The Villainous Children Retire

Chapter 4

No one had ever been concerned for the twin's safety before. At least, not from what they remembered.

However, as they raced up the hill and through the woods, being dragged by a girl who was far younger than them and understood nothing about them, they began to think there may have been at least one person who had been concerned for them before.

They didn't understand the girl's thoughts at all, but then realized not even the girl was thinking. She only had one thought in her head: to protect the twins from the big bad bully.

The twins got the feeling that even if they were to tell her that she had mixed up their positions, that they were really the big bad bullies, the girl would not believe them.

"I'm Cheryl." The girl turned to look at them with a reddened and sweaty face. "It's nice to meet you guys."

Without thinking, the twins both told her their names.

The girl smiled again and said, "It's nice to meet you, Esther and Eli."

"It's nice to meet you, too," they replied.

Cheryl led the twins to a small house, much like theirs. Despite it being small, they could tell instantly that it was bigger than their grandfather's. The porch alone told them that.

Cheryl showed them inside. She took off her shoes at the door, and they did the same. She led them to the kitchen table and had them sit down while she went to the bathroom to get the first aid kit.

"Grandma Cheryl must not be here," she said before she left. Then she grinned and added, "I was named after her. She's a cool granny."

Esther and Eli couldn't count the number of times they had heard that word. At that point, they didn't think that anyone in the town was really cool. They believed everyone just threw that word around.

Esther turned to look at Eli. He was sitting on the chair beside her. The chairs were so large they made the twins look even smaller than they were.

"What should we do?" Esther asked.

"Let her fix you up and then leave," Eli answered.

"Okay."

The twins sat and waited in the chairs they felt were overly large, and soon enough, Cheryl came back with a first aid kit.

At first, they were all silent as Cheryl tended to Esther's wound, but then Esther decided to strike up a conversation so it would be less awkward.

"Is it just you and your grandma here?"

Cheryl gave a small nod. "Yeah, it's just me and Granny."

"What about your parents?" asked Eli.

Esther turned to Eli angrily. She thought her brother would know better than anyone to not ask such questions.

"My mom and dad are always busy working," Cheryl answered. She looked content when she spoke. "They aren't bad parents. Granny told me they have to work so they can give me the best life. They are doing the best they can. That's what she said."

"Do you blame them?" Esther asked. She wondered if the young girl would blame her absent parents. Did she grow to hate them during their absence? She wanted to know if such a young child was able to foster such emotions. She was certain her brother wanted to know the same.

"No," Cheryl answered slowly. She dabbed a cotton ball on Esther's hand. "I don't. They left me with my granny. She's pretty awesome, and they even send me pretty cards in the mail a lot!" She put the swab down. "Now it's time for the band-aid!"

Esther's gaze narrowed as she asked, "So it's just you and your granny all the time, huh?"

"Yep!" Cheryl slowly angled the band-aid over Esther's hand. "Gramps died a few years ago. It's just me and my granny now! She said we have to always be there for each other because we're all we have."

After placing the band-aid, Cheryl said cheerfully, "Ta-da! You're all done now!"

"Thanks," Esther replied. She moved her hand over to observe the girl's handiwork. For a child the same age as them who only had one lifetime of experience, the twins were impressed with her precision and skill with first aid.

'It's just her and her grandma,' said Esther.

'Yeah,' Eli replied.

'She doesn't even have any siblings she can rely on. It's kind of sad.'

'Yeah, it's sad, I agree, but she finished fixing your hand, so let's leave.'

'El!'

Eli sighed, 'It's not that I don't think it's sad she doesn't really have anyone; I just find it a little hard to be that concerned. She seems to have good parents regardless of how often she sees them. Unlike us.'

Esther couldn't help but freeze. 'Yes. . . unlike us . . .'

Esther turned to Eli with such an expression that he knew it could only mean one thing.

'Esther, no.'

'Come on, we can stay to play with her for a little while.'

'But I don't really care about this girl and her life. We have more pressing matters to worry about.'

'I don't care about her either.'

'Then why-'

Esther sighed heavily and watched as Cheryl packed up the kit, cleaned up, and left to put it back in the bathroom.

'Don't you think we sound a little like our old selves right now?'

'Old selves . . .' Eli replied slowly, 'you mean like-'

'Ezra and Irene.'

"Esther!" shouted Eli, who was so surprised he said it out loud. "How could you say that?!"

"But what we're doing right now is no different than what they would do."

Eli sighed and leaned back against the chair. "Fine, we'll play with her, but not for long. Grandpa will start to get worried if we aren't back soon."

"Yeah," Esther replied with a sad-like expression. "I don't want us to stay for long any more than you do."

It didn't take long for Cheryl to return, and when she did, the twins let her know about their plans to stay and play with her. They hadn't expected her to get so excited, but then again, she assumed she was playing with her guardian fairies. Although they had only stayed for thirty minutes, it was enough to satisfy the girl. She let them leave much easier than she did before.

When Eli and Esther made it home, they immediately explained to their grandfather the reason for their lateness; however, he didn't appear to care. He seemed happy that the twins had made a friend. They didn't tell him about the bully they encountered.

They both felt guilty about what had happened to him. They began to believe there were other ways to go about dealing with him, but they couldn't do anything about it now. They couldn't rewind time.

Esther and Eli barely said a word after returning, and during dinner, they were quiet. They didn't even talk to each other with their powers.

When their bedtime arrived, they helped their grandfather clean up and headed to bed.

* * *

It was rare, but occasionally, the twins would dream. An even rarer occurrence was when they would dream about their past.

A mansion surrounded by flames that went up as tall as the mansion itself completely covered his entire field of vision.

When he looked up at the sky to escape the flames, all he could see was a blood-red sky. He turned around and lowered his head to look for anyone, but all he could see were flames. It looked like they went on for miles. When he turned around to look at the mansion again, his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

Lots and lots of angry people began to come in swarms and began to surround him. Each one cursed him louder than the next.

"It's him!"

"We found the last one!"

"Now we can get rid of those heinous children once and for all!"

"They're the last demons that need to be vanquished!"

"N-no!" he cried. "Wait!"

But they wouldn't listen. His pleas fell on deaf ears.

They grabbed his arms, and started to drag him away. To where, he didn't know.

When he began to turn his head frantically . . . that's when he saw it.

It seemed to have magically appeared out of thin air.

A guillotine.

He struggled to break free of the people's grip, but his fear was stunning him.

"Quit your struggling," said one of the men who was tightly holding him. The man was dragging him with his hands locked under his arms. "It'll be quick once you give in. You deserve this anyway; both of you demons do."

"We're not demons," said the boy coldly. "We saved you! There aren't any demons left!"

"That's right, there's not." His eyes darted down to look at the boy, and for a moment, he could swear there was something in the man's eyes that looked hungry.

He tossed him down once they made it to the top of the stairs and began painfully dragging him closer to the thing that would end his existence.

"Wait!" he cried again. "Stop! My sister and I aren't demons!"

"Ezra Belmonte."

He turned to look at a well-dressed man standing back behind the man who was keeping him restrained. His voice was cold and devoid of any emotion. He began to open a small book and slowly flipped through the middle of its pages.

"You understand the crimes you have committed and your punishment?"

"What crimes?" hissed the boy. "We were only having some fun. After all, all the demons have been destroyed thanks to us."

"Mhm," replied the man sluggishly. "And it's precisely because of that "fun" that we're doing this."

"Ah, that's enough talk!" shouted someone from the ground.

The boy turned to look at a large crowd that had formed below. They all began to stir and shout with impatience.

The well-dressed man shut his book. "Indeed, enough talk. Let him join his sister."

The boy fought as the men began to push him further to the guillotine. All the while, the crowd cheered and chanted below him.

He saw the shiny steel that was about to tear through his flesh. It was so clear and shiny that he could see his reflection in it.

A mature face stared at him. His hair was messy, on account of being treated so roughly by the people. He stared at the brown color and his eyes of cobalt blue. To him, the reflection he saw was wrong.

"No!" he shouted again, but with far more force than before. "It's not me! You have the wrong person!"

His head was forced down onto the mount. The screaming of the crowd became overwhelmingly intense.

Then, through the noise, he could hear two words spoken in the calmest manner.

"Happy birthday."

As soon as those words were spoken, he could feel an intense coldness, and then everything turned dark.

* * *

His body awoke with a start. He began screaming and thrashing about, trying to get out of the bed, but the sheets and covers were holding him captive.

He couldn't breathe. It felt like something heavy was sitting on his chest. It soon began to burn with intensity.

"No!" he shouted. "No! Stop! Don't! No!"

He couldn't catch his breath, and his neck felt cold and vulnerable. He put his hand to his throat. It felt like an invisible string of sorts was trying to wrap itself around his neck.

"No!"

Through the panic, he felt someone's arms wrap around him.

"It's okay!" said a voice in the same panic as him. "It's okay, Eli! You're okay!"

The voice had felt very far away. It was as if he was underwater while hearing someone calling out to him. Gradually, he felt himself coming out of whatever it was. The voice became much clearer.

"Esther," he replied in a rapid voice.

She squeezed him tighter. "It's okay," she said again. "You're safe."

He worried that she would reprimand him for being so loud during the night with their grandfather sleeping in the room directly below them, but he knew that they were both aware that his hearing was bad and even worse at night.

"We're not them anymore." He'd heard her say. "Ezra and Irene are dead. We are not them."

After catching his breath, Eli slowly began to bury his head down in his sister's shoulder. "Yeah," he said in a voice that told him he was still shaken up. "I know."

"Things will get better," Esther coaxed. "It won't be like this for long."

Because Eli's face was hidden, he couldn't see the expression and intenseness in his sister's eyes when she said, "I'll make sure of it."