Twinkle's Story: Chapter 27 (Special)

8 YEARS AGO

"Are you ready to go?" A fox- a boy- with wispy autumn hair, the color of leaves just after they've fallen, asks. Annoyed that a bunch of his hairs covers his right eye, he grabs the middle of the hairs with two fingers, and places them behind his ear. The hairs reach just past the top of his neck. He takes a long breath, and looks down at the much younger and shorter fox before him.

The short, young fox's eyes shine a color like warm honey fresh from a beehive. He twitches his tiny black nose in a way that is so cute that it makes the older fox chuckle. "I'm more ready than ever!" the little fox declares.

Smiling, the bigger fox puts one of his paws on one of the smaller fox's shoulders. He bends down to his height, and then their eyes lock. "Alright then. Let's go!"

~*~*~*~

The young fox looks up at the other fox, paw in paw. "Is this the place?" he asks, inquisitively. As a reply, the older fox just simply nods his head.

After being welcomed inside, the other foxes already settled in, chat among themselves. Starting to feel uncomfortable, the small fox tugs the shirt sleeve of his guardian. He gets up on his tiptoes to whisper something in his guardian's ear.

"Haha, don't worry. I'm sure they're around this house somewhere," he says, succeeding in sounding confident.

A much older fox than the two of them walks over to them both. She smiles warmly at them and adds on kindly, "The rest of the kids are out in the backyard. Come here," she reaches a paw out to the little fox's, "I'll show you the way."

As if by allowing permission, the guardian says, "Go ahead. Go have some fun!"

The young fox quickly nods his small head, and allows the female fox to guide him to the backyard.

At the doorway, she simply says, "Have fun!" and goes back inside.

There is a medium-sized swimming pool located in the center of the backyard. The young fox stands right outside the door. He hears the constant sound of splashing; paws slapping against the still water, bringing life to it.

Many kids' voices, mostly teenagers, shout out. "Hey, why did you do that?"

"This party's the bomb, dude!"

"Dude, you're rich! How'd your family even afford all this? Your parents must have a butt-load of cash!"

"Well, I have a few cousins... and they get quite some paychecks. After some bribing, I've coaxed them to spend some of that money of theirs.... for me."

"You lucky--"

Unable to hear the rest of what the fox is saying, the little fox, more and more curious by the second, walks closer to the pool. He slowly opens the door, and cautiously steps in. He closes the door back again.

One of the foxes stands up in the pool. "Hey guys, my little cousin finally showed up!" He begins to laugh again.

Becoming uncomfortable again, the little fox turns around halfway to leave again. His paw rests on the door hatch as the same fox says, "Now the party can really start!", which is followed by several cheers from the other foxes. He lowers his paw from the hatch, and continues on toward the group of much older foxes.

The quiet fox finally speaks up. "Ooh. May I go swimming, too? My bathingsuit is underneath this."

Without waiting for any response, he lowers his pants and places them over to the side of the deck. Smiling as doing so, he starts to take off his T-shirt.

Midway through taking his shirt off, a different fox snickers, "What are you doing? You still have a shirt underneath that one. Take that off, too."

Suddenly panicked, the fox gets himself tangled in his own shirt. In a muffled voice, he squeaks, "Uh...."

He then untangles himself, and takes off one of his two shirts, placing it where his pants are. The same fox as before snickers, "Nice trunks," and laughs again.

His cousin says, "Hey, don't scare the poor little guy. He's younger than the rest of us, and he's a pretty shy guy, too."

The other fox starts arguing with him. "Yeah... So what? Just like any other guy here, he can only go swimming in the pool if he's shirtless."

"Well, this is my house, and I say he's an exception."

"Look at yourself! You're just a bunch of poop. Tell him to take his darn shirt off," he paused in a moment's hesitation, carefully planning his next few words out, "Or else I will."

"He's already uncomfortable as it is. There's no reason to make him feel even more uncomfortable."

"He came here on his own accord, so he faces the consequences."

"I won't let you hurt my little cousin. If you lay even just a claw on him, I'll... I'll...."

"You'll what? Tattletale on me?"

The other fox gets out of his pool, and crisply walks over to the fox that's arguing with him. He lightly punches him in the face. "Ouch, that actually kinda hurt."

Turning around and calmly walking away, he adds, "That was just a warning."

The argument then recedes.

The little fox steps closer to the edge of the pool, and dips a toe in. His cousin doesn't watch, or even acknowledge his existence here, anymore. He just talks with the rest of his friends in the pool.

The same fox as before runs behind the younger fox and quietly says in triumph, "Ha, got you!" He then tries to take the fox's shirt.

"Stop squirming, gosh darn it! What's the big deal, anyway? I don't have that much good looks myself, but I still took my shirt off!"

After stammering for quite a bit, he answers. "It's too complicated for any of you to understand."

During the time he was speaking, the other fox managed to pull the other boy's shirt up towards his lower chest.

More panicked than ever, the little fox manages to break free of the opposing fox. He accidentally takes a step back larger than he thought he did. He slips on the edge between the deck and the pool, and stumbles into the pool.

Shocked at the sudden noise, all the other foxes turn their heads in the direction where the giant splash came from.

"Are you okay?" The cousin asks, deep concern in his voice. 

"I... I... I'm fine."

"Let me help you."

The fox that offended the younger one just crosses his legs in his chair, and laughs. "I swear, that wasn't me."

All eyes turn toward him, and back toward the little boy.

"I said, 'I'm fine', so leave me alone."

"Duke...."

The little fox raises his high voice. "Stop staring at me, gosh!" In a fast manner, he lowers himself in the pool, so the water reaches just below his shoulders. He pulls his shirt down, in a fast motion.

The little fox's cousin swims over to him. "It's okay, Duke, it's okay...."

The little fox just glares at him just like the rest of the boys. "I'm warning you. All of you better stay away from me."

Completely ignoring what the young one said, he goes closer to him- Duke- and helps him up. The water has made his shirt see-through. He stands there speechless as he looks at his little cousin.

Raging in fury, Duke shrieks, "I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM ME!" and folds his arms across his chest.

"I'm sor-" Midway through his apology, he gets a sudden, heated blow to the side of his head. He slips in the pool. Right before his eyes fall under the water, he sees his little cousin, Duke.

Faded red, marks the back of his outstretched paw. A faint hint of steam rises up from the center of that paw, up towards the sky. A deep red- crimson- covers the tip of every single claw on that paw. He stares at the very place where the other fox's body- his cousin's body- fell. He growls, "Don't say I didn't warn you."

He then walks straight out of the pool, shaking the icy cold drops of water off the tips of his fur. The shirt collar is lowered down. The top half of a purple flame all outlined in a deep black becomes clearly visible. Now in front of the arguing fox from before, he doesn't give him a chance to say a single word. He just simply rakes his already bloody claws down the other guy's face, leaving a deep scratch from just below the eye to his jawline.

"Ow..." he cries out quietly but meaning it. He places a paw on his wounded face, then grimaces. "Ow..."

The young little Duke blankly stares at him. "You deserved that."

He then adds on. "Anybody else here gonna offend me? 'Cause I'm not afraid to do that again."

Duke turns around, grabs his clothes, and leaves. In the corner of his eye before he closes the door behind him, he sees a few foxes trying to take the fox's limp body out of the water. 

"It's okay, he's just unconscious."

"No. How do you call this 'okay'!? Keep his freak cousin away from him at all costs. That almost-murderer...."

Duke runs out of earshot, leaving everybody else behind forever.

~*~*~*~

Locked up in the guest bedroom for his week at his other cousin's house, he takes a deep breath and sighs.

How can a 6 year old be so cruel to others? To loved ones? To family?

Making his way to the bathroom, he sighs again.

He shuts the door, and then locks it.

He goes towards the bathroom sink, and opens a bathroom cabinet. He takes out his older cousin's shaver, and gently places it on the counter.

He closes his eyes, and takes off his shirt- the second one. After washing the blood off his paw, he places it in the center of the purple and black flame. Shocked at the sudden burning feeling, which feels like a fire rushing through his veins, he swings his paw down again. 

He gulps as he grasps the shaver in his paw, making it activated so that the sharp blade of it only shows out all the way. He wraps his fingers around the handle of the shaver.

He holds the shaver's blade, pointing at his heart. The heart of the cursed flame. Without any further hesitation and cowardliness, he stabs the sharp blade in an area half purple, half black. His eyes suddenly fill with painful tears. Yet he doesn't take it out. Not yet.

He moves the blade along the edges of the flame. Even though he is full-out swearing his heart out, he doesn't dare to take it out.

After a few minutes does he finally take out the blade that he stabbed deep inside himself. In the path which the blade has made is the same results. Purple and black colors are still there. It doesn't get replaced with brown, or even white, fur like the rest of his body. The blade is deeply covered in crimson- blood. But mixed with the blood, is a faint shade of dark purple. The purple away from the red, kind of like oil and water.

Not considering this important, Duke washes his blood and that other body fluid off the blade. He's disappointed in the results he got. Perhaps I just had to cut in deeper? He shakes his head. No... Something tells me the purple and black that covers my heart will never, ever end.

What does this even mean? Purple and black? No... no. It can't possibly be. Can I be related to phantoms in a way? No, it can't be...

Taking care of his own severe wounds he caused, he then puts the shirt on again.

He shrugs off the thought. Of course I'm not related to them. Of course not.

He puts the shaver back to where it was before, and leaves the bathroom. 

No evidence of what he's done is left behind.