Chapter 353: The Fountain of Youth (10)
After leaving behind a string of shocking revelations, Paul asked Emil for a pen and a sheet of paper. Dragging his increasingly inhuman body behind him, he turned and went his separate way from Emil.
In the diary entries that followed, Emil never mentioned Paul again.
At this point, Everly took the note she had found on the sofa monster from her pocket and placed it beside Emil’s diary for comparison. She discovered that the patterns and texture on the two pieces of paper were exactly the same.
It seemed that the mound-of-flesh monster she had seen on the sofa was very likely Paul, after he and Emil had parted ways. Before completely transforming, he had left behind a note, then despairingly taken his own life with the pen.
The diary entry marking their separation became a turning point. From that point onward, Emil’s emotions underwent an unprecedented upheaval.
[…Will I become a monster too? But I want to go home. I only just got into college not long ago. I haven’t even had the chance to really enjoy my life!
It hurts so much. My face hurts so much. I only touched it—why does it hurt this badly?! What have I become? Can I really get out of here?
God, I wish all of this were just a dream…]
He cried for a long time, his tears soaking the diary and leaving the next several pages wrinkled, grimy, and covered in blue-green mold and stains. Perhaps the hand he used to write with had also begun to mutate. The handwriting on the pages grew increasingly erratic, and there were even numerous spelling mistakes.