A slow warmth crept through his limbs, stirring life back into him as the veil of unconsciousness began to lift.
' Where am I? '
It came out as a thought even though he had intended to say it out loud.
He was supposed to be dead. Jin, Cain, and Rueben had run off leaving him to his own fate after lying about the true effects of the luminous pears just so they could get rid of him for a reason he still couldn't point a finger to.
As much as he wanted to say something, he couldn't. All he could do was think.
He could see. He could hear. He could smell.
"Maria, take it easy. The baby is out already."
He could hear faint yet paced groans that slowed down overtime as he drifted in warm darkness, cradled by walls that pulsed like a living heartbeat—soft, muffled, and strangely familiar.Then, suddenly, the walls clenched. Pressure built. The world began to shift.
He felt himself being pushed, squeezed through a narrow tunnel as the once-muted sounds grew louder, sharper. Light, blinding and cold split through the darkness. The warmth that had embraced him faded, replaced by air that stung his skin.
The world around him looked enormous and even the ceiling above seemed like it was so far away. Just as he was still in the process of trying to understand what was going on, a huge pair of arms reached for him. His arms remained limp, refusing to obey his command to push away that arms that swept him up like it was nothing.
"Good God!" The lady who had taken him into her hands, screamed and hurriedly placed him back onto the bed, quickly stopping herself halfway from throwing him away.
"What is it? Give my baby to me," Maria heaved. Her lids lazily fell over her eyes from time to time, and her arms scratched the air in a reach for her child.
"It's...I-it's..." The lady who was the midwife, stuttered. The words were trying to form in her mouth yet she didn't know how exactly to put them.
"Katrina," Maria called, fear already hinting at her voice. "What is going on?"
"Your baby... He's skin is red!" Katrina shrieked and took a few steps back.
"Katrina, all babies come with blood," Maria rolled her eyes and managed to sit up against the headboard of the bed.
Her eyes flew over to where her baby rested in between her legs and she slowly arched her back to enable her hold him up.
Her eyes narrowed to slits and her lips twisted.
Her child truly was red-skinned.
She slowly got out of the bed and placed the child on it before moving her hands over her mouth.
"What in the world is this?" She found herself asking.
Nothing seemed right with the child, from his silver hair to red skin.
"This is no child, Maria," Katrina shook her head. "This is a curse from the devil!"
Maria remained silent and only tears rolled from her eyes. She wanted to protest and defend her child that he was probably the way he was because he had just been brought into the world but what baby had ever come out of the womb looking as red as the devil was depicted?
"He hasn't even cried!" Katrina exclaimed upon realization.
' What are these people on about? ' He stared at them with utmost distaste. Had he asked to be reborn?
He looked at the one who was his mother as she teared up.
Miserable was his first impression of her.
"I shall take my leave," Katrina suddenly said, a firm expression evident on her face.
Maria turned to her in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"I do not wish to participate in witchcraft," Katrina shook her head and moved to pack her things.
"What do you mean witchcraft?" Maria was already bursting with uncontrollable tears. "You are the only one who knows the most I have been through. I have always experienced stillbirth any time I had a child and now that this one is alive but has red skin, you call it witchcraft? You leave too just like his father did even before his birth?"
Katrina ignored her words and left the house as soon as she was done.
White head watched everything play on to learn that he had once again been born unlucky.
His mother stared down at him as if contemplating whether to kill him or not.
' Do what you feel already, woman!" He sneered in his thoughts.
In contrast to what he expected, the woman began to clean him up.
*.*.*.
"Hey! You!"
"Hey! Red boy!"
He remained silent, using his tiny fingers to draw in the sand.
"Demoni!"
His brows furrowed and his forehead creased but his fingers refused to stop digging themselves into the sands.
A pebble struck him across the head.
His head slowly turned in the direction of three other boys behind him, each of them holding building equipments for a sand castle.
Somehow, they reminded him of Jin, Cain, and Rueben. They were always up to mischief.
"What are you doing here in our world?" The tallest of them, asked. He was probably nothing more than 7 years of age. "I thought your kind were supposed to be in hell."
The red-skinned boy looked at them for a brief moment, the emptiness in his eyes eager to swallow them whole. He then looked away and continued drawing in the sand.
Another pebble struck him across the head.
"Demons are meant to be exorcised by the priests! I see no reason why they let one in the beach!" Another of the boys stomped his feet in anger.
"Go f*ck yourselves," The red-skinned boy stood up and swiftly directed a pile of sand with his left foot into the direction of the boys. After which, he slipped away with his hands in the pockets of his shorts.
His mother must be in search of him by now. Not that she wanted to protect him. She wanted to protect others from him for he was a demon, the devil's incarnate.
He had walked further from the scene when he saw her coming towards him.
"Where have you been?!" She demanded an answer.
"Where the other kids have been," He simply answered.
"We are looking for a cure for your skin and you're playing. What do you want people to say?" She snapped.
"Killing me would do you a great deal," He muttered.
She stared at him silently. He knew that she was scared of him no matter how hard she tried to hide it. She feared that he was some kind of deity, being that he sounded way too mature for his age of 7.
She lied to herself that she didn't believe he was the devil like everyone else did. She was too scared to even give him a name, fearing that she would be giving the devil an identity in her life.
"Let's go meet the priest. He's waiting at the other end of the shore," She told him.
"To wash my redness in the water?" He wanted to say but, simply followed her.
Soon, they reached where the priest was. He was a man with perfect and flawless skin like anyone else, so the young boy thought.
"Sure he is the devil!" The priest shrieked. It was obvious that he had not expected to see a red-skinned child like Maria had described.
"Please help me and take this shame away," The woman fell on her knees but the priest seemed to have already made up his mind.
"A battle with the devil himself isn't one I would like to involve myself in," He shook his head and went away.
White head glared at his mother. She was nothing different from his previous mother and this world in which he had been reborn was worse than his previous life.
And when he became 10, nothing changed. His mother's fear grew and she refused to name him.
And when he became 12, life was still the same.
But when he turned 14, he found his first friend.
She had been stuck in the rain, struggling to get herself out of a ditch. When he went to her aid, she didn't shudder nor did she run away.
Instead, she climbed up into his arms and rested in them like it was home. Her black fur warmed him and he warmed her.