《CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR》
《WARNINGS: BLOOD, GORE, MENTAL TRIGGERS, LOTS OF GASLIGHTING, SEVERE ANGST》
《VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED》
《BUT LIKE, SERIOUSLY. I TEARED UP WRITING THIS :/》
HER FINGERS GRIPPED the steering wheel tightly. Her knuckles were white from the force she held it. Her jaw was set, keeping it from trembling. Slowly, she let go of the wheel, reaching to turn the car off.
She sat back, closing her eyes as she let her head hit against the seat. Her chest rose and fell with a stuttering breath. She reached for the door handle, her hand trembling slightly. She opened the door, getting out of the black car.
Her gaze fell upon the house she so dreaded to see. She shut the car door with a soft click, rather than letting it slam shut. She slowly walked forward, her feet guiding her along the stone path. She began to walk up the set of stairs, her throat tightening at the sight of the approaching home.
The golden plate near the door was weathered away after all of the years of rain and snow. She hesitated before reaching up, brushing away the snow that gathered over it. Though, she knew what name was engraved beneath it.
Shinohara.
Her stomach swirled. She hated that name. It used to be hers. And she was damn glad it wasn’t anymore.
She looked to the door. It was cracked open, as she could see a little snow had blown into the hallway. She moved her hand away, raising it to her face. A small click filled the air as she unclasped the strap to the eyepatch. She watched the small black fabric fall onto the ground, contrasting against the white snow. She looked up.
She wasn’t alone. She could feel the presence of Neoma lingering in the hall, but she couldn’t pinpoint her exact spot. She more than likely was masking her cursed energy to make this harder for her.
Y/n grabbed the door, pushing it open. Snow fell onto the dark oak boards as she stepped inside. She dropped the mask over her own cursed energy, making the temperature in the house drop even further. She breathed out, watching her breath come out in a puff. She looked around, lips pulling into a frown.
She walked forward, ignoring the pictures hung crookedly on the wall. They had originally been thrown in a box. Neoma hung them back up to taunt her.
Her throat was closing up. Her chest was tight. Her stomach was swirling. The air was so dense.
“You’re probably thinking: why me?”
She spun around. Neoma was leaning against the wall, her foot on the wall, and her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket. She rolled her head over to look at her, her dark green eyes gleaming.
“W-What?” Y/n whispered.
Neoma chuckled. “I still have access to your head, Nee-chan. I know everything’s that happened to you. You’re pretty fucked up, by the way. But there’s something you can’t fathom. Why you? You keep asking yourself why everything always happens to you. You were forced into training something you didn’t even know how to use. You were beaten and nearly killed in order to bring your Devil’s Eyes out. You were forced into a very abusive and manipulative marriage. You were forced to hold your own son’s lifeless body--”
Her image flashed away as Y/n slammed her fist to the spot she once was, creating a hole in the wall. She took her hand back, ignoring the stinging pain in her fist.
“--you were tired. Sick. Hurting. So instead of subjecting yourself to more pain, you huddled yourself away and created your own reality in which everything was perfect. Isamu was alive, and rather than being with Rokuro, you made it so it was Satoru. Someone you love, and someone you trust.”
She turned, her eyes narrowing. Neoma was standing in the middle of the hall, her hands at her sides.
“I don’t blame you one bit for the way you acted,” She said, moving a hand to her chest, showing her sincerity. “If I was in your place, I would have done the same. Anyone would have. It’s absolutely horrible, what’s happened to you. You never asked for any of that kind of pain. You never asked for any of that to ever happen; Rokuro using you for your power, Otousan using you as his new project...you didn’t want any of that. You just wanted to be happy--”
“Shut up!” Y/n yelled, her voice bouncing off the walls. “Just...shut the fuck up!”
“If you want me to stop,”
Neoma’s eyes darkened. She grinned, holding her arms out. Y/n’s eyes narrowed. She was challenging her.
“Then make me, little sister.”
In a flash, all the lights had flickered out. Y/n tensed up, her hands forming into fists at her sides. She walked forward, the front door slamming behind her. Her boots creaked against the oak flooring as she walked from the hall.
Her entire body froze when she heard laughter. It swirled around the house, ringing in her ears. She slowly turned her head to the left, where the hall branched down. She saw the glow from the TV coming from the room, shining against the wall outside of the room. Her eyes went wide at the sound of the upbeat song she knew all too well.
“Cause it’s the, bear necessities! The simple bear necessities, forget about your worries and your strife!”
She felt her throat close.
“Daddy? What’s the matter? How come you aren’t singing it with me?”
“Isamu...you know I love you with all my heart...don’t you?”
“Of course I do! I love you too, Daddy!”
“Isamu..”
“D-Daddy..? W-What are you doing?”
She stumbled down the hall.
“D-Daddy?”
Something grabbed at her ankle, tripping her. She panicked, kicking her leg out of it’s hold.
“Daddy, stop! Th-That hurts! Stop! Stop, please!”
She broke free, scrambling back onto her feet.
“M-Mommy!”
She sprinted down the hallway. Why did it seem like it was growing longer?
“Mommy! Mommy! Help me!”
His cries turned into shrill screams. The moment she came forward, the door slammed shut. She pounded her fist against the wooden surface.
“Isamu!” She screamed.
She tried breaking the door down. She felt her shoulder jerk out of the socket from how hard she was hitting it. Blood stained the wood from her fists. The frame cracked from her kicking, but it wouldn’t break.
His screams were sickening. It made her stomach swirl; she felt like throwing up. It was so agonizing to listen to. She felt her knees buckle, and she slid onto the floor. She raised her hands to her ears, but the screaming sounded like it was coming from inside of her head.
Isamu...her baby…
She got to her feet, slamming her foot against the lock with an amount of force she’s never used before. It hurt her, but she didn’t care about the pain. All she cared about was getting to Isamu.
The door swung open. She felt dizzy. The room spun as she looked at the TV. She watched Mowgli pat Baloo’s chest, the sound of his laughter filling the air. She dropped to her knees.
“M-Mom...my..”
She looked down, her eyebrows lacing in distress. She reached down, her hands shaking. The reversal technique. Why the fuck was it not working?
Isamu choked on his own blood, making her quickly reach for him, gently pulling him up. Her hands trembled violently, her chest quickly rising and falling. Her hands hovered around him, unsure of what to do. She felt sick.
“I-Isamu,” She whimpered. “I’m sorry! No, fuck! Isamu, look at me!”
He turned his gaze to her. His bottom lip trembled, and she watched as a tear fell over his cheek, cutting through the blood stained there. He put his hand over her’s, his e/c eyes wide with fear.
“I-It...hu..rt.s..”
“I know,” She whispered, tears breaking over. “Shh, it’s okay, Isamu. J-Just...look at M-Mommy, o-okay?”
“C-Can...you...ki..s.s..i-it..bet..ter?” He asked, his voice just a mere whisper. A sob passed over her lips.
“I-I’ll kiss it better,” She whispered, pressing her lips to his forehead. She felt his heartbeat slowing under the two fingers she held to his neck. “I-Isamu, no. No, baby, you can’t go to sleep!”
She tapped his cheeks, her voice wavering. He slowly opened them back up, and she watched in terror as his eye began to cloud over.
“M-Mo..mmy…”
“I...Isamu..? A-Answer me...baby....? Isamu? C-Come on...I-Isamu! Isamu?! No! No, baby! Answer me! Isamu!”
Her chest heaved up and down. She couldn’t breathe. She didn’t save him. She couldn’t save him. No. No, no, no, no.
“Y-Y/n...w-what have you done?”
She slowly turned her gaze up. Rokuro stood over her, his face twisted in horror. His hands shook at his side.
“Answer me!” He screamed. “What have you done?! Y-You activated your curse?! O-On Isamu?! What the fuck is wrong with you!?”
“W-What..?”
“Get away from him!” He screamed, shoving her back. He took the boy into his arms, cradling him against his chest. “Y/n! Why did you do this?!”
“W-What..are...you..?”
He glared at her. Never in her life has seen the amount of hatred in someone’s eyes.
“You’re cursed!”
Cursed…? She was...cursed? No. S-She didn’t kill Isamu. He did. Why was he blaming her? She didn’t kill him! S-She wasn’t cursed…
“You killed your father, and now you’ve killed your own son!” He screamed. “You fucking monster!”
She wasn’t a monster. Her father deserved it. He tried to kill her. She begged him to stop. She didn’t kill Isamu. She wasn’t cursed.
She felt the hot blood dripping down her cheek. She raised a shaking hand up, touching it. She watched a set of boots stop in front of her. She looked up.
“Y/n,” Neoma whispered. “You are cursed. Everyone around you always dies. Haven’t you seen that?”
T-That’s not true.
“Shota?”
S-She didn’t kill him. Neoma lied to her.
“Otousan?”
He tortured her because he lost Neoma.
“Isamu?”
Rokuro killed him to break her.
“Rokuro?”
He deserved it. He deserved to die much more painfully than he did.
“Juno?”
Her mother died of sickness. Tha-That wasn’t her fault….was it…?
“Who will be next, Y/n?”
What is she talking about?
Neoma knelt down in front of her, grabbing her by the jaw.
“Who will be the next person you kill, Y/n?”
Neoma sighed, looking down at Y/n’s trembling gaze. She brushed her knuckles along her cheek. She looked at her with sympathy.
“Poor thing,” She whispered. “You didn’t ask to be born with this, did you?”
Her thumb swiped under Y/n’s eye, smearing the blood there.
“It’s all because of that. That stupid Devil’s Eye. It really does curse you, doesn’t it? My poor little Y/n.”
Her eyes went wide at the sight of the small cube she held in her hands. Her heart sunk into the pit of her stomach, an overwhelming sense of anxiety washing over her. She slowly leaned back, her breath catching her throat.
Neoma grinned widely, her eyes darkening. Her intentions were malicious. Anything that may have been left from her humanity was long gone. What Y/n was looking at was not a woman.
She was pure madness, and utter chaos.
Neoma chuckled at her grief and fear-striken face. She stood up, playfully tossing the cube around her back before catching it. She balanced it on the tip of her finger before looking down at Y/n.
“Such a shame we have to end it this way."
《CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: END》
《IMAGE NOT MINE》