But after that fleeting moment of darkness, warm liquid splashed across my face, cooling the heat from my cheeks along with it. The suffocating feeling faded, and beside me, a massive shadow loomed. For some reason, the light in the cabin had dimmed considerably, to the point where I needed a lamp. The window should have been filled with sunlight, but now, only a pale white glow shone. I knew the shadow was Will; even engulfed in darkness, he seemed heavy and imposing.
Now he's gone to another world. It wasn't until I touched the horrific wound on his back that I noticed the lone figure standing in the white light by the window. Dolly Eugene stood there, iron axe in hand, silent. Her golden hair draped across her forehead, her features shrouded in a deep shadow. She had undoubtedly killed Will, and her fury, needing no expression, was enough to terrify the living here. She was still a twelve-year-old girl, yet she would greet those who knocked her down respectfully, stroll leisurely on her way home, treat a ruthless rebel with kindness, even living with him under the same roof and enthusiastically participating in his plans. She was kind and beautiful, shining like a star in the dark night.
But she would walk into the tree hole, disappear into thin air, leaving only her shadow.
I rushed frantically towards the wooden door. She immediately moved in front of it, raising her axe and bringing it down with all her might. The blade nearly touched the tips of my hair, and Will's blood splattered overhead in a horrible puff of wind. But I had already managed to push her away. The frail figure beneath her white dress was mercilessly slammed against the wall. My arms, pressed against her collarbone, felt the agonizing tremor, and the entire room seemed to sway slightly. For a moment, she met my gaze, a blank expression in her azure eyes. Like the oppressive frame of a shattered magic mirror, all its magic had been lost along with the mirror.
The axe fell at my feet. If I bent down to pick it up, and swiftly slashed it at her neck, the threat would be over. But I didn't want to do that. Even killing her here would only add to the guilt. In their eyes, she was just a puppet being manipulated, without a mind of her own, and incapable of acting on any unplanned will. All her shining qualities existed not as qualities of a "human," but as unnecessary decoration. A puppet with consciousness, willingly controlled? How could someone create such a thing? This world is so illogical.
What would I do after leaving this place? I barely even considered the question. All I could do was flee the center stage, sprinting toward the small town I remembered as my hometown. There were no lurking conspiracies, no fictitious wars, no dark history to look back on... I was just an ordinary kid from an ordinary family, nothing more.
With this conviction, I opened the wooden door. The pale light outside illuminated my vision, and I knew I couldn't go back.
The scene revealed between the narrow doorframe was a night as deep as an ancient city wall, the white light descending from the sky imprisoning this small wooden house. All around was pure darkness, devoid of a single ray of light. The stars shone in the sky, but they only illuminated this small, cage-like space. No one was watching me from the sky, and the other side of the door was not my home.
At that moment, I understood my situation. Dolly and I were both bound by an invisible thread deep within our hearts. Our souls, our ideals, everything we depended on for survival, were all drawn by this thread toward utter nothingness. The resulting ignorant "hollow people"—that was our essence.
Behind me, silence remained. Dolly, like a grain of sand whirled by the wind, made no sound. Now, I was alone, standing in this nightmare realm. But like her, we would gaze in vain at the starry sky, sending our remaining psyche to the unreachable clouds, until the world upon which our flesh depended was destroyed.
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