"—Actually, as a matter of fact," Aubrey said, getting his back off the car and looking down on the body, "I'm hungry. Let me eat him."
"H-huh? What're you—"
"I'm a WendigoWalker. Silly, I know, but I need to eat things other than just animals to feel good. I've never eaten a human before, but I'm assuming it's going to satiate me greatly."
With the power of a vampire, which could supernaturally leave a body without blood in the span of 30 seconds, they hoisted the corpse into the car and Aubrey entered inside.
"Sam, you've got the ability to slow down time. Go get cleaning supplies from a store—don't show your face, steal it—and clean everything up. It's the best shot we have at not getting arrested."
Sam, mildly afraid of Aubrey due to his attitude, begrudgingly agreed. Whilst Aubrey began to eat the corpse bit by bit, using a Bloodless-Knife to cut off limbs into more digestible pieces, he talked with Davis as Sam ran off.
"Hey, honestly," Aubrey said in a gentle and friendly tone, as he didn't want to shake up his dear friend Davis. "You're gonna be alright, man. If you need a shoulder to cry on to mourn, or feel guilty, I'd rather you tell me of your guilt than the police."
"U-uh. Uh huh… y-you… I killed him. I, I swear," Davis hushed, his voice shaking with guilt, "I didn't mean—hk, I didn't mean to kill my friend, I'm telling you, I'mtellingyouI'mtellingyouI'mtellingyou! I swear, I absolutely—hk."
Choking on his tears, Davis clenched his fists with all his might, causing them to bleed. His head collapsed downwards, overwhelmed with tears as his eyes burned deeply. Present, there were sniffles of sorrow, as his head hurt from his overwhelming tears.
Aubrey made sure his face was obscured for the moment, as he did not want Davis to see his blankness. After all, Aubrey did not have the heart to laugh as he usually would.
In a moment like this, when one man was crying, the group would either laugh or support him. Though, depending on the situation, there would be no laughs. Once, Aubrey's friend was cheated on, and when he cried, no one dared to laugh.
It was a group of idiots who laughed with and at each other constantly, but at their core, they were not bad people. Aubrey considered himself one of them as well—an idiot with a kind, goodhearted core.
Aubrey felt a tender, warm pain in his heart. He removed the shadow of his face, and gently outstretched a hand, placing it on Davis' shoulder from the backseat.
"Hey. I'm here for you, man. We're gonna get through this together."
These words—they were not lies. Absolutely, they were solidified in their truth. With genuine, sincere intention, Aubrey offered up his support.
After all, if Aubrey were to live every moment as the stone-hearted wolf in sheep's clothing, then he would find life overwhelmingly unbearable. He was undoubtedly a monster, which wore human skin and pretended to be amongst the human beings.
But even though he was a monster, even though he was a wolf in sheep's clothing—a wolf does not hate all existence, does it? Though it may look at the sheep as prey, it is ultimately still an animal with a heart.
Willing to do whatever it takes to survive, but still possessing compassion and love in spite of that.
Sniffling, wiping away the tears and blood of his guilty face, Davis felt a strange comfort in Aubrey's hand. It was familiar—one which had been offered to him time and time again, as Aubrey was undoubtedly the nicest person in the group.
In actuality, being "nice" was as far as he could go. He was never actually a kind person, who did good things for the sake of doing them, because they enjoyed seeing others happy. Rather, all of his nice actions had been manipulative at heart, even if compassion had been added in as well.
"Aubrey…" Davis sobbed, "why…" He sniffled. Remaining silent, his eyes trained upon the visage of Aubrey, Davis was overrun with confusion. Unable to balance what he had experienced and who was now before him, he asked,
"Why… aren't you sad? One of our best friends—James, just died…!"
Though he felt secured by that hand, that was precisely what terrified him. Because he felt secure in that hand, because he could feel the compassion behind those words, because he could undoubtedly see something viscerally human inside of him—he was afraid.
"What do you mean? I am sad."
"Liar," Davis expressed, as those were the first words which he could immediately decipher as utter lies. "He was our friend… we've known him for months… we went to parties together, we hung out together, we slept in the same rooms, we ate together and explored abandoned houses and—hk, we did everything as a group, so why, why are you… why don't you care about him, why are you so easily able to chew on his corpse, yet also offer a hand to me? It doesn't make sense!"
"...You're wrong."
"Huh?"
His eyes widening in fright, Davis looked dead-on at Aubrey, whose lips relaxed.
"I do care. I do care about James. I did care about Nico. Of course, they didn't mean everything to me, but they were still good friends. Useful, helpful, and they made my life easier. For that, I was grateful for them, and even now, I still am. I enjoyed the times we had together, I enjoyed the memories we made. They made me feel less alone, and that was good for my heart. I had fun with them, and I did truly think of them as my best friends."
"Then why…?"
"Because even though I care about them, I will never put anyone before myself. I did love them. But even though I loved them, even though I cared for them and earnestly helped them—at the end of the day, if they got in the way of my life, I wouldn't hesitate to remove them."
That was it. The truth, laid bare before him. Why Aubrey told the truth instead of a lie, even he was unsure. Perhaps it was because he knew Davis would figure out it was a lie, and that would cause problems down the line—even that theory might not have been true.
But, regardless, Aubrey told the truth.
He loved his friends dearly. He took joy and pride in the time he spent with them. He would have done almost anything for them, without a second thought. Even if it came to hurt him, Aubrey would do many things for his friends.
But if it came down to survival and his ability to blend in, Aubrey would dispose of them without a moment of reluctance.
Someone who is able to love others yet wouldn't think anything of hurting them if it benefited him. Such was the man Aubrey Palmer was.
"..."
Speechless, Davis looked at Aubrey with his light green eyes, his body falling limp as he lost the energy to even remain upright.
…
Dang it, Aubrey…!
Running as fast as he could, Sam was overwhelmed.
Since when did you become like this? The Aubrey I know wouldn't act like that—shit, just how far have you gone? What changed? What happened to make you like this? Is it even you?
Continuing his immense blitz down the road, Sam continued.
Is it the Monster side of you? No, you didn't seem all that different initially when we reunited. If it's not that, then something inside must have changed.
When I left, were you bullied? Did they take it too far? How bad for you was it, to change you into this heartless piece of shit?
In reality, it was not extreme bullying. There was no major, defining incident. No grand finale which took months of bullying, which built up over pain and anguish, and turned him into a monster.
That had to be it. After I left, you were bullied, and hurt, and it drove you to become like this.
Sam was partially correct. After he left, Aubrey was "bullied," moreso via exclusion and nasty looks. He was "hurt" mentally. It did drive him to become like this.
But it was not particularly sympathetic. Nothing particularly tragic. The burden itself wasn't even that bad.
So it was not the world which made Aubrey this way, but himself. Because he was alone, he sought to do anything to blend in. But beyond just wanting to blend in, Aubrey also wanted to be special in some way.
There was no reason for this aspect to him. It was just human nature, after all. Humans want to feel special. Not necessarily in everything, but humans love to feel that they're, in their own way, smarter, or better than others. No one wants to feel inferior in everything.
If that's it, then… how do I save you?
Sam and Aubrey were best friends, after all. It was only natural that Sam wanted to save Aubrey from a path he knew was terrible.
I'm going to save you. Absolutely.
Sam, who himself had a "tragic backstory," saw that in Aubrey. As if he were going to save himself, he declared his intent.
Reaching a gas station, Sam covered his face with a hood and slowed down time, running inside and stealing cleaning supplies before heading back.
No matter what, Sam thought to himself, a determined look in his eyes,
—I am going to save you.
…
"Heya. So, I'm in a bit of a sticky situation. Mind helping me out? Naturally, I'll make it worth your while."
In his bedroom, Aubrey sat at his desk. Sam had cleaned up the blood on the road, Aubrey had consumed the entire corpse and stuffed the belongings into the Mirror World, and Davis went home.
"What do you need?" A voice from the HPC said.
"Basically, my friend killed one of my other friends. But since my other-other friend went missing, the police likely think it's me. But my friend, Davis, is a vampire now. Therefore, how about we make a deal? You'll get the police off my ass, and I'll give you guys a new monster-hunter. How about it?"
"...Very well. As long as it's not too much to deal with, you'll be safe."
"Don't worry. All there is is some security cameras at the mall, but that should be about it. And thanks in advance. It means more than you could know."
The call ended, and Aubrey breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back in his chair. He then heard a voice emerge from behind him.
He spun his chair around, getting a good look at the origin of the voice, finding a black-eyed little girl.
"Oh dear. Where's your friends, missy?" Aubrey asked, to which the girl narrowed her eyes.
"Mister Monkey Man… died. You killed him, mister."
"I did. Oh, right, and when it comes to names, you can call me The Black Wraith. I find it a pretty cool nickname, but feel free to do with it—"
"—Mister."
"—?"
The black-eyed little girl sniffled, wiping her eyes. "The others… they're crying, because you killed Mister Monkey Man…"
"That so?"
"...Why, why are you so mean? You killed Mister Monkey Man… even though…" she sniffled, "even though he was so awesome…"
Aubrey looked at her with a blank expression, his eyes covered by his hair. "Yeah, I did."
"Mister, can I tell you something?" She asked, to which Aubrey shrugged his shoulders.
"I really, really want to kill you, Mister."
"..."
Aubrey got to his feet, calmly strolling over to the girl. Standing above her, he looked down with the smallest of smiles, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"Please, don't kill me," Aubrey asked, before using Muscle-Boost, slamming her down into the floor in an instant. Her slam created a resounding noise, though she seemed unaffected by the attack. Aubrey summoned a large kitchen knife, holding it to her neck.
Standing over the little girl, gravity did its thing, making his hair fall down, allowing Aubrey's eyes to be visible for just a moment. They were cold and monstrous, befitting his true nature.
The next instant, his face was obscured in darkness, losing its features.
"If you threaten to kill me, I won't hesitate to kill you. You're only still alive because out of all the monsters, I find you to be the least frightening."
"Monster. Mister, you are a monster."
"...Seriously, everyone's acting crazy these days."
Aubrey was unsure about what he was. Between "human" and "monster," Aubrey was indecisive. Biologically, he would easily say he was a monster. But in regards to mentality and his psyche, he thought it was foolish to worry about such insignificant titles.
Then, he heard a knock on his door. He did not stop looking at the black-eyed girl, as he would not give her the opportunity to attack him whilst he was distracted.
"Aubrey? Is everything okay? What was that noise?" His concerned mother said. Aubrey got up, stepping on the little girl's chest, keeping her pinned to the floor.
"Haha, sorry, my bad! I dropped a dumbbell—for real, that's my bad! Sorry about that!"
Profusely apologizing with a laughy tone, Aubrey dug his foot deeper on the little girl's torso. He heard his parents walk away, and he looked down at the girl.
"It's best if you leave. If they catch me with a little girl in my room… I'd really have my hands tied."
The little girl grabbed Aubrey's leg and forced him off of her with surprising strength, as she sat up without moving her legs. She floated into the air for a moment, before dropping down and looking up at Aubrey.
"I hate you, mister."
Without another word, the little girl vanished into thin air. Aubrey clicked his tongue, walking to the bathroom, as he sensed something weird in his chest.
He went inside, took off his shirt, revealing a thin body before seeing his chest. Cracks.
"Egh…"
The cracks on his body were now spreading.