Day 13
"Hey, Irene, why can't we go outside?"
"Because it's dangerous outside, Lucy."
"Is it really dangerous? The adults always go outside, but not us..."
"They're adults. They go out to get us food."
"B-But..."
"Lucy."
Irene placed her hand over my mouth, shaking her head as she wondered why I was so stubborn.
"You do know what happens if the adults find out you want to go outside, don't you?" Irene asked, looking at me with concerned eyes.
"Mmm..." I nodded.
Irene knew my adventurous spirit meant my desire to go outside wouldn't fade.
"Sigh, why do you want to go outside so badly?" Irene shook her head, puzzled about where I got this adventurous nature from.
"Do you not really know? The wide, vast ocean and castles on top of it!" I jumped around excitedly, despite my mouth being partially covered.
Trying for the fourth time to convey my point, I pulled a picture from my cabinet.
It was a torn photo, showing only part of the image.
In it, I was smiling, standing hand in hand with someone.
"You, me, and everyone else in this home... you should all meet... huh?" Suddenly, I scratched my head, trying to recall something.
That warmth, holding hands with someone... who was it again?
"Hmm..."
"Is everything alright, Lucy?"
"Y-Yeah... I just forgot what I wanted to say, hehe."
—Ding! Ding! Ding!
"Dinner's ready!"
As soon as we heard the familiar bells signalling that the food was ready, all the kids except for the two of us ran downstairs, eager to feast.
"Come on, let's go, Lucy. If you forgot what you were going to say, then it probably wasn't that important."
"Mhmm! I'll be there!"
Irene and I went downstairs, hand in hand, feeling happy that we finally found a place to live.
I truly hope from the bottom of my heart that days like these will last forever.
=======
Day 32
"Hey Irene, did you see big brother Jacob today? I haven't seen him since yesterday."
"Jacob? Oh, you mean that guy? Pfft, I'm sure he's hiding somewhere after a little fight with the adults." Irene giggled as she drew something on a piece of paper.
Irene and I were outside, playing on the swings.
As usual, it was so much fun playing with new friends and meeting people.
"But why did you ask, Lucy? Even if he doesn't like this place, he's just being a whiny baby."
"Mmm..." I pondered deeply, wondering if he was the same as me.
"If you're so curious, why don't you go check on Jacob in his room? He's probably hanging out with the others right now."
"Hmm, good idea!"
Taking action instead of pondering all day, I jumped off my swing and placed my hands on my hips.
"I'll be back~!"
"Mm, don't trip while you're running!"
"Alright— whoa, hup!"
Just as she warned, I almost slipped on the floor and regained my balance at the last moment.
"Didn't I just tell you to be careful?!"
"S-Sorry! Hehe!"
Giggling to myself, I ran like the wind, greeting everyone I passed.
From friends and children like Lucy to teachers and adults who provided food and education, it was a normal, everyday life that I treasured.
—Tap Tap Tap Tap... BANG!!!
Without bothering to knock, I kicked open the door to Jacob's room, planning to surprise him.
"Jacob, wake up already! Oh, you're awake." My tone changed, realizing that it was boring that I didn't manage to scare him.
He was gazing out of the window, looking at the same sky I often found myself staring at.
"Jacob...? Is everything okay?" I slowly approached him, wondering why he wasn't responding.
...
...
...
It didn't take long for my patience to wear thin. I started to worry that something might have happened to him.
—Click! Clack!
Unable to identify the source of the sound, I steeled myself and grabbed Jacob's left shoulder, turning him around to check if he was alright.
"Lucy? What are you doing here?" Jacob asked, looking perfectly fine.
"Oh, so you are... alright?" I said, my hands moving to his cheek as I started pinching and poking it repeatedly.
...
...
...
"What are you doing?"
"Poking your cheeks."
"I know, but why are you in my room?"
"To poke your cheeks."
"..."
—Chop!
"Auu! Why did you hit me in the head for—!" I rubbed my head, mentally subtracting points from my affection for Jacob.
"For not knocking on my door."
"U-Ugh..."
I couldn't come up with an excuse since I had kicked the door hard enough to make a loud noise.
"But you didn't answer my question! Why didn't you come out yesterday? Wait... are you also curious about the outside world—"
"Stop."
"H-Huh?"
Jacob's tone changed, and his eyes turned cold.
"This is our home, Lucy. We all love it here." He stood up from his bed and closed the blinds, blocking out the window.
"So don't you dare speak about that ever again, alright?"
"M-Mhmm."
I nodded, feeling suddenly restless.
After that incident, the Jacob we all knew returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
As time passed, children who were curious about the outside world dwindled, starting with Jacob, and soon... the rest followed.
=======
Day 74
"Irene... don't you think everyone is starting to act strange?"
"...I know."
"Then why aren't we saying anything—"
"—Shh."
Like last time, Irene gently covered my mouth, stopping me from saying too much.
It scared me how haggard she looked, as if she had known something was wrong from the very beginning.
"I'm just as scared as you are, Lucy. It's more concerning that no one is discussing it, not even the adults..."
"...Mhmm, a-are they afraid of the sunlight? I don't... understand."
Everyone, except for a couple of kids who were still normal, closed their windows and refused to go outside unless it was dark.
"It won't be long until we aren't allowed to be outside anymore. Some people are already fighting over it." She deduced, clenching her fists.
"Irene, I'm scared..." I shivered in dread, trying not to think about it.
"Is it really that bad to go outside, as the adults say?"
"..."
"Am I the weird one for thinking that way?"
"I want to go outside too, Lucy." Irene stood up from the swing, brushing the dirt off her skirt.
"You do...?"
"Mhmm, ever since the beginning."
Holding hands, we touched foreheads, a silent reminder of our bond over the past few months.
"Lucy, don't worry, okay?" She placed her hands on my cheeks, trying to wipe away the tears that were threatening to fall.
—Ding Ding Ding!
"Dinner's ready."
The remaining kids, who had tried to play outside, were dampened by the eerie mood and slowly walked back inside, seemingly afraid to return.
The two of us grasped hands, and Irene whispered into my ear:
"I will always be by your side."
Her words filled me with warmth, as if everything was going to be okay.
=======
Day 156
You lied to me.
"Good morning, Lucy." Irene stiffly waved her hand, her eyes devoid of life.
"..."
Ignoring that stranger, I made my way down the stairs to the bathroom, blocking out everything around me.
It was almost completely pitch-black inside the barricaded household, so I had to hold onto the walls to navigate.
"Ugh." I grimaced as I tightly held my bruised arm, injured during an incident when I turned on the lights.
Thanks to the diary I kept for myself, I could vaguely recall the passage of time.
—Swish!
I turned on the faucet and brushed my teeth, living my life in this isolated household.
Everyone has become strange, and the adults have changed as well.
I want to run away; I want to go back to how things were.
But it's not time yet.
—Ding! Ding! Ding!
It was time for dinner.
"Dinner." The adult downstairs said.
With a ring of the bell, all the children went downstairs, their footsteps echoing in unison as they followed one another.
As each day passed, sticky substances began to appear on the floor and ceiling from all sides.
Kids who opposed staying inside were quickly silenced, as defiance was viewed as an act against the adults.
They were soon 'educated', always announced during dinner.
One by one, we sat down in our respective chairs. Since I had been there for five months, I knew the routine by heart, even if I couldn't see anything.
My heart began to race, eager to find out if my hard work had paid off.
—Thud!
The door opened, and three adults appeared from the door, people who once cared for us. But they, too, had changed considerably.
"Everyone, let us pray," the man in the middle ordered.
"Yes, Father," everyone in the room responded as we stood up.
"Macky, may you pray for us in this joyful hour?"
"W-What?"
He stuttered in his words, shaking in extreme fear.
"I... I'll—"
"Is there something wrong, child—"
"What... have you done with them?" Macky asked, as if he realized that there was nothing left to lose.
—Shing!
He grabbed the knife from the table and raised it toward the adult.
"...What are you doing—"
"I SAID, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THEM?!"
In a sudden move, he seized one of the kids beside him and stabbed the knife into the child's hand.
—TINK!
...What came out wasn't blood, nor the sounds of flesh that was stabbed.
It was solid; seeping out black, sticky blood.
"...Perhaps there's no point in hiding it now, since you're the only one left." The adult said, slowly approaching the boy named Macky.
"G-Get away from me!"
—Swish!
The boy flailed his knife around, injuring the other kids nearby in the process.
They didn't react, as if they were not the same children anymore.
"For someone so rowdy, I'm sure you possess the qualities required to be a host." The adult grinned, appearing as if he had always been right in front of the boy.
"W-What?"
—GRAB!!!
The adult's hand clamped down on Macky's face, crushing his head.
"MMPPHH!!!" Macky struggled to break free from the grip.
"All of this is an offering from God. Why don't you understand that?"
The adult stepped back to where he had been standing earlier, and the two other adults, wearing veiled cloth over their heads, brought out a pot that I had never seen before.
"This is all for your own good, child."
—SQLUENCH!!!
The adult plunged his hand into the mysterious substance at the bottom of the pot, still pulsating and beating ferociously.
"Eat."
—CHOMP!
"Mppgh!!! Cough...! Blgh...!"
—Crunch. Munch.
The boy tried to vomit, but he couldn't, as it was forcefully fed into his mouth.
When some of it spilled out, the adult wiped the black substance onto his face, showing no concern for his well-being.
"..."
I wanted to cry, I wanted to look away.
I had to watch without even blinking, maintaining a blank expression.
Thanks to my shift in personality, I managed to convince them that I was one of them, living in this perpetual state of emptiness.
"Stop... please... blugh...!!!" He tried to struggle, wanting to vomit up everything he had eaten.
The adult kept giving him more portions in that giant pot to eat, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
Until he stopped moving and fell to the ground.
—THUD!
...
...
...
"Ah, he broke too easily, I suppose." The adult wiped his hands with a napkin, revealing what had been done to everyone in this household.
Except for me.
"Everyone has been assimilated, yet none have shown results. What a failure." He looked around, disappointed.
Blending in with the others, he eventually walked up to everyone in the room.
Everyone stood still, like puppets with no sense of will.
He then stopped and locked his glowing, purple eyes on me.
—Thump...! Thump...!
...
...
...
—SWISH!
The adult's hand suddenly transformed into a sharp blade, nearly slicing me apart to gauge my reaction.
—Thump! Thump! Thump!
"Hah, you were always an annoying one." The adult turned away and walked off with the rest of the adults.
"All subjects have been tested. None showed any results. What do we do with them, Father?"
"Nothing. Leave them in here. There's no point in wasting more time in one of the Eidolons' playhouses."
"Understood."
Finished with this torment, the adults exited through the door, shutting it behind them.
...
...
...
I stood there, trying to process what had just happened without breaking down in tears, fighting to keep myself sane.
—Thud...
I slowly walked over to the last child beside me, still pulsating on the floor.
His face was completely black, with residue still clinging to it.
It was grotesque. I couldn't muster a word before they decided to return.
...
...
...
Can I finally escape?
I held my chest, trying to clear my mind and wondering what to do now that they have left. I have to persevere for a few more days before I can go outside.
In the pitch darkness, all the kids stood on their tables, seemingly without any order, serving no purpose.
For what I do next, I want to see the outside world where that picture was taken—
A vast ocean.
=======
Day 161
I stood there, unable to understand why I couldn't leave.
I tried banging on the invisible wall, slicing it with the knife I had bought for self-defence, and even bashing it with something hard.
No matter what I did, I couldn't escape; I couldn't even get away from the house.
"Ah…" I looked back at the house, wondering what I should do.
Anxiety filled my chest as I thought about what would happen next.
What if the adults come back? Will the others revert to normal? Are they still afraid of the light?
My ears rang, warning me that things would only get worse later.
I'm... alone.
"I-Irene…" I whispered after a long time, my voice hoarse from not having any proper food for so long.
There weren't even any other living creatures around, nor any fruits I could eat, even if I knew how to identify them.
Ah... I'm hungry.
My stomach ached for something, remembering that horrifying scene with the last survivor, witnessing all of it with my own eyes.
I felt repulsed at the thought of the black sludge, simmering in that pot.
Yet... I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.
=======
Day 824
I'm hungry.
The black pot left behind never dried out, still filled with a disgusting odour.
The children who remained standing on their chairs had decayed, no longer appearing human but rather as dark shadows.
—Sqluench...
I grasped the black, pulsating sludge, driven by my hunger to consume it.
Ah... I can't take it anymore.
—CHOMP!