TINTLESS'S POV
"Why, Mr. Freak..."
The words left my lips for God knows how many times now. Each word, accompanied by the memory of my fall, felt like a stab to the heart.
But despite it all, I kept asking, kept searching for the answer. A reason why Mr. Freak did what he did.
Surely there was a reason, right?
I blinked slowly as I recalled the events leading to my fall.
I carried Mr. Freak on my back as I ran, during which my body suddenly became static. My strength left me, and I could not move. Mr. Freak held me, preventing my fall off the bridge.
He looked determined.
Then came the roars of the baby nightmare. However, Mr. Freak still did not leave me. He held me, and I, not wanting all his strength to go to waste, held on even harder... but then, all of a sudden, his eyes... his eyes.
I stopped as I realized something.
I fell in the valley!
Remembering what Shifty told us about the valley, I slowly turned and realized that darkness had completely swallowed my being. The only form of light was the one above. Even it contained swirling black smoke. And around me was surely a pile of bones worth a hundred years of history.
Standing up to move, I realized that my entire body was pierced by spikes. They felt cold, and it seemed like a liquid continuously spewed from the spikes and entered my body, sending a chill through me.
Appallingly, I felt nothing.
This was certainly weird, considering that the liquid was poisonous.
I should be dead by now. My fall might have led to my death.
I soon lowered my head as my chest felt heavy at the realization that Mr. Freak had known this too.
Instantly, I felt melancholic.
I tried to fight the feeling, convincing myself that he perhaps had no other option at the time... but as I recalled those eyes—those eyes that harbored crescent-shaped cold pupils—I eventually, uncontrollably, slowly, and quietly began to sob.
To be frank, I did not quite understand why I was crying, for I was alive. I should have been happy now... even after the realization of Mr. Freak's betrayal.
However, as time went on, convincing myself not to cry seemed only to add fuel to the fire.
The experience was analogous to the saying: the flesh is willing, but the soul is weak.
Adhering to this, I stopped holding back.
I brought my knees close to my chest and held them tightly.
Opening my mouth and paying no heed to the rancid stench, I wept and wept.
It was the first time I had ever experienced different emotions at almost the same instance; I screamed in rage, cried in grief, and at times laughed maniacally.
Sometime later, with my face drenched in a mixture of drool, mucus, and tears, I sat motionless, unsure what to do next.
For some reason, my recent burst of emotions had left me in a state that was quite hard to explain. It was almost as though I was empty, unfilled... emotionless.
Emotionless.
How ironic for someone who, for his entire life, had wished to have one emotion. Only one. Perhaps then everyone would have loved me.
Suddenly, as I sat contemplating, I felt something fall on my head.
It was long, soft, yet firm.
It was a rope.
Then came the sight of a weak ball of fire enveloping a log. The ball of fire waved above the hole, perhaps signaling me to hold on to the rope.
Which I did, and slowly but surely I was pulled up.
Meeting me were three soldiers.
One was short yet had a burly build, while the other two were as skinny as I was.
Then, without uttering a single word, the short one pinned me to the ground with some force, and before I even knew it, I was in handcuffs, then a carriage, and some weeks later was now standing before the courts of law and apparently facing judgment for...
"...Mass murder, Your Honor." an old man opposite the desk where I sat roared.
I could hear him!
A phenomenon that I became aware of soon after being pulled up from the valley.
He was clad in a red suit, and his face was contorted in a mixture of disgust and fury.
He closed his eyes, realizing he had raised his voice to His Honor. Then he lowered his frame and said,
"My apologies, Your Honer."
Seated on an elevated seat within the marble wall structure, the Supreme Judge of Mazi Supreme Court turned his gaze to where I sat.
His eyes were all red, and fitted upon his receding hairline was a majestic red wig embedded with diamonds that matched the color of the robe he wore: white.
I, however, remained unfazed, for I was prepared for what was to happen.
Or rather, I had met a pretty good fella who assured me that for as long as I did what he said, I would be saved.
His Honor blinked and gave a light nod to the man who wanted me sentenced to death.
"Thank you, Your Honer."
He turned to my desk and looked at the lawyer who, for the last hour, had been trying to defend me.
The opposition party, for some reason, thought that I had conspired with the nightmares, leading to the killing of many civilians.
The case was made solid by a man whom I swear I had never seen before, stating that he had seen me talking to some dark entity in the woods last month.
Then came a whole bunch of letters and detailed drawings of maps that I apparently was sending out to the enemy.
My lawyer, however, argued that the remaining nightmares were not known to possess knowledge at all and, as such, why would I write letters to them?
It's not like they had a kingdom of some sort.
And on top of that, I was illiterate and therefore could not communicate via written language.
I did not know the handsome man, let alone who had hired him to represent me, but one thing was for sure: he was doing as we were told by the good fella, Commander Gal, a couple of days ago.
So everything up until now was part of the plan, and the climax was just about to happen.
Before the opposition lawyer approached our desk, I took a breather and slammed my hands on the desk.
The sound was of just the right amplitude to catch the attention of his Honer, the lawyers, and the audience.
I sighed as I stood up and, using my hands, said seriously,
"Your Honor, can I say something?"
Not waiting for him to answer, I turned to the masses.
They looked to be clearly livid, making me a little nervous.
I quickly looked at Commander Gal for support and then said,
"I killed them. Yes, I killed them all, and no nightmare helped me."
The crowd roared in rage whilst Commander Gal gave me a simple nod.