The Advent of Madness: My Twin Sister And I

Meanwhile, at the eye of the storm, as the victim and, simultaneously, the perpetrator of all of these issues...

Phew!

I exhaled my warm breath while Hilda wiped my forehead of its sweat.

I was relaxed, calm, and composed.

Not much had to be done on my end, after all. It's all on Esme accomplishing her Approval and Hildekar completing The Canary.

Sure, I could put my Book of Heresy to use and test out all of the theories, combinations, and orders I've come up with to the test-

But I'd rather not.

First of all, it'd cause me a whole plethora of ear damage from all of the screaming that'd come from Hilda.

And, secondly, I do not want to witness Esme's sorrowful face anytime soon.

I've already prepared my heart for the inevitable 2 years from now, but I haven't prepared myself for anything else.

I'm not ready for any more.

I'm at my limit.

I've endured a lot.

12 years worth of 'a lot'.

I don't want any more.

I'm done.

No more punishments.

No more hard work.

No more lessons by the Maiden.

Just peace and quiet.

I want to enjoy it.

Because-

189,442,961Iwon'tgettoenjoyanymorepeaceafterweescape189,443,162 ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novęlfire.net

"Little dummy~"

"Hm?"

Hilda pinched my face between her index finger and thumb, "You're getting lazy these days~" She plucked my cheek and softly twisted it, "Should I get you moving around? Or does it hurt too much?"

Instantly, without hesitation-

"It hurts too much."

Nope.

Don't wanna.

The pain isn't the issue; I'm just not bothered.

"Haa... Fine. Be lazy." Releasing my cheek, she picked up a warm towel and wiped the drop of sweat that was dripping down my neck towards my collarbone.

As I lay on Hilda's lap, enjoying this treatment-

Uh oh.

-she abruptly tossed the towel aside and placed both hands underneath my armpits-

"Hap."

-and stood up.

...Uh, Hilda?

I dangled mid-air like a broken puppet, my lower half swaying slightly with each tiny movement of the hands holding my armpits.

"Let's go on a walk!"

...Hilda?

Stupified, I tried my darned hardest to keep my emotions in check-

...

How can I!

The fuck?!

Hilda was quite literally 'walking' me in front of her.

I was on display for the world to see.

Striding back into my bedroom from the terrace, she beelined it to the bedroom door-

"Wait-!"

-Bang!

Kicking it open, the winds swished all over, and the door slammed into the wall. Standing right in front of me, stunned, confused, and filled with a mixture of shock and underlying amusement was a maid.

Right beside her was a butler.

And I-

I-

Damn it!

"Hilda!"

"Let's go~!"

Grinding my teeth, I endured the 'walk' of shame through the mansion.

Many eyes were glued onto me; some curiously stared at me from around the corners, clearly having abandoned their work just to get a look. Others were holding their bellies for dear life, trying to stifle their laughter.

I'm going to kill her.

Hilda, you damned idiot!

Waving and 'tossing' me around like a darned fool, she hummed with her clear and pretty singing voice till she turned a corner-

And, turning that corner-

...I want to kill myself.

Standing at eye-to-eye level with me, her stunning golden eyes widened. She stiffened and stared at me, then at the hands holding me, then right back at me.

Opening and closing her mouth like a fish, my dear, dear sister took a deep breath-

"Pft!"

-and instantly slammed her mouth shut.

I want to die.

"Hilda. What are you doing?"

'Spawning' out of thin air from behind Esme, Lily stepped out with frosty eyes. She glared at Hilda with her fist of absolute justice rising in condemnation.

"Play...!" Hilda tilted her head slightly and stopped talking. Blinking blankly, she stared at the source of the voice.

Then, gulping, "...nothing." She timidly lowered me to safety into a classic princess carry.

"Ahem!" Esme cleared her throat and stepped aside, giving Lily all the room she needed for the incoming disciplinary session.

"Hilda. Pass the Lady Alora to Lady Esme's arms. We need. To. Have."

Stepping forward, she pressed her lips to Hilda's ears:

"...a chat."

Smiling meekly, Hilda coughed out a peal of fake laughter and painstakingly passed me into Esme's arms.

Relaxing in Esme's slender, yet also soft arms, I watched Hilda get dragged by the collar of her shirt off into the distance. Only the missing Empyreans may know what sort of tragic disciplinary actions Hilda was destined to endure, alas, I could only wish her-

Hah! That's what you deserve.

Smirking beneath my mask, I abruptly noticed Esme's staring eyes.

"...Hello, sister."

"Hello, dear sister. Seems like you've been having the time of your life with Hilda? Would you rather not have me around?" Esme's seemingly innocent voice immediately wedged me into a corner.

"Nope! I want to be with you!" I didn't hesitate to decline her teasing and joking statement.

Pushing me up into a more comfortable position in her arms with one smooth motion, "I know. I want to be with you, too." Esme gazed at me with her eyes.

With her warm, loving eyes;

With love.

Not familial love.

Not the love of sisters.

But true love.

Love tainted with a splodge of lust.

She doesn't realise it...

I recognised it, the missing spark of 'love' in her love. In its place was a spark of confused 'familial' love, or, at least, what she believed to be familial love.

As someone who has yet to fall in love, as someone who has experienced the love of our mother, and it, her perspective of love has been twisted. She's incapable of recognising what her love truly means as of this moment.

I wonder, once Esme realises...

Will she continue to love me?

Or...

Or...!

Willshefeeldisgusttowardsthisrancidcreature?

"Let's go on a walk, dear sister." Stating that, Esme turned her loving eyes away and walked out of the mansion after a couple of twists and turns.

With the scene of me acting as a baggage in Esme's arms being a relatively common one around here, not many people stared at us. I couldn't be any more thankful, the shame of being carried around like a puppet-

Like a doll-

.....

...

Mother.

I am a Perfect Cursed Doll, am I not?

So it's fine, right?

Right?

Giggling beneath the mask, I listened to the incessant cries of the hundreds of millions of voices screeching, overlapping, and tearing into my eardrums like savages.

Broken, torn, and bleeding savages.

Dead savages.

Curling my eyes upwards, I glanced at Esme's lips.

She's talking to me.

But I couldn't hear her.

The voices have amplified dramatically in the past 20 seconds. I can't make out tit from tat; Esme's voice is probably soothing.

I'd love to hear it.

But I can't.

This is the price of this Cursed creature's existence.

I exist for you.

I bleed for you.

I'd die for you.

I'd sacrifice it all for you~

Mumbling a bunch of incoherent words in my brain, I played along with the cries of hundreds of millions without a care in the world.

Esme is looking at me like I'm weird.

But it's fine~

I've always been weird~

I'm in love with my own twin sister while being an adult on the inside~

She's a child~

Actually, that's perfectly normal~

It's not weird~

Hehe!!!

Cackling and prancing around the hellish landscape of my tattered, shattered, and broken mind, I listened to the choir of cacophonous hellish screams of the damned.

They cried of the torture~

They bled white~

My world was painted white~

All I can see is white~

Twisting, dancing, and stretching this broken little creature's brain to its limits, I ended up at a dead end.

An abyss.

An abyss of 12 years of torture.

An abyss formed of 12 years of shattered memories.

Somewhere far above me, I can see Esme trying to shake me awake~

But I don't care right now~

Instead, I stared at the abyss.

I stared at the missing memories twirling before me.

Somewhere, far beyond this abyss, at the very edge of this creature's brain of shattered memories-

A stream.

Liquid.

It swayed in a crack in the sky.

And, there, within the crack, bathed in that river of liquid;

Staring back at me;

With despair etched in her eyes.

With sorrow consuming her veins.

With anguish etched in her bones.

Was me.

She mouthed-

She-

"Alora!"

"Haaa..."

I sucked in a mouthful of fresh air. Dazed, twisted, and with a screeching ringing in my ears, I emptily turned my eyes upwards at the panicked face of my dear sister.

"Sister? Sister?" Frantically bobbing me up and down in her arms like a baby, Esme's hand had just begun reaching for my mask-

"...I'm back."

But I stopped it. I wasn't going to let her take it off; I had to do it myself on the day of her Ascension.

I started it. So I'll finish it.

Sighing with relief, "Phew! What's wrong? What happened?" Due to my mask, it was hard for her to spot any irregularities on my face, but, "Your eyes were glazed over, and you weren't responding." She was able to figure it out through my white eyes.

"Nothing much. Just a side effect."

Esme frowned, "Side effect of what?" She pierced me with her fiery golden eyes; Esme had her suspicions, but it wasn't time yet to open the books and reveal it all.

"Of my stupidity."

In a way, it's true.

I was only in this state because I gave up.

Because I was a pathetic little creature who would rather be strung along like a Doll than stick to my beliefs as an adult.

I deserved it.