Return of the Lost One

Guilt

“Monster,”

Suddenly, a voice of a young girl sounded. Her voice was similar to Samantha's. She shifted her gaze from the source of the voice and there she saw the crimson hair girl from before, the one who had the same appearance as her. That someone was looking at her with terror as she called again, “Monster.”

When she heard her, Samantha involuntarily took a step back. She opened her mouth and said, “N-no, I'm not...”

“Monster,”

However, just after she spoke, Samantha heard another voice. It was a voice of a woman.

She shifted her gaze from the source of that voice and there she saw her mother. After a moment, what she saw next caused her to take another step back.

The woman before her, the one who appeared to be her mother, opened her eyes. However, only eye sockets were in there and her eyes were missing. After she opened her eyes, she then spoke again, “Monster.”

As if something heavy had weighed down upon her, Samantha finally fell to the ground. She opened her mouth to say something but she just couldn't find a word to retort. It was obvious that guilt prevented her to speak. It even prevented her from asking for forgiveness.

Now that she remembered everything, the one she saw before was she and her parents. The woman that was killed by a kid was her mother. And the kid who killed her mother was she.

Not only that, just to gain strength, she also did something forbidden and ate her mother's eyes. Recalling everything about it now, she felt her nape suddenly go hot. Her body was shivering, her heart was full of guilt.

“Monster,”

Another voice sounded. Samantha was still yet to overcome her guilt and another voice had sounded. And this time it came from a man.

She shifted her gaze from the source of the voice and there she saw two people. One was a crimson hair woman lying on the ground, lifeless. And the other one was a crimson hair man. He was crouching beside the body of the woman as he was holding her upper body into his arms. When he took a clearer look at them, Samantha finally recognized those two. They were her father and mother.

But his father seemed to have a darkened and grave expression as he held his wife into his arms. Just after a moment, he opened his mouth and said, “Cursed child...”

Just as the man said those words, the woman he was holding turned into red ashes and be swept away by the wind. After which, he stood up and turned to face Samantha. He then gazed at her coldly as he said, “I should have killed you. A monster like you has no place in this world.”

Samantha suddenly felt extreme fear. Her face went paler as cold sweats appeared on her forehead. She crawled with her butt backward seeing her father walking in her direction with a murderous look. She wanted to say something but her voice was as if as afraid as her as no words wanted to come out.

But just as she crawled backward, she suddenly groped something like a liquid. She raised her hand in front of her and there she saw fresh blood on her palm. After seeing it, Samantha turned to look from where she groped the blood as there she saw a corpse of a kid. The kid still had his eyes widely opened even after his death. It was obvious that his heart was full of hatred and resentment when he took his last breath.

“Monster,” But suddenly, the kid who should have been a corpse by now, spoke in a low voice. Samantha hurriedly stayed away from her as the fear in her heart only increased.

However, just after she took some distance away, her back suddenly bumped into something. She turned to look at it as there she saw another corpse of a kid. Samantha didn't wait for it to speak as she hurriedly crawled and put a distance away from it. She was afraid that it would also speak and call her monster.

“Monster,”

But it seemed like that corpse wasn't the only one in there as another voice sounded. She turned to look from where the voice had come from and there she saw a group of kids with a bloodied appearance. They were all like corpses but they were standing and staring at her.

“Monster,”

“Monster,”

“Monster,”

The group of kids had one-by-one spoken. And Samantha only felt even more fear. Her expressions had even gone paler as she found her body couldn't move and crawl any longer as it was shivering violently.

Samantha now recalled these kids before her. They were the ones she had killed along her way to reach the top. They were the misfortunate kids who were killed in the battle against her.

“Monster!”

This time, the voice wasn't filled with fear, but anger. She shifted her gaze and there she saw the parents of the kids. More and more people then appeared before Samantha as they surrounded and called her monster.

Every one of them had a deep hatred for Samantha. Every one of them was full of resentment as they cursed her. No one was with her, not even her parents.

Samantha on the other hand finally kneeled in fear. She put her forehead on the ground. She held her ears with her hands hoping to not hear their voices for at least somehow.

At that moment, she longed for someone to help her. She longed for a savior and forgiveness. But no one came to her as only the curses of those people came knocking into her ears.

Couldn't hold the weight any longer, Samantha finally screamed. She finally cried out loud. Terror, fear, dread, and other similar adjectives in the world flooded in her heart. She was helpless and powerless. She couldn't do anything against her guilt.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Dugo Zugath was staring at Samantha in pity. The other party was now screaming in fear and her hands were covering her ears. She was also kneeling with her forehead on the ground. But it appeared that she was suffering from something as she cried out loud.