16 Cera

After Cera forced me to change into something more comfortable and clean, we were reading while discussing the topics of what the head of the house is supposed to do. Apparently, I have no idea what I'm doing. Well, how could I? So I had an idea, and while I'm at it, I'll tease her a bit.

"Cera, why don't you be the head of the house?" I asked her and she looked at me with a sad and shocked look on her face.

"That way, I'll be the lady of the house and you can spoil me and buy me whatever I want!" I smiled and coquettishly looked at her.

Huh? I could feel her slim fingers sliding between mine.

"Is that what you want?" Her husky-like, light blue eyes felt overwhelming. I felt enticed, no, overpowered.

"mm…" Damn I can't even answer, and she just keeps looking at me! It was a bad idea to try to tease her!

"Was that a yes…" Why did she pause?!

"Or a no?" This feels dangerous! I can't look at her anymore!

"I-don't know!" I closed my eyes and looked down.

My hearts beating too fast. I really don't understand how she can make me feel this way! I don't think this is something someone her age should be able to do! Did she just grow up too fast?! What the hell!

I felt her let go of my hand and I opened my eyes to see her laying back on the couch while looking up at the ceiling longingly.

"I told my mother the same thing. I told her I didn't know if I wanted to take over the household and she went crazy. At the time, I was 4 years old. All they ever did was teach me how to basic stuff, but they enforced how to handle head of the house duties. I figured they taught me those things because they wanted me to succeed and take over the family. How could I think otherwise? I didn't know I had any siblings at the time, nor that I was simply being taught to be able to help my eldest brother. This was my earliest and first memory of my entire family…"

Her voice isn't sad. Her voice isn't angry. But what is this feeling? I wanted to know more about her, but why does she look and sound so apathetic?

"After I told my mother that I didn't know, she pulled my hair and dragged me out of the study room. She dragged me to the third floor of the house where I wasn't allowed to ever go to. She dragged me to the dining room of the 'family' and threw me on the floor. That was the first time I ever saw my father, my two brothers, and my sister. They were all older than me, taller than me, stronger than me; I was nothing and meant nothing to them. My mother told my father what I said, and everybody scowled and stared at me with contempt, as if I were some sort of curse, some sort of monster. I remember I looked at my mother… asking for an explanation, and she just kicked my stomach over and over until I couldn't breathe. I… didn't know what I did… I couldn't do anything…"

I'll kill them. I'll torture them.

"When I tried to apologize, my mother grabbed me by the hair again and slammed my face against the wall over and over until I lost consciousness. When I woke up the next day, I was given even less to eat. At first they gave me bread, soup, and water, but after that, all they gave me was a stale piece of bread and water. I first thought that soup and bread meant that we were poor and they were doing their best to educate me and teach me, that thought made me happy. It was only after I smelled and saw all the delicious looking food that night on the table they were sitting at, that I understood… the type of person I was to them…"

I can feel it. I can feel the demon's power. That's right. I came back for a reason. A favor must be repaid. I'll bring it back in exchange for giving me the chance to make Cera happy. But I never knew…

"I was mistreated, ridiculed, starved, and hated for a year after that." Cera condensed a small tornado on the top of her palm.

"I learned how to use Alm when I was 5. After a few months of secretly practicing, I snuck up on my father, then my brothers, then my sister, and finally my mother. I beat them while they were unconscious. I broke their legs, their arms, their jaws… the only one I left was my mother, I wanted to ask her why she did all those things. Even though she never treated me poorly before that day, it was never something I couldn't endure. She told me… she told me it was because I wasn't her child. She said it was because I wasn't supposed to be born. It felt like something clicked in my head. It was like… all the abuse, somehow made sense.

…

"So I used my power to destroy her face, and killed her. After that, I killed the rest of my family and burned their bodies along with the house. When I left, I tried to make money with the knowledge I had, but nobody believed I could do anything. They all thought I was some useless orphan that wanted money. Even though my life after I killed my family was filled with cold nights and starvation, it felt better being alone, without being beaten, without being hated. Then I met a group of kids that looked like they were struggling too, so I joined them. I stole food for them, protected them from the beatings when I got caught, but they were never thankful and treated me like I was some monster. Eventually they isolated me, scorned me, hurt me, and then you showed up." Cera looked at me with dead-joy in her eyes and I couldn't move.

"After you burned and killed all those people simply because I said I didn't trust them, I thought you were crazy. Even thought it felt like a nightmare, I felt warm. Even now, I can't believe that this is real. I want to stay-"

I couldn't hold it anymore. I jumped into her arms and cried. I cried and cried. I could feel her warm hands consoling me, but I couldn't help to think; 'why do children with broken hearts, mature so quickly?'