Time Turner

They were home and just finished dinner when Aurina asked Alfizar to come with her. Zio looked at their retreating forms with a curious look. He shot Henry a questioning look that was answered with "siblings' thing" and a shrug as he left. Zio's eyebrows shot up when he saw the crestfallen Henry leaving.

Did he missed something during the dinner? Maybe he should stop reading his experiments results file during dinner and began to bond with the children. He definitely missed something. Did they fought?

"Wait, Henry!" Zio went after Henry and planned to do his role as mediator between the kids.

...

Aurina let Alfizar into her room; her room was unlike any other girls room. It's certainly wasn't b.a.r.e though. The wall was colored with a very light pink. Two bookshelves full with books about computers and programming. She had worked hard.

Alfizar spotted an electric frame on the night stand. He picked it up as he sat on the bed. It didn't showed any pictures, so he turned it on. The electric frame showed him the last picture they took two years ago before his parents died in that accident. No, it wasn't an accident. They were 'murdered'!

Alfizar's heart twisted painfully when he thought back about their happy days. Then the pain begin to turn into anger. Anger towards the murderer, the murderer whom he knew nothing of. Then the anger turned into fear, the fear of losing Aurina, losing Henry, and also Uncle Zio.

He feared that they will leave him just like how his parents did. His thoughts got more chaotic, the longer he stared at the last family picture they took two years ago. His chaotic thoughts distracted him enough for him to not notice the sudden sink on the bed as someone sat on it. A tender arm pulled him into a calming hug.

Aurina let her brother in her bedroom to talk about the past. Also about the two of them. She saw how he absent-mindedly turned on the electric frame, how his face twisted in what Aurina believed as phantom pain, then turned into that of anger that almost made her thought that she just did something wrong, the anger felt so thick in the air that Aurina almost felt suffocated.

Then the anger suddenly disappeared in a blink of an eyes, replaced with fear. Aurina thought that she probably knows what he was thinking about. She sat on the bed, but he didn't noticed. He got distracted a lot lately, especially during conversation, his eyes would suddenly looked dazed and unfocused.

She pulled him into a hug. She sighed with a wry smile. He always took pride as a big brother, but she always felt that she is the older one between the two.

"What are you thinking about?" Alfizar didn't pulled away from her arms. Staying like this once in awhile make him feel peaceful. Suddenly, Dioz's flirty look flashed in Alfizar's mind. His face instantly darkened.

"Nothing." He pulled away from Aurina's arm. He scrolled the pictures from two years ago. But Aurina took the electric frame from his hands.

"Didn't I said that we need to talk?" Her serious eyes demanded his attention so he gave it to her. He also got serious. This is the first time Aurina want a serious talk with only the two of them. So he asked her to begin. And she did.

"Two years ago," Aurina began with distress voice. "A week after Mother and Father's funeral, in the graveyard."

Alfizar almost flinched at the mentioned of that time. That was the first time they bloodied their hands with humans blood. It's a good thing that she didn't remember.

"Brother, you always protect me, and you never failed to do so."

'No, Aurina, I've failed. But it won't happen for there second time.' Alfizar thought painfully.

"But, I don't want to be a helpless little princess that always get protected by brother." Alfizar looked up to met Aurina's determined eyes. A beautiful eyes that always trapped others in it's beauty. Also the eyes that Alfizar can't say no to.

"I want to be useful, brother. I want to help and protect you! Even if it wasn't exactly like how you do it. But if I have no other choice, I will not hesitate to do the same thing I did two years ago." Her voice was heavy, her face grim but her determination never fade away. Alfizar's eyes widened in realization. A feeling of horror washed over his entire being.

"You remember," it wasn't a question. Alfizar could feel a sudden weight in his heart. This couldn't be real.

"I did, and I never regret it. If it were to happen again, I will not hesitate to pick up the hoe for the second, third, or even hundreds of times."

"When?" His voice was low a full of regret. He shouldn't have gone there that day. Was Aurina's sleep always haunted by that time? Has she ever get to forget that time? Why she never asked for help?

"I never forgotten." Her eyes was haunted, but she looked stronger than ever.

Alfizar pulled her into his c.h.e.s.t. His heart ached for her. Two years ago, she was only a thirteen years old girl. Just how many thirteen years old girls out there that ever claimed a life? She told them that she doesn't remember. So that was a lie. She probably went through the nightmare alone, and never asked for help.

"Why did you lie to us?" He rested his chin on her head. It's been two years since they claimed lives.

"I'm not the only one who claimed a life, brother. And Uncle Zio has enough on his plate." At this very moment, Alfizar felt that Aurina was so much stronger than he is.

This stubborn girl. Alfizar really doesn't know what to do other then to embrace her tighter as if trying to make sure that she was here, alive, breathing, and safe. Also to tell her, that he was here, ready to take on the world to protect what he had lost once and not for the second time.

Alfizar's sight clouded with another vision.

He was embracing a cold body...