Chapter 14: Almost Caught

Erland let out a deep breath and spoke. "I don't know why you hate me and I don't care about it. I mean you can hate me if you want...I just want the lady to have a place to stay. She talked about many things with me. She doesn't have anywhere to go." Erland's face got filled with glumness.

"Such an answer, Erland Hephaestus...I wonder if the answer you have given me is constructed to deceive me from finding your true self." said Svend.

"(Why is he going so hard on me...I literally told him the truth.) Can the lady have a safe place? If I bring her to my home mommy and daddy will be in danger. She used to work with dangerous people."

"How do you know that?"

"She told me."

"WHY did she tell you and not us, when we asked her."

"You guys are grown up...you all only think about what the big people says. If you all saw her as a threat, you all would remove her wouldn't you?"

Svend's face stayed the same, cold and harsh. His face became colder as he rubbed his chin, looking away for a moment, considering what Erland was saying.

"She told me all those because...(I'm a lunatic and I have to pay for it.) I don't get all these stuffs you guys do. I only know that she played with me and she has a good heart. She doesn't deserve to live on the streets and get caught by the bad guys. She doesn't deserve to have a sewn mouth." Erland started to weep. He didn't understand where those tears came from, himself.

"Very well. You have answered why you care about her and that she is an innocent. Now answer me about your overall...abnormal development."

"I don't know...I mean Frode is younger than me but he knows more than me."

"It is because of a certain thing you don't need to know about. You don't have any reason to have such advance knowledge. You sometimes clearly trick people into thinking that you know or can do less than them."

"Daddy once told me that my really great grandpa was a Lord. Maybe it's because of it. I don't know. Why do you always yell at me? What have I ever done to you?"

"I just hope that you don't do anything in the future. You think that you deceived my eyes while we were dining this evening. I clearly saw that you awakened your power yet I pretended not to see it. Then I thought, what could this boy do in the future? What if he gnaws a whole being?...Then I became anxious."

Erland silently wept even more, thinking if he really does such horrible things.

(Is this the part when he knows everything about me? I don't even know where this power popped up from. I hate this...I just wanna live...)

(Ugh...I'm an idiot. I've been living like a normal toddler and now I'm being like one. Act Erland, act! Act and think... This little drama is all for your life.) I don't know where this power popped up from...I hate this. I was...I got in a spell or something I don't know. I couldn't do anything by myself when it came out. I felt like it controlled me. I didn't want anyone to know so I lied. I am an idiot. You can hate me all you want. I never liked you in the first place. Just...please don't tell my mommy and daddy...Please don't tell Randi and Hilda. I promise I will never get close to you. Let me go and give this lady a place to live."

"(Did I judge him wrong...) You can go." Svend suddenly speaks with his cold demeanor slowly fading away. "Do come to our place though. I have to give you a tons of things to say sorry to you." said Svend as he patted on Erland's head. Svend's view on him changed. He stared at him rather gentler than before.

"No way I would. (Your attitude sucks like hell) I will just go get Frode and a grown up to watch over us while we play."

"(Did he just say that I suck, in some other way?) As you wish...I can't deny the fact that I'm a jerk. But really though, I'm sorry." Svend looked away for a moment. The next time he looked at the way Erland was, he has already left the place.

"Where did that kid go?" Svend frowned.

From a distance, Svend noticed him standing behind Erik. Erik looked frustrated to see his son at that state.

"What is it, buddy? You don't cry that easily. Did someone yell at you? I heard from Frida that there were those oldies. Did they say anything to you?" said Erik.

"No dad...I saw a lady in pain so I am sad too." said Erland, holding his hand close to his chest.

"Your heart is too soft I know that. But you look like you are lying. You always hold your hand close to your chest or your mouth when you lie."

"(I couldn't let go of the habit from my previous life...)

Svend was about to approach the father and son but some of the patient became rather furious since he took so much time. They stopped him on the way and started to argue with him. It took him a while to explain his reasons. Erik got to the other side of the road to talk to Svend.

After the crowd left, Erik sternly approached Svend as if Svend has done something dreadful.

"Hello my friend. How do you do?" said Svend.

"I am doing mostly fine I would say. How worse could all things possibly get?" said Erik, seeming a bit harsher than usual.

Just to seem normal, Erland stood beside Svend and Erik as if Svend hasn't scared him to death a moment ago.

"(He despises Svend. But he stood like that besides him even though he doesn't usually seem this friendly around him...Oh Lords, what did that jerk do to my son?) Svend." said Erik.

"Yes?" Svend raised his eyebrow.

"What have you done to my son?"

"(I didn't want to look odd and here I am...)" Erland looked pale.

"I haven't done anything...good of course. I have done the worst thing a child like Erland could possibly bear"

"What did you-"

"...I...accused him of having such power after a recent incident that happened today and that he is more than just a child. After seeing him awaken such draug-like flame from within, I jumped into such conclusion. I'm sorry..." Svend looked guilty.

"Svend, how could you?!? I though of you as a rational man. Yet by only depending on some mere horseshit, you accuse my son like THIS? You have seen too many dead bodies and now you have lost your human senses. I barely even see you smile these days. Even when you smile it looks like some bullshitting bogus. I have kept these thoughts in me for YEARS. But when you slowly reveal your inner looks upon others, I just can't help but remind myself that your ambition was once to-"

"DAD STOP!(Why did I tell him to stop?!! I mean yes he was saying too much but I was about to know something...Ughhh, I'M AN IDIOT!)" Erland yelled out, except the thoughts in his mind which was being yelled, the tone of the monologue being filled with regret.

"You can stop calling me your friend after this. It's all up to you." Svend seemed numb as usual while seeming guilty because of his actions. "You are right. I have lost my human senses. I am nothing but a machine now. Goodbye then. You all are still welcome to me-" Svend faintly smiled.

"Keep your passive-aggressiveness to yourself. Call it overprotecting but my son has been enduring your acts day by day even as a baby but me and Gun didn't even know about it. Let's go, Erland." Erik pulled Erland gently and walked away from the place.

"Dad, will I still be able to play with Frode?" said Erland.

"Yes, of course!"

"Can we stop by aunty Frida's house right now?"

"No, not tonight. Let's go home."

"Okay. I haven't seen mommy in a long time."

"Ha ha. It's only been like...six hours?"

"Eight hours."

"Oh? I didn't know that..." Erik put on a slightly bittersweet smile "You are growing up."

"I AM a grown up. Like you!"

Erik lifted him up and put him on his shoulders.

"Dad, you know...Aunty Frida told me that I can work in her pet shop." said Erland.

"Mhm...Wait what?"

"Yeah. I will learn how to take care of a pet. You will give me one if I do right?"

Erik sighs. "Sure..."

"Dad...Can I tell you something?"

"What is it?"

"It will sound girly but I love you."

"What's wrong with a son loving his father? I love you too!"

"Some kids in the field were saying that telling your family that you love them is girly."

"That's not true. Don't think like that."

"(I know. I was just looking for an excuse to talk to you.)" Erland smiled as the streetlights shined on him.

"Oh, power's back."

"Power?"

"I am a dummy, your mommy is smart. She can tell you about these more."

"True."

"What do you mean by 'true'?!"

The father and son walked back home, chatting and laughing as the moon shone upon them and so did the dim streetlights.

Afterwards, at home:

"Erland Hephaestus." said Randi calmly with a demonic look.

"(When someone says your full name you are done.) Yes?" Erland looked up to see Randi's face.

"WHAT IS THIS?"

"Eh?"

"YOU-*sigh*You used my notebook to play Tombola. Where did you even learn to play it?"

"I read about it in one of your books (Please work, please work.)"

"What? You can't even read well. Ugh...you smart little- Anyway, it was my fault in the first place. I kept it in your room. Don't do anything careless like what I did, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay now. Go to sleep like a good boy."

Erland went straight to his bed and fell asleep with fear in his heart that if he moves an inch, he will get a slap landing on his face like a fighter jet. On the next day at the dining table:

"Randi...what are you to me?" said Erland.

"Big sister and a teacher." said Randi while reading a book.

"You are my big sister?!?"

"Yes."

"Wow, I didn't know that. Can I ask you something? In private?"

"Keep it straightforward. Say it here."

"You act weird when boys are around. Why do you hate boys?"

Their conversation grabbed everyone's attention in the house, except Erik who was at his workplace, working.

"Because they are mostly knuckleheads, brain-dead, charming or half charming, physically strong people who trick girls."

Erland looked at himself and said,

"I have never tricked any girl..."

"To keep your teacher's and your family's name you cannot. When you do you shall forget that you have ever had a family."

"O-Okay...Randi, have you ever liked a boy? (Risks open new ways they say)"

Hilda spitted her tea and started to laugh. Gunhild held her own mouth and kept the laughter inside. She kept the bowl of her hand beside the stove so it won't fall.

Randi slammed the book on the table. The next thing everyone could see was dashing hand that made a red mark on Erland's face.

"Did you get your answer darling?" said Randi as she took a sip of water and then kept the glass away elegantly.

"Yes ma'am. (It is also said that risks can kill you.)"

"Randi, aren't you a bit too harsh? He was just worried about you." said Hilda.

"Oh darling, if it were you, you would have gotten ten slaps by now." Randi looked at Hilda as Hilda got a short period of shivers down her spine.

"Oh, mommy. I want to go work at Aunt Frida's workplace. She told me that I can work there if I want." said Erland.

"I will be all alone at home then." said Hilda.

"(Heh...My dumb sister. Being alone is the chance to meet with your lover eye to eye. Go, take the chance!)" Erland smirked.

"What's with the smirk?" Randi frowned.

"No-nothing..."

"Really? My little boy's gonna make his own money. Do talk with us about it. You are still little. We need to buy you some cloths before all that. Your cloths are too tight for you. Let's go today." said Gunhild. She sat beside Erland and pulled him close.

Erland looked frustrated yet stern, with a neutral smile which indicates him going through sheer anxiety.

"(One of the many things I fear...a woman's shopping day.)"

"What is it, baby?"

"He is worried that you will take forever to shop." said Randi.

"Oh come on, he can't turn out to be like his dad."