Tainted Entropies

YORE.1

[13 years ago. Sunday. 15:42]

The loud bells of the church resonated throughout the whole entirety of the town, implying that the mass was about to start—beckoning the people of faith to come and attend the Sunday mass.

Kael watched with curiosity as Arthur prepared the censer with his lithe creamy hands. “Should it really be incense? What if we replace it with paper instead?” he asked.

Arthur hummed pensively before glancing at Kael. “I think people will notice it.”

Kael grinned, his right canine teeth protruding in a manner that made it look like it was being pushed away by the teeth that surrounded it. He looked around to see if someone was watching before pulling up the white cloth of his cassock and taking out a twenty peso bill from his pocket. “Wanna try if they do?”

Scratching his cheeks in hesitation, Arthur hummed yet again before looking away.

Kael watched as his enchantingly grey eyes reflected the sunlight that seeped through the windows of the cathedral. It was rare to see someone with such a strikingly cold gaze yet could look at him with such warmth.

Maybe it was because he was Arthur’s first friend when he arrived from Norway that this big brother warmed up to him more than other boys in their neighbourhood.

Either way, he was the luckiest, to be able to have a friend that’s so cool—well, not really so cool, because Arthur’s usually silent and detached. But still!

“No one will know, I promise!” He nodded as if to convince his friend to ride along his mischief.

Arthur sighed, defeated. “Alright. But if ever I get caught, I’ll tell them that it was you.” He pouted before tearing the paper bill in fourths and burning them inside the metallic vessel, along with the charcoal and incense.

“Well, it smells the same?” Kael shrugged and prepared for his own duties.

However, when the Entrance Procession was about to start, Kael felt that there was something wrong. Turning his head around to check on Arthur, he caught the foul whiff of burning paper—

“Oh no,” he mumbled, and was about to turn completely around when the first ring of the bell resonated inside the church, signalling the start of the procession.

He was forced to walk forward. Kael scolded himself whilst maintaining the pace to which he and Angelo walked, holding the candles steadily in front of them.

I’m done for! Surely, Arthur will tell them it was me!

The procession was slow, and it took some time before even the assembly noticed that something was burning—and it surely was not incense.

Good God, it was not.

When the procession ended and they’ve already reached the Sanctuary, Arthur was silently taken away by the nuns.

Kael could hear from his seat the start of their scolding at the courtyard far away from the assembly. Oh God, he’s gonna tell them! he thought to himself.

Heartbeats racing, he slipped out of the pews that were reserved for the altar-servers to follow where they were headed. Remaining unnoticed, he peeked through the arched entryway and immediately saw three nuns surrounding Arthur who was looking down on the grassy courtyard.

Kael looked down, and saw the opened censer on the ground. The coal still churned, and burned what’s left of the incense . . . however it did not include the vividly orange papers of his twenty peso bill on the side, seemingly stubborn to burn completely.

Kael face palmed as he listened to their hushed conversation.

“Well, sister, what should we do about this act of impudence?” one of them asked.

“First of all, what went through your mind as to try and burn money—of all things—inside the censer?” another asked as she was turning to face Arthur.

Oh no, oh no. He’s really gonna tell them! I’ll be damned! Kael bit his nails, his eyes glued on the scene before him.

Arthur’s head hung lower than before. “I . . .” he trailed.

This is all my fault. Good God, what did I just do—

“I’m sorry.”

What?

“I’m sorry. It was all my fault. I wondered why it should be incense instead of something else . . . that’s why I tried to burn paper—”

“Money, of all things!” One of them scoffed before shaking her head. “Such disrespect! What punishment should we give you, hm?”

Kael stared at them, his mouth gaping stupidly like those of cartoon characters he saw on TV.

Arthur didn’t tell them it was him after all.

. . . Why?

The mass officially ended, and so was Arthur’s days of serving the church. Everyone who had a say on the matter decided to just remove him as an altar-server. They reasoned that Arthur was still too young and too immature to serve the church, and so they have decided to remove him.

The Nylands weren’t too happy about it, but they accepted the decision.

However, Kael was more than unhappy about it. It was his fault, and Arthur should’ve been allowed to continue serving! It didn’t matter if he ends up being scolded by his father, as long as his friend wouldn’t be labelled as impudent when he’s clearly not!

A few days had already passed by, yet Kael still felt guilty about it. Finally having the guts to come by Arthur’s house, he brought a small white flower that he plucked from Louise’s garden to offer as an apology gift.

Cheeks burning from shame and guilt, he barged inside Arthur’s room and shouted: “I’m really sorry, it’s all my fault! I was childish and . . . and immature, and It’s my fault you were kicked out!” Tears rolled down his plump cheeks as he shuffled to hug Arthur’s legs as his way of asking for forgiveness.

Arthur, who was silently sitting on his bed holding a screwdriver and a funny-shaped piece of wood, looked shocked by how such a small boy was able to run so swiftly across the room and hug him before he could even turn his head.

“Please don’t hate me! I still want to be your friend!” Kael’s tanned face was covered with tears, sweat, and snot, that it almost seemed gross.

“Hm. What’s wrong?” he calmly asked, almost uninterested.

“You were kicked out of the church, and it’s all my fault!” he prattled in between hiccupping cries. “I’m really sorry!” He held up a white—not anymore—flower that was missing a few petals. Kael had forgotten he was holding such a delicate thing in his hands that when he balled his fists while crying on Arthur’s foot, he had unknowingly crushed it.

Arthur sighed, almost fondly, before taking the decrepit flower from his hand. “Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t that interested in being an altar-server, anyway.” A sombre smile appeared in his lips as he scrutinised the flower that was doused by the sunlight that seeped though his window. “This flower is pretty.”

Kael had already calmed down, wiping his face with his shirt. He sniffled. “That’s an apology flower,” he croaked. “I’m really sorry.”

A few seconds passed.

“Apology accepted.” Arthur stood up and tossed Kael the funny-shaped piece of wood before placing the flower on top of his desk. “Are you interested in skateboarding?”

“What’s that?”

“Do you want to find out?”