The Madness of Benzene

Chapter 6 - The Playground

Len's POV

If I stay in this forest long enough I might be able to die.
I hope I will.

I've hurted my sister. I've hurted Rin!

I did all those bad things. I wish I didn't.

But I wanted to do them. And I'm regretting it now. I think.

I don't know what I feel anymore. But jealousy is still there above everything else.

It was night. I was sitting under one tree. I'll just stay here until I die of hunger. I'm too big coward to drown myself or cut my veins or jump from the bridge... But I need to be dead. The world is better without me.

I had that beast in my stomach again.

In a bush opposite of me I saw two shining lights. As they got closer, I realized those were eyes.

No...

NO...

This can't be...

It smiled at me and, as always, started with:

"PARADICHLOROBENZENE"

***

Rin's POV

It's been a week now.

I haven't seen Len since then. Some people said they had seen him in the forest, some said they had seen him by the lake, but they always said they had seen him only for a second. He would disappear like a shadow.

Kaito asked me one thing and I still can't stop thinking about it.

He asked if I wanted to call the police.

But, I said no, of course! Even though Len tried to strangle me... but he's still my brother.

And I think Kaito wouldn't be happy if Len was arrested.

Len needs my help.

Even though I have no idea how I could help him. God, I'm so helpless!

I walked down the streed. These days I liked taking a walk, but I didn't do that before. Maybe because I always hope I'll see Len.

I came to the children playground. It was a very cute playground, with a slide at the center which formed a spiral. In the corner was a beech and its huge treetop was making shadow for those who wanted to rest a bit after playing. A few kids were playing there, I could reckognize Yuki and Ryuto.

However, I was interested in the two swings.

They were far away from the other playground equipment and hidden by a tree whose species I'm not familliar with. Len and I used to sit there when we were younger. We did that when we got older too, but only when we both had enough of free time.

I sat on one of them. The other one was waiting for Len. But the empty space wasn't filled with his presence.

My eyelids became heavy. I haven't slept a lot lately, I've been thinking about Len. I had a lot of nightmares too. I fell asleep, but it was more like a nap. I don't know how much time I spent there...

I suddenly heard screams and shouting from the playground. And then something like little explosions. Firecrackers..?

I looked from my hiding place. Kids were trying to escape from the playground. They were screaming and crying and they were obviously frightened of something. I saw detonations of firecrackers around the playground. A lot of them were in the sand, and those that weren't were hidden. Every inch of the playground was covered with them.
Except this place I was on. I don't know why, but there wasn't any of them here.

I saw the green-haired boy, Ryuto. He was so frightened he couldn't move. I ran over to help him. A few firecrackers exploded while I was running past them, but I tried to ignore them. I got to the little boy and picked him up (he wasn't as light as I thought!) and somehow I managed to bring him to the safe zone outside the playground.

I've put him down. He was trembling and his eyes were widened in fear while the rivers of tears were flowing out of them. Then I saw his arms and legs; a lot of burns were there.

Suddenly he looked at me and said:

"Yuki is still there!" he held my legs and crying so much, I had an urge to hug him."In the slide! Please, help her!"

I looked at the slide. And she was there, in the fetus pose. I thought she might have lost consciousness... I had to help her somehow!

I did the same thing like I did with Ryuto. I ran to the slide. I could feel my legs being burned by firecrackers. I got to the slide.

The girl was still there in the fetus pose. She was covering here eyes with hands. I picked her up - she was much lighter than Ryuto - and, again, ran to the escape.

"My eyes hurt!" she cried when I put her down.

Oh, no... Don't tell me one of those exploded near her eyes! That's very dangerous and she might become blind!

I called the ambulance. The most of the kids had just little burns, but some had very serious once... And Yuki needed help immediately!

I felt as if somebody was watching me.

I turned around. There was someone who wasn't as young as these kids at the corner. I could see his silhouette only, but it looked familiar... TOO FAMILIAR.

I knew who it was.

"Len!" I shouted and ran after him.

He was there, it was really him! I was happy and surprised at the same time. But then...

"I know what you are thinking, and yes, I did that"

It was like a punch in abdomen. His cold face didn't tell anything about how he felt inside (don't know if he felt anything at all though).

"Len.."

"The cat is not dead"

He's talking about that cat again...

"Why did you do this?!"

He suddenly looked expressionless. Then he looked down and sarted shaking as if he was crying. But then, he looked up at me and stared laughing like a psychopath. I didn't understand what was so funny. I waited until he calmed down a bit so he could answer me.

But the answer was...

"Jealousy"

Simple. And direct.

"Yuki-chan and Ryuto-kun were there..." I said silently. "It was because of them?"

He nodded: "They were all so happy. I hate when they are happy. But, Ryuto and Yuki are especially privileged, because they can sing." and his voice got an angry tone "And I can't"

THIS WAS ALL ABOUT SINGING?!

"Len... LEN!!!" I started furiously shouting at him. I've grabbed his collar.

"DO YOU UNERSTAND WHAT YOU DID?! YOU'VE HURTED LITTLE CHILDREN WHO DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU!!! YUKI-CHAN MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO SEE AGAIN!!!"

He stared at me as if I was an interesting animal. He grabbed my hand and took it off of his collar.

"Then I have succeeded in my task" he smiled. I hated that smile.

Before I could pull myself together again, he had already left.