03_ Mad Laughter
Jane lay on the mat, her eyes swollen shut, staring at the dark sky. The lightning had cleared, and the once clear sky was now filled with dark clouds. Thinking she'd be soaking wet if she stayed like this, Jane gathered up some branches.
"Come here"
"Come here!!"
Although the voices were very small, she could faintly hear a man's voice and a child's. As she sat up to pick up a branch, thinking it was nothing special, Jane heard the voices clearly piercing her ears. "Save me! Save me!!" Jane got up and ran towards the sound. Before her eyes, she saw a man standing excitedly, sword in hand, and a child running away with eyes filled with fear.
"asleep!!"
Pook_
The man stabbed Jane, perhaps not noticing her instinctively embracing her child. Jane had already died twice, but the feeling was unfamiliar. The urge to strangle herself with her own hands surged within her, but she couldn't choke herself to death in front of the child she was holding. Jane struggled to breathe and felt a lump forming in her throat, but she tried to ignore it before speaking.
"Kko..Maya is okay..... sigh..... Run away quickly."
As I watched the child run away after saying those words, my suspicions began to fade. "I didn't kill him... I didn't kill him!!" He repeated the same words as if casting a spell, and then, as if a good idea had struck him, he let go of the hair he was tearing and picked up the knife he had dropped.
"I didn't kill him. I didn't kill him. That's right, I didn't kill him. I found his body lying dead alone. That's it."
☘
A man walked, mumbling something. They had been walking for so long that they could only see trees in the forest. The man, unaware that Jane was awake, grabbed Jane's ankle and dragged her along. Jane, fearing that she would be in big trouble if he found out, held her breath and let herself be dragged along. She watched for a chance to escape, clutching the stone she had brought with her. The man, who was walking forward with his eyes fixed on the ground as if he was already sure that he was dead, thought this was her chance. She aimed for the man's hand with all her might, and at that moment, blood flowed out from her back, not knowing when she had been injured. It seemed that the wound had been dragged and scraped.
"Ugh.."
A cry escaped her lips in pain. She quickly covered her mouth, but the man was already grinning at her. Her eyes were so full of madness that she felt her breath catch in her throat. She was literally staring straight into a madman.
"What... You're not dead?"
The man, who had been standing silently for a moment as if lost in thought, looked at her and smiled brightly. It was a smile that made her feel as if she had been dazzled without realizing it if she hadn't seen those maddening eyes earlier.
"You didn't die even after being stabbed by a sword... What? Are you a witch?"
The man who had once smiled innocently at her gaze once again had a glimmer of madness in his eyes. He was more beautiful than anyone else, but he wasn't Jane. It was chilling and repulsive. His gaze simply didn't seem to regard her as a human being.
"Don't laugh like that, it's disgusting."
Jane, who had spoken with a mouthful of courage that she couldn't quite place, soon regretted it. The smile he gave me, the corners of his eyes arching in happiness, made me cringe without realizing it. As he approached me, his eyes arching, he held a bloody knife in his hand. It was only for a moment, but I knew instinctively that it was the knife that had stabbed me earlier. I'm not afraid. I don't want to feel fear from someone like that.
tsk tsk_
"Puhahaha, what are you crying about?"
I'm not scared... I'm not scared..... No, really, am I not scared? ....Actually, I'm scared. It's even scarier because I don't know what that person will do if he stabs me. If I could just die like this, I'd be okay with whatever happens to him...
Pook_
Vivid blood splatters everywhere. My vision blurs, and my body lurches to one side. I want to shudder at the pain, which seems like it will never get used to no matter how many times I die, dozens of times, thousands of times, but in the end, I can't do anything. Even seeing that bastard laughing with all his teeth, I can't even spit, let alone throw a punch. This reality is bitter, yet filled with hope. If I could really die like this, even though it's a shame I can't close my eyes next to Sherry, if I had to die this dirty death, I would die countless times, even by someone worse than this man... If I could die, even this kind of death wouldn't be so bad.