Mirror And Blood

"Where's the book?" Skylar mumbled. His hands were busy looking to move some used books to the side, his eyes became more focused on researching and hoping to find the book he was referring to.

Skylar rubbed his tired face and sighed, he coughed a little as the dust caught his breath. This seemed impossible for him to do, to search for the book after so many years.

He might have to sneak into the warehouse looking for it. But the chances of finding it were only twenty percent of what Skylar had hoped for. The red-bound book might still be in his old house, where his father and Neil live now.

Skylar flinched and dropped a few books in his hand, he immediately turned to find his mother standing in the doorway and staring at Skylar with an expression he didn't know.

"What's up Skylar? Why is it in the barn in the middle of the night?"

Skylar let his body relax a bit not wanting Renjana to look at his looking agitated. "I couldn't sleep, Mom. I remembered an old book I read a long time ago, so I looked for it here."

"What book?"

"A few books on olympiad questions. I'm sure I've kept them here," he said, grinning a little at how smoothly he lied to his mother.

Renjana smiled, one hand she put in her pajama pocket. Skylar caught a glimpse of the shadow in his mother's pocket shaped like a knife with the tip sticking out a little. "I thought you weren't going to the Olympics anymore."

Skylar put the books back in the box and closed them as he spoke and occasionally glanced back at his mother's pajama pocket and wondered why renjana had a knife in her pocket. "I just wanted to see the questions and answers there."

Renjana sighed and said in a disappointed voice. "I think you threw it away. It was a long time ago."

Skylar slightly shook her head. "It's okay. I can look up similar questions on the internet."

Skylar stood up to leave Renjana and return to the room. He still clearly remembers how it happened at the dinner table, how his mother seemed to not care where her other child disappeared. Neil felt anger rise to the surface again.

"Go back to sleep," Renjana said first and left, leaving Skylar feeling the silence again. Skylar inhaled and exhaled slowly, and he walked out of the warehouse without the book he had been looking for.

***

The sound of the soft tapping of the keys on the keyboard filled Skylar's room, the light coming out of the monitor shone on all of Skylar's faces in the middle of the room with the night light flickering dimly on the side of the bed. He carried his fingers dancing on the keyboard typing a few sentences in the search engine, his eyes did not escape the sight of every line of writing there that came out after he hit the enter key.

His cursor roamed around looking for the exact text that Skylar had been looking for. The ticks ticked by, indicating that the night was getting late and Skylar didn't feel sleepy, his eyelids were wide open, digesting and sorting the information that entered his brain.

He sighed when he hadn't found anything that could get Neil and Faiz out of there. Skylar's eyes narrowed at the web page that caught his attention.

Mirror And Blood

Red digital covers filled the monitor screen, Skylar's chest rumbled with delight when he found the copy of the book he was looking for on the internet. He swiped the screen down to read on the first page and stiffened that second. Skylar's breathing became erratic, his head closer to the monitor for a better look. Skylar gripped the mouse even tighter when his eyes didn't see it wrong. It was Neil's handwriting that was written when they were kids right on the first page of their book. 'Belonging to Neil and Skylar'.

Was it Neil who put it in the blog? However, that is not possible.

Skylar's hand brought the writing back up to see what was written before this book was uploaded.

'Some children read this book with curiosity. This book is not intended for them at all. It seems too small children like an adventure story with a sweet ending. There are no pictures in it, only long text that most children at their age are reluctant to read. However, the mother of the children who own the book I uploaded doesn't seem to understand and give it to those who shouldn't be reading it. I have read it to the end, the writing on the book was written in a language that was covered up from its true meaning. And I'm speechless how can a child read...

Skylar snickered as the ringing of his cell phone distracted him as he finished reading a few more sentences. He got up and walked over to his bed and grabbed the flickering cell phone in his hand. Skylar's chest heaved, his mouth curved into a smile. It wasn't a call that interrupted Skylar this time but a reminder on his cell phone calendar that precisely this recently changed date, was the day he and Neil were born into the world.

Skylar sat on the edge of the bed, he didn't mind the time he started making calls to Neil. He waited with pleasure that began to creep up his face causing a faint red color to bloom on Skylar's cheeks.

The first connection, then the second connection.

"Hello?"

Skylar's brow furrowed as he heard a strange voice on the other end that didn't sound like Neil.

"Who's this? Where's Neil?"

"Sain. Neil is here with me, he is sleeping." Skylar's smile involuntarily faded.

"Science? Space Science? Didn't you disappear a year ago?"

There was a sigh on the other end. "Right, I'm Sain, not someone else who has a body like me. I disappeared in the same place as Neil now."

Skylar nodded even though he knew that Sain wouldn't see it. Skylar began to speak. "I know we used to be friends, but you know how Neil's been since then?"

"He still forgets about me, but still calls me like he used to." There was a moment of silence between them. Then Sain continued, "Because of what happened before he came here, Neil often has panic attacks. He sometimes has bad dreams and always blames himself."

Skylar sighed, his chest felt like it was being stabbed by dozens of needles. He knew Neil was not fine and the worst thing was that Skylar wasn't by his side now. "Neil is completely innocent, but why did all this happen to him?"

"I'm here. Nothing bad will ever happen to him again, and I promise if I find the person who did that disgusting thing to Neil, I'll make them pay for it until they beg to die."

Skylar shuddered at Sain's words that were full of stress in every sentence. "Revenge won't change anything, Sain."

"They have destroyed Neil, how can I be silent," said Sain with anger that he didn't try to hide. There was a pause for a while before Sain spoke quietly again. "We'll try to get out of here."

Skylar wanted to have as much courage as Sain, he would do the same to his brother. "Please take care of him for me, Sain. Tell Neil when he wakes up later that his sister wished him a birthday."

Skylar hung up the call, ruffling his short hair in frustration. With shuffling steps, Skylar brought his body back to walk in front of the computer where he reread what he had read earlier. He suddenly gaped at the fact that he only realized now.

... the book Mirror And Blood which is full of murder, violence, and abuse of children is written between them at a vulnerable age like them.'