The Darkest Eternities

XXII. A lost boy

"Why is it hard to believe I am real?" I ask. He walks in and takes a look around. He looks amazed by everything, like a child in a candy store.

"No one thought you would ever come..."he answered me. His hands move to the lacrosse stick that I have placed on the counter. He picks it up, his mouth widely agape. "Did you make this? This weapon?"

I nearly laughed. Has he never seen a lacrosse stick before?

"No... It's for lacrosse," I say then realise that the boy had probably never heard of such a thing. He did not look like someone who enjoyed sports." A sport I play. Where exactly are you from?"

For a moment, he is quiet, "...Northwest of here."

Hearing this, I assume he was from Alaska or somewhere around there. I decided not to pry, I only just met the boy.

Aeren moved around the house, curiously touching everything. I cautioned myself to be careful with him, he may be like Ivan and Jasper. Maybe the most dangerous thing about him was that he did not look harmful. Like a slow loris, he could be harmless-looking until he bites you and you die.

"What do you want? You said you have questions. Ask them."

This caught his attention. With an excited look on his face he approached me. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. The paper looked aged and used, like it has been folded , unfolded and refolded many times.

"I was there the night the wolves chased you... I was back at the sire's mansion, past the woods, by the hill. I'm sure you know it, you were taken there, " he began.

Memories from a while ago were drawn-out from the back of my mind. The night the wolves came, the night I got lost, the same night I met Ivan, well ,accurately speaking, when he met me, I was passed out when it happened.

The young man went on to explain, " whenever Master Hale, Jasper, goes out running, especially on full moons, I take time to indulge in one of my hobbies, astronomy. It happened for a short while, eighteen minutes to be precise and few took notice, including me. The moon was red."

I remembered the vision of the moon as I was about to pass out, it was cardinal red with a faded scarlet hue around it.

"In the history book where I am from, it is said, the fulfilment of prophecies by the gods always had signs, sometimes, when curses were averted or ended the moon would turn red as a sign to the people or the released."

Gibberish, it seemed to all be nothing but gibberish to me but in the previous weeks, I had acquired new... open-mindedness.

He handed the paper. It's a picture of the moon.

"I see you dabble in photography, too. The moon was red because the moon was red. That's it. I feel that maybe you are overthinking this. Otherwise, I will be of no help to you," I tell him feeling a little sympathetic.

"Is the sire your chosen? Has he declared his claim over you? Did you knot privately? Where? May I see the mark?"

OK, he's crazy.

"What? The sire? "

This is the last time I am letting a stranger into the house.

"Mr.Vasiliev. Ivan. I see you don't understand. You know so little now. Just answer me this. Do you feel a connection with him?"

Do I? The question he posed was simple enough but somehow difficult for me to answer.

The way I felt when he was around, it was... unexplainable. When he touched me, it was electric. The charge through my body when we kissed, it was unreal...unknown.

The memory of his voice brought goosebumps to my skin. Whenever he spoke, I felt a pull I had never known. My body had always been in need of his. There was a hunger inside me, a hunger for him.

My memories of him were interrupted by the vicious memory of what he had done. A gasp suddenly escaped my lips and my body was thrown back in a shock. I was nearly knocked off the stool.

Aeren looked confused. He had a puzzled expression on his face.

"Why are you asking me all of this?" I ask him.

The boy remains silent for a moment," I don't know. I am lost..."

He continues.

"I just feel that I have to...I want to help... I'll feel aimless if I don't find the solutions and answers of things in the world. Clearly, I should not be here. You don't want me here." He picked up the lacrosse stick. " I will return this once I have made it a more useful weapon for you. I smith too."

He got up and only when he began to walk away did I notice the light limp in these steps. I wondered to myself what could have caused it. I didn't get the chance to ask about it.

He took the backdoor. With his thin, bony hand on the knob, he spoke, " I pray we meet again...we will. I know we will."

And the lost boy was gone.