The Madness Within ✓

XXXVII.

When I woke up again, I was in Chris' car. He was next to me, probably taking us to the nearest hospital. The first thing that I noticed about Chris was that he took care of his own wounds, which I was happy to see. I made things a hundred times more difficult for him, as he had to carry me to the car and also had to tend to my wounds when I was hurt.

„I'll have to call my mom later," I mumbled and sat up in my seat, groaning in pain as I did so.

„Does she know about the creatures?" Chris asked and I shrugged.

„I'm not sure. She never told me about them and she seemed confused about grandma's behavior sometimes too, so.. I don't think she knows."

Chris nodded and went back to fully focusing on the road.

When we arrived at the hospital, we quickly got treated. However, when the nurses saw our injuries, they got really worried and asked us what happened. We tried coming up with some sort of excuse, like getting attacked by an animal or something. And we thought it worked at first. But the nurses were still suspicious of us and called the police.
When the police arrived, they began asking us all kinds of questions. When Chris and I discussed it together, we decided that we'll take them to the place so that they'll see the creatures for themselves. They should all be lying there, and once they'd see them, they'd definitely believe us rather than if we'd just tell them here. I'm sure they would think we're crazy.

So the police talked to the staff, and the nurses let us go back there as long as we'd still return back on the same day. We both got in the police car and drove to the forest.
As soon as I saw the forest again, I felt my heart drop. I knew that there was nothing that could harm me there now, but even seeing the forest brought back all those terrifying situations that we've seen and went through.
We both looked around and searched for the bodies of the creatures as we drove through the forest, but there was no sight of any dead bodies around. We looked around more as we slowly drove to the house, but there really was nothing.

„Where are they?" I whispered to Chris, and Chris just shrugged. He was shocked as well, but talking about it in the police car was really risky. For a second I felt like I was a criminal, trying to hide a dead body. And in a way, I was. Except I was trying to show the dead body, not hide it.
We drove deeper into the forest. I could already see the house in the distance, but still saw no creatures around. I felt my heart start beating faster.

They're dead, aren't they? They have to be. All the statues broke, and they can't break unless the creature is dead. So they have to be dead. But then.. What happened to the bodies?

„What's happening here?" the police officer said as he drove to the house. I looked out of the window to see what he was talking about, and so did Chris. What we saw there was unexpected.
The house was surrounded with people. Some were crying, others were yelling at one another. There were some that seemed pretty happy, but we're trying to hide their excitement.

The villagers stood by the house, talking between each other. As soon as they saw the car, they started shouting random words and sentences.

„They betrayed us!" someone yelled from the crowd.

„They killed our gods!" another person yelled out.

„They deserve to die!"

„Traitors!!"

„I think you two should stay in the car," the police officer said and got out of the car, then walked to the crowd, wanting to know more about what they were talking about.

„So, the villagers are pretty pissed," Chris said and laughed. I smiled at him and nodded.

„Yeah. But some of them seem. Relieved, don't they?"

Chris looked out of the window and scanned the crowd, then looked back at me and nodded. „You're right. Some are happy that they can probably stop pretending now."

„Well, it makes me happy to hear that," I replied and smiled more.

We watched as the police officer argued with the crowd of angry people. There was one woman that was yelling her soul out in front of the police officer. He seemed to be having a hard time trying to understand what she was saying. Others were agreeing with her in the back, even though it's possible that they also had no clue what she was saying, as it was really hard to understand her through the yelling.

Then there were some villagers further in the back, looking around the forest and smiling to themselves. It reminded me of that guy who missed hunting, I wonder if he'll get back to it, now that he can?
Then, by the house was the lady that we came to visit before. She was staring right at the car, probably wanting to kill us. The only thing holding her back had to be the officer that was here with us. If it weren't for the police, we'd both already be dead.

After talking to the villagers for what felt like forever and sending them back to the village, the police officer returned to the car. He called someone and informed them about the situation.

„There seems to be some sort of cult in the village," he mumbled to himself and sighed.

„Well, he's not wrong," I whispered to Chris, and he just nodded and smiled.

The police officer began driving back to the hospital, where we had to stay for some time. Staying in the hospital will most likely be a pain, but there was nothing we could do about that. We just had to hope that everything's gonna be fine in the end.

„So, about the dinner.."

„Oh, I'll take you out for dinner, don't worry! I didn't forget," Chris said and smiled. „Of course, we'll have to go after we're out of the hospital. We can't now, and.. yeah."

„Yes, of course," I laughed and nodded.

I spent the rest of the ride to the hospital thinking about everything that happened. And especially about the villagers. To them, this was normal. This was what some grew up with, some of them had no choice but to accept it and live like this their whole life, thinking that this religion is real and safe and that they're really getting what they were promised. But in reality, they didn't know how harmful it really was. How much harm it caused to so many people and animals and just.. everything.

But it made me wonder: did we do the right thing? The villagers will definitely hate us now, they'll think that we're evil and that we wanted to hurt them, to cause them pain and what-not. Meanwhile, we wanted to help. And we wanted to survive in the first place.

So, what does all this make us?

Are we the heroes that just saved a village from despair?

Or are we the villains who took the villagers' hope away from them?

I guess only time will tell.