It was a perfectly ordinary day... or so I thought.
I was returning from my friend's house, and darkness was creeping over the streets with unusual haste, as if the world was rushing toward a catastrophe. I opened the front door, and a sharp, metallic smell of "iron" flooded my lungs. I asked myself naively, "Did they fix something in the house today?" But the answer came as a scream that shattered the silence... my little sister's scream, pleading for help. I looked up and saw dark red droplets falling from the edge of the upper floor, hitting the wooden ground with a rhythmic thud: Tick... tick... tick.
"Dad? Mom? Brother?!"
My world fractured in an instant. I dashed toward the kitchen like a madman, grabbing a knife that trembled in my hand as if it sensed what was coming. No time for mourning now... someone was slaughtering my family!
I ran toward the wooden stairs—the same stairs that once witnessed our laughter and games. Halfway up the first floor, the unexpected happened... my legs failed me. Thud! I fell violently, feeling as if my head was about to explode from the pain. But I didn't stop. I rose and ran, only to fall a second time... a tenth... a twentieth.
With every collision against the wood, my sister's screams grew weaker until a killing silence prevailed. I knew then that she was gone. The wall of patience in my heart collapsed: "I will have my revenge! I will annihilate whoever did this!" On the twenty-first attempt, my body spent its last ounce of energy... I vomited a thick spray of blood that coated the stairs. I tried to rise in desperation, but my feet slipped on my own filth and blood. I fell a fall unlike any other.
CRACK!
A terrifying snapping sound rang in my ears; my back and shoulders were utterly shattered. I froze in place, hearing my own muffled moans. In that moment, amidst the excruciating pain and humiliation, I began to laugh... a hysterical laughter that tore through my chest: "Hahaha... Hahahahaha!"
What a farce! Damn this wretched body! Damn the friend who invited me, and damn me for not answering my mother's calls! If only I had arrived minutes earlier... if only I had been stronger!
I began to crawl... yes, crawling like an insect. My left hand gripped the knife, a crazed smile plastered on my stained face. I reached the second floor, and there I found him... the killer! I felt an overwhelming joy, as if it were my wedding day, or as if my mother had just given birth to a new brother for me. Finally... I would have my happy revenge!
I saw the corpses of my family piled atop one another, blood drowning the place like a crimson sea. The stranger looked at me coldly and said, "You are the last... and then I shall be free from the Boss's command."
I screamed with the last of my lungs: "To hell with you and your Boss! I will kill you, and then I will go and eat your Boss's flesh in front of his family!"
We lunged at each other with madness. I felt no pain; I only felt my blade sinking into his throat, and at that same moment... I felt the coldness of his steel piercing my face.
Then... a dark void settled in. A burning cold began gnawing at my soul.
I hate the cold... I was just a sixteen-year-old boy. All I wanted was to go home, eat my mother's warm food, and watch my favorite anime...
"If I had a chance... just one more chance... to be happy and carefree..."