"Rulf, stand down."
"But, Dad, this lady tried to kill Ivan! There is no way in hell I'm letting that slide!"
"I understand how you feel, but still... stand down!"
"Mother, please release my spell!"
"Yes, Mrs. Bloodstone. Please release our spells. At my current level, I probably wouldn't be able to hurt her anyway... but I still have to try. Please."
"Rosalind, Walter, calm down... wait. Where's Thomas?"
"Elara, from above!"
"YOU DAAMN BITCH I GONNA KILL YOU!"
"Clifton, I can't react on time."
"Damn it. Sorry, Rulf. This is going to hurt tomorrow."
DOOM!
"GAH!"
"Ivan!"
...
Huh?
"Ivan!"
"Huh...? Wha—who?"
"Ivan!"
"Are you okay?"
Wha...?
What the hell is happening, oh shit my eyes are spinning.
Who is this person and what are they saying?
"Hey, can you hear me? hey."
Oh.
It's Rosalind.
What the hell happened?
Did I black out?
...No.
I didn't lose consciousness.
I just...
froze.
For a single moment, fear swallowed me whole.
That moment felt like a dream...
No.
More like a nightmare.
"Ivan, can you hear me?"
"Y-Yeah... I can hear you, Rosalind."
Crap.
They're definitely going to make fun of me for freezing up.
I need to think of an excuse—
HUG
"Wha—Rosalind, what are you...?"
"I'm so glad you're okay. For a second... I thought she killed you."
Her voice trembled as she tightened her arms around me.
...
I slowly looked around.
We're in my room and…
Everyone in the room is staring at me.
Again.
It felt just like my first day in this world.
"...Hello."
Thomas and Rulf rushed over, tears still clinging to the corners of their eyes.
"Little brother, how are you feeling?"
"Like I said before, I'm fine, so don't worry about anythi—"
...
Wait.
Did I hear that right?
That...
was Walter's voice.
...Right?
If only Mother could see him caring about his brothers for once. speaking of mother.
Where is she and father as well?
"Where's Mother and Father?" I asked.
"Outside," Thomas replied. "They're talking to that cat lady."
"Oh... I see."
"I don't know why they're even talking to that bitch," Rosalind muttered. "Your father alone could beat her, and with your mother helping, they could kill her right here."
"It's not that simple, Rosa," Walter said, shaking his head. "That lady—Rosalyn—is my mother's
sister. And according to Beast-folk culture, what she did was considered... normal."
...Normal?
Wait.
Why does Beast-folk culture have anything to do with this?
"Excuse me…"
The soft voice caught everyone's attention.
"May I come in?"
Thomas glanced towards the door. "Who's that?"
"It's that girl who came with that cat bitch," Rosalind said, already walking towards the door.
"Could you please stop calling her that." Walter requested.
"Why should I, she is a bitch and why does her name sound like my." Rosalind muttered to herself. "Yes you may."
"Thank you. Once again, I'll intridice myself."
"No it's fine, we know who you are Clarice Fitzroy, we've met before today. It was brief, but we still met." Rosalind replied.
"Sorry but I don't remember ever meeting you." Clarice replied.
"It's fine if you don't remember. Anyways, what do you want here?"
"I came to apologize on Rosalyn's behalf. I have already apologized to your parents, and they told me it wasn't necessary…but I still felt I should say it myself."
Another one of those "perfect" characters…
She's too polite. Too composed. Nobody can actually be this flawless.
She needs some character development…like Rulf does.
"Okay than, apologiza."
"Uh, Rosalind, don't you think you're being a lettle too rude." Thomas asked. " I don't think she meant to bring the crazy cat lady here to try and kill Ivan."
"I know." Rosalind replied. "After all she was saved by Ivan yesterday and knowing Ivan he probably invited her to come over for magic classes or am I wrong Ivan?"
I answered with nothing more than a nervous chuckle.
"Rosalind move. Thank you for being concerned about this all but like my parents said we don't need an apology so you can go."
"Oh-okay if you would excuse me."
"The hell, Rulf? That was to far . Even for me."
I never thought that Rulf's voice could be so cold and so filled with such hatred.
"I don't care, anybody who tries to harm my family or friends doesn't deserve any sort of kindness from me."
SLAM!
The sound of the door closing echoed the room followed by the footstep of Clarice walking away. Something about the nice person in the family snapping and showing a different side of themselves feels more…
Deep and.
…hurtful.
The events that followed were pretty much calm, Thomas and Rosalind had to head back home but my father thought that the lady might come back so he took them.
Rulf was a bit too much for a while, following me around the house even when taking a number two, dude stood in front of the door until I was done.
My glorious poop was interrupted by him.
Walter finally knocked some sense into Rulf, and he stopped and I had the evening to myself.
Clarice and that cat lady came right before our classes and we normally have our classes at noon until three in the afternoon, but because of the cat lady, our classes were canceled for the day, and Thomas and Rosalind headed home early.
And mother has been in her room for a while now, maybe I should go see what's up with that, she might be feeling a little stressed out.
The hallway of this house reminds me of an American cartoon about a boy with a lot of sisters or was it the other way around?
Can't remember.
"Excuse me, mother may I come in."
"Oh, sweetheart is something the matter?" mother asked, slowly raising her head.
Is she planning our class for tomorrow.
I guess there was nothing for me to worry about.
"Nothing, is it wrong for a son to want to see his mother?"
"I suppose you're right."
I walked to her and she slowly lifted me up and sat me on her lap and hugged me tightly.
Oh boy, this is the part where she starts crying on my back.
"How are you feeling after everything that happened?"
"I feel pretty normal."
"You know from all my children, you are the only one who didn't cry when you were born, I was scared when you didn't cry."
Well
I was born with a mind of a teenage boy and...
Wait, now that I think about it I died at the age of--
The age?
What age did I die?
Huh?
I can remember what age I died, or when I died and it's crazy that it's the first time I actually sat down and wandered how and when or even where I died.
"Ivan?"
Huh?
"Yes?."
"Are you truly fine?"
"Yeah, I'm fine so I gonna go now and sorry for distracting you from your work."
"It's very fine. I'd actually like it if you stayed with me a little longer."
"Oh-okay."
"Ivan."
"Yes mother?"
"let's let the past be the past and live here and now and even if the past has something or someone you love, let's learn to let the past be the past okay."
"what do you mean by that?"
"You will understand when you get older but for now just live for you and only you even if your father and I, are no longer here with you and your brothers. Do you understand sweetheart."
Huh?
I don't really want to dig any further but I really hope I can live like this forever.
Whoever brought me here..
Please let me live this life with my family.
…for as long as I can.