Sorry for the delayed chapter. To make up for it, receive this mostly fluffy chapter! The only warning for this chapter is parent deaths in flashback.
Chapter 6: Family
Days continued to pass normally at the Orphanage for Mono. As he walked to Tria's room, everyone around who noticed him would avoid him. Whether they didn't want to be near him in fear of Quint or because they feared him after what had happened with the windows, the boy felt discouraged. He was used to the feeling but it still hurt. Or maybe he had forgotten that lonesome feeling after spending time with Tria and that's why it stung. While the child no longer hated his own name, being avoided while walking down the hall reminded him of the negative meaning of his name.
Entering Tria's room after knocking three times, the boy saw the girl painting on her walls. She was adding scenery on the wall adjacent to her bed. It was of a lake with many trees surrounding it. The way she painted them looked so realistic.
"Oh, welcome, Mono!" Tria turned to smile at the boy.
"Wow..." he could only mutter in awe.
Giggling, the girl put down her art supplies. "You like it? It's from something I recently saw. But that can wait." Turning to face him, she inquired in a serious tone, "What's wrong?"
"What?" The boy jerked his attention away from the wall.
"Something is bothering you, Mono. It's written all over your face. So, what's wrong?"
The girl was very perceptive. Sighing, the boy walked over to sit down at the edge of her bed, pondering what to say. Being around Tria was nice but he wanted more than one friend. However, everyone had always avoided him. Everyone except Tria. Seeing that the boy wasn't responding, the girl took off her smock and placed it on a chair. Walking over to join Mono, she sat down next to him. Tria waited patiently as the boy thought more about how to voice his concern. Unable to find a way, he just let it out.
"I don't think I can make friends."
"Why do you think so?" Tria questioned, concern all over her face as she placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer to her.
"Everyone avoids me."
"I'm sure you can make friends, Mono, just not at this Orphanage," the girl assured.
"What if no one wants to be my friend because of the way I am? Quint said I'm different... and ever since the windows broke, everyone has been avoiding me. What if I need to change to make new friends?"
It had taken several days for Mono to accept that the window shattering wasn't his fault and even if he was the one who'd caused it to happen, it was an accident. However, just because he accepted it, it didn't mean he would just forget. Even though he would like to forget, the other orphans didn't, giving him weird looks and whispering when they thought he was far away. It really made him feel discouraged about the idea of having friends in the future.
"Silly boy, you don't have to pretend to be someone else to make friends. Just be who you are. You don't have to change. You only have to if you are a bad kid and you, Mono, are a good kid. Your kindness really shines the most," Tria argued. "Even if you hold the real you close to your chest, as long as you are yourself, you'll make true friends."
With that simple explanation, Mono just felt in awe. Of course, he didn't fully understand the meaning behind Tria's words like 'real you', but he got most of the message that she was trying to say. What the older girl was saying was that he was fine as he was right now, wasn't it? However, his tormentor's words started to ring in his ears.
"Something is telling me that you're different and I don't like it. That's why I don't like you. That's why no one likes you!"
It had Mono feeling curious. Out of everyone, why her? Why had Tria defended him from Quint on the day she had moved in? He'd never really questioned it himself. Or maybe he had once and had forgotten with so many events happening. He wasn't questioning her intentions, he was just curious about her reasons.
"Tria?"
"Yes?"
"Was there a reason why you helped me and later defended me from Quint that day?" he asked.
There was a moment of pause. Taking a breath, she answered, "Despite that I didn't know much about you then, seeing you alone made me hate it. It made me sad and it made me angry that no one else would stop Quint. If they were in your position, they would want to be helped. To not have your cries for help answered is a sad, lonely feeling." The girl's eyes looked distant as if she was recalling a sad past.
~oOo~
In the far west, a small town rested in the middle of a luscious field, known as the Ruin Town. It got its name because the field used to be a barren wasteland but the people managed to build a decent town from it. In the town lived a normal, happy family of three. A beautiful mother and a hardworking father... both had raised their daughter well. However, rumors spread that wandering into the Ruin Town was a monster known as the Plague Witch. Crafty with their disguise, the monster played its part well as it visit house after house, spreading its disease. But no one knew the monster's identity.
Alone at home, an eleven-year-old Tria was planning to go outside to welcome her parents when they returned in a few minutes. Instead, she found a young girl collapsed at her doorstep. The child looked about nine years old. She was dressed in tattered rags and appeared to have passed out from lack of food. Her long brown hair was messily tangled and there were bruises all over her tanned complexion. Carrying the girl into her house, Tria nursed the child until she had regained consciousness.
"Oh, you're awake!" the older girl exclaimed. "My name is Tria. What's your name?"
She gently lifted the young girl so she could sit up. Her blue eyes scattered around, taking in the warm setting of a comfortable home before meeting the green eyes of Tria. She stared at the older girl for a long time before muttering in a quiet voice. However, Tria didn't hear and had asked again.
"Demi."
"I found you collapsed in front of my door. Why were you there?"
"The Plague Witch. She's here!" the girl gasped, suddenly shaking her head as she looked at her surroundings again.
She? Tria frowned. She had heard of the monster, but no one really knew the identity of the Plague Witch. However, she disregarded the information after seeing the scared child in front of her. Hugging Demi, she soothed the girl, "Shh. It'll be okay. You're safe."
"... You're a very beautiful girl, Tria," Demi complimented.
"Not really."
The child clearly thought otherwise. She smiled as she raised her arms above Tria, "You really are... which means I've decided."
The sudden shift in tone bothered Tria as she pulled away from the embrace to give Demi a quizzical look. The little girl in front of her now looked so calm that it was unsettling. "Decided? On what?"
The younger child's smile grew as her skin started to melt. Screaming in horror, Tria got up and turned on her heels to run away but Demi had grabbed hold of her foot, yanking her backwards. Falling onto the floor, the eleven-year-old turned to face the melting child. From that shell rose a giant, smoky figure. Long white hair like an old hag's, black eyes like an endless abyss, and sickly greenish-yellow skin. Those ugly lips curled up into a cruel, crooked smile as the figure's eyes burned with malice. Tria quickly made the connection. The creature in front of her was the Plague Witch. Was Demi even her name? Or was that the name of the child whose body the monster claimed? When the monster spoke, her voice came out as raspy and so deathly quiet that it could cut the silence in the air. No longer was there a childish voice, but an old woman's.
"I want your body!"
The Plague Witch's lower half was still attached to the small child's body. However, her upper half was made of hazy smoke that reeked of sweet poison. Tria looked at the empty husk whose hand still had a deathly grip on her foot. She frantically tried to kick the hand loose with her other foot, but the grip only tightened in response. The Plague Witch only chuckled at the scene.
Looking at the monster in the eyes, Tria's mind began to desperately think. She had to stall for time. Her parents could return at any moment! For now, she needed to distract the Plague Witch from snatching her body and claiming it as her own.
"W-Wait!"
The Plague Witch laughed, "It's futile to resist."
"Is your name really Demi?" Tria asked, trying to keep her tone calm and even.
Just get her talking. It doesn't matter what the subject is!
"Demi was the name of that husk who is holding onto your foot. I claimed her body from a distant village, but the villagers gave chase to me. I've fled to this town, in need of a new body to snatch," the Plague Witch explained. "My name is Lilith. Though I see no reason to give you my name. Once I claim your body, you'll be dead!"
"Why me?" the older girl questioned. In her head, she was pleading for her mother and father to hurry back home.
"I was once a normal human once, you know. I helped people with my medicinal skills but then the people turned on me! They rejected my help, so I decided to give everyone a beautiful gift instead," Lilith explained. "To do that, I need a new vessel after they burned my original body. So be honored that I've chosen you."
The Plague Witch started to raise her long arms, reaching out for the girl. Before the monster could touch the child, however...
"Tria!"
Hearing her father's voice, the girl rejuvenated as her parents entered into their home. Using fire from torches, her father swung at the monster. The Plague Witch screamed as she recoiled; the flames from the torches reminded her of when she was burned at the stake! With the Plague Witch distracted, her mother rushed in and helped her daughter break free from the husk's grip. Angered at her missed opportunity to claim a body when she'd had the chance, the monster sneered at the two adults who stood in the way.
Without warning, she started to release her gift - her beautiful poisonous gas - at the adults. The couple stood tall, determined to protect their daughter. However, they both hunched over, coughing violently as the gas spread around them. Relishing in the suffering of the parents, the Plague Witch had miscalculated the distance her poison could reach. It spread so far that it even reached Tria. Realizing too late, the monster let out a frustrated shriek. The family of three were now infected! The poison in their pitiful bodies acted like a virus. Once it reached their systems, it would slowly eat away at the victims from the inside until they fell to sleep!
Tria was infected. That meant that her body was no longer suitable to claim. And the husk once known as Demi had already melted beyond repair. Had the Plague Witch known that this was going to happen, she wouldn't have discarded the body so easily. Now she was without physical form. Until she could find another body - preferably a beautiful one - spreading her poison would be difficult. If only she could have been quicker and snatched Tria's body! That way, her gift could've spreaded and been contagious. But since she had spread it when she was without physical form, her victims' illnesses wouldn't spread. Seething, the monster disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the Ruin Town.
For a few days, life for Tria had returned to normal until her parents grew sick. Since they were protecting her from the Plague Witch, they faced the severity of their illness as the poison ate away at them with each passing day. Needing to care for her sickly parents whom she loved so much, the girl tried asking for help. For weeks, she visited everyone she knew but they ignored her. No one offered any aid to her parents, afraid they would pass on the illness. People avoided her like the plague because she was also infected.
Everyone was ignorant, wanting to believe what they heard. The townspeople grew afraid of Tria. The illness could not be passed, yet even after learning about that fact, no aid came. Instead, the town's mayor had ordered the eleven-year-old to leave. Naturally, she'd refused at first, unwilling to leave her parents behind. So, she was given a deadline by the heartless man. After her parents' passing, she would leave the Ruin Town. It was a very pitiful story of a girl, who tragically lost both her parents.
She couldn't help her parents, so the girl had made a promise to herself. If there was ever someone in need, she would help them. If someone was crying out for help, she wouldn't ignore them like how the townspeople ignored her.
~oOo~
"Tria?"
Hearing Mono's voice snapped her out of her memory as she turned her head to look at him. He was looking at her with concern in his eyes. Seeing him worried for her caused Tria to smile sadly. She gently ruffled his hair, "You'll make new friends one day, Mono. This place just isn't the right one. Just be yourself and I know someday, someone will appreciate you for being you. Trust me, I know."
The more he thought about it, the more Mono felt admiration for Tria for teaching him valuable lessons. "Okay!"
Smiling, Tria ruffled the boy's hair once more before reaching over to a bowl of cherries to eat. Staring at the red fruit, the girl recalled how she'd learned the secrets behind the cherry in her hands. Her parents, who were suffering, had told her to not blame herself for that day when she'd mistakenly let the Plague Witch into their home. That was their request on their deathbeds. Three days later, a wandering traveler had come to the Ruin Town after her parents' deaths, bringing a bag full of cherries. Having come across the man, Tria became mesmerized by the red fruits without knowing why there was a sudden craving to eat them. The traveler was the only one who wasn't afraid of her and had told her everything after she told him of her illness.
With nowhere to go in the Ruin Town, she had moved in with the traveler and lived with him. In exchange for cherries, she had helped with household chores out of gratitude. For a year, that had been her new life until the traveler died on his visit to the north. That's when she'd come to this Orphanage...
The girl sighed as she slowly ate the fruit, If only I'd learned about this sooner...
"Tria?"
"Yes?"
"What is this?" Mono showed her a little white orb in his cupped hands.
Finishing with her little snack, the girl cleaned her hands first before taking the orb from the boy. She inspected it. After a quick examination, she eventually returned it to its owner. "It's a pearl. Where did you get it?"
The boy frowned as he put it back into his magenta bag. "I know you said my mother isn't my mother anymore but I don't understand. I think she gave me this. If she didn't want me, why send me off to the Orphanage with a soft blanket, a bag, and this pearl?"
"I don't really know, Mono. My parents weren't like that."
Mono felt a little disappointed that not all his questions could be answered but he didn't blame Tria. Despite that she was older than him by six years, she was still a kid just like him. She knew some things better than he did, but she was not an all-knowing being. Thinking about his belongings, Mono didn't understand this feeling weighing in his chest. His mother had explicitly made it clear that she hated him - yelled it in his face. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to throw his possessions away. He should've been able to but he couldn't. Why?
Sighing, the boy decided to shift the topic onto Tria's parents. "Do you miss them?"
An innocent question that stung a bit. Of course she missed them. They were very kind, loving parents who would support her in whatever dream she wanted. Getting off of bed, the girl walked over to her desk and took something from the pile of trinkets. A family photo of them. Wordlessly, she returned to the bed and handed Mono the picture frame.
Taking the picture, the boy stared at it. The photo was surprisingly full of color. It wasn't like any of the dull pictures he had seen hanging around the Director's office. Looking at the dark-haired woman in a green blouse and jeans on the left side of the photo, Mono stared at her facial features. A warm smile and gentle green eyes were staring right back at him. No doubt that the woman was Tria's mother. On the right was the girl's father. His golden hair was messy but he dressed so neatly. At the center was a younger Tria, sitting in between her mother and father's joined hands. She looked happy in the picture. Looking up at the girl, Mono could see her smiling but the one she was wearing right now looked like she was recalling a happy moment. It didn't compare to the smile she made when she was younger.
"You missed them." It wasn't a question but a statement.
"Yes," Tria confirmed. "When they left, I grew to miss them dearly. But... I also found an opportunity. Had I never been sent to this Orphanage, I wouldn't have gotten to meet you. That one extra leaf brought luck, remember?"
Mono smiled, recalling how Tria had taught him the meaning of the four-leafed clover. His smile fell a little as he asked his next question. "But isn't it painful?"
"It is painful. Losing them hurts. There are still times when I would feel guilt. But I like to believe everything about memories should be embraced. The pain, the sadness… it's because I love them that I don't want to forget, no matter how much it hurts thinking about them. Because I had wonderful memories of them, the loss - painful as it was, had become endearing to me. I can focus on the future because of it," the girl explained. Turning to face the boy, she smiled, "You'll eventually come to understand that feeling one day too, Mono."
Smiling fully again, the boy nodded. Looking at the clock, he realized they still had a lot of free time. Unfortunately, the children had read through the entire collection of storybooks Tria had brought with her. The books in the library weren't as interesting as the storybooks, so there was no point in going to take the books there.
So, to pass the time, Tria had suggested making friendship bracelets. The concept was intriguing to the boy. He didn't know friends would wear bracelets that declared friendships. Nevertheless, he was excited to try an activity he had never done before. Going over to her trinkets, Tria showed him what the bracelet was supposed to look like and told him of the endless designs he could try.
Excited, Mono began to pick many strings and tried to follow a pattern. However, midway into the bracelet, he stopped to look at the bag that contained the pretty white pearl. It would be a waste to throw it away. The way it glistened under the light with its silvery overtones... He might as well use it to make a friendship bracelet out of it.
"Tria?"
"Yes, Mono?"
"Can I include my pearl when making my friendship bracelet?"
"Of course! Let me get some materials." Getting up, the girl went back to her desk before returning with some supplies in her hands.
Time continued to pass until eventually, Mono had made five bracelets, each with different colored strings and designs. By then, Tria had managed to encase the pearl with wires to ensure it wouldn't be lost, sort of like a little cage. There were two loops on the sides of the wires for two pieces of the bracelet to attach. Tria believed that it was best to have the pearl be the main feature, so she secured the tiny orb for that reason. That way, the pearl won't get lost. Proud of her work, Tria gave Mono his pearl back.
Smiling, the boy started to work on his sixth friendship bracelet. Since the pearl reminded him of the moon, Mono decided to use six different colored strings to make the bracelet. Lucky for him, he managed to fit all the threads into the loop. Glancing at the progress, Tria noted the colors. Near the caged pearl were the darker colors like magenta, blue, and sea-foam green. It was going more to the warmer colors such as pink, and peach further away. White was the only exception.
"It's like when a sunset turns into dusk," she commented.
"Yeah," Mono nodded with a smile.
Finishing with his last bracelet, he put five inside of his magenta bag. However, the third one that he'd made, he gave it to Tria. The girl was delighted to receive the green and white bracelet. In exchange for the gift, Tria decided to paint Mono's room, much to the boy's surprise. She didn't have to go all that way for something as simple as a friendship bracelet, but she had insisted, wanting to paint the room into a lively color. Moving buckets of paints from her room to Mono's, the girl took a paintbrush and randomly painted.
Seeing Tria clearly enjoying herself, the boy contributed as well. He wasn't as skilled as the girl; his painting was childish compared to hers but he had fun. That was the point. As he painted, Mono felt something from Tria. It wasn't exactly friendship. To him, the girl wasn't like a friend. She was more like... family. Was that even possible? For people to be family without being related to them? Without being adopted? Tria had explained that a family would start when two adults loved each other. So how could their friendship become familial when they were essentially orphans?
"Tria?"
"Yes, Mono?"
Putting down his brush, he began to ask, "You said love has many meanings... I'm not asking what those meanings are but... is it weird? Rather than seeing you as a friend... I sort of see you like..."
"Like family? An older sister? Or perhaps almost like a mother?" the girl finished for him. After receiving a nod, she smiled, "Of course not." Crouching down to get to his level, she continued, "Sometimes, friendship runs down so deep, love could go two ways: you may see your friends as family or... you might see them as someone more than friends. Time will move on. People and their feelings will change."
Looking at Tria straight in the eyes, Mono questioned, "Does that mean you see me like family?"
"Yes," the girl's smile grew bigger. "You're like a little brother to me!"
Learning this new information had Mono feeling relief. Many times, Tria had taken care of him. She had befriended him when nobody else would, defended him when no one else would... she had taught him many things as well. Happy things like love, the meaning of friends. She even gave him wonderful things like head pats, hugs, and kisses. Never having those types of things before, Mono wasn't embarrassed about the affectionate display. Truly, he loved her like family - like a big sister who could act motherly sometimes.
With a smile on his face, the boy beamed, "I love you, Tria."