The silence returned, but the light did not. The hymn of the forest—rustling of leaves and the sound of cicadas and crickets—harmonized together in this dense vegetation.
Soon, the panting sound of someone trying to catch their breath reverberated through the whole place.
The smell of blood and tears lingered, and an image of a kid in the dark could be spotted. With her right hand elevated, the kid was holding a handle torn apart from something.
"Grace... Where are you?" Her voice wavered in fear and longing, though the situation she was in was quite dangerous.
"Grace, respond right now!" She was more likely frightened than angry.
"Young miss... I'm still inside the carriage. You are close to me, I expect, since I hear you loudly," another voice replied to her.
"That’s 'cause I'm shouting!" In a mix of emotions, she clarified. "What do we do now?"
"Miss, what happened?"
The other person did not answer and left the place in silence, or perhaps she was taking too long to reply.
Cold winds passed through them, and the sound of the trees that served as the canopy from the moon's light intensified. In an exact moment, the forest became silent again.
"Grace... I think I killed a person."
"What?"
"You heard it clearly, you nutjob! I just killed a person." Irritated, she exclaimed, "Wanna be next?"
"N-no, young m-miss."
In the dark, the two people were struggling to communicate as they did not know where to look. They just turned their heads towards where the sound came from.
"Grace, come out of the carriage. Judging by the intensity of your voice, I'm outside of the carriage. You still have that picture in your head, right? That picture before the light disappeared."
"I will try my best, young miss."
After she said that, a sound of something moving and wobbling through something was incessantly noisy.
"Grace, what the heck? Are you doing backflips inside the carriage?" Now she was annoyed due to the unexpected sound Grace made.
But it didn't stop there. The noise became even louder.
"Grace, stop moving, you're gonna attract some creatures here!"
"M-miss... I'm terribly sorry. I do not know the correct pathway."
A sigh came out from the small figure outside. Her face couldn't be seen, but the sound of her sigh showed her emotions—annoyed, scared, tired, and miserable.
"Miss, I will try to move out silently." Announcing, she was poised. She sure wanted to do as her master does.
She seemed to notice the atmosphere and the sound her young miss made. As she tried to get the picture of the whole carriage again, her foot slid onto something, and the sound of someone being hurt was released from her mouth.
The young miss responded with a click of her tongue in disapproval. The servant, Grace, was in pain. On the side of one of her calves, a stinging pain signaled through her brain.
Even though she could not see due to the loss of light in the area, with the pain she was bearing, she knew that one of her legs was bleeding. And yet, she continued to move.
"Young miss... Please do make some noise so that I will be able to head towards yours."
"Careful, Grace, you might step on—"
"ARGH!"
Shrouded in surprise, as she suddenly felt that her foot landed on something soft. It was the body of someone. A corpse.
"Please tell beforehand, miss," replied in a cold tone.
"Gotcha." She happily made a sound with her one hand slapping against the dark.
"Miss, that hurts."
"Don’t be so dramatic. I'm a kid and didn't even put force on it."
"That was my breast, young miss. You slapped my chest."
And the silence once again reoccurred.
"I can't see, Grace. Sorry about that..."
◇◆◇
Grace handed me something. It was heavy, and so my instinct followed suit. When the door opened, my hand charged from the back like a slingshot. Swiftly, that hand holding something swung towards in front of me.
C̵̺͛̆͗͐̓̑̀ỏ̴̡̹̝̀̎̿̄m̷̟̖͗͆̆ë̸̱̤̮͙͇̦̺͎́͑͜͠ ̸̟͂ḥ̴̦̱̣̭̪̏̈́̎̿̀̕͠ę̶͚͔̥͕͚̞̟̹͌̌͋̌r̷̢̻͓̈e̶͖̞̹̺̮͚̩̋͜ ̴̣̭̤͒̌̄ỳ̸̰͉̙̖̺͚̖̆̆͜͝o̸̬̥͓̦̓̅̽u̴̥͎̙͉̯͎̼̬̝̔͂̇̆͑͘ ̷̫̰͐n̸̡̰͉͆ͅǫ̷͕̫̓͗͝w̴̻̉̓̑͑͋̏̕!̶̟͒͗̈́͒͒̄̾
—!
Surprised by this intruder in front of me, the heavy thing Grace handed me—a metallic surface it had and a structure gilded with gold, and there was glass too.
...Wait, no!
Like what the second law of motion by Newton and Hooke's law stated, the energy made from the charge couldn't be stopped by me, and we, the two of us, were flabbergasted.
One was surprised because something huge was being swung towards his face, and the other one was in shock because apparently, Grace handed me the lamp.
Worth can only be seen by a person when they die—this applies well to the lamp I'm seeing, as I only notice now how valuable that gold is.
In a mere second, I know that this expensive thing in my hand will soon be broken into pieces, and that left my heart broken.
And I know for sure that after that, this oil will leak throughout the whole carriage. Without instinct, my body followed the movement in my hand.
Before the light was taken, I kicked his big body somewhere in the stomach. A yell in agony soon followed from the man in pain. Her face was fully impaled by the ornaments and broken shards of glass from the lamp. And a butterfly crossed my eyesight before the light faded.
His plea for help was terror. On the ground, his movements couldn’t be more comprehensible. It was not a good thing to be heard, and not a sight to be seen. This time, with my consciousness, my body moves on its own.
There was still something intact in my hand. The lamp seemed to have its half body left. And in the dark, my hand smashed the leftover to the ground, and the plea disappeared.
I'm glad the fire disappeared before the leak started. Although that much oil won't make the carriage covered in flames, the grass on the ground and fallen leaves can catch the fire easily.
Visualizing this whole forest in flames is a top-notch view, but seeing me in the middle being devoured by the flames is a bit... Satanic?
“This doesn't count as a kill, right?” Worried, I opened my mouth with a thought kept inside my head. ‘They are not real. They are just characters. I did not break the commandments Mosses delivered.’
Just like that, I didn't make a single move. No, it's not because I wanted to... but because my body just stopped responding to my messages.
My own body froze, and everything was black. It was like experiencing sleep paralysis; I wanted to move and be free, but it felt like something was restraining me.
Sniff... Hic!
It's scary... Why is everything dark as if I'm blind... I don't even know if I'm closing my eyes or not.
I know I was not alone. Grace was with me, but the silence and everything were not fit for a young kid like me. Sabrina, I, am a villain. But it does still not mean that I'm not scared of ghosts and even bad spirits.
I had some traumatic events back when I was Samantha... Goll... Holleen...
It doesn't sound right.
—!?
A pulse together with a thump occurred in my head. It came from the insides of my brain, but the sound definitely sounded as if it was next to my eardrum. It was sudden yet painful, making me come back to all of my senses.
After that, the first sentence that came out of my mouth after being free to move was,
“What’s my... surname.....?”
This isn't right... I need to take a note for now since I think my short-term memory loss and mental illness are becoming a hindrance.
◇◆◇
A faint light from a torch carried by someone makes its way through the place. Sabrina and Grace, who were in a conversation, already had their eyes locked to this someone as light traveled faster than sound—both of them deprived of light, their heads swiftly shifted towards the light source.
As the light approaches and the image of someone closes, the sound of grasses and dried leaves being stepped on gradually loudened.
“How was the experience? Hospitable or needs more innovation?”
—?!!
The small mouth of Sabrina quivered as she started to utter something.
“....A-aren’t you our coachman?!”
Grace, her servant standing next to her, shared the same question.
“I am.”
“What do you think you are doing this with our, young miss?” To her disbelief, Grace replied to him.
“I’m a peculiar guy. Did I do wrong?”
With that remark, Sabrina's eyes glared at him with murderous intention. Her eyes staring at his soul, the coachman felt eerie. Her eyes that are red give a delusion at him that it looks like it glowed in the dark, sparkling and tinting in crimson red. It's the eye of the predator locking its prey.
Fumed with anger and betrayal, Sabrina's hand latched onto him—he threw something right at the coachman’s face. The first obstacle missed because the coachman dodged it, but clearly, this man did not know a shard of glass was aiming at his eyesight.
The coachman was quick too. In a mere second, that shard of broken glass was in the grip of his hand. He caught it before it went into his eyes.
“Next time, these stones I picked won't miss.” The glint in her eyes became even more red.
“Waaaaaaiiiittttt!”
His shout, like a sudden gust of wind, came out from his body, making the two ladies surprised.
“His voice came back?” Grace said looking at her master. Sabrina nodded her head in agreement.
“The weirdo tune in his speech....”
“I’m sorry, young miss....!!”
It really did come back. That tune of his voice that sounded like some perverted masochist bastard.
“Too bad, that still won't stop me from throwing you these stones.”
Sabrina dispersed what inside her hand, tiny pebbles and stones that she had picked up were thrown onto the coachman.
“Young miss, the torch! The torch!” He yelled out turning at his back so the light won't put off.
“So why did you run away, mister coachman?” The young miss asked as she bowed to her knees and picked something out from the dead body beside her on the ground.
“Depending on your answers, I might have a second mind and not throw this knife at you. You might be thinking that I'm still a kid and lack strength, just look at this body of someone.” She added, with a wry smile then looked on the ground. “I killed this guy who had a bigger physique than you.”