The Voodoo Doll

Chapter LIII: The journey to the truth

Her expression shifts the second she opens the door. Our eyes grow wider, our mouths hang open as we see the transformation happen before our eyes.

Fear was the only thing she saw inside the pitch black holes of the demon's eyes. It stood before her, omnipresent, gigantic, staring at her, smirking at her, asking one single question: Are you going to let me swallow you whole?

"I knew the voices were right, sending me here" , Belleth hissed. Voices? we wondered. Did my screaming reach him? How come, when this is the past?

Aoki froze in place. She grabs her head in her hands. The headache that hits her hits us too, and as we are writhing in pain, we hear Belleth's innocent question engraved deep inside our minds. "May I come in?"

Aoki doesn't answer. She looks down on the floor, unable to look any more into the demon's eyes, but she steps aside, gesturing for him to go ahead.

The door closes on two beings about to change each other's fates.

"I can't believe it" , Aoki says. She is sitting on the sofa of the common room surrounded by the spiral stairs that face the entrance. Around her, bits of broken toys and dolls lie on the floor, remnants of little kids' havoc. A cup of tea rests in her trembling hands, the green glass making sounds of a broken music box against the plate underneath it, as if to scream Aoki's feelings out to the world. Meanwhile, my father sits across from her, one knee crossed on the other, his arms behind his head, as if this was a casual chat between friends that happens every other day.

"I've been made to be a fool for a whole year?"

"That's exactly what I thought too." Belleth smirks.

"W-why are you telling me, of all other demons?"

"Because I need your powers, but that's for later. Now, I need your Orphanage."

"I'm not leaving my kids" , Aoki announces. Ever since the start of the conversation, this was the bravest I have heard her speak.

Belleth shakes his head, still smiling at her. "You're not" , he agrees.

"Then why--"

"I have a daughter, you see. A mistake."

A mistake. My heart stings at the word. An abomination. An abnormality. Someone who should have never been born. My old scars threaten to open, but I am distracted by Noah's anger slapping me in the face. His eyes flare red, his palms clenched into fists, he glares at Belleth with all his might.

Noah?

She is not a mistake. And you know it. That's why you kept her alive. You don't kill for no reason.

I can't help it anymore. I hug him. My savior.

Thank you for your existence. Thank you for being on my side.

He looks at me with a confused expression, his left brow raised, his eyes turn the color of my hair. What are you saying? It's the truth.

Oh clueless Noah. He does not know how precious he is.

"Something tells me not to dispose of her, and now that her mother is dead, I need someone else to take care of her. In an environment suitable for humans."

He speaks like he is giving away his pet to someone while he goes on a trip. I want to spit on his face, I want to stab him, I want to get him out of my sight as soon as I can. This shame of a father. Anger takes hold of me too, but I cannot let it distract me from knowing the truth.