The Chronicles of Sorataki: Lucid Wish

Chapter 22: To twist the knife

Allisa

Clare, it was her. But not as she'd seen her when they first met in this dream world. She looked just as she did in the memories she had experienced, frail and disheveled. (Recollection of her reflection in the tank pulling to focus in her mind.) Just as her feet were beginning to walk their way into the spot Clare was in they became rooted to the ground.

She had the same one piece of a plastic-looking apron around her like in the tank. Gone were the white frilled dress and well-kempt pigtails. Gone were the gauntlet arm replaced with an armless stump, gone were the pink framed glasses, gone were the girl she knew because the girl she knew was never truly there, to begin with. She had already died. The state she was in and the last moments, the things she felt-the things she heard it-

Allisa's blood ran cold. She could not move, she was trying to deny what she saw in the memories but it was becoming more impossible with every moment she looked at Clare. She shook her head in dismay.

No more, please.

"Why did you make me remember?" Clare said in a faint hoarse voice. "I tried to be strong like my mother said and I failed, I tried to make the most out of my life and died. I tried to forget but... Why?"

Clare's somber sobs broke through her daze, Allisa hearing too much to deny felt her knees give way as she fell atop them. Clare was dead, she had always been dead, this was just her lingering will. She felt too numb to cry, too numb to do anything. This whole journey had been a sham. She thought that she could do some right, perhaps have a more wholesome quest after her last one ended up with a death but it turned out that she'd been set to fail from the get-go. Her self-awareness was barely enough to see Natalie walking on up towards the silver-haired girl. Natalie seemed distant, mournful even. Like she was stepping up to place flowers by a tombstone. She did not even look back to Allisa to see why she fell to her knees. She didn't even flinch when Clare confessed that she was already dead. Allisa blinked as she slowly got up to her feet.

"You knew," she said, her voice a whisper. "Back on those steps, you knew."

Natalie stopped mid-stride to her words confirming her suspicion. But... no, not just on the steps, before that, it was how hurt she seemed after Clare snapped before Dullahan almost killed them the first time. The things she said to Clare, the words she chose.

"You always knew."

Natalie did not respond. This made Allisa grit her teeth, she felt betrayed. She'd put her trust in someone only for them to keep her in the dark again. With all that she'd been through before coming here, it was almost too much to keep together. Forcing back angry tears she marched forward to face Natalie.

"Then why didn't you tell me?!"

"What does it matter, it would have not changed anything," Natalie said in a firm whisper.

Allisa's eyes widened to this.

"It matters to me! How am I meant to rescue you without knowing what the problem is!?" She looked down at her feet in dejection. "If Clare is already gone how could I have ever saved her?"

"You were so set on saving her," Natalie picked up earning Allisa's attention, seeing that she got her attention Natalie's tone simmered down. "You were so determined that I... could not bring myself to say it."

"You did not trust me?"

Natalie's mouth parted open in shock at Allisa's comment, eyes widened. Seeing the honesty on her face Allisa felt conflicted. Her eyes were becoming blurry. She honestly did not know what to think anymore.

"Then why?" she asked.

Natalie averted her gaze from her in guilt, her thumb twirling around between interlocked fingers by her front.