Chapter 4
#4 of Tales of Woe
I swear, eventually it comes back to the characters we've come to know... better than these guys.
Chapter 4 of Tales of Woe
Cipher, August 5th, 1937, 2:14pm
I used to be very close to my brother, I didn't like choosing favorites, but of my siblings- or even family members in general, being around Psijius was the best! He could be mean sometimes, but he was always playing around, not actually trying to hurt me. At some point he started being mean more often, and he also liked being alone in his room. I didn't understand it, but I would've respected it had my other brothers not been telling me to go play with him, and then getting mad at him when he said no.
And then that day came. The day I decided Psijius was the only one in my family I- no longer just my favorite- he was the only one I loved. I saw him from my bedroom window, walking to some unknown place, and decided to go follow him. I had to be careful to sneak out of the house so my brothers wouldn't see me, and decided to teleport to him. When I did, I saw him carrying water, and it sloshing about in the bucket, spilling a lot of water everywhere.
"Psij, psij! What're you doing?"
He half growled back at me, "Carrying water."
This didn't make sense to me, we just used magic to bring water from the well, "Why?"
"Because I need water for something."
"What?"
"None of your damn business, Ciph."
Now, in my defense, I was a little kid, saying "damn" then was like losing a fight, you weren't supposed to fight in the first place, but if you lost, it was worse than winning. "Hey! You swore! You're not supposed to swear, only grown-ups can do that!"
"My god, Ciph, go away."
"Why aren't you just using magic to carry the bucket?"
"Because I want strength, now go away."
"But magic is your strength!" I held out my hands, and watched in amazement as the bucket bent to my will, leaving his hands, and spinning in circles while the water stayed in place. I ended my showing off by leaving it suspended high above our heads.
"Well maybe there'll come a time when I can't use magic!" He tried jumping for the bucket, but I knew it was too high for him to reach. I inadvertently lowered it a little as I was distracted by his strange response.
"Why wouldn't you be able to use magic? It's easy!"
He shot me the look. The look he always had when he was going to be mean to me. "... Maybe someone'll do this." He held out his hand, and I felt a strong burning in my chest, I screamed in pain, and fell to the ground, beginning to cry. I heard the bucket fall and felt the water splash on me a little as it did.
Suddenly the pain went away and I looked up to see Psijius knocked to the ground with Solarus standing over him, glaring "Psij! How dare you hurt Ciph like that!"
"I-"
Solarus turned and looked at me, "Ciph, come on, let's get back at him!"
I jumped up from my stance and decided to go along with it. He'd been meaner than usual, and maybe for once he'd deserve what he had coming for him. "Yeah!"
"Okay, first we gotta pin him down." I ran to Psijius and landed hard on him, knocking him back to the ground as he tried to get up.
"Good! Now you just need to do one thing. Put your hand on his forehead..." I listened to Solarus' instructions and set my hand on his forehead.
"Now just remember, all you have to do, is focus. Think about how he hurt you, and hurt him back." I focused on it, and thought about how much it hurt, but felt the sense overcome by my love for him.
Solarus suddenly shouted at me, "Stronger!" I pushed my feelings for him out of the way, and focused on the pain. I realized it wasn't going to change, and focused on my confusion instead. How I didn't understand why they hurt Psijius so much, what Solarus wanted me to do, or why Psijius was falling asleep. Once he was asleep I cocked my head to the side, confused.
"What happened? Why's he asleep?"
Solarus burst out laughing, "Well, you did it! You killed him! Good for you!"
"Kill... Wait, I didn't kill him, he's asleep."
"Ciph, don't you understand? He's dead. His heart's stopped and he's brain's shut down! You killed him!"
I didn't understand why he was saying such horrible things, and then I came to question why he had me do such horrible things. Now I had rage, now I had hatred, now I had a reason to kill. I got up, eyes beginning to tear up, and I screamed at Solarus. He got a terrified look in his eye as I focused all my developing hate at him. He started to run off, but was slowed by whatever darkness I was pouring into him. He got far enough out of reach and I realized I wasn't effecting him anymore. I turned around to see Psijius' body still laying limp on the ground. I went over to it and cried, mourning his death.
Later, someone came out and got me, dragging me back into the house for a dinner I'd never eat as they buried his body, and locked me inside the whole time, not letting me go outside or even see the windows. I screamed and wept the whole night, focusing my new found hatred at anyone and everyone, but to little avail. They simply dismissed it, and tried bribing me to stop being "an ass" as they put it. I was being logical. Now I was swearing, now I was screaming, now I was as pissed off as Psijius had been when he hurt me before, only it was worse. I felt their pain as well, and they continued to use that kind of magic to keep me from hurting them. I hated them, and I let them know it, but they didn't seem to really love me, and I let them know that I knew. I hated- no... I loathed them and their very existence.
In the morning I escaped the house and ran to the small rock that marked his grave. I wept at the site, and felt a part of me die inside...