Pennsylvania, 2007 (Present Day)382Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gdyWgXuTX
Note: Malcolm's Viewpoints
I was starting to worry about Mavis. Had she gone completely insane? Was this Filius guy even a real person? Or was she having an imaginary friend? Well, I have never really had an imaginary friend, but Mavy did when he was around nine. I used to creep up to his room back in the old days, only to see him talking to no one. I even wrote down a few words that he said on one of my records. He was like talking to a real person.
He said, "Oh. Really? We should probably go to the moon! It'll be a good adventure, don't you think? Later, let's go to our favorite willow tree! Or maybe down the lake! We could go swimming. What? You don't know how to swim? I'll teach you! My Uncle Mario taught me how to swim last year's summer."
He called his imaginary friend Manny. Every time I went to sit beside him when we were watching some movies in the mall, he will say, "Don't sit there! That's for Manny. You're going to hurt him. Go sit somewhere else! Don't go some places just to sit at people, especially my friend!" And I will just have to shake my head and move to another seat because the seat next to him was for "Manny." Then, he will offer his friend some popcorn, but it will end up falling down in the floor and on the seat, and he will just say, "Yep. It went through you, Manny." Poor person, whoever was going to sit there next.
Mavis didn't seem to notice, though. Sometimes, she will just be riding along with Mavy's peculiarity. Perhaps that was the reason this time why she was talking to this so-called friend of hers, Filius. I didn't know, but I didn't feel anything bad whenever she tells me about him. Maybe he was a good guy.
"Mavis, what are you doing? Who are talking to?" I finally spoke. I was frozen in my spot, not able to concoct any thoughts, like how the food processor does to food. "Are you going bananas?"
"No, I'm not. Filius is there," she prodded. I mean, where? She kept insisting that Filius existed, even though I can see no one sitting there. "Are you blind or just plain stupid?"
"If you're not going nuts, then so am I. I'm not stupid and ain't blind."
She ignored me and turned her head to the wardrobe. "Filius, come on. Show yourself to him, and stop making me look like a fool."
Seizing my eyebrows, I shook my head and transported to Mavy's room. He was still up, on his phone, talking to his love interest, I guess. "Mavy!" I bellowed, and he turned his head up. "Our youngest sibling is losing her senses. She's turned like you, talking to an invisible guy. I don't know, imaginary friend?"
His face lit up for an unknown reason and lurched from his bed. "Imaginary friend? Do you think she's seeing Manny? Goodness, I miss my buddy!" he said, trotting to the door, but I stopped him when a thought frisked in my mind.
"Wait — the name's not Manny, it's Filius. And remember the night of our sibling meeting when I was having a midnight snack?"
He shuddered. "Don't," he said, "ever mention that time to me. I don't want that to happen again. I nearly got divided because of your reactive and frozen ass." But I wasn't listening to him. I was busy with another thought that Mavis had given my mind to be stressed about.
"Shut up. That's not my point and goal of broaching."
"Then what?"
"She told us something about this Filius after she teased about my capability of reading, right? Maybe that was what she was seeing. That kid that wasn't even a kid and a man of fifty in age. Maybe — "
" — he's here to warn us another thing," he finished for me.
"About what? His sick of a family?" I tabled. "Completely unacceptable. We need to save this family, I guess?"
"You guess? Seriously? Come on. We need to talk to that Filius." He groped for the door, and I paused him again. "What?" he snapped.
"How are we going to do that? He's not even showing his baby face at me," I countered. "What, you're going to use your Summoning-Imaginary-Friend skills?"
He snickered. "Nope. Why on earth would I use that? Too old for those things, but one does miss it. Come on, and do not stop me again." So I didn't stop him, but I asked anyway, without stopping him from trotting.
"What are we going to do, then?" I queried, and he shrugged.
"Beg? Talk through Mavis? Anything. We need to get him to talk." I just nodded to his statement, even though I was a bit hesitant. "I have a bad feeling about his peril." I nodded again. Will his plans work?
Begging is always your weakest weapon in surviving.
And if we talk through Mavis, she might change a few things up since you can't really expect a series of stern subjects with her. Who knows if she was laughing right now at my confused caboose?
We stopped in front of the closed door and pressed our ears through the door. I tried my best to listen since they were talking in small voices.
"What is your family's plan? And when are they coming?" Mavis said, muffled.
We heard an entirely different voice. It was a child's tongue, I was sure. "I don't know. They're not letting me inside the circle every time they consider the plan. Weird, right? I think they know that they couldn't trust me with something as important as that. Especially when it comes to our property. Highest of all, retrieving it."
"Operation house-retrieval is a go, huh?" I said, grinning, and Mavy hissed at me to be quiet.
"Shut up."
Their conversation continued. "So what do you want us to do? Fight them? We couldn't! That's suicide for us, and we won't be able to get some help from the cops. They will think this story you're telling me is a twaddle talk."
"Then fight them on your own! And I'm here to tip you over. I'll try to help with the best of my ability." Without weighing, I walked inside and looked at the boy sitting in the wardrobe. It was hardly a second before he disappeared again.
"No need to disappear now that I caught a glimpse of your baby face," I summoned coldly, and he appeared again. Mavy walked inside and looked at the boy, Filius. "We heard your conversation. What do you mean we'll fight them?"
I looked at the boy. He had this slim, pale body; ragged, baggy clothes; sharp red eyes; brown sandals enveloping his feet; and flaming auburn hair. Because of the darkness, I barely noticed that there was blood attached to his body and clothes.
"My family. I will lead you the path to your weapons," he said.
"Did you say weapons?" Mavy said excitedly. He was a big fan of video games, especially that video game called Call of Duty.
I ignored him and raised one eyebrow curiously. "You're okay with that?" I questioned, and he shrugged helplessly.
"I might care about them like how kids love Mars Bars, but my conscience is clear, boy. I know that what they're doing is wrong. And since you've started the game in the field without even noticing, you need to finish it. You all made them angry."
"Can't you just convince them that they're wrong?" I objected. I couldn't really help it. We will be in serious danger if we did fight them. I don't even know what his sick family is capable of. We might even die. By then, I felt guilty inside. Voices hurled in my mind like what the washing machine does.
He shook his head, clipping my hopes by the wings. "They've decided already that they should do this for the prospect of the family."
"But your family's already dead! What kind of prospect are they still talking about?" I stated furiously, crumpling up my fist really hard. They are already dead, aren't they? Why will they still take the house from us? And this was Joshy's half-sister's house. He's already given this to us.
"There are still left. I lied about being the last Sallow. Some are still around here in Pennsylvania. They are the way to bring back our property."
"How 'bout that guy that attacked us here? The one with the ax?" I queried again, not giving any of my siblings a chance to speak.
He nodded. "He is a part of the family. He has his reasons why he did it," he explained.
What kind of reasons? He can't just attack here because of those stupid reasons. It wasn't meriting in our lives. He just can't. Was he even thinking when he did it? He nearly killed all three of us, especially Mavy. He nearly sliced him in two. He can't just expect us to accept those reasons. In fact, no one could.
I sighed, trying to keep my cool. "What kind of reasons?" I asked calmly, releasing the air trapped inside my crushed fist.
"It's just..." He stopped and sighed, getting out of the wardrobe. "Let's go in your table," he invited, and within thirty seconds, we were already there. Mavy had his fingers laced across him, regarding Filius soberly.
"So tell us, now," he commanded, and Filius nodded.
He sighed before going on. "Things here were unorthodox as it was possible to be. Nobody could believe you, as your sister said. No police, no neighbors — you're near the woods, no parents. You're parents are away, and you can't send them here. All of three of you is enough to solve this obstacle. And you won't want them to be in any trouble, will you?"
We nodded, but Mavy said a word after.
"But — how can we be enough to fight your own family? We don't even know what they're after. Yes, this property, I know. But, we don't want to get into trouble too. I'm their eldest sibling and it's my responsibility to keep them safe. I say, we just get out of here. I'd rather spend my entire year in our grandparents' retirement community than die. I choose life."
But from Filius' face, I already could tell that he was just wasting his saliva. He shook his head. "There's no way out. They've made sure of it. I already told you, you're in the field now. There's no way out unless you fight. You need to fight for your future. It's up to you how you will draw your own future with your own hands."
Mavy sighed, and it took him seconds before responding. "When are they going to attack?" he queried. "We'll be prepared. For the fate of this family."
Filius nodded, smiling encouragingly at him. "That's right, boy. That's the spirit." He stared at the three of us before recommencing. "You still have plenty of time."
"How long?" Mavis asked him.
"Not long enough, but three weeks I suppose."
We nodded. I knew already that we could withstand it.
What is the word survivors for?
"But, you will have a better chance of survival if you use this help that I could only presume," he said. I wish he'll tell us quickly. The sooner we'll prepare, the better.
"What is it?" I queried.
"Someone's journal. Someone that have lived here before. Informations written decades ago. Someone that I always look after."
"Who and what?" we questioned anxiously.
"Audrey's journal."382Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9NPNlQ4oA
