261 Joseph

It had been as much his fault as Aria's. Only if he hadn't taken Helen with him, none of this would have happened.

He thought about going after Aria, knowing that it was probably his best shot at finding a clue about Helen. No matter how selfish she was, Joseph knew that Aria would probably be the one to find a clue, she most probably had, by the way she had been acting. But Joseph felt like he couldn't look at her face right now. His anger would flare up again once he saw her and it would likely come to a fight.

Joseph let out a long sigh and realised that he was tired. That he didn't want to fight anymore, he didn't want to be angry anymore. He didn't want to run around screaming at anyone, he just wanted to be with Helen. To be with his big sister.

Joseph had no memory of walking out of the parlor. But the next thing ng he knew, he was somehow standing in Helen's room.

His eyes had filled with tears as he looked around. Joseph could still remember all the tim he had spent in Helen's room, playing when they were little kids, telling her stories about the people that came into the mansion, and sometimes even reading books aloud to her.

Helen had always been a shy child, whether due to her disability or not, no one knew. She preferred to spend time in her room, only coming out when absolutely necessary. So her room had consequently become their meeting spot. He could almost believe that Helen would walk out of the bathroom right now, her stick in her hand. The one she used to help her walk around before going to the academy. Joseph closed his eyes as tears began to flow from his eyes. His sister, his big sister. Though he had always been the one protecting her, he somehow felt very weak and scared right now. Like someone had taken away all he had.

It was at this point that Aria had come into the room. He had not noticed her coming in, Joseph had no idea he wasn't alone until she had put a hand on his shoulder. He had turned around surprised.

Upon seeing Aria, Joseph had jerked her hand away and wiped his eyes.

"What do you want Aria?" he asked in an emotionless voice.

"I've thought of something. I wil. . . ." Aria began, but Joseph cut her off.

"Must be nice, huh Aria." he spoke, his voice still emotionless. "Must be nice to always think of yourself. Never have to think about others. It must be so relieving." Joseph finished his sentence, looking out of the window.

"What do you mean?" Aria asked, her voice dangerously low.

"See, you're still only thinking only of yourself. This is all just a huge opportunity for you to play hero. All you want is always to attract attention to yourself! Show off your might! You don't really care about Helen, or Jacob for that matter. You've never cared about them!!" Joseph had shrieked. He couldn't have cared one bit less about getting Aria angry. He was angry enough, and would have liked if Aria would get off her pedestial for once.

"I. . .I don't care about them?" Aria had spoken. Her voice sounded weird, but Joseph couldn't care less.