Episode 4

Episode 4

Enear Flos

"I'm going to be the greatest scientist someday! And I'm going to replace those statues!"

Enear reached 8th grade and never had a single friend. A loner, weird, disrespectful, and farmer boy they called. In the first hour of his first day as sophomore, a deja vu struck in his eyes.

Laughters waved in chorus, and the teacher wasn't an exception. Another delusional boy was about to suffer a year through mocks from new classmates and teachers.

Enear rested his chin against his palm, elbows standing on the table and gazing his emotionless green eyes at the blonde boy wearing yellow eyes full of excitement. He wondered what his nickname would be after he sat disappointedly in a vacant seat. A statue boy?

At that moment, he thought they were the same. Their fate will only have one direction.

"What's so funny? You don't believe me? Then I'll show you!"

His eyes widened at what he heard. How could he stand up from the waves of laughter of the people without breaking into pieces?

It seemed that he was wrong about him.

~

The crowd has flooded all over the roads connected from the plaza, and to buildings armored with digital billboards, flashing a blessed Sunday news.

 "A meteoroid is said to land on Earth tomorrow. IASA says that there's nothing to be worried about. Instead, let's ready our cameras to capture the beautiful sky that will be pierced by the shooting star. It will be dissolved completely before it touches the land…"

(International Aeronautics and Space Administration) 

Enear blended in the crowd crossing before the lights turned red and the cars overtook the roads. Finally, he stepped on the fake grasses of the Plaza fogged by people, but the first one he saw was Dycron sitting on a fountain while playing games on his tab.

His heart thumped loudly. For the first time in his life, he felt something lingering in his heart–youth and freedom. Today, he's going to be a normal student who's about to enjoy group projects on weekends and adventure from meeting places and to houses; to where they would do the project. Some stories include their mother hosting the food for groupmates. Still, he knew this story was different in Dycron's Boss' Workshop, which might be more interesting.

He was about to step ahead when his smartwatch rang. He froze. No one would ever call him except his father, who would never call him if it was not about a job. He decided to press his wireless earphone, praying he was just giving his son good luck to his project–which was the least his father would do.

"Enear, you have a mission. I'll send the location."

"I have a group project. Today was supposed to be my day off." He talked back to his father for the first time. His heart thumped faster, and sweats came all over his forehead.

"I have to stop your study now."

"Not needed. I'm on my way."

Enear clenched his fist as tight as possible, piercing his palm through his nails, and the blood dripped down.

Here I am again, his killing machine. 

I don't deserve to get tired.

I can't afford to experience a normal life.

And I have no right to have at least a single emotion.

I HATE THIS KIND OF LIFE

~

"You took too long to shut down the two targets," his Father said while assembling his sniper rifle. He just took down two subjects this noon. But tonight, preparing in the middle of the dark alley, he had a job to do again for a mere two hundred pesos.

"Father…"

"I told you not to call me–"

"Do you love your job?"

Silence came after cocking the rifle. The cigarettes in his father's lips cindered slowly, and a small smoke escaped as he answered, "No."

"Mother was a researcher…"

"Stop talking."

"She said she was seeing a probability."

"Enough seeking for extraordinary things to happen."

Enear gazed his green eyes to his Father, twinkling in fear but still hoping for a slim chance to be heard and understood. 

"Aren't the defectives already extraordinary? If they can produce fire, liquids, and calciums, maybe they can also produce fungus and–"

His father struck his face with the rifle, fixing him with scorching amber eyes that the brown hat failed to conceal.

"Stop living in delusion! This is the reality! Just kill whoever our client told us so we don't starve to death, clear!?"

Enear's cheeks stung in pain. His veins in his neck wanted to pop out insanely, as he gritted his teeth in furious. But in the end, he pretended to be a calm and humble son and politely answered, "Sorry. It won't happen again."

"Now, move!"

Enear went atop of the building, leaning his rifle on the railings, aiming down the city lights. He watched the woman come out from her office, walked alone, and entered the quiet street, the shortcut to reach the train station–or heaven.

Enear breathed like a stone, like a komodo dragon who's watching his prey.

You knew what mother's last wish was: To receive roses from you–even on her grave. 

But I never saw you being bothered. It's easy for you to accept her death. And I am her souvenir, a burden you hated to feed. So you teach me how to feed myself instead–by being like this.

He zoomed in more to his target's head, readying his fingertips on the cold metal trigger.

Mother, If only you were here instead of my father.

Would my life be different?

Enear pressed the trigger out of his frustration, clanking the metal stairway above the target. The girl jumped out in surprise at the sound and ran when she realized that the sound was tapped by the bullet.

Enear immediately cocked his rifle and focused his scope to his subject.

If this world failed to save you, then,

I will make them fail to save this world. 

"I am a killing machine afterall."

~

The woman's body lay on the floor, bathing with red thick blood. He chopped her body into pieces, limbs by limbs, and collected it on the sack. He poured a liquid solution to remove all the blood stains. Then he went into the quieter area, where he spilled gasoline on the corpse and lit it up where no one could smell the unpleasant scent of the burning body of a human. The sack was ripping apart with fire, revealing a cindering body like a cigarette wrapped with white paper.

After everything turned into ashes, Enear went under the bridge to meet his father, staring at the river reflected with the lights of the buildings and neon billboards. His father sighed, smoke fumed out from his nose and mouth. He lent Enear a cigarette.

"Want some?"

Enear remembered the burning body wrapped in the sack. "I'm still a minor."

"Is there a minor who could kill a hundred people effortlessly?" His father said and slipped back his offer to his pocket.

"It's not effortless. I sacrificed my group project for that," he replied as he sat on the edge and stared at the river. Beneath were glowing fishes made of silicon, blending against the warm twinkling lights of the city.

"Should I pursue Biology? Or Electrical Engineering?"

"You don't need either of them."

"You're right."

Deep silence occurred. The night was too deep that it left no single car and busy people in the streets. Only a few like them exist.

"Don't expect too much from school. It won't guarantee you a job in these overpopulated cities. Even if you do find one, it will just always be the same. Grinding for a small penny, fighting for positions, and even killing your competitors–or being targeted because you're working too hard and taking too many credits. At least now, you already have a job." Mr. Flos inhaled deeply his cigarette and sighed out the smoke like clouds. "I have something to do. Go home on your own," he commanded and dropped the cigarette as he started to walk.

Enear didn't bother to move, continued staring at the glowing fish swimming beneath the river.

"Also, Enear," His father added and stopped for a second. "I left your mother's necklace on the table. Read the letter."

"Hm," he responded uninterestedly.

"I always love you and your mother," his father's last words before leaving. 

Should I laugh at your joke?

The air might be filled by stoic silence, but Enear's mind was the opposite, voice screaming inside his mind:

"I hate both of you!"

Quintessence Nightmare | mvcabusas