"Papa mama, can we get ice cream please?"
I asked excited when I saw the ice cream stand. Mama smiled at me while stroking my hair. Papa was looking at the stand with the same excitement as I had.
"Sure honey, we'll get the biggest ice cream they have"
We went to the stand. Papa and I barely contained our excitement for sweets while mama looked at papa with a weird smile on her face. I know she thinks papa is weird but it works for me. He always gives me sweets because of it.
I licked the strawberry ice cream happily along with papa who had a chocolate one. It was a sweet scene...but I could only see it from afar.
"Why am I seeing this right now?"
I stood behind my parents and the little me while the smell of burning poured down on me from the power lines above. I looked at them, chatting happily while the smell intensified. Tears were threatening to come out but I held them back. I already cried for them...there is no point in doing so again. I should smile and be happy instead since I got to see this once more.
My vision started to blurry as my eyes started to feel heavy. Darkness replaced my parents and I, but the smell of burning remained. No, it intensified. There was one difference though, this wasn't the smell of burning circuits, it didn't have that chemical odor similar to burnt plastic, instead it was a sweet, sickening and pungent odor. It took me some time but I eventually recognized it.
It was the smell of burning flesh.
I quickly opened my eyes once I realized this. I was no longer in the streets with my family, instead I found myself surrounded by stone walls stained with blood, sitting against one of said walls. I tried to move but the sound of rattling quickly made me aware of the chains that were roughly tied around my wrists, above my head. This place was dark, very dark...and the only source of light wasn't a nice view.
"I-I can't-bleugh!"
There was something horrendous on the other side of the room. Chained to the ceiling just like I, there lay a burning body. The flames that engulfed it dimly illuminated the room. The body was charred beyond recognition. Some of the limbs were twisted in impossible ways while others were missing. The expression on its face was one of pure terror. I couldn't stand such a view and I ended up vomiting on the floor.
Naturally when I did i looked to the floor and i wish i hadn't. The floor was flooded with blood and mutilated body parts. I'm not sure if i didn't notice it before because i just woke up but now that i saw that i was awfully aware of the wet sensation of the blood on my legs and butt. I tried to look around the room in search of anything that would allow me to escape from this place but to no avail. The only thing I managed to see in the darkness were instruments of torture. Bonesaws covered in blood and rust, old looking pincers with remains of flesh still on them, a large collection of knives of different sizes and shapes and multiple weird looking wood tables with weird metal contraptions attached to them.
My heart was beating fast and cold sweat was falling down my neck. I-I'm scared, I'm not good with blood and that burning body is giving me really bad memories. I could see the image of my father superposing over the burning body for mere instants, but those brief moments were enough to make me panic. I contained my screams and tears while i shivered because i was afraid that whatever killed and burned that person would hear me and come do the same to me.
"S-someone...help me please..."
I stayed like that for a long time, looking at that corpse in the eyes. I tried to look away but i couldnt, for some reason i was fixated on it, those hollow eyesockets penetrated through me and sent shivers down my spine but i still couldnt look away. The sound of boiling fat and crackling fire were the only things that echoed in here as I denied myself from crying.
Eventually the fire started consuming the corpse more and more. One of its arms snapped in two as bone and flesh was consumed. Half of the head was now a visible burned skeleton with its boiling innards slowly spilling out. When both arms were consumed the corpse's upper body fell loudly to the ground. The skull broke and its contents stained the floor.
The moment that happened i started hearing steps, loud and heavy steps, accompanied by heavy and irregular breathing coming from somewhere i couldnt see. My breathing quickened at the realization that whoever this room belongs to, is now coming for me. Then it happened. I saw him.
It looked somewhat similar to that giant man we killed to get here, but less monstrous. His pale skin similar to that of a corpse, bulky and unnatural looking muscles and terrifying height were all characteristics that it shared with that monster. The face of the man in front of me was sickening. His veins were bulging out like they were about to explode, his eyes were sunken and his white beard was full of filth. Behind him there was another man similar to the first, however this one had tumors bulging out of multiple parts of his body, his beard was black and overall, it looked a bit younger.
"I-I...please"
They both looked at me with a sadistic smile on their faces. The older one approached the table with the knives and took one of them. It was a small and curved one-edged knife with some kind of hook on the tip. He walked to me with the knife in his hand and crouched. His face was right in front of mine and I could see his...reproductive organ twitching just by looking down. His smile terrified me. I tried to move, to somehow break the chains but even with the strength I now had it was impossible. Meanwhile he just looked at me, right into my eyes and licked the knife, I-...I couldn't hold it, tears started pouring down from my eyes and a different sensation of wetness made itself present below me.
Both of them noticed my accident and laughed. He grabbed my left arm and squeezed hard. It felt as if the bone was about to break and I couldn't contain my scream.
"AAaagh-!...p-please stop-!"
I begged but his grip only strengthened. I swear that I could hear a small cracking sound coming from my arm. I lashed out at him.I kicked him and tried biting him but he just looked amused. He pulled me closer and pressed his face against my arm.I felt his tongue slide slowly across my arm, leaving a trail of saliva behind. The sensation was repulsive, causing me to shudder in disgust and desperation.
I thought he would stop there, no, I hoped he would have stopped there but no. He dug his teeth into my arm. They pierced my skin with ease and I screamed in pain as tears began pouring faster. His bite intensified and as he pulled his head back a piece of my arm came with him.
"Noooo-Aaaarghhh!"
My blood started pouring out of the wound as my scream slowly died down. Instead, I started sobbing in agonizing pain. I didn't have the strength to scream. It was then that I felt the cold metal against my open wound and I looked up in fear.
He was munching on my flesh and pressing the knife against my skin from within the wound, like he just wanted to make it easier for himself to... skin me.
He started cutting right beneath my skin. Every inch he cut was more painful than any pain I have ever felt before. My body was shaking as my eyes dried up and I could no longer scream nor sob. It took some time but I realized that I was in shock.
My vision was blurry, and the only thing keeping me awake was pain. I saw his smile of satisfaction as he skinned me alive. The other one was a few steps behind him with a smile, as if he was enjoying the show. I looked at my arm. The bite was a bit above my forearm, but the open muscles, the result of the knife cutting beneath my skin, were visible just a bit below my wrist.
It was then that I heard multiple steps, fast steps. All of a sudden a torrent of blood and brains fell on my face as the man's head was pierced from behind by a crimson sword. His body fell to the side with that smile still printed on his face. Nayuta stood behind him with a furious expression on her face. She quickly dropped her sword and embraced me in her arms tightly. My eyes were heavy but before I fell asleep I looked at Haruto and Touji behind Nayuta, but for some reason there was no sight of the other man...he just disappeared.
"You're going to be okay, so don't worry and rest."
It was Touji who said that as he took out a weird looking vial from his pocket and made me drink it. I didnt care...I couldnt keep myself awake anymore and once again the world around me turned dark.