“AGH, BRAIN FREEZE!” I heard my sister yell.
Eva, Millie and I sat on a bench outside an ice cream shop, it had been abandoned by the aimless walking bodies Mama called ‘background characters’. The three of us younger kids had declared we were hungry and had begged Jude and Aunt Tora for food till they couldn’t resist. I have to admit, my immature high-pitched voice comes in great handy when I need to bribe someone.
“Here, just squeeze my hand,” Eva sweetly said as she licked the last bit of vanilla ice cream off her spoon. “It’ll take away the weird feeling of it.”
Millie bit her lip and shook her head from side to side, holding onto my friend’s wrist like there was no tomorrow. Abruptly she opened one eye and blushed, looking embarrassed but relieved the cold sensation was out of her body.
“Thanks, Eva. Sorry you had to do that for me-”
“Don’t mention it!” Eva grinned. “Brain freezes are the worstttt, especially when they last for what seems like forever.”
I was glad my sister and the blonde girl were getting well acquainted with each other, Eva had been so kind and polite to all of us so far I almost forgot she came from the same family line that Wren did. My gaze got lost in her blue eyes as I wondered how I’d been lucky enough to meet an angel like her. We sat quietly as the breeze fluttered around us, like a romantic movie with all the cheesy lines you could ever think of. I wish I could’ve stayed in that moment till my heart's content.
“Ummmmm,” Millie blubbered. “I’m just gonna… leave you two alone…” She slid off the bench to go find Tora and her son who were still inside the ice cream store. I panicked and looked frantically at her, trying to motion for her to come back. My twin sister simply winked at me and merrily skipped away as she congratulating herself.
“Great, now Millie’s trying to get Eva and I to talk by ourselves.” My brain murmured.
Silence could sometimes be the worst and most awkward thing in the world. Eva had finished her dessert and was peering into the empty bowl, trying hard not to make eye contact with me. She laughed to herself as she put her spoon down.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Nothing, it’s just…” She managed to stutter. “Aunt Wren told me you were some kind of a monster, that your family had ruined her life. Now that I’ve actually met you… you’re really not that bad.”
I couldn’t help but snort. It wasn’t right for me to do, but I truly wondered how many lies Miss Nilsen had filled her niece’s head with. When had the Motoyo’s ever done something immorally wrong towards another? Wren was psychotic, that was obvious. I turned back to Eva and muttered under my breath.
“Your aunt’s pretty crazy, huh?”
The girl in the baseball cap nodded her head. “She is, but luckily I didn’t see her a lot when I was little. I’ve lived in Norway my whole life, but my parents say she moved to Japan because something is wrong with her head. I don’t really know the full story to be honest… All I know is that my grandpa, her father, took her away from our family’s home and brought her here. She’s been a disaster of a woman ever since…”
I frowned sadly. I still didn’t feel any pity for Miss Nilsen, that was for sure, but maybe a little part of me just wanted to understand why she acted the way she did… to help her.
“Does Wren ever by chance mention someone with the name of Jín Motoyo?” I asked casually.
Eva’s eyes flew wide open. She startled me as she dropped her ice cream bowl on the wooden table and stood up in a panicked fluster, I felt like I had almost done something wrong by the way she acted.
“YES!” She screamed. “Oh my goodness, my aunt is always talking about her! Every time she visits us she says that ‘Jín’ was her childhood friend, but they eventually they worked at the same job and fell in love with the same guy. The man chose Wren’s friend over herself which made her really upset and angry! I remember her telling me something about how Jín even had two kids and she put bombs in their hands, she said she even wants to kill her friend later on!! I-I thought it was just another one of her crazy jokes, but now that you mention it… That’s horrifying!!”
“WHAT?!” I shrieked in horror. The both of us had sat up from the table and were practically nose to nose, but I felt so mortified I thought I would pass out right in front of her. “EVA! JÍN IS MY MOTHER! THAT ‘MAN' IS MY FATHER! WREN PUT A BOMB IN MY SISTER’S HAND TOO?! A-AND SHE WANTS TO KILL MY MAMA?!?!”
Eva buried her flustered face into her hands and I started to scream louder in panic. My relatives burst out of the shop as the door chimed behind them, Tora rushed over and grabbed my shoulders as she tilted me in her direction.
“Child, what's happened?!”
I didn’t even answer my aunt, I leaped off the bench and fumbled to my sister as I started pant from anxiety.
“Millie, give me your left hand!!”
“W-what, why?!-”
“JUST GIVE ME IT!”
I grabbed her arm as fast as I could and rolled down the sleeve to her jacket. She yelped and practically tripped from my sudden jerk, but I was only focused on one thing. I clutched her wrist and shook it as hard as I could, praying I wouldn’t hear the dreaded noise I’d heard in my nightmare…
Rattle, rattle.
I didn’t think Wren would’ve done it. She couldn’t have, how heartless could the woman be?! Mama used to be her closest friend from what Tora and Eva had told me, so why would she go out of her way to unethically put explosives in the hands of Jín’s children?!
"MILLIE!" I cried. "THERE'S A BOMB INSIDE YOU TOO?!"
My sister stumbled backwards momentarily as she held up her arm in confusion, she collapsed to the ground with big petrified brown eyes as she started to realize the chilling noise that had just come from her own hand. "WHAT?!?! No... NO!!! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! WHY WOULD WREN DO THIS TO US?!!"
Tora ran to hold my twin in a split second, wincing as her yelps started turning into weeps. My aunt seemed to know of the day the bomb had been put into my own hand, that was the reason why Wren wanted to kill her in the first place… she didn’t want any witnesses. I wondered if that was the same day Millie had her ‘surgery’ too, but so many things were happening I didn't even care at that point.
“WHYYYYYY?! JUST WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME TOO!? Aunt Tora, t-tell me why it had to be me along with Haru…we’ve done absolutely nothing wrong! Why… why is life like this!? It's so cruel... SO CRUEL!!!” Millie wailed into the sunhat woman’s dress. I felt so incredibly guilty for some reason, but I knew I couldn’t help how her and I had become Miss Nilsen’s revenge plan to my mother. Jude and Eva looked in silence at Tora and Millie on the ground and then at my lonely self trembling behind them.
“This is all my aunt’s fault!!!” Eva gritted her teeth. “I’m so sorry, I feel so bad for your family-“
My big cousin cut her off immediately once he knew where her sentence was going. “No, no, you shouldn’t feel bad. It wasn’t your choice to be born a Nilsen, and plus, I'm sure not all of you are that bad. I know Millie looks absolutely destroyed right now... but I think she'll get over it soon. She really is a strong little girl, I've heard a lot of stories about her bravery just from what Haru has told me so far. Don't worry, Mom will help her calm down..."
Eva looked at him as halfheartedly sweet as she could. She had only been with us for a short amount of time, but I knew she trusted every single one of us here. She was probably used to her aunt hating other families too, but... that made me wonder if Wren had had her revenge on someone else before.
I knelt down beside my two relatives’ crying heap and looked at Tora. Her face was heartbroken and a little guilty like mine, I think we felt bad that someone we both cared for with such love was scream-sobbing her heart out on the cement of a fake city.
“I-I don’t know why I thought coming to Tengoku would be any fun,” Millie sniffled. “I was just so excited to get here, but… since we’ve gotten here it seems like everything has just fallen apart.”
Tora held my sister’s head closer to her chest, like what our own mother would do when we were sad. “Baby, don’t you cry, we’ve already been through so much together. Do you really think I’d let Wren blow you up? Look at your brother, he knows we’ll make it through. We’ve got Life Cards too, though I don’t plan on using those unless it’s mandatory…”
Millie turned her head in my direction and stared at me for a few moments as she tried to think on the bright side. She gave me a tiny bit of a smile like I had done something good for her. I didn’t know why Tora had made me out to be courageous all of a sudden, even I didn’t know the twists and turns this game would take us on. Yet, if it was starting to make my amazing sibling feel better, it was all worth it. I slumped my backpack Jude had given back to me after I had been kidnapped onto the ground and joined my sister and aunt in their hug.
“I don’t actually know how to be a strong brother for you Millie, but um… we’re in this together. If you’re a bomb twin, I’m a bomb twin.” I tried my best to grin.
My plan seemed to work, she made a tiny exhausted giggle and let Tora wipe her wet cheeks. I stood up and held my hand out to her as she grabbed it and pulled herself up. For a moment, Millie quietly adjusted her pink butterfly. I didn't expect her to throw her arms around me when she was done, but to my sweet surprise she did.
“Thank you Ruru,” She said. “And you really are the best brother I could ever have, wether you're strong or not."
It felt so good to have another one of her hugs again. They were always so warm and sweet, like sitting inside the comfiest blanket known to man. Tora went and kissed her son on the cheek as she patted Eva on the back. What a good person she was too, a true blessing and a capable woman. Everything was starting to seem like it would be okay again until I heard two people shout from across the street.
“HEY YOU, GET BACK HERE!” A man said. Gruff voice, tall figure, I knew instantly it was Ramil.
“UGH, the stupid boy got away!!!” A frustrated girl stomped her foot beside him. It was Cleo, her already messy pigtails becoming even more tangled in the breeze.
Tora's eyes widened, she immediately hollered “GET IN THE SHOP!” to all of us as Jude slammed the door open and shoved us all inside.
I grabbed my sister’s hand for comfort and looked at her in terror, her lip was quivering but with all the chaos happening I didn’t think the fear I was experiencing had hit her yet.
“WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN?” I shrieked as Jude continued to pull Eva and the two of us twins into the back of the store, making us sit in the corner like it was some sort of school lockdown drill.
“I don’t know,” Tora panicked. She kept frantically looking out of the glass door as she watched Wren’s two sidekicks rush closer with guns ready at their sides. “But something bad is about to go down.”
ns 172.69.6.148da2
and then Add to home screen.