Her once calm breathing was ragged.

Like back when she saw Alice’s torn, shredded body.

Like back when she encountered the lusus naturae.

It was ragged like her mind.

Slanted.

Titled.

About to lose it.

It was the fourth time, after all.

The fourth time she saw up close what fear was.

Raw.

Twisted.

Scary.

And this ball, this feeling of fear is being manifested in her once again.

For before her, lay the bloody carcass of Eleanor.

.

Her hand shot up and landed a scratch against his arm.

He continued his movements as if there was no bleeding cut in his arm.

Forward and forward and forward.

His footsteps resonated against the eerie silence the jungle doled out at the current situation.

Her frantic eyes scanned the cave for something, anything, that could offer assistance to her. From pebble to even bigger pebble, she found nothing of use.

Castasia plodded on, as if in some sort of weird trance, walking, walking, intending harm to her.

Inching further and further back into the cave, Eleanor’s blind searches for plausible weapons became even more erratic. Her hand ran amok, groping the ground like there was no tomorrow.

Please. Just give me something. Anything.

At the same time, her eyes looked up pleadingly at her attacker.

“Stop this.

Please.”

“W-what use do you have to u-us?”

Her mind could not offer anything of substance to the question.

Instead, she started working her way, more feverishly now, towards the end of the cave.

Eventually, slowly, as the tapping rhythm of Castasia’s shoes progressed on, Eleanor’s hand fell on something sharp. Her hand withdrew and she looked back. She was at the end of the cave.

Dead end.

The end of her journey.

But something in her burst. Something bold, something scary. Something that could rival even whatever Castasia had at the core of what he was doing. Her body had already given up, but her will pressed on.

Forward and forward and forward.

Her entire world was spinning.

She searched and searched again for a weapon to protect herself with.

Something.

Anything.

And she found it.

Jagged, broken, but still usable.

The edge of a used knife.

With shaking hands, she dug it out from the ground and dusted it.

The blade of a broken knife revealed itself.

Wavering, palpitating, she stood up.

Her hands cradled the piece of metal, pointed in the direction of Castasia.

“Don’t come here.”

There was no stop

“Please.”

Still no signs of hesitation.

“I don’t want to do this.”

Her entire body was shaking now.

He legs were glued to the ground.

She can’t run.

She looked at the blade.

It was the only choice.

Utter fear galvanised her, and the blade launched, with hands attached, towards Castasia’s stomach.

Blood.

Her blood.

His blood.

On her hand.

Leaking from the slit in his abdomen.

She gasped and half fell, half sat back onto the floor.

Was it relief she felt?

In this messed up situation, she was never sure what she felt.

It’s just so messed up, this world.

And suddenly, something else broke in her.

Be it her will, be it her fear, something scary popped up in her mind.

REDRUM

It was scrambled, it was tilted, but it got the message across.

Her eyes widened at this thought in her mind.

It flashed again:

REDRUM

No.

REDRUM.

She looked at Castasia, blood gushing from his abdomen.

Then, something clicked in her.

REDRUM

The fact that she did not care about Castasia at all.

She didn’t care about her stammering classmate at all.

REDRUM

She picked up her blade, and it became clear to her, this scrambled message:

MURDER.

.

“What happened?”

Castasia motioned to the opening of the cave:

“It ca-came.”

“Who?”

“T-the lusus naturae.

It c-came.”

Lindsey stepped back, letting the statement sink in:

“And..

And did this?”

“Yes.”

“That’s impossible.”

Lindsey put her hand to her mouth and repeated:

“That’s impossible.”

Castasia motioned to the wound in his stomach.

“It d-did this.”

Lindsey sank down to the floor and cursed.

“Why did she have to die?”

“I-I tried to s-stop it but I c-couldn’t”

Eyes of blame shot towards Castasia, but they quickly evaporated.

“O-on the flip side, we h-have meat to eat.”

“What?”

Lindsey turned her head slowly around.

The trees rustled as if nothing had happened.

“You’re telling me,”

Lindsey fully rotated her body around,

“To eat Eleanor?”

“I-is that wrong?”

And in a swift motion, Castasia pinned her to the ground.

.

The rusted blade dug into Castasia’s palm.

It jostled around in his grip for quite a bit, but it did the job.

The rhythmic squishing of meat went out from the stone wall and into the forest, piercing through the serenity the jungle offered.

Again and again and again.

Sweat dripped from his head but he didn’t stop to wipe it off.

Instead, he kept on repeating what he was doing.

Stabbing and stabbing and stabbing.

Multiple cuts lay deep in Eleanor’s body.

Her hands and feet were long cold.

Motionless.

Lifeless.

“T-try to kill me.”

A stab at her chest.

“Try to k-kill me.”

Another stab went to her waist.

“Just try!

J-just try to kill me!”

And another stab.