Chapter 7 Home
“Hey, do you have a rope?”
“Nope. Why do you need rope?”
“I need to climb back up there,” Allen pointed up at the small crack above them, assuming it was where he fell from.
Kaien looked up with a poker face. “Are you serious? You can’t climb up there. Even if you have a rope, that's still impossible with the condition you’re in now. I'm sure you’ll just fall back down, this time you might not get lucky.”
“How do you know?” Allen narrowed his eyes, staring at Kaien and determined not to look away first. He was certain that the man was trying to hide something. “Have you tried it?”
To Allen’s surprise, Kaien didn’t answer him immediately. Kaein’s face moved a little too slowly as he was taking in the surroundings more than anything else. Then he grinned and once he did, the temperature in the cave fell a little. Even in the dim light of the cave, Allen could see Kaien’s baring teeth. It was a Cheshire grin, the kind that was so wide it was as if he wanted to eat everything rather than answering the question. “Did Alice climb out of the rabbit hole right after the moment she fell in it?”
Allen dropped his gaze. “U-umm. . . No? I guess. I don’t know.” His voice was softer now, less sure.
“Same here, dear. Same here,” Kaein murmured. “You’re really lucky you only twisted your ankle and didn't break any of your bones when you fell. You could have broken your neck and died like this person over here.” Kaien gave three knocks on the white rock-looking object which he placed near Allen’s foot earlier on.
Shocked, Allen took a look down at his feet. “W-what person? What’s this white rock?”
“Who said it was a rock?” Kaien asked. He moved Allen’s feet a bit slowly and turned the white object around. “This is a skull, you know.”
“A Skull? W-what? Oh my god!” Allen shouted in panic. All kinds of emotions –confusion, fright, panic, and worry filled his entire body. “Oh my god! What is this place? I want to go home!” Tears started to form in Allen’s eyes.
“Hey, hey, don’t cry. Don’t cry.” Kaien spoke in a hushed tone, trying to calm the other by rubbing soothing circles on his arm.
“Don’t touch me!” Allen pushed Kaein away. “H-how, how can you be so calm? Don’t tell me you killed this person?”
“Not really. He fell, broke his neck and died.”
“Stop saying that as if there’s nothing wrong with that at all! How could you?” cried Allen. He could not breathe, as if someone was choking him. His heart was racing, his palms getting sweaty and the adrenaline coursing through his system was interfering with his ability to think logically. He wanted to run or beat the living daylights out of him, either would do. “Oh my god! I can’t breathe! T-this. . . I-I can’t!”
“Calm down. Calm down. Take a deep breath,” Kaien tried comforting him again but seemingly trying his actions earlier on but Allen pushed him away again. “TAKE A DEEP BREATH!? IT FEELS LIKE MY INSIDES ARE BEING RIPPED OUT!” Allen screamed.
Kaien fought against Allen and wrapped his arms around Allen’s body, hoping the action would be more successful in trying to calm the person. Unfortunately, for Kaien, his mouth did not really go along with his actions. “Well, why not? He doesn’t need his head anymore, you do. I’m sure he doesn’t mind at all.”
“Oh, my goddd! I’m going to die.” Allen let out a whimper.
“Obviously. Someday,” Kaien stated. “But don’t worry, that won’t be today.”
“Leave me alone!” Allen stepped away from Kaien’s embrace and took a deep breath. He wanted to cry but he refused to do it in front of Kaien. He needed to be strong. He looked at Kaien, frowning. “How do you know?”
“I can just tell,” Kaien smirked.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” Allen accused him.
“How?” asked Kaien, tilting his head to the right, acting cute.
“Using your knife? You’re going to hit me with your knife, aren’t you?”
Kaien rolled his eyes at Allen’s answer, “I believe the right word is ‘stab’. But, wrong. Do I look like a murderer to you?”
“N-no, but who knows?”

“Nahhh... It’s not on my schedule today. Don’t worry about it.”
“You-you...You lied! How can I trust you and believe everything you say now?” stuttered out Allen, looking at Kaien who still had a smirk on his face. “What do you mean your schedule? You really kill people?”
“Not really.”
Allen’s chest tightened. “Yah! What do you mean not really? Can’t you give me a straight answer?”
“Aishh! You’re such a pain. Why do you ask so many questions?” Kaien complained. “Come on. Today I feel so nice enough to show you the way back.”
“You? Take me home? I don’t believe you.” Allen scoffed.
“Of course not. I said I’ll show you the way back, not take you home” Kaien corrected with a giggle. Allen pouted and mouthed ‘I knew it.’ Kaien continued, “What I mean is I’ll show you the way back to the path. First, we need to get out of this cave. Then head north to the upper ground and head south back to the path. Ok? You can walk down the path to where you come from. Understand?” Kaien paused. “Or if you don’t believe me and hate me so much, perhaps you prefer to be left here on your own, hm?”
“N-no. . . Don’t do that. Don’t leave me,” Allen looked down, almost whispering to himself. “What if we end up going back here?”
“I’m just joking,” Kaien tilted Allen's head to face him. “I won’t. I’ll be with you, always.”
‘I'm always with you.’
It hit Allen again. A memory of a certain person flashed through his brain. The memory from the back of his mind, those odd little fragments of forgotten memory. It was all coming back to him right when he met Kaien.
“Aye! You lost in thought again?” a throaty laugh came from Kaien. Allen’s face went red although it could hardly be seen since they were in a dark place. Kaien smiled and continued, “I know the way. Don’t worry.”
“I-I understand,” Allen stuttered. “B-but, but what about you? You’re not going to go home?”
“Of course I’m going ‘home’,” claimed Kaien. “Not in the same way as you thought, obviously.”
Even though Allen did not understand what Kaien meant, he still nodded as a sign that he understood. Having Kaien showing the way back to the path was already good enough for him. He still had his doubts about Kaien but trying to believe him was better than staying there and doing nothing. Perhaps Kaien would really show him the way and he would finally be able to meet Kris or any other people on the path. He could go home.
“First, let’s get you some water to drink. This place is the only place that water flows in. You’ll never be able to find any water outside of this cave,” Kaien paused, studying Allen’s confused face. “Underground water. You’ll never run out of water here. But you wouldn’t want to live in this cave, huh?”
Allen shook his head fast. The thought that he had no water on the cave itself had never occurred to him. “How do you know? Do you live here, Kaien?”
“Do I look like a caveman to you?”

“You don’t but who knows,” Allen joked and shrugged.
“Well, well, look who's turn it is to make a joke now?” teased Kaien before turning away from Allen. He wrapped the leftover towel on one of the bones that he took from the ground and grabbed a lighter from his pocket. Allen watched quietly, amused with what else Kaien could possibly take out of his pocket. Was everything that he needed there? Kaien was aware that Allen was staring at him, but chose to pretend like he was not. He set the towel on fire to make it into a torch and Allen immediately covered his face with his hand, wondering how this guy could calmly and freely use someone else’s bone as a torch like it was nothing. “It’s getting darker inside. Let’s go now.”
“Now? It’s already night.”
“It’s not night time yet. Well, almost night time, but not yet,” said Kaien, twisting every word in any way he can. “You’re in a cave and it’s dark here and I said it's getting darker inside, not outside,” explained Kaien as if he did not give Allen some explanation, he had really been suspicious. “We need to get deeper into the cave to get water. Then, I’ll show you the way out. Come, let me help you stand.”
Kaien helped Allen stand using one hand while the other was holding the torch. Allen wrapped his hand around Kaien’s shoulder and slowly stood up. A sharp pain radiated throughout his ankle but he soon forgot about it when he could see Kaien’s handsome face under the torch’s light as well as being able to feel his built body. This man was charming for sure.
Kaien had the right twinkle in his almond-shaped eyes and a voice that the closest he can describe it to be that it was warmer than sunlight. Anyone would like and fall for that and honestly, Allen would too, even though he might not realize it yet. One thing that Allen realized though was that Kaien had that air of power, total confidence, yet dark and creepy in some way.
Kaien would tell him wrong directions, bad instructions and Allen would follow him just to hear more of his sweet words. There was something in the way Kaien looked at Allen too. Like he was doing so much more than just taking in his form. In that way, his own face started to look similar to a mask, controlled in order to have a particular effect on Allen. Kaien certainly was not an ordinary person. Who was he?
“Almost there,” Kaien interrupted Allen’s thoughts. Allen looked around and he could hear sounds of water flowing echoing throughout the cave and they soon arrived at a small river. A small river inside a cave. The water was so transparent that the bottom can easily be discerned at the depth of three to five feet. ‘Where is this water coming from?’ Wondered Allen.
Kaien helped Allen sit close to the river and told him to hold the torch. He unwrapped the bandage on Allen’s ankle and placed his foot in the river. “We don’t have ice, but this water is cold enough to help reduce the swelling.”
“O-oh, O-ok,” said Allen. “Can you take this back? It doesn’t feel good holding someone’s bones.”
Kaien chuckled at Allen’s words before taking the torch from his hand. He looked around and found a perfect human skeleton lying against the cave’s wall that still looked fresh. In some places, there was a bit of sheer flesh that looked like it had been recently and poorly removed. The story of this person would remain a mystery until ‘someone’ would open the book of life and read the dead person’s story. And that ‘someone’ was busy shoving the torch into the skeleton’s rib. It held the torch perfectly like it was made for it. “Perfect!” Kaien said.
Allen covered his mouth, trying to prevent himself from vomiting when he accidentally took a glimpse at what Kaien was doing. There was nothing creepier than a person with emotions that did not actually match the situation. Kaien, well, was one of those people. Allen swiftly turned his attention to the river and immersed himself in the feeling of the cold water on his feet.
“Your water bottle can still be used to drink water,” Kaien interrupted his thoughts, as he always did even though they just met. Without waiting for Allen’s response, Kaien opened Allen’s bag, grabbed the water bottle and filled it with the herb he found earlier and with the water from the river. “Drink up. It’s clean. Don’t worry.”
Allen obeyed silently and took another sip of water from the water bottle. Nothing could satisfy him more than the cold water went down his throat. Kaien watched him with an amused face. “Drink more. There will be no more water once you’re out of this cave.”
“I won’t run out of the water. I have a water bottle here,” Allen waved the other water bottle in front of Kaien but he only received a small laugh from the man. “I could just sip a little by little. It could last long.”
Kaien laughed louder. “Haha! Yeah! Yeah! Except there’s a crack on the bottle.” Kaien held Allen’s finger and traced the crack on the bottle.

“No way!” Allen cried and looked closely at his bottle. Indeed, there was a crack. It has been due to his fall from before. He would surely run out of water before he could drink any of it.
Allen stared at Kaien, a gnawing feeling beginning in his stomach that had nothing to do with hunger. It bothered him that Kaien was able to know of the crack when in fact it was hardly visible to the eyes.
“Well, better the bottle than your head,” Kaien laughed and glanced at Allen. He stopped laughing when Allen did not respond and only showed a serious face. Kaien stared back at Allen in mute silence.
‘Stop laughing. Don’t smile. That sounds so wrong,’ thought Allen.
As though Kaien could read Allen’s mind, he smiled and moved closer to him until their faces were just an inch away from each other. “Don’t study me or you will fall in love with me.”
Allen immediately looked away. How could he be so stupid staring at Kaien and then getting caught for doing it as well? “Tssskkk... That’s not even funny.”
“But you are fun.” Kaien liked to joke around and whatever he did, he would try to make a joke about that. He had his own way to have fun but Allen was pretty resistant to him. Whatever resistance Allen had evaporated in the intensity of Kaien's desire to make fun of him.
There was a moment of silence between the two.
“Well okay, if you’re done then let’s head out,” suggested Kaien, backing away. “Let’s head out before this place sucks up the life out of you.”
“What do you mean?” asked Allen as he refused to get along with Kaien’s dark humor. “Can you stop saying all those creepy things so casually?”
“It’s not creepy. It’s the truth,” assured Kaien. “Have you noticed how there isn’t even a single plant in this cave? No fish in the river. Even bugs don’t want to live in this cave.”
“But, how can that be?” Allen looked around and then at the small river. The water was clear and clean but there was not a fish in it. He wondered if what Kaien said was true or could it be because of lack of sunlight that nothing could live in the cave?
Allen just looked at Kaien, waiting for an explanation. “The river sucks the life out of a living thing and ‘feeds’ it to the forest,” Kaien explained as he was aware he owed Allen an explanation. “Good thing that no wild animal or anything wants to go in here. It’s safe and there’s water here.”
“What do you mean?” Allen frowned at the words. A cold chill of fear swept through him and made him changed his mind. “Gezzz. . . Never mind. Let’s just get out of here. Who wants to live here anyways?”
“Who knows, maybe you would,” Kaien chuckled again at Allen’s frowned face. “Well, when you get out, you’re just another fresh meat. Are you ready for that?”
“Wahhhhh! Stop scaring me!” Allen wailed. “What are you suggesting I do? I don’t want to stay here! I don’t want to get eaten outside too!”
“Don’t cry. Don’t cry,” Kaien tried to assure the crying man. “I said I would show you the way back, right? I’ll keep you safe. Don’t worry.”
‘I’ll protect you.’
He heard the voice again and this time, it came with a flash of a dream that went through his mind. ‘Fuck this,’ Allen cursed in his mind. He started to get annoyed with all of these voices that felt more like a dream that suddenly appeared in his head. He could not tell why Kaien’s words kept reminding him of something. He could not tell if it was his past or something he heard somewhere or just a dream. The flashback hurt, maybe he really needed to get out of this forest before he went insane.

“How do...never mind,” mumbled Allen. Then it hit him – the mushrooms. “Wait, wait. Kaien, you said you know about mushrooms. Where can I find it? I need to bring it with me.”
“Huh? The Devil’s tooth?” Kaien raised his right eyebrow at him. He doubted anyone would be looking for the bloody mushrooms unless they did not know what the mushrooms looked like. “Do you seriously want it?”
“Yes. I’m serious,” stated Allen. “You know where it is, right?”
Kaien could see Allen was getting serious, and Allen was afraid Kaien would draw him away from the mushrooms. And he was right.
“Of course I do. Unfortunately, it’s not in the same way to the path,” Kaien responded, rubbing his neck. “It’s up north. Deeper into the forest.”
“O-ok,” Allen stammered and did not know what to say.
Kaien stood up, all of his focus now on Allen. “I can only take you to one place. The mushrooms or the path.” Allen watched Kaien’s face transform as he made his offer. Whatever expression was on Kaien’s face before was replaced with a wide, manic grin. And when he did that, there was no humour or life in it. It was the smile of a snake as it opened its jaw to swallow a mouse. It was unsettling. “What’s your choice, Lun Lun?”
It was scary what a smile can hide.