CHAPTER 1
The flickering candlelight cast long shadows across the rough-hewn floorboards as Leo and Oliver faced each other, the air thick with unspoken accusations and simmering resentment. Years of simmering tension, a lifetime of perceived slights and unfulfilled expectations, culminated in this brutal confrontation.Oliver, his face etched with a weariness that belied his youthful appearance, spoke first, his voice a low, controlled tremor. "You and your family," he began, each word carefully measured, "you never cared for me. Your charity was a performance, a carefully constructed facade to bolster your reputation as the village's paragons of virtue. You presented yourselves as beacons of compassion, but your kindness was a gilded cage, suffocating me with its suffocating pretense of benevolence."Leo, his features contorted with a mixture of grief and barely suppressed rage, retorted sharply. "Don't dare twist the truth! We took you in, gave you a home, provided for you when your own family failed you. We saw your suffering, your pain, and we offered solace and support. How dare you accuse us of such callous indifference after all we did for you?"Oliver's shoulders slumped, the carefully constructed composure crumbling. Tears welled in his eyes, mingling with the grime clinging to his cheeks. "You saw weakness, Leo," he whispered, his voice cracking. "You pitied me. You never saw me." He straightened, his eyes blazing with a desperate, feverish energy.
"Your kindness was a brand, a mark of your superiority. You sought to control me, to mold me into your image of the grateful orphan. But you failed. You never understood the depth of the resentment that festered within me, the humiliation of your charity, the stifling weight of your expectations."A long, tense silence descended upon them, broken only by the crackling of the fire and the frantic beating of their hearts. Leo, his breath coming in ragged gasps, advanced on Oliver, his eyes filled with a profound sorrow. He reached out a trembling hand, a gesture of reconciliation, perhaps, or simply a desperate attempt to understand."Oliver," Leo said, his voice barely audible, "tell me... tell me why. Why did you do it? Why did you take everything from me, everything from us?"Oliver stared at Leo's outstretched hand, then away, the turmoil in his eyes a vortex of pain, regret, and a chilling, cold fury.
His answer remained unspoken, lost in the suffocating silence, the weight of his actions heavy upon him, a burden he would carry until his dying breath. The unspoken question, the unanswered why, hung in the air, a testament to the enduring chasm of misunderstanding that had driven them to this point of no return. The flickering candlelight danced on their faces, illuminating the raw emotion, the devastation, the profound tragedy of their broken bond. Leo, his face filled with regrets hoping to return to when everything was fine. " I was 4 when I saw you sitting in front of that abandoned house, your family was the talk of the town.
No one wanted to be near you, rumors were spreading around faster than a wildfire about how you were a cursed child….you were abandoned, even your whole family didn't want you. When I saw you there crouching, with your dark empty eyes …i felt…a strange pull. I didn't understand the whispers, the fear in the adult's eyes. All I saw was a little boy, alone. I wanted to be your friend. I wanted to share my toys, my snacks. In my five-year-old mind , you, Oliver, weren't a cursed child. You were just ….. Oliver. A friend I longed to play with.."