Brother

Gian-Luca opened his eyes, ready to go on with his experiment for the day. Like a silhouette against a bright light, a figure could be made out.

"Overseer Jophiel?" He assumed it was. Maybe he had slept in and the Overseer was coming to wake him up for today's trials.

Blinking repeatedly, the color his eyes made out saturated. The room had a yellow glow to it.

"This isn't my containment room…" Gian-Luca thought to himself. The room wasn't as blinding, nor white.

He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. Reopening them, he made out an unexpected sight; a man sat across from him. Behind the man was a large five-by-five paned window, through which an immense sunset glow shone through.

"Her name's Vidia Yvox," the man spoke.

Gian-Luca awoke to his senses through the words heard. He then realized he wasn't laying in bed, in fact, there was no bed. He was sitting in a chair, right across the table from this man who spoke.

"She doesn't attend Education, so you won't have to worry about tutoring her."

Gian-Luca listened to the man. He recognized him, it was a man he met; a man he was meeting.

"But she does have a condition."

The man was the director of a volunteering program Gian-Luca had applied for. The organization was non-profit, and was based around helping people with their needs.

"Her family will fill you in with details on your first visit."

"And when will that be, sir?"

"May 24, a week from now."

Gian-Luca was suddenly staring at a calendar. He crossed out the day. It was May 24.

He changed into some casual clothing; some sweatpants, a shirt, and a zip-up hoodie. He wanted to be comfortable during his five hour session with the client.

"Her parents are just asking that she is given company. It's something she hasn't had much of in her life. She just needs a friend," is what the director told him.

"Shouldn't be too bad," Gian-Luca thought. "She's just a year younger, maybe we can find some common ground."

He left the house and locked the door behind him. The sun was a bright orange, it was just past 12:00 pm. His session with Vidia Yvox was scheduled to be from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. With that time frame, Gian-Luca would still be able to get back in time for dinner. His mom was cooking his favorite meal that night. "Grilled chicken…" He muttered to himself. He felt his stomach grumble.

Walking through his shallow suburb, he made his way towards the outskirts of downtown. His bus stop would be found there.

Getting to his stop, the bus arrived soon after. "Perfect timing," he thought to himself. The bus ride would take approximately 30 minutes to get to Vidia's neighborhood.

As the bus glazed through the skyscraper valleys of the city, he watched his surroundings. Sidewalks were crowded, full of Nexi and Dexus. He'd even caught sight of a few Oxul. "Odd," he thought. The elderly weren't common to come out of the house.

The city's buildings ranged in sizes, but all looked pretty similar. The sun's rays reflected off the repeating windows that scaled the height of each tower. The glaring lights were refracting into Gian-Luca's eyes, so he strayed his vision elsewhere.

Looking through the windows on the other side of the bus, he could make out a large bright billboard-like screen plastered on one of the buildings. It was showing the general news for his hometown, Hunsington; a district far out in the north-west region from the Cardinal Nexus. The news outlined the increasing success rates of Nexi in higher Education classes. Gian-Luca smiled, he thought maybe he was categorized somewhere in there. His grades had been piling up as of lately and it made his portfolio look nice. "Probably why I was chosen for this program huh," Gian Luca thought to himself.

The billboard screen then switched to a new piece of news. An irregularity was being broadcasted. It read:

{ The rotting corpse of a late female Nexi by the name of Julia Brown has been found with a single stab wound in the household basement of the Van Hattum family. Sources say that Mr. and Mrs. Van Hattum, the heads of Hattum Enterprise, have been on a business leave to another district for the past two months. Therefore, authorities suspect the son of the Van Hattum family to be behind the murder of Julia Brown. His whereabouts are currently unknown; citizens must remain cautious. The murder, victim, and threat, is based in the Pactolus District. The Cardinal Nexus has concurred this to be a Level 5 Threat: Light. }

The news sent a slight shiver down Gian-Luca's spine. The sound or sight of anything gory made him feel weak. Just learning about the violent irregularities that would happen from time to time gave him pessimistic thoughts. Violence seemed to be more frequent the closer a district was to the Cardinal Nexus. The districts down there were much more populated, therefore incidents seemed more common.

Gian-Luca felt safe in his district up north where irregularities were uncommon. Hunsington District was one of the larger districts, open and spaced out among the population. It could be divided into a northern and southern region. Gian-Luca lived in the northern region of Hunsington District, but Vidia lived in the southern region. He needed to take transportation across the innermost metropolis in order to get there.

It was nearing 1:00 pm by the time Gian-Luca's bus arrived to Vidia's neighborhood. It was a suburb like his, except she lived on a street that went around like a crescent. Re-checking the address on his phone, he eventually came to Vidia's house. A single car was parked in the driveway.

He walked up to the front door and knocked.

At first there was no answer, so he knocked again. This time, the scurrying of feet could be heard approaching the door. It was timidly opened, revealing a shorter girl that looked up at Gian-Luca.

"Hi, are you Vidia?"

"Yes," she replied quietly.

"I'm Gian-Luca, I've been sent by the Helping Hands Society to begin providing you company today," he smiled. "Where are your parents?"

"They're…" Her eyes darted around. "They're not here right now."

"Oh?..." Gian-Luca turned his head back, looking at the single car in the driveway. "Okay?-"

"Come inside," she pulled him in. "Um, let's go to the kitchen..."

"No?" She quickly replied to herself. "No, wait, never mind. Let's go to the living room."

Gian-Luca was then led to the living room. He awkwardly followed along, unsure of whether he was supposed to meet her parents first or not.

"They're not here, right?" He thought to himself. But he recalled the car in the driveway.

"Who's car was that?" He asked Vidia.

"Car?"

"Yeah there's a car in the driveway."

"Oh that's…" She paused. "That's um… My parents left and only took one car out."

"Oh okay," Gian-Luca forced a smile, though honestly he felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Coming to the living room, they sat down on the couch. Gian-Luca decided to go about things the way they were supposed to.

"Nice to meet you Vidia Yvox, my name's Gian-Luca and starting today let's get to know each other!"

Vidia smiled in response, this time seemingly less timid and more honest. "S-Sure…"

"So, what do you do in your spare time?" Gian-Luca asked.

Vidia stared blankly, seemingly unaware that he even asked her.

"Vidia?"

"Oh yes?" She replied quickly.

"Do you do anything in your spare time?" He asked again.

"Oh… No."

"Nothing?"

"I just…" She hesitated. "I like talking to myself sometimes."

Vidia then hurriedly covered her mouth, as if regretting she had spoken. "Sorry," she said faintly.

"Sorry? Why are you sorry?" Gian-Luca was confused.

"I wasn't supposed to say that…" Vidia strayed her eyes.

"Oh…" He felt the need to do the same. "Well, whatever the case, just know that you won't have to be talking to yourself from now on. You can talk to me whenever! Whether you feel happy, or down, I'll be here to keep you company. You should also introduce me to some things you like! It'll be fun to get along."

Vidia watched Gian-Luca's eyes intently as he said this. She felt herself drown in his gaze.

"Like a brother?" She asked.

Gian-Luca found himself somewhat startled, but fluttered at the question. "Sure," he smiled. "Like a brother."

Vidia then leaped forward, clinging to the six-foot Gian-Luca. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. He was surprised at first, but let it happen. "She probably hasn't had much physical contact in her life either," he wondered. So he returned the act, and wrapped his arms around her too.

Five minutes had passed, and the two were still clung to a hug. More so Gian-Luca felt stuck in the hug; Vidia wouldn't necessarily let go. Her face was pressed up against his chest. Her hands were linked around his back. Although initially wholesome, Gian-Luca felt slightly uncomfortable as time passed by.

"Gian-Luca… Your name's kind of long."

"Yeah," Gian-Luca laughed awkwardly.

"Can I call you…" she thought about it; "Gula?"

"Gula?"

"Yeah Gula. It's like a mix of Gian and Luca."

"Okay sure Vidia."

She then looked up and smiled at Gian-Luca.

"You're my brother, right?" Vidia asked. The tone was sincere.

"Uh…" Gian-Luca didn't know what to say.

"You're my brother, RIGHT?" She suddenly raised her voice. It startled Gian-Luca, nearly frightening him. He felt the need to escape the hug.

"Uh, sorry can I get some water?" He quickly asked. But Vidia clasped on harder. Gian-Luca tried to squirm out of the grasp, and with advantage in height, he shook out of the hold.

Gian-Luca's heart rate picked up, he needed to calm himself down. He looked around in search of the kitchen. He needed water.

"Where's the kitchen?" Gian-Luca nearly demanded.

Vidia looked at him with a shocked expression. She didn't say anything.

Out of frustration, Gian-Luca rushed out of the living room. He searched frantically, finally finding what he thought was the kitchen. Upon entering, he hit a brick wall; a revolting smell overwhelmed his nose. It was horrid, and vile; like feces, or rotten meat. He immediately covered his nose, but the scent had already made its way through his nostrils. Combined with anxiety, it piqued nausea in Gian-Luca.

"Gula?" He heard echo behind him. Vidia was making her way towards him. Panic ensued, enabling him to move forward through the dreadful fog of odor. His anxiety was beginning to peak, and he knew that if it did the repercussions would be detrimental. He saw the sink, now all he needed was a cup to fill with water. Out of distress, he began opening every drawer and cabinet to hopefully find something he could drink out of. Then he opened up a pantry—something fell out upon opening the doors.

Bodies.

There were two; a male and a female. Gian-Luca's eyes widened in uncontrollable shock at the sight.

They were mutilated. The man's eyes were gouged out, leaving behind dark bloodied holes. The left side of his mouth was sliced outwards, resulting in a mouth too wide. The woman's nose was ripped off, leaving behind large nose-sized nostrils against the flat and wet surface of her remaining flesh. Her mouth hung open, her jaw seemingly disjointed. Their necks and arms were slashed. Their shirts were punctured with bloody holes. Their limbs were twisted in disproportionate positions from being cramped inside the pantry. Their smells; unbearable.

As if breaking past an undoable threshold, his anxiety transcended its limits after a certain realization—the injuries on these victims were fresh. The blood was still dark, and still seeping from their wounds. Their flesh had not rotted and were still glistening wet.

"Gula?" The voice was suddenly behind him.

Gian-Luca turned around to see Vidia looking up at him. Her expression was somewhat bashful.

"You weren't supposed to see that," she giggled.

Gian-Luca fumbled backwards, tripping over what he thought were his feet; no, they were cadaver hands. He fell back, landing on a mushy pile, blood gushing from beneath him upon impact. He looked under—he had landed on the bodies.

"A-A-ARE TH-THESE YOUR PARENTS?" He frightfully asked.

Vidia looked down. "Yes."

"W-WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM? DID YOU D-DO THIS?" Gian-Luca was beginning to catch his breath. He was wheezing.

"She told me to," Vidia looked to her left. No one was there.

"W-WHO?" He gasped. He could barely raise his voice anymore.

"The voice."

"THE V-VOICE?" Gian-Luka trembled. He was now seeing floaters. His vision was blurring. He felt his head deepen with weight.

"Yes. She said they aren't my real family," she turned her head towards Gian-Luca. "But you Gula, you're real family," she blushed.

Gian-Luca's heart rate increased as each second passed by. It sky rocketed from 100 bpm since witnessing the corpses. Now it was reaching nearly 180. He couldn't even find room to breathe anymore.

"You'll be my brother forever, right?"

His eyes abruptly blacked. He passed out.