Chapter 8

They killed him. They killed his buddy!

Kingsley crouched beside his bed, hugging the box of memories he treasured. His fingers trembled as he slid it open, revealing the pictures. The stream in him provoked to leak. They weren't childhood friends. Peter wasn't even born when Kingsley was born. But their bond was strong.

He was flipping through the photos and nostalgia hit him so hard when he saw this particular piece. The first surprise birthday party Peter held for him. Whipping cream was all over the place. The chocolate cake was smashed flat to the table and Peter was behind Kingsley, holding another lump of cream in his hand. And there was Lyn, having her two pony-tails slapped onto her smeared face, joining Peter for another cream attack on her brother.

Everybody was happy.

Nobody was leaving.

"I'm sorry, Kingsley." Miracle broke the silence after being in his room for fifteen minutes.

He ignored her apology. "You know what Peter said in here?" Running his fingers across the picture, he traced the features of his dead friend with much affection like Peter was going to float out of it for real. " 'Oh come on, Kingsley...Birthday cakes are never meant to be eaten lor. They are meant to be ruined for bigger happiness!'..." His vision turning wet.

"Kingsley..." Her heart ached. "Don't be like this..."

"I…I thought I could protect him, Miracle. I should’ve protected him…”

“Nobody wants it to be like this, Kingsley… I’m sure Peter wouldn’t blame you if he knows the truth…”

"Peter… he was such a naughty brat. You had no idea how he chased me around back then just to get him the ice-cream I promised,” he puffed, exhaling a tearful breath through his nose. “I was going to buy him but because he was so desperate for it, I ended tricking him into something else—” His voice cracked the more he talked about their memories. “Damn…I miss him, Miracle.” And there shed his man's tears.

Hayden was out. The twins were lamenting over the loss of Peter. Despite the Sun was giving its best to pour out the rays of lights, despite it managed to escape into the house, the space was still dark with no hints of lives.

For the hundredth time, "It's all my fault," she said as she shut Kingsley's door, leaving to head to the room she spent the night yesterday.

For such incident to happen in Stellaerio, nobody was to be blamed.

But her, the peace protector.

Miracle paused at the doorstep, toes twitching as her hand gripped the knob, hesitating. She was afraid the boy wouldn't be alright, that it was a mistake to keep him under their nose.

Suddenly, sounds of new chokes rang in her consciousness. Miracle stuck her ear closer to the door. The noise repeated, louder along with the squeaks of the bed as though somebody was moving. Strengthening her grip, she pressed her five fingers on the door and twisted the handgrip.

The boy was awake, and he was staring back at her. 

Almost stumbling upon her full entrance, she greeted. "Hey there."

Sitting upright immediately, he pushed his back to the bed's pole. "Who ... are... you? Where am... I...?" he asked.

"Don't worry. You’re safe here," Miracle assured, picking up the blanket dropped on the floor.

He dodged his knees, hovering Miracle's hand in the air as she attempted to touch. "Who are you?! Ouch..." He pressed hard against the sides of his head. "O-ouch... My h—head hurts..."

Inhaling a deep breath, she was ready to tell him the story she came up with. "The truth is—”

But before she could get engrossed, the boy's next question shot her words down her throat. "W—who am I?!" Still pressing onto his head, he shook Miracle's hand and refused to let it go.

Panic flashed across his upturned eyes. They were quivering. "Tell me! Who am I? What happened to me?! How did I end up here?! TELL MEE!!"

"You don’t know who are you? H—hey! Let go... Let go!" Miracle struggled to break free, shocked by the force he was applying on her. "Give me a moment. I'll get back to you." She snatched her hand away and dashed outside, forgetting to pull the door along to close the space.

She ran back to her room. How did it end up this way? She only meant to save his heart. Not to erase his memories! Great. Now, he didn't even know where he belonged to nor who he was. Peter's death was only yesterday. Everyone in the house was not over with it yet. And, here came another problem. Was he supposed to stay with them until he remembered everything? Or could she dump him out and act like they have never encountered?

Walking to and fro, Maybe there is another better way to solve this. But what is it? she thought.

Slumping down on the bed, it was as though everything, including the last hope she had a few minutes ago, had vanished into the thin air circulating in front. All hopes were gone. She thought she had found a new aspiration to continue her mission, but it turned out to be a whole new disaster.

"I'm so screwed, Master..."

Just then, she heard a knock on her door.

"Miracle? It's me. Mr. Hayden."

He was back.

"Yes?" she answered, quickly rushing over. To her surprise, Hayden didn't come alone. He was with him.

"I supposed you do have some explanations for this." He rose his brow and looked straight into her eyes. "Right?"

Miracle stood there in still. Speechless. She didn't have any explanations to explain anything. The only explanation she could come up was, she might somehow overused her powers which made the boy to lose his memories. But this never occurred before. She had always been careful when using her powers. And yet, it still happened. How? She tried to figure out for the past half an hour but the answers to such questions hated her.

Tipping on her toes, she whispered by his ears, "I... I'm sorry, Mr. Hayden. I don't know how but I think I overused my powers on him?"

Miracle got back down on her feet weakly once she finished what she needed to say. She waited for Hayden to scold her or even throw his tantrum out at her. But he didn't. Instead, he gestured the boy to enter the dim-lighted room.

No words spoken, until the new boy broke the silence.

"I just caused you guys some troubles, isn't it?"

Hayden looked at him and continued to remain silent. The guilt in Miracle once again spiked up. She pushed away her clothes jumbled on her bed for the boy to sit. He was looking at Miracle with such curiosity, hoping that at least she could tell him something. However, there were only disappointments.

Suddenly, someone placed another knock on the door.

"I'm entering," Lyn said.

As she walked in, she stopped and stared at them. Her eyes looked swollen from over crying.

"What's wrong?" Lyn paused, shifting her gaze to the lost boy. "H—hey… You're that boy, aren't you? You're finally awake?"

The boy immediately ran over to her. "You know me? Can you please tell me what happened? I... I can't seem to remember a thing..."

Lyn gave him a puzzled look. "What? You can't remember a thing?"

She glanced over at Miracle and was replied with an I-messed-up-everything expression. The boy was still waiting for Lyn's reply, desperate for answers.

"Listen here, boy. Just like you, we have no idea who you are. We found you lying unconsciously on the ground few days before when we were passing by a small alley. No humans would leave an unconscious person behind, isn't it? So, we brought you to our house, hoping you would regain your consciousness soon and head back to where you belong. But sadly, you had lost all your memories and now you are currently stuck with us," Lyn said in a breath.

Miracle nodded when the boy looked at her, signaling for confirmation.

"So... am I going to be chased away?" He tensed, fists gripping tight onto his black worn-out pants.

Nobody said anything. Miracle and Lyn exchanged glances.

"We’ll send you to school." Hayden broke the silence, giving the boy a warm smile. "I guess you’re around the same age as my children."

"W—what?!" The remaining three of them was shocked.

He nodded. "This is the best solution I can think of. Just let him stay with us until he gets back his memories. It's the basic humanity we can give him." Hayden went over to the lost boy and patted on his shoulder.

"But dad—" Lyn tried to object.

He held up his hand. "Lyn, we are supposed to care about humans."

"Dad—”

"Miracle, get those filthy clothes of him. I'll try to make him start school tomorrow," he said, ignoring his daughter’s objection.

Hayden glanced at her when there was no reply. "Miracle?"

"Y-Yeah? Oh, yeah... S—sure, Mr. Hayden," she said, nudging the boy to leave the room.

Lyn followed after. Miracle saw frowns on her face when she flung him a set of male clothes stuck at the gaps in between the poles of the stairs. Kingsley’s. The brother would probably be mad if he got out of his room and saw the boy wearing his shirt. It was obvious the twins were disliking the foreign presence in their house.

Sighing, Lyn let out a heavy sigh and walked past him. Letting him into this house was never an option after all.

It was a decision.

"I'll wait for you," Miracle said as he stepped into the shared bathroom. "Give me a knock on my door when you're done, kay? It's just beside yours."

The boy nodded. The girl smiled.

Psssshshhh - Oozes of shower started off by falling too hard onto the tiles, and they turned soft, then they turned loud again. Hot! Hot! - she heard him muttered, legs splashing messily onto the forming puddle, hitting shampoos and shower gels placed at the side. A sharp crash then pierced through followed by a heavy bump jerked the remaining tiles throughout the level. It looked like he slipped. Folding her shirts and keeping them in her wardrobe, Miracle puffed, sensing the mess the boy was putting himself in.

It didn't take that long though, for the expected knock to come upon.

"Coming." Miracle stood to open the door. "You're fast..." The sight of him left her momentarily amazed.

His ebony eyes were clearly exposed as his hair was swiped to the back. They looked like they were illuminating a soft wave of warmth and the definite jaw lines he had was attracting her gaze to drift to his jugular veins bulging out slightly from the sides of his neck. Miracle blinked away, erasing the tiny bit of excitement he was inducing in her.

"Erm..." He staggered on his words. "I..."

"Come in, let's talk a little." She stepped away from the entrance for him to enter.

"I'm sorry," he blurted, planting a solid stand at the corner of her room.

"What for?"

"Everything." His gaze was locked to the ground. "I might have lost my memories, but I still have my senses with me," pausing, " I know they’re having a hard time accepting me here." He was referring to the twins.

Running her long, slender fingers through her hair, she stretched apart the tangled strands in between. "It'll take some time," she mumbled, thinking how to initiate his own attempt to leave their house.

Still standing by the door, "I'll leave," he said, as though he had just read her intention. "I'll... leave." There was a pull in his brows.

"Yes, you have to leave," Miracle spoke. A bit too fast that it sounded like she was chasing him out.

The pull was turning deeper.

"But not now,” she added in immediately.

He lifted his tearing eyes to her.

"Only when the day your memories return, you’d be asked to go." Smiling, she pulled out the stool underneath her dressing table and motioned him to get closer. "Take it easy."

"Can I?" His ebonies glittering with hope.

"Well, we really aren't that heartless to leave you alone. You’ll probably get—" attacked by Mynheex again if we let you out. Her voice trailed off, responding to the pressure of such words at her throat. "—lost. Yeah. That's it." She stabilized her eyes before dropping them back onto the boy. "You’ll probably get lost if we’re to let you out there alone."

"Thank you." It was a soft whisper underneath his tone.

Maybe not all mortals are bad, she thought. "Here, let's make you a name for now. What's your favourite letter?" she asked.

"What's your name?" he answered with a question.

"Me? It's Miracle. Miracle Watson Soon."

"Then my favourite letter is 'M',".

"Why?"

"Because you're the first person I woke up to." He curled his lips, once again provoking the anonymous yet comfortable sensation in her.

Shaking it away, Miracle cleared her throat. "Not everyone that you first woke up to are good or qualified enough to own the word 'favourite'."

“But—”

She sighed, not wanting to get engaged any deeper into such conversation with a mere mortal. "Forget about it then, Melvin."

"Who's Melvin?"

"You." Miracle chuckled. "Just a name hit across my mind out of a sudden.”