The Advent of Madness: My Twin Sister And I

Tidying her white headband, the dark-blonde-haired Maiden quietly neatened her outfit, smoothed out the wrinkles and removed any loose strings of fabric.

Checking her reflection, she nodded to herself and promptly exited her quarters.

She had somewhere to be on this fine morning.

A location containing a vile creature.

Clicking her teeth, the Maiden walked down the endless hallway of doors, white paintings, and vases, till she arrived before one specific door.

There, she clasped the door handle-

Click.

-and entered the room.

The moment she entered;

The second she received the opportunity to grace the room with her presence;

Thud.

She heard a knocking noise.

Thud. Crack.

A familiar, almost too familiar, noise.

Thud.

And, alongside that noise-

"93,910,781."

-came the count.

The monster lay in the centre of the empty room on its back, and there, it repeatedly lifted its scalp off the ground...

Thud. Splat.

...and smashed it back into the ground.

It counted numbers, it smashed its head into the ground, and it stained the earth with its impure, Cursed blood.

"Disgusting." Spitting that comment, the Maiden glared at the broken little thing in the centre of the room.

It was tiny.

A mere 104cm and an underdeveloped body, it was almost small enough to be fully embraced in one's arms from head to toe.

"Utterly disgusting."

Yet that only presented the creature as an even more horrid little thing; a repulsive mark etched in the fabric of this wonderful Domain of Light.

Thud. Splat!

Crackling echoes thundered across the room as the little thing continuously smashed itself into pieces.

It was truly a sight for sore eyes.

A stain to the Maiden's eyes.

Oh, how tempted she was to tear this monster apart;

Oh, how tempted she was to leave that thing torn into a thousand pieces!

"It has been 24 hours, your time is up, creature." The Maiden walked up to the tumbling, bleeding little thing. Her footsteps squelched on the bloody floor, leaving footprints in the lifeblood of the monster.

Towering over the thing, the Maiden opened her mouth-

"Ugh!"

I shot up, hyperventilating with my beaten heart pounding manically. The intense pain caressing every muscle and tendon in my body reverberated with burning and freezing sensations.

It was insane.

I was insane.

Am I insane?

"Maybe."

Chuckling, I coughed out a mouthful of blood as I bent over in my pool of coagulated, thick, Cursed blood.

I'm alive.

I subconsciously circulated the Curses to my scalp as I stitched the torn pieces together.

But I failed.

In the end, I failed to stay away from Hilda; I was unable to resist the irresistible.

How pathetic.

Taking a moment to collect myself, I lazily surveyed the room I was in. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't much except for two crutches sitting beside the door and-

Footsteps.

Bloodied footsteps that appeared in the pool of blood surrounding me seemed to exit the room; someone came in, walked by my side, and exited the room with the blood on their shoes.

As for the shoe size...

It's either mother or the Maiden.

Hilda's was small, and Esme's was even smaller; other than those two, it could only be mother or-

Actually.

An abrupt, seemingly irrational idea flashed in my mind.

The personification of madness?

"..."

No, it couldn't be that thing.

I refuse to believe that it would leave footprints behind; that mess of madness would never leave human footprints behind.

"...Sigh."

Never mind, there's no point in overthinking it. Punishment is temporarily over; it's about time I returned to my humble abode.

Hilda must be waiting for me.

I spread my wings to fl-

Oh right.

Shaking the confusion off, I punched my reinforced fists into the ground and slowly pulled myself across the ground and towards the crutches. I slid across the ground like a slug, leaving behind a trail of stale blood.

Arriving beside the crutches-

Clatter.

-I slipped my arms into them and pushed myself onto my feet.

A faint awkwardness emanated from my limbs; it felt like it had been days since the last time I used my legs to walk.

Flying with those frail wings had almost become a habit.

Whatever, I need to leave before the others get suspicious of my absence.

Squeezing the crutch handles, I ignored the faint tingling and sense of numbness in my fingertips and hopped onwards;

Allthewhilevomitingbloodoutmymouthasthoughitwereafaucet.

How disgusting this creature is.

It cannot go a day without falling apart.

Hehe.

-----

The moment I stepped past the doors of that blood-stained empty room, I arrived back at my bedroom.

It was clean, traces of Hilda's messy but slowly improving work lingered in the corners and on the faintly smudged windows. The rays of light passing through refracted at interesting angles, shining their light on my bloodied face and shirt.

Splat.

The blood wouldn't stop flowing.

It continuously thumped up my throat, burning the trachea and bursting out of my mouth in a mess.

It's fine, though, I'm used to it.

I can handle it.

I can handle anything for Esme's sake.

Stumbling over to my bed, I tossed the crutches aside and-

Pomf.

-collapsed on my back, relaxing my body on the neatly made bed.

Sinking into the mattress, I took a deep breath past my shivering lips and lifted my right arm into the air.

I stared at that hand; at that shaking, tired hand.

It's so small.

So tiny.

I can handle it.

It's not an issue.

I'm fine.

My lips quivered as a hiccup burst past my lips.

I was still staring at my raised hand.

But, at some point, my vision had grown blurry.

If it's for Esme, I can handle anything.

My throat tickled with a different burning sensation, not the same pain, but a new one; an odd one. It clammed my throat and made every breath harder than the last.

Hot liquid dripped down the side of my eyes and my nose-

Sniffle.

-it was stuffy and uncomfortable.

I'll handle everything.

I'm fine.

Past the waves of veiled, blurry vision, my right arm shook violently; it groaned and croaked as waves of Curses began flailing uncontrollably through my body-

Slap.

-my hand slapped onto my eyes and forehead, covering my vision and clearing the trails of liquid.

It was a bloody mess.

I am a bloody mess.

I'm fine.

...Seriously, I'm fine.

How can anything be wrong?

I receive my rightful punishment, and Esme remains safe in exchange.

I grow as the Perfect Cursed Doll, and Esme grows as The Pure One.

Everything is perfect.

Everything is correct.

And, I'm fine.

My lips curled up; I'm fine.

My left hand then lifted itself and-

Slap.

-it clasped my open mouth shut, slathering trails of blood and trickling spit over my chin.

I'm fine.

I'm okay.

Everything will be okay.

Alora, it's okay.

Okay?

You're fine, okay?

Okay.

Behind me lay a smothered sunflower, a blanket of crimson-stained golden hair. It dirtied Hilda's freshly cleaned duvet; she will have to clean it again now.

See, everything is fine.

Think good thoughts, and all will be okay.

The pitch-black flower looming in the depths of my chest blossomed with sticky emotion, threatening to burst outwards and to leak its hidden truths.

Good thoughts. Google seaʀᴄh novelFirｅ.net

The hazy layer of liquid trickling from my eyes multiplied.

I'm fine.

My tiny, baby, chubby fingers clasped everything tight; these childish hands kept it all together.

I'm okay.

...Hehe.

...Hehehehe...

...He.

.....

...

"...Hehe."

My hands loosened, releasing their hold on my mouth and eyes.

The ceiling was drowned in layers of cloudy tears.

And I-

I-

"I'm oka-"

I bit my lips.

"...Hic."

And, once the first cry escaped...

"Waaaa-!!!"

An ugly, squeamish explosion of guttural, high-pitched noises screeched out of my cracked throat.

A fountain's worth of tears leaked down my face as a ball-sized sensation plugged my throat; my chest tightened, and every feeling I had forcefully inhaled came flying back out.

I curled up into a ball and gripped the bedcovers. I lifted my head-

Smack.

-and slammed it into the soft covers.

There was no pain.

I had hoped there'd be pain, something to numb this abhorrent feeling overwhelming my fatigued, crumbling little brain.

I was exhausted.

Tired.

Done with it.

I'm not strong.

I'm weak.

That's why I had given up in the first place.

That's why I had gone along with the Mistress's plans.

I'm pathetic.

That's all I am.

And all this pathetic thing could do was cry its lungs out, smack its head on its bed, and curl up like a wounded little animal; and beg.

"P, pleas- Hic. Someone- Waaa!"

End it.

Drool dribbled out of my mouth alongside the screams.

My throat burned, my chest burned; it all burned.

Not a scalding-hot type of burn, but a fiery, mind-numbing burn.

The cries bubbling up my throat rattled my body with endless vibrations. It drowned me beneath the weight of all the punishments that had been steadily piling on my brain; the frail, patchy, wooden scaffolding that I had built around the core of my brain was falling apart.

Everything was falling apart.

My mind, my body, my heart.

Do I even have a heart?

Did I even have one in the first place?

I don't know.

I can't remember.

All I remember is the pain, the compounding, scalding pain.

Clasping the bedsheets, I pushed my body inwards into a tight circle. I hugged myself tight, hiccuping and leaking out the cries that had been held in for so many years

"...P, please... Hic. Help..."

...Squish.

Warmth.

At that moment, I felt warmth.

I felt a hand.

...Squish.

Two hands.

They enveloped me from behind, pulling me into their tender, loving embrace...

"There, there... Think good thoughts, little dummy..."

Her sorrowful voice echoed in my ears, and they grabbed hold of me, preventing me from sinking further into the quagmire.

"H, Hilda...?"

"Mhm. I'm here for you, little dummy."