L.

Hello, it was Black Friday and stuff.

Did anyone go out there in the madness?

The tea's gone Mad

Chapter 14 Parting is no Sorrow

Kaoru and Father didn't return to the house for hours.

They even missed dinner.

I jumped as Kaoru stumbled into our room.

He was gasping for air and covered in dirt.

His eyes were wild with fear.

I rushed to his side.

"Kaoru?" I grabbed his face, forcing him to look up at me.

He looked up at me and grabbed my shirt.

"Hey, what's going on?" I leaned back to look into his panicked face.

"L-lock the…" He shook his head.

I reached up and locked the door.

"He-he was…wasn't d-d-dead Hikaru!"

I frowned.

Dead?

This can't be good.

"Who's not dead?" I asked, searching his horrified eyes for any clue.

He shook his head and pulled his hands away to scratch his scalp. "No! No…the the man! He-he wasn't dead and ….and then…" He jumped up and began walking around, mumbling to himself.

I followed him as he stumbled to the locked windows.

He stared out into the darkness.

"Kaoru talk to me." I grabbed his shoulder.

"He said he killed him." He whispered. "But he wasn't dead…we buried him alive…the ground, it…it moved…"

I couldn't believe what he was saying.

My heart pounded in my chest as I began connecting the dots.

Father killed his associate and they went o bury him. As they were finishing, the ground began to shift as the man began to claw his way up.

He was buried alive.

"His hand…he g-grabbed my foot…and…and Father b-broke his skull…then he…died…again…"

I bit my lip and closed my eyes as I tried to calm my racing heart.

"Okay." I stated, my teeth clenched. "You go clean up." I patted his shoulder and stiffly pushed him in the direction of the shower. "We're leaving tonight. Okay? You go take a shower and I'll get our things."

It needed to stop.

All this madness.

It needed to end.

I watched as he numbly walked to the bathroom, then I ran to the closet and grabbed our identical shoulder bags Mother designed. Within seconds I had them filled with our necessary clothing-shirts, pants, boxers, and a few sweaters.

Everything basic.

I grabbed our bags and dodged into the empty hall then took the servants staircase down to the back of the house. In the kitchen I found the cook. He sat on a stool peeling potatoes.

"Hey." I whispered, my eyes darting to the locked back door, the two bags, and then him.

He looked up at me, terrified.

"Please don't tell." I pleaded, shifting from foot to foot. "You understand right?"

If he didn't, no one else would.

Throughout all the insanity, he was the one other person aside from Kaoru that always had my back.

After a few seconds, he reached into the drawer and tossed me my keys to the Hummer and unlocked the back door.

"I-I'll leave it open for you and your brother." He whispered, his eyes twitching before going back to peeling potatoes.

I nodded, silently thanking him then ran to the Hummer parked at the front of the house.

By the time I got back inside and up in our room, Father was there.

Yelling at Kaoru.

All the color drained from my face as soon as I saw my brother.

He sat on the ground at the bottom of our bed, curled into a tiny ball. His hair was wet and clung to his face and his clothing was only half on his body.

"Kaoru." I spoke, clearing my voice.

Father looked at me then snarled.

"We will finish this later." He glared at me then kicked Kaoru.

It took all my strength not to punch the bastard.

When we were finally alone, I walked up to my twin brother and held out my hand to his quivering form. "Kaoru…let's get out of here. Let's go somewhere-anywhere, just the two of us." He looked up at me, his face red with hot tears and pain. "Okay." He nodded and took my hand.

Then together, we left that cursed room.

"Hikaru!" I looked over my shoulder to see Mother staring at me.

"Ignore her Kaoru." I squeezed his hand in mine and pulled him further down the hall towards the servant's staircase.

"Don't you ignore Mommy!"

"Mother I'm just going to get some tea for you and me." I answered her offhandedly, my focus trained on Kaoru.

"Oh! What a wonderful baby you are!"

And just like that, I bought us some time.

The tea's gone Mad The tea's gone Mad

I don't remember passing out, but when I came to, I was lying face down in a puddle of blood.

Slowly, I climbed to my feet and walked out of the shed.

Father had left me there all alone.

It was night time I got out and the body was gone.

I had no idea what Father did with it and I didn't want to know.

I just wanted to make sure Kaoru was alright.

The tea's gone Mad The tea's gone Mad

L.

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