Sleep is my lover now;
My forgetting;
My opiate;
My oblivion
Mana had stop coming. And not too long after, Neah had stop waiting for Mana.
But sometimes, at night, when Neah thinks that the other occupant of the house was sleeping, he would slip out of their room. Red had never thought of it much, especially since Neah had always been a night owl.
But one night, curiosity gotten the best of Red. He wanted to see what Neah was doing, wanting to know what secret he was trying to hide.
Torches or any source of lights had never existed in this house, so trustingly, Red let the soft caresses of the moonlight guide me. Windows run along the wall, letting in the light of the moon and he shadows of trees from outside.
There isn't a lot of room in this house, seeing as the maximum occupant had only three people. Back then, when he haven't arrive, Neah must had felt so lonely, Mana was his only companion. But, at least, Neah will no longer alone in this house.
Wondering around the house, IRed had finally found himself at the end of the hallway, with a lone room at the corner of it. A hand timidly reaches out for the doorknob before stopping just an inch away, and instead, an outstretched palm lightly pushes the wooden door. At the other side of the door, Red could only hear soft weeping and hushed whisper, too delicate for the ears to hear.
He doesn't need to see to know anymore, Red put his back against the wall and gently slides down to not create any noise. Red doesn't need to know much. It seems that his predictions was true, Mana is not coming anymore.
Mana won't visit Neah anymore...
The sky seemed so cruel tonight, keeping such a secret from him.
Red could only glare at the distant lights from afar.
Nightmares still affected him, it seems. Allen thought that he could no longer get any nightmares, since all his dreams had only been one. But, it seems, that life still wants to prove him wrong.
Allen doesn't want to sleep tonight, he doesn't want to get caught in a trap that his mind had created. Neah had gave him his own room, since their old one looks like no living thing should exist there. Sighing broadly, he let his gaze fall onto the ceiling, probably not the most interesting thing to entertain his mind. But it's not like there are other thing to focus in this empty room here. Neah should not be in charge of decoration.
The door creaked open, accompanied by gentle footsteps. "You can't sleep?" Neah ask, sitting at the edge of the sprawled futon.
"Not sleepy," Allen replies, his eyes tracing the cracks that runs along the ceiling.
Neah cracked a smile at the response. "You sure grown Allen. . ." He says wistfully, reminiscing about the time when Allen was Red.
Allen sigh as he pushes himself up in a sitting position, silver eyes narrowing at Neah.
"Who knew that you could be nearly as tall as me," The other man continues, his hands playing with the blanket of Allen's futon, gripping and twisting the white sheets. "And your hair Allen. . .it's white now, as if you're an old man. And that scar on your eye. . ."
"It's not your fault, Neah," Allen announced, causing Neah to flinch in surprise. Those golden eyes looks older now, but then again, Neah is old. "The decision that you made at that day was not wrong. I don't even blame you for that,"
Neah looks like he's about to cry, Allen doesn't know what to do if someone is crying. He doesn't have the experience for that, after all, the only tears that he had saw was the tears of dying men, who wished to be spared. But Allen doubt that Neah will cry, does he even have tears for that?
"If... If I haven't left you in their care, Allen. If I haven't left you. If I had been strong enough at that time... Then you wouldn't have to go through any of this. You wouldn't have decided to leave and go through any hardship-" Neah starts ranting, as though he was against the idea that he wasn't guilty.
"Neah," Allen says boldly, like a parent scolding their child. "I'm a dreamwalker remember, a wanderer who walks through reality and illusion, where I go is my own responsibility, where I choose to stay is my own choice-" Allen took a deep breath, his hands suddenly clutching Neah's shoulder as he pulls Neah closer to him. "-IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!"
Left in a dumbfound state, Neah didn't even react to Allen's statement. And Allen felt heat rising to his cheek, embarrassed at his actions. Allen was never a bold person and yet here he was, screaming at other people faces. "Kill me now," his internal monologue plays in his mind.
"I'm suddenly tired," Allen says timidly, turning his head in the opposite direction as he refuse to see Neah. "I want to sleep now," he continues.
Neah stifled a laugh and pushes himself of the ground. "Goodnight," he says as he rummage his hand through Allen's hair and leave the room.
Allen went back under his sheet, covering the blanket over his head like some sort of protection. This time it took less than five second to sleep, as when his head hit's the pillow he immediately dozed off.
Allen was a mature child, he understand the reasons behind adult's action and never complained anything about it.
But he doesn't understand this.
Neah was leading him through the Red archways, through another path walk that he had never ventured. As they walk pass, the archways starts to change, the red color slowly seeping out and being replaced by a much darker one. Until at a certain point, the archway is now grey and gold.
Neah gripped his hands tighter as though he was afraid to let go, but throughout the entire journey never once had he spared a glance at Allen. Golden eyes firmly set on the ground, bright and harsh, like a restraint ocean. Allen was too afraid to ask any question.
"I'm sorry, Allen," Neah stays, like a calm before the storm.
Allen smiles in reassurance. "It's okay Neah,"
They reached a door, a delicate intricate of black and gold, gems was placed throughout it, dotting the black canopy like stars. Neah stops before the door, his other hand shakily reach out for it, briefly turning the color of ash before returning back to it's tanned shade. Neah is not afraid, that alone Allen could tell by the way he brings himself, but rather, the emotion that was raging inside Neah was something akin to anger; rage.
Allen had never seen Neah's eyes filled with so much hate.
Quitely, Allen slips his hand from Neah's grip. After all, he know why he was brought here.
Neah is going to let him go. But he doesn't know why.
