.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
image made by _void_void_0 on twitter
̩̩̥͙ -•̩̩͙-ˏˋ⋆ keyword⋆ˊˎ-•̩̩͙- *̩̩̥͙
(F/N) : Friend's Name
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
Two years had now passed. You of course moved away from your previous home, in fear of possibly meeting (F/N), after they got released from prison, or anyone else aquainted to them again.
Yet you decided to start investigations: about your gemstone, about (F/N)'s family, and for a while you even tried to find your parents. But none of these researches ever had results.
Why didn't your parents ever tell you anything? Did they also know nothing about the gemstone? But then why would your mother ask you to carefully take care of it?
Everyday you felt more discouraged than the other and you were starting to think all your efforts, all your investigations, were useless.
That was until...
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
It was 6 AM; you had just finished your shift and were now struggling to make your way to your tiny house due to how exhausted you felt. But as you were walking you noticed you had received something in your mailbox.
You took the content out of the small mailbox and noticed it was a letter from... the penitentiary?! You flinched.
,, Well this is new... ,,. You rarely ever recieved letters, let alone from a prison's warden. You were very much confused. Were you about to get arrested?? No, of course not; that's a silly thought, you never committed any crime.
You closed the mailbox and lazily unlocked your house's door, closing it behind you as you entered. You took off your shoes and sat down on your little but comfortable armchair, carefully opening the letter you received.
Your eyelids felt extremely heavy so you planned to only quickly skim through the message, but you noticed a familar name written on it: (F/N).
At the sight of that name you jumped wide awake. You felt as you were constantly being haunted. Not only was (F/N) always lurking at the back of your thoughts, but now they were back even in your actual life.
In the letter, the prison's warden explained how (F/N) had been imprisoned again, but this time they were requesting to meet you.
,, This makes no sense... Why would they want to meet me? Why not ask for any of their relatives instead..? ,,. You were even more confused than earlier. But the only way to actually receive answers to your questions was to face (F/N) again.
With a sigh you placed the letter on the coffee table once again; you had no choice but to go.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
4 PM. You finally arrived at the penitentiary's entrance; there were two guards: a taller one with black hair tied back in a loose ponytail and a slightly shorter one with curly brown hair.
The prison was pretty far from your home, or the town in general. In fact, you weren't even able to see it from there.
It almost reminded you of a castle, due to the size and the fact it was circumcised by tall walls. Perhaps it used to be one...
"Good afternoon, Mx. Do you need help?" asked the brunette as you approached closer.
"Good afternoon. Yes, actually... I received a letter from this penitentiary's warden explaining how a prisoner has requested to see me". You paused for a moment and deeply sighed.
"Their name is (F/N) Pierce". A chill crawled up your spine as you pronounced their name. You were still healing from the event happened two years ago... And you certainly didn't think you would have to see their face once again.
"You must be their cousin?" the taller one finally spoke up. Cousin? Was that really the lie (F/N) decided to go for?
"That's right". You went along with the lie. After all they wouldn't let you in if they knew you weren't part of (F/N)'s family. But the guards didn't look convinced.
"(Y/N) (L/N)...". You assumed, and hoped, (F/N) introduced you with your real name and last name: it would've been safer anyway, in case they demanded to do a background check.
"Please follow me then, Mx (L/N)" said the taller officer. You let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The big doors finally opened and you followed behind the guard; as soon as the two of you entered, yet another officer appeared and quickly ran outside, in the same place the guard that was accompanying you used to stand at.
You walked through what you thought were endless hallways, taking quick glances at the various cells. The prisoners constantly stared at you, which made you feel a bit overwhelmed...
Finally, the officer stopped and pointed at a cell a few steps away. You assumed that was (F/N)'s cell and walked closer.
And there they were, sitting on their bed, lost in thought. You made an ,, ahem ,, sound to get their attention, which worked.
"(Y/N)! So at last you came... my dear cousin" (F/N) snickered, but you simply glared at them.
"I demand explanations" you said in a serious tone. You didn't plan to let (F/N) get to you, even though it pained you to look at them in the eyes.
"You could at least pretend to be happy to see me... It's been so long!". (F/N) twirled around in their cell. Perhaps the prison life had gotten into their head.
"Why did you wish to see me in a place like this? Do you enjoy being imprisoned so much?" you mocked them, a slight grin escaping your lips. (F/N) chuckled.
"From my perspective, it is you the one behind bars". You began thinking (F/N) simply wanted to waste your time.
"Enough joking around". You didn't plan on giving in (F/N)'s attempts to irk you.
"Alright, alright... A little bird told me you've gained interest in investigating. Do you wish to become a detective now?". They giggled at your shocked face; how did they know about your researches? Maybe you were never safe from them.
"Have you sent someone to spy on me? Are you that obsessed with me?"
"You should speak for yourself, you've been the one constantly searching for informations about my family". The two of you tended to jokingly banter a lot when you were younger, it seems like you haven't changed much from then.
"Well, today is your lucky day! You'll finally find the answers you were so desperately seeking for". Your eyes widened and (F/N) couldn't help but laugh at your surprised expression.
"W-What do you mean..?" you stumbled upon your words. (F/N) was surely enjoying this, their smile was wider than a child's who just received a lollipop.
"Oh, I can't betray my family though. Therefore I asked a good friend of mine to give you clues instead"
"This is just a game to you, is it not?!". It was draining speaking to (F/N), you were beginning to lose your composure.
"(Y/N)... The moment you started acknowledging me was the moment you started playing our ,, game ,,". (F/N) reached out to you and softly grabbed your chin: the cell's bars were wide enough just for their arm to fit.
The police officer whom accompanied you earlier noticed (F/N) grabbing you; he speed-walked to their cell and harshly pushed their arm off.
"Time's up, you two spoke enough". You wondered if he heard anything about your conversation...
You had more questions you wished to ask (F/N), but you knew they wouldn't answer anyway. They had a bad habit of being extremely vague. You glanced at (F/N)'s mischevious grin for one last time and trailed behind the officer again.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
The officer suddenly paused and you almost bumped into him, but luckily you managed to stop as well just in time.
"Would you be able to go on from here on your own? Unfortunately I must attend to other duties" he looked back at you with an almost emotionless expression. In fact, his look never once changed ever since you encountered him.
"I assume so, yes. Thank you for everything, sir". You almost arrived at the center of the penitentiary, from there it was quite easy getting to the exit.
"Of course. Have a good day, Mx". You tried waving goodbye to him, but he had already sprinted off elsewhere.
As you made your way through the prison, you couldn't help but think about (F/N)'s words. You were puzzled: what could have they possibly meant by ,, clues ,,? And who was the supposed friend they mentioned? Was this another trap? But even so, there was no way out for you anymore.
You kept looking at the ground while walking, since you were so lost in thought. Of course that turned out to be a terrible idea, because you ended up bumping into something, or more correctly, someone.
"O-Oh lord-- I'm terribly sorry! I should've payed more attention to where I was going--" you said mortified. But as you finally looked up, you noticed you had just bumped into-
"Ah, no worries! I was the one standing in the way..."
A prisoner.
His brown hair was tied in a messy ponytail, one of his grey, almost green-ish, eyes was injured and you could barely see his left fang poking out. He was wearing a big collar around his neck, but probably not big enough to get through his head.
You gulped and took a few steps back, clearly agitated. But who wouldn't be? You had just bumped into a prisoner.
"Oh, p-please do not misunderstand! I've just gotten released, I'm not attempting to evade" he shook his still handcuffed hands infront of him, you noticed he was holding an envelope.
"Plus, it wouldn't be wise trying to break free during daytime..." he muttered. He chuckled a little and you awkwardly did as well.
You noticed an officer appear around the corner. From his step, he looked quite irritated.
"Balsa! I don't care if you've been redeemed, as long as you're handcuffed you're still a prisoner to me. You mustn't speak!" yelled the police officer as he approached the brunette prisoner.
,, Balsa..? That sounds familiar ,, you thought to yourself. Oh, but of course! He must've been Luca Balsa. His name was all over the newspaper a few days ago.
He was the murderer of Alva Lorenz. You froze. How come a murderer had gotten released?!
"I-I'm sorry sir, I was only--" Luca tried to excuse himself, but he was immediately cut off.
"Silence!" the officer hit the prisoner on the back with a baton; Luca let out a silent groan in response. The cop then shifted his attention to you.
"I'm sorry if this scoundrel bothered you, Mx"
"Oh, no. Please don't worry--" you wanted to explain, but the police officer pushed the prisoner in front of him and began walking away. You paused for a moment before trailing behind them as you made your way to the exit.
Soon the massive doors at the entrance opened once again. The officer and the prisoner were just a few steps ahead; you noticed the cop finally unlocking the handcuffs on Luca's hands, then pushing him out of the penitentiary with his baton.
Luckily the guards at the gates spotted you and waited for you to walk out of the prison as well, before closing the doors.
The prisoner you previously bumped into was simply standing still, looking over the horizon. You were slightly confused, was no one there to meet him?
You carefully walked past him, yet you felt as he was staring at you. You gulped and glanced behind you: you were right. But he actually only looked lost in thought.
You stopped and made an ,, ahem ,, sound, which brought the brunette back to reality. His cheeks tinted a light pink as he quickly realized he had probably been staring.
He muttered an apology but you didn't hear it. Instead, you slightly smiled.
"Have a good day" you managed to say. You were intimidated by him, but you thought he still deserved a little bit of kindness. The prisoner softly smiled back.
"Have a wonderful evening, Mx" he slightly bowed. He certainly didn't act like a bad guy. You wondered if it was only a facade.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
It was almost 6 PM: once again, you were marching to your small house. You were planning to quickly eat dinner and rest a bit before going to work. Today had been tiring.
Yet again, you received mail. But strangely enough, this time an envelope was placed on your doormat.
You grabbed the letter, but it looked familiar. You placed a hand on your chin and suddenly remembered the prisoner you met held a similar envelope.
You quickly unlocked the door and closed it behind you. You tossed the letter on the coffee table and took off your shoes.
You went through this already.
You were back on your armchair, wondering how it was possible you received the same letter as that prisoner. Perhaps it was only a coincidence they looked so similar?
Nevertheless, you opened the envelope and finally read through it:
<< 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚛 (𝚈/𝙽) (𝙻/𝙽),
𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛.
𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚕𝚎𝚜. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝, 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 (𝙵/𝙽).
𝚃𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚞𝚙. >>
Your eyes widened. You were only a few sentences in and this person already knew too much... You almost felt as if the words written were mocking you.
<< 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚘, 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖. 𝙸 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢'𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚎. 𝚂𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸'𝚖 𝚊 "𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍" 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛𝚜...
𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢, 𝙸 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚢𝚘𝚞. >>
So this was the ,, friend ,, (F/N) mentioned. You were wary of the writer's words, why would a stranger want to help you?
<< 𝙰𝚜 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚎𝚖𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝.
𝙸'𝚖 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜... 𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. >>
Of course, there was a ,, but ,,. You expected it. Even though the message was extremely suspicious, you kept reading out of curiosity.
<< 𝙸𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝙸 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚎𝚍. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝, 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚋𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎.
𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛, 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎'𝚜 𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚜. >>
You felt slightly annoyed by the clear mockery. But you would be lying if you were to say this ,, game ,, didn't pique your interest.
<< 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕, 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚜. 𝚂𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗.
𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚢,
𝙱𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚗 𝙳𝚎𝚁𝚘𝚜𝚜. >>
You placed the letter back on the coffee table and leaned back in your armchair, sighing. You only wanted to live a peaceful life as an astronomer... Yet you were getting a headache due to the constant misfortunes.
You pinched the bridge of your nose and let yourself get lost in thought. You knew it would've been a horrible idea to accept the invitation but... it was just like (F/N) said: the moment you started acknowledging them was the moment you started playing their ,, game ,,.
You weren't able to run away, so why not take the risk? You wished someone would've been there to stop you, telling you that it wasn't worth it to possibly risk your life as this was clearly a trap.
Alas you were alone.
You decided you would've departed the next day. You had completely lost your appetite and skipped dinner, heading straight to bed to rest before your shift.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
words : 2336
★ 𝑨/𝑵 ☆
𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬, 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬, 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬, 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒, 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐒 (/𝐫𝐞𝐟), 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 1𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡. 𝐢'𝐦 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀/𝐍 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐯 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝- 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐖!! 𝐢'𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐢 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲.. 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢 𝐚𝐦 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲. 𝐬𝐨 𝐢'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 :')
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐢 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞!
~ ᴀsᴛʀɪᴅ ✩