the girl with the demon eye

chapter 2: amicho

---

Black was placed in the care of a foster family, the Amichos. At first, she was greeted with what seemed like warmth. The house seemed welcoming, and the Amicho mother smiled at her, assuring her that everything would be fine. However, behind this facade hid a completely different reality, and very quickly, everything went wrong. Every night, screams echoed through the walls. The Amicho father and mother yelled at each other nonstop, their arguments erupting like storms.

Black, huddled in a corner of the house, listened to these incessant quarrels, terrified, not knowing what to do. Their daughter, a teenager, never got involved in the arguments. She cast a cold look at Black, blaming her for all the problems in the house.

"It's all your fault," she had told her one day. Then, she had simply ignored her, as if Black didn't exist.

One night, everything changed. The father entered Black's room, his face hard and closed.

"We're getting a divorce," he announced curtly.

"I'm taking my daughter with me." Without another word, their daughter packed her bags.

Black stood there, her gaze lost, as she watched her leave. The door closed behind them, leaving Black alone with the Amicho mother. The silence that followed their departure was heavy and agonizing. The Amicho mother quickly sank into alcoholism.

Her arguments with the father seemed to have left a void in her, a void she sought to fill with bottles. As soon as the amber liquid invaded her mind, she became violent, and Black was her outlet. Every night, the mother locked her in a nearly empty room. All of their daughter's belongings had been taken away, leaving behind only a filthy old mattress, infested with bedbugs. No blankets, no warmth. Black shivered with cold and fear, alone in this dark room. Daily life became unbearable. Black had almost nothing to eat. Her mother ignored her completely, except when it came to beating her. To survive, Black was reduced to eating whatever she could find: rats, insects, or the leftovers she picked up from the trash when she had to empty them. Her cheeks had sunken, her clothes hung on her thin body. Six months passed in this silent horror, and Black grew weaker by the day. Then, one day, Mother Amicho went too far. That day, she was angrier than ever. Her red and puffy face was that of someone who had drunk too much, and her gaze betrayed an uncontrollable anger. Black, hungry and desperate, rummaged through the kitchen trash, trying to find some leftover food, anything to appease her hunger. But her mother surprised her.

"What are you doing, you little vermin?!" she screamed when she saw her.

Her eyes were blazing with rage. She stomped forward, and before Black could defend himself, the Amicho mother struck her hard. The blows rained down. Black's face was covered in blood, her moans mixing with the screams of her tormentor. For the first time, Black pleaded. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she implored the mother to stop.

"Please... stop..." she cried. But those words seemed to fuel the mother's rage even more.

In a fit of uncontrollable anger, she grabbed Black by the hair and dragged her to the window on the top floor of the building.

"You're nothing but dead weight, you're good for nothing!" she screamed before throwing Black out the window.

Time seemed to slow down as Black, horrified, realized what had just happened. She screamed, her small hands desperately trying to catch air. But it was too late. She fell, her frail body plummeting from the fifteenth floor. The ground came too fast. An ominous crack sounded, followed by a dull thud. Black's body crashed, and blood spurted from his mouth. His eyes had already closed forever.

Black Yamaki, five years and seven months old, had just died instantly.

---