"What?!" Silas shouted with a confused voice. Still weakened by the pain in his eyes.
'What is she doing here?'
At the sound of his voice, Stella turned rapidly and stared at him with a relieved expression.
Silas desperately tried to run toward her, hug her, but after she looked at him he was frozen. It was as if the pain he felt in his eyes before was because he was actually bitten by a snake and his whole body was now paralyzed because of the venom.
"Sill!" Stella shouted, as if he was her only hope of salvation.
Silas tried to open his mouth, tried to say something. But his body wasn't his anymore.
Suddenly the seed of rage he felt since seeing her, sprouted and his heart burned. He reluctantly took a step forward. Then another. And one more. Till he stood in front of his sister and the Leader of the town.
He could speak once again. It was as if his mouth was unlocked with a key.
"Stella, are you alright? What have they done to you? Come let's get you out of here. We probably have some food left at home. You must be very hungry. You can tell us everything else tomorrow after you have rested."
That's at least what he wanted to say.
But the words spoken, weren't his. Instead he spat with a sense of curiosity
"Who are you? Why are your hands smeared with blood".
Her eyes widened and she looked down, mumbling desperately
"I am your sister. Don't you remember me? It's me Stella. I had to defend myself. It wasn't my fault they died. They attacked me first."
Again, Silas wanted to say that everything's alright and that she mustn't worry, in a soothing voice, but instead he said
"You are not my sister. I never knew you." in a voice, as cold as ice.
She looked up again, her eyes widening once more. The indifference in what he said, as well as the inevitability of his words felt like nails, driven into her heart... As well as his.
"No, please just listen! I..."
"Quiet now, girl. You said it yourself. You are guilty of murder. Tomorrow will be the day of your trial. Guards take her to the dungeon." The mayor said in a commanding voice.
Silas turned around. His will broken. His heart filled with sorrow. The only thing about his body, he could still control were his eyes. While heading outside, he observed the others. Their facial expression was seemingly normal but behind their eyes, Veil saw something he couldn't describe. It was rather beautiful. So vibrant and pure. It looked like something the others had described to him a lot. Looking at it he instantly thought of fire and...
danger.
Those were the things linked to the color red.
'But that's impossible. I've never been able to see colors. I am cursed after all, am I not? What does this mean? Anyway, I got other problems right now. Why can't I move the way I want to? Why is Stella here? What happened to her?' And many more questions plagued his mind.
As Silas stepped foot on the white stone, outside of the townhall. His body belonged to himself once more. He nearly collapsed since he had to stand on his own again. But soon he realised
'I need to find Dex.'
Silas scouted his surroundings.
'The people don't look confused at all. Am I the only one who realised what just happened? Most of them are going toward the marketplace in order to buy groceries. That's clear and all. But why? Have they forgotten what just happened or do they just don't give a care? The flame of rage inside their eyes has vanished. I guess it would be smart to talk to someone since I can't find my brother.'
Silas set on a carefree expression and talked to his neighbour.
"Hey Jasper how's the shop coming along?"
"Well not bad I guess. How are you?"
"Not bad either. Hey ... what was that just now?"
"What do you mean?"
Silas was suddenly annoyed a bit.
"What do you mean with what I mean? My sister Stella just got imprisoned!"
At the mention of Stella's name, the red flame came alive in his eyes once more.
"Listen hear you little brat. You should stay away from that wicked girl if you know what's good for you." With that, he walked off.
'Well, that was unexpected... I have to find Dex even more now. He could also be under some kind of mind hex. Just where the heck is he?'
After looking around for a while, Silas realised that his brother was nowhere to be seen. As if he was swallowed by the earth.
'Well, I better look at home for him.'
***
In front of Silas, a pretty old house stood in a rich street. It had just the same marble as walls and wood as beams. But in comparison to the other manors around, it was small and badly maintained. It was two storeys high. The wood was as old as the town itself and probably not even from the forest.
'Well, I better ask Dex, mom and sis what we're gonna do because of Stella.'
With that, he headed inside.
Most of the interior looked even more used than the outside. A small kitchen stood at the right of the entrance. If one could even call it a kitchen. There were a few cutting boards and a small oven.
'We almost never use the oven though, since we only eat fish like once a month.'
To the left stood a lonely, sad table with six sad chairs around it. The table wasn't big enough for all the chairs, so two always stood behind the others. There was probably some philosophical question hidden there, but Silas couldn't care less. The only thing he cared about right now was to find out where his brother was. And he just found him.
Silas' brother, sister and mother were all sitting around the table, eating bread from yesterday.
"Good evening honey, how was your day?" His mother, Elira, asked kindly with an honest smile.
She looked just like Stella. The celestial beauty, she inherited definitely came from our mother. Sorelle, Silas' older sister and the twin of Dex had exactly the same face, even though she was more like dad.
'Well I couldn't really know since dad died when I was five. But still... Anyway that's beside the point.'
"Why are y'all just sitting there so unresponsive? Didn't you see what happened earlier? Where were you Dexter?" Veil shouted.
"What do you mean Silas? What is up with you today?" Dexter asked with a truly curious voice.
By then Silas' blood was boiling. He was enraged. And then, he felt the urging desire to smash something. He was actually a pretty peaceful person...
But not today. Just thinking about his sister getting humiliated that way, made his eyes engulf in raging malice.
He clenched his fist, already about to hit someone. But then he suddenly reconsidered.
'There's no reason if they're really under a mind hex.'
And so, he just left. Walking slowly toward the stairs, his family just stayed quiet.
He soon arrived in the bedroom, sitting down on his bed.
His soul torn...
one part wanted to hate his brother, wanted to mangle him....
destroy him
one part wanted to help him understand, wanted to feel understood....
didn't want to be alone
and lastly...
he just wanted to leave....
leave this sad, forsaken place....
leave his family, his mother, his brother, his sisters....
leave his boring life
'Why am I so worthless?'
'Don't I have everything?'
'A loving family, enough food to live.'
'I don't deserve to live while being so ungrateful.'
'I don't deserve to die while being so unaccomplished.'
'What will my family think?'
But then he realised.
'I need to put all of it into some box. Feelings are overrated anyway. Stella matters the most right now. Yeah, I'm probably just over exaggerating. I can do it.'
Till he heard a voice, known too well.
'Yeah right you piece of trash. Go die already you good for nothing kid. You couldn't change anything. Can't save anyone.'
The voice had a peculiar sound, It was also known well to Silas...
since it was his own.
"What do you know about being worthless?! What do know about making no difference?! What do you know..."
But the voice was gone, already having sawn the seed of doubt.
He threw himself onto the bed, let his head fall into the pillow...
And fell asleep
***
A boy was slowly descending inside of a stormy fluid. The currents pushing him around, from left to right and right to left were just like of water, but something about it was different.
'Why is it so cold? I feel so light. Is that what one calls, not wanting to get out of bed? But still it does feel weird. Why am my ears plopping all the time?'
Opening his emerald eyes, the boy saw strange strings flow around him. The tapestry of colorlessnes wasn't beautiful at all, rather, it had a great amount of spookiness. It looked like he was drowning in a ball of three kinds of wool. The shades of grey were nearly the same. Usually not discernable by a regular eye. But Silas, who lived all his life with colorblindness, saw the difference easily.
'Was that some kind of fish just now?'
But while looking at it again he saw it differently and a shiver ran through his body. His eyes widened.
'Is... is that a corpse?'