I'm Aren.
When I first said those words,what echoed inside me wasn't just a name.
It was a call—one that severed my ties with the past,and stripped away everything that made me who I was.
When I said "I'm Aren,"the only thing running through my mind was:There's no turning back.
I was seven years oldwhen I first dared to tell my story.
And that day…yes, that day I took a life.
I killed a human being.
But that's not the most horrifying part of the story.
The real terror…was that I didn't plan it.
It was instinctive—thoughtless—a reaction meant only to survive.
The first blood always spills in silence,in a scream no one hears.
I still live that day in my dreams.
"You think I paid just for that?"
His voice…was like poison glazed in ice.Rough, yet laced with restrained pleasure.
My entire body froze.I wanted to run,but my legs no longer belonged to me.
My eyes were open,but my soul had gone cold.
He grabbed my armand threw me toward the bed.
I wanted to scream,but my voice stuck in my throat.It felt like the air had been sucked from my lungs.My arms were too weak.
No tears came from my eyes…it all happened too fast.
And then…my gaze landed on the metal hairpin forgotten in my hair.
Something so small,so ordinary.
And yet,the one thing that would change my fate.
Something broke inside me.It was like a door flung open.
I grabbed the pin…
And stabbed it into his throat.
A wet sound.A guttural moan.His eyes widened.
He reached for his neck.Blood gushed.He stumbled back.
Then… stopped.
In just a few seconds…
A life ended.
What… have I done?
My hands were trembling.My stomach churned.I dropped to my knees.
But then a voice rose inside me,one I had never heard before:
You survived.
Then—a voice from the doorway.
"Girl! Hey, flute girl! What have you done?"
She cracked the door open,and the moment she saw the body,she was about to scream.
"A body!" she yelled.
I ran to her,covered her mouth,pulled her inside.
She was trembling.So was I.
But her eyes held nothing but horror.
"I only did it to protect myself," I said.
She looked into me,as if she could see every dark corner of my soul.
"You're a monster… a demon!" she cried.
And at that moment—something else shattered inside me.
Another piece died.
"Exactly," I whispered."Think of what I'm about to do as revenge."
I wasn't in control anymore.
I grabbed the pillow.Pressed it over her face.
She struggled.Fought back.
But me…I just wanted to keep living.
Moments later…her body went still.
She was dead too.
Was it really this easy…to take a life?
Could the space between one breath and the nextreally be so short?
I froze.
I could feel the breath she couldn't take anymoreagainst my hands.
I lifted the pillow.
Silence filled the room.
No one can imagine how much silencea child can carry.
But I did.
And then… a plan formed in my head.
I dressed her in my clothes.I wore hers.
I burned both our facesto make them unrecognizable.
I set the room on fire.
And as the flames roared around me,only one thought echoed in my mind:
This wasn't a crime.This was survival.
But people will never understand that.
They'll only see the outcome.
My stained hands.
The burned bodies.
No one ever stops to ask what I lived through.
I'm not guilty.
But as long as I'm misunderstood,I'll have to keep my true identity hidden.
And that day…
Another piece of me died.
But something else was born—stronger, darker.
The first blood…spilled just like that.
And this,was only the beginning.