Where he had practically sentenced two innocent boys to their deaths.
Zhi had to pause to gather himself before entering the room after his brother, who was evidently in a bad state himself. Without a word he went to stand next to him, shoulders touching gently as he tried to offer some sort of physical comfort and support. He was almost as, if not equally or even more, terrified as Yao was, having realised that Loto had been killed after revealing the clue. The boy had found the clue, and then he had died. Now, his brother had found the clue. The idea of seeing the closest person in the world to him on that television--
But that was practically what he had done to his partner. Condemn Toris' cousin to a horrible, long death, for all present to see on that accursed screen his body in its last moments, when he had done nothing- nothing; nothing at all- to deserve it. And now, there was the chance-- it had always been there-- that ever-increasing chance that the next time the screen flickered on, the snow melting together to form a white screen with black words cut across it, spelling out--
No. It wouldn't happen. Desperately, he forced the thoughts to stop before they could go any further. It can't happen. His brother would survive. He would survive. They would survive.
Together.
He closed his eyes and took a deep, halting breath before he could trust himself to not break down in front of anyone, and opened them again to watch Yao present the photo to the crowd. The silence that followed, as they paused to take in the grainy details, to inspect every inch, to roll it over in their mind, to hopefully recognise it, was suffocating. His brother had shown it to him when he had emerged from the lucky ("lucky") room, but no matter how much he thought about it, he hadn't a clue as to who the head belonged to. Faintly, he recognised it as a face of someone he'd seen and learned about, years ago, in a history lesson, but over the memory of meeting Raivis' gaze twenty four hours prior, as he pleaded his innocence, while Zhi pointed his accusatory words-- no name had come to mind.
Where he had practically sentenced two innocent boys to their deaths.
Zhi had to pause to gather himself before entering the room after his brother, who was evidently in a bad state himself. Without a word he went to stand next to him, shoulders touching gently as he tried to offer some sort of physical comfort and support. He was almost as, if not equally or even more, terrified as Yao was, having realised that Loto had been killed after revealing the clue. The boy had found the clue, and then he had died. Now, his brother had found the clue. The idea of seeing the closest person in the world to him on that television--
But that was practically what he had done to his partner. Condemn Toris' cousin to a horrible, long death, for all present to see on that accursed screen his body in its last moments, when he had done nothing- nothing; nothing at all- to deserve it. And now, there was the chance-- it had always been there-- that ever-increasing chance that the next time the screen flickered on, the snow melting together to form a white screen with black words cut across it, spelling out--
No. It wouldn't happen. Desperately, he forced the thoughts to stop before they could go any further. It can't happen. His brother would survive. He would survive. They would survive.
Together.
He closed his eyes and took a deep, halting breath before he could trust himself to not break down in front of anyone, and opened them again to watch Yao present the photo to the crowd. The silence that followed, as they paused to take in the grainy details, to inspect every inch, to roll it over in their mind, to hopefully recognise it, was suffocating. His brother had shown it to him when he had emerged from the lucky ("lucky") room, but no matter how much he thought about it, he hadn't a clue as to who the head belonged to. Faintly, he recognised it as a face of someone he'd seen and learned about, years ago, in a history lesson, but over the memory of meeting Raivis' gaze twenty four hours prior, as he pleaded his innocence, while Zhi pointed his accusatory words-- no name had come to mind.
Reply
Leave a comment