Mutagen

Day 130 - 10:51 AM - Rooftop, Audubon High School, Audubon, Camden County, New Jersey, United States of America

Roan was caught off-guard by the sudden question and change of topic.

"That's... it? You're ending it there and just change the subject of conversation like that?"

"Why not? It's not like there's anything to discuss there, is it?"

Hearing Mark's reply, Roan paused a little to think.

It was true, there was nothing to talk about his family leaving this place with Mark's group. Still, he felt discontent for some reason.

"Alright..." Roan sighed. "Can I sit down with you two first? It's getting hot in my position."

That question made Mark look at Roan and then look above his head.

Mark and Mei were cooking under a small collapsible tent on the roof. Roan, on the other hand, stood under the sun ever since he arrived here.

"Well, alright. Sit here."

Mark said, offering a monoblock chair nearby. This tent was being used by soldiers when on the lookout. Several of these were set up across the roof of the high school buildings. And of course, the chairs were also lying around.

Roan was glad that Mark would not make him stand under the sun for the rest of this conversation and approached.

"But don't expect that we will share our food, alright?"

Mark added, which made Roan stagger.

Roan stiffly took a seat after that.

"You're not taking me seriously, are you?"

Roan could not help but ask that.

"I'm being serious, though?" Mark replied, mixing the flavoring and noodles on his plate. "We only cooked for two people, so we can't share."

Roan held his forehead. That was not the point of his question, after all.

"Pfft..."

Mei could not hold it anymore and let out a giggle.

Roan caught that moment and could not help but stare at the beautiful scenery.

But then, two metal spoons suddenly covered his eyes.

"What are you doing?!"

Roan was shocked. Mark suddenly appeared behind him and did that.

"Your eyes." Mark scoffed. "If you do that again, I won't mind making you an Ultraman with these spoons."

"Ultraman..."

Roan was stupified. Mark was definitely not taking him seriously.

"Just tell us about Ellse already."

Mark urged.

Roan scratched his head.

"Alright... It was just a short story, though."

***

Roan started the story before their parents, Abraham and Candice, married.

Apparently, both Abraham and Candice wanted a large family.

Their father even joked about having a soccer team. That was a rather large plan. However, both Abraham and Candice wanted something like that.

Nevertheless, it only ended up with three children.

Many years passed after marriage, Candice did not give birth to a single child. At first, they did not think about it too much. But then, things got a bit suspicious, and the two decided to go to the hospital for a check-up.

The result of the test was what they were afraid of. Both Abrahan and Candice had a low fertility rate.

However, they did not give up.

Thus, Roan was born.

Abraham and Candice were very happy to have him. After all, it was hard to get their first child.

Because of their parent's condition, they valued their children a lot.

Soon, Felicia followed. It still took years, though.

When Felicia was already six, it was the last time that their mother had a pregnancy.

It was not because Abrahan and Candice were already too old to have a child. The last pregnancy had to undergo a Cesarean delivery. It was because Candice carried a pair of twins in her womb, and she could not deliver them naturally. That left some side effects, and future pregnancies might get risky for her.

And that was why they valued the twins when they were born. If not for the fact that Candice had just undergone an operation that day, Abraham might have thrown a party.

The twins were born healthy. It was a pair of a boy and a girl. Abraham took charge of naming the girl while Candice gave the boy's name. The girl was named Elise, and Candice partnered her with her twin as Ellse.

That was a happy occasion. However, Felicia was not around at that time and was with their aunt because of school. Only Abraham and Roan were there.

Abraham took a leave from the army at that time to aide his wife. On the other hand, Roan was on a break from school. The hospital was quite far from where they initially lived. That was why Felicia could not go until the weekend at that time.

Felicia had no idea that Candice had a pair of twins. It was because the parents wanted to surprise her when she came during the weekend.

It should be a happy occasion for a couple who wanted a big family.

However, it was also when the disaster struck.

Three in the morning, Abraham woke up from his uncomfortable sleep. Candice had a private room. Being a soldier's wife helped them to be able to afford it. Nevertheless, there was only one bed inside. There was no way Abraham would be able to sleep properly on a chair.

Since Candice had just given birth, their twins were put in nursery for the night. Being woken up, Abraham went out to check on them.

Abraham arrived at the nursery window, where he should be able to see Elise and Ellse.

He was horrified.

Abraham could see the cribs with the names of his twins. But Ellse's crib was empty.

He immediately called out a passing nurse to ask. However, that nurse panicked as she hurriedly checked the nursery.

Ellse was missing on the night of his birth.

The hospital staff went in emergency mode. A soldier's child had gone missing, after all. Most people have it harder once they learned that the other party had ties with the military no matter what state or country it was.

The police were called, and the hospital was searched.

In the room where Candice slept, Abraham held Elise while he waited nervously.

The hospital had security cameras. However, it was not heavily implemented at that time. And unfortunately, none of the cameras caught of what happened or any possible trace of the culprit.

During the remainder of the night, the police and the hospital staff searched the hospital. It was to no avail.

It was until morning came.

Candice already woke up and learned about what happened. She held Elise weeping about Ellse's disappearance. Roan also arrived and did not feel good about what was happening.

Then police received an emergency call.

Abraham was called immediately to go with the police while Roan was left behind to accompany his mother.

About two kilometers away from the hospital, the police mobile that Abraham boarded stopped at a park.

When Abraham and the police officers arrived, there was already a gallery or people that were being driven away by other police officers. Abraham could not contain his nervousness as he approached the place cordoned by the police.

It was definitely a crime scene.

In the middle of the crime scene, the body of the victim was still there. The police took pictures of the corpse for the documentation, but their faces were obvious that they could not stomach it.

In front of the police officers, there was a corpse of a newborn infant bathed in blood. Its chest and stomach were torn open. The ribs were was crushed, and the heart was missing. Its guts were sprawled everywhere, and its skin and organs had sharp teeth marks.

The infant's face was torn off, making it unrecognizable. Its face was nothing but torn flesh with empty eyesockets.

Anyone that would see this scene would question whether the culprit was human or a beast. No, it was definitely a beast.

Abraham fell on his knees after seeing that corpse. He was still in denial. However, one of the custom-made bracelets that he made his twins wear was on the infant corpse's arm.

There was no denying it that the corpse was the missing Ellse.

Abraham absentmindedly approached the corpse, but of course, he was stopped by the police. However, being a trained soldier, the police officers had a hard time containing him, and thus, had to tase him. Although they understood his misery, maintaining the crime scene for a further investigation came first.

Ellse did not even last a whole day before he died. And he died horribly. It was no wonder that he became a spirit lingering around his twin sister.

p ***

"I see..." Mark understood. "So, because of how horrible that event was, your family decided to forget about it. Am I right?"

To Mark's question, Roan nodded.

"It was not mom and dad that brought the idea first. It was our grandparents. It's not surprising since if everyone continued to mull over it, none of us would be able to let go. We also wanted Felicia and Elise to live normally. If they knew about this, none of them would have a good life."

"Unfortunately, it backfired." Mark shrugged. "Elise did not live a normal life at all, and Ellse came back for revenge for being forgotten like that."

"We did not forget about him at all." Roan shook his head. "Every year, during their birthday, Mom and Dad will ask me to deliver flowers to Ellse's grave."

Hearing that, Mark realized something.

"No wonder Elise grew like that. She might have felt that her birthday is not a happy occasion, right?"

Roan could not reply to that. After all, after Elise's birthday was Ellse's date of death. They would remember the gruesome death of that child, dampening the mood for the other's anticipated party.

"Hey," Roan turned to Mark. "Do you think that the chimera you spoke about had something to do with this?"

Mark thought about it after hearing that question. In the end, he shook his head.

"I don't think so."

"But you said that they wanted Elise, right?"

"Correction," Mark stared at Roan. "What they wanted is the energy that Elise emits. They don't necessarily need to eat her if there is another energy source. I already covered that, though. Furthermore, I don't think that they will stoop that low to eat a baby in a gruesome way. Besides, at that time, they might not have found out about Elise or Ellse yet."

Roan could only nod. The last sentence that Mark said was plausible.

"Then, the culprit should be someone or something else," Mark added. "Is there no clues from the police investigation?"

That question made Roan look down.

"The police were stumped. It is one of a kind case, after all. Furthermore, it felt like it wasn't done by a human."

That was true. Someone that would do something like that would not be human. Of course, not an animal either. Any person who would say that it was an animal would have their sanity doubted. After all, which animal could sneak out a baby from a hospital and eat it at a park two kilometers away?

And with what Mark knew, it must have been done by a supernatural being.

Then, Mark thought of something.

"Did anything strange happen while your mom was giving birth?"

Hearing that question, Roan started to think about it. Then, he remembered something.

"I don't know if it counts, but Dad said, the hospital's lights unstably flickered when Ellse was taken out of Moms womb. All the lights in the hospital. They all thought that it's just some electricity failure, though."

"That's it."

Mark realized something.

"What?"

Roan was confused.

"You know, Elise had powers, right? It's not strange for twins to both have powers if one of them had it. Have you heard about the telepathic connection between twins? It's something like that. Ellse might have already awakened his powers since birth, unlike Elise, who developed it more and more over time."

"So, are you saying that Ellse might have been targeted at that time the same way with Elise's circumstances right now?"

"Probably. The possibility is very high, though."

"So, if we knew that he had powers since birth, his death might have been prevented, huh?"

Roan said while gripping his fist.

"You can't blame your family with that." Mark shrugged. "If I'm on your or your father's shoes at that time, I might have thought of that either."

After all, until one saw it with his own eyes, most people on Earth would not believe about ghosts, supernatural entities, or psychic powers. It was the case no matter how religious or interested in the strange things the person was.

Mark was the same. It wasn't until he encountered [Psycrystal] that he totally believed these things and became aware that he was really an Empath.