HOME | DD

Description
A girl walked through hallways of the Nightray household. Her silver hair shined in the moonlight when she passed by windows. Her face showed no expression, though a red mark stood out easily on her pale skin. Hard slaps across the face usually showed up very clearly on her. She hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, all she had been doing was cleaning up after her master, just like a good little servant. But he claimed that she was never to touch the doll remains and that he had told her that many times before. She didn’t understand him. She rubbed her cheek, which stung from being hit so many times. Echo hated Vincent Nightray, but she had to obey him.

She had several other bruises, but none of them hurt as much as that slap across the face. She stopped and leaned against the wall for a moment, feeling a little dizzy from everything that had happened. And then she heard a voice in the darkness.

“Who’s there?” The voice was calm, not intimidating or malicious. It was a male voice, and it was slightly familiar.

When she remained silent, it spoke again. “Please come out, or I’ll have to assume you are my enemy and an enemy to the Nightray house.”

“Echo is not an enemy to the Nightrays. Echo is a servant to the Nightray house,” she said softly as she stepped back into the moonlight.

“Then we are on the same side.” Another figure stepped into the moonlight. It was a boy. His hair was a huge mess and the moon reflected in his large glasses which seemed too thick to actually see anything through. He had a small smile on his face. He bowed as he said, “Good evening Miss Echo.”

“Just Echo,” she responded quickly.

“Well then, Echo, my name is Reo and I serve Eliot Nightray. Who do you serve in the Nightray family?”

“Echo serves Vincent-sama.”

“And may I ask how you got such a red mark across your face?”

This stunned Echo for a minute. What was she supposed to say? By telling the truth, she would be betraying her master. By keeping it to herself, she would be subjecting herself to more abuse from her master. Then again, he would probably abuse her more for betraying him.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to tell me,” Reo interrupted her thoughts. “I shouldn’t be intruding anyway.”

“It’s alright Reo.” His smile appeared to widen a little when she said his name.
“Would you mind if I took a look at that mark? Just to make sure it’s okay?”
She saw nothing wrong with it and gave a small nod. Slowly, he came forward until they were almost face to face. Gently, he lifted her chin and turned her head slightly to examine her cheek. His touch was warm and kind, and there was something comforting about it to her. It had been a while since anyone had been so nice to her.

After a moment, he said “Looks like it’ll be just fine. The red is already starting to lighten.”

He released her chin. For the first time in a long time, she had this warm feeling inside. It was something like… happiness. It had been so long since anyone had treated her as kindly as this boy.

“Well, it’s very late. I’ll be going to bed soon and I suggest you do the same.”
“Echo agrees.” She began to turn to head back to her rooms.

“Would you like me to escort you back to your room, Echo?”

She stopped in her tracks. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone offered to escort her anywhere. She gave a small nod and Reo was by her side again.

They walked slowly and they did not speak, but I suppose that’s just what happens when you put two quiet people together. Echo’s silence seemed long and stoic. Reo’s silence was more comfortable and content. Either way silence suited them well.

The moon was still high when they reached Vincent’s rooms. You could hear nothing from inside. From outside, any passerby would assume that Vincent had gone to bed hours ago, but in reality, it had only been about an hour since he fell asleep and Echo decided to go for a walk since she couldn’t sleep with her cheek throbbing with pain. Now her walk was coming to a close, though she found herself wishing for it to last longer.

“Well, it was a pleasure to meet you,” said Reo. “Goodnight, Echo.”

She stood there as he turned and began to walk away. But something made her run back to him. Maybe she just didn’t want to be alone, or she had forgotten something. But actually, she had just realized that this boy, Reo, had been so kind to her after years of cruelty, and she wanted to give him something in return.

Reo was surprised when he felt a small tug at his sleeve. He turned to see the quiet, mysterious girl standing by him. Echo hadn’t really thought of what to give him, but it came to her in an instance. Tentatively, she stood on her toes and gave him a small peck on the cheek.

“Goodnight, Reo,” she said, and she walked swiftly back to Vincent’s room. As Reo watched her slip inside the door, he touched the place where she had kissed him, and he
smiled.