Damned Thing

Tom tilted his head and pointed at the cave, looking utterly puzzled. He slowly strolled up to the two of them, his voice exceptionally gentle. "Go down. See what's inside..."

Unable to stop trembling, Dennis reached out and grabbed Emo's wrist. He knew this guy meant it. If they didn't want to be poisoned to death, they had no choice but to obey. If they were careful, they might make it into that damned cave in one piece.

Gritting their teeth, the two walked to the edge of the cliff and carefully climbed down. Luckily, they had decent coordination, or they would have been smashed to pieces. Once they successfully entered the pitch-black cave, Amy could no longer endure it. She screamed, releasing her fear. "Wahhh! Let us back up! Riddle! Let us back up!!"

Tom narrowed his eyes dangerously, suppressing the inexplicable urge rising within him. He took a deep breath. "I'm not stopping you, am I?"

After ordering the sea serpent to leave, Tom glanced at the cave and turned away. If they were unlucky enough to lose their lives here, they could only blame themselves for entertaining thoughts they shouldn't have had. He was no lamb waiting to be slaughtered!

Walking alone to an empty corner, Tom sat on the beach and casually picked up stones from the ground, throwing them into the distance. What was a home? What were family members... The orphanage had never been his home, and he could not even be sure whether the woman who appeared only in his dreams was truly his mother.

When would he have a family of his own? Even if they were poorer than he was now, he would still be happy. He would still like it...

No, he could not like it. Perhaps facing the endless sea had magnified his loneliness. He had actually forgotten that someone like him did not deserve to like anything. The feeling of losing something hurt him more than never having had it at all.

"I don't like it. I can't like anything..."

Constantly hypnotizing himself, Tom lay on the sand with his eyes closed and opened his mouth to bite down on his own forearm. He would indulge himself just this once. Once he returned, he would put away his weakness and build high walls around himself again. He would never show vulnerability again, even if there was no one by his side.

The outing did not end until night was approaching. Mrs. Cole led the children away in a furious rage. Fucking worthless trash! No matter how much they dressed themselves up like people, they could not hide their animal nature. No matter what, she would not push these troublesome brats into a pit of fire!

Luckily, that Riddle had vanished somewhere. Damned garbage. She had heard about those filthy things before, but she had never expected them to happen around her. What fucking bad luck!

Just as he was about to return to his room, Tom was grabbed from behind. The grip on his arm was so strong that it made him want to frown. "Mrs. Cole?"

"Without my orders, do not appear in front of any prospective adopters again! Do you understand?"

Tom nodded with a smile and made his promise. "Rest assured, Mrs. Cole. I won't go against your wishes." Although he did not know what had provoked Mrs. Cole, this was good news for him. He had no interest in wearing a fake smile to please a stranger.

Mrs. Cole impatiently waved him away and returned to her office. She poured herself a glass of wine and drained it in one gulp. This Riddle looked nothing like his mother. Who knew who his biological father was? To produce such a good-looking child, he must have been quite handsome.

"Tch, what an idiot who only cared about looks!" Thinking of that plain-looking woman, Mrs. Cole could not help rolling her eyes.