It's hard to be back here but I'm also glad that I am able to close this chapter of my life with a goodbye. I've never liked this house or the people in it but there are some rare memories I am fond of and like to think back to. Even though it wasn't ever really a home to me, rather hell, it's still the house I grew up in and the place where most of the things happend that shaped me into what I am today.
"You okay?"
Khestri
Dion has just been silently staring at his mansion for some time and I'm starting to get a weird feeling. He's never been this quiet before. Normally he always had some dumb comment to offer but now it's just...nothing. It's strange seeing him run out of words but I guess that's just what happens when you're in a state of shock. Now that even the sun has abandoned us it's hard to see the manor but even in the dim light I can't help but admire the grandest house I have ever laid my eyes upon. I hate that the city gave all of this money to build such an unnecessary large and lavish building for just a singular rich family to live in when it could have housed so many poor people and fed them for weeks but I do have to admit that it's beautiful. I envy Dion for growing up in such a nice building and never having to worry about how to afford the next ration of food. It must have been heaven.
"Should we go in?", I ask when I see him hesitating to enter, probably scared of seeing even more dead bodies, in the worst case maybe even his parents, I already lost the two people closest to me, he's probably terrified of having the same fate. "It's okay, you shouldn't worry too much, the walls are still standing and your father is the head of the town so your house is probably the safest place in the whole city. Doesn't your family have bodyguards and shit too? I'm sure they're okay." He's possibly the only person where I feel like these words could be true, of course human bodyguards wouldn't be able to do much against a wave of infected monsters with instincts sharper than a beast's and other superpowers but everything seems to be intact here, even if one of them woukd have managed to overcome the wall somehow, there's no destruction here, the flowers of the garden aren't trampled, the trees and benches are still standing and there's no blood so I doubt anything inhuman came to this point.
A small part of me wished to see destruction, to see that they have suffered like the townspeople of Tranmere have suffered when Dion's father raised the taxes and so many people couldn't afford food or a house anymore. To see the perfect little oasis he built in the middle of a suffering city instead of helping the folk he was supposed to watch over damaged by these very people. To see that justice has finally been done and that he has gotten what he deserves. But I can't. I can't wish for something that horrible upon Dion after going through it myself.
The two of us set foot in the manor through the service entrance and I can hardly breathe because of how beautiful it is. Not in a good way but because I'm getting nauseous from how unnecessarily the money of the villagers was used. No sane human could ever feel the need to build something so uselessly grand instead of helping others and saving lifes. But the good news is that there is also no blood or destruction here so his parents should be fine. As we start looking through the manor we decide to split up since it's so big and we both want to get out of the city as fast as possible. Dion will search through the second story while I search the ground floor. I just hope we won't have to tackle even more obstacles on our way out of the city. I'm so tired.