A cold shiver runs down Caleb's spine as his eyes flicker open.
His vision is blurry at first, just shadows swimming in a dark room. The silence around him is thick, like a suffocating fog. He can't move. His limbs feel like dead weight, his tongue heavy in his mouth. Panic surges through him. He tries again—his arms, his legs, anything—but his body refuses to listen.
Then… he sees it.
A figure, standing at the edge of the bed. The dim moonlight through a cracked window reveals what his heart already fears.
Noah.
The same boy who pulled him from the forest.
Only now—his face is eerily calm, childlike wonder in his eyes, but it doesn't match the object in his hands. A cutlass. Its blade glints in the weak light, painted in thick, drying blood. Drops fall to the floor with a sickening tap… tap… tap…
Caleb's breath hitches. His lips tremble.
"Noah…?" he whispers, voice barely audible.
Noah looks up, his lips curving into a soft, almost innocent smile. "You're awake," he says gently, as if greeting an old friend after a long nap. "I didn't mean to scare you."
Caleb's eyes widen. The room is unfamiliar—stone walls, a flickering lamp in the corner, some kind of underground cabin. It smells of rust and wet wood… and something else. Metallic. Sharp.
"I couldn't wait any longer," Noah continues, walking closer, dragging the cutlass along the ground. "You were asleep for so long. You wouldn't talk to me. You wouldn't even look at me."
Caleb tries to speak again, but his throat feels tight, like something is lodged inside it. He blinks furiously, heart thudding. "W-Why…?"
Noah crouches beside the bed, tilting his head. His blood-streaked fingers reach out to gently caress Caleb's thigh. Caleb flinches, but still—his body doesn't respond. Not enough.
"I've been watching you," Noah murmurs. "They were all so cruel. Laughing at you. Touching you with their filthy eyes. But I fixed it. I fixed everything."
Caleb's lips part in horror. "What… what did you do?"
Noah's smile stretches, a little unhinged now. "You feel that?" he whispers, rubbing Caleb's inner thigh slowly. "That soft brush? That's your class monitor's legs. Pretty, weren't they? She didn't deserve them. But you… you deserve everything."
Tears well up in Caleb's eyes, falling down his temples and onto the pillow. "No… please… you're lying—"
"I'm not!" Noah snaps, his voice cracking. He suddenly climbs onto the bed, straddling Caleb with the cutlass still in hand. Caleb trembles beneath him. "You hate people who pity you. She said it, remember? 'Poor Caleb, let's invite him to camp, he'll feel better.' She didn't care. She pitied you."
His voice trembles now, filled with something raw. Desperation.
"I did this for you. All of it. You said you'd never forgive them, right? I was listening. I always listen."
Caleb stares up at him, helpless. His mouth opens to scream, but only a choked breath escapes.
"I've missed you," Noah whispers again, leaning down, resting his forehead against Caleb's. "Didn't you miss me, brother? Even once? I waited so long… so long. Every single day you never came back to the orphanage, I kept asking myself, 'Did he forget me? Was I that easy to throw away?'"
"I didn't know…" Caleb chokes, barely able to speak. "I didn't remember…"
Noah's eyes glisten, and his lips curl into a bitter smile. "Liar."
Then—he kisses him. Gentle at first, soft like a ghost's touch, on his cheek. Then again, at the corner of his mouth. Down to his jawline. His neck.
"Forgive me…" Noah mutters again and again, like a broken record. "Please… forgive me… Brother…"
Caleb's mind screams, but his body refuses. He feels Noah's hands gripping his thighs again, tighter this time. The blade is resting somewhere on the sheets now, cold against his skin. And then Noah's voice dips into something darker.
"Say it… Say you forgive me… Say you missed me."
"I… I…" Caleb stammers, mind racing, eyes wild. His instincts scream at him to survive. "I missed you, Noah…"
The boy freezes.
A pause. A silence so sharp it cuts.
Then Noah's expression softens into something pure, almost childlike. His eyes close as he exhales, breath trembling. "You did…?"
Caleb nods slightly, tears slipping past his lashes. "I… missed you… just stop…"
Noah breathes out a broken laugh. "Then… kiss me. Kiss me back…"
His lips press down again, and this time—Caleb responds. Not because he wants to.
But because he doesn't know what will happen if he doesn't.