Flip the Coin [BL]

Chapter 497. Then Design of a Curse

Henry’s POV

I stared at the starry sky while dangling my legs at the edge of the turning carousel.

"It’s beautiful here," I mumbled, my right hand bleeding on my lap.

I languidly leaned back, tilting my head to look at the blond man with green eyes on the leading horse.

Two ropes attached to its saddle led to the two horses a meter in the back, on which the two children sat.

"I don’t think I like your metaphors, my love..." I murmured.

A carousel turning in a circle, and when it wasn’t pulled forward by ’trauma’ anymore, it turned backwards.

Just as if time were turning back.

The first time I was on it and punched the first guy, nothing happened, but when it changed directions, I saw the past upon touching the fourth guy to smash his face.

Just with a touch, like with Kenny.

And it was the memory that connected Kenny to the prisoners, which was traumatic.

So what would I see when touching the blond man who was so boldly riding this trauma carousel?

Ha.

I would have recognized the man even without the Serena-vision, where I saw him when younger—because even if his cheeks and hair were fuller and his eyes not bloodshot, the expressionlessness he displayed at this moment matched the way he had treated Kenny the first time I met the Howard family for dinner back then.

I stood up and slapped the man with the hand of my broken wrist, feeling reassuring pain but also the darkness engulfing me.

I sat in an empty car in the middle of the backseat.

The sun shone through the windows; the dust danced happily.

The door to my right opened, and the girl from the carousel entered; she was currently a very young teenager, maybe about 11 or 12.

The door to my left opened, and the boy who entered was around ten years old, not much younger than the girl.

They put their seatbelts on, and a second later, the driver’s door was opened.

The man from the carousel entered.

And they waited ...

"Why did Kenny cry?" the boy asked.

"He is just throwing a fit." The man stared at his phone, his fingers typing on the display.

"Will he really not come with us?" the boy asked.

"No, he won’t if he doesn’t know how to behave."

The boy shut up, and eventually, a woman entered, beautiful like the last time I saw her, yet she seemed nervous.

Back then, when I saw her younger, she displayed Kenny’s smirk and laziness, but not today.

She nibbled on the inside of her lower lip and looked absentmindedly outside.

"I can’t do this. I will stay back with Kenny." Eventually, she spoke, grabbing the door handle of the car to step out.

"No! Let’s go to the lake!!!" The girl protested, and the man grabbed his wife’s arm.

"Come on, let’s go. I really can’t say when I will be free again." He raised his phone.

"And the same goes for you."

The woman took a deep breath and eventually nodded.

"But I won’t step a foot into the water."

The man chuckled and started the car, leaving the driveway.

"You believe him?"

"I believe that he believes it." She looked at her husband with unease that was palpable even in the backseat.

"Alright. We both won’t go in. Let’s rent a boat; what are you saying, kiddies?"

The backseat celebrated while I squeezed my shattered wrist and looked out of the car.

We drove for two hours, during which Kenny’s mom spoke to Lauren about school and her friends, and Steven dozed off.

When they reached the lake, they left the car, and I stepped out as well.

Behind the sandy parking lot was a big lush lawn, with a few people already there, partly sunbathing on big towels, partly having chairs and their own sun umbrellas with them.

Steven immediately jumped out of his clothes, wearing swimming shorts underneath, and ran to the lake at full speed before throwing himself inside.

Lauren helped her mother carry the stuff they brought, and Mr. Howard took an urgent phone call and went farther to the back.

In the end, Lauren rested beside her mother until Steven came back and shook himself next to her, sprinkling her with water, and they fought.

"Can we ride the boat now? Where is Dad?" She looked around but didn’t spot her father.

"He is busy. Wait for him."

The kids waited unexpectedly docilely, and Mr. Howard eventually came back and took a bottle of cooled water.

"Go ride a boat with the kids." Kenny’s mom waved them away and turned to the book in her hands.

Mr. Howard sighed and agreed.

"You won’t come? It’s not water technically."

"No way."

The man chuckled and took his kids to the landing stage not far away and paid money at a little booth.

Eventually, a boat was brought to them, and just before they boarded, Mr. Howard got a call...

Hah. I let go of a long sigh, hating this motherfucker, hating these motherfucking kids, hating everyone here but Kenny’s mother.

Mr. Howard told them to wait at the boat; Lauren eventually boarded it nevertheless, and Kenny’s mother saw that from her very secure resting space on land.

She cursed, put the book down, asked someone to look after their stuff, and hurried to the children.

They waited together, and the kids complained.

Eventually, she boarded the boat with them.

I didn’t go with them but stayed behind on the landing stage, watching them while squeezing my wrist—the pain calming me, stopping me from screaming and losing control again.

Because I knew I couldn’t kill them when I returned to the carousel.

I knew that this was a line I couldn’t overstep, or something between me and Kenny would change irretrievably, and I couldn’t allow that.

They drove around in the boat; the kids both got their turn to drive at full speed under Mrs. Howard’s supervision.

In the end, the kids splashed each other with water and had fun.

Nothing happened so far.

That was until Mrs. Howard wanted to pull them apart; the small motorboat tilted, and she fell into the water.

Mrs. Howard took deep breaths when she resurfaced; her face was pale as if she had just suffered a big fright.

"So you really believed him, didn’t you?" I said, watching her trying to get back on the boat but being unable to, as the boat tilted each time she tried.

"You’re rich. Why be so down-to-earth and go to a lake?" I said while crouching down and tightening my grip around my wrist.

I could hear their voices just fine if I concentrated, and I heard her tell her kids she would swim back to the shore.

"Your son..."

Lauren agreed and told Steven to start the boat and drive back.

"...will miss you, so..."

Mrs. Howard said for them to wait, but the boy was already at the steering wheel.

He pulled the throttle handle and turned the wheel.

"...please don’t die."

The boat shot backward.

I forced myself to look—forced myself to listen as the motor screeched and eventually died.

I forced myself to watch red coming to the surface.

There were screams from people witnessing the scene on the land.

Mr. Howard came from the parking lot, looking for his kids and wife while asking what had happened.

People motioned to the lake, and when he saw his kids standing alone on the boat, he looked back to the spot they had secured.

I could see the gears turning in his head, and he ran to the lake as fast as he could before jumping in and swimming like a maniac.

A boat had already arrived at the place where the accident had happened and transferred the kids.

Mr. Howard was the first to try to retrieve his wife, but he didn’t manage, as the boat screw wouldn’t let go of his wife’s hair and skull.

The kids were brought to land and placed somewhere else.

Police came, firefighters, emergency rescuers, everyone.

They sealed off the scene, and Mr. Howard was looked after back on land.

I stood up and walked to him, holding onto my wrist.

Eventually, he and the kids were brought to the nearest hospital, where his wife’s body would be processed, and I entered the back of the ambulance with them.

It was deathly silent inside.

"What happened?" Mr. Howard’s voice was no more than a whisper, and neither of his kids answered him or reacted to anything in any way.

They arrived at the hospital, and after getting examined again, they waited in an empty corridor, with blankets around them.

I closed my eyes when I heard Mr. Howard’s words.

"It was a curse..."

No.

"We couldn’t have stopped it," he continued, turning to his two kids.

Wrong.

"She simply drowned, just as your brother said."

False.

I opened my eyes and watched as the kids finally came back to themselves and looked at their father as if under a spell.

"We..." He stopped before suddenly continuing.

"You did nothing wrong."

As if finally permitted to continue living, the boy and the girl sucked in air and began to cry and mourn their mother’s unfortunate drowning.