Phase 28 “The Torture”
“Stop... Please... Please stop...” he could hear his own voice reverberating throughout the void as he shouted. He was physically and emotionally drained from having to witness the same terrible events over and over again. He was crying, sweating, suffering, collapsing, and slowly feeling like dying. He could not stand to see the same horrible things repeated hundreds of times. When those horrible people murdered his beloved parents and tore their flesh with inhuman strength, he was unable to do a damn thing despite the fact that his parents were standing there in front of him.
“I'M BEGGING YOU, STOP THIS!” He screamed at the top of his lungs before collapsing to his knees because he was unable to cope with anything. He sobbed and moaned in agony, becoming increasingly irrational as tears streamed from his eyes. He was feeling more than just worried and terrified. He was beginning to lose his mind.
“Kaien...” All of a sudden his mother's voice echoed out of nowhere. He immediately turned around and saw his mother open her arms. He stared at her.
“Come here...” His father called him as he appeared next to his mother with wide arms as well. Kaien climbed to his feet, dried his eyes, and then embraced his parents. He missed them so much despite the fact that he was only a child when he had to say goodbye to them. Kaien closed his eyes and sank deeper into the cosy hug. Everything seemed so serene and he thought he was in a tranquil place until he felt something wet and crimson on his palm.
“What!” As he retreated, Kaien let out a gasp of surprise. He looked down and saw blood all over his hands, and then he noticed that both of his parents were bleeding, with blood soaking into their clothing.
“Mom! Dad!” As he held the two figures that had fallen to the icy ground, Kaien could do nothing except sob helplessly. “I beg you, don't leave me again. Stay with me.”
“It... is you.” As his mother struggled to speak, she appeared as pale as a corpse. Her breathing was labored, and the scene was killing Kaien.
“Mom!”
“It’s your fault...” Kaien's father's voice echoed, filling the silence with creep as the bleeding man pointed to his son’s face.
“Dad! What are you talking about? Don’t say nonsense! stay and I’ll get some help...”
This time, when he stood and shoved Kaien away from his mother, his father yelled, “IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!” Kaien was stunned, afraid, and disoriented, and he had a vague sense that he should feel guilty. “IF ONLY YOU HAD NOT BEEN BORN, THEN YOUR MOTHER WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO DIE, AND I WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO DIE!” Kaien froze at his father’s yell. “Those people who passed away because of you, because of your frailty. They would still be living if... If only you had never been born...”
“...Dad? I don't know what you're talking about?” Kaien's heart felt like it had been stabbed with the sharpest dagger in the world. The tears started flooding his eyes, blurring his vision. Still, he was able to make out the blood that had seeped through his parents' garments, the way that his father gazed at him with eyes that were filled with rage, and the way that his mother looked at him with eyes that expressed remorse that she had given birth to him.
“Those monsters were hunting for you! Every one of us was simply swept up in the process! They were looking for you, Kaien... Just go with them and stop dragging us along!” This time, his mother was the one who did the talking.
His parents' words were the most excruciating form of torment he had ever endured in his entire life, and he wished they would stop saying them right then and there; otherwise, he was certain he would die as a result of the overwhelming sense of guilt he was experiencing. Kaien, overcome with fear, bolted to his feet and ran as far away from his parents as he could.
“You are lying!” Kaien screamed as he covered his ears, but the sound of his parents' voices continued to reverberate in his thoughts, tormenting him from the inside out.
“You couldn’t even save that poor boy in your last mission... How pathetic...”
“No! It wasn't my fault; I did my best to save him!”
“You can only bring pain to the people all around you, Kaien...”
“STOP IT!”
“No one wants you... You’re completely alone in this world...”
“I SAID STOP IT!”
Kaien stumbled and fell as he could feel pain throughout his entire body. Despite this, the pain in his heart was worse than it had ever been, and he had the urge to take his own life at that very moment. He wanted to die.
Something dropped in front of him abruptly. Kaien raised his eyes and approached the brilliant object. It was both beautiful and extremely sharp, and Kaien thought that it might be the sharpest knife he had ever seen in his entire life. While he was staring at it, Kaien could not help but imagine what it would be like if he allowed it to come into contact with his flesh. Would the pain of doing so be worse than the pain in his heart right now? Would it relieve the pain that he felt in his heart?
Kaien put the knife a few inches above his wrist as he felt it was so right. He pulled the knife down slowly, feeling the cold metal on his skin. Should he make it dance on his skin, he pondered.
‘Kaien!’
When Kaien looked around, he was surprised, but he could not find anyone else there. It must have been a figment of his imagination. After everything was said and done, no one wanted him in this world. He was only capable of making the situation even more unbearable.
‘Kaien, I’m begging you, please come back to me!’
This time, Kaien was certain that it was not a figment of his imagination, and he thought that he somehow recognised the voice. It was almost as though he yearned for the other person's voice. He set the knife down as he stood up, continuing his search for the origin of the voice despite the total darkness. However, he could not find any, and then all of the voices ceased.
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