1 The Other Child has Come Home

The strong downpour rattled against the roof of the car, but the driver was still trying to fix the busted engine. He needed to find a way to get that car working. No repairman would come to fix it for him; no one was even brave enough to cross that poorly maintained road. As for him, he was paid double by the man in his backseat.

It’s just that the rain was getting stronger than expected. Coupling that with the fact that the engine was damaged beyond repair, the driver knew it was impossible to leave this spot at this point.

“S-Sir? I don’t think I can do something about this now?” The driver knocked on the window of the backseat. He saw how the young man had earphones stuck to his ears, so the driver had to shout. He didn’t want the rain to drown his voice, either.

“Is it safe to walk? I have to get there by sunrise.” The young man opened the door a little, just to let his voice leave the car as they talked.

The driver stared at him. His ebony hair reached the base of his neck, but the top half was pulled back by a hair tie. The glass skin was highly unlikely to be on a man his age, but there it was. Even those slender, delicate-looking fingers holding his phone didn’t fit the average male. The most mesmerizing were those crystal blue eyes that looked like he was a doll instead.

However, the driver didn’t mean to stare at him because of his strange beauty. It was because the young male asked if it was safe to walk. “Sir, we’re in the middle of nowhere. I don’t think it’s safe, but I have never heard of animals attacking people here, either.”

No living being wanted to cross this road. Only him, who wanted the money.

“…then I’ll go. Don’t worry, you can keep the money.” The young man took his bag and dropped his phone inside. He slung it behind his back and pulled up his hood. He swiftly exited the vehicle when the driver stepped back.

“Uhm, sir, if you don’t mind… can I ask for your name?”

“In case I get reported missing?” The young man pulled on the corner of his lips, revealing quite a snarky smile. “It’s okay. No one would be looking for me. If it helps you rest your mind well… it’s Milan Sheppard. Good night, Mr. Paxton.”

The young man then walked under the fierce rain, not looking back even once. At this, the driver only watched until he vanished into the whiteness of the rain. “…I hope you won’t get eaten by those things, Mr. Sheppard.”

Most people would find it ridiculous, but Milan didn’t care if it was. He just wanted to reach the village the soonest. It wasn’t like he really wanted to see it, but he wanted to find his sister instead. Unlike him who was taken by their father as part of his share, his sister was left in the care of their mother. Now that both their parents had died, the divorce terms should have worn off.

Milan could just take Florence back to where he lived, away from this cursed village he learned not to miss. He just didn’t know if it missed him too much he was not allowed to leave anymore.

He didn’t fear the rain; he didn’t fear the dark. Milan just felt a little cold and burred under his breath. The atmosphere of the dark nothingness surrounding him should have been eerie, but he even thought it was too dull. He didn’t find any red lights glinting from the eyes of the nocturnal hunters, and his body was not sensing danger.

He continued to walk because there was nothing there.

Rainwater seeped through the jacket, and Milan felt how cold the water really was. However, since he had seen the bridge connecting the island to the mainland, he knew he was close. He just needed to cross that old steel bridge, and he would have arrived in Lasair, the lost village as others called it.

Lasair Village was in the heart of the vanishing island. The fog would isolate the island for months from time to time, and the only thing connecting it to the world was years away from breaking. Without the mayor of the city fixing it or replacing it with a ferry system, everyone just hoped they didn’t have to be on that horrifying island.

However, Milan had to come there willingly to fetch his sister.

“Wow, it hasn’t even changed.” Milan looked at the wide bridge that connected to the island. It was enough to support ten lanes of traffic, but there was not a single vehicle out there. The one that should have crossed even broke down before getting here.

“Don’t talk to her.”

A disembodied voice sounded next to him, and Milan flung to his right. He just heard someone speak to him, but there was no one in sight. It even sounded like he whispered in Milan’s ear.

Milan reached out and rubbed his neck. The hair in his body had risen, and the warning system was fully activated within him. His crystal eyes moved erratically to find someone, but all he saw was the white rain with the dark background of the void.

That was the only time he remembered about his wet hood. Such a thing was shrinking and hugging his head. There was no way someone could even whisper in his ear without taking it off.

“Shit, what was that?” Milan finally spun where he stood to catch the person. However, he saw no one for real. He was not ready to accept that he just heard a voice of a ghost.

After all, even if the mind could randomly make phantom noises on its own, it had to be a voice that the person had heard before. Milan had never heard that voice before, and the lack of familiarity alerted his instincts. He couldn’t believe that walking alone along the dark road didn’t spook him, but one voice urged his heart to jump out of the ribcage.

Milan calmed down soon enough. He was soaking wet, and he was freezing under the rain. It was best for him to reach the village before he caught hypothermia. The man just continued walking, but he walked faster than his pace earlier. He ended up jogging instead.

When he jogged away, there was a faint laugh in the air. Milan just chose to ignore it.

From the darkness behind him emerged a small light. It was coming from a cigarette someone just breathed into. A person was really leaning on one of the bridge’s pillars closest to Milan. He then spoke in the same voice that Milan heard.

“The other child of the Sheppards has come home. Will he like my welcome gift?”