Distorted

Chapter sixteen, a filthy game.

In the tunnels inside the sewers, the two girls sat down beside a fire quietly. They didn't exchange words for two hours, both of them changed their bloody clothes and burned them, and for the two hours, they both stared at the fire visualizing their destiny which only that flame presented.

The shock shattered the profound innocence both girls had, leaving nothing but a darkened path ahead of them. Merit felt her head rolling with questions, Elijah's last words were an enigma, what did he mean by the picture? And how did he even know about it?
And overall, the haunting look of Elijah's eyes stirred foreign emotions within the fortified hatred she had for him. She felt something towards him, it was pity.

Children were fighting a war that isn't theres to fight. 

"Merit..I..I didn't m-mean to kill him" Lydia said, her voice was wrapped in shame and fear, she shed calm tears feeling drained to show her deep remorse for killing Elijah.

"L-let's..forget it..You had to.." Merit stuttered as she recalled his eyes, she shook her head violently to throw away that damned memory.

"He was going to k-"

"I said forget it, okay?!" 

Merit cut off Lydia nervously, showing how much she felt touched by that painful sight,  she was brushing off that topic in any way possible, hoping Lydia would understand.

"So..We go to Ilusia tomorrow?" Lydia asked.

"When the dawn rises we will be on our way" Merit replied.

The sewers were quite interesting. It was all filled with malfunctioned robots, antiques and smuggled goods that were thrown here after people couldn't get them out. The robots were the oldest prototypes, and their machine parts were scattered in each corner, making the sewers a graveyard for the discarded robots and broken antiques.

The girls were consumed by the worst fear, fear of what lies ahead of them.
It's terrifying. To impatiently wait for the assurance of possibilities to paint themselves into a solid reality, the one you anticipated for years, it was the most painful type of fear, because either ways..you lose. You lose time panicking over the possibilities that turn out wrong or lose your hope once the worst is at last your reality..and your patience doesn't lessen the shock, because, as long as you live, a tiny bit of hope beats inside of you for a turn of events.

Merit kept over stressing herself over the fact Ilusia is no longer safe for her, she was terrified of the light men whom she had hid herself from in dumpsters, and what scared her the most was her loneliness. She was sure of Lydia's betrayal, and couldn't believe that she'd be all alone in this big city where nothing can save her from death.

"You don't seem to like visiting Ilusia.." Lydia said, breaking the silence that threw them in different worlds.

"You would feel the same if you've lived there" Merit laughed in quite a sad tone, she wondered  if Lydia knew how fun it is to have trash as a bed.

"I've lived there with my aunt for two years, its the most noisy place in the world!" Lydia said, Merit felt a bit uncomfortable whenever she's reminded of Ilusia and its glorious sound of steel moving and steam breaking through the factories to the sky, not to mention the crows and their cunning eyes and spewing bad omen.

"Yeah..its a headache, but you'll get used to it."

"Its not like I'm planning to live there forever"

"Well, if we manage to live we'll think about that"

Lydia took the words as a knife to her chest, almost crying to the thought of losing her life, but on the other hand, Merit was quite accepting of death.