Chapter 89 - Midnight Talk

Red on his fingers. Red on his teeth.

"Do you want to know how your mother begged, son?"

A monster's eyes peering down at him from above.

"She wanted me to keep you. Begged for me to raise you. And that's because you're weak!"

Then, he was thrown across the room like a rag doll. His legs burnt by the fire. Leather binds his feet. There's nowhere to go. Nowhere to run to. 

"You ought to learn a lesson. You like learning lessons, don't you?"

Red.

Red.

Red.

There's a harrowing cackle. There's the gleam of the rod. The silhouette walks to the fireplace. And the large metal brand in bony fingers – it's ignited by the flames. It glows like a death sentence.

He winces, scurrying away.

'D-Don't… Don't… P-Please… Don't…'

Then, the large metal brand incinerates his heart.

Numbness. Blankness. Darkness.

And blood.

The flames engulf him. And crimson red blood blooms all over his chest like a flower. His piercing screams fill the air. Calling for help. Pleading for forgiveness. Yet they're never heard.

And then, he wakes up.

---

Around midnight, Marcellus found himself waking up from a nightmare. 

Sweat is running down his forehead. His rapidly beating heart is drumming loudly in his ears. The grip he has on his pillow tightens. He is struggling for air, suffocating under his blankets. That horrid memory still lingers behind his eyelids. And he desperately tries to blink them away.

'You're safe. You're free. You're safe. You're free.'

Marcellus silently chants these words over and over again in his head, trying to gain some semblance of composure. And when his breathing finally evens out, he shakily climbs out of his bed. His feet patter on the wooden floors. He then dazedly reaches for the door of his room.

His nightmares seem to be getting worse these days.

The lights in the hallway blind him at first, but the whiteness clouding his vision is a thousand times better than that -

Marcellus shakes his head. 

'No. Don't think about it. Stop thinking about it.'

He slowly heads towards the kitchen. There's a cup of some sort of chocolate drink in the oven.

'Grandmother probably left it for me.'

He sighs in relief. Now that he's calmed down for a bit, he heats it up, thanking whatever god is out there for his grandmother. He then gathers the hot cup in his hands. His numb fingers regain feeling, and his body greatly welcomes the comfort of the drink.

When Marcellus heads back to his room, he sits on the side of his bed and tries to think of happy things. Like his uncle coming home. Like freedom. Like Winter.

'Winter.' 

He pauses at the thought of her, grinning in spite of himself. For the past months, she's turned to be someone in between a best friend and a girlfriend to him – he'd prefer to call her by the latter, but of course, she's still playing hard to get. She who's always so bright and charming yet bold and intelligent. 'She's amazing,' he thinks for what feels like the millionth time.

And his phone dings. He checks it.

'Well, speak of the devil.'

Winter is active on her social account. She had sent him a link to some video. He frowns at the time stamp – it's almost twelve when she sent it. 

'I thought I told her to go to bed already. What is she still doing up at this time?' Marcellus wondered, shaking his head. 

Contacting each other like this has become part of their everyday lives. He was able to influence her to be chatty in their messages with all the love letters that he kept sending her up until the present. But he was not able to influence her to send the same thing. Instead, what she always sends him are memes. 

Memes that make fun of him. Memes that improve his sense of humor. Memes that make him feel like a teenager all over again. 

[Marcellus: Ms. Agreste, you should be asleep.]

(Winter is typing)

[Winter: too bad]

[Winter: watch the video]

[Marcellus: No. Go to sleep.]

[Winter: watch it, marcellus lexington]

[Marcellus: I said go to sleep.]

[Winter: NO. WATCH IT]

[Winter: are u watching it]

Marcellus sighs, running his fingers through his hair. He can't help but wonder whether Winter ever runs out of energy or not. Even when she is running on empty, she is still so like her – so bossy, so feisty. 

[Marcellus: No, I'm not watching it. Must be another one of those jump scare videos that you sent me before. You know how much I hate scary stuffs. I'm not going to fall for it this time.] 

[Marcellus: Why're you still awake, anyway?]

[Winter: why are YOU still awake? hmmm]

He doesn't know how to reply to her question. So, he leaves it as it is and hopes that not replying to her will convince her to go to sleep. There's a few minutes of silence. Then, his phone dings again.

Of course, it does.

He sits up and groans. But he grins nonetheless.

[Winter: lexington, I swear. Just watch it]

Marcellus rolls his eyes. Giving in, he just scrolls up to the link that Winter sent and reads the title of the video. It's about a hotdog song being sung by some online translator. He is baffled, wondering what inanity waits for him in this video.

Risking his sanity, he clicks on the link.

[Winter: you better be listening to the song, marcellus lexington]

Marcellus can't stop listening. It's catchy. And it might've been worth it.

Time and again, Winter was able to lift his spirits up.

---

Satisfied, Winter finally puts down her phone.

She's still up at midnight, and though she wants to tell Marcellus the reason, she knows that it'll bound to lead to an interrogation she's not ready to answer yet. Apparently, she found August still awake too. He's been drinking in the living room, grumbling about how he's unable to sleep after everything that happened earlier that day.

That's why Winter stayed awake until this late – she's too worried to fall asleep. 

'Geez… Why does he have to act like I'm leaving? I already made it clear to Uncle and Sir Victor that I will go with him…' she thought and let out a sigh as she made her way to the living room.

'While I'm glad that he cares, this is too much.' 

When Winter made it there, she found August sitting around with a glass of alcohol to keep him company.

She walks up to him and settles down beside him. He's so out of it that he didn't even notice her. It's only when she scooted closer that he perked up in surprise and turned to look at her.

She smiles as he frowns.

"Go to bed now, August. That's enough," she gently chided. 

"I didn't know you're still awake," he muttered, looking away.

"I didn't know you'd been drinking. What's up?"

"I just… I couldn't fall asleep."

"Yeah. I can see that. Why is that, though?" 

He didn't respond. 

But rather than choosing to keep quiet about it, she could see that he's hesitating. There's no need for him to force himself to talk, though. She already knows why he's lamenting. Then again, she heard him grumbling to himself earlier. What she has to do here is to reassure him.

"It's going to be fine, August. You don't have to worry too much. I'm not leaving you…" Winter started again after a moment of silence, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"They already agreed to my condition. We'll continue living together. We're merely moving to another place. And since my biological family turns out to be rich, we'll be well-off from now on."

"It's not that, Winter…" August trailed off with a sigh.

"I don't care if they're rich or not. I'm worried about you."

"About me? Why?"

"The Middleton's are prestigious. They're not only rich. I'm worried that the sudden attention might pressure you – all the sudden responsibilities too. They did talk about all these inheritances earlier. They talked about you inheriting their company. Won't that be too much for you?"         

She's a bit taken aback.

While he did end up choosing to keep his grumblings earlier to himself, he told her about another matter he's been worrying over. She can't help but feel deeply cared for. As much as she wants to tell him that she's been preparing for that for a long time now, though, the best she can do for now is to reassure him again. 

She'll just have to show him that all his worries have been for nothing once she puts her plans into motion.

"I'll be okay. Uncle said that I'll be undergoing training. Sir Victor will help me out too. Everyone in my family will welcome me wholeheartedly. And above all, my brother and my friends will still be there for me…" Winter said with a smile while giving August a side embrace. 

"I do hope I can brace myself for a little longer, though.. At least until I graduate next month, I want to stay like this – an ordinary person with an ordinary life."