the gate opening, their mom was now home. It was an alarm, and in a few moments they had already slipped on their discarded clothes.
After he dressed, Tomoki unlocked the door of her room so their mother wouldn't suspect anything. He went back to sit on her bed. She resumed lying down and staring at the blank ceiling, contemplating the numbness between her legs.
"What's wrong?" she asked him.
"I don't know. How was it?"
Somewhere there, Tomoko had misgivings and they stopped half-way, immediately feeling awkward, disgusted, and turned off at what they were doing. Even if she was the one who said she wanted it, doing the actual getting down and dirty was worse. Truly, things are only perfect in fantasy and imagination. She didn't like the act, of two people rubbing on each other and the thought of sharing dirty body excretions made her shiver and feel scared. He sensed her discomfort and they stopped.
"Okay. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it much either," Tomoko said.
"You were the one who said you wanted it. But then, it's fine if you wanted to stop."
"I think I like cuddling better."
"Whatever. How long did it happen anyway? Then we were both turned off and stopped..."
"Does it feel weird, Tomoki?"
"What feels weird?"
"That, we didn't even think that we shouldn't do this in the first place? That we're siblings. That we could go on without this. But you know, even if it wasn't that good I think the only chance I'll ever get laid is with you. And now, I won't die a virgin." Tomoko grinned and laughed at her own joke, but Tomoki didn't.
"What? I know this would sound weird too, nee-chan, but I'd rather done that with you than with anyone else I don't know. It would be stranger, if it had been with someone else other than you."
"This sounds crazy too, but I agree. Does this change anything, Tomoki?"
"Nothing at all."
"Do you want to do this again?"
"Not anytime soon."
"I'm sorry, Tomoki." Before that, she had thought she's be happier after. She didn't expect this kind of sadness, loneliness, and weariness that clung to her, and it was like she got older by decades afterwards. Now she felt guilt that she'd dirtied her brother.
"What's there to be sorry about?" Tomoki answered, but not looking at her, only the streetlight outside the window.
"That maybe, you didn't want it and only did because of my stupid birthday wish I now wish I didn't wish in the first place. Really, I feel so bad now, I'm so sorry."
"Nee-chan, I wouldn't agree if I didn't want it too, right?" He said, voice in the most gentle tone Tomoko has never heard before. "And now, we know how it's like."
"Thanks, Tomoki," she said, Tomoko nodded and covered herself with a blanket and tried to sleep. He left.
#
They both stayed in their separate rooms, both uneasy in their own beds and clothes still sticking on skin damp with sweat. At the same time, they bolted out of their beds to rush downstairs to the bathroom, intending to wash away their smell on each other. They raced through the hallway and stopped at the bathroom door. Tomoko pushed him out the door and said, "I take the shower first, it's my birthday."
Tomoki stood waiting with his back on the door. Their mother, ever oblivious, was in the living room watching the news. Tomoko went out after ten minutes and Tomoki rushed in. They didn't talk or see each other again that night.
No matter how good the previous days have been when they started being together, they didn't expect this kind of guilt to eat its way into their hearts. Tomoki was the one who said to question what society thought, but even then he felt he committed something abnormal and punishable.
The dreams they had reflected this.
In her dream, she went back to that place below the green sky. The grinning girl was still holding the fruit, a blood-red apple, which turned to a heart. Tomoko wanted to run but she can't. The girl held her by the face and forced her to eat and swallow. The meat turned into pythons in her mouth, slithering through her throat and devouring her insides. She wanted to puke it all, that what was succulent fruit were beasts eating their way and killing her from within.
In his dream, the once-gentle horned beast changed to a wolf and chased him, teeth tearing his flesh. Even with ripped open guts he managed to run, and killed the animal with his knife. He ran and ran, until the forest gave way to desert, but he lost and he was eaten until he was a bloody open skeleton dead on desert sand, all his meat devoured by the pack, the wolf inviting his entire breed to take part of him. His empty skull eyes staring, empty, and pale bones picked and licked clean until it was gleaming alabaster under the moonlight.
They couldn't even think of the other after that night without feeling love turning to disgust, regret, and longing.
#
The next school day, they tried to forget the incident and continue like yesterday never happened. Tomoko happened to see Kotomi in the girl's restroom. They were both looking the themselves in the same wide mirror. Kotomi cleaning her glasses with tissue and Tomoko washing her hands.
"I saw your brother kiss you. Pretty weird but lucky you."
"Are you sick? You're putting malice on it. And stop talking about him."
The classbell rang, and Kotomi's mouth was open to answer, but Tomoko walked fast back to her classroom and tried not to think about her brother but then Tomoki passed by her in the hallway and they only glanced at each other without greeting.
#
When he went home, he found his sister in his room, lying on his bed. Tomoko was staring at the ceiling again.
"What are you doing here?" Tomoki asked. He recalled yesterday night, but it never mattered or changed anything at all. It appeared that Tomoko was sleeping, so he just sat on his chair and continued studying. He opened a can of Coke and drank, and got the History textbook and a neon yellow highlighter from his bag and started to study.
"Hey Tomoki, do me," she said, and did Tomoki almost puke out all that mouthful of Coke.
"I thought we agreed not to, not anytime soon," he said.
"But I'm feeling really backed right now. I think it would be better, you know, the second time. It would feel amazing. Not like yesterday."
"But. Mom might..." He glanced at the door, his lips trembled slightly.
"She's not here. Come on, she said she'll arrive late. She usually isn't away so long," she said, and tried to reach out to hold Tomoki's hand still holding his drink. Tomoki left it on the table. Tomoki closed his eyes and sighed, and in resignation walked to the door and to make sure it was locked. His sister was there on his bed, her cheeks red, her bare feet wiggling a bit. He sat on the bed. She didn't move, her eyes were shut, she held her breath.
He touched the hem of her skirt and pulled it up, no underwear. She was really looking to start something. He buried his face between her legs and tried to use his mouth. He tasted, tongue laving, imagining himself to be a rabid black wolf lapping up blood from a recent kill while his sister thrashed above him.
"Holy shit," she said, cursed in a voice thick with desire and longing, and even if they were alone here at home and she was whispering he had to clamp his left hand hard on her mouth to make her shut up. And he continued, somehow did it with no noise at all. They only ever did this once, last night, but both of them had been so silent, they didn't make a sound that even the whisper of the wind outside was louder.
#
It was this time where she did indeed die, expire, and if coming was akin to dying – as what was said of that moment, the little death – then she had died again and again in his bed. It seemed to last for so long, she wasn't aware of time, or of how many times pleasure lashed through her like wave after heavy wave of sea in the throes of a storm. Her theory was confirmed, her brother did have the strength to leave her tired and breathless. He did things with his hands, mouth, that even the smallest caress or kiss could make her die. She bit her tongue to keep herself quiet, tasting and swallowing spit and blood.
Afterwards, both of them still damp with sweat even if the air conditioning was sub-zero freezing, Tomoki back on his table writing and Tomoko smiling delirious on his bed, looking drowsy and chasing her dreams with a smile. Her knees were still shaking, and this probably what it felt like to have her brains fucked out of her.
"You're the one who got carried away," Tomoko said, whose skirt was damp with come, hers and his. Tomoki folded a piece of paper towel, wiped them off her, wrapped the used contraception in scratch paper to throw later.
"Change your clothes. They're full of sweat," Tomoko said, before drawing up the sheets to sleep. They still wore most of their uniform. Tomoki's hands shook and his handwriting was shaky, still drained from what they did. He decided to stop trying to study, he let himself fall into bed instead, pull her close for a kiss and then sleep.
This was better than the first, there was an instinct to it, to what action can provoke a specific reaction. He felt like a god, he felt whole, he hasn't felt anything like that before.
#
Their mother went upstairs to check if Tomoki was home. She tread softly, since Tomoki could be sleeping or studying. She turned the knob and it was locked, but the door slid quiet for a centimeter. Something moving on the bed, but silent and cautious. She opened the door a bit more, and her eyes widened shocked at the sight. For a moment she stayed, as if not believing what she was seeing. She seemed to freeze for a moment, unable to process it. She still closed the door as silent as she can, dumbfounded and for once not knowing how to react. She ran down to the kitchen, filled a glass with ice water and drank it all. She sat on a chair, her own hand slapped against her forehead and her eyes still unblinking and open in shock.
She sat on the kitchen chair, feeling like she should puke, or think about it because she still couldn't decide if it was a trick of the light, that maybe she had mistaken what she really saw. Her mind was totally blank against this paradox, and wondered what was wrong with her, if it was her fault, something wrong in her way of bringing them up. Sure, they grew up together rather close, but then fell out in a manner so common in siblings with years so small a gap.
She didn't expect that. She was caught in a dilemma of how to feel, her heart lurching. She was preparing the food on the table, but after that left for her room and stayed there, thinking of what to do, sat on the blank space where her husband slept. It's okay, if she doesn't go out for dinner her son would wash the dishes anyway.
Maybe she could decide, later. A long while later, she heard them go downstairs, she could hear the sound of plates, glasses, and spoons. She still had time enough to think.
#
Tomoki woke up alone in his bed, 10 that night. He hasn't eaten, so he just joined his sister downstairs for dinner. Tired as they were, they didn't speak of it again. Tomoko just yawned and left him to wash the dishes after eating. Like all that before, nothing really changed between them. He heard someone else's footsteps, and when he saw his mother approaching his first reaction was shock and guilt. He breathed, tried to calm the sudden beating rush of blood inside him.
"Where's Tomoko? Has she eaten?" she asked.
"Yes. She's now sleeping, in her room," he said, trying his best to keep his voice from shaking.
"The next time you and your sister fuck, you should probably make sure you've closed the door. You locked it, but it wasn't closed," said this mother, and Tomoki almost dropped the plate on the sink but managed to catch it before it could break and shatter. He looked at her, and it was as though this woman wasn't his mother. His mother's voice reeked with venom, a hairsbreadth away from exploding, words spoken through gritted teeth.
He's never seen her like this, her green eyes glaring at him, color made brighter by the whites now turned red, probably from crying. Maybe she had. If her teeth ground any harder, maybe they would crush. She was clenching her fists so hard that her manicured nails must already be making her palms bleed with four deep crescent wounds. All Tomoki could do was stare at her, fear in his eyes, for the first time feeling like a trapped rat. For all his talk about how they were never wrong because it felt right... he felt unmistakable doom looming over his back like a shadow of an oncoming storm. The water was still running on the faucet, soap still in his hands. He had sinned, he was caught, and now there was nothing he could do. He couldn't deny it now.
"Why?" His mother asked.
Tomoki tried to maintain a facade of indifference, trying to look more interested in the water washing off the bowl than facing his mother.
He answered, "Would it be wrong if she wanted it too?"
His mother hit him with a slap, it sounded like a gunshot that even the birds coasting in the trees outside were startled. A fast, black cloud of the flocks flew upwards and disappeared to the sky. The noise of beating wings and the loud cries of birds seemed to shake the very air. Then silence.
His face, eyes wide and tears threatening, was thrown to the side. The slap felt like it had enough force to even behead him.
Then there was only the sound of a boy weeping from the pain.
to be continued.
