Kristine's POV
"NORMAAANNNN!!"
I ran towards full force, throwing myself in arms. He tried to catch me but his weak body couldn't support my weight resulting in both of us face-planting on the floor.
"Ughhh..." He groaned, holding his waist for support. I laughed at his silly face. He's really weak! I'm not even that heavy! I can't believe he dropped me to the ground.
"Norman! Why are you so weak?!" I asked as I stood up, dusting my dirty skirt.
"You've just gained weight Kristine," he said without looking at me. The audacity of this boy! I huffed, feeling attacked by what he said. You should never tell a lady that she gained weight!
"Well...what do you want?" he asked, his signature smile etched on his face.
Oh right, I almost forgot what I was here for. I stopped my silly antics and faced him with a serious face. His smile also dropped, the mood in the room turning cold.
"What happened last night?" I asked.
"Nothing." He immediately answered, his eyes averting my gaze.
You could've done better on lying Norman. They'll fail on fooling Mama if they're this transparent. I sighed, thinking of ways to make him admit what happened at the gate that night.
I grabbed his wrists, stopping him from escaping. "Why are you acting so weird then?" I glared at him, attempting to catch his gaze.
I grabbed his face with both of my hands, forcing him to look at me straight in the eyes. Why can't he just be honest about his feelings for once?
He's trying his best not to breakdown because he needs to appear strong before Emma. This boy thinks that he needs to shoulder all that burden alone because that would be the most logical thing to do.
'Emma can't handle her emotions well, that's why I need to be strong.' - is what he is probably thinking.
"Norman...you do know that you are a child too, right?" I said slowly, measuring his expressions.
Although he looks alright, I'm pretty sure that he's also experiencing nightmares every night like Emma. His eyes widened for a bit before breaking into a warm smile. He held my hands that were still in his face, slowly letting them down.
"I'm...fine Kristine," he muttered.
You're really testing my patience, white boy. I didn't reply and just started dragging him towards the roof. It was a spot that I always go to whenever I wanted to see the sunrise. There's a window in the attic that's not latticed, which leads to the roof.
"Where are we going?" I stopped in my tracks and glared at him before replying "Shut up and follow me."
As I opened the window, the cold wind greeted us. I laughed at Norman's terrified face and offered him my hand. "Are you really sure about this?" I grinned widely and only nodded. He hesitantly accepted my hand and I immediately hauled him to the roof, earning a yelp from him.
Pfft-!
He's such a scaredy-cat! It took us a few minutes until we reached the top because Norman's knees kept shaking. I laughed too hard at the sight of him so he refused to accept my help and kept slipping here and there. I'm just glad that he didn't totally fall to the ground.
"Look Norman! Isn't the view here beautiful?" I asked and directed my gaze to the beautiful sunset right in front of us. His terrified face was immediately replaced with a mesmerized expression. I knew he would love it here! He's such a sucker for pretty landscapes. I once caught him reading a magazine full of tourist spots of the human world.
I laid down at the roof, stretching my whole body. I patted the empty space beside me inviting him to lay down. He smiled at me and took the space beside me. We laid silent for a few minutes, enjoying the beautiful scenery until I decided to break the silence.
"Hey, Norman...Is everything...fine?"
He didn't reply and I didn't pry anymore. The both of us just stayed silent. Maybe I shouldn't push this anymore. I don't want to pressure him too much because I might lead him to shut me out more. I guess I'll just wait until he admits to himself that he was having a hard time.
My train of thought was interrupted when I heard small sniffles beside me. Oh, Norman is...crying.
Wait...what?! He's crying?!
I immediately jolted up, not knowing what to do to comfort him. Great job, Kristine! This is why I told you not to pressure him too much! My face heated up and I was all over the place while Norman was silently sobbing in his knees.
"Uhh...Norman...are you o-...of course you're not okay...that was a dumb question don't mind me. Ummm...yeah...cheer up." I awkwardly patted him in the back.
Can you get any dumber Kristine?! What kind of half-assed comforting method is this?! And why would you even ask if he's okay? Who asks a crying person if he's okay?!
My self-loathing came to an end once I saw that Norman has finally calmed down. He stared at me, his eyes were puffy and his pale face was laced with a dark shade of red. His whole being looked so tired that it hurt my heart to even look at him. I wonder when was the last time that he slept.
"You know Norman...even though I'm unaware of whatever you're going through now...I do understand that you're carrying a huge burden alone. You're always like that! Ever since we were children, there was never a moment where you admitted to us that you were suffering." I said while he listened to me intently.
"Norman...you...and me, we're just children. When will you understand that no matter how intelligent you are, no matter how mature you act...you are still nothing but a child." I moved closer to him, engulfing him in a big hug.
"You're weak."
"You're a crybaby."
"You also have breakdowns."
"And that' okay."
"Please let down your mask...isn't it exhausting to always be strong?" I teared up while speaking those words.
I know. I know it very well because I've also been there. In my past lives, I tried doing everything alone, forgetting that I wasn't alone and that I had my friends beside me. By the time I realized that...I was the only one left.
Norman started crying again. Every tear that dropped on my shirt was his hidden feelings. He wailed like a little child that lost his toy.
That's right Norman. Pour it all out. He was gripping into my shirt like I was gonna disappear at any moment. This gesture made me tear up and join him in crying.
We stayed there, hugging each other, tears and snots flowing continuously on our faces. Damn, these emotions must have been bottled up all his life. This was the first time that I saw him cry. He never cried when he trips and scrapes his knees. He never cried when his favorite older sister left. He never cried once.
But here he was, crying in my arms as his life depended on it.
***
Third Person's POV
By the time Kristine and Norman returned to the house, it was already dark. They laughed at each other's puffy and snotty faces, brightening the atmosphere between the two of them. And just like that, they both moved on from the scenario earlier and talked about the silliest things that they could think of.
Emma met both of them in the corridor, a giggle escaping her mouth as soon as she saw the state that the two were in. Their shirts were wet with snot and tears, eyes were puffy as if they were stung by a bee, and their ridiculously red noses, seemingly on the same level as the red-nosed reindeer, Rudolph.
Kristine immediately excused herself because she knew that Norman and Emma were gonna discuss the plan. She stealthily followed them and hid behind the corner of the hallway, eavesdropping on their conversation.
The ginger-head was looking around the house carefully, searching for cameras and recording devices.
"You don't have to worry about that."
Emma's head snapped back to Norman, a confused expression displayed on her face.
"I checked last night. There was nothing like that anywhere. I mean, we need to find out how tight the security is first of all if we want to escape," he added.
"Who would've thought that we were the ones bugged and not the house. I was careless," he muttered. Disappointment was all that could be seen on the male's face.
"Mama...might've already found out...that he went to the wall..." Emma's voice faded into a whisper as she said those words.
"I don't believe that she knows specifically which two of us children were there. Otherwise, she would have threatened the both of us directly. So..."
Don's voice interrupted Norman halfway. "Hey, Norman! Can you help a second?" The albino boy went to fix the clock inside the room, leaving Emma alone in the hallway.
She stared sadly at the drawing that the late Conny did. It was a silly drawing of her together with her Mother. Emma put her hand on the drawing, a sad expression etched on her face. Seeing this sight, Kristine also remembered her memories with the little girl. Guilt once more flowed into her heart, threatening to drown her.
Just then, Mama appeared, leaning down to Emma's face. Her eyes were wide open as if she was searching the ginger-head's soul thoroughly. Shivers went down the blonde girl as she watched from the corner.
'Mama is already making her move!'
Emma stood there, unable to move. Her face was showed a terrified expression, afraid of what the woman in front of her will do to her.
'Get yourself together Emma! You can't let her catch you!'
The blonde silently wished that the ginger-head wouldn't give away the fact that they know about the secret. In her relief, Emma immediately switched her expression to a wide grin, jumping to the arms of her Mother.
Kristine couldn't hear their conversation anymore so she decided that she would help Emma. Just as she was about to reveal herself, a loud bell rang in the hallway, indicating that it was dinner time. The albino boy, who was also watching from afar, held Emma's hands and dragged her to the dining hall.
"Did you two go to the gate yesterday?"
Emma and Norman both froze in their tracks. Their faces mirroring fear.
"No, we didn't. I mean those are the rules right?" the male replied with a smile on his face.
"We were so into the game of tag yesterday!" the ginger-head played along.
"Why are you asking?" The woman just shrugged it off and left the scene.
As soon as the woman left the scene, Emma's knees gave up and she plopped to the ground, taking deep breaths. Norman leaned towards the wall, relieved that their Mother didn't pry anymore.
This was bad news. She was suspicious of them.
Kristine suddenly appeared out of the corner. She was watching this whole time. The girl offered both of her hands to the two petrified children. Shock was written all over their face which was immediately replaced by worry. They were worried if Kristine heard all of their conversation.
The two composed themselves before accepting the hand of the smiling girl. Just as she was about to leave, the words that she left made the two froze from their spots.
"Smile you two. You don't want anyone getting suspicious right?"
It was her confession.
***
For the next three days, Kristine avoided Norman and Emma at all costs. She wasn't in the mood for their questions. And besides, revealing herself this early to them would ruin the flow of her plan.
During those days, the duo had already gathered table cloths from the storage room and tied it together to form a sturdy rope, which they hid inside a tree near the wall. They also told Ray about the secret, which he easily accepted, and has now joined them in planning for their escape.
And now...Kristine was finally ready to face Emma and Norman's curiosity. She left a note at Emma's bed telling her to meet up at the library, together with Ray and Norman after dinner. She doesn't plan to reveal her whole plan to them though. Just a part of the truth mixed with tons of lies.
"Kristine tell me another bedtime story!" Phil exclaimed. They were lying together in her bed. Snuggling to each other.
It was bedtime now and there's only 30 minutes left until she meets with Emma and the others. The blonde caressed the little boy in his arms, nodding softly to his request.
"There was once a girl, who was living happily in her home, together with her siblings. She lived a happy life...until she knew about their Mother's secret," the girl narrated.
"Secret?" the boy asked curiously.
She nodded before continuing her story. "Their Mother...was selling her siblings to bad guys."
The little boy's eyes widened. Kristine only laughed at her sibling's cuteness and continued the story. "The girl decided that she was going to escape the house...all by herself. She was selfish. The girl only prioritized her own life." The girl smiled bitterly at her brother.
"The day that she was supposed to escape...when she reached the end of the exit...her mother was there. She was smiling warmly at her as if she was waiting for her the whole time." Kristine felt the tears slowly forming in her eyes. She hugged Phil tightly to her chest, hiding her sadness.
"Her mother captured her and that night...all of her siblings together with her were sent to the bad guys. Just because of the girl's silly mistake, just because of her selfishness...all of her siblings had to suffer." She barely choked out the words, remorseful of the memory from her past life.
"She took the guilt of her making her siblings suffer...until her last breath," the blonde whispered.
"But I don't think it's her fault."
Phil's innocent voice dragged her back from her self-remorse. The tears that she tried so hard to hold, as she hugged the boy tightly.
"...Thank you, Phil," she whispered.
***
As soon as she put Phil to sleep, Kristine made her way towards the library where she was supposed to meet the squad. Her movements were careful, hiding in the shadows to avoid the watchful eyes of her Mother.
"Took you long enough, Kristine," Ray greeted her.
"Dude, I was late for like...a minute," she muttered while glaring at him. Norman and Emma only chuckled at the sight of the two bickering. They always hated each other's guts for some reason.
"Take a seat, Kristine. We have a lot to discuss," Norman said while motioning for the girl to sit in the empty chair in front of all of them. The said girl laughed loudly and made her way to the chair while saying, "What is this some kind of interrogation or something?"
A smirk was plastered on her face while her legs were swinging side by side. Her legs were too short to reach the ground. The girl had a carefree expression on her face while the other three had serious ones.
"What do you know Kristine?" Emma broke the silence.
"You finally asked, huh?" The girl replied, her smile slowly fading from her lips.
She paused for a bit, crossing her arms and leaning her body towards the chair.
"I actually just overheard your conversation with Mama that night," she started.
Lies.
"The only thing that I know is that you both went to the gate and something happened there. Well, this is just an assumption from your expressions. You two looked like you were about the piss your pants when Mama asked you," she laughed, remembering the memory.
Lies.
Her face turned serious again, looking at the three dead in the eyes. "So...care to tell me what the hell happened?"
She was a good actor.
The girl was dancing triumphantly inside her mind, applauding herself for telling such a big lie in front of their faces. The three of them looked at each other before nodding, deciding that it would be best to tell her.
It certainly would benefit them if another genius joined them in making a plan.
"I'm sure this will be kind of hard to believe, but...you need to trust us!" Emma exclaimed.
"Sure, I'm all ears bub."
The trio proceeded to tell her about what happened that night. Conny...the demons...the farm and...Mama. The girl tried her best to act surprised at all the old information thrown at her.
"...I see...Demons eat us, huh?... I wonder if I taste good?"
The trio looked at her unbelievably, unable to comprehend what is going through her mind.
"That's really how you're going to react? Are you really that dumb?" Ray aggressively asked her, gathering every brain cell that he has to stop himself from throwing her out of the window.
'Calm down. She's probably just too shocked...yeah...that's probably it.' He thought.
"Um...chile...anyways...so- what's the plan?"
Emma's mouth was still hanging from her reaction while Norman was staring at the girl, desperately trying to find out what she's thinking. The three of them just sighed at the silliness of the girl. They did not expect this reaction.
I mean, who in the right mind would react like that when you told them about a life-and-death situation? Probably only her.
"Right now, we have our ropes and we're planning on scouting the wall," Norman explained.
Kristine tilted her head to the side while asking "There's a wall?" The boy only responded with a nod.
"It's about 10-15 meters high. Mama is an enemy and we have demons after us. Still...I want you to join us in escaping Kristine...together with everyone."
Ray flinched in the corner. He was still against the idea of taking everyone during the escape.
The blonde-haired girl nodded enthusiastically and grabbed all of them in a group hug. "As long as we're together, we can do this!" She stated. Ray grunted at her action, disgusted by her sudden skinship, earning a glare from the girl.
The serious atmosphere that was surrounding the room earlier was now replaced by a happy one. Their eyes were filled with the determination to escape and survive. Away from their Mother. Away from the demons. Away from this shitty world.
After the revelation to Kristine, they immediately went back to gathering information about their world. Emma grabbed a world map from the shelf, laying it on the table.
'It's the world map of the human world. That map is far from the reality of this shitty world.' The blonde thought.
She couldn't voice out her thoughts to the trio because it would reveal that she had known about the demons all along. She can't have that. There's still a long way to go until she reveals her own secrets to them.
"So, our map was published in 2010. Now that I think of it, we don't even know anything about where in the world we are right now!" Emma exclaimed.
"Since we can see that the sun rises out of the south, we must be located somewhere in the northern hemisphere. We also have four seasons, so it should be safe to assume that we're closer to the equator," Ray explained.
"Even if we do now, where in the world we are right now, that won't really help. In the end, the world outside of the walls is full of those shitty demons." Kristine muttered, her happy façade was nowhere to be seen.
"She's right," Norman muttered with a sigh, closing the book in his hands.
"By the way, Kristine...Why did you accept what we said that easily?" he asked. The girl only shrugged and gave him a toothy grin before replying, "I don't know!"
Norman looked at her as if she was a creature from another planet. "Maybe...because it hasn't sunk in yet." The girl looked away, staring melancholily at a distance.
"I feel like if I try to let it sink in now, I'd be a crying mess in front of you guys," she chuckled.
"I don't want that."
The three could only look at her with pity. It was hard, even for them. They could completely understand her feelings because even if they say they're okay now, deep inside their heart, they know that they're scared.
"AHHH! Stop looking at me like that!" The blonde girl grumbled, ruffling her hair in frustration.
She suddenly plopped down on her knees while staring at the ground, her hair covering her face. Just as Norman was about to comfort her, she sat up and made a weird face which made the male stumble backward.
"DO NOT FEAR! For I am here!"
The girl said in a loud voice startling Emma, Ray, and Norman. Dead silence filled the room, while she was still lying on the ground, her silly face still intact. Their flabbergasted expressions were replaced with laughter as soon as they realized what the girl did.
The sad atmosphere in the room was now filled with laughs coming from all of them. Even the sad boi, Ray, was laughing at the stupid stunt of the blonde girl.
Kristine's face flushed a deep shade of red, instantly regretting what she did. Ray was clutching his stomach while pointing at her as if she was the stupidest person alive. Emma was rolling on the floor, pounding the ground to control her laugh. Norman, who was usually composed, was also giggling beside her, slapping her in the back continuously.
"You guys are mean!" She exclaimed while blushing furiously.
The trio ignored her and continued laughing, mocking the girl's stupidity. Her furious face slowly turned to a smiling one, joining the others in their fits of laughter. Even she thought that she was too stupid not to laugh at.
'Damn. The things I do for love.'
She was glad that she did that though. The girl couldn't stand the suffocating atmosphere that they had earlier. They were all still children, they're supposed to be outside playing games, not playing a life-and-death game with demons.
Just for that moment, they forgot that they were being chased. That they had limited time. That they needed to escape their home. At that moment, nothing was running in their mind except for the blonde's funny face. At that moment, they felt like they were...children.
They felt free.
They felt happy.
They felt as if everything was...normal.
***
The next morning, the trio, together with Don and Gilda were tasked to clean the empty room beside their bedroom. Kristine was nowhere to be found, as she escaped as soon as Mama called for her to do some chores.
Emma looked at her Mother cautiously, looking for signs that she was suspecting them. Ray immediately noticed this and put a hand on the ginger-head's shoulder, telling her to calm down.
"Relax Emma. Think of it from the enemy's standpoint," he explained.
"The enemy's standpoint?" Ray nodded at her before replying, "None of the kids seem visibly shaken. If that's the case, it isn't strange for us oldest kids to be suspected first. This is nothing to be scared of."
"We can't let our guard down and we have to stay on higher alert than before, but don't worry! Our enemy has no idea about who we are at this point," Norman added.
Emma stared at the both of them in awe. She was amazed as to how they could both stay calm and think of things without being shaken, a thing that she can't do. Snapping out from her thoughts, she looked around for a certain blonde-haired girl in the room.
"Hey, guys! Now that I think about it, where's Kristine? Wasn't she called together with us?" the girl asked.
Ray paused from cleaning, looking straight at the girl, and said, " That girl is probably escaping from Mama right now. You know how she hates chores right?"
The girl laughed, a memory of Kristine being forced to wash the dishes, replayed on her mind. Just then a certain blonde-haired girl dashed through the hallways, her Mother following closely behind her.
"MAMAAA! I don't want to clean!" She cried while escaping the woman.
"Kristine! Stop running at this instant!"
"Don't want to! Bleghhhh!" The girl said childishly, sticking her tongue out.
"Try catching me Mama!"
The trio stared at them in awe. They couldn't believe how silly the girl could be that she was going this far just to escape cleaning. Come to think of it, what she's doing is more exhausting than cleaning chores. She's just too lazy to do the math.
Ray stared at her dumbfounded. "How old is she again, five?"
Norman and Emma could only laugh at his statement before returning to their chores. They couldn't agree more. Just when they think Emma is childish enough, Kristine pops out of nowhere and pulls her silly stunts.
A few minutes later, Mama Isabella came back dragging a pouting Kristine in her collar. The girl was crying internally as her Mother shoved a broom into her hand, forcing her to join the others in cleaning.
"Mama! I really don't want to do this." She whined. Everyone just decided to ignore her for the sake of their mental health.
The girl couldn't refuse anymore as their Mother watched her the whole time, not giving her enough time to plan an escape. That was their daily scenario for three whole days. The woman made them organize the food supply, check every sheet in the house for damages, and clean the unused rooms.
'So now she's robbing us of our only free time during the day by making us do all these useless random chores.' Ray thought.
Kristine was certain that the woman was planning something. She knew that there was a chance that something big is coming. Their mother wouldn't have done this without a reason. She was suspecting something, but she doesn't have enough evidence to prove her theory.
"In the end, we still need to figure out a way to get rid of that. We'll never get out of here if we don't on time." Norman said, sending daggers to the transmitter.
"But how? As soon as we realized that we were being tracked, we all searched all over our bodies...but none of us could find a single scar that seemed to indicate that a tracker was planted inside!" Emma exclaimed.
Ray paused on his tracks and said "So I've been thinking...if these transmitters are truly man-made. It's highly likely that they're the type that emits electromagnetic waves."
"But from the sources we have right now, I found that the electronics that can do these kinds of things contain a battery that needs to be charged or replaced often. I did the math the other night, but creating a tracker small enough to slip into the human body without leaving so much as a scratch that lasts over 10 years...was an impossible task with the technology the world had back in 2015," he added.
Emma's face turned into a confused one. "What are you getting at?"
"It's simple Emma." Their heads turned to Kristine who was now walking towards them.
She held a confident smirk on her face before explaining, "The trackers were made by those demons themselves."
Emma's eyes widened from the realization. "Aren't we screwed?!"
"Yup. We're really screwed. "
"How are you so calm, Kristine?! We're hopeless right now! Oh my god, we're gonna die! We're gonna die!" The ginger-head ruffled her hair in frustration.
"Calm down Emma. I may have information that would be beneficial to all of us," the blonde muttered.
"Oh no! You have information! We're gonna di-...Wait...you have information?"
Emma stopped her breakdown and focused her attention on the blonde. The other two also waited at what she had to say.
"Last night, I realized that...I'm too beautiful to be eaten by those demons," the girl muttered.
The trio deadpanned at what the blonde said, sighing at the same time. Just when they thought that she was being serious...she pulls out pranks like this. Emma slapped her at the back of her head, mad at her friend for joking around, when they're about to die.
"No! No listen to me! So I was thinking about how cute I was last night right?" she laughed at the trio's reaction.
"And while I was doing that, I craved for fried chicken."
"Seriously? I'm going to leave now if that's all you got to say." Ray grumbled, annoyed at her stupid antics.
"No, wait! I'm getting there okay! Just listen to me!"
Norman, who was always patient was also slowly losing patience with the girl. They really didn't have time to joke around right now.
"Okay so, I was craving chicken, right? And I suddenly thought that I hated the neck part and I always gave it Emma," she added.
"And so? What's so important about a freaking chicken?!" Emma argued.
"Calm yo' ass, Emma! I'm getting there alright! Anyways, I realized that I hated the neck part and suddenly I realized. 'Wouldn't that be the same case for the demons?'" This caught the attention of Ray and Norman.
She had a point.
"The tracker is highly likely to be located at a part that would be easily removed by the demons. A part that they hate. They wouldn't want to eat a tracker right? I mean, that ain't delicious hun," the blonde muttered.
Ray, Norman, and Emma's eyes widened. Although she's silly and stupid, Kristine was undeniably a genius in things like this. They regretted not listening to her attentively. She was just so stupid sometimes that they forget that she has the highest scores among the three of them.
"If that's the case...then it would most probably..." Norman mumbled, stuck in his thoughts. An idea suddenly popped into his mind, he looked at Kristine and the girl only nodded at him enthusiastically.
"That's right! It's most probably in the ear!" The girl beamed.
Ray stared at the girl in awe. He couldn't believe that he skipped such a detail like that. He had to admit to himself that the girl in front of him was amazing. Emma's grin widened. They weren't gonna die after all!
It was a step closer to their escape. Knowing the tracker's location is a very huge advantage that they gained. Overwhelmed by the victory, they forgot one tiny detail, leaving them dumbfounded the next day.
"Let me introduce them. This is Carol, your new sibling."
'She got us!'
"The person next to me is Sister Krone. She's here to help me out with chores around the house!" Isabella announced.
The three of them were frozen in their positions, mouth agape, and their eyes widened. It finally made sense to them. The unnecessary chores and the threatening...it was all in preparation for this!
It wasn't to distract them, nor was it to keep them in check. They had no idea that they were doing chores in preparation for another enemy.
Kristine stood at the corner, away from her Mother's eyes. She expected this. She knew that Isabella was up to something. Their mother wasn't the type to do things without a reason. The girl smirked when she saw the trio in a state of shock.
'They were really caught up in the tracker, huh?'
The girl glared daggers toward the two women in front of her. They were nothing but mere pawns of demons to her.
'It seems that you added a new pawn to your board, Mama.'
'Let's see who's going to win between the two of us.'
"I will be living here with all of you starting today! Nice to meet you all," Sister Krone greeted, a creepy smile etched on her face.
Kristine left the room, a menacing look on her face.
'Now, now, Sister Krone... what part should you play in my grand plan?"