Work Text:
Andrew Kreiss was not a man of too many words. What did he have to say? He didn’t think too highly of himself, and others certainly didn’t think very highly of him either. The White-Haired Monster people would call him. It was at least partially true; he had pale white hair. Every part of him was pale, in fact. But was he really a monster?
Perhaps.
All the kids around him were normal. They all looked the same, only slightly varying from one another. So desperately he wanted to know the joy that they felt as they played, and the feeling of the warm sun on his skin. He wanted to feel the love, the care, the kindness he knew existed in everyone...
He looked over the letter his mother had left him once again.
“Dear Andrew, it’s really difficult to understand others, such that rumors and malevolence have become people’s weapons against those who are different. Perhaps it’s easier to look for self-redemption than to change others… Please don’t cry for my departure. Death may separate people, but death ultimately reunites them.”
His mother always told him he was just unique, just special. Just different. As if he wasn’t harassed and bullied for his difference. As if his mother wasn’t threatened, as if she wasn’t told to abandon her “cursed child.” Truly, gossip and rumor were more terrifying than illness; for him, at least.
Then he turned to the pamphlet he picked up, just a few inches away.
“The Lutz Cemetery is known as the temple connecting the human world to heaven. Those who are laid to rest here are blessed, as the Irises in the cemetery bring along the kind souls with them and fly toward heaven.
“If you want to be laid to rest here, not only must you be kind to others, but you must also show some ‘sincerity.’ I’m sure you’d understand that redemption doesn’t come easy.”
Redemption doesn’t come easy, he repeats to himself. I suppose I shouldn’t be so hesitant…
“Only those who are kind will be laid to rest at the temple. Those who are malicious don’t belong here… “