Chapter Two

"Ronan, are you going to the hospital?" Rhea asked.

"Hm," Ronan mumbled, packing a loaf of bread, two cans of coffee, and a box of peanuts with him. "Eat up soon. I might be back late."

Rhea cradled her kitten with both of her hands. She got the Ragdoll kitten from her brother's girlfriend, Rose, two days ago. It was the same day she had found her mother, lying at the bottom of the stairs, with a broken jaw and blood dripping from her head. Her eyes were open and she was shaking.

It was the first time Rhea had seen someone in that state. She had always wanted to see a dead body up close, but she never thought she would see her own mother. In her eyes, her mother was already dead. If she woke up, it would be the same as waking up from the dead.

Her mother hated animals. She liked to see them from afar, but never let Rhea have a cat that she wanted for a long time. Ronan's girlfriend was in the same class as Rhea. Ronan and Rose kept their relationship a secret. Rose came to their place a lot and had a decent relationship with Rhea.

What Rhea did not understand was why Rose would gift her a kitten on the same day the accident had taken place. Rhea was very confident about her ability to manipulate people into doing whatever she wanted, but she did not exactly put enough effort to convince her mother. It was because she felt guilty to use her. So, Rhea was waiting to be an adult and get her own place so she could get a cat. But Rhea was sure that Rose would never be able to convince her. Rose was way too soft to do so. She could not even lie.

Ronan said it was not okay to ask why someone gave her a gift when she asked Ronan why his girlfriend did so. Although Rhea refrained from asking, she was still curious.

"Riri, don't take a bath at night. You will catch a cold," Ronan advised.

Riri was Rhea's nickname. Only her family called her that, though she had forgotten when her father called her Riri. She was seven when her father died in a car accident. She and her brother were also there, but she had no recollection of that day. Her brother said she wanted a spooky doll, so their father was taking them to the store. Their mother did not like to go out, so she stayed at home. That was the last time any of them saw Chris Elrod. Rhea had almost died that day. It was thanks to Ronan who made Rhea sit down in the gap between the front and back seats and shielded her with his body that Rhea managed to stay alive. Their car lost control and hit a tree.

Rhea only remembered one thing from that day. Blood. A fascination for blood developed in her after that day and she craved to see a dead body, and witness someone's death.

"Are you listening, Riri?" Ronan asked, shaking her out of her thoughts.

"Hmm…"

"What are you thinking?"

"I envy you, Ronan."

"Why?"

"You remember everything."

"We talked about it, Riri. Remembering that time will only give you pain. It's a good thing, you forgot," he repeated the same thing he always did whenever Rhea wanted to know more about that day.

"Is that why you don't want me to go to the hospital?"

"I'm sorry. I just feel like it will trigger something," he said. "I am just worried about you."

"Tsk…"

Rhea hated it when someone showed excessive emotion. She was not an emotional person and failed to understand how people could show that much emotion. Her brother was one of those people. That must be why her family loved him more than her, except for her mother and brother. Her mother loved her for who she was and accepted her as she was. Her father also did the same, but that person was far away from her memory.

"Alright, I will leave now, Riri. Should I tell Rose to come over in case you are afraid?"

"I love to be alone," Rhea said, gritting her teeth.

"Got it. I was just kidding," Ronan said with a foolish grin. His smile was full of sadness. "I will go now. Don't open the door if it's a stranger."

"Ronan."

"Yes?"

"Leave."

Ronan reminded her to eat her food and not to take a bath late at night before leaving. Rhea wondered why he kept saying the same thing when he knew she would do it anyway if she felt like so.

"Silence, want to take a nap before dinner?" she asked the cat who meowed almost silently. Silence was five days old. She needed constant care which Rhea was more than happy to give.

Rhea had homework for the next day, but she would just stay up at night to do that. She liked to take a nap any time of the day. Sometimes, she did not do her homework just because she did not feel like doing it. But usually, she did.

She lay down to take a nap but ended up playing a coloring game on her phone. Her chat list did not show any unread messages. She talked to a few people only. She did not have a close friend. It was not like people never tried to get close to her. Although almost everyone kept a distance from her, there were few who actually wanted to get close to her. But she was the one who ended up pushing them away because of her lack of trust and response. She knew she was the toxic one, but she was not ready to change herself.

She took a nap after a while when she felt sleepy. The game was both relaxing and addictive. It also made her sleepy if played for a long time. Her naps usually lasted for three to five hours. She was a lazy person, but her grades never slipped. She never got a B her whole life.

She woke up with Silence's paws on her face. "Hmm… What time…? One… Wait, it's two at night?!"

Albeit surprised, she got up slowly. Her movements rarely showed anything other than her calm and collected self.

Her stomach rumbled. It was expected as it had been quite a long time since she had last eaten something. She had turned all the lights off in the whole house before going to take a nap. Even her curtains were drawn. So, it was hard to see anything. But not for her. She could move better in the dark and preferred a dark place.

She took Silence in her arms and walked out of her room without bothering to turn the light on. When she reached the stairwell, it reminded her of the very moment when she had found her mother at the bottom of the same stairs.

How did she fall? Did she trip? Margaret, nickname Margot, was a young woman as she had both her children when she was a teen. When Margaret was fourteen, she had Ronan with her then-boyfriend and late husband Chris Elrod. After just a few months of giving birth, she got pregnant again and had Rhea.

Rhea had never seen anyone as healthy as her mother. Margaret rarely got sick. Rhea was like her mother too. She rarely got sick, but when she did, it was quite serious.

'She must have tripped. She is not someone to fall because she is sick.'

Rhea's mother always told her if she got into an accident, there was a high chance she was trying to kill herself, or someone tried to kill her. As silly as it might sound, Rhea took it to heart as she herself thought the same way. Rhea was confident that she would not die because of a silly accident. It was as if someone from the future told her, she knew she would die either by suicide, by homicide, or by a disease.

She would kill, or be killed. There was nothing in between.

Rhea turned the flashlight of her phone on and took one little step at a time. She checked each step very closely. There was no hint of dust whatsoever. There was blood on the bottom and fifth step. Her brother tried to make her go back to her room when she wanted to clean the steps, but that time, she did not back up and convinced her brother to let her clean those steps. And, she only wiped the blood but did not clean all the steps.

Because there were things she needed to see.

[The writing between '...' is what the character is thinking. I cannot use italic as it is not contracted (yet)]