The Redo of a Novel's Villain: Moira

08 - Interesting..

Elijah's guts sank. That look he was oh-so familiar with, one filled with contempt, spilled into his friend's eyes. He wanted to reach out, stop the flow, direly desperate. He can't have Kayden of all people look at him like that. Anything but that. Please.

He felt a million pairs of eyes stare into his core. The gaze is sharp enough to dig straight to bone. They always accompanied the voices, the hate, the fear, and the shadows. They came back to envelope him, starting from his toes, to his arms, clinging together like thick gooey spider webs. Everything began to look fuzzy with the blaring noise of static screaming. In the walls. The ceiling. The floorboards. His ears. Everything. He felt like a train just rammed into him and his stomach churned uneasily. Within the chaos, one thought continued incessantly over the rest like the clear peals of bells before rapidly melding into an inconceivable mess.

'Kayden hates me Kayden hatesme Kaydenhatesme KaydenhatesmeKaydenhatesme'

Abruptly, pink hair tickled his cheeks and dusted the static away. He was wrapped in a warm embrace, the sensation melting the shadows. Elijah was held in Kayden's signature style of expressing affection, a firm encompassing hug. The voices fizzled out, and the eyes closed.

"...I know the signs of a panic attack when I see one. Fuck, that sounds traumatic. I'm so sorry you had to go through all that, I couldn't even imagine how you feel.." Elijah's eyes stung as his arms slowly enclosed around his friend's firm back. "Just let it out. We're friends, earth or not."

That was the push for one teardrop to slide down his cheek, before an onslaught began. Sobs and sniffles resounded in the bedroom. Elijah did not know how long he had cried, but his eyes and nose smarted from it. Kayden sat through it all, not talking nor leaving his position of holding him. The physical contact grounded him, it was comforting.

Elijah sniffled as he took solace in the hug and nasally spoke, "Don't you hate me now?" He could feel Kayden's head shaking in immediate denial.

"Obviously not! That was in the past, you're a completely changed person now. Plus didn't you say you felt guilty and are trying to make amends? It's purely unreasonable to hate you for something that happened over a decade ago, especially if you regret it to the point of ptsd."

His words were firm and factual. It was nice, hearing someone so vehemently support him. Suddenly, Kayden pulled away to stare straight into blood-red pupils. The scornful look from before was still there, but not directed at him. Although Elijah missed the feeling of being embraced, being able to make proper eye contact was nice too.

The pink haired boy scoffed. "If anything the root cause of this is your shit for brain uncle and cousins. Those motherfuckers. I want to beat them up so bad, but that's illegal, and I'd get thrown behind bars for attacking a duke."

Elijah giggled, his styled hair went slightly undone from the earlier tousling. He felt a bit bad for the maids who had spent half an hour to achieve the prim and proper effect yet still retain the usual volume. The boy opposite groaned.

"Imagine, a child, five years old, who just became orphaned. Who needed consolation, guidance, and his family. Yet instead of giving any of that they threw him to the most secluded part of the estate! Bullied by his older cousins and ignored by his uncle, the only family he had left! That's traumatizing and will definitely warp a kid's sense of morality, especially if no one was there to give guidance."

"But... that doesn't excuse that I was a terrible person." A hand clamped over his mouth. Kayden glared at him menacingly.

The male's eyebrows were scrunched. "Tell me, are you an evil, bratty, brutal, murderer, tyrannical, maniac right now?" Elijah slowly shook his head. "Exactly, no. So stop worrying about something that did not and won't happen this time. It's been over a decade, I think it's time to forgive yourself."