Chapter Thirty-Three: We Are Sometimes Too Insecure To See Love
2456 Words
Henderson S. B
The sight before Henderson was heartbreaking; never in his life had he witnessed Simon weeping, even as he had lain in bed, over twenty years ago, crippled by an illness which turned its victim to stone, though the entire List wept, he did not.
His final words had been, ‘Close the damn blinds, you ingrate, its cold!’
A phrase that he could not, for the life of him, understand why he cherished, while chances are, Simon could not even remember its utterance.
Simon was the most significant part of his world, yet to him, her? Them?
Gods, the transformation confused him. He had only met Simon twice in the twenty years after his passing, and both times he had been male, but perhaps he should let himself get comfortable with her feminine form.
Still, the question gnawing his mind that she had refused to answer was, ‘who was that man’.
The questions timing had not come up, even as he relaxed with his bottle on the couch in her room while she sat dramatically on the window ledge.
Simon pressed the sharp edge of her poorly opened wine to her lips, and a red line that in no way resembled the orange colour of wine formed.
“Hey! Let me….get you a glass”, he insisted, standing from his position then walking to hers with the aim of snatching the bottle away for a while to prevent further injuries.
However, he had easily forgotten that she was both quicker and stronger than he, and before he could register the happenings of the situation, she was behind him.
Simon kicked the back of his legs so hard that he fell fast to his knees on the carpeting.
“S-Simon?” Henderson called, confused.
He had always known that Simon was more powerful than he, but he could barely spot her movements for nearly an instant, almost as though she had teleported behind him.
That revelation pinched his pride slightly because he always burdened himself with the goal of one day being stronger than Simon. That was the entire reason he had joined the ninja school, but how is it that though he trained under her, she still had new tricks up her sleeve? How can he be thirty-eight and still chasing something that always seemed to elude him?
“…Hends,” she called quietly, then sipped the drink once more, leaving the entire mouth area stained in crimson, “for tonight, pick your poison and let us drink in the comforts of silence.”
She said, no, she pleaded; however…he still wanted to know.
“On one condition.” He heard himself answer, despite knowing that Simon despised ultimatums, “Who was he?”
“Who was who?”
“You know, that tanned boy with golden eyes. Who is he?”
Simon sighed, then in one foul sweep, she chugged the remainder of the alcohol ill-advisedly, spilling some of its sweet and sticky contents on her clothes.
She then let out an unladylike burp then placed the empty wine bottle back on the table, only to reach out for the Portburgh special and slice its opening in a similar manner to the orange coloured wine.
“You see, Henderson.” She began, “Whhoo! Head rush, sorry.”
“You really think it best to ask such a question when I am drowning in emotion?” she asked, smiling slightly, though her lips did seem to tremble, “but fine, I will entertain you.”
Simon cleared her throat, an act that caused the return of her initial sombre tone.
“As a rule, I am honest.” She said, “I do not tell lies, and by that logic, I do not count omissions as lies because they are not.”
“At least not to me because I feel I understand a little more than you.”
“Are you calling me st-,”
“I call you stupid for breakfast,” she interrupted, a weak smile forming on her lips, “this time, I mean it when I say you are simply uninformed. Blissfully ignorant, if you will.”
She added.
“Still waiting for the compliment.” He retorted.
“There is none, just a question.”
“Okay, what is the question?”
“In a second, first, a disclaimer. I always keep hidden that which I deem unimportant. To most, it is that after I die, I retain memories of my past life.”
“That is irrelevant information to any new family I join.” She explained. “This is because, if they completely end up adoring me, I don’t know why, I have an awful personality, but for whatever reason, they love me, after my passing, if I do go before them, they would actively seek me out, like what you did.”
“This keeps people from moving on.”
“Okay, but in my defence-“ Henderson began, but she interrupted him once more.
“My question is, are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes!” Henderson hesitated not, as he stood to his feet and walked to Simon, “Yes, Simon, I want to know. I want to know everything I can about you.”
His hand was on his chest, his expression earnest, but her face only reflected pity.
“Who did I tell you I was?”
“A soul who wanders from body to body because of a curse.”
“Did I say that, or did you ask if I was that and I simply deflected it?”
“What does it-“
“It matters.” She said, “It, it matters.”
“Okay… let's see, I was eighteen, and you were turning to stone…after that, you said that you would come to visit, and I asked how then you responded by telling me not to worry.” Henderson explained in a sing-song manner, but suddenly mid-explanation, he stiffened, “My girlfriend at the time believed in angels, so I asked you if you were going to be it.”
“Then you said you don’t really believe in angels. However, you do believe in the soul, so I said, you'd probably need a body if you want to visit then-,” he paused, “it was my idea.”
“Wow…I feel…”
“Henderson…”
“No, I feel stupid for thinking that I was special. That I was in the loop with you and the hot dragon.”
“You realise that I raised Tea like a daughter, so by a long shot, both of you could be related.”
‘LALALALALALALALALA! It's not the same! Stop it! It is not the same!!” He yelled, causing a flourish of laughter to erupt from her lips. “Stop it! Don’t ruin it for me!!”
The sound of laughter caused the weight on Henderson’s shoulders to lift. However, the mass on his chest did not budge.
“I am still pretty upset, but I will process that later; carry on with your explanation.”
“Okay, what do you want to know.”
“What? Didn't you say that you would…”
“I want you to ask what you will so that you can stop whenever you feel uncomfortable,” she explained. “So I will simply answer what you ask.”
“Okay, this…this is better than silence.” He said, rubbing both his hands together excitedly.
Henderson plopped his body on the couch chair then motioned for Simon to do the same; unfortunately, however, she shook her head and went back to sit on the window ledge.
“Okay, suit yourself.” Henderson replied snarkily, then began his list of questions, “If you are not a soul moving body to body, then who are you.”
“You already know my name. It is Basilica. I cannot mention more on that.”
“Can not, or will not?”
“It is of no benefit-“
“I…I DECIDE IF IT IS BENEFICIAL.” He did not yell his words; however, he whispered them so loudly that he might as well have.
“I was summoned by the gods from another world.”
“The gods?” he breathed, awe-struck by those words, “Ha-have you met the gods? I hear only saintesses can hear their call.”
“So, so what did the gods want you to do?’ he asked, curious about the possible reason for the summoning.
-Simon is incredible. No doubt the gods had noticed that as well. -
“They wanted me to die.”
“Lies!” the accusation flew easily from his lips immediately she had given her statement, “Stop lying to me!!”
A tense pause hung in the air as Simon’s crimson gaze held his eyes, unblinking and without any confirmation or proof, she nodded.
“I see.” She said, “is there anything else you wish to know?”
“What do you mean? ‘Is there anything else?’ You cannot just accuse the gods of injustice and then…and then just move on without any proof??!” he huffed, “Where is your proof?”
The gods had protected him once when he had gone missing from school during a wave of demon attacks, of that he was certain. So how, how could she spout such blatant lies when the gods protected and cared for them?
Cared for everyone, especially in List.
“Henderson,” she called calmly, in a voice that broke the momentum of his spiral, but before she answered him, she opened her mouth wide and took a large sip of the wine in her hand.
After swallowing noisily, she met his gaze once more, then muttered something about wanting to get drunker.
“I am your proof. My existence is proof, and if that is not enough for you, then….”
She paused to burp.
“ then I can't help you.”
“It is not my job to convince you of anything.”
“Convince me!! Please?” he pleaded. “I need you to convince me!”
“Hends! You don’t need to believe me. In fact, it’s better if you disregard my answers as nonsense.”
“Why?” he frowned, “Why doesn’t it matter to you if I believe you or not?”
“If it were me, I’d want you to believe me!”
“I probably would-,”
“Then….are you saying that I am simply horrific beca-“
“Hends calm down!” this time, it was her turn to whisper-yell, “Just calm down.”
She sighed.
“Look, we have been exposed to different things growing up, so stop being so hard on yourself,”
“Then convince me, tell me things that will make me-,”
“No.” she rejected softly before her lips formed a thin line, as though she tried to restrain herself from saying more.
“Next question, Hends.”
Henderson chuckled bitterly, realising that in the nicest way possible, she had told him that his opinion mattered very little to her, further magnifying his sense of insignificance as one question wrapped his mind.
-Unlike me, will she be okay if I were not here?-
“Why were you to die then? Why did the gods want you to die?”
“For the greater good, I think?”
“For the greater good,” Henderson replied, nodding his head slowly.
“Okay, I see how this is….”
“You say that you will answer me, but you plan only to give me vague-“
“You haven’t asked anything specific.”
“Oh, you want specific?” Henderson smiled contemptuously. “Okay, let’s start with a fun one.”
“How old are you?”
“around two thousand eight hundred…If I am not wrong.”
“Hooo….” He exhaled ruggedly because this was yet another piece of information he could not believe.
But as she was unwilling to fact check, he simply moved on.
“So if you are two thousand years old, then you must have heard about the remembrance myth? A period in time where people forgot the people they loved once they died.”
“I do. I am familiar with that period.”
“Familiar, are you.” He smiled, “Okay, so it was real?”
“Yes, it was.”
-Of course, it was.-
“Okay, them who was that man?” he asked, “In which life did you meet him.”
Simon’s gaze turned away from his then faced down to her bottle.
“Pass.”
“Pass? I didn’t realize that-“
“Look, I get that you are frustrated, but pass.”
“You realize the moment you keep saying pass to everything, then it negates-“
“It’s a pass on that question, Henderson.”
“Do you like him?”
“Wow, what is thi-“
“The first few weeks after you were reincarnated as the son of Marquis Spencer Reckitt, you had relations with your new intended to maintain appearances. Was your relationship with that man like that? Were you with him out of necessity?”
“Okay, I think-“
“Why were you even in List?” he proceeded, interrupting her, “Did- you just come to-,”
“HEY! I did not want to reincarnate in List! I did not even know that that would be my next life,” Simon said, raising her voice as Henderson’s frustration became infectious. “ I was fulfilling my role.”
“Your role? Your role? Appointed by who? The gods who wish to kill you?” he mocked. “They wanted to kill you off so much that you are still alive?”
“I guess so!”
“Oh, did, did these Gods also tell you to raise me?” He questioned sardonically, his tone rising slightly with each question, “What was your role in List? Huh? What was it? This role granted by the gods?”
“You know,” Simon began as a sneer crossed her face, “You really did not sleep in enough caves!”
- Writer
