𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐔𝐬

CHAPTER 9: CICADA'S SONG

From that moment on, all the tiredness disappeared from my mind. I and Nate instantly got up and started packing again. He didn't know why that was important, but I hope he trusted me enough to know it was.

The only thing I read from my father's journal, the only sentence that I allowed myself to see was "Listen for the song", written in quick and desperate writing. And since there are no cicadas in this region, given the fact that this didn't sound like a natural sound, it must be related to my father.

Maya had already stopped crying, but she started to coo again after we started moving too much. Luckily, she didn't wake up again, and we had a relatively calm search for the cicada.

It was pitch black, so even with my good vision, I couldn't see shit around us. Nate also didn't find anything, and after a few hours, we gave up to the tiredness once more.

Nate wasn't talking much, I knew I said something wrong, but couldn't understand what. And I also didn't care if he was mad at me, as long as he didn't leave, I could not care less about what he thought of me.

Weren't you trying to be nice just a minute ago? said my mother's voice.

I sighed and turned around in my sleeping bag, ignoring the voices again. It was hard since they insisted n coming back every time, but eventually, I'd get used to them, well at least that's what I thought.

It wasn't a surprise when I realized I couldn't sleep. The curiosity and unease in my stomach didn't let me rest until I knew where that electronic cicada song was. I could know... if I only read the book...

I turned again, trying to make those thoughts go away, and it was even less of a surprise when I realized they weren't. I grunted and stood up, knowing that I had just lost another night of sleep.

"What?" asked Nate, still watching the camp.

"Can't sleep," I said. "I'm going to search for it,"

I didn't wait for his response and just grabbed my bow, walking to the depths of the dark woods, trying to escape my past.

It wasn't good. At all. The woods just reminded me of how empty I was, how ignorant, rude, and stupid I became after all those years alone when I swore to myself I wouldn't become my father.

And just a week ago I raided a park, freed all the trapped Gluttons inside it, and unleashed hell onto the cannibals because they took the pinky of my sister. I knew that was nothing compared to what my father would've done, but I just realized I was becoming him.

Eventually, I stopped trying to push these thoughts away and decided to just accept that I was bad and no one could change it.

Nathan could and he did. continued my mother

"Please, can't you guys be quiet for a second?" I asked.

And that was what made me feel more scared than everything. The voices actually listened to me, making me wonder if I was talking to ghosts or were way too far into that multiple personality shit.

Fortunately, I found something to distract myself from my inner demons. A Glutton with its back turned towards me growled in distance. I decided to make an aiming test for the hundredth time and see from how distant I could get a shot.

I pulled an arrow on the bow and pointed to the head of the crimson beast, which was blindly gazing at the dark night of the woods, a shadow of the person it was before. The arrow whistled through the air and landed a perfect hit at the Glutton's head, but instead of piercing through it, the arrow collided against it and broke itself.

The Glutton turned around, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw the pores and holes in its face with blood dripping out of it, making it trypophobia hell. The gross meat patterns coming out of some holes, making it look that fungi were growing on its face made it very clear what it was: a Planner.