Tristessa wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream.
How had this happened? Weren't they just happily reading a book, learning about Nekrom's beliefs? Why had they come to such a horrible end when everything was peaceful and quiet?
Why had Lucahn gone mad?
Why had Lucahn gouged out his eyes?
Why was Lucahn dead?
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Why?
Why?
"…why?"
Holding her head with both hands, her nails digging into her scalp, Tristessa repeated that question endlessly. Her mouth filled with vomit and she spat the contents of her stomach onto her chest and legs. Her reasoning ability made her know that what she was witnessing was real, that it was the first time she had seen a corpse and that she was not prepared. This directly resulted in fear, forcing her to take several steps back and unable to unclog the morbid connection created between her eyes and Lucahn's.
They stared at her, as if they were accusing her of his death. Accusing her of having made his mother and father cry, of having destroyed what was left of his family in record time.
A single day. That had been enough for her to bring misfortune to the Mercer-Archeos family.
"This can't be happening… I have to be dreaming… It can't be… Is it my fault? Was it me? Really? What did I do? What did fucking I do? What? What?!"
Tristessa's murmurs, her mind receiving more damage than it already had, were not heard by the woman who had covered her mouth to stifle the screams coming from her throat, nor by the man that was still frozen in the hallway.
"WHAT DID I DO?! FUCKING TELL ME!"
It wasn't until she screamed like that, so loudly, that she managed to get Tiara to slowly turn her head to look at her out of the corner of her eye. Never, ever, had she seen a person emit so much hatred in a single glance. The housewife's hatred was so much that her own body and the well-being of her soon-to-be-born child ceased to matter to her as she ran towards Tristessa and punched her exactly where Lucahn had hit her earlier with his book.
Irremediably, the girl fell to the ground, almost at Jin's feet. The hellish agony from the crushed bone of her nose, cartilages torn and chopped by the pieces of protruding bone, and lots of broken blood vessels, made Tristessa writhe on the ground, crying and screaming in pain. She kicked, dragging herself along the carpet and convulsing thanks to that sinister veil of suffering that loomed over her again.
"Uff… Uff… S-stop…!" she implored, blinking rapidly to clear her tears and see that terrifying woman standing in front of her. "It hurts… The pain, the fucking pain!"
"Pain? Pain?! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT PAIN IS!"
Tiara's bellow was accompanied by the weight of her body as she sat over her chest. In her sudden confusion, Tristessa realized too late that the housewife had taken her by the wrist of her left hand and held it against the carpet. She then pulled a hunting knife from inside the pocket of her dress and, without a second's delay, without allowing Tristessa to say a word or even think about what was going to happen, she stabbed her with all her strength against the palm of her hand.
The sharp tip of the iron blade pierced bone, flesh both layers of skin and the carpet below it without any problem. And the pain exploded in the girl's hand, traveling like an out-of-control train straight to her brain.
"AAAHHHGGGG!" The new torment joined the one focused on the center of her face. Fresh blood gushed out from around the blade, getting lost in between pieces of skin and overflowing to the sides. "NOO, IT HURTS! STOP IT, PLEASE! IT HURTS!!
"You think this is pain?! This is nothing!" Tiara twisted the knife, making the girl scream louder, she who couldn't do anything to fight. With her other hand immobilized and the woman's weight on top of her, she was totally at her mercy. "Have you ever given birth?! Have you ever seen your child disappear, never to be seen again?! Has your life ever crumbled before your eyes from one day to the next?!"
Screams filled with the depression of hardships, spitting saliva and wide eyes oversaturated with pure hatred. Tristessa knew Tiara was seeking her suffering and she could do nothing but scream at the top of her lungs as the pain exploded inside her every time the woman moved the knife back and forth, lacerating muscle and breaking bone.
Until the blade came out of the top of her hand, taking her index finger with it.
"NOW, TELL ME IF YOU SAW YOUR SON DIE!" the woman roared, over Tristessa's screams. "YOU CAN'T, CAN YOU?! THEN TELL ME IT WAS YOU WHO KILLED MY SON! TELL ME! ADMIT IT!"
But the girl couldn't stop screaming. Her mind had broken thanks to the merciless level of pain that had come to stay. Her bloody finger lay at her side, insignificant compared to that same arm that the Varg had torn off, but which still made itself felt like flames enveloping her neurons.
She wanted to look away at the new nausea given by the horrible events, making Tiara release her right hand to grab the lower part of her head, digging her nails into her cheeks.
"LOOK AT ME, FUCKING WITCH! LOOK AT ME IN THE EYES AND TELL ME WHAT YOU DID!"
But Tristessa, overcome by her survival instinct and with her free hand, desperately groped the ground and found a piece of porcelain from the ornamental vase that had fallen. She clung to it tightly, thousands of sharp stings exploding as the edges cut into her palm, and attacked Tiara, stabbing the broken porcelain into her armpit.
"AHH, DAMN IT!"
The woman fell back, moving away from Tristessa while covering her armpit and clenching her teeth tightly.
In that moment, a kind of momentary peace was achieved, the calm before a new storm breaks out. Tristessa struggled to breathe, her heart rate reaching stratospheric levels, and trying not to lose consciousness in the face of all the unbearable pain and blood loss. She made a great effort to stand up, clutching her shattered hand with the other, whose fresh cuts were irrelevant in comparison.
And as she stood up, her soul wrapped in the purest terror, she found the figure of Jin, in the same position in which he saw Lucahn dead. He was not able to articulate a single word, not even assist his injured wife. His shock was such that he could only move his mouth and stammer, soaking his beard with saliva.
Perhaps he felt Tristessa's gaze filled with regret, as he slowly turned his head to dedicate hatred towards her. A hatred that would have resulted in violence of the most brutal nature if only he were not in such a broken state. If only he were not so heartbroken. And if only he were not a gentle and kind man.
It was truly unfair that good people are those who suffer the most. Both on Earth and in Nekrom, that law was a foundation they had in common.
A broken family. Exiled, destined to suffer. Children missing, presumed dead. And now Tristessa came into their lives, and those were mercilessly destroyed. That frustration, that endless guilt, made the black-haired girl gather some courage and stop the trembling of her lips. She took a breath, opened her mouth and screamed with all her might:
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG! I JUST TOLD HIM THAT I DIED AND CAME BACK FROM DEATH!"