𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 | 𝖲𝗉𝖺𝗆𝗍𝗈𝗇 𝗑 𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱

You were floating. All you could see was black, there was no light source to guide you through this darkness. You couldn't move your body, not even wiggle your toes. A sense of dread covered you. You tried to call someone's name, but your voice never came out.

A screen filled with static lit up opposite of you. It was gigantic compared to your small frail body. The sound of static made you nauseous. Thankfully, it was soon replaced by....pictures? Video? You weren't sure what you were watching.

It was in third person view, and you were watching it all unfold, unable to do anything. You were watching a human person, approximately around your age, talk to a couple of other monsters and humans. Their friends, you thought. You couldn't hear what they were saying, it all was all muffled. You could tell they were laughing and talking about something the human said. They seemed to be having a good time.

The scenery changed. The human was now sitting in a large auditorium filled with many people, an older person stood in the middle, in front of a blackboard. He pointed to words that seemed like gibberish to you while he explained something. None of those had any meaning for you. What did hold some meaning, though, were the shapes drawn on the blackboard. A human, a heart, a monster.

The scene changed. The human was in a different room now, sitting at a desk where books and papers with the same gibberish were spread in front of them. The room had a big window on one wall, bright sunlight entered through it, illuminating the space around them. The walls were painted a bright shade of yellow, with some flower designs decorating them. The human was starting to get drowsy, their eyelids slowly closing. The door to their room opened and an unfamiliar figure approached them, their face was not visible to you. They gave them a loving pat on the head and took away the plate of half-eaten pancakes. That's when you realized it wasn't a video you were viewing, but rather a memory. A memory...of someone else? Whose memory?

A new scene was set. This time, the human was with another person, a monster. They were lying in a vast field of flowers with their left hands extended upwards, as if they were trying to reach the bright sun above them. A flower bracelet was wrapped around their wrists. Friendship bracelets. These two had just made an oath to be friends forever. Where were these thoughts coming from? It seemed easy for you to figure the answer out on your own, yet you had never seen these memories before. You don't remember them as your own. You couldn't possibly guess the correct answer. Before the scene could fade to black, you heard the human cough.

This time, the human was sitting in the same field alone, sobbing into their hands. The flowers that once decorated the evergreen field had now withered and died. All that surrounded the human were empty patches of ground. They looked up at the night sky, watching the stars blink one by one before letting out a heart-wrenching scream.

The human was once again surrounded by their friends. They were having a serious conversation from the looks of it, one that your human didn't take part in. They were silently listening to what the others had to say, with eyes red and puffy. Their lower lip was trembling, much like their hands. It was clear that the conversation was making them uncomfortable. It was partially about them.

Another set of images began to form. You were once again in that room. The human was now lying on their bed, two unfamiliar figures were crouched next to their bedside. Once again, their faces weren't visible. One of them had their hand on the human's forehead, as if they were checking their temperature, before they removed it and looked at the other figure, shaking their head. The human looked terrible. Dark circles had formed under their eyes, and their complexion was very pale. They looked weak. You couldn't understand how a being so full of life had been reduced to this. What happened to them?

It was as if you were watching a timelapse, the only way you could tell the days passed was the sun that set and rised every single time outside their window. The human never left their bed. Their condition was only getting worse, a terrible cough that never seemed to go away was accompanying them. They got very thin, to the point where their bones were visible and poked their skin. The days were going faster now, too fast. You felt anxiety rise inside you. You didn't want them to pass so fast.