(Rose)
I’m nervous. I think I heard a few voices talking. I’m reaching the roof of the tower, the bouquet.
It’s actually foggy, I can’t see anything. A mist the colour of dark rust is surrounding . I can hardly see the sun, and as nothing more but a paler glow up there. It’s dimr than a moon at night.
B - Das... freut mich dir zu treffen, Rose. Endlich...
I didn’t get that. I heard Ann. I walk slowly in that direction. I think she’s telling to run away.
Sothing grabs my hands, my arms, my shoulders, my back, my hips and my knees at the sa ti.
A swarm of brambles without thorns suddenly embraces , over my whole body and slowing down my movents.
B - Ich werde dich hilfen... Hier.
What? I’m being softly taken off from the ground, and quickly brought a little further. It’s the top of a giant dandelion I think.
Ann is tied up just there. She looks mortified.
I’m looking around, puzzled. The brambles don’t let go of but don’t stop from moving.
She keeps talking. I also hear the daiûa humming in the distance.
B - Aah... Ich habe zu lang dich gewarten... Endlich sehe ich dich. Das erfreut mich herzlich!
I don’t understand what she says. I don’t see her. I’ve begun cutting Ann’s ties already. I had forgotten about the flesh missing from her arm. She tries to hide it from .
B - Entschuldigung Ann... Ich danke sehr dich. Du brings siehier wie möchte ich... Aber ich brauche noch eine Hilfe von dir...
It said sothing to Ann? And she’s suddenly trying to run away, but the brambles are catching her. She can’t escape. I’m being stopped from helping her by the conscious plant things. I fight these off, demanding childishly that they let hus go.
I guess a human shape through the red veil a little further away. Is this her?
B - Danke sehr, Rose... Du freittest mich! Das war so nett...
Sothing is happening to Ann. I can’t see her very well. She’s fighting it off.
R - Let her go, demon! Stop!
B - Hmm... Ich bin kein Teufel. Ich bin ganz wie dich ine nette Liebe... Ich bin eine Blu. hr stärke wie dir vielleicht...
R - Ich spreche nicht Deutsch!
That’s about everything I could say in German. She’s German?
B - Ja... Leider, Deutsch ist noch die allein Sprasche, dass ich kenne jetzt. Aber Ann wird nun mir hilfen zu euch Sprasche lernen... Kein Angst, das wird nu rein wenige schr bringen... Du wirst nicht sterben... Eh...
She spoke to Ann and suddenly began to laugh.
And right after that odd amusent, I see powerless how brambles suddenly enter Ann’s ears, eyes, nose and mouth. She struggled and scread horribly. She’s being killed...
I try to fight the thing again, as it keeps giggling anwhile.
I cut the ties against . I aim my rifle at the shape that looks human a little away.
R - Stop or I’ll shoot!
A silent second passes. She lifts her hands very slowly, as if surrendering.
B - Please, don’t shoot...
Hearing her English shocked . I’m so surprised now that I don’t really notice that Ann is being let go.
That clear voice was too different from what I imagined a demonic voice would be.
B - Hear, she’s alright now.. You can look. When you want.
She’s giggling again. I hear Ann coughing behind . The brambles are all receding from our clothes. Ann looks awful, and still tries to hide what I couldn’t miss. Her arm is decaying rapidly now. And it clicks in my mind...
She’s one of them...
Since when?
B - Since the very beginning.
A - Shut up!
The daiûa starts answering to the questions I only think of, when I haven’t even decided whether I want to voice them out or not.
B - Yes, she died at the ti of train accident truly... Oh no, my responsibility and intent regarding the monsters you face is more ambiguous than you think; though I’ll explain that later. Ann? Well she...
A - Don’t! Shut up! Don’t say it!
B - Alright, that’s alright Ann... Because, I don’t need you anymore. You did well enough. It took you long enough, but you did bring her to ... And you even taught English.
Ann began to scream like an animal. I don’t really believe what the daiûa is saying. But I’m concerned about Ann’s reaction to it.
Could it have contained pieces of the truth?
B - Oh, Rose...
Her voice was filled with empathy now. She almost sounded enamoured.
I try to help Ann. But her body is decaying rapidly. She’s falling apart. She(B) killed her(A)...
B - No... Well, not willingly.
R - Save her then; if you can?
B - If I do... Will you do everything I want from you, Rose? Would you sell your soul to in order to save that one?
There it is.
The trap. The Faustian bargain. The deal that makes tales later. The one choice they regret all their life.
And the blackmail of submitting to the threats for soone we care...
So ti ago, I promised myself to be better than that if such a situation should occur.
The morality of my choice will be discussed after I survive this. I refuse, and I take aim.
The daiûa laughs it off. It finds and Ann’s agony amusing. It doesn’t fear my weapon at all, obviously. So I shoot a bullet at it, and nothing changes unfortunately... I’m powerless.
Surprisingly, she tells she will try to save Ann. Despite my refusal?
The flower we’re standing on is moving. I step aside. The daiûa still is hidden by the fog. Ann is being covered with large yellow petals. I think they are yellow at least.
She’s yelling with a sinister voice now.
She’s being covered with more and more petals, until it shapes a flower bud again, or a very large cocoon.
Everything becos still, except for the wind and fog. How long will it take? And what has she done? Who is she?
B - I’ll tell you everything you want to know, Rose. Just as soon as we’re just between us.
R - Why did you lie about Ann?
B - I’ve never lied... She heard my voice, my whispers and wishes, whilst she was close to you. But she didn’t follow them much... She didn’t trust , and she was not my pawn.
This reminds of sothing.
B - I will tell you everything, once this is done. No matter what cos out, I want her gone, a way or another... I want to be alone with you Rose...
My heartbeat rises. I’m nervous. The daiûa speaks with a friendly voice and this is unsettling;
But now, I’m worried about what will turn out of Ann...
~
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