Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 18: Anger

Because of that, Xaphile was hounded like crazy.

No matter what he did or where he went, even if it was only to the outhouse, he would spot an intense-looking Ella around each and every nearby corner, staring right at him with a suspicious expression.

It had gotten to the point where he'd been too annoyed to leave his room unless Amelia was nearby, but even with her around, Ella's hostility had continued.

The constant prickles of frustration and anxiety coupled with the way she was always watching him had seriously exhausted him, and before he'd even realized what was happening, he'd fallen back into an extreme state of depression.

For the last two days, there had been nobody for Ella to watch since Xaphile had done absolutely nothing but sleep.

His appetite had disappeared completely, his desire to do anything had become virtually non-existent, and since he hadn't really eaten much of anything at all throughout the week, he wasn't surprised that Amelia had woken him up today, despite the fact that Ella was coming again.

She knew how he felt and had still asked him, which was proof enough that she was worried.

Taking a moment to calm himself, he glanced at the creepy mirror hanging on the wall, mouth twisting a little.

His old human face stared back at him, smiling with bright blue-green eyes that twinkled happily. He'd asked Amelia about this same mirror a while back, but she'd told him that it was enchanted with illusion magic.

Supposedly, it had the ability to reflect a person's heart and warp their persona to match it.

Evil people, for example, would look grotesque like the darkness within them; good people would look like what they desired most, and because he wanted to go back to the time when Ella had been alive, to the time when he'd been happy, he only saw himself the way he'd been back then.

It was a period in his life that he could physically see, but not reach.

And it was cruel.

He gazed into the eyes that had once belonged to him, the face that had once been human.

The face he no longer had.

Then he moved forward, gently unhooked the mirror, and set it face-down on the floor, not wanting to see everything he'd lost being reflected back at him.

Irritable, he left the room and made his way to the kitchen, where a battered teakettle was whistling on the fireplace.

Amelia, Ella, and Gus were already sitting around the wooden table and an empty place had been set for one more with a plate of food waiting to be eaten, right across from the silver-haired girl herself.

Gus glanced up when he entered.

"Mornin', Phil," he hesitantly greeted, munching on a loaf of fresh bread. "Sleep well?"

Xaphile merely looked at the man with a blank face, and he obviously got the hint that he wanted to be left alone, since he returned to eating with no further talk. Amelia, on the other hand, either couldn't read facial cues or she simply didn't care.

"Good morning, Phil," she greeted, watching with glittering blue eyes as he walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed an apple. "I've prepared a plate of food for you."

"Thanks," he murmured, slowly sinking down into the seat. "I appreciate it."

With little fanfare, he picked up his fork and began to eat, gaze fixed on his food.

If he didn't look up, he wouldn't have to deal with Ella's doppelganger.

Or so he hoped.

Amelia stood up and moved to take the teakettle off the fire, pouring the contents into several different wooden cups and carrying them over to the table.