Demon's Protégé

Dark

“Kevin said you’re staying at some town in Preston.”

I grimaced at my mother’s added words. What a way to start a serious conversation. I turned and give her a sheepish smile and took a peek at father who was still eating his lunch in silence. His expression remained blank and unreadable.

“Are you really going to stay there?” Mom asked me, frowning down to my face.

“Yes… But I will still continue on taking care of the business and projects while I’m away from the city. You don’t have to worry.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” Father grimly commented, speaking up all of a sudden. I was startled for a second because it was such a rare thing to happen. And as I glanced at his voided stance, I felt uneasy.

“Steve.” My mother warned beside me and she shot a stern look towards my father’s direction. But father just ignored it and didn’t even bother to acknowledge her remark. He just glanced my way without even blinking.

“Avian Hills?” he said with a serious face. I hesitantly nodded at him, nervous to even say another word.

“Why?”

I gulped and tried to organize a better way to explain things to him. We had never been too openly conversational with each other. The only things we had ever really talked about in mutual interest were only and would always be about the business and company. I felt quite trapped as he stared at me with such intrepid intimidation. I could even imagine him flipping out if I really told him the whole truth…

“I’m thinking of starting up a business there.” I lied instead.

“All of a sudden?”

“I just thought since it’s within the borders of Preston… We could take advantage of it. The whole town’s kind of mysterious and hidden but it has its own appeal. It might be in the suburbs but if we provide them a good offer we could make it a tourist pote—”

“Leave the town alone.” My father strictly imposed, a heavy warning sounding from his loud intonation as he abruptly cut my words off.

I frowned back, suddenly puzzled and feeling a bit annoyed. “Why?”

“It’s not a suitable place to start business. I know that town. It’s not too significant to be invested on. It would just be best to leave it the way it is,” he vaguely answered, not even missing a beat, “Just drop the whole thing about it and get back to work inside your office instead.”

I took a deep breath, controlling the growing frustration that I was starting to feel inside. I needed to get a grip. I closed my eyes and exhaled audibly. All logic set aside, I went with the impulse even when I already knew it won’t do me any good… I guess, doing what my parents have always wanted me to do would still do me no good anyway.

“No,” I harrumphed. My mother tensed beside me while my father glowered at my word, looking quite surprised as he tried to process what I just said.

“I’ll stay at the village,” I told them in a firm resolution. I was no longer capable of being stopped from what I was about to do. “I’m just letting you know, father. But I will still be as active as I am with the business. I just have things I needed to do for now. So, I hope you can reconsider.”

My father just stared back with cold reservation, our eyes deeply connected as we continued to hold each other’s gaze with an intensity that only men of stubbornness could understand. It might be the very first time we have really looked at each other’s eyes and got engaged into a silent battle of who was going to back away first. And as the moments continued to pass on, his eyes slowly retreated on their own and he was the first one to look away, unexpectedly. I felt kind of guilty as I heard him heavily sighing. He quickly reached for his glass filled with scotch to take a sip, looking quite bothered yet still eerily calm at the same time.

“If that’s what you want,” he finally said, his eyes casting down towards the almost empty glass in his hand. “I have already gave you my warning. If somehow, it worked for you, just give my regards to the mayor. But I still have one condition.”

“Okay,” I accepted too quickly, “What’s the condition?”

My father slowly tilted his head up and turned his eyes back at me. His gaze pierced right through me, letting me know that what he was about to say was one thing I should be completely serious about.

“Never interfere with any of the town’s business. Leave their matters alone,” he said in an ominous voice, the threat was very evident and I gulped nervously, “Forget the whole business bluff you’ve just blurted out on a whim. I don’t really think that’s the reason, anyway. Just do what you need to do and leave the place as soon as you can. Understand?”

Speechless, I only nodded at him. Yet his words continued to strain inside my head. What does he mean by that? Why am I being strongly warned to leave the town right away?

Why is it so strange?

Just what is there in that town that everyone keeps telling me to leave?

It was almost fading into evening when I came back to Avian Hills that day.

The sky has been filled with dazzling shades of purple and orange, scattered in a melancholic stream with showers of blue and fading whites over it. The colors marvelously blended with the faint darkness that was already starting to show up from the farthest view of the skyline as I drove past the brown sign board of the town. I was feeling a little bit light-headed as I let the reality sink in. Not that I was really drunk, I was actually more than sober. But the entire two-hour drive from the city and all the traffic had me craving to finally lay my body down on a soft bed.