blueteamnovel Chapter 8: What Is Missing?
Chapter 8: What Is Missing?
Hollow.I'm hollow.
My chest is hollow;
My eyes are hollow;
My mind is hollow;
I licked-
My tongue scraped along the vile carpet, scooping up every bit of milk it could find.
-and licked.
"Honey! Don't do that, it's dirty!"
Mother's voice echoed from above.
But.
Before my eyes were her stable feet, her still body.
She didn't bother moving.
I could feel her eyes on the back of my neck; I could feel her intent in the pits of my stomach.
Yet.
Yet!
I still feel peace as I lick the milk between the caverns of her parted toes.
It terrifies me.
All I feel besides maddening emptiness is:opple it.
The painting strategy: failed.
The vase strategy: failed.
What next?
Jumping off the terrace?
Hopping off the stool, I slumped to the ground and leaned on it; the majestic moonlight sifting past the skylights lit me up like the sole actor on a theatrical stage. With my strings cut, soul drained and mind worn out...
I looked exactly like a cut marionette.
A helpless fool.
There was no guarantee I'd get to shamefully lick the milk off the floor the next time around. Perhaps tomorrow, I'd starve like the day before, and possibly tomorrow would be a day of punishment for tonight's actions.
Maybe-
No, probably.
I wouldn't put it past them to dish out punishments for misbehaving.
This isn't modern Earth, this is a world of fantasy with a severe lack of morals.
Curling up with a cold shiver in my bones, my shivering teeth clattered together as I futilely sat there;
They're locked.
I can see the locks on them.
Sighing, I dropped my head.
They're locked.
I can literally see the locks on them.
They're locked.
I can literally see the locks on them.
...They're locked.
I can see the locks.
...They're locked.
...I see...
I...
...?
What was I just thinking?
...
I was thinking...?
...
Abruptly, and almost shockingly to my own confusion, I clutched my head.
I dug my torn, bloodied fingers into my skin.
My throat silently bobbed as I gulped the air.
Penetrating goosebumps lined my skin, tingling every corner of my adrenaline-fueled brain; my heart rate almost doubled instantaneously.
I instinctively dug into the memories of my past, of my life back on Earth.
When you forget something, it is recommended to use cues to remember what you have forgotten;
This fact came shockingly to the forefront of my mind.
I focused my dazed eyes and began observing my surroundings.
The skylights oozing with moonlight, the white, endless paintings, the rows of locked doors, the vases...
Again, I looked through everything.
Skylight.
White paintings.
Locked doors.
Vases.
I bit my lips with my growing baby teeth.
Except, no matter how much I try and think of it;
I couldn't remember.
Skylight, white paintings, locked doors, vases.
Skylight, white paintings, , vases.
Skylight, white paintings, , vases.
Then.
Like a light bulb switching on in my dull brain, it came back.
The missing information, the deleted information, the thing twisted in my memories.
This time, I remembered.
My lips curled up in an eerily familiar, amusing smile, a sinister smile.
That's right.
The doors.
The doors.
...Since when?
Since when did I think the doors were locked?
Since when did I automatically assume that to be the case?
My eyes honed onto them.