rose nursery rhyme

The moonlight is quiet.

"Joshua." Alex squatted halfway on the stone road, and asked the child very calmly, "What is your wish?"

Joshua was still sobbing with grievance, and answered him weepingly: "I, I hurt so much, it's so dark here, I want everyone to come and accompany me..."

Alex has never been to the afterlife, but he also knows that it must not be a good place for people to feel happy.

Especially for a...special kid like Joshua.

Joshua: "Everyone, everyone is here, but..."

But he waited obediently in the dark, but he never waited for his favorite brother.

why?Don't you think your brother doesn't like you anymore?

Joshua was sad and lonely.He couldn't control himself, he could only hold the gift prepared for his brother, wandering in the endless darkness.

The "everyone" in the ghost team didn't want to accompany him at all. After hearing this, they all showed toothache-like expressions, but they still didn't dare to make a sound to attract Joshua's attention, and they all grinned.

These ghosts themselves have hideous faces and miserable deaths, so the whole picture is a bit ridiculous.

Alex looked up and glanced at the team behind the child with an unclear expression.

The two ghosts at the head of the team were a man and a woman, both of whom seemed to be in their 50s, with badly decayed skin and mutilated limbs. While avoiding Joshua's cries in horror, they looked at Alex one after another. glance at the face.

There is guilt on their faces, but more fear.

Alex knew them, they were the first to die in this plague.

...and also his and Joshua's biological parents.

In fact, the relationship between Alex and his parents is not very good, and they have not had much contact with each other since many years ago.But even so, Alex has tried hard to cure people's diseases.

This is the town where he was born and raised, where his parents and relatives live, and he is a doctor, it is impossible for him to watch them die.

He worked hard for a long time, until the situation had become irreversible, and finally understood one thing.

This is not a plague, this is a disaster that will never be cured.

Alex was silent for a while, until Joshua choked up and called him, "...Brother?"

"Yeah." He came back to his senses and heard himself say, "Brother understands."

He didn't hesitate anymore, he reached for the buckle on the back of his head, fiddled with it, and there was a crisp 'click'.

The beak mask that seemed to grow on his face finally came loose.

Their parents' spirits twitched unnaturally, looking away.

Alex was in his youth, and he was in good shape, with broad shoulders, long legs and excellent proportions.Even though he covered his face before, it didn't affect people's judgment at all when they saw him.

He should be very handsome.

It's a pity that such a judgment will be overturned the first second after he takes off the mask.

Beneath the mask was a... ghastly face.

The facial features are distorted, the bones are deformed, and Mr. Epidemic Doctor's face is covered with horrible scars. It doesn't look like a human head, but a mass of flesh that didn't grow in the right place.

His cheeks were pitted, his lips were oddly shaped, he had no eyebrows or hair, and the bridge of his nose was shaped like a blob of melted wax.

burn.

This face was once burned by fire, only the eyes survived, not destroyed by the high temperature, they were as clean and pure blue as the sea.

Horrible burns spread from Alex's cheeks to the bottom of his high-necked clothes.

Sitting on the edge of the roof, her legs dangling, she watched the development curiously.

Seeing such a scene, the boy exclaimed in a low voice: "Wow."

No wonder Alex has been refusing to take off that mask. Shedi thought he had some special feelings for the beak, or maybe he was scared after seeing too many people killed by the plague.

It turned out to be because of the scar on his face.

Xidi looked back at Bryce standing behind her: "It turns out that he is really alive."

Ghosts are not as scary as he looks.

Brice had known about it a long time ago, without saying a word, he took off his cloak and put it on Sidi's shoulders.

It's still a little cold here at night.

Sidi didn't lower the volume on purpose, but no one on the street heard him.

Alex had just made an important decision and was in complicated moods, while Joshua only had eyes for his brother and didn't care about anything else.

As if he hadn't seen this terrifying face, the child happily rubbed over, and then touched the candlestick in front of Alex: "Brother!"

The firelight illuminated the rugged face.

Alex's appearance was frightening, but his eyes were gentle. He hung his hand over Brother Ghost's head and touched it twice.

"In the future...be a good boy." He said, "Do you understand?"

Joshua blinked blankly: "Hmm..."

Alex's lips could no longer see their original appearance, and every movement of the healed skin would produce a pulling sensation, but he still managed to squeeze out a smile, then reached forward and took the child's hand. candlesticks.

This is long overdue.

Some humans voluntarily accepted the sacred artifact handed over by the ghost.

The contract is formed immediately.

The flame of the candle flowed down the flower branches of the golden candlestick, and the melted wax enveloped Alex's hands, and immediately solidified, sealing his palm and the base of the candlestick together.

He thought: It really hurts, no wonder the child is crying.

But this thought was only fleeting, the flames didn't stop, and climbed up Alex's arm, sweeping across his body silently.

It was the flame formed by the contract, and it took only a short time to turn a living person into ashes.

Leaving a translucent soul standing still.

The beak mask returned to his head at some point and became translucent, faithfully and silently guarding Alex's secret that he didn't want others to know.

Joshua was pleasantly surprised: "Brother!"

He stopped crying and leaned over happily, circling around Alex.

Alex seemed to be smiling, and wanted to reach out to touch his brother's head, but found that he couldn't move his hand, so he bent down and kissed Joshua's forehead lightly.

This time it happened.

Joshua didn't understand so much, all he knew was that his brother finally accepted his gift, covered his forehead, and asked cheerfully, "Brother, has your wish come true?"

——He still remembers that the candlestick is 'something that can help people realize their wishes'.

Alex: "..."

He didn't speak, watching Joshua's soul gradually fade away in front of him.

Little by little, the child's golden hair curled and shortened, and scorched marks appeared on his cute face. He blinked happily as if he didn't feel anything.

It was as if an invisible flame was devouring his life.

He has forgotten all the past, the cause of death, and he doesn't even know that he is a ghost, but just repeats the same actions day after day, hoping for the same thing.

The child has only one wish.

I hope that someone will accompany me, and I hope that my favorite brother can be by my side.

Now that his wish has been fulfilled, he will no longer stay in this world.

He is about to be set free.

The child himself does not understand.

The group of ghosts behind Joshua stirred up, pushing and shoving, and gradually dissipated, and finally all turned into fine light clusters, falling on the stone road, as beautiful as fireflies beside the water on a summer night.

The parting happened quickly, without warning, without tears, and without any farewells.

Alex kept silent, watching Joshua and his parents disappear into thin air.

He was the only one left on the street. He lowered his head, and through his translucent arms, he saw the lines on the stone pavement.

The candlelight became quiet again, flickering quietly, as if it could bring a little light and warmth to people at night.

However, only Alex, who was holding it, knew that all it could bring was endless, burning pain.

After all, it is a 'holy vessel', and anything with this name seems to be incompatible with ghosts.

... I don't know if the two travelers would be curious about where they went when they woke up the next day and couldn't see themselves.

But it doesn't matter, anyway, after tonight, this town will become a real ghost town, 'home' has no meaning for him, and they can live there as long as they want.

Alex turned around, not getting used to his own form, drifting slowly, gradually disappearing into the darkness in the distance.

Xidi blinked, stood up from the roof, tilted her head and repeated what she saw: "He turned into a ghost."

how so fastHe hadn't had time to figure out what was going on.

Brice wrapped the cloak tightly around him: "Well, that's why he came here tonight."

He took the young man's hand and jumped off the roof with them. This time, he didn't use the magic circle and walked back along the stone road.

The city was completely silent, only the breathing of two people was very light.

Xi Di was led by Bryce for two steps, passed a small pile of ashes on the ground, and turned her head to glance.

"Do you know what's going on?" He asked suddenly, "I don't understand."

The conversation between Alex and Joshua was originally not intended for others to hear, and there was no explanation in the words. Xidi heard it from the beginning to the end, and seemed to understand something vaguely, but also seemed to understand nothing.

And the story didn't excite him, and Sheedy couldn't tell, he just...

He just felt a little depressed for no reason.

Bryce said softly, "What do you mean?"

Sheedy: "Many ways."

What happened in this city?Why is Alex like this?Why did that child become such a horrible ghost?Why is he walking on the road with a candlestick?

Most importantly, why did Alex take the initiative to take over the candlestick and replace Joshua?

Doesn't he know that if he touches that thing, he will die?

Is it because of brotherhood?

It's just brotherhood, and it seems that it doesn't have to take his own life.

"Humans generally don't take the initiative to become ghosts." Xi Di whispered, "He is so strange."

Sheedy didn't understand.

He asked again: "Do you know what happened to them?"

Brice: "...Unfortunately, I haven't seen Mr. Alex with my own eyes."

He held the young man's hand and walked forward slowly, with long hair on his shoulders, as if carrying the moonlight.

Sidi: "So you don't know either?"

Brice shook his head: "So from now on, everything I tell you is just speculation without factual basis."

"Please...don't take it seriously."

The author says:

... Eating barbecue burns my throat, it hurts...