Esseret

A few tall and strong young people jumped down from the steps, greeted them high and low, stuffed coins into their pockets familiarly, and shuttled swiftly in front of the table.In a short while, beer and all kinds of oily meat were scattered under several gathered heads and chewing mouths amidst the noise of people and the collision of metal and glass.

"Hey..." Edward frantically circled around this staggering man, sometimes wanting to touch him, but the handrail that rotated up took the lead to catch him, and stumbled up to the third floor.The ruffians who were going downstairs restrained their laughter, bowed their waists and nodded at them; the tall and straight gentleman bowed without seeing them, as if avoiding the usual obstacles.A few people with fierce faces stared at them, grinning their teeth, and a few fair ladies came out from the door next door, frowning and covering their mouths and noses, laughing and disgusting at the same time...

Up to the end of the corridor, where the corridor was silent and deserted, Edward dared to say that the adjacent rooms were empty.He even knocked on them one by one - thump, thump, thump.

"It's just a warehouse." Probably because he hadn't opened his mouth to speak for a long time, Brant's voice was hoarse, with sticky saliva flowing, and then he was choked out.He went to open the door as if nothing had happened. The keyhole was rusted and the room was unlocked.Edward felt very unsafe, and at the same time couldn't help but imagine the chaos in the room.Looking around, except for an elongated shadow on the floor - a jumping cat on the eaves gave a "meow", Edward felt that the cat seemed to laugh, and then fell down "crackling".

"Is it messy?" Brandt took off his shoes on the insole provocatively, and stepped in with bare feet.The grounds were clean—not just the grounds, but all of them were clean.Brant pushed the window open, and a cool breeze blew in. Edward still turned his head from time to time, and he was able to breathe a little.There is only a faint scent of bathing in the room, but it depicts a strange picture.It was a nail on the wall, deeply embedded in the wall, depicting a figure that roughly coincided with that person, like a comic strip, as if dancing on the wall.

The light from the window faded.Brant reminded, he said it was going to be sunset.He tilted his head and looked at the figure who couldn't help bowing down. He was covering his mouth, retching due to excessive breathing, and fell backwards to the corner of the wall.Probably because the cat, standing obediently on the window sill and smiling, covered in snow, just jumped down from the eaves nearby.

"What's the matter?" Brant stood far away by the window, "Uncomfortable?"

Edward hadn't eaten all day, and his stomach was growling.

Like coaxing a child, Brant continued to mutter, "Are you hungry?"

"...I, I just started to understand," Edward swallowed hard, "the shadow on the wall..."

"Oh?" Edward felt something laughing, he thought it was the cat.

Edward leaned back against the wall, crouching his neck and watching the man strolling leisurely.There was no brilliance in Brant's eyes, but a dark flame, burning and enthusiastic, as if looking forward to it, and seemed to be staring at a prey that had nowhere to escape... It was completely different from the first time he looked up.

"You... have no shadow." A voice trembled slightly.

3. "When I sit alone in the room and want to seek something, I can't help but look at the window, as if there is a cat sitting on the window sill."

Brant snorted softly, "I thought you cared about that cat."

Edward glanced stiffly at the window sill, then turned his gaze back.He asked Brant what he meant.

Brant didn't answer any more, just watched quietly.After a while, he reached for Edward's hand and murmured, "Go to bed?"

Edward froze for a moment, then relaxed again—he looked at the empty room, and pointed to Brant again with his eyes.Brant looked taken for granted, which was disconcerting.

Edward squeezed his fingers tremblingly, as if touching foam.Brant pinched him sharply, and he looked up in pain and surprise.

There are secret doors connecting the room and the surrounding warehouses.This is not so much an "empty room", but more precisely, it should be a closed corridor equipped with "doors" - even if someone breaks in by mistake, it will only be a simple blank, and those real "hidden holes" will all go up Locks, no one even has the keys to them.

Edward was first brought into a "warehouse". Rows of reflective metal shelves could be seen in the dim light, with bottles and jars placed on them, which seemed to be the source of the aroma.Edward didn't seem to feel the secretly observing eyes, but just looked around, asking what these things were, and where was the bed here.

"You don't recognize these things?" Edward felt that Brant's voice became unclear.He initially thought it was because of his throat problem, he was always coughing and drinking.

"Don't drink all the time..." Edward felt a little breathless, water was poured into his head, and it flowed down, blurring his vision.So when he caught a glimpse of the cat's eye appearing at the top of the window, staring upside down at him, he didn't feel any fear—the physical discomfort had worn down his spirit.

"You don't recognize these things?" Edward couldn't see the man's face clearly, but his voice was enough for him to imagine that the speaker was frowning and his nose was slightly wrinkled. He was impatient and eager for an answer.

The good-natured Edward was also irritated.

"I said I had no idea what the hell it was..." He wanted to be more aggressive, but couldn't.Even if you want to gnash your teeth, you can't use the strength.In addition, the cat fell headlong all of a sudden, which made him retch uncontrollably, and exhausted the remaining energy.

"You—" Before Edward was knocked out, he really wanted to swear.But there was no way, he could only obediently and aggrievedly lose consciousness, and was dragged to another room.

4. "When someone dances in the night, the shadows in the wall dance. In the night, no one can dance, and the shadows in the wall dance."

Edward was woken up by the cold wind. The white cat was sitting on the windowsill, with the moonlight shining on him, as if it came from a distant place.Normally, when a cat is sitting obediently on the windowsill and staring at you motionlessly, you should feel happy because you are being watched by a lovely creature—provided you don’t find out that the cat’s shadow is on your own. Comb hair carelessly.Under the moonlight, Brant's beautiful body was dancing.

Beauty and horror are not contradictory.Edward obviously hadn't accepted Brant's situation yet, his face tightened and he looked a little stiff.But with that light dancing posture, or that body that is hard to resist, his eyes showed a little fascination, a kind of uneasy and restrained appreciation, as well as anxiety stained by the slowly rising body temperature .

"...Stop." Edward's voice trembled.

"I said stop!"

Brandt stopped with his back turned.Because of the angle of the light, Edward glanced in that direction inadvertently, and seeing those nails on the wall, the size and shape they depicted... made his body temperature cool down.

"This...what the hell is going on..." Edward suppressed the heaving of his chest, "Tell me, Brant. Tell me about you, everything about you..."

Brandt's eyes should be devoid of any emotion, like walking down the street, looking around unintentionally, that kind of indifferent eyes.Because Brant was staring at him, Edward didn't have the heart to care about other things. He probably could still recall from time to time that the cat jumped off the window sill again, and the shadow remained on the window sill, lying comfortably on its stomach.

"You haven't eaten anything yet." Brant approached suddenly, and he felt the person on the bed tremble violently.Without any explanation, he tugged on the flinching arm, "Go, go down and eat something."

"What else can there be at this time." Edward felt the temperature of the person coming from the skin, and felt his heartbeat slow down.Because he didn't get an answer, he said angrily, "Why are you always like this, you just don't answer."

Brant turned his head quickly and smiled at him, hiding in the shadow of the window frame in the corridor between light and dark.There's something so lovely about that natural and relaxed pleasure.

Edward was surprised. He thought he and this person were so strange, but in a trance, he felt a feeling of familiarity at first sight.In this wonderful atmosphere, Edward grabbed Brant in turn, trying to hug him gently, but the guy ran away like a rabbit.Edward was a little disappointed, he knew it was some kind of irrational impulse.

"what happened?"

"No, it's nothing." Edward sighed, "I just think you should put on clothes, it's going to be cold down here."

This must be some kind of illusion, Brant's face turned pink all of a sudden, and the surrounding air warmed up.

5. "When you get used to something, the original ordinary expectations become unattainable."

"Don't drink so much wine." Edward chewed on the hard bread while reaching for the man's cup.The amber liquid inside was like the sea level at night, rising and falling.Brant coughed anxiously while dodging.

"...Leave me alone." He resisted.

"Forget it." Edward also held his breath in a bad mood. He looked at this rebellious and arrogant man—Brant had become too difficult for him.

Thinking of changing his gloomy mood, Edward's thoughts drifted to the West Market—isn't this the purpose of his return to the town?He was thinking about his brother's teeth, especially the fangs on the upper left side that could just be seen with a grin, which inexplicably fit with his gradually frustrated eyes.At that time, no one in West Market was willing to obey this arrogant and extreme guy, but Edward handed West Market to Jesse and took a boat to go to other places.Although everyone in the West City is already familiar with Edward's lack of "migratory bird" habits,