• Chapter 6

    Things were happening very fast. I saw Ren at the other side of the pond, and I could the gun behind my head got closer to me. I closed my eyes. Why did this even happen? Suddenly, I heard Ren mumble a name from his breath.Then, there was a shout, a plead, a shot, a wail, a shout, a smirk, a coo, a quack, a splash, a sob, and then, silence. The gun behind me backed away, and I was afraid to open my eyes. Sophie was dead. I cannot look. The sight would be too much for me.

    Suddenly, I cannot control my eyes, so I opened them. The rope was untangled, so I unwrapped myself, took Hex's cage, and blindly ran around the pond to the other side where Ren is located at. In the cage, I could hear whimpers and sobs from a poor, little boy. Since his dad was not mentioned from Sophie at all from and through our first visit to their house, I think she was his last protective guardian. And Hex is probably an orphan, like us.

    Ren looked depressed. "Sorry," he apologized sadly. "But I cannot lose Lily. She's more important than Sophie, because she's part of my family."

    Hex did not even look at him. Apology was not accepted. The strange men were going to clear out of the crime scene until the cops finally found them, rushed towards them, and had arrested them for good. But, Sophie had died, and she would not come back to life anymore. Like our perished mother.

    The pond was red. The sky was blue. Another vortex, and another dead corpse included, too.

    We were very tired. When we arrived at Aunt Sophie's house, I immediately put the code inside the lock of the black box and opened it. Inside, there was a brown rusty key, and I turned the key in the lock of Hex's cage. He was free, and he ran upstairs to his room and slammed the door, hard.

    Ren and I sat in the kitchen, alone, looking down with silence, praying for Sophie and our mom. Everything is getting worse. Many are arrested and jailed, but they are just going to keep coming to us. Until we are all gone.

    The day turned dark. I went to sleep in my room after a quiet dinner with Ren and Hex. Things were not getting better at all.

    Suddenly, the sunlight was shining at my eyes. I covered them with my hands, and I turned away and went back to sleep. Hours later. I woke up and went to the restroom to comb my bed hair and brush my teeth. The door was slightly open. I pushed it away without care and walked towards the mirror, with my feet stepping on blood. I opened the cabinet, took out my comb, and straightened my straight hair. Then, I looked down, and was shocked. My mouth gaped. The floor was all bloody. I looked around the room and found Hex's body on the bathtub, covered in his own blood. He isn't moving. There was a scar on his neck, which he was probably stabbed to death by a sharp knife.

    This was a nightmare. I quickly ran towards the toilet, opened the lid, and puked. And again. All the food from last night came up and out. I felt sick. Where is Ren?

    I instantly ran out of the restroom and through the hallway until I was blocked by my little brother, holding a bloody knife with his right hand. Why am I still calling him little? He was thirteen. I was like sixteen. We were teenagers. Hex was the little one.

    "Why?" I asked him. "Why did you kill him!?"

    Ren does not feel sorry about Hex's death. He handed me a crumpled piece of note and I snatched it away from him with sadness and anger. It was the same note I had shredded before, which was the command to kill Hex that would make the "curse" end. I did not trust that note, and look what happened if you followed it. This only made the situation even worse than before.

    "Ren," I remarked soberly. "Leave this house at once. NOW!"

    His expression was blank to me as he turned his back and walked towards the front door and out of the house. He did not responded back, nor made a counterclaim. Instead, he had left me, like a lotus drifting away from a lily in a pond.

    I called the police, and they had arrived there to take Hex's body to the hospital, which he was announced dead. I haven't seen my brother ever since, and I now lived with Jennifer, who was still alive and well. Hopefully, I will be safe from harm and from my dangerous brother. But the most unfortunate part of all, is that the pond's vortex is still rippling.

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    After Ren had stormed out the door from Sophie's house, he was about to walk around the neighborhood to calm himself until he was stopped by the boy who had delivered the mysterious package several days ago. His appearance is still the same from last time, just that he was wearing a yellow, bright badge.

    "Hello fellow murderer," he said to Ren, with a sly smile on his face. "Would you be so kind if you join my group called 'SK?' "

    He lend out his hand, and Ren shook it. He had agreed to join a sinister group.