**二十九 (Chapter twenty-nine)
eng: Revealing the truth
A/n: About 5k words. Good luck...
~
Skeleton
~
I wake up to the sound of snorting.
"Zombie, stop laughing so loud! You're going to wake them up...!" I could hear some quiet laughter from around the room. Groaning in annoyance, I turn around to face my annoying classmates. I had completely forgotten that Wither had fallen asleep on my shoulder, his head falling onto my lap because of my sudden movements.
"Oh. My. Goodness!" I could hear Slime quietly shrieking in the background. My cheekbones are dusted light pink from embarrassment.
"Damn, Skeleton. I thought for sure you'd tell Pigman and I first about the fact that you're... Y'know..."
"About what?!" I whisper-shout, sending a warning glare to Zombie. Zombie clearly doesn't get the message.
"Y'know, after I caught you and Wither hugging like that the other day..."
My eyes widen as Zombie completely outs me. The others become nosy and start asking for details.
"Wait, what?! Are you and Wither together?!" Everyone crowds around me. Incredibly embarrassed by my current situation, I practically toss Wither off of me and scoot far away from him.
"N-No! What kind of question is that?!" The others continue to pry and ask embarrassing questions, forming a circle around me.
"Oh c'mon, Skeleton. You clearly have a crush on-!" I quickly stand up and cover Zombie's mouth, a menacing expression on my face.
"Crush on who? What's the tea?" Wither stands up and stretches casually.
Pigman smirks. "Well, we were just trying to get Skeleton to admit who he has a crush on."
"Oh?" He raises his eyebrow, a playful smirk across his face, "Skeleton has a crush?"
"I do not have a crush!" Zombie starts to mumble something under my hand, and I pull it away in disgust. "Ugh, I'm so done with all of you..."
"Sooo, Skeleton, who's this crush of yours?" Wither asks teasingly.
"No one. I don't do crushes."
"That's a total lie," Zombie starts, but I elbow him hard in the shins. "Ow!"
"We're dropping this subject right here and now," I say sternly, "Herobrine is going to be here any minute."
"You're no fun, Skeleton..." A few grumbles of agreement.
I roll my eyes, waiting for Herobrine to show up. A few minutes go by.
"Umm... Where's Herobrine?" Creeper says, "Didn't he say he'd be here around this time?"
"He'll probably be here soon," Ghast says with a shrug. Another hour goes by, and Herobrine is still nowhere to be found.
"Enderman, can you please teleport us back... Herobrine's taking forever!" Ghast complains.
"Fine... But I'm not taking the fall if he gets mad at us!" Enderman teleports us all back to the classroom at once. Or, well, what used to be the classroom.
What was once the classroom was now completely wrecked. It looked like someone nuked the place multiple times, leaving nothing but devastation. All that remained in the building we all once knew was ashes and flames. We all stood there in shock.
"What the heck happened?! We were gone for a day!" Zombie exclaims, "Wait, if Herobrine isn't here..."
"...Y-You don't think Herobrine's in trouble, do you...?" Slime says, hiding behind Creeper. The rest of us share some worried glances.
Wither stares quietly at the wreckage. I started to put the pieces together in my own mind before I finally realized. Wither seems to realize it too.
"Wither, you don't think..."
"...Skeleton. You and everyone else need to get as far away from me as possible." Wither glances over at the others behind him. "There's no other option."
"Wither, quit the whole facing him alone idea! It's not going to solve anything!"
"Then what'll solve this mess, Skeleton?! The Lord's unbeatable! No matter what we do, we can't win! Don't you understand? I'm not letting everyone else fall victim to him because of my own stupidity!" Wither was distraught and frustrated, most likely because of himself.
"What's stupid is the fact that you never ask anyone for help! Get over yourself, Wither!"
Wither and I continue arguing back and forth, not noticing the others listening in.
"Stop being such a selfish jerk!"
"How am I being selfish?! I'm trying to protect everyone!"
"Who made that your job, your highness?! I don't need your stupid protection! I'm the one that saved your ass two days ago!" I shout.
"GUYS! Holy shit, save it until after the damn wedding!" Wither and I both turn to the others upon realizing that they heard everything.
"...I'm so lost. What are you two even arguing about?"
"Nothing." Wither and I turn away from each other simultaneously, crossing our arms defiantly. The others only become more skeptical.
"Okay, okay. It's obvious that you both have unsolved issues... But for now, can we please focus on the problem at hand?" Pigman says, "The whole school's been destroyed and Herobrine's missing!"
"What could've even caused this?" Ghast mumbles as he investigates the area, "Only Herobrine would be powerful enough to do this..."
"Maybe you should ask Wither," I grumble under my breath, "But it's not like he'd tell anyone."
"Uhh... Do you guys know something we don't...?"
Wither stays silent, stubbornly looking the other way. I started getting extremely annoyed at his childish behavior. What is he so afraid of? Why is Wither so secretive all the time?
"Fine then. Be like that, I don't care. I'm leaving." I storm away, hoping that Wither snaps out of whatever's going through his head. I decide to take a breather and look around for any signs of other wither skeletons.
"I don't understand... Why did he attack Monster School? Couldn't he have teleported directly to Wither instead? Why go through a whole extra step..." The whole situation was a bit fishy to me. I then noticed that all of my items had been returned to my inventory.
"What the..." When did these get here?
"So, you have it." Flipping my head around, I lock eyes with a menacing wither skeleton. It was the Lord and a couple of his lackeys.
"I have to say, I'm impressed. You are quite powerful for a stray." Without a second thought, I draw my sword, the other wither skeletons following suit. I was heavily outnumbered.
"Always on high alert. You are a formidable swordsman indeed. Much more skillful than I could ever say about Ash."
"What the hell do you want," I hiss. I wasn't in the mood for useless blabber, much less coming from a psychotic wither skeleton lord.
"I want you to join me."
"...Excuse me?" Not the answer I was expecting, not at all. Is this a trick? I narrow my eyes and keep close watch on the wither skeleton's every move.
"You are more than you're letting on, stray. You singlehandedly freed over fifty prisoners, allowing them to escape without a trace. On top of that, you easily defeated many of my men. You are powerful enough to have caught my attention. You should be honored, stray."
"You're crazy if you think I'd ever consider joining you. You've killed hundreds of my kind in cold blood!"
"Although that may be true, it doesn't look like you have much of a choice. Even at your skill level you couldn't possibly defeat all of my men alone."
"Don't underestimate me. I nearly killed you the other day and I'll do it again and again until you're finally dead!"
"Suit yourself. Guards, get rid of him." The lord of the nether disappears, leaving me with over a dozen wither skeletons to deal with.
Alright, Atlas. Time to come up with a plan... C'mon, think faster...
"This'll be such an easy kill," one of the wither skeletons snarl, "A stray can't do shit against us."
Swords, cake, leftover meat from the challenge, the potion I kept from the Nether... Wait, the potion!
I have no idea what it does... But it's worth a shot. I pull out the blood-red potion, waiting for the wither skeletons to come close enough before chucking it in front of me.
I hope this works... The potion lands directly onto the leader of the attack. He stumbles, dropping his sword as his eyes widened in absolute horror.
"Sir!" The other wither skeletons quickly rush over to him, "Where did he..."
By the time they turned around, I was already gone.
~
Wither
~
After Skeleton stormed away, I was bombarded with questions from my classmates.
"Has something happened between you two?"
"Do you and Skeleton fight like this often?"
"Should we go after him?"
"Enough!" I shout, covering my 'ears' with my hands, "One question at a time!"
"Alright, alright. Do you have any clue about what happened here, Wither?" Enderman asks calmly.
"I... Yes, I have a pretty good idea about what happened."
"Please do share with the rest of the class," Pigman says with a hint of sarcasm, "And explain why the heck Skeleton just stormed off like that. I know you two fight like an old married couple all the time but that doesn't explain why Skeleton was this angry."
"An old married what? Ugh, y'know what, never mind. Alright, well... About what happened here, I think..." I pause when I hear shouting in the distance.
"...Let's discuss this later. Skeleton might be in trouble."
"In trouble? Wither, can you please tell us what's going on?!" Ghast exclaims, "We're all in the dark here!"
"Later. Right now we need to make sure Skeleton hasn't done anything stupid and gotten himself killed. Do all of you have weapons?" The others exchange glances, shaking their heads in unison.
"Well, we have our bows, but none of us know how to use them..."
Shit. I hear thundering footsteps in the distance. I could only assume that the Guard were close by. We had to be quick about this.
"Damn it... Alright, new plan. Follow me." My classmates don't protest and follow my lead into the forest. I use my powers to find Skeleton's coordinates. Fifty feet. I swear, he better not be dead...
"Uhh, guys...?" Slime squeaks, "I-Is that a wither skeleton?"
"Um, what?" I turn around to see what the others were looking at. It was indeed a wither skeleton, but his bones were corroded and cracked. He looked terrified, surrounded by other guards. The seven of us take cover behind a bush, listening in on the wither skeletons.
"Where in the world did a stray get that potion?"
"The hell do you think I know. That potion contains high doses of healing elixir. It's slowly killing me for the lord's sake!"
"Wither, are these your friends?" Zombie whispers.
"No! Of course not. Not all wither skeletons know each other, dumbass." I continue eavesdropping on the guards, hoping they had helpful intel on either Skeleton or the whereabouts of the Lord.
"Because of that stupid stray, we won't get our mission done. The Lord will kill us!"
"Perhaps not. That stray can't be far. All of you, go after him. I'll remain here for the meantime." The other guards nod and scurry off in the other direction.
"All of you, stay back here," I whisper, pulling out a sword, "I'll be back in a moment." Once I'm sure that there were no other wither skeleton guard's nearby, I make myself obvious by running my sword through the soil.
"...Prince Ash? How did you-!" I point my blade to his throat. "Where's the Lord."
"H-He's... He must've returned to the Nether by now..."
"The Nether? If he didn't come here to try and get me to come back, then why did he even bother coming?"
"..."
"Answer me," I hiss, pushing the blade a bit harder against his neck.
"...He wanted the stray to join him."
What? Caught off-guard by his response, I falter for a moment before regaining my senses. "Bullshit. Tell me the real reason why."
"I am being truthful to you, my prince. My squadron was asked to eliminate him after he declined our Lord's generous offer."
"Enough. I have no need for you anymore." He scurries away after his soldiers. Despite the hatred I held for the Lord and his loyal followers, I didn't have the heart to kill another of my kind.
Join him? Impossible. The Lord would never ask a stray to join him. What kind of absurdity was that? Was it a lie the guard leader came up with to deter me from the real issue?
I shake my head, coming to the conclusion that this indeed was impossible.
"Uhh... Wither?"
Oh, right. I had completely forgotten that my classmates accompanied me.
"What the fuck just happened?" Zombie says, not bothering to censor his profanities. I place my sword away, turning around to face my friends. Despite knowing most of them for years, they barely knew a thing about who I really was.
Skeleton's right... I'm so secretive and obscure, even in front of the mobs closest to me. I should be ashamed.
"Guys, I... I have a lot to admit to all of you," I say.
"Clearly...," Enderman mumbles.
"Wait, let's continue this conversation later... I think I see Skeleton!" Slime exclaims.
And there he was in the distance. He looked perfectly fine, blowing dust off his hands. There were five piles of inventory in front of him.
"Skeleton, what happened?!" Creeper exclaims, "Why are there items scattered everywhere?!"
"Oh, nothing. A few mobs decided to cross me and got what they deserved," he says casually. "Took you all a while." The other mobs look extremely concerned by Skeleton's casual attitude.
"...Skeleton-!"
"Shush. I'm still mad at you, Wither."
"I know... But I don't think you will be in a moment. Everyone, I have a lot of things to admit. You all might want to sit down. You too, Skeleton."
"Wither, what's this even about?" Pigman asks skeptically.
"...Who I really am. Because up until now, I've hidden many secrets about myself."
~
You, the reader, may remember my past story. I vaguely revealed it chapters ago, giving you more insight than I ever have to anyone.
The thing is, I failed to go into depth. My story is more complex than a broken child who had lost his own family.
Allow me to explain.
Before I escaped the Lord's realm of the Nether, I was just as brainwashed and ignorant as all the other wither skeletons. I never questioned the Lord's motives, truly believing that his every action was righteous. I believed that no actions of mine would have consequences, so long as I obeyed.
I killed skeletons, strays, and all Overworld mobs alike. Before my initial guard training, I held a hatred for all those who defied the Lord. The Lord was our deity, a shadow of our savior. He was our salvation, our ultimate source of life.
...Or so I believed.
After I saw the cruelty the Lord displayed, I didn't just up and leave. I was mostly curious, and my change in mindset was completely unintentional.
Here's the story you don't know. Here's the story I failed to tell as a whole. Here's what really happened.
I would often scurry around and poke my nose where it didn't belong. Most of my duties were to be fulfilled within the confines of the palace.
When I saw the Lord belittling that miserable skeleton, a surge of joy flowed through me. This skeleton in particular caused us a lot of trouble, constantly warding of the guards in attempt to flee. It took month after month to relocate him and bring him to justice.
I hid behind a pathetically small structure, watching as the Lord himself cuffed and arrested the skeleton.
Thankfully, I was unspotted. I follow after them in a slow but continuous pursuit. I wanted to see the Lord punish him with my own eyes. A criminal like that skeleton didn't deserve mercy.
Sparing you the details, fast forward to the laboratory. The Lord usually brought his prisoners to the dungeon. It was an oddity that he'd being such a basic being into the lab. More curiosity overtook me.
"My, my. You've been quite the trouble recently."
"Spare me the monologue, x̵̥̟͘̚͝ͅx̸̡̺̙̖͚̰́̊̀x̶̧̭̘͉̺̖̣͖͙͛̿̿̆̎̈́̃͆͘̕͜x̶̺̖̥̰̦̣̬̓̽̕̕. You know you've made a costly mistake being so reckless. Nothing you do to me can possibly get me to fess up their location. Nothing."
"Oh, you'll fess up. Many say I'm a master of torture. I can bring any individual to the brink of despair with a flick of my fingers. Speaking of which... That spy you sent in two weeks ago... x̵̥̟͘̚͝ͅx̸̡̺̙̖͚̰́̊̀x̶̧̭̘͉̺̖̣͖͙͛̿̿̆̎̈́̃͆͘̕͜x̶̺̖̥̰̦̣̬̓̽̕̕, was it?"
"Impossible! How did you..."
"Simple. Besides, how do you reckon that I found you so easily? Everyone falls victim to my methods eventually, x̵̥̟͘̚͝ͅx̸̡̺̙̖͚̰́̊̀x̶̧̭̘͉̺̖̣͖͙͛̿̿̆̎̈́̃͆͘̕͜x̶̺̖̥̰̦̣̬̓̽̕̕. It is only a matter of time... A minute for you, at best. Any last words?"
"...One day all of your mindless followers will see the light. You will eventually be defeated by someone by your very own side, betrayed and at their mercy. Mark my words, x̵̥̟͘̚͝ͅx̸̡̺̙̖͚̰́̊̀x̶̧̭̘͉̺̖̣͖͙͛̿̿̆̎̈́̃͆͘̕͜x̶̺̖̥̰̦̣̬̓̽̕̕. Darkness always succumbs to light."
"Touching, though immensely cliché and boring. How do you reckon that my mindless followers will defeat me? These walls are soundproof. No one will be able to hear your screams." The Lord grabs a syringe from the table, extracting a dark liquid. He flicks the syringe, measuring the liquid to a tee.
"Alright, subject number thirteen sixty-one. Let's begin, shall we?" Nothing could mask the sheer horror on that skeleton's face. I quietly inch closer, curious to see the effects of the liquid.
The skeleton's arms are cuffed to the chair, any feeble movements were rendered useless against them. The Lord methodically measures his way to finding a perfect injection point, practically stabbing the needle into the skeleton's arm with no remorse.
The skeleton screams in agony, an almost deafening scream that shook the room. The Lord only chuckles and discards the used needle, leaning against the chair with a sinister grin.
"It seems you haven't died yet. That's an exponential improvement compared to the last few hundred I tested this serum on. Oh, how exciting... If this test run is successful, I can finally rid the Overworld of pathetically weak skeletons. A new era of a world ruled by wither skeletons is no longer far from my grasp."
"N-No," the skeleton cries weakly, his bones visibly cracked and damaged, "Your reign will never surpass the this realm. The beings of the Overworld will never bow down to you!"
"Only time will tell, x̵̥̟͘̚͝ͅx̸̡̺̙̖͚̰́̊̀x̶̧̭̘͉̺̖̣͖͙͛̿̿̆̎̈́̃͆͘̕͜x̶̺̖̥̰̦̣̬̓̽̕̕. Your bones will shatter completely in a matter of seconds, so why not do me a favor and reveal the location of your little rebellion?"
"Never," the skeleton seethes.
"Oh, well. Usually young skeletons are more resilient to toxins. It is only a matter of time before I find them. When I do, I'll transform them into powerful wither skeletons and create an army of them that will serve me. My current lineup of guards are... Pretty useless, to say the least. My son was the only hope I had for this realm."
Useless? What about me? Wasn't I heir of this realm? I watch the Lord from the distance in shock.
Moments later, something that I could never unsee happened. The deteriorating skeleton shatters entirely, amounting to nothing but black ash. A sickening feeling of horror tore through me at the scene.
The more I started analyzing what I'd just witnessed, the more I came to the realization just how evil the Lord really was. His eyes were dark and empty, void of any emotion. He huffs and exits the room, leaving the remains of the skeleton untouched.
~
It was weeks later when I decided to leave. My curiosity slowly became a need for answers, a need for understanding the actual world outside of mine.
The thing is, I left out a crucial detail regarding my escape. I didn't escape. Not through the border, anyway.
You know me well enough by now to know that I was no fast runner. In fact, in my attempt to escape I got caught by the Lord himself.
"Just where do you think you're going, young Ash?" He said, "You are to remain in the palace."
"And bear witness to yet another poor skeleton you decide to dilapidate? I've worshipped you for many years, never once disobeying your orders or commands. All these years, I've been deceived into believing that I was serving a righteous Lord!"
"Oh, Ash. I suspected that you were trying to escape. How adorable, thinking that you'd escape unnoticed. It is impossible to escape this realm without my consent. Your power as the prince of this realm falls well below mine. Return to the palace with me at once. I am in no mood for your silly games."
Looking back at it, I guess it was pretty stupid of me to start running in the opposite direction. My asthma was definitely a hinderance in my futile attempt to escape. It didn't take long for the Lord to catch up, pinning me to the ground with his infamous netherite sword.
"Stupid boy. I will make sure you are disciplined and punished for your behavior." He leans down, gripping my wrists and tying them together with some rope. His vice grip left no room for struggle, and all I could do was await my punishment.
The thought of being punished by the cruel and merciless Lord instilled fear within me. My feelings of fear were so intense that my vision started to blur, a common side effect of stress. I black out, falling into a void of darkness before landing into a world of light.
I look around questionably, squinting. The light surrounding me was so intense and bright, so bright that it was blinding. The ground was a color I had never seen before, bright and vibrant in color. The world around me was unlike anything I'd ever seen before.
My first conclusion was that I was in dream. That, or I was dead. I didn't know which of those options were the better of the two, so I decided not to look too closely into it.
I walk around slowly for a while, marveling at the natural beauty surrounding my every step. It was quiet and peaceful, a place in which I felt fearless. The energy of nature in itself fueled an inexplainable sense of belonging and purpose. For the first time in my life, I felt free. Free from the shackles of the sinister Lord.
~
I will admit that I wasn't aware of my powers until much later. I noticed peculiar instances that seemed to occur whenever I felt desperate, such as hunger or the need to defend myself. If I was hungry enough, food would miraculously appear in my inventory. If I felt threatened, a sword more powerful than my own appeared.
It was odd, so odd that it started to freak me out. I never really got the chance to actually confirm the existence of my abilities until I came across another mob for the first time.
At the time, I had no clue what a zombie was. The only mob of the Overworld I had any prior knowledge of were skeletons. Zombies and all other Overworld mobs alike were an entirely new concept to me.
From the distance, I was able to read its stats. Health, hunger, etcetera. It displayed as text just above my head. An array of confusion mixed with astonishment filled my senses. I started to approach the zombie, curious about it.
It started walking away, to my surprise. I was almost certain that I wasn't spotted.
I follow after it slowly, wanting to observe and understand it a bit more. I eventually lose sight of it, feeling frustrated with the fact that I lost sight of the only mob I'd encountered so far.
My frustration was so intense that moments later, I appeared in front of it. I felt my body shift in place, feeling disoriented by the sudden feeling. The zombie stops walking, eying me curiously. It starts approaching me, in which I freak out and appear in a completely different place.
That's when I knew that I had special abilities. It took me a while to control them, but eventually I got the hang of them. I started off using them sparingly, only using them when I really thought I needed them. After a while I just started using them regularly.
It was about six months after my initial arrival to the Overworld that I met Herobrine. We met completely by chance one fateful night.
After that, I became the seventh student of Monster School. That's right, I was the last student before Skeleton arrived. It took a lot of effort to fit into a class full of Overworld mobs, but I managed. It felt nice being in a room full of various types of mobs, and not just a room full of brainwashed wither skeletons.
And there, in full (or in short if we're being technical) is my story. Whether it is unexpected or anticlimactic is entirely up to you.
~
"Wait, wait, powers? Say what?!"
"Yeah, I was confused about that part of the story too... What powers?"
"Is that really what you all got from that story? Geez... Could've saved me a lot of time explaining (and the author's time) if I had known... Well, anyway, my powers are... Never mind, I'll just show you." I clap my hands, teleporting all of us back to the ruins of our school.
"Wait, you can teleport?!"
"He can do a lot more than just teleporting, guys... But, ugh, we're going off on a tangent here! Herobrine's missing, and our school's in shambles! On top of that, the Lord or whatever could be anywhere!" Skeleton sighs, crossing his arms.
"Good point... I'll see if I can find Herobrine. Skeleton, you stay here with the others."
"Fine. Give them all swords for Notch's sake, the bows and arrows won't do them any good." Swords appear in their hands, all of them gawking in complete shock.
"What the actual f-!" I didn't feel like going into more detail about my powers, so I locate Herobrine's coordinates and teleport to him. My secret was out anyway, and truth to be told I didn't mind Herobrine knowing.
The thing was, there was an oddity about his coordinates. There were symbols that I didn't recognize encrypted within it. I shrug it off, assuring myself that it was just a glitch. My powers worked in weird ways sometimes, and it was nothing to be concerned about.
You can imagine my surprise when I entered a pretty average looking house, the loud and obnoxious sound of snoring echoing through the walls. I cautiously walk towards the noise, staying on guard just in case.
"What the heck..." Did I accidentally teleport to the wrong coordinates?
The noise was coming from behind a single wooden door. Here goes nothing...
After moments of preparation, I kick the door down. I expect to see Herobrine fast asleep on his bed, but no one was there.
"Have I gone mad?" I mumble to myself, scanning the room. There were very few decorative items, the room containing only a bed and a nightstand. I walk to the nightstand and open the top drawer.
There was a single piece of paper that was folded neatly. I take it out of the drawer, unfolding it. There were only three words on the paper.
'Look behind you.'
Seriously? Does the author think I'm some gullible mob that'll fall for a cliché note like that?
Even so, a bit of unease crawls through my mind.
Something falls to the floor behind me. I stiffen, turning around instantly and preparing for the worst.
I wasn't even in the room anymore. I was surrounded by sheer light that almost completely clouded my vision.
"W-What the heck?" I exclaim, "Where am I..." I was standing atop a seemingly endless gaping void. This place defied every law of physics in the book, let alone logic. I guess one could argue that my abilities are illogical and don't conform to logic, but still... This was a place that was unlike any place I've ever seen.
Though, strangely, a weird sense of familiarity tinged my senses. It felt as if I'd been here before, but how? Wouldn't I remember a place as odd as this one?
"x̵̥̟͘̚͝ͅx̸̡̺̙̖͚̰́̊̀x̶̧̭̘͉̺̖̣͖͙͛̿̿̆̎̈́̃͆͘̕͜x̶̺̖̥̰̦̣̬̓̽̕̕."
My head rang as a cacophony of sounds hit me all at once. The noise was loud and unsettling.
I turn around and lock eyes (or what I believed were eyes) with a strange humanoid creature. It was entirely covered in darkness, painted black from top to bottom. Its eyes were glowing an eerie white, frighteningly similar to Herobrine's.
"Who... Who are you? Herobrine, is that you?" I cautiously take a few steps towards the creature. To my knowledge, there were no players that had empty white voids for eyes like Herobrine. In full honesty, none of Herobrine's students really knew much about him. He was nothing like the players, that we knew for sure. Players couldn't communicate with us, and we couldn't communicate with them.
The creature stood idly still, staring at me with indescribable intensity.
Then, it spoke.
"Well, well. It seems you've returned once more, Ash." I stumble back, shocked by the mention of my name. This couldn't be Herobrine.
"Why so afraid? This is no way to greet your father."
...What?
~
Completed writing date: 10/8/23
Published on 11/19/23