"Wake up, Winter! It's about time for you to leave. Were you having a nightmare about something?"
"Yeah Eri... Eri...?"
Her eyes opened as the knocking jolted her back to reality. "Winter, are you alright?" It was Delta, likely there to check up on her. "I heard you screaming when I was walking down the hall!"
"Y-Yeah, I'll be out in a minute!"
She steadied her breathing, stepping out of her room. Delta was waiting for her against the wall. "I know what I heard, and I want you to promise that if you see her again, you will get me or the others."
"I can't promise that, Delta."
"Yeah, I figured you would say that. The others are waiting on you to make breakfast. They don't want to start without you."
The two of them walked towards the dining area together. The children all remained silent, until Nera broke it. "Winter, we all know what happened yesterday."
"D-Delta, why did you tell them?"
"They deserve to know, Winter. If she really is dead, there is no reason for us to continue searching."
"Nonsense! I will not allow her to rot away in a dirty hole somewhere! She deserves a proper burial!"
"There is clearly something in the woods that wants to kill everyone, and the rest of the world is still missing. You want us to go out there and die looking for her?"
"Delta, that's enough." Nester interrupted softly. "If we go together, we should be fine. You're forgetting that if Eri didn't run off alone, nothing would've happened to her."
"I didn't forget. I just think this whole idea is suicide. If something did kill her, what chance do you think we have of stopping it?"
"You have a gun, right?"
Delta checked his pockets, remembering he had Ms. Melody's revolver to save them. "Yeah, but it's not fully loaded." He opened the cylinder to show them. "It only has two shots left."
"All you need is one bullet to kill something, if you know where to shoot."
"That only applies if it's a physical being."
─━━━━━━⊱✿⊰━━━━━━─
Shortly after, Delta stepped outside. It was still raining, it hasn't even stopped once to let in a little sunlight. He saw something in the corner of his eyes, a shadow of sorts, staring back at him.
Its skin was rotted, almost nothing but skeletal remains of a once living human. It was around eight feet tall, and its fingers were sharp like blades.
"I CAN SEE YOU!"
The creature could speak, it's voice hollowed and distant. Delta backed up slowly against the door. "PLEASE, STAY!"
Delta didn't listen, and turning the doorknob, it reached him within a second. Towering above him, the creature pinned him down. "LISTEN TO ME!"
"What do you want?"
"I HAVE SEEN YOUR FUTURE AGAIN. YOU'RE THE BOY WHO DIES ALONE!"
"Let me go!"
"LISTEN. YOU WILL DIE TODAY! I KNOW. I AM DEATH!"
Delta pulls out the revolver, pointing it at the creature's head. "WHY? I'M JUST HERE TO HELP. MY JOB HERE IS DONE."
The creature fled into the fog. The world was only becoming less clear as the days passed. "W-What did I just encounter?" he said to himself. "I will die alone?"
With an unstable wrist, he put the gun back into his pocket.
"Delta?"
"Winter! I'm so glad to see you! I encountered a monster of some kind, I can't really explain it, but-"
"Monster? Was it Eri? Did you see her too?"
"N-No. It was something else."
"Did it say or do anything?"
"It pinned me down and said I was going to die today. It called itself... forget it."
"I see. Well, let's head back inside. You're going to get sick if you stay out here."
She clearly didn't believe a word of it, and he could see that. She threw a blanket around him, and held onto him tightly. "I don't want to die alone, Winter."
She didn't say anything back. He rested on the couch as she prepared drinks. The TV was nothing but static. It always was, even when Ms. Melody was still around. All the children didn't mind, they just imagined something playing.
Delta 'watched' a soap opera, the current scene inside his mind was an argument between lovers. In the end, he already knew the ending. The man ended up alone, wallowing in his own tears as the woman walked out the door.
It cuts to a grave, a priest speaking before it. As the voice vanishes, the screen pans out to nobody around it, and its only then you realize it was his own. She was all he had, and now there is nobody left to leave behind the flowers.
A cup of tea is placed before Delta, waking him from his hypnotic state. "Drink it." Winter demanded. The cup was hot to the touch, but he continued to hold it tightly. "Why don't you believe me, Winter?"
"I didn't see it, so how could I? People only believe what they see, that is the natural way of things anymore. I've been lied to quite a few times in the past. People came here, said they wanted me as a daughter, and left before signing the papers."
Delta continued drinking away as she continued talking. "I didn't care if they changed their mind, I only wanted them to tell me directly. I wanted them to tell the kid they gave the false hope to, that they didn't want her. Once you experience it enough times, you start to ignore every word that goes through your ears."
"Trust me, I get it. I don't blame you. If the roles were reversed, I wouldn't have believed it either; but please, just keep an open mind about it. I don't want something hurting you after I'm gone."
"So, you believe what it told you?"
"According to your logic, I saw it, so I believe it. If the creature told me I was going to die, I'm going to take it seriously."
"Understood. Now, should I get you another cup?"
"Of course, but where is everyone else? Don't tell me they are sleeping. We just woke up a while ago."
"Nera is setting up a game night. If you want to join them in her room, I won't stop you, but keep your encounter a secret from them. I don't want the younger three having nightmares."
"What about you? What are you doing?"
"Preparing lunch, keeping this place cleaned. I'm the oldest here, so it's my responsibility to act as the guardian."
"Nobody asked you to, Winter."
"I didn't say they did."
Now alone with his thoughts, he stared back into the static, the place where he felt the most comfort.
ns 15.158.61.5da2