The Creatures Series

Sixth Dark

Sixth DarkCreatures of the Dark

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##### Sixth Dark #####

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Of all the dark places in the world, the deepest ones are inside us.

I feel more like crawling into my death sentence where there has been a penalty waiting for me at the other end of the track rather than stepping into a party room for a family celebration right now. I’ve been staring at the floor ever since I entered the main household of Rainfold, and I certainly haven’t lifted my head after that. I can’t risk it. I know my limitation. I won’t be able to handle the stares they’re going to give me.

All the hate. So much hate. I can feel the intensity even though I ’ m not looking at them. I ’ ve seen enough signs to prove myself right. Even the first ever family member that stands near the front door stop greeting the other members because of the sight he ’ d seen. I can feel the disgust creeping into his face when I walk past him ─ that was why he was so stiff. There was no wonder. And then, the next family members that came into the corners of my eyes also did the same thing. Stop and stare. Like I was a wild, ugly animal, who just escaped from a zoo. I was so ugly that they couldn ’ t even stop stabbing me with those sharp looks.

I’ve finally entered the party room, but the looks just can’t go away. Their gazes, all of them are directed at me. Every single look is judging me in every step I take, waiting for me to fall on the floor and humiliate myself. Their eyes linger on my look, and even the white dress isn’t enough as a ticket for me to come. My free hand caress the side of the long and wavy skirt.

Mine is nothing compare to their beautiful and expensive ones.

“─ Arsene. ”

The mention of that name snaps me out of my thoughts. I lift my head in a reflex, but avoid any eye contacts with anyone. I find the source of who pronounced that name and I feel my breath got caught in my throat.

Anthone is standing right beside me. He ’ s so close, I can even smell him. He ’ s wearing a lily cologne ─ such a rare scent to pick. But not only that, his hand also circles around mine. I almost snapped my entire body away from him, until I realized why I need to stay put in the first place.

“What did you just call me?” My voice comes out as a whimper more than a snap.

He sighs until I can feel his cold breath. It’s mint.... Combined with his lily cologne.... Frozen Lily.

“Centry,” he finally says lazily, as if accusing me to be so dumb suddenly. That effect stab sharply through my heart, reminding me how hateable I am to him.

I bit my lips ─ I can ’ t cry right now. Not in the middle of this celebration. We ’ re in a party right now. If I cry, I will only ruin their mood and make them hate me more. Then, they ’ ll kick me out of this place and forbid me to enter anymore. The worst part is that Anthone is my partner, and he despises me the most. Who know if he ’ ll just decide to kill me on the spot rather than wait for the party to end? He ’ s not the waiting type if he really wants to do something. He won ’ t drag me into the Frontier Forest so that we can be away from anyone and then finally kill me. He ’ ll just go straight into the bloody gore part.

“It’s just- I thought you said-,” I thought you called me Arsene before. “I was so sure that-“

“What are you talking about? I can’t hear you clearly,” he say, leaning forward and closer to me. I step back as a reflex, freaking out inside, even though I know that I’m not in a battlefield anymore. No, this is not a battlefield. This is my death sentence.

“I just thought that you said-“. It is necessary for Anthone to know about that I’d misheard? “Never mind,” I mutter immediately.

Anthone isn’t that interested in hearing as well, so he looks away. His serious expression looks even harder than before when he catches something in his eyes. I follow his gaze across the hundreds of family members and spotting the eldest looking at our direction. His expression’s also hard, but I can’t understand the cause. Isn’t my presence in here is what he wants?

Averting my gaze, I can see my teammates sending confused and unexpected looks to me. Surely, they do not expect me to be near Anthone for long. Let alone being his partner. I would have joined them immediately as soon as I meet their eyes, but Anthone's hand is holding me to stay. I want to explain the situation to them, but I'm afraid he won't even let me. Anthone is not the type for compromising.

What surprises me this night is not just the fact that the elders are sending Anthone to keep an eye on me, but also because the Hollsworth even here. The elders became so generous, even to invite them. Or so that's what I hear from the gossiping relatives. Why would the Hollsworth be even here? And their team representative is even here?

"You need to stay away from trouble as far as possible,” Anthone warns from beside me, as if I don't know the importance of it.

The stares that the family members are giving get more intense with every passing minute. Something bad is building inside me and I take it as a cue to run. But the problem is that I can't get away from Anthone, with his fingers tangled my fingers in his, something he rather likes to do since his hand had gotten tired. I try to close my eyes once in a while and breathe slowly, even though it won't stop the ticking bomb beneath my chest.

"Anthone, I need to go to the restroom." The bathroom excuse is something I rarely use, even for a real purpose. But surely he can't go with me to there.

"Fine,” he says and leads me to there. "I'll wait outside."

So, instead of letting go the usual ritual, I'm going to let it out in the toilet?

I enter the women's restroom and find it empty. Good. I lock the door, hoping Anthone won't mind it at all. I reach the sink with my head looking down the entire time, noticing how beautifully expensive the handle is. It'll be too bad to see it destroyed into worthless pieces later, just like my fate. I place both of my hands at the counter and look into the mirror.

Black like carbon, the evil color invades both of my whole eyes as an attempt to block my sights. I can still see, even though my sights aren't as clear as they used to be. Both of my eyes are framed by the dark shadows, dancing from the corners. The deepness will soon devour everything around me if I fail to endure it. The tips of death give out how close it is to explode and swallow lives. Innocent or not, there's no excuse. Chaos and peace is as thin as me. Then, there's a tiny small rings on my eyes, barely ones, as an effect from the light. It is how deep the darkness is.

A knock from the door gets my attention.

"Just a moment." I need to escape, but when I look up at the wall on my left, I find the air ventilation is too small for me. A fly might escape, but not me. Except, if only I can turn into gas....

A snap of a lock, and suddenly I'm already passing through the air ventilation and arrive the outside of the building like a floating snake.

I can hear my name being call from inside as I sneak into Frontier. Once I'm quite far from the main household, I run as if a humongous rock monster is chasing me.

Trees pass by in random location. I have to circle each that I come across to. My dress is too fancy for this kind of walk, so it is either to stain or strip. The problem is, I can't do both. So I avoid mud as best as possible. Once I arrive at my cottage, I change into my usual combat clothes and run outside once again. I'm far from everything when I let it go. It feels like finally able to breathe again after holding for such a long time. So it becomes so greedy and wants to inhale everything in.

This is not suppose to happen, because I thought that I was neutral—being a magical creature that doesn't possess any magic, a living being so tragic and ironic, it's pitifully worthless. That was one of the reasons why the Rainfold family throws me away.

The shadow forms out from me through invisible pores, so fast it's like unavoidable waves. It flows and fills the empty air like a poisonous gas, making crows that fly pass by falls like rain. So heavy, it forces the wild plants and trees to bow down. Keeps on roaming until the entire earth around me, as far as I can see, covers with a blanket of thick black fog. It is so thick, it almost as thin as a feather to solid.

It—the darkness inside of me—is now out.

The Yitzh Champion almost gets canceled the next morning if some earth sorceress hasn't able to fix the field we need. The second round is supposed to be the time when we pick our own opponents. My friends think that I'm sick today, so they let me just stand around at the back while they attack the opponents. We win effortlessly at the end of the day. The sun is setting at the lotus pond as I walk my friends’ home despite my condition that they think. That's when a grey head appear before us.

"You were gone,” he say when he walk to me.

My friends eye him. The girls in curiosity and the boys with suspicion.

"I just remembered that I need to get back,” I mutter slowly.

"Where were you?" He asks.

"At the restroom?"

"I'd checked every stall, and you weren't in any of them,” he replies. "Where were you?" Pressing the matter more, he asks again.

I bit my lips. What will be my answer? Then, something inside me clicks. I look at Ginnie besides me, who has the same look as well. "You checked? Then, you entered the girl's bathroom? What if she wasn't decent when you did?" She asks him.

Anthone just stands in there like he usually do, no reaction at all.

"And the reality is, you weren't. So, how did you escape when the only exit from there is the door? What is it that so urgent, you even made yourself disappear into thin air?" He didn't follow me? That's great news. But what should I answer?

Anthone still waiting for my response with an impatient stance. This assignment is irritating him, I know. But before I can even say anything, Ginnie and Latherine push me away from him.

"Centry is sick today. She might be able to walk us here, but who knows when she will pass out. We're going to walk her home right now, so talk to her at another time once she gets better,” Latherine say, defying him in an expectable way. Ginnie doesn't even talk and has this very annoyed look on her face. I and the rest of the boys are stunned with her action, but don't have the chance to say anything as they both push me at the direction to my cottage. I don't want to look back either, because I can feel Anthone's angry glare, planting on my back.

Until the three of us got quite far from the boys' ears that Ginnie finally ask the question that has been disturbing her. "What's with you and Anthone? You guys aren't— You know,” she trails off.

"No, Ginnie. We’re not dating. He got an assignment from the elders to watch over me. That’s why he has been.... around,” I clear it out.

“Well, that’s boring,” she mutters, folding her arms. “If you guys are really dating, which is actually will be very weird and kind of impossible, and then there will be at least a gossip to talk to. My stocks are kind of low, lately. And since I have the inside scoop, I might actually deliver the news at the same time. Not that this whole relationship thing is impossible for you both because of your looks, but because of your relationship history.”

Latherine giggles, while I can only shake my head at her bragging until we reach the small bridge over the ribbon-thin river.