“It hurts… Why does everything need to hurt…”
A searing, insistent pain shot through Edén's mind and body as his frail form lay sprawled across the sterile, cold lab counter. Desperation clung to him as he attempted to move, yet his limbs, seemingly frozen in anguish, refused to respond. With one weary, functioning eye, he gazed upon the horror before him – the lifeless remains of an unidentified person, grotesquely half-corroded and melded into the very surface of the counter. The final, gut-wrenching scream of the victim etched into the remnants of a face haunted his waking nightmare.
Edén, driven by a sense of morbid curiosity, almost instinctively identified the corrosive agent responsible – Sulfuric Acid, H2 SO4, a substance he had often manipulated with precision in his lab.
"What happened… did my experiment fail?"
No, Edén, the meticulous experimenter, knew the ins and outs of his scientific pursuits; failure wasn't an option. This unsettling result was intentional, but the 'why' eluded him, a maddening enigma that danced on the periphery of his unravelling consciousness...
Darkness envelops Edén’s mind, but soon he finds himself waking up in his apartment room. Nothing more than a nightmare, like many before it…
...
“Rinngggg.. Rinnggg…”
...
“Rinnggg… Riinnngg..”
...
Waking up from yet another torturous, sleepless night, Edén turned his attention to the intrusive sound of his phone, its shrill tone mingling with the lingering echoes of his unsettling dreams. The front doorbell camera revealed a young woman, Fibe, standing outside with her long, cascading brown hair swaying in the autumn wind, and her amber eyes, normally filled with life, now reflecting an unspoken concern – she was his only beacon in this corroded world.
Dressing swiftly, Edén, driven by a mechanical routine, neglected breakfast, his once vibrant appetite now overshadowed by the relentless march of his own inner turmoil. A ritual repeated many times, his steps were heavier, his movements more automatic. Before leaving, he stopped at the shrine in the living room, featuring a picture of his late father. The image was marred by a crude attempt to erase the presence of his mother, her face obscured with black ink. Only his father, clad in a serene white robe, remained visible.
“See you later, Dad.”
The door creaked shut with a weighty finality, and Edén left the shrine, burdened by a heavy heart. As he opened the front door, the world outside awaited, indifferent to the struggles within.
"What took you so long? We need to get to school, the first period starts soon.”
Without a word, Fibe seized Edén's hand, a gesture that propelled them toward school. Despite his altered body, Edén said nothing to Fibe, he couldn't bear to worry her with the jagged edges of his unravelling reality.
The school gate, as ever, greeted them with piercing stares – Fibe, the radiant school darling, left Edén vulnerable to the disdainful whispers and sidelong glances of his peers. As they parted ways for their respective classes, Fibe bid him farewell, her eyes full of an unspoken concern that lingered like a melancholic refrain.
"NERD!!! Come here!"
Kyle, the prime tormentor, summoned Edén with a venomous shout. A longstanding bully, Kyle coerced him into menial tasks and subjected him to the relentless rhythm of physical torment. The teacher, a passive spectator to Edén's tribulations, averted his gaze, indifferent to the torment that unfolded within the classroom walls.
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The bell rang, a hollow signal of the end of class. Kyle, embodying malevolence, seized Edén, dragging him to the forsaken enclave at the back of the school. Shoving him against the graffiti-laden wall, Kyle's voice dripped with a venomous accusation.
“Stop hanging out with Fibe!! You corrupt her perfect image!”
Unable to muster a response, Edén felt the onslaught of blows, each punch a cruel echo of the internal turmoil that defined his existence. Left in a pool of his blood, Edén, who had already lost his father to a freak accident, endured merciless bullying from everyone, including the teachers who turned a blind eye. His mother, a distant figure in his turbulent life, wanted nothing to do with him.
“It’s enough… I've had enough…”
Though he had contemplated revenge before, Edén never followed through, always clinging to a glimmer of hope that change would come after the elusive summer break. But nothing changed. Frustrated, trapped in a cycle of despair, Edén decided to take matters into his own hands.
Sabotaging the sprinklers in the school lab and meticulously pinpointing times when Fibe would be absent, his plan took shape. Skipping the remainder of school, he walked home with a determination that masked the internal chaos. The solitude of his lab became a haven for contemplation and creation – a solution, a calculated mixture of sulfur, oxygen, and water that would birth H2SO4, commonly known as Sulfuric acid.
"Riinnggg…. Riinngg…"
...
“Rinngg… Rinnnggg…”
Glancing at his phone, he saw Fibe, a sharp pain piercing his heart with the knowledge that he'd never be here again after the unfolding events. He didn't open the door, remaining ensnared in the confines of his isolation. Fibe, after some time, left with a sad expression, a sad truth of what was slipping away.
His plan, set to unfold in two days, claimed his restless nights. The day before, sleep eluded him entirely. Rising early, he picked up the solution that would forever alter the trajectory of his existence. Wandering to school with dead eyes, he almost tripped several times on the uneven pavement, a metaphor for the tumult within.
Arriving a little early, he made his way to the lab, ensuring every detail was meticulously prepared. As the rhythmic heartbeat of the school day commenced, his plan unfurled like the slow, deliberate opening of a forbidden scroll. Walking toward the roof, he passed classrooms filled with people whose lives were intertwined in the delicate dance of adolescence. Unexpectedly, Fibe stood before him, sensing something amiss in the rhythm of his steps.
“Go Fibe… Get out of the school… Never look back.”
Edén, haunted by a foreboding, urged Fibe to leave, safeguarding her from the impending storm.
“What are you doing?? Edén, what happened to you?”
Edén, with a defeated face, didn't answer. His mind, a storm of conflicting emotions, pushed through the tumult, leaving her behind. Desperate to follow, Fibe's attempts were thwarted by a teacher in a nearby class, their intervention sealing her fate as a spectator in the unfolding tragedy.
Reaching the roof, Edén approached the water reservoir, a silent witness to the collective burdens of the school. Peering into the swirling water, he saw his reflection.
Dead, soulless eyes. Dried tears ran down his face.
“Know my pain… See through my eyes…”
Opening the sulfuric acid solution, he poured it into the water. Heat surged as the water boiled, and acidic vapours filled the air. Swiftly closing the reservoir, Edén returned to his lab, passing classrooms with a newfound smile, a facade concealing the maelstrom within.
“NERD! Where have you been!”
Looking up, Kyle stood there, sensing the disturbance in the air. He ran at Edén, but for the first time, Edén fought back. Ducking under Kyle's arm, he expertly tripped him. Without time to react, Edén pulled out another vial, Bromic Acid, an acid that produced toxic fumes.
Without hesitation, Edén threw the vial at Kyle, toxic fumes spewing all over him. Turning, Edén ran to the lab, ripping open the door and going in. Taking a breath, he approached the fire alarm. Whispering under his voice, Edén says…
“Now… corrode into nothing…”
Pulling the fire alarm, water cascaded from the roof. The lab, safeguarded from the sprinkler tampering the day before, echoed with horrified screams throughout the school. As Edén reached the lab counter, the doors swung open, revealing Kyle, his hair falling out, clothes melting, rage in his eyes.
“EDÉN!!! YOU DID THIS…”
Charging at Edén, Kyle threw him into the chairs. Picking him up, Kyle smashed him down on the lab counter, and everything went black.
"Zyndraea So'ulith, Eldrotho Ithildar. Nerath Anar'shara."
A voice echoed in Edén’s mind, cryptic words that danced on the fringes of his understanding. Not comprehending the arcane language, he heard a thud, opening his eyes to see Kyle collapsed on the lab counter in front of him, melting away. Edén’s eyes turned to stone, too hard to keep them open.
Everything goes black and the shadows grow darker...
“Dad… Now I can see you again…”