6. CREDULOUS

Credulous ( adjective)

Gullible, naive.

Chapter 6

(Tall Boy P.O.V)

"Watch out!" I shout grabbing hold of her outfit as she slips forward giving the trunk floor a kiss. She pushes herself up looking ahead as the wheel hits the police car behind us and it shrieks wheeling to the side and stopping in its tracks. She turns facing me, a smile and wide bloodshot eyes smear her face as we drive away from the police car. She claps once eyes gleaming as her lips twitch in a smirk, looking far too comfortable for the situation. I swallow adjusting myself back into the seat uncomfortably. This preem makes me uneasy... Or shall I say kid... I need to stop talking like back at the dot. I'm not from there anymore.

"Those sirens where deafening!" I glance over as she voices, wind from the trunk pulling and pushing at her black hair. I sit back straight letting out a breath to ease myself.

"Did you get what you wanted from the man?" The girl asks as we walk up the stairs to the flat.

"Yeah, another address." I say giving the note with the address the man scribbled on a tap in my pocket.

"We'll go first thing in the morning. The spree killer might already know we're coming." I add as we walk inside the house.

The pr... kid sleeps in the room she was locked up in earlier on the bare floor. This place is more than we could ask for back at the...pit.

(Mako P.O.V)

I lay down on the flat floor. Sleeping somewhere I know I'm free in is more than I could ask for back at home, furniture is the least of my demands. My stomach growls but sleep comes easier than I thought and that shuts my stomach for the night.

Waking up at the rustling noise of plastic bags, I groan at the pain of hunger. Walking out I spot them sitting apart from each other, one looking out the window one leg towards him and the other straight on the floor. The other twin emptying a plastic bag of groceries.

"Come have some fesh... I... I mean come have some food." I smile as the twin looks up at me. He's the second one I met, his droopy eyes with dampen corners ready to cry gives it away. I'll name him sweaty bangs for now... even though it's not sweat and seems shower water... they... take showers just like us?

"Thank you!" I say sitting before him my bones cracking at the wood floor echoing in the silence.

"I'm Seiji..." The sweaty bangs announces fiddling with the products on the floor.

"And that fshek is Tora." He introduces his brother giving him a glance. I nod, as Tora gives his neck a stroke; his famous dirty bucket hat beside him. I wonder if that's their true name... of course it is. Not because I lied means everyone else is too...I bite at my lower lip... stomach growling suddenly, guilt turning into hunger as my eye spots a see-through wrapping with blue words on the packaging. I pick it up; pressing at the squealing plastic feeling the soft bun inside.

"That's his... hey you okay if she takes the cream bun?" Seiji asks his brother by the window. My eyes dart between them my brain racing... what?

"She can have it, give me anything else you got." Tora dismisses voice empty of emotion, flat. Seiji looks down at the batch he got and picks a green pack and slides it across the floor till it hits his brother's thigh lightly. He picks it up and opens it effortlessly giving it a bite... I am hit with a wave of confusion. I gawk at the ghouls, feeling awkward but desperate to ask questions.

"What the... how... why are you eating that?" I ask my voice coming out more accusing than I intended. How can he eat human food... they're ghouls.. I saw it with my own eyes. The veins where there on Tora's cheeks that day. The veins that appear when a ghoul wants to...attack its prey.

"We eat normal food just like you." Seiji tells me sitting back biting on his own snack. A giggle escapes my lips,

"Normal food? But you boys are ghouls.. wouldn't it kill you or something if you eat normal food?" I ask looking between them. I don't know much detail but I heard some tried to live on human food and died in pain or something.

"No it won't, cause we're not ghouls...not anymore." I hear the sweaty bangs... Seiji say... Them having names feels alien to me and I need to get rather used to it.

"Not ghouls?! I saw him that day with all that.... On his face!" I accuse pointing at...Tora who gives his brother a nervous look quickly looking away and back at me, eyes flaring with hatred.

"I was just trying to scare you..." He explains looking back at his brother pressing his lips together eyebrows narrowing.

"What about the man!? His stomach was.... Bleeding and stuff." I remind him. He rolls his eyes groaning in annoyance.

"Did you..." Seiji trails off glaring at his brother, warning him that he's in trouble. I swallow,

"I didn't! I was trying to get him to speak! To tell me if he knew where the preem was! I didn't! I swear I didn't eat any of him." He presses now sitting upright. Eat? He didn't eat? I close my eyes at the thought,

"I thought you said you were over, you were clean!" I jump at Seiji's brash loud voice. He is angry, hands into fists ready to use them to hurt his brother.

"I am! She just misunderstood! I was trying to scare the man to tell me information. I didn't put any of him in my mouth... I promise." He promises in a firm confident tone. They stare at each other for a while not breaking the awkward moment.

"True, I never saw you actually umm devour...anything." I assure him trying to calm them down. It's true, the man was bleeding but nothing was missing from him, the blood was seeping out from his shirt, and the knife Tora had with him seems the tool used. I just wonder how did he get blood on his face if he didn't ... bite anything. I get a brief glare from Seiji and he eventually drops the stare. They go back to eating. I open the pack in my hand, the sound of plastic cracks echo in the empty home. I'm the perfect rebel, eating junk food that father have strictly banned us from for as long as I can remember. We have been introduced to it once when a red bag of crisp came in our grocery by mistake and it tasted like nothing we ever had; after finding out me and my brother have ate it and were asking for more father simply told us off and were never exposed to such packaged food.

"So you are not ghouls or what?" I let it out of my mouth quickly pushing the bun in my mouth, the soft texture colliding with my tongue.

"What? You still don't get it?" Seiji prods eyebrows narrowing in disappointment. I shrug shewing down on the sweat bun; normally anything would taste delicious when hungry but I can still savour and appreciate that this bun is truly tasty...Brother would agree.

"We're Hugals..." He tells me, as if expecting me to ohhh and get it but I remain silent. I never heard of the word hugals...

"Are you serious? Have you been living under a rock?!" He let's out a snicker giving his twin a mocking glance. I look down at the bitten bun in my hands unable to meet their eyes, they think it's stupid and a joke to not know something so obvious. I'm being laughed at.

"Hugals, the ghouls who rebelled?!" He prods searching my face for a reaction, now I'm thinking of just playing along, it's humiliating.

"Oh...ah huh." I offer stuffing my face with cream bun. He shakes his head staring at me smirking,

"You don't know do you... I never thought no one knows about it... seriously Tora, where did you find this... kid?" He trails of searching me and giving his brother a mocking smile and shrugging. Kid... kid? What kid? I'm no... kid.

"Hey, I'm ... I'm shook too. Seeing you eat human food." I stutter not having a backup to my ignorance.

"We're the ones who rebelled, stopped being ghouls...started eating human fesh...food." He explains correcting himself, still waiting for me to say yeah! I know, just joking ... I never heard of rebellions, let alone ghouls eating human food and surviving. Besides, father used to shut down our questions about most thing, so I'm not entirely at fault.

"So... you're ghouls but eat normal food? How is it possible?" I ask them.

"It's possible, all the stuff about ghouls dying from human food were shloking lies. To stop others from rebelling." Seiji's eyes fixed at the wall behind me in a daze face sunken, as if remembering something grim. His eyes finally finds mine,

"We're Hugals now." He tells me firmly. A statement I must accept; a fact.

"If you don't do what ghouls do that means your human..." I'm instantly cut off not able to finish my statement at Tora's hollers,

"We're not humans! Say that one more time and your dead." He warns me pointing his index finger aggressively at me. By now I'm immune to their scary image, he doesn't convince me with that tone, sounds like he's trying to convince himself of that statement more than myself.

"We're born ghouls, eating human fesh won't erase our race. Our veins still there just like any other ghoul." He says voice harsh, angry at his own words.

"So? You look like one doesn't make you one, it's your act that will decide if you're a ghoul or not." I tell him trying to prove my point. Having skills of an assassin doesn't make you an assassin unless you use the skills in such way.

"I can swim, but that won't make me a fish." I prod then biting into my own bun finishing it off.

"We're not humans!" He bellows sitting straighter. I can't believe I was somehow scared of him, now he almost looks pathetic.

"Who cares about the term? Your simply not a person who kills others as a food source. That's what's important." I echo shrugging. Seiji just looks in the distance, looking lost.

"It does, I'm nothing like you." He presses getting up. He gives me a glare and walks away disappearing behind me into another room.

"Telling him he's the same kind as the people who trapped him in the dot is sick." Seiji softly utters; his eyes droopy. I want to say how the dot is a prison because ghouls did horrible things to humans, it was our right to put them there and shut them out. But I don't know the whole story, don't know their point of view, therefor I stop myself. Just yesterday I thought they were monsters who can't even speak my language. I pick a water bottle from the bundle that has been laid in front of me.

"Can I drink this?" I ask before opening it. He looks up at me searching me looking lost, he nods as his eyes land on the bottle in my hand. I almost want to laugh out loud at the fear I felt just yesterday.

I look out the window, my feet freezing in my thin fabric overlays. Outside isn't looking so joyful as I expected it. How stupid of me thinking outside home the sky will be clear and sunny all this time, the sky is the same here or back there.

"We should head out." My head twirls at the sound of Tora's harsh tone. He's aggressively brushing his wet hair with a towel, just like how my brother wiped our dog after the shower. I swallow my sadness and bubbling anger at once.

"Where are we going? The new address?" I ask looking between them for an answer.

"You're not coming." He spits. He's still angry at me? I didn't say anything wrong.

"How we gonna get there then?" His twin asks looking up at him,

"We can just put the place name in the map like she did, we don't need her." He answers him pointing at me with his towel.

"She can leave for all I care." He says motioning at the entrance door to his right. I itch my nose as my stomach lurches in anxiety. Where can I go?

"After an hour of trying to input the address on the map? Yeah, sure we'll get there in no time." Seiji adds sarcastically standing up.

"Fine, I can leave? Finally? I'm not held here anymore?" I say walking towards the room where I slept. Picking up my bag and placing the camera around my neck I walk over to the door to leave. They're both silent for a while as I sit on the floor pulling my shoes towards me.

"Yeah, we got someone in the police. Even if you report us... it doesn't matter." Tora tells me voice low, even he knows that's a sentence empty of logic. Tightening my laces I stand up adjusting the fallen strap on my shoulder. I hold the cold metal door handle and press it down.

"Yeah, Carly right? she sure helped yesterday." I softly say pulling the door open. Stepping out I shiver at the cold pulling the door closed behind me. I stand there for a second alone. Nowhere to go and no one to go to. Stepping down the stairs, my stomach wines in pain and I don't feel so good anymore. I want to vomit; my head starts throbbing. I push myself to go down the stairs reassuring myself that I didn't have anyone to depend on in the first place when I sneaked out. Stepping out the building I take in the cold air and shudder; at least it helps my sweating forehead cool. I glance over to my left as a black car pulls up, stopping a few yards from me.

I stand still watching as a few men get off the car looking up at the building. Are they here for the twins? Shouldn't I go warn them if so? They were the ones to ask me to leave, didn't offer to help me, why should I help them?... they're not bad people though...maybe? My heart irrupts in my throat and instinctively I push myself back into the building. Taking in heavy breaths clinging into the door rail I hear my heart thumb. I must have seen funny... Leaning forward I look left at the person who just stepped out the car. Looking upwards at the building he points up and says something to the men around him. I push myself back in putting a hand on my lips even though I'm barely making a sound. Hearing footsteps nearing the entrance I order myself to move, and I'm already up the stairs running up; brushing the staircase's cold metal rail I try to process what's happening, they are not here for the twins, they're here for me? how did they find me? and why is he down there? Coming for me? he's not allowed outside... none of us are... fleeing the stairs as quietly as I can, I hear footsteps coming behind me... my brother's footsteps.