Staring at the door as he held Serenith’s hand, Gael wasn’t sure why his body wasn’t moving. It’s been about two or three days since he saw Kiara, and to know that she could kill his siblings and or family members was frightening.

“Papa?” Serenith called him.

Looking down at the kid, his beautiful green eyes stared into his. He sighed inwardly and smiled. “Yeah, yeah, let’s go. I promised you we’d go out. Let’s go.”

“Go!” He said happily and walked out the door.

“Kick the ball, don’t pick it up,” Gael said for the hundredth time.

Serenith dropped the ball and kicked it at him. They kicked the ball back and forth, then Gael chased Serenith around the playground. In this moment, Gael had forgotten how terrible things were for him. Listening to Serenith’s laugh echo through the park brought joy to his heart.

“Papa, look,” Serenith called as he went down the slide. Gael was taking pictures of him and videos too following him around the playground.

After a while, he stopped and dropped to the floor. “I’m tired.”

Serenith threw himself on Gael, laughing. They hugged, then Serenith ran off, chasing the pigeons that an elderly woman was feeding.

Laying on his side, he watched him run back and forth. He could see that the elderly lady wasn’t happy with what Serenith was doing. She packed up her things and walked off. Shaking his head, amused, he turned back to his son and watched him run after the pigeons and try to catch the pigeons.

To Gael’s surprise, he managed to catch a pigeon but then dropped it shortly. He went on effortlessly, catching another pigeon, then dropped it. And so for a third and a fourth time.

Gael sat up and watched the birds lying on the floor, which didn’t move. After a while, all the pigeons flew off.

Getting up quickly, Gael rushed over and looked at the pigeons. Touching one, he realised what had happened, then looked around and saw that a woman in the far distance was watching them and he could tell that she figured out that something was wrong.

He quickly picked Serenith up and ran to their things. Gathering everything, he rushed back to his car.

As he buckled Serenith up, he saw the calm on the boy’s face, but he was looking at his hands. He gave him a wet wipe and let him wipe his hands by himself.

They needed to get out of there fast!

*

Feeding Serenith with a trembling hand, Gael’s thoughts were in the clouds–the dark clouds. The child in front of him was just like his father! Thinking back to the research he did after Kian stopped showing up, he read something on how the psychopath would show signs from a young age where they’d kill animals, first starting small, then moving on to bigger targets.

But it said somewhere that a psychopath lacks empathy and usually pretends when they are around others, displaying false emotions. Recalling how happy Serenith was while they were playing and when he enjoyed his food, ‘Was he faking it?’

Doing the dishes, he realised, ‘I don’t want him to hurt people. What will happen if he goes to school?’

School?

‘Did Kian kill when he was a child? How is it he wasn’t caught yet? He definitely couldn’t have gotten away with it.’

Looking at Serenith, that was now asleep on the couch, he recalled how he quickly removed Serenith from the situation and thought, ‘Did his father help him?’

‘Does Kian know his son is like this?’

‘How could he not know? A child wouldn’t just kill something? Would they?’

Leaving everything as it is, he sat in front of the laptop and started doing research. Hours went past, articles were read, and he was pulled into a rabbit hole that scarred him.

‘Marigold, Purple Iris? He has an obsession with flowers. Why?’

Looking at Serenith, ‘He killed his child’s mother. Why? Because she wanted his money? He said he was glad it was over. He pretended to like her, right?’

Rubbing his temples, he stared at the keypad of the laptop. ‘Why me? The flowers he first gave me. What were they called again?’

Looking for his phone, he found it in the bedroom and scrolled through the contacts. Stopping on his mother’s number, he was about to dial it, but he froze, realising that she’d end up dead if he did anything wrong. Visibly trembling, he sank to the floor and hugged his knees. Crying into them, he let all his fear, frustration and anger out.

He hated Kian for doing this to him.

He suddenly got the idea of killing Serenith to get back at his father. Grabbing a pillow from the bed, he went to the living room and stared down at Serenith.

Gripping the pillow, he knelt down on the couch and hovered over him. Gael’s heartbeat sped up in anticipation and without a second thought, he threw the pillow to the side and picked Serenith up, hugging him.

I can’t do it.

I couldn’t kill the baby.

I’m not a monster like Kian.

I can’t do it.

Serenith moaned but didn’t wake up.

Shaking his head in disappointment, ‘I’m so stupid.’

‘I won’t be like him.’

‘You won’t be like him.’

*

Kia walked out to the garden, where Kiara was busy. Stopping behind her, he looked around at all the plants. He still couldn’t understand his son’s fascination with the flowers.

“Where’s your brother?” He asked.

Kiara froze, recognizing her father’s voice. She read into his tone, then continued, “Away on a business trip.”

“And the kid?” He questioned as he made his way to the bench. He saw that there was bird poop on it and frowned, “You need to clean this up.”

Kiara glanced over at the bench, then lowered her gaze to the soil she was massaging, saying, “I’ll get to that later.”

Sitting down, he looked at the bucket beside her, saying, “You didn’t answer me.”

“I don’t know, dad. He comes and goes as he pleases. All he told me to do was take care of his plants,” she said.

Kia watched her body language and could tell that she was calm, but he knew the offspring he raised very well. “Kiara, you can tell me where the kid is, or you can be punished once I find out you do know where he is.”

Taking in a deep breath, she stood up and turned to him. Staring at her father, she said, “I don’t know where he is. You should know Kian by now, he does things as he pleases.”

“And I also know that he trusts you the most,” he said.

“It’s not trust, dad. He is the same as you. He tells me what to do, then I do it. If I don’t, he’ll hurt me, just as you do.” She said mechanically.

Standing up, he fixed his blazer. Walking up to her, he stared her dead in the eyes and said, “I’ll believe you.”

Kiara watched as her father walked off, then turned to the soil and continued feeding the plants.

Kiano walked out and frowned. “You know, every time you fiddle in the garden, it gets more disgusting.”

Looking at her hand soaked in a bloody brown substance, she said, “It’s only until he comes back home.”

Kiano shook his head. “I don’t understand why he likes these.”

She looked to the side at the plants she still needed to plant and said, “Me too.”

“What did he want?” He asked, referring to their father.

“He’s looking for his child and grandson,” she answered, sounding annoyed.

Kiano watched as she stabbed the soil with the shovel. Kiara hadn’t killed anyone yet, so you could still call her innocent, but her thoughts weren’t. Even what she was doing right now was far from what an innocent person would do, and she was more than happy with doing it.

Shaking his head, he asked, “So, do you know where the kid is?”

She shook her head, “No. All he said was that he was going to look for a babysitter while he was out of the country. I did ask him where he was when I phoned him a few days ago, but he told me it was none of my business.”

Like his father, he didn’t believe her. Kiara was in too deep with Kian and she didn’t have her own place.

“When are you going to kill?” He asked her—not out of curiosity but out of impatience.

She paused for a moment, then continued. Thinking of her words, she said, “It’s not about when, but how.”

He raised a brow. “This is why dad is frustrated with you.”

“Why? Because I don’t want to be like him and continue in his steps? I am sorry, but I don’t think this life is for me,” she said.

“Have you not thought of why you’re still alive?” He asked.

Turning to her brother, she stood up and started laughing. “Why? Do you want to kill me? Or does our dear father want to? And if he wants to, he should go ahead and do it if I am such a waste of his time.”

Dusting her hands off, she said, “I’m fine with how my life is and I do not see why I need to kill people. For what? To collect trophies like you and dad?”

She looked at the garden and shook her head. “He doesn’t collect trophies, but sure likes his flowers.”

Smirking, she continued, “You know what, I’m pretty satisfied with cleaning up after the two of you. Look, I even want to study further, but he won’t let me, so I give up.”

Kiano narrowed his eyes on her, then looked towards the house, asking, “Who are you trying to fool? We all know you applied to a university two years ago and attend classes.”

“Oh, that?” She asked and turned to him. “Wasn’t it because Kian asked me to?”