Demons in the Mirror - Chapter 122

Axel woke up right when the sun appeared in the world. After having dinner together last night, they went to sleep in his room. A hand was hugging him tightly, while another hand from his left grabbed his arm like he was going to wither away at any given moment.

His mismatched eyes dully glanced to the window, finding Adreanna sleeping on a couch beside the said window. Axel did not realize that there was a couch in his room. She probably moved it when he was asleep.

He gazed down at his father’s hand that was protectively hugged him, and moved his eyes to his brother that was holding his arm. He scanned his skins, questioning how his bandages were gone now.

His family probably removed them when he was asleep.

He slowly moved his father’s hand from his stomach and snatched his hand away from Kiaran’s grip. He stumbly got out of his bed, making his way to his mirror without causing a single sound.

Axel walked like a ghost as he appeared in front of the mirror, staring at his own reflection with emotionless eyes. He looked at his blue eye and quickly took the eyepatch in his drawer.

The boy picked the bandages too and put them on top of his desk. He probably should take a bath first.

Axel took his bathrobe and glanced back at his sleeping family. He walked over to Kiaran and put a pillow under his head. He then grabbed the blanket, putting it on his sleeping father neatly.

Axel walked over to Adreanna and brought her hand that was dangling to the couch. He fixed the blanket and brought it up to her neck.

He then silently came out of the room with a towel and bathrobe in his hand. The boy went inside the bathroom and slowly took off his clothes. He marvelled at the cracks once more, ghosting over them with his fingers, following the trail that stopped on his chest.

Something was different on his chest. Axel did not realize the stitches yesterday. He probably missed them because he was too busy focusing on the cracks on his skin.

When he finished washing himself, he went back to his bedroom, finding his family still sleeping soundlessly. He stared at them, unblinking.

Then he robotically moved to the mirror again after closing the door. His wet hair was glued on his face while he uncannily stared at his reflection. Water dripped down his cheek and shoulders from his hair as the boy put down the towel and lowered his bathrobe a little.

He grabbed the bandages from his desk and tried to wrap his chest, covering the cracks and the stitches. He struggled a couple of times when the bandages slipped from his hand.

When the bandages almost fell from his hand again, someone grabbed them before touching the ground.

“Let me help you with that.” A soothing voice began as Cain showed his usual kind smile to the hollow-eyed boy.

Cain told Axel to sit on the chair as he wrapped bandages all over his body. His father also tried to dry Axel’s hair with a towel. The boy obeyed and stared at his father from the reflection of the mirror.

Axel took the eyepatch on the desk when his father finished the last bandages on his feet. He covered his blue eye, not realizing how Cain proudly smiled at him with something sinister hidden behind that sweet smile.

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Cain was busy preparing for breakfast as Axel stood in front of the window in the kitchen. Adreanna was taking a shower while Kiaran helped his father by putting down plates on the dining table.

Axel’s red eye stared outside, gazing at the unfamiliar road. He stood like a statue, wearing a neat white blouse and short white pants. His body was all covered with bandages except his face.

He stared outside the house for a very long time. Birds were flying around freely, chirping under the warm sun with their own flocks. The leaves fell down, dirtying the house’s front yard.

“We moved.” Kiaran suddenly chimed in, standing behind Axel while following the boy’s gaze. “When you’re uh…” He cleared his throat.

“-when you passed out for months, there was an attack where it’s only you and I in the house.” He vaguely explained as Axel turned his head to his brother, staring emptily at Kiaran’s red eyes.

“So we moved. Though, we’re building the house the same way as before.” Kiaran continued, shrugging at the boy while holding the plates in his hands.

Axel blankly stared at his brother and diverted his gaze to the plates. He moved his eyes over to the forks and knives and walked over to the kitchen counter.

He took the forks and knives, bringing them over to the table. Kiaran smiled at his little brother as he put down the plates while Axel placed the forks down.

Then suddenly, one of the knives fell down from his hand and sliced his other hand right after he put down the forks. Axel blinked at the knife and took it from the ground, ignoring the wound in his hand that had started painting his bandages red.

Kiaran was looking the other way when he suddenly heard the clanking sound. His wings perked up a little at the sudden noise as he looked back, trying to search the source of the sound.

He found Axel putting down the knife in his hand into the dishwasher and took another knife. Then his red eyes widened at the blood blooming on Axel’s bandages.

Kiaran ran to the boy and grabbed his wrist, looking at his bleeding hand wide-eyed. Axel dropped the knife again because of the sudden movement from his brother and emptily stared at the fallen knife.

“Axel?!” Kiaran exclaimed, causing Axel to look right into his brother’s eyes. “Are you okay? You’re bleeding.”

The boy stared down at his bleeding palm and blinked. He was unfazed by the fact that his hand was oozing blood and stained his bandages all over.

“Is it hurt? Oh god. Okay, wait, let me-”

Axel suddenly put his hand on Kiaran’s hand and tapped it slowly. He repeated his movement as he kept staring at his brother’s blood-coloured eyes.

“Are you trying to say that you’re okay?” Kiaran was still holding Axel’s wrist as he spoke, trying to make sure what Axel’s intentions or thoughts were.

“Alright, we need to do something about this.” The older determined with a sudden plan in his head. “But first, let’s treat your wound first. You should be careful handling the knife, Axel.”

Axel blinked at his brother.

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“What are you three doing?”

Cain had just finished throwing all the plates into the dishwasher after they had some breakfast together. Now, he went back to the kitchen to see his three children sitting on the floor with papers and markers scattered all over the place.

Kiaran was biting his lips as he finished his writing while Adreanna was too focused on her work. Axel was there, watching the two with his emotionless face.

“Making signs so that Axel can say what he wants to say,” Kiaran answered and showed the writing that he had just finished to Cain. “Like when he needs help, he’ll take this sign out.”

‘pls help me :(‘ sentence was on the small paper that Kiaran presented to his dumbfounded father. For an 18-year-old genius that could rule the world if he wanted to, it was pretty childish. He explained the sign like a proud person, smiling ear-to-ear at his father.

Cain just smiled at him, deciding to let them play with whatever shenanigans they were doing right now. “And what are you making, Adreanna?”

The 19-year-old quickly showed the paper to her father with her flat face. “When he wants someone to die, he’ll use this sign. So I can easily kill them.”

The white paper was written in red marker with a ‘Kill this fucker’ sentence on it.

“Adreanna, no-” Kiaran scolded his older sister. “We only need basic daily words for Axel. Not this.”

Adreanna tilted her head a little, letting her braid fall off her shoulder. “But isn’t this basic?”

There was a moment of silence between the two older siblings as they stared at each other. A realization crept up in Kiaran’s eyes as he nodded to his sister.

“…you got a point there. Alright, let’s keep this sign.”

So Axel kept watching in silence. He just sat there, staring at how Kiaran would laugh once in a while and looking at how Adreanna would glare at Kiaran when the secondborn teased her.

Axel received all the signs and kept them with him as a treasure. He would always bring the signs everywhere, keeping them in his pocket and taking them out every time he wanted to say something important.

He lost himself. He was not who he was anymore, and the poor boy did not know about it as he had forgotten his real self. He was not their Axel, he was not his own person.

He was just a broken shell walking. But the thing was, he did not know that he was breaking from the inside. He did not know that he was broken.

And so he lived in a beautiful lie.