Black sheep

"How cruel of him. He doesn't even cry at his own mother's funeral." Someone commented from the crowd.

"I know right, they must be right when they said he is the black sheep of the Richardson family." Another one responded.

"He is not actually Richardson. He was born in her previous marriage. But his father died the day he was born." Another one corrected both.

Hearing it, people around that person gasped, "Aioo, he is definitely cursed." One explained her eyes glancing at the little boy standing in the middle of the crowd.

The little boy stood still enveloped by the crowds who whispered among themselves. But the murmurs were loud enough to end in his years. He knows what they're talking about but it was not what caught his attention.

In front of his eyes, laid a coffin with the door opened. In there laid a pale face woman, her eyes resting for eternal sleep. Even her dead blue face had a beauty resembling a moon. His death laying mother stir no emotion in his heart. And he cared, he cared about his mother more than any but he can't feel any emotion. Just blankness.

August was unsure what was wrong with him, he tried to cry out but nothing happened. His eyes were dry. The whisper got louder and scarier with every failed attempt of his. He wished the nightmare to end, this must be a nightmare.

He questioned his own sanity, what if it was all real? What if she was really dead? What those people said may be all real. His little green eyes scanned the room. The people in black are all looking at him. Their faces soon started to get disoriented and became faceless but the words still landed in his ears.

In a scare, August sat up straight on the bed huffing and panting hard. Cold beads of sweat covered his whole body. Realizing it was the same nightmare, he pacified his palmitate heartbeat.

Augustus' eyes scroll through the room, the dusk was already showing in the morning sky. The morning birds going out of their nest. August laid back on the bed, resting his arms on his eyes.

His mother's face flashed in front of his eyes, the gentle smile that takes away all the fear from his heart.

'Crying is for women, not for guys.' The words echoed again in his head, just as his eyes brimmed with tears. In fear, August opened his eyes again gasping for air. He gulped in fear, his whole body cautious that someone may be there lurking in the darkness and watching him.

"He is cursed….he is the black sheep…he killed his mother…" Thousands of voices echoed in his ears. The more he tried to ignore it, the more the voices got louder.

August covered his ears with his hands and then his eyes hoping they would disappear but instead, the disoriented faces from his mother's funeral started to reappear, ready to gobble him up. To protect himself, he grabbed the vase beside the bed and thrash it on the floor, shattering the porcelain one into pieces.

Nothing happened, the voices and disorderly faces got louder and more frightening, and it was becoming unbearable for August. Suddenly out of nowhere, a pair of cold hands replaced his warm hand, covering his ears.

Feeling the cool touch on his flesh, August couldn't help but open his eyes and his gaze met the familial grey eyes. Azrael remained to trifle her cold eyes, having a depth of warmth that August had never seen before.

Azrael was in her room, trying to find a way out of the curse she unlocked. The only way to get out was for one of them to die. Even if Azrael saves herself it would be no use since once August's soul gets eaten by dark energy, the soul in her would die sooner or later. Which means more aeons she would have to serve as the grim reaper. But if she gives his soul back he will not go back to normal instead a forbidden creature would come to live.

Azrael was still thinking when she heard the echoes of a broken vase coming from August's room. His room was not far from hers but it was still far, it was just that her senses are better than humans.

Her curiosity took better of her, and she was there in his room still she realised. Azrael opened the door of his room and saw him trembling like a weak puppy, with his eyes closed and ears covered.

Unknowingly, Azrael went forward, covering his ears with her hand and sitting in front of him. Azrael looked at the fear in his eyes that would make someone so scared that he was trembling like that.

"Shush, relax. Everything is fine." Azrael tried to console him, and out of nowhere, he hugged her tightly, taking her by surprise. But Azrael still paired his back trying her best to calm him down.

"I am sorry, I never cried for you," August whispered in her ears out of nowhere.