Chapter IV: Death
“I need you to accept me...Nelya.”
At that moment, shadows danced with a life of their own around our room, twisting and contorting into grotesque shapes that seemed to whisper. The air grew heavy, a sense of impending doom making me realize I was getting entangled with something beyond my comprehension. Primal fear struck, though beneath it something else arose, something that ought to crawl out, tugging at the corners of my mind.
I regained my consciousness and stared into my sister’s eyes. Gorgeous. Two red gems with infinite possibilities.
“I...I want to accept you.” I said, nodding slowly. “I’ll accept you, Lillya.”
I still was very confused by her sudden behavior. However, I was but an innocent, needy teenager with many things in my head. I felt good, so close to her. I couldn't say otherwise...no matter what she really meant.
Her expression became a haunting, yet beautiful smile. Abruptly, she grabbed my face with both her cold hands. My fingers entwined with her after I ran my hands up her arms, embracing a feeling I yearned for a long time.
She looked at me with love-sick eyes, a deep, red blush all over her face.
“I love you.” She said, her soft hands trembling as they held me like a fragile treasure.
“I love you too.” I muttered, looking down shyly after realizing what was happening.
I was happy. A smile grew on my face, wide. Lillya loves me, and she was a beautiful girl.
After years of doubts, fears and self-loathing, I had found my lover.
My brain was filled with a sugar I should have never, ever tasted.
“Now...are you ready to accept me?” She asked me, backing off and holding out her hand.
I stared at it for a couple of seconds, grabbing it thereafter. "O-Of course! I accept you!"
I thought she meant accepting her being attracted to women, just as I was.
I was wrong. I was very, very wrong.
We set out of our room, wandering through the corridors of our beautiful home.
We reached a door, a door which lead into an unused room of our mansion.
She pulled out a key, unlocking it. I was afraid, yet I was curious. What was she going to show me?
She held my hand as the door creaked, opening wide for me to see what was inside.
Ferya was at the farthest corner of the empty bed, on the bare mattress, hunched over, naked and crying
I froze in shock. She was gagged, her arms behind her back tied against the bed’s frame.
The door closed, I immediately turned around, panic kicking in.
“Come on...Nelya. Let me show you the true meaning of this world.”
A smile and words that both crawled deep under my skin. My smile wasn't there anymore.
She hummed happily, walking past me toward Ferya, which immediately started screaming in despair.
I watched her grab a sharp blade from the bedside table, mounting and straddling her body gently as she squirmed right beneath her.
I stood there, motionless. I couldn’t fathom the horrible act that she was doing, I couldn’t accept that who I was looking at, was my sister I’ve been knowing and sharing my entire life for six years...the same sister that just made me her lover minutes earlier.
Ferya’s throat soon started to gush out blood all over her white, pure hair. She smiled maniacally towards the best maid I’ve ever met in my life, digging the knife deep, deep inside her neck.
“Look, Nelya! Look!!” She moaned, throwing her head back and grinding her hips against Ferya’s dying corpse. “This! This is true elation!”
“N-No...no!!! NO!!” I suddenly woke up. I ran towards Lillya, grabbing her bloody arm and pulling her away, making her body hit the floor hard. “Ferya! Ferya! SOMEONE HELP ME, PLEASE!” I pressed against her wound, looking at her straight in the eyes. They started losing their light gradually. I sobbed, sobbed in agony, fear, confusion and sadness.
“Hahah.” Lillya stood up weakly, rubbing her hip and hissing in pain. “Nelya...you said you’d accept me.”
“I...I don’t get it…!” I turned towards her, climbing down Ferya and pushing her against the wall across the room. “Why? Why would you do this? What did she ever do to you?!”
“You don’t understand, Nelya!” She shook her head, grabbing my face. “Nothing matters anymore! It’s just us...and nothing else!”
“W-What…?”
I was terrified. I was sobbing and she was smiling all the way through. She killed an innocent maid, and yet...she looked happy.
“The night is still young, Nelya…” she muttered, running her hands up my body. “Let’s kill everyone else...come on…”
“N-No!” I screamed, pushing her again and grabbing the knife from the ground. I started swinging its blade towards her. “Y-You monster! You killed them!”
“Hmpf...why do you reject me, Nelya?!”
She grabbed my arm nimbly, hurling it away with force and trying to kiss me as she pushed me. We both fell on the ground, the knife sliding far away from my hand.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“You won’t understand...Nelya. This is the true meaning of life! We both are destined to be happy...forever!”
“W-What are you talking about?! SOMEONE HELP ME, PLEASE!” I screamed again, trying to push her again.
“It’s all useless!” She hissed, her cold, pale hand wrapping itself around my neck. “I’m sorry, my dear sister...you’ll have to rest for now.”
My eyes became heavy, my breath short. Soon, my brain lost its supply of oxygen and I lost my consciousness…
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Why won’t she understand?! Why does she refuse my love?
Where did I go wrong?
hUmAnS aRe sO cOmPLIcAte!
I knocked on their door, my rage boiling my blood.
“Who is it?”
“Mom, dad, it's me.”
“Come in, sweetie! Is something wrong?”
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When I came to, the smell of blood that filled my nostrils made me puke on the floor. I weakly got up, Lillya was gone. Same thing for the blade.
I immediately rushed out of the room desperately, knowing exactly what she was doing while I was unconscious.
The first thing that came to my mind was rushing over William’s room. He could fight...and he could have stopped her easily.
“William! Will...iam…?”
But as soon as I reached his door, it was wide open...nobody inside it. Did he hear my screams? Or the others'?
I checked beneath his pillow. His gun was still there. I grabbed it just in case and tiptoed around the house.
The rain outside was deafening. I checked every single dark spot of the corridor I was traversing, keeping my ears wide open to hear any type of sound. I held the cold gun in my trembling hands, not having the slightest idea on how to use it...and how lethal it was.
“LILLYA, STOP!”
My heart jumped as soon as I heard William’s voice upstairs...where Rosie had her room. I rushed over, crying with despair as I heard Rosie’s screams and William’s grunts of struggle.
My vision narrowed, my footsteps became heavy, my hands gripped the gun hard, almost pulling the trigger.
And when I turned the last corner, pointing it inside the room...I saw her.
She was cornered, her blade inside Rosie’s stomach. Annaliese on the ground right beside her, dead.
She looked over me, her red, glowing eyes in utter despair. William noticed me too, widening his eyes with hope.
“NELYA, GIVE ME THE GUN!” He screamed.
“Nelya...shoot him!” Lillya desperately mewled for my help. “Please! I’m just trying to help you! This family...this whole world...is suffering! If you don’t kill him, you’ll suffer!”
I stood frozen, caught between the chaos unfolding before me. The weight of the gun in my trembling hands felt heavier than ever, each heartbeat echoing louder in my ears. My gaze flickered between my sister and William, torn between loyalty and love.
Despite everything, I loved her. I loved Lillya with all my heart. I felt ecstatic when she told me she loved me...when I realized how mutual our feelings were. I couldn't shoot her. I could have never shot her.
Despite her ugly actions…I was conflicted. Losing her would have meant losing my only, true love.
“I can’t…!” I muttered through my tears. “Nelya...just stop this madness! It doesn’t have to end like this!”
“What the fuck are you doing, Nelya?!” William screamed at me.
“Your brother fornicated with our sister, Rosie! He is the sinner! I am not!” Lillya screamed, pointing her finger towards him. “Kill him, Nelya!”
“Don’t let her get into your head, Nelya!” William grunted, walking towards me. “Give me the gun, NOW!”
Lillya’s desperation was palpable, her worlds laced with twisted conviction. “Nelya, please! We can be free from this cursed existence together! End it now...and we’ll be together for all eternity!” She smiled at me, tears rolling down her eyes.
“NELYA! GIVE ME THE FUCKING GUN!”
A loud sound. I never heard it in my life, so all I could process was a pop in my ears that almost made them bleed.
image [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ssg7lsda8vkmq2hqsmolc/artist_missile228-a-lot-of-particles-depth-of-field-best-quality-illus-s-4008225447.png?rlkey=ijdw95bs5vnbmg73k4kh31ozl&st=y5qn2wjc&raw=1]
I opened my teary eyes, staring at the consequences of my actions. William’s corpse on the floor, his chest oozing blood.
“Y-YOU…!” Rosie rushed at me in a frenzy of fear and rage.
I pressed that light, easy trigger over and over again, five more times, to be exact. Countless pops inside my small ears as I closed my eyes, aiming wildly wherever.
When I opened them back, the window was shattered, Rosie was on top of William...and Lillya was on the ground, holding her own stomach as she coughed blood.
“L-Lillya!” I screamed with despair, throwing that stupid, deadly tool away and rushing over her. “I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry! I tried to save you…! I...no! I don’t want you to die!”
She held my face, smiling weakly as I kept her in my arms, sobs starting to pour out together with tears.
“My dear little Nelya...at least...I can finally kiss you.”
She brought her lips near mine. I tasted them for the first time...it was wonderful. I deepened our kiss as I cried...and after and endless time, I pulled back.
“Why? Why did you do this?!”
“Because I want you to be happy.”
“How can I be happy after you killed my family?!”
“You will understand.”
“W-What?!”
“One day...you will understand…that this...is hell.”
“I don’t want you to die! You’re the only thing I have left!” I cried, hugging her desperately.
“We’ll be together again, Nelya. I promise you.” She muttered, her last, cold breaths hitting my neck. “Just wait for me by the tree after your death. I’ll be there for you.”
“Do you promise!?”
“Yes…”
And then, she exhaled for the last time.
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The next morning, I checked the whole house. Everyone was dead, even if most of the servants were simply missing. Maybe they ran away through the night, maybe Lillya buried their corpses deep in the woods. I would have never known.
I stood by our tree, with tears in my eyes. Despite everything, the fact that she was gone hurt more than the death of my whole family by her hand.
Was it forgiveness? Was it naïveté? Or was it because she made me a monster while I didn’t notice during all these years?
That book, those words...I still didn't understand them.
All I knew was that I wanted to see her again.
She took everything from me in only one night.
The only way I could reattain happiness was by holding her in my arms once more.
And so I tied the rope on one of the branches, climbed on it, tied the other end around my neck…
I needed her. I needed her warmth despite everything.
I closed my eyes,
and jumped.
I wandered around that empty, haunted mansion for a long time, searching for her. She wasn’t anywhere to be found.
She didn’t keep her promise.
She lied to me.
She killed everyone I loved and the ran away.
She made me kill myself...and never came for me as she promised.
I was trapped in my own, dead mansion. With no one to talk to, nothing to do. I was bored, sad and about to go mad.
My corpse was still hanged. I stared at it with anger, suspicion, discouragement, hatred and desolation.