As Elifero followed Jon deeper into Eman Village, he gradually became aware of a disturbing change in his surroundings. The lively bustle of the streets they'd passed earlier faded behind them, with laughter growing distant and conversations disappearing one by one until even the sounds of people working had vanished. Before long, silence had settled over the area, leaving little more than the sound of their footsteps against the narrow road. The atmosphere felt strangely oppressive, as though even sound itself hesitated to travel through this part of the village.
The houses stood closer together here, their weathered walls bearing the marks of age and neglect. Dark windows overlooked the narrow paths that twisted between the buildings, creating pockets of shadow that seemed deeper than they should have been. Elifero glanced around, trying to understand why the place felt so different from the lively streets they'd left behind, when something caught his attention.
Eyes.
People were watching him from half-open doors, darkened windows, and the entrances of narrow alleyways. Whenever Elifero turned towards them, some immediately withdrew from view, while others remained where they were, silently following his movements. Their gazes seemed to track everything about him: his steps, his posture, the movement of his shoulders, even the way he breathed as he examined his surroundings. Under their scrutiny, Elifero felt less like a visitor exploring an unfamiliar village and more like an animal being studied before a hunt.
His pace gradually slowed until Jon's voice reached him from ahead.
"Don't look at them like that."
Elifero immediately faced forward. Jon hadn't even turned around, yet he'd somehow noticed what was happening behind him.
"Just stay close to me," Jon continued. "Keep your posture straight."
Elifero swallowed and straightened his back.
"Got it..."
"And walk like you belong here."
The response came out quieter than he'd intended. He kept his eyes fixed ahead, trying to appear as though he had every right to be there. Even without looking around, however, he could still feel the invisible weight of those watchful gazes pressing against him, following him with every step.
Neither boy spoke again as they continued along the narrow road. Elifero had begun wondering how much farther they needed to go when Jon finally stopped.
"We're here."
Elifero blinked and looked around.
"Already?"
Jon released a slow breath, almost like someone finally setting down a weight he'd been carrying. Elifero scratched his cheek as he examined the surrounding houses, which seemed nearly indistinguishable from one another.
"I didn't even notice. All the houses look the same."
Only then did he realise how heavily he was breathing. The walk hadn't been particularly long, yet somehow it felt as though he'd spent the entire journey holding his breath. He turned towards the house in front of them, expecting something that would distinguish it from the others, but the building was modest, old, and quiet. There was nothing particularly remarkable about its appearance, yet something about it made him pause. Compared with the surrounding homes, it seemed strangely lonely.
Jon approached the door and pushed against it, but the wood resisted. He tried again, applying more force until the door finally yielded with a dull creak. Darkness greeted them from within, broken only by a faint glow flickering somewhere deeper inside. Jon stepped through the entrance, and a moment later, a switch clicked.
Warm light spread across the room.
"I'm home."
His voice echoed softly through the house, but no answer came. Elifero remained awkwardly near the doorway, glancing into the quiet interior before looking back at Jon.
"You... live alone?"
Jon turned towards him, raising one eyebrow.
"Do I look like someone who'd announce I'm home if I lived alone?"
Elifero scratched his cheek, realising how foolish the question sounded.
"I guess not."
Jon shook his head and continued inside, leaving Elifero to follow. As he entered the room, Elifero noticed a small table positioned near the wall. A picture frame sat carefully in its centre, surrounded by several yellow candles. Some had already burned halfway down, while others appeared relatively new, and dried flowers had been arranged beneath the frame with surprising care.
Elifero slowed, his attention drawn to the arrangement. Jon approached the table and began extinguishing the candles one by one, sending thin streams of smoke curling into the air.
"Make yourself comfortable," Jon said casually, a faint smile crossing his face.
Elifero didn't respond immediately. His gaze remained fixed on the photograph before he eventually looked towards Jon.
"So..."
Jon glanced at him.
"When you said, 'I'm home'..."
Elifero pointed towards the frame.
"Were you talking to the picture?"
Jon paused. For the briefest moment, his expression changed, but whatever had surfaced disappeared almost immediately.
"I was checking if Mom came home early."
"Oh."
Jon walked away from the table and leaned against the wall.
"She works at the tavern."
"The tavern?"
"Yeah. Busy place."
His smile weakened slightly.
"Some nights she barely sleeps."
Elifero nodded, accepting the explanation. It made sense that Jon might expect his mother to return home early after spending long hours working at the tavern. Still, his attention drifted back towards the candles, their yellow wax standing out against the darker surroundings.
"Why did you turn them off? Aren't candles like that supposed to stay lit?"
A soft laugh escaped Jon.
"That's my old man."
Elifero looked at the photograph again. Jon's gaze had settled on it too, and although a faint smile remained on his face, something in his voice had changed.
"Yellow was his favourite colour."
He spoke without looking away from the picture.
"He used to say it reminded him of sunlight reflecting off the water when he went fishing."
Jon folded his arms loosely, and his smile grew a little more pronounced.
"He loved fishing. Said even daylight wasn't bright enough for him."
Elifero listened quietly, allowing Jon to continue without interruption.
"He used to joke that if he ever died, he wanted candles burning from morning until dawn."
Jon scratched the back of his neck before adding, "Unless someone was home."
Elifero glanced towards the lamps illuminating the room, beginning to understand why Jon had extinguished the candles.
"So when you're here..."
"I turn the lights on."
Jon nodded.
"Feels closer to what he wanted."
Silence settled between them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. There was simply a heaviness in the room that neither boy seemed eager to disturb. Elifero looked at the photograph once more before hesitating over his next question.
"How did your father die?"
Jon's smile vanished, and his eyes lowered. For the first time since Elifero had met him, the confidence he carried so naturally seemed to falter. The room felt quieter than before as Jon struggled to respond.
"Well..."
He began, but the conversation didn't last long. Jon changed the subject almost immediately, his voice returning to its usual light, careless tone as though nothing significant had happened. He behaved as if the pause had never occurred, as if there were nothing worth discussing.
But Elifero had noticed.
Something was there, something Jon didn't want to talk about. Although curiosity tugged at him, Elifero decided not to push the matter. He had no reason to force the boy to explain something he clearly wasn't ready to share.
Then a loud impact shattered the quiet.
Bang!
Elifero turned towards the door as another blow landed against it.
Bang!
The door shook violently within its frame, the repeated impacts growing harder with each strike. Elifero flinched, startled by the sudden disturbance, but when he glanced towards Jon, he noticed that the other boy hadn't moved.
Jon had gone silent.
Too silent.
The colour had drained slightly from his face, and his eyes remained fixed on the floor. There was no panic in his expression, no confusion, and certainly no surprise. Instead, he looked as though he recognised the situation all too well.
Elifero's stomach tightened.
"Should I... help?"
He glanced towards the trembling door before looking back at Jon, but no answer came. The banging continued, each impact rattling the wooden frame while Jon remained motionless, his gaze lowered as though he were trying not to see what was coming. There was something painfully familiar about his stillness, something that made Elifero suspect this wasn't the first time he'd experienced such a disturbance.
Another violent blow struck the door.
BANG!
The door burst open.
Elifero jumped as a woman stepped inside, her movements uneven and one foot dragging slightly behind the other. Her clothes were disordered and wrinkled, hanging loosely from her body as though she'd come from somewhere rough and hadn't bothered to straighten herself afterwards. A bottle dangled from one hand, swinging lazily as she walked, and the sharp smell of alcohol reached Elifero almost immediately. It was strong enough to fill the room before she had even crossed it.
The woman walked past them without looking at either boy or offering a greeting. She simply continued into the house, apparently indifferent to their presence.
Jon broke the silence.
"Welcome home, Mother."
He smiled as he spoke, but something about the expression unsettled Elifero. It looked perfect, carefully arranged and controlled, yet somehow it didn't belong on Jon's face. The warmth of the greeting seemed to clash with the atmosphere in the room, leaving Elifero with a growing sense of unease.
This wasn't the hardworking mother Jon had described.
Not even close.
Elifero opened his mouth, intending to greet her, but the woman turned towards them before he could speak. The moment their eyes met, the words died in his throat.
Her gaze was cold and sharp, carrying an emptiness that went beyond ordinary exhaustion or hurt. There was something hostile in the way she looked at them, something Elifero couldn't understand but instinctively recognised as dangerous. It was especially unsettling to see such an expression directed towards her own son.
"I told you..."
Her voice was low and unsteady, and her fingers tightened around the bottle.
"I told you to stop bringing other people's children into this house..."
Jon's smile remained unchanged.
"...why don't you ever listen?"
Silence followed, lasting only a moment before her anger erupted.
"WHY DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
Her arm swung forward so quickly that Elifero barely registered the movement. The bottle left her hand and shot across the room in a violent blur, cutting through the air with terrifying speed. Elifero felt the rush of air pass his face before the bottle struck the wall beside Jon.
CRASH!
Glass exploded on impact, scattering fragments across the floor, the table, and Jon himself. For a moment, Elifero couldn't move. Even his thoughts seemed to have stalled, leaving him staring at the shattered remains of the bottle as the sound of breaking glass continued to echo in his head.
Jon hadn't moved. He hadn't ducked, shouted, or even flinched.
Elifero stared at him in disbelief before turning towards the woman. There was no shock on her face, no regret, and certainly no guilt. She remained consumed by anger, her hands trembling and her jaw clenched so tightly that it looked painful.
Elifero's skin grew cold as the reality of what had happened settled over him. This hadn't been an accident. She had deliberately thrown the bottle, sending it crashing against the wall beside Jon. Perhaps she'd even intended to hit him.
"Are you crazy?"
The words escaped Elifero before he could stop himself.
The woman's eyes shifted towards him, fixing on him with a chilling intensity.
Elifero froze.
One look was enough to make a dreadful thought rise inside his mind.
She's going to kill me.
It didn't feel like an idle fear or a product of his imagination. It felt like certainty. His throat tightened, his hands turned cold, and his breathing became shallow as his body struggled to respond. Instinct eventually forced him to look away, his gaze shifting towards Jon instead.
What he saw made something inside him break.
Small pieces of glass rested across Jon's left arm, with a few fragments lying in his lap. Tiny cuts marked his skin, none particularly deep, but enough to draw blood. A thin line of red trickled slowly down his arm before a drop fell, followed by another.
Elifero stared, horrified.
Jon remained silent, showing no visible reaction to the cuts or the blood running down his skin. He didn't complain, protest, or even acknowledge what had happened. That silence disturbed Elifero more than the bottle itself, because he couldn't understand how someone could remain so calm after being subjected to something like that.
"How...?"
His voice cracked as he looked at Jon.
"How can you stay quiet after that?"
Elifero's hands curled into fists, his teeth clenching as something hot burned behind his eyes. He didn't understand why the sight affected him so deeply, but he couldn't ignore what he was seeing.
"What's wrong with you?!"
He turned towards the woman, unable to contain his anger any longer.
"I know you told him not to bring guests here. Fine!"
He pointed towards Jon, his voice trembling with frustration.
"But this? You could have killed him!"
His breathing grew heavier as he struggled to understand how a mother could treat her own child this way.
"Why?"
The word came out broken, carrying more disbelief than accusation.
"Why would you do that?"
He drew another breath, his emotions threatening to overwhelm him.
"What kind of mother are—"
A hand suddenly seized his arm.
The grip was firm and unexpected, cutting him off mid-sentence. Elifero turned sharply and found Jon holding him tightly. When their eyes met, Jon's expression was quiet but desperate.
Stop.
He didn't speak the word, but he didn't need to. Elifero understood immediately, and somehow that made everything worse. Jon wasn't asking him to stop because he agreed with his mother or because he thought her actions were justified. At least, that wasn't what Elifero saw in his eyes. It was as though Jon was desperately trying to prevent the situation from becoming even more dangerous.
Elifero's anger faltered, replaced by a painful confusion he couldn't put into words.
"Why...?"
His voice broke as he looked at Jon.
"Why aren't you angry, Jon?"
Jon offered no answer.
"Why?!"
The tears finally spilled from Elifero's eyes. He couldn't understand Jon's silence, his restraint, or the way he seemed to accept something that should never have happened.
Behind him, the woman's voice cut through the silence.
"You little shit."
Elifero froze.
Her voice had changed. The shouting and slurring were gone, replaced by something cold, sharp, and controlled. Her anger had shifted, and now it was directed entirely at him.
"Don't ever talk to me like that."
She stepped closer, and Elifero's entire body began to tremble. Her eyes remained locked on his, leaving him unable to look away.
"Or I'll kill you."
Elifero stopped breathing.
"Right where you stand."
His legs weakened beneath him. There was no humour in her voice, no exaggeration, and no trace of a drunken joke. She meant every word, and Elifero understood that with a certainty that terrified him.
The woman eventually turned away and walked towards the doorway. She stopped just before leaving, speaking one final time without looking back.
"Better not find you in my house in the morning."
Then she disappeared, and the door shut behind her.
Silence returned to the room.
Jon released a slow breath, a sigh of relief escaping him as the immediate danger passed. Elifero, however, remained frozen in place. It took Jon a moment to notice the trembling, but when he finally looked towards his guest, he saw that Elifero's entire body was shaking. Tears continued to roll down the boy's cheeks, each one falling before he could wipe it away.
She was going to kill me.
The thought repeated itself in his mind, growing more insistent with every passing second.
She was really going to kill me.
His breathing became uneven as he struggled to steady himself. He remembered the woman's eyes, the cold certainty in her voice, and the way she'd threatened him without the slightest hesitation.
If Jon hadn't stopped me...
The thought trailed off as his chest tightened painfully.
I saw it. She meant it.
Fear wrapped itself around him, unlike anything he could remember experiencing before. It wasn't the fear of a monster lurking in the darkness or some unknown creature waiting to strike. This terror had come from another human being, someone who had looked him directly in the eyes and promised to kill him.
Elifero's breathing quickened as the realisation settled deeper into his mind.
Then a warm hand rested gently on his head.
Elifero froze at the unexpected touch and looked up to find Jon standing beside him. The other boy offered him a faint smile, his voice soft and reassuring.
"It's okay."
Elifero stared at him.
"You're safe."
Jon paused, his eyes shifting towards the door through which his mother had disappeared.
"Just... don't talk back next time."
With that, he crouched down and began picking up the broken glass. He collected one shard, then another, quietly gathering the scattered pieces as though nothing unusual had happened.
Elifero watched him in silence, his gaze moving between the blood running down Jon's arm, the calm expression on his face, and the fragments of the bottle his own mother had thrown at him. Jon continued cleaning without complaint, treating the aftermath as though it were simply another ordinary part of his day.
And for the first time since meeting Jon, Elifero began to understand something unsettling.
Perhaps the boy's smile wasn't proof that everything was okay.
Perhaps it was simply how he survived.