A click could be heard as Falis turned the key in his front door, then pushed it open, bracing himself.

Glass shattered, a shard of it cutting shallowly into the side of Falis’ face.

“Ah-”

“You’re late.”

The lights were off, and Falis could just barely see the figure of the other occupant of his house.

“I’m sorry I jus-”

“I don’t give a shit! so start cooking, you’re late enough as it is”

Grumbling, the other person shuffled off, presumably toward the main room.

Falis breathed out slowly, he should have been used to this by now, after all, this had been going on ever since his parents left for the above, ever since he had…

This wasn’t the time for him to be thinking about that.

Walking downstairs to the basement, Falis threw his school stuff on his bed and began to change clothes, swapping his school shoes for a pair of tattered old house slippers.

Returning to the main floor, he then returned to his usual routine of gathering the day’s rubbish, starting dinner and washing his housemate’s clothes as well as cleaning his room.

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Knocking on the living room door, Falis informed him that dinner was ready and waiting in the kitchen, then returned to his current room in the basement with his portion of the meal.

It hadn’t always been like this. But Falis had nearly forgotten what it had been like before, the only thing he could remember from then was how it had all come crashing down into dust.

How he had killed someone, a friend so long ago.

He deserved this for what he had done, there wasn’t a day that went by where he would not regret his actions.

It gave him nightmares.

seeing her writhing underneath him, scraping at his hands, trying to pry them away from her neck, crying, screaming weakly, trying to breathe.

Falis shook, remembering how her body became limp, lying still on the stone paved street, her eyes clouded over, rainwater, tears and saliva streamed down her face.

She had died that night nine years ago in the rain and storm.

He couldn’t remember what her name was.

He couldn’t remember what she was like.

He couldn’t remember why he had killed her.

He was disgusting, he hated himself for forgetting, he hated himself for her death by his hands…yet…

How was he meant to atone?

He thought that his current situation would be sufficient, to put himself through suffering and sadness to atone for killing her, that if there was some kind of afterlife, she could at least be satisfied with watching his suffering, watching the suffering of her killer.

But it didn’t feel right, there was more he could do, there had to be more, it wasn’t enough, it wasn’t-

A knock at the basement door.

“C-coming”

Falis stood up from his bedside where he had been sitting and ran shakily to the door.

There was no one there.

“Lest?”

He called out, expecting to be greeted by the face of his housemate at the top of the stairs when he looked but…

No one was there.

Falis turned around, thinking he had just imagined it, but then a creak sounded behind him on the wooden steps.

He turned around.

The girl, drenched in rainwater and tears smiled back at him.

He screamed.