Father's Smile

3 PM, 5th Sun of the 8th Moon

"Where's Josh?" Mom asks the children, looking particularly at John and Ember. She's always been like that, you need to always be exactly on time.

"Dunno, I'm finding him too Mom." Ember replied.

"We'll find him. Where could he possibly go?" John steps up, who also seems to be search him.

"Alright then, I'll just adjust the time to 4:00 then, I need to make changes to the designs anyways (I feel like we overdid it). Be quick!" Mom pets their fluffy hairs.

"Yes mom."

***

3:30 PM, 5th Sun of the 8th Moon

"Be quick, they said." John sighs.

"Where could he possibly go, they said" Ember added.

"Josh, I know that this shelter is big, but we've been searching for 30 MINUTES!" John shouted.

"Where the hell is that stupid big head?!" Ember shouted as well.

"He's not anywhere, he's not in his room, he's not in the library or medbay, hell, I even checked the training room even though he hates it there but he's just not ANYWHERE!" John punches the stone wall.

Still, despite this outburst, they just sighed it off and continued looking for their friend.

Walking through the hall and opening each room, John heard a door close.

"You heard that?"

"Yeah. Let's go! Oh he's so dead to me-"

As they ran, John saw the stairs leading to the door to Father's room, which he has always hated. He didn't like how dark it is.

"Where is he? JOSH! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" Ember's face resembled a demon, startling John.

'This is why I don't like her. That doesn't look like a girl to me! It's not even human! Josh, just get here please!' John prayed.

{THUD!}

"!!!"

Together, they rushed towards the closet and opened it. Josh was in there passed out.

"{Gasp!}Oh my God! Josh! What the hell were you doing here!" Ember's wrath instantly turned to worry as Josh lays unconscious, buried under cleaning utensils with only his head and feet visible. She immediately carried him out of the closet.

"Go tell Mom what happened, I'll get him to the medbay!"

"{Nod}"

***

7:00 PM, 5th Sun of the 8th Moon

"Hey Ember, do you think something happened to him?" John asked Ember, clenching the glass of root beer he's holding firmly.

"To Josh? Yeah, something did-" she said before chugging an entire mug of root beer.

"Really? (And you never told me?)"

"{Thud!}-Aah! Yeah. The dumbass hid himself in a closet with 2000 pounds of dust, that's what happened (This root beer tastes weird. Oh well-)"

'Yep, shouldn't have asked you.' is what John wanted to say but due to the worried face Ember is making right now, he couldn't.

"Are you crying?" John asked with brows connected. Ember has never cried before.

"{Burps}{Sobs} I mean- {sniff} He just won't take care of himself- {Sobs and sniffs}"

He doesn't know whether to laugh at her or cry with her, so he just watched her bawl her eyes out. He was simply speechless.

'I don't know if he's unlucky or lucky to not witness this (With that face, maybe she is a girl-)'

"H-he'll be fine. He's Josh, the Fearless One. I- I'm sure he was just playing some sort of hide and seek game to mess with us-" He has no idea how to comfort a crying girl.

"THAT STUPID BIG HEAD! {Sobs} I WAS WORRIED FOR HIM YOU KNOW!" Ember yelled, her breath stinking of booze.

'She couldn't possibly be drunk… right?' John, on the verge of throwing up, covers his nose.

"Oh dear, Ember that bottle is not root beer but brandy! (It's my expensive one too!)" Mom swipes the bottle away.

'Oh dear. Oh goodness gracious-' John sigh-palms (to sigh and facepalm at the same time).

As he averted his gaze against the trouble, his eyes accidentally found Father, who was busy with both telling his usual stories of the outside to others and drinking with Mom.

Sure, Father has his scary times (like what happened earlier) but the expression that he made was just too… intense. Father is still Father. Even though harsh and strict, he's also kind and thoughtful.

John's eyes met Father's at some point and smiled, to which the child smiled back in reply.

'How could he make such a frightened face to someone who smiles like that?'

He must find out what happened to Josh.

***

Approximately 3:00 AM, 12th Sun of the 8th Moon

"Wake-up, Princess." Josh whispers to John, repeatedly tapping his waist to wake him up.

"{Yawn}{Drowsy}W-what time is it?" 'Princess' replies in a raspy tone, his eyes still half-closed.

"It's time for you to wake up. I… have something to show you. Hey! Wake- {pinch} up already!"

"Ow! Alright! Alright!" John reluctantly stands up as he wipes his wet eyes.

"{Pinch} Shhh! Don't shout!" Josh whispers.

"Ow! What is wrong with you at 3 AM in the morning? You have a fever right? Plus, your eyes look heavy, did you sleep properly?"

"Oh my God, just shut up and follow me! Oh, and I almost forgot- (This is gonna be a damn pain-)"

Josh and John stands in front of Ember's room.

"Nope, I'm outta this. Peace-" John flees, but Josh grabs him back.

"You're not going anywhere John Benedict! I- We need to do this…" Josh gulps. John had no choice but to gulp as well.

{Creak-}

As they hesitantly open the door, a sleeping red-headed beauty is to be seen lying on the white bed. Her skin was porcelain white, and her face had freckles around his eyes and temples that resembled the stars. The scene looked magical, as if a goddess was sleeping in the lion's den.

"M-maybe she is a lady (Only when asleep)." John says with sarcasm.

"Maybe… {Tap} Hey Ember! Wake up! Hey, wake-"

"{Groans}" Ember opens her eyes slowly.

"Oh, that wasn't so hard. See? I told you she would wake-"

"UPPER CUT!" Ember punches Josh in the jaw, sending him flying from the bed. The two frantically tried to calm her down, and after a few more beatings they finally did.

"{Crack!} There, I fixed your jaw for you. That's what you get for waking me up. You will get more broken bones if you don't say why." Ember glares at the two cowering boys.

'S-She's not a lady at all… She's just bipolar.' the two thought at the same time.

"Hurry up before I-"

"There's something- I- J-just, follow me." Josh said with a straight face.

"Wait what? Yesterday we found you bathing in dust and now you wake me up at-{looks at wall clock, eyes widen}-3 AM! At 3 AM in the morning to follow you! What is happening Josh?" Ember shouted.

"S-Shhh! They'll wake up! Calm down-"

"Shut up John Benedict! I'm not calming down because I have no idea what's going on here! This is too quick! Something's wrong with him and he won't explain!"

'Why is nobody here hearing me out? And why are they calling my second name?' John sighs exasperatedly.

"It's okay John. They're probably still wasted anyways." Josh pats him on the shoulder.

'Then why did you pinch me earlier!' John wanted to shout as well.

"This matter… It's the type of thing that you won't believe unless you see it for your own."

"What is it?" Ember asked, but it sounded more of a command.

After a deep breathe and some moment of thinking, he speaks-

"What do you guys think of this place?" John's eyes turned dark.

"W-what do you mean?" Ember asked with squinted brows.

"I asked of what you guys think of this place."

"Are we really doing this? I'm going back to sleep-" Ember turns back, but Josh gripped her as tightly as he could.

"September. Please. I'm serious." Josh didn't look at her, he was staring into a corner instead.

Ember, still confused and filled with questions, decided to stay a while.

"Fine. This better be not one of your Detective role plays."

"I… wish it was. For now, I want to know what you guys think of this place."

John, who was merely observing everything up until now, spoke.

"This place is a haven. I love this place. Father is kind, Mother is good, the food is delicious, I have great friends who protect me from James and his goons." he spoke proudly.

"How about you Ember?"

"Tch, are we really doing this?" she whispers.

Seeing Josh's serious look and John's 'do it I'm curious too' face, she simply groaned and answered shyly-

"{Blush} I- I guess I like it here very much too." she fidgets around, avoiding eye contact.

"Can you be more in-depth?" Josh leans forward.

Ember stared at Josh's unwavering eyes before finally answering-

"{Groans}…I-it's because the people here are kind… and the food is great… and I have friends… and b-because Josh is-"

"As I expected. Basically, this is a harmless, worry-free, trustworthy environment for you guys right?"

"{Annoyed} Tch, yes. What is all this for anyway?"

"What if told you that Father is hiding something very important from us? "

For a while, a deep silence filled the humble room. Nothing, except the mild ambiance of the air-conditioner from the vents could be heard. The ice broke when Ember laughed out of the blue.

"And here I thought listening to you would bring something meaningful-"

Ember stood up and clenches her fist. With a penetrating glare, she grabbed Josh's collar and lifted him easily with one hand-

"-But, this is just one of your stupid detective plays that has gone too far. If I beat some sense into you-"

John was just about to pin her down when she stopped so suddenly.

'His eyes didn't waver.'

It was enough for her to stop… and be scared, not because of Josh, no. Just the mere idea of Father, their most trusted, lying and hiding something from them is enough to petrify even The Iron Lady.

John also caught up. This would explain his friend's expression yesterday. It was an expression of true fear.

Josh, grooming himself, steps up to grabs his friends' hands-

"I know that all of this was sudden, just after you guys have had so much fun too. So for now, please, trust and follow your friend."

They spoke nothing but a serious nod.

***

Approximately 3:30 AM, 5th Sun of the 8th Moon

{Creak}

The door to Father's room opens.

"W-wasn't this forbidden?" John said, hesitant of proceeding.

Josh and Ember simply stared at him before he gave in with a sigh.

"Whoa." Ember and John said in unison. Father's room feels completely exotic, after all.

'Why is he standing in front of a shelf. Did he get all this from a book?' John puzzles.

With a deep breathe and perhaps a moment of hesitation, he slides the shelf aside, revealing the same two hidden doors.

Both curious and shook, Ember and John stood in front of the doors, speechless. The same could not be said for Josh, he looked at them as if it was the gates of hell.

Just what did he find in here?