♪( 'θ｀)ノ warning- nothing!
—
・3rd pov
Ray's eyebrows twitched, both him and the others felt like Willow spouted a series foreign curses right at their faces.
Her existence already was enigmatic for the boy— how she was able to get through difficult obstacles in a controlled course of action, how she was gifted great intelligence yet never give it her all in the daily exams, and how her eyes told a different story contrary to her deadpan expression.
He always suspected Willow knew something a long time ago, but his suspicions only ever leaked further when she started the habit of helping mama more often than usual. Which is why he dragged her all the way here to see what her reaction was, and to be expected it was nothing but normal.
No surprise, no accusation, and no anger.
It was neutral.
So, for the girl to say to this blatantly confused Ray. Willow clearly knew something was going on behind the scenes of Grace Field, so why did she see herself as a pile of dead weight? Just fresh food waiting to be eaten by a repulsive demon?
Is that why she never tried on the exams? Was that why she always tried to stay away from communicating with the children?
Ray didn't understand, and whatever her reason would be he probably wouldn't understand it either. Because unlike Willow, Ray saw life as a precious thing— you only get one after all, cherish it and do the most.
Don't treat life as another pile of crumpled paper, waiting to be thrown away in the trash bin.
But clearly Willow wasn't going to go by with that statement.
"Can... you repeat that?" Norman asked nervously, "This isn't the time to be making jokes, Willow."
"You heard me," she repeated, "I won't be escaping the orphanage."
Emma took a double take.
She refused to let anyone else die at the hands of a demon, not when Conny recently walked down that path. She was way too stubborn, and she was even willing to admit to that!
Even if her best friend, Willow, is fine with dying, Emma herself would never let that happen. She treasures Willow too much for something like that to happen!
"No way!" Emma protested, "Even if it's impossible, I want to escape with everyone, including you Willow! I may not know what's on the outside—"
But I do, Willow sighed.
"— but leaving our family behind is an option I will never consider! I want Conny to be the last. I don't want anyone to end up like that ever again. If the outside doesn't have an area we can survive in, we'll just make one ourselves. Let's change the world!"
"Emma, you don't understand-"
"I do! And I'm not giving up on this!" She yelled, "Everyone here will escape and survive, I'll make sure of that Willow! So, you two, please give up. Stop jabbering nonsense and help Norman and I!"
Ray gritted his teeth and groaned, while Willow crossed her arms around her chest.
"You really don't get it, Emma," Willow shook her head, "I'm not saying that I won't be escaping with everyone to succeed Ray's plan, no not at all. To be honest, I already knew about the truth way back before, so if I wanted to escape I would've came up of a plan much more sooner."
It didn't take long for Willow to glance back at the three, who were absolutely dumbfounded. They couldn't even utter a single word, they were that surprised. Well, not until Ray decided to break that silence.
"Are you stupid or something!?" Ray yelled, "You knew all this time yet you didn't find the reason to escape!? You're gonna die!"
"Yeah!" Emma agreed, "How could you be so nonchalant about this when we're raised to become food? Save yourself, please!"
"Wait," Norman intervened, trying his best to stay calm, "Everyone, let's hear her out first. Do you have a reason for not wanting to escape, Willow?"
The girl in name shrugged, "Honestly I wish I could tell you it's because I gave up trying, but really my reasoning is a bit stupid."
"Then... what is it?"
Willow clutched her hands tighter, lips tight shut as her teeth began to bite further within her skin. She'd rather not say the reasoning, but she knew how bull-headed the others were, especially Emma.
She gave one last glare towards the three before sighing.
"Because I thought it was going to be too much trouble... mama already knows that I know the truth and she isn't doing anything about it because she knows I'd rather enjoy my time here than stress out about escaping."
"But you're gonna die!" Emma reasoned.
"You think I don't know that? Of course I'm going to die, but I won't be saying all of this if I said I wasn't ready to die. Just... you three can go mingle somewhere else and make a plan to escape with everyone, I'm gonna to stay back."
For a moment, a pained silence filled up the atmosphere.
Ray gripped his fist and exhaled quietly, "Whatever, I doubt we can change your mind anyways."
"Ray-!"
"But." He stared directly at Willow, dandelion eyes clashing with ebony ones, "I would like to know how you found out about the truth. You said you knew for a long time, right? So spit it, how did you find out."
Willow gave a light scoff as she started to play with the ribbons on her hair, "Normally, I would lie to you guys but I won't be able to do that when Emma's here."
She eyed the ginger before continuing, "But even if I tell the truth, you guys wouldn't believe me."
Norman opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off by Willow, "Uh, uh, uh. I'm being dead serious when I say this— you guys will not believe in my words even if I tell you three the truth."
"But we will believe you!" Emma spoke out, "If those weird demon thingies exist, then I'm sure whatever you're saying is true, too! I believe in you, Willow! We all do!"
Willow blanked at the girl— she was reluctant.
Should she? She didn't know, but she had the right to choose.
And she hated choices.
Continuously staring at Emma, Willow finally chuckled in defeat, "Fine, I guess I will tell you three. But right now isn't the best time to do it, mama will suspect something if we're all out here too long. Just meet me at the library tonight."
Emma visibly brightened while the other two nodded in synchronization, pleasantly satisfied with her answer.
Ray walked over to Willow, patting his hand with his shoulders, "Just because I said that I'd doubt anything would change your mind doesn't mean that we'll give up in making you escape this place."
"Yeah!" Emma nodded along, "Our number one goal right now is to get everyone out of here, including you!"
"Emma- that wasn't what I was talking about!"
Unexpectedly, Norman bursted out laughing out of nowhere, taking Ray and Emma's attention away from their petty argument to the snickering albino. Willow was still staying in her maintained position, wearing a blank-faced expression at the trio.
"H- Huh? Why are you laughing at a time like this!?" Ray barked, "First, Emma is being illogical. Then, Willow refuses to escape with us. And now you're laughing? What is with you people!?"
"I'm... just glad that even in a terrible situation like this, we can still be ourselves. Emma still being energetic and Willow being as composed as ever!" Norman grinned, getting a flabbergasted Ray in return.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!? We're in a life and death situation and you're just laughing about it? Snap some sense you three!"
Willow mumbled, "Can't we just go already..."
—fun fact(s) of the day—
・emma has a habit of looking at willow more than the others during group conversations, which is why she can tell whenever willow lies since she knows her body language.
・though she doesn't show it, willow wanted to bang her head on the wall when ray asked how she found out about the truth of grace field.
・if you are wondering: yes, willow isn't ALWAYS expressionless. in the early chapters she shows similar traits to ray. but when she started to grow up, she began to distance herself from others to prevent attachment. this behavior caused her personality to change alongside.
・willow's favorite flowers are yellow carnations, her second favorite being red spider lilies.
・candy helps willow with her anxiety.