POV (Point of View)

Chapter 73: The End

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains explicit languages, acts of violence, extreme gore, sexual harassment, violence against women, and rape. This may also contain major spoilers from Latched. A viewer discretion is advised. Expect that the chapter will be long and heavy.

The faint sound of flowing water amid the silence of the dusk filled the senses of a certain black-haired woman. She slowly opened her eyes and perceives a blurry image of somewhere dark, cold, and unfamiliar. She roamed her green eyes around until she managed to tell that she is in a barn because of the feel of hay on the ground. That is when she faintly saw her eyeglasses with its frame and scattered lens in tatters. Groaning, she tries to move around only to notice that both her wrists are tied with a pair of handcuffs, holding her captive. Only her ankles are free and she can move.

She awakened even more upon smelling a combination of what seemed like rotting meat of a dead animal and strong stench of burnt hair and skin. 

Where am I?

That is when she got reminded of the last thing that happened before she got here. That's right. She was just a few meters away from her...home.

The apartment! Everyone was...

She started trying to break free of the handcuffs but all she heard was the clanking of something metal. She immediately realized that she's handcuffed to the steel windows, making it impossible for her unless she finds the key. Which only God knows where.

"Hello?! Is somebody there?!" She called out, hopeful for a response.

"Sarina..." She gasps upon recognizing the owner of that voice.

"Nana-chan?! Is that you?!" 

Sarina squinted her eyes, hopeful this time to find her friend that she has been looking for ever since this morning. But given that she's blind and darkness is everywhere, she couldn't find Nanase anywhere. How she hopes that she is safe and sound. But based from her voice, that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Yes...Are you okay...?" 

"Yes! I'm handcuffed but I'm fine. What about you? Are you okay?"

"I...I don't know..."

Sarina doesn't understand why but she knows so well that her friend just now sounds weak, tired, and hopeless. And she can only wonder why.

"What happened? I have been trying to reach you." It is then that she hears the brunette that she knows...started sniffling and sobbing.

"W-When I got home from your apartment last night...I saw Souseke-kun, my boyfriend tied up. The next thing I knew, I fainted. When I woke up, I am already here and...and..." Nanase starts to sob louder.

"...and? And what, Nana-chan? Tell me!"

"S-Souseke-kun i-is dead, Sarina. T-They cut off his...his...t-then t-they cut his limbs off in front of me...H-He was still alive then...b-but they never stopped...I didn't even know when he died..."

"And they weren't contented with what they have done to him...they also...t-they let their dog feed on his parts...like some pig that they butchered alive..."

"It was too much, Sarina...I can't..." Her friend started wailing and Sarina couldn't even understand if she's trembling for the disgust she was feeling or the pain and pity for her friend who had to witness all of that before her eyes. She simply cannot fathom something like this would happen. Just what in the world is going on?

"T-There were two more with us here, Sarina. And I think they were here before I and Sousuke-kun did. But I don't know them." Her friend continued recounting what she saw.