Corruption

The first time ??? went through this he was terrified. It was a desperate measure to escape the hell hole he found himself in, but ??? couldn’t help but feel anxious, like everything was going too well. The time spent preparing what he needed was long and tiring. The amount of research that went into knowing what he was getting himself into should’ve put him at ease, after all it would all soon be over. However events from days prior left him uneasy. Marianne, the original body’s younger sister, would constantly go into his room and leave after a few minutes. The first few times she would leave looking frustrated, but the final time she entered she had come out looking satisfied.

??? took another look at the bottle. A deep purple juice swirled around inside. ??? sighed, laughing to himself and how stupid he sounded. Nobody knew what he was about to do so how could Marianne have done anything? At least that was what he’d thought the first time. Then his second time through he tried to avoid drinking the bottle of poison, unwilling to go through the pain again. This continued with ??? either drinking the poison or dying in a different cruel way. The booming clap of thunder startled ???. The wind was beginning to pick up speed, rushing through the trees outside, and through the eaves creating a sound akin to howling.

??? went over to the only window in the room, struggling for a few minutes to open it. When he finally undid the rusting latch he accidentally cut himself. The blood beaded and fell, but he paid no attention to the injury besides a small hiss of pain. Taking no notice of the color of his blood.

He wasn’t able to stick his head out of the window, but ??? was still able to feel the cold rush of air that swept through the room causing the layer of dust to slightly move in protest. The stench of mildew was slowly being replaced with the sweet smell of rain. ??? leaned against the wall to stare out the window. It wasn’t much, but the sight of the storm clouds calmed him, and helped him think more clearly. He leaned over to pick up the bottle of purple liquid and held it up to the dim light. He didn’t know why he did that, maybe it was just boredom or a last ditch effort to see if something was wrong, whatever it was though ???’s eyes stared in confusion at the bottle. Small black dots were floating in the bottle. Tiny and inconspicuous, but extremely suspicious as they hadn’t been there before when he drained the berries of their juices. ??? was looking closer at the floating dots when a sudden knock on the door startled him. ??? fumbled with the bottle for a moment before managing to set it down. ??? sighed in relief. He’d forgotten that Marianne would come knocking on the door. The first time it had happened he’d started panicking, unsure of what to do since everyone in the house should have left. Now though, he knew what to expect from the different paths he could take.

“???~” A sing-songy voice called out his name. Hearing the soft and sweet voice, ??? almost teared up thinking of his younger sister Ria. However, the person behind the door was not the person he remembered, she was not the caring and annoying little sister he loved and doted on. “Marianne,” ??? choked up slightly before continuing, “what do you want?” Marianne grinned, malice dancing in her eyes when she heard how defeated ??? sounded. That was what she wanted, what she needed since the validation she had gotten from others wasn’t enough. “Well can’t we just talk? Sister to brother?” ???’s eyes darkened. He knew what she meant. She wanted to see it for herself, him drinking the poison and his face twisted in pain as he died an agonizing death. “Sure… come in and see it for yourself.” The door swung open, its hinges screeching in protest only to be drowned out by Marianne cheerfully asking ??? what he could have meant by that. As usual ??? cringed back from the loud static that covered his name. He didn’t know why but from the start of him waking up in the alternate universe he was unable to hear his own name. It had eventually led to him being unable to remember it at all.

Marianne smirked when she saw him flinch back thinking that he was cowering before her. ??? saw the mirth in her eyes and grimaced. He despised seeing her make such hateful expressions with his little sister’s face. Then again could she even be his little sister at this point?

??? sat down, the mattress creaked under his weight. Resting his sharp elbows on his knees and his chin on the palm of his hand he stared at Marianne. She had something to do with what was happening. The reason he kept coming back to this specific moment in time, but how could she? She was a human after all, he had confirmed this multiple times, at first innocent, harmless questions, but the more he went through, the more brutal his ways became. ‘Brutal?’

A flash of a memory appeared, Marianne was strapped to a chair, her mouth gagged as ??? oh so carefully took a scalpel to her hairline and started to slice, hot blood pouring down her face as she screamed in agony. It didn’t stop there. He carefully followed where her hair was attached, a thin line of red appearing as he cut. Once he was done he grabbed a fistfull of her hair and pulled, from the top, watching as her scalp slowly peeled back. ??? watched as the tissue stretched and snapped back, ripping away from the scalp. The veins gave way to the pressure and ripped without issue. Marianne was left unable to fall completely unconscious as the pain kept bringing her back. Once he had ripped away the remainder of her scalp ??? took a power drill that was kept in the far corner of the room. It was rusty and covered in a reddish brown substance. Marianne’s eyes widened and fresh tears started to run down her face. She begged for mercy, her sobs muffled by the gag. When ??? grabbed her freshly scalped head, she tried to twist away the pain blurring her sight, but she was desperate. She only stopped struggling once the drilling started. The sound reverberated through her entire head. The vibrations forced her to close her eyes, her tears mixing with the seemingly endless streams of blood. Her body slumped over, but ??? kept her head in place by grabbing hold of the back of her neck.

When she opened her eyes again the drilling had stopped, but her head felt… numb. She heard a door open through the daze so her head snapped up, eyes filled with hope only for them to dim once more. A mirror was placed in front of her forcing her eyes to widen with terror. She felt sick to her stomach and proceeded to act on impulse violently vomiting. The warm bile spilled into the gag soaking it in gastric juices. It dribbled down her front adding to the terrible concoction of bodily fluids that had already stained her clothes.

Marianne looked back up. It now made sense why her head felt numb why she could barely feel any pain besides sharp stings. The top of her head had been scrubbed violently bare. The off white bone contrasted with her bloody skin, the edges that had been cut had been burned. Dozens of small holes littered her skull, from them were droplets of cerebrospinal fluid that had leaked out with her sudden motions. ??? took out a cloth and wiped the liquid away like he was cleaning a trophy. A wide smile stretched across his face. “Isn’t it beautiful,” he mumbled, “it means you’re human… mmm yes… a sick, twisted human. The others don’t have bones of this color so you’re safe to go.” Marianne felt herself be released and jumped out of her seat, the motion causing her head to throb and little spurts of the fluid to come out making her even more dizzy. She whirled around to face ??? and noticed a stain that was slowly spreading from his abdomen. It was black in color, and his face seemed to be a sickly white. Pure white irises stared at Marianne with a sadistic joy.

She didn’t say anything and quickly fled, desperate to leave the hell hole she had been trapped in. Behind her in the quickly darkening room ??? collapsed onto the floor, the large gaping hole in his abdomen quickly losing whatever blood he had left in him.

With the memory then over ??? was snapped back into reality. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief, but there was a large knot of uncertainty that needed to be unraveled. The person torturing Marianne wasn’t him, it couldn’t have been. He absolutely despised her, but just the thought of torturing her made him feel sick to his stomach. There was also the issue of his blood being black and the fact that he’d had white eyes. Everything about the scene screamed inhuman and ??? had to acknowledge it. ??? slowly rose to his feet and stumbled over to the window, positioned his hand, and moved it diagonally for the sharpest part of the window to cut into his palm.

Black blood spewed forth coating the wall and part of ???’s shirt. The soaked cloth clung to his skin causing ??? to shiver. Compared to human blood it felt like someone had pressed a large chunk of ice against his skin. It had been him. At the very least his body had tortured Marianne. ??? turned to face her, his face blank of any emotion. “Why Ria? Why would you help them?” Marianne stared at him, mouth agape. She tried to answer, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even comprehend what she had just seen. Then to be confronted with her old childhood nickname, was just too much. She could only open and close her mouth like a fish unable to sputter out a single word. ??? reached out to grab her wrist in an attempt to pull her back to earth, but he yanked his hand back as he watched in horror. Marianne’s face began to swell and bubble up. Boils formed and popped, coating her face in pus and blood. Her eyes grew to several times their size, popping out of their sockets before exploding. Her limbs swelled and her skin stretched and split. Each layer split to reveal the one underneath until even the hypodermis was pulled apart. Marianne could only let out a slight gurgle before it happened. Like a balloon being over inflated she exploded from the pressure. Pieces of her were strewn all over the room with her blood soaking into ???’s surroundings. He was forced to wipe the blood off of his eyes to see the scene more clearly only to feel a rush of bile come up his throat. ??? felt lucky that at the very least her excrement hadn’t gotten on him, but the state of the room was still enough to force him to vomit.

Red. Pure red escaped from his throat and out his mouth to splatter onto the floor, joining Marianne. “U-ugh.” ??? collapsed onto the now blood soaked mattress. It squelched with the warm red liquid seeping out of the fabric. His hands dug into his hair, yanking on it in frustration. Marianne was his best shot at gathering the information he needed, but she was now dead. Did he… would he have to go through it again? The soul wrenching feeling of being eaten alive, just to come back to before Marianne died… No! He couldn’t, not again. No matter how many times he went through it, the pain never went away and he never got used to it.

But, wait. ??? looked up, straight at the closet. It was impossible for Marianne to just suddenly explode out of nowhere, she didn’t even say anything to reveal the people behind her. Dry raspy laughter echoed from within the closet. An elderly man stepped from its shadows. His white wispy hair combined with his hunched back and soft expression reminded ??? of a kind grandfather. Yet his instincts told him to run, run far away. The elderly man’s one eye stared directly at ???.

“Do you know who I am, child?” ??? mumbled a barely audible no. The man slowly chuckled. “That’s to be expected, I suppose, but I know who you are. One of his children that met an untimely death is what you are, and a murderer.” The man gnashed his teeth at the last part. The slight smile was gone, the kind eyes now glowered at ???. For whatever reason ??? felt a pang in his heart when the man mentioned that other person, but he felt puzzled at being called a murderer. ‘What the hell does this old man mean?’ ??? tried to speak but found himself being lifted off of the mattress. A tight grip on his throat prevented him from saying anything. The old man was grinning from ear to ear revealing the numerous teeth. “Mmm hahaha yes dear child. You are in fact a murderer. You killed my son when you should’ve been the one to die. So I am here to rectify that mistake. As such there is no need to know who I am, ah. Don’t take this to heart though. The little brat failing was his own fault, we just can’t leave any loose ends to wave about. Goodbye.”

???’s eyes fluttered open, darkness impeded his vision. He tried to sit up, but from the sudden movement a headache blossomed. ??? pressed his palm against his forehead, scowling. He sat there like that for a few minutes hoping for the pain to dull, at the same time, his eyes slowly scanned the area, but there was nothing. At least nothing that he could see. He cursed at himself for falling victim to how weak the man looked. But now, he was back, back to the same damn space that haunted him.