An Accursed Gift (3)

Minutes after Lucas' disappearance.

"TERESA!!"

A loud shout for her name echoed throughout the pub accompanied by a loud slamming sound.

*BANG

The wooden door sounded which nearly broke it into pieces. It was opened by none other than Teresa's loving husband, Simon.

Teresa, who was previously quietly preparing for the encroaching dinner time was violently startled by Simon's alarming behavior.

"Wh-what?! What happened??!"

She asked in panic and confusion as she looks towards her husband on the front door of the pub.

Simon was panting heavily, as if he has been starved of air, which was partially accurate as he had actually been forced to run all the way from where he had lost Lucas, all the way here on their property.

"It's Lucas!! He, he's gone!!!! I lost him when I was following him!!"

He hysterically explained as he stepped back outside while signalling Teresa to follow him.

"WHAT?!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST OUR SON??!"

She shouted in distress and obsolete confusion.

"HOW IN CHARLES' NAME DID THAT HAPPEN?! "

Teresa further added as she dashes towards the door in hurry, and once she got outside, she locked the pub and ran off to the direction of where Lucas went.

As a mother, this was her worst nightmare.

---

In the midst of the silent but palpable night, a young man kneels in the middle of the stone road.

There were no longer any people walking on this road, and so the young man was all alone with his own body and mind.

But soon, hours after, he was no longer alone. A group of dangerous-looking men began surrounding Lucas as he continues staring into nothingness, seemingly oblivious to their presence.

"Oh what is this? A boy?"

One of them spoke while grinning from ear to ear.

"Are you perhaps alone here in the middle of the night, boy?"

The other one asked in an eerily-sounding tone.

But even after hearing the words of these people, he didn't react at all, only continuing to stare at the ground.

One of them, who seems the most short-tempered, became angry at Lucas for feigning ignorance at their statements.

"Look! This lad doesn't want to talk to you! Let's just stop trying to talk and just take him!"

The angry one reprimanded the one who asked Lucas an eerie question.

"Yeah... He looks miserable and weak, so might as well just grab him so that we can play with him already, it's getting boring"

The last one of them, who looked the most uninterested, finally spoke and agreed to the angry one.

"Yeah, I guess so"

The first one who spoke earlier finally agreed and grabbed the motionless Lucas by the armpits, dragging him into a dark alley by the sides as the others follow them. While the others were periodically looking around to spot anyone who might witness their deeds.

Lucas, who was at the center of this increasingly dangerous situation reacted at nothing, portraying himself as someone who has given up on life.

After a while, the men finished dragging him into the alley, putting him on a sitting pose with his back leaning on the wall as he continues to stare downwards. Beside him were piles and heaps of trash that didn't really interest any of them but unbeknownst to them, a dull-looking knife was actually among them. Just right beside Lucas' left hand.

The angry one earlier brought our a lighter-looking device with a shiny metal-coating. He pushed a button on it and soon after, a small flame conjured up from thin air and illuminated the previously dark alley.

They began inspecting and observing him as if he was some sort of rare animal that they have come across.

"He looks pretty and handsome, he might become a fine young product for those sexually-depraved nobles"

The uninterested-looking man earlier spoke while bending his knees down and holding Lucas' chin upwards, revealing his pretty face.

"Now that you say that, he does look commendable, maybe he could become our own toy hehe"

The one with a nasty grin spoke after.

"No! He might look pretty scrumptious, but I think we can gain more pleasure by selling him to those nobles! "

The angry one earlier disagreed to the one with the grin, to which the latter's grin turned upside down.

After hearing the angry one's response, the rest turned to the last one of them for a response, the guy who asked Lucas the eerie question earlier.

The frowning guy turned to him with a smile, seemingly urging him to agree with him for Lucas to become their own sex slave.

But he then looked away and turned to the others and finally opened his mouth saying-

"Yeah, I do agree with you two, I think we can gain more from selling this little guy here"

After he said that, the frowning guy frowned further.

Hearing the last one's agreement, the uninterested-looking one, who seems to be their leader nodded.

"Okay... Now that we made a decision, lets-"

*CHUCK

But before he could announce their next course of action, the sound of something sharp cutting through flesh sounded throughout the relatively silent alley.

The rest turned to look at Lucas and one of their associates who was looking directly at Lucas earlier, only find that Lucas had plunged a knife into the side of his neck.

And there, they saw Lucas' dead-looking eyes looking directly at the one he had stabbed and slowly said-

".... So you're real.. "

He said with the silent tone of reassurance as he pulls out the knife from the other's neck. Causing blood to rapidly shoot out from the open injury, to which the person just collapsed to the ground in response.

*THUD

The others witnessed all of this with their mouths agaped, none of them could've ever expected this.

Surprise and fear were all they could feel in response to this unexpected situation.

The angry one's eyes began to quiver in terror as tears started to well up from within.

"Ma- Ma- MAX!!!!"

He screamed the collapsed person's name in an alarmingly loud voice.

The others fared no better than him either, they were only looking at this situation as if this wasn't real.

The angry one looked at them and was shocked to find that they weren't moving at all, as if this young man had used some sort of a paralysis magic on them.

"You guys!!!! Why aren't you guys moving!!! Let's Beat this lad up and help Max!!!!!"

He shouted at the two them so loud that they were actually pulled from their trance.

And as the fear in their eyes subsided, anger only remained.

The three of them immediately stole the knife from the frozen Lucas and so they beganvbeating him to a pulp.

And after a while of black and blues, the angry one earlier finally decided to use the knife.

"YOU!!! YOU KILLED MAX!!!"

He yelled at the top of his lungs as he stabs Lucas on the head multiple times.

And Lucas, who was not only frozen from his earlier dealings, but was also immobilized by their violence, could never defend himself from the series of stabs unto his head.

*CHUCK

*CHUCK

*CHUCK

Were the only sounds that one could hear within or near this particular alley until suddenly, it all stopped.

Panting heavily from all the stabs he'd inflicted on Lucas, the angry one finally decided to stop and urge the others to take Max's body and flee from the scene, leaving Lucas' body oozing out his own pooling blood within the dark alley.

And finally, his last thoughts were-

Finally..... It's all..... Done...