The day of dark

When I woke up, the only thought that came to my mind was the evaluation. That was the very first thing that appeared in my head. After I looked around the room, I saw that the bed was already made and that Flora woke up. "She probably went to make food" kind of thought and at the same time, I walked to the wardrobe and opened it. Inside there were shirts and a couple of tuxedos. One of the shirts with bloodstains on it. This very shirt… Reminded me of the beatings I was getting when I did something wrong, when I still lived in the main house… There were times when I went there, even if it always ended the same.

"Haha, brother! You still don't know how to climb a tree? If you fall you know you will get beaten again!" I was around seven at that time. My older brother… Bastard, always made things hard for me. He humiliated me all the time for everything, it could be actually the smallest of things.

"Brother! Please don't tell, mother… Tell her that I did it! Please!" I shouted to him, who was already turning to the doors of the main house.

"Emm… No! I will tell mother that you were so scared you didn't even try! Haha!" He was always laughing.

"No, Please!" Older brother ran to the house and after two minutes he came back with our mother. The long haired woman always dressed in black, her white hair that I inherited, reflected the sun's light into my eyes. Her face clear like a stream of water coming down a mountain, not counting scars, nothing else there.

"Mom, I-I…" I was scared, terrified even.

"Quiet! I said, if you will learn climbing trees in two days, I will let you come here without asking! And what!? You are scared?" She came to me and slapped my face. "Don't you ever lie to me ever again! Coward!" Then, while she was coming back to the house she winked at my older brother, I saw it with the edge of my eyes.

"Hayden… Do you want to play something?" He asked with the eyes of a puppy wishing for forgiveness.

"Em… S-sure…" He knew that if I answered otherwise, I would get into trouble, more than I already am in.

We went to the main house's cellar, I remember that the main house had a big hallway with two stairways on each side. It was always themed with dark wood and red, a lot of red. Other than that some golden accents around the walls and other things that define a house's design like pottery or pictures.

"So we are going to play, the slave and his owner! How brilliant is that!?" My brother was already eleven. I didn't have enough strength to resist him, he caught me in his arms and put me on a desk with handcuffs. I tried to resist, wiggle and kick, anything, but it was futile. My older brother was able to close the handcuffs which were really tight, even for my hands… Was that prepared before? I was laying on it back facing the ceiling, I could only move my head and I saw him... He took a whip from one of the weapon stands.

"No brother! Please no! Don't do it!" At this point, I was screaming and begging for my life. Unable to even twitch from the pain he inflicted on my body.

"So my little 'slave'. I will now punish you! For cowardice!" He started swinging the whip onto my back with all his strength. I was screaming in agony, each swing was more agonizing as the skin on my back also started tearing apart revealing the inner skin and flesh. My brother didn't stop, didn't even intend to stop.

"Please- Brother… Stop-" I was coughing blood, small droplets of blood were flowing down the corners of my eyes and mouth.

"You wish!" He then took the other whip with small nails on it. I saw it, my face went completely pale.

"No! Please! No! Not this one! Please! I beg you!" As I finished this sentence, normal tears started appearing in my eyes merging with the blood. Why? I saw my older brother taking a position to swing. Both bloody and normal tears flowing onto the wooden table, the first swing of this whip. Directly onto the core of my spine...

I felt the nails going into my skin, piercing deep really close to the spine. Then my brother wanted to do another and he pulled more flesh out of my back. I was red on the back from blood, muscles, and revealed tendons. I felt air flowing through the insides of my back, agonizing me from the outside and inside out.

"Young lord!" Shouted a person from upstairs, since she said young lord, it must've been a maid but until now I still never knew. Did she save my life? Is she my savior?

"Damn it, I have to let you out." He unlocked the handcuffs and left the cellar. I was laying on the floor in excruciating pain with blood all around me. I tried to get up one time and fell down, which made even more blood and pain surge through my body. The second try was successful; I wore the jacket and covered my back. I didn't actually wear it, only covered the back so that it won't touch my exposed skin. I was slowly getting to the stairs, with each step almost falling on my own blood. Somehow I managed to get out without falling a second time. I left the house and slowly wandered on my own back to the second house, to my house...

The pain from my muscles experiencing wind was so immense that every step almost made me fall. My legs shivering and trembling, they seem like at the edge of breaking... I was able to withstand that though and approached the door. I knocked since I didn't have a key and Flora doesn't leave the doors open the entire time.

"Hello…" She saw the seven year old me, almost unable to hold my balance before her eyes. Blood falling from behind the jacket and as she looked outside for a short second, she saw the trail of blood leading here. "Oh god, Hayden! Don't fall down here!" I was on the brink of losing consciousness, but she was able to catch me while I was falling without any control in my body. "God who could've done this…" She took me inside and closed the door behind on a lock, I came back from the memory to the present.

I felt the pain on my back and the scars that are now on them. That pain from seven years ago came back in the form of a burn. A burn that swallowed me, a dark fire was on my back that couldn't be put down…

Then Flora came through these doors and saw me staring into the wardrobe. At that point, I also tried to scratch my back because of the burning feeling on the backside of my body.

"Hayden? Are you okay?" She asked while looking at me wondering. Her gaze, her tone, it was nice and warm. Something I wouldn't expect from just asking if I am okay.

"A memory… Came back to me." I answered her question with the shirt in my hand, she then came close and saw the blood on it. Her gaze now seemed more terrified than anything else.

"..." She just stared directly into my eyes. Her eyes were really sorrowful, as if she felt my own pain by herself. A feeling of uncertainty in them. "What is it, that came back?" While staring into my eyes, she took the shirt from my hand and squeezed it in her hands. From anger...

"When… When I was seven. Do you remember when I came home with a bloody trail behind me?" Just then she looked at my back, full of scars. Tears started flowing from her eyes like a waterfall in the wild. She hugged me, very unexpected. A really tight hug, it just made me feel as if someone actually cared…

"Hayden, I'm so sorry..." She sobbed on my shoulder. "If I told you not to go there, maybe you wouldn't have this scar now." She hugged me even tighter, it's getting hard to catch air.

"It-It's not your fault. If I just- If I didn't go with him. If I didn't go..." I said it with almost no emotion. Like an empty vase that was standing on the window in my room. With neither water nor flowers.

"It is, Hayden. If I told you to stay that day, maybe you wouldn't have those scars now…" She then stopped hugging me and slowly came to the window, staring at the outside world, it seems as if she is trying to find something beyond those buildings.

"Well… What happened, happened. We can't change the past Flora, at least I am still alive. Maybe the pain of the past is still lingering somewhere in my mind, it will forever haunt me…" As I finished that sentence Flora turned and looked into my eyes once again.

"You- You've grown Hayden…" Another tear flowed down her cheek, she wiped it with a handkerchief and went to the door. "Wear something." I just realized that I was almost naked with just my pants on. "At best you can even prepare something for the evaluation today, then come to the dining room." While leaving Flora smiled with her eyes down, both happy and sad. For no real reason it seems, or maybe there is but I just can't really see it.

I then took a black tuxedo and white shirt from the wardrobe, black pants from a shelf inside of it and a white handkerchief in the upper pocket of the tuxedo. A black tie on my neck as well, everything matched together perfectly. I also grabbed a comb and combed my hair with it. Since I had pretty long hair, it was hard for me to comb it without sitting down.

My hands were shaking. I don't know why though… Nothing happened for them to be like this. I looked on them from above and saw that the skin on them looked as if they were burnt long ago, a hot liquid rather than real fire. Slowly going through my hair with the comb, The hands were shaking so hard that the movement was almost painful. But I managed, and my hair looked smooth like silk and shining like real silver.

While leaving the room I looked through the window one more time. And then closed the doors from which you could see the empty vase on the window. I then went to the kitchen while looking at the very same corridor from yesterday, the colors and pictures on the wall, the color of the doors. Everything exactly the same like yesterday... A routine, repetitive complexity of trivial things.

The doors to the dining room, with a small note that's said "dining room". I opened the doors with my still shaking hands but then I held one with the other and it stopped. The doors opened with me slowly going through and seeing Flora alone in the big room, almost hall. A small plate of eggs and some meat together with bread on the table. She had the same meal, I walked up to her and sat down on the bench.

"W-What do you think?" I asked. She is the only figure I actually recognize, someone whose opinion is important.

"You look good! But why did you wear it before eating?" That question got inside my head and didn't leave it. What if I will dirty my clothes? I will look like an idiot…

"I will go change-" When I wanted to stay up she held my hand on the desk, her strength was outstanding, firstly for a woman and secondly that she doesn't look like a person with strength.

"The food will get cold… Just be careful while eating okay?" She smiled, her smile was so... Pure and full of light. As if in the darkest of places that small smile would disperse shadows. I love that smile...

"Okay..." I sat back down and looked onto the plate. I took the fork to my right hand and bread to my left. I looked at my fingers that seem a little shallow with the small burns on top of them. She also looked at my hands and saw the burns. Her face went to the plate and again, seems like it changed the atmosphere in the room. Just that small glimpse of my hands.

"Do you remember… Where did you get that scar? Anything?" She asked politely but also with a sad tone to it. I did not have any clue of why I have those scars, I felt their pain while combing my hair, but there was no apparent reason for them to shake. Now it shall be revealed...

"I-I don't" A quick answer left my mouth.

"It was… A long time ago. In this very room. You took a pot with soup, just walked to the table, and tried to put the pot on the desk. And as you stood on the bench because you were too small back then, you fell down together with the hot soup. It then poured on your hands and you screamed… I ran back to you as quickly as possible and saw you on the ground together with the almost boiling water liquid. I came to you and asked if you were okay and what you did was... An apology. You apologized to me for destroying our that day's dinner." A small smile appeared on her face again. An innocent one. "I then said that it's okay and asked again if it hurts. You only said that you are a man and that you can't cry, that it doesn't hurt. I picked you up, hugged you, and apologized that I wasn't there. You just stood up and started blowing air on your hands. That was… Why you have this scar on your hands..." She again looked down and I could see that she bit her lips. "If I just was there you wouldn't have that scar..."

"It's okay Flora, it wasn't your fault. Let's eat okay?" The story, an innocent story. The consequences of that thing appeared only just now, my hands shaking from looking at the scar.

"Oh yes! The food will get cold!" I took another stare at my hands… And smiled. A smirk appeared on my face as I saw this memory appear in my head. The young innocent me and her as a child and a mother, mother...

We ate the food and then the clock took my attention, it was at the wall in the dining room. Clock? God was that expensive… It reminded me of how much Flora had to spend on it.

It was almost noon. I should head to the evaluation by now, at least that's what I should do. Flora also looked at the clock and screeched.

"Oh god, it's almost noon! You have to go!" She almost shouted. " You can't be late. I will join the ceremony right after, I want to see you get evaluated!" Very enthusiastically said. "I will clean the plates! You can go to the church I will join you later." I again looked at the clock; it was fifteen minutes to the evaluation. I need to go.

"I hope you can be there on time…" I quietly whispered under my nose but that didn't stop Flora from hearing it.

"Don't worry, fifteen minutes is enough for me. I need to see it!" She took the plates and went to the kitchen. I stood up and left the room, again in the same corridor, opening the door to the outside. The view from it was almost as always. The white houses in front but there was an afterimage. A red world where I see the trail from the memory. I only looked back once and went to the church, I see it already from here. A high clock tower.

It will take me some time, not much but some. I went on and looked around while walking, ,y brother appeared on the horizon. "God damn it, I have to walk by him…" This came right through my mind and I grinned with disgust. Just going by will be a problem, he will surely talk to me… God, it will be annoying.

I tried to walk by him as fast as possible. Faster so that he won't see me, but it was a futile struggle.

"Hey, Hayden! Wait, wait! Where are you going! Come here!" He shouted. I hate his voice. Everything that has anything to do with him is making me angry. I came close to him.

"Oh… Leon. How-How are you?" I asked politely, but hesitation still residing in my voice made my cords shiver.

"Oh, nice of you for asking. It's good here. And how are you?" He asked with his weirdly pitched voice. It sounded almost like that of a jester, somewhat annoying but funny for how dumb it sounded.

"Umm… I think I'm well. I just lost some memories because I fell down two days ago… Everything seems blank and all." I explained what happened and was pretty annoyed already. I saw a smirk appear on that face.

"You fell down and lost memories?" He snorted and almost started laughing.

"..." I said nothing, just ignored that snort.

"Where are you going? Oh, I know, to the evaluation right? You know what will happen if my favorite brother will get an 11 right?" His voice is making me angry already. He tries to be a good older brother… Bullshit.

"Umm… Yes?" I have no idea what can be in this bastard's mind, to be honest.

"That's the spirit! now go and get that 11." He said aggressively but, in a calming voice so that it sounded more like a brother.

"See you later then..." I want to get away from him as fast as possible. That maniac... When I lost his sight I gasped loudly and some sweat appeared on my forehead. I wiped it out and continued walking.

From a little far away, I could already see the clock tower of the evaluation hall, it was pretty high. Also on my way, there were already many people slowly walking in that direction so I should get there a little faster. It's close to noon.

It took me around six more minutes to get there, but when I finally stood before the hall, it was completely stunning. It was enormous and looked like a church. Built with similar bricks as the rest of the city but not completely, these were a little darker and there were some black accents all over the clock and a little around. Over the old gate, there was a banner with the crest of our city that looked like a lily flower.

I went inside and saw many people with their kids. There were many people there but only two caught my attention. A girl with ruby hair and a very smooth figure. Another was a kid with dark brown hair that was much bigger than the rest of the kids. Afterwards, I looked around the adults and I saw my parents... My father and mother sitting together on a chair resembling a throne, looking at us since we are the future of the city.

My father was a close friend of the king, he could sit close to him but that made me even more anxious.

"What if I get a low evaluation? What will happen then? I'm afraid…" I thought to myself and felt like sinking into the ground.

Help-, I can't breathe…

Dark started taking my sight… No light could penetrate.

"Hey, are you alright ?" Oh, someone asked me something? I should answer. Or should I? Too many thoughts, I don't know what to do...

"Hello! You are not nice, you know?" I gasped pretty loudly and shook my head as if I didn't know what's going on right now, because I didn't.

"Oh sorry, I had a lot of thoughts in my mind. Sorry I didn't actually hear you… Can you repeat please?" I hope he won't get too annoyed by this request.

"What is your name. That's what I asked."

"Oh! Sorry… My name is Hayden." I said hesitatingly.

"My name is Jacob. I'm from the Jaden family. And what family are you from?" When he asked that I wasn't sure if I should tell him the truth or not… Then again I looked at my father. I don't know how but I'm sure when I looked at him, that he was indeed my father. The memory loss, made some things seem like a mist. But his face just told me, it assured me of that.