A void.

"Mama?" Jasper shook Mama's motionless body, lying on her side, facing away from him. Her skin, no longer possessing its motherly warmth, returned with its pale coldness to the touch.

"Mama, wake up. The sun is here!"

Jasper excitedly spread his arms to the sky. The void. The darkness. Mama didn't respond.

"Eh?"

He confusingly cocked his head, and his arms slowly returned to his sides. A sorrowful sigh swelled from the throat and soothed out of his lips. He lay down next to her and faced the abyssal, pouting. Closed his eyes and tried to sleep. He wasn't tired. Frustration stacked within his eyelids as they closed more tightly. He counted from one to three. He reached to the side and hugged Mama's cold body, trying to snuggle himself to sleep.

Something is wrong.

Jasper opened his eyes. His pupils misted as they remained staring at the borderless ceiling of the void. He let go of his Mama and propped himself to his knees. He turned to his Mama and leaned close to her ear, still motionless in the same position as before.

Mama is still sleeping.

"Mama!" he shouted. "Wake! Upppppp!"

No response.

"Waaaake. Upppppppp!"

Silence.

Jasper worriedly sat there, staring at his Mama, panting to ease his strained throat. He gently tucked her strands of dark hair behind her ear before clenching his teeth. He'd have to do this the hard way. One by one. He eyed her slumped arm and giggled with impish as he brought his fingers to pinch her skin. Whenever Mama pinched his ear to reprimand him, it would hurt a lot and made him cry every time. Or do I pinch her ear first?

He would test the waters in case his Mama would wake up and not get angry at him. Jasper knitted his brow. He pinched the skin on her arm and stretched it.

Nope.

He grabbed her ear and lugged it.

"Mamaaaa! Wakeeeee up!"

Jasper fell to his butt as his Mama turned to face the ceiling. He cried out in joy. He scampered back to his knees and shook her body.

"Mama!"

Mama didn't say anything.

"Mama..."

Mama didn't move.

Jasper's smile remained as he gleaned her face. Dim, lifeless brown eyes loosely opened. The light in her eyes had faded. Her chapped cheeks were pale, and her lips were slightly parted open.

Mama..?

Tears welled in Jasper's eyes. He didn't know why he felt so lonely. His smile still remained. He slowly looked at her throat. A wide slit. Blood had spilled and cascaded from her neck, massing a pool of crimson fluid on her other side.

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"..."

Jasper slowly stared at the bloodied knife resting near her frail, slender hand. A bud sprouted beside it, rapidly blooming into a grey, dull lotus, feasting on her blood. Images quickly flitted by Jasper's eyes as his smile widened. A man. A God being crucified. His face was censored by a black square. Then, strange people with long ears and solemn eyes as the crowd below. Strange memories. Papa's empty eyes. The sight of mutilated corpses. The pile of brain matter spread outwards as Jasper looked down at the blown head of a man he killed for the first time, his numbing fingers on the clammy trigger, a myriad of tingles dancing on his palms.

Papa...

His expired Mama with a slit on her throat.

The deafening silence mourned for her.

A black square slowly appeared on the lotus to veil the face of the LORD. Jasper maintained eye contact with Him, and his head rapidly shook from side to side, exacerbating with every tick. Cryptic whispers lulled in his ears. His body uncontrollably quivered. Felt cold. Faint church bells tolled in his mind, and his temples throbbed. Jasper's trembling fingers slid off his Mama. A chuckle or two. The tolling of church bells grew louder, swaying in and out of his ears like a swinging pendulum. His head hurt like hell. Insanity. Kill, kill, kill. Jasper clutched his hair and hysterically laughed. His throat hurt and strained more. He considered quenching his thirst on Mama's blood to satiate his parched throat.

The lotus's inscrutable facade spoke to him, its cryptic whispers as soothing as the ringing church bells.

"■■ ■■■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■?"

My lord, my lord, why have you forsaken me?

Jasper eyed the bloodied knife. Lying there, still like his Mama.

There was only one answer to this question.

"Ready to meet Chloe, son?"

Mama!

Jasper excitedly nodded. Hysterical laughter after laughter.

He lunged at the knife.

The knife disappeared before he swooped it. He laughed and laughed. He rolled flat on the ground, covering himself in the puddle of blood.

A game of hide and seek.

The void glimmered as they merged with the pitch-black surroundings of his room, back to staring at the dull ceiling. He kicked to his feet and rolled out of his futon. Scuttled and pressed his numb fingers against the shoji before sliding it. He ran down the hallway in a frenzy, occasionally bumping against the wall, laughing and laughing. The endless symphony of church bells tolled in crescendo as he barged into the kitchen. He searched for the knife amid the darkness. He swiftly scoured across the shelves to buckets around the kitchen, the gait tickling his pores and exciting him even more.

Found you.

He grabbed the knife from the bucket.

And slit his throat.

Jasper laughed as he gurgled on his own blood, collapsing to his feet. An opaque bud appeared in the centre of his vision. It sprouted, grey petals blended with the night's shadows lurking in the corners. The LORD Himself was watching him. From above the skies. From the stamen of the lotus, staring down at him, from the heavens.

it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts

"REWIND."

Blood flowed back to Jasper's neck, and a force lifted him back to his feet, explosively muffling the tolling church bells and his laughter. He was back to holding the knife again. He laughed and slit his throat.

"REWIND."

Again.

"REWIND."

And again.

"REWIND."

And... again.

"REWIND."

It hurts.

Jasper hesitantly held the knife over his throat, his laughter losing impetus. Tears streamed down his cheek, and he slumped to his knees. The toll of church bells slowly faded with the lotus, the LORD abandoning him to his churning gut. He laughed and laughed.

Loneliness.

"■■■■■■!" The voice of Hiro shouted at him from the entrance of the kitchen. Jasper's grip on the knife tightened as he prepared to slit his throat again. He laughed. A hand reached out from behind and grabbed the knife's handle. Jasper screamed as he tried to wrestle it back. He spun around and faced Yumi, who cried back. He stopped laughing, and his deranged smile slumped. His grip on the knife became loose. Yumi yanked it from his grip. She fell to her butt and stared into Jasper's eyes, desperately holding onto the knife, sniffling.

"■■■■■... ■■■■..."

...leave me alone.

Jasper's eyes rolled to their whites, and he fainted.