The Madness Within ✓

XXXI.

„Can you.. please explain what he was talking about back then?" I asked Chris as he was driving his car back to the house, not daring to look at him.
I wanted to slap him. Yell at him and call him names. Do anything to show how betrayed and hurt I felt hearing that. I wanted him to know how much I trusted him all this time, only to learn that he was supposed to betray me all along.

But I knew I couldn't do that to him.

Because he still chose to leave with me. He still chose to give up on whatever he was promised and help me. He's still sitting here next to me, driving me back to the house.

Chris cleared his throat and took a deep breath, then began speaking.

„I.. yes, I was sent to you to lead you the right way. To convince you to stay. And if you didn't listen, I was supposed to.. take your place."

„Take my place?"

„Well, you know. Become the new 'prophet' or whatever."

I nodded and looked at the road ahead of us. The grey clouds were all gathered together, prepared to pour rain at the world.

„So you knew the whole truth all along, right?" I asked.

„Actually, not quite. I knew some of it, but not all of it. I was only told the innocent things, how they're here to bless us and stuff like that. But the things I saw in the forest with you.."
Chris took a deep breath and shook his head.
„...those are no gods. They're monsters."

I nodded and looked down.
„So that's why you chose to leave with me."

„That's one of the reasons why, yes," Chris replied and smiled.

When we arrived by the house, Chris parked his car by the entrance and stopped the engine. We both sat there in silence for a moment.

„Do you think the villagers will ever realize that they were getting tricked all along?" I asked and looked into Chris' eyes, waiting for a response.

Chris shrugged, „Probably not. They'll see us as evil. But who knows, maybe we'll enjoy being evil."

I smiled and rolled my eyes at Chris' smug expression and got out of the car.
„See, you're already enjoying it!" I heard Chris yell and laugh as I walked towards the house.

•

„So, here's the plan," Chris said as he grabbed the axe and began explaining.
„We wait for the thing to appear somewhere in the distance. Then, one of us will go outside alone and wait for it to get closer. As soon as the creature gets closer, the other person will attack the creature while it's focusing on trying to attack the first person. After that, we'll try to attack everything one by one and we'll try to find out its weakest point."

I nodded as I listened to Chris.
„Alright. I can go there alone, but.. what if more than one of them attacks us?"

Chris smiled, „Have you ever seen more than one of them at once?"
I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head.
„Exactly. I don't think they can appear at the same time. I'm not sure why, though. So I could be wrong."

I frowned and shook my head, to which Chris laughed. „It's gonna be fine, Clara. I'll make sure nothing happens to you. I'll go outside first just to be sure."

We then both made our way to the windows and just watched. We looked for something out of the ordinary, anything that could tell us that the creature is nearby.

„What if it's already by the house or something?" I asked, getting more and more anxious each second. As much as I tried to ignore it, my heart was beating faster and faster as fear within me rose.
Chris gave me a reassuring smile and shook his head, „It's not, don't worry."