Ray walked briskly towards Thoma's car the next morning.
'Thoma's car...' Leila thought.
She ran after him, worried.
"We should return the car, Ray." She told him.
"They gave it to me." Ray replied.
"What do you mean?" Subaru asked.
"His old man said they don't want the car anymore."
'I guess to Thoma's parents, the car is only going to be a source of painful memories.'
Ray swiftly entered the driver's seat and turned on the engine without a hitch. Mina, Subaru, Nalalie and Leila got into the car moments later.
'If we want to go back to our normal lives, we have to get out of the nightmare as soon as possible. Even if things can't ever be normal again.'
Ray drove them to the orphanage, his hands steady on the wheel.
"Leila." Ray suddenly spoke up.
"Yes?" Leila answered.
"You said the monster weakened after you regained your memories, right?"
"Yes."
'Come to think of it...'
With the suddenly serious conversation, Leila sat up straighter in her seat.
"That obviously wasn't the case for Thoma and Monica. I wonder why..."
Subaru stirred in his seat and folded his arms.
"Actually, the monster kept growing." He said.
"I've been doing some thinking, so listen up." Ray said.
He steered the wheel to make a right turn. Then, he told them his observations.
"Throughout our encounter, Thoma kept rejecting the truth of his memories. That's the only difference I can think of between him and me."
* *
"No! That's not true! I didn't do it! I didn't kill anyone!" Thoma denied.
* *
"You're right. The monster went crazy after he kept denying it." Nalalie said.
"So, if that's true, then..."
Ray caught Mina's reflection in the rearview mirror as she trailed off and gave her a slight nod.
"Thoma caused his own death by not accepting the reality of his past." Ray concluded.
"So not only do you have to remember, but you also have to accept your memories and overcome them." Subaru said.
'I guess it's true. Ray, Mina Nalalie and I are all still alive, and we overcame our past. And now we're here.'
"So letting your past get the best of you means death?" Leila said.
"That's so harsh. Overcoming your past isn't an easy thing to do." Nalalie said.
'The reason I was able to overcome it was because I realised I had all of my friends from the orphanage... I realised that my past wasn't all pain and suffering... Subaru and Licht's memories remain... I pray that they realise that the past isn't all bad.'
"The person responsible for this is him." By "him" of course, Ray meant the man they knew so little about. "It seems like he collected some kids for the orphanage so he could conduct his experiments."
YOU ARE READING
Nocturne of Nightmares (Fanfic)
Fanfiction**** IF YOU HAVE YET TO PLAY THE GAME AND ARE PLANNING TO OR YOU HAVE YET TO FINISH PLAYING, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK AS IT HAS MAJOR SPOILERS **** Leila is a young woman whose childhood was always a blur. No matter how hard she tried, she could never...
