Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 427. Most beloved entity

Henry’s POV

"What had the prophet foretold that scared them so much?"

Ethan looked at the sleeping kid as well while I continued.

"What scares a powerful family so much more than an apocalypse and monsters?"

It had to be like this if they wanted to utilize monsters and were brave enough to visit another world to make money and gain power.

Ethan shuddered, and I was ripped out of my thoughts.

"Get out; I am dead tired." I leaned back and threw him out, annoyed that talking and theorizing with him had taken time from me cuddling with Kenny.

Ethan complied; he was probably already tired himself... and spooked.

When he was gone, I covered Kenny with another blanket, then held him as much as I desired.

I did leave the door unlocked for Kitty and Ren to leave or in case something happened.

There were still bombs being thrown inside the city, giving off a slight thrumming here and there.

I stared at the wall while placing my head on Kenny’s chest, hearing his heartbeat thrumming much louder than any other noises.

The small warm light beside the mattress made the room cozy; the heartbeat was strong, loud, and clear, and time seemed to move very slowly yet undeniably.

I didn’t want to sleep and for time to move forward, because while I wanted Kenny to wake up and feel better, I didn’t want to lose my grasp on him.

My eyes wandered to the kid who slept just as well as I did, and I asked myself if whatever the kid had foretold would be a danger to Kenny.

I closed my eyes and needed a long, very long time to sleep in the end, as I was wide awake—planning, dreading, anticipating, and imagining.

*********

The next time I woke up, it was because Mrs. Howard entered the room.

I played dead when I felt Kenny waking up.

I listened to their conversation, anticipating that she would say anything about me, about us, but it was only a relatively tame comment at the end, warning me that them talking about ’that’ would follow.

When she was gone and Kenny had gone back to sleep, I stood up and got my drawings on top of the closet.

I couldn’t leave my precious confession there if people came and went as they wanted.

After tucking them in, I went back to bed, hugging Kenny and choosing to sleep as long as he wasn’t awake.

************

I opened my eyes to see that the kid who was hugging Kenny and the tiger were gone. It was morning, and my heart raced; I was trembling and felt weak.

I needed something to eat.

I continued to hug Kenny, unwilling to leave, but in the end, I couldn’t let myself be weak in case anything happened.

After tremblingly kissing his face to my heart’s content, I stood slowly up and put the warmed drawings back on top of the closet.

Only after they were perfectly stored and in line did I walk into the kitchen, where I found Kenny’s friends.

Omar stood up.

"Is he awake?"

"No." I answered curtly while walking to the kitchen cabinet and opening it up. Seeing bread, I stuffed it in my mouth and started to chew mechanically.

Then I opened the refrigerator and found milk, so I poured myself a glass.

"I heard what the Lawrence family did to him; I want to apologize." Omar came closer.

I chuckled disinterestedly, as I was the wrong person to speak about this, and continued to eat while leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Is Kenny alright? What in the world happened?" Danny asked worriedly, only short of crying again.

I swallowed and nodded.

"He is alright."

"Our parents called us back with the never-ending unrest. Can you tell him to charge his phone and give us a call when he wakes up?" Jordan stepped forward, as if he could tell that I wasn’t in a good mood.

And I indeed wasn’t. I could feel it in my bones; it had been a few days already—he wasn’t awake, and I grew restless.

Not that it was the first time for him or me to sleep so long, but the little glimpse of the state of his psyche I received from his talk with his grandma wasn’t enough for me to deem him really alright.

I nodded again while taking another bite of the bread, washing it down with more milk before speaking to Omar.

"Edward Lawrence. I want to know his current whereabouts and what he has been doing the last fifteen years. Also, find out how your father knew about Kenny being the person whose blood was stolen." He had to have known because he did ask Omar to befriend Kenny...what other coincidental reason could there be? Because he was the outcast of the Howard family? No, there are no such coincidences.

Omar clenched his jaw before explaining why his father could have known about Kenny.

"I haven’t met this uncle before, but my father did indeed have a good relationship with him, as they were both the only boys and had two sisters otherwise."

I tilted my head.

"Hmmm... So there are chances that your father was in on this?"

Jordan shielded Omar, who straightened up with aggression when hearing me.

"Never. I can vouch for my father; he would never have done something like this, or my mother would have killed him with her own two hands—and he would be aware of that!"

While still holding my milk, I placed my finger before my mouth.

"Don’t wake Kenny." I murmured threateningly.

Omar took a deep breath.

"My father wasn’t in on this. Don’t kill innocent people just because of blind..." He took another breath.

"Kenny wouldn’t forgive you." He hinted in the end, as if he was able to tug at a leash he had no regency over.

I took another sip of milk while contemplating his words; the trembling had nearly subsided after taking in a few calories, but it was still there.

I am meanwhile sure that Kenny would forgive me, but that doesn’t mean I would go against his wishes and kill senselessly... or ’that’ senselessly at least.

Not after what happened the last time I snuck out to quell my fury.

Omar continued,

"They didn’t have contact for a long time; my father didn’t even know about a niece for the first few years, and we have all never met her...him. Nevertheless, our family was heartbroken when we heard of ’her’ passing."

"Your family was not once in the main mansion during the first few years after her birth?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"You have never met the woman condemned to be a ghost of the Lawrence mansion, Serena Lawrence?" I could hear the kid upstairs together with Mrs. Howard; he wasn’t near enough to hear us talk, so I felt safe to speak about this.

Additionally, although it still felt invasive, I couldn’t shake off a bit of leftover resentment on Serena’s behalf that apparently had still remained inside me after experiencing part of her suffering.

Omar brought his hand over his face and turned sideways for a short moment, as if he needed power to remain composed.

"I don’t know what you are imagining, but our family doesn’t usually visit the main mansion. Every few months, my father calls his father or other family members. They made it clear... that they don’t want us there—meaning me and my mother."

"I understand," I hummed.

"Yes." Omar sat back down on the bench, soon calmer again.

"I won’t kill your direct family; better said, I won’t kill anyone as long as they don’t cause harm to MY family."

"Hey, Henry!" Jordan intercepted.

"He is our friend too and has been much longer than you two have had the misfortune of knowing each other!"

"Shhh..." I made the same motion again while holding onto my glass, telling him not to yell, before answering him.

"And I don’t care." I shrugged, omitting the words ’He is mine now.’

"Let’s calm down, okay? We have already clarified that nobody will be killed senselessly and that we all care about Kenny." Danny finally found his voice and played the mediator while patting Omar’s shoulder soothingly.

"Fine with me." I just want to go back and cuddle; I am an easily satisfied puppy as long as my owner is safe and within my reach. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"I will find out everything I can; you can kill this Edward if he is still alive." Omar leaned back on the bench.

"Mhm..." There was no need for me to remind him again that I didn’t need his permission, so I swallowed it down with the rest of the milk.

I could hear Ethan exiting his room and making his way upstairs while meeting the staff sergeant near the staircase. They performed a bit of small talk while remaining there.

"When are you all leaving?" I asked the group of friends overcrowding the house.

"Soon..." Danny said droopily.

I hummed again while washing the empty glass in my hand and took the rest of the bread with me when leaving the room.

I know they mean well, but I can’t bring myself to like them, and that was not because they were constantly holding up a mirror that showed my own shortcomings.

Friends that trusted Kenny when he said he was innocent.

Friends that took care of him during the time I had planned and wished for his downfall.

But because while showing me a mirror all these times, there was a little conspiracy going on in one of these friends’ families.

I am not only furious about the connection that Omar has to Dr. Lawrence and the center but also about Edward Lawrence, leaving me deeply disappointed.

They have lost the qualification to show me my shortcomings, and now I need something else to keep these overwhelming emotions in check.

I chuckled while walking up the stairs after hearing Ethan bragging to the staff sergeant about getting a little drawing with the name from the kid, at the same time informing the old man of said name.

I know that what I am doing is glorifying and condemning; that this was an issue of mine and that this issue was also something making everything so much easier for me.

Arriving at the top of the stairs, I snatched the paper Ethan held in his hand away after nodding at the staff sergeant.

If there is only black and white, then I have no reason to confuse myself with all the grays Kenny, for example, has to deal with.

And it seemed I over-glorified their friendship as well, first wishing for friendships like these during my time stalking Kenny and then using them to further hate myself.

"You were present when Ren was named; why are you so surprised?" I took a look at the little paper in my hand, seeing the cutely written name.

Now this glorified friendship has become grayish for matters others would deem them innocent for.

"Shouldn’t Kenny be the first to receive one?" I pocketed the paper and walked down the stairs back to our room, leaving the two speechless men—one older, one younger—behind.

From the flowing lines between conscious and unconscious, high and sober, being either the older or younger twin, my parents’ death that brought us money and freedom together with their absence, and let me repeat, THEIR DEATH, only one thing brought clarity to my very disturbed mind—with which I was awarded by the flowing, undefined years of my early youth.

And that was categorizing and classifying.

Besides consciously knowing this for some time, why can I only now see the constant pattern of evident categorizing and classifying in my past behavior?

I have been playing this black-and-white game since I have been on an ambulant withdrawal and was told that neither my priorities nor values had properly developed because I had lived for too long under my own law and without any guidance.

The only flowing entity left in this black-and-white world, with its countless colors and forms, neither god nor human, neither black nor white—but always right—there was just one.

And what else can you do but madly fall for them, faced with the only exception under these endless monochrome shadows?

Back in our room, I tucked my confession back under my shirt and stuffed the rest of the bread into my mouth before holding onto him—my dirty, my bloody, my most colorful, most beautiful— my most beloved entity.