Snubnose

[Sonja]

Mariko was lying on her bed. She had a high fever again, and looked very weak and tired. But she kept thinking, kept dreaming. Her birthday was soon. The first that she had with anyone that loved her since before she could remember. She had seen images of her family back when the brain scan was performed on her, but nothing she could remember was on those pictures.

Only a few days to go, Mariko could hardly wait. High hopes and dreams of bliss filled her mind, too young as she was to realise that the universe simply wasn't as she dreamed it should be. Still, she kept imagining a world consisting only of Juno and herself, going to the zoo. The perfect event... but, failing that, any opportunity to be with Juno would suffice.

A birthday cake, tall, with fifteen candles on it. Layers of sponge in between thick white cream, and a deep layer of icing lining the top of the edible art piece. The mere thought was enough to make Mariko's mouth water.

Mariko just hoped to herself that she wasn't ill on her birthday. How sad it would be, to spend her only true birthday, in a bed. The thought perished itself from her mind, as she concentrated on the happy images her mind conjured up.

After a few moments, lost in her bliss, she fell into a deep sleep, where her imaginations continued. A purely white background, a single real wooden table, three porcelain plates, two chairs. Just as Mariko wanted it. Mariko walked over to a chair, and sat on it, waiting for Juno Keitan to appear. Juno did, but with her hands over her face. Without sound, she appeared to be crying, but as she sat down, she revealed her face. The white background faded into a black abyss.

Blood was pumping out of her eyes, one just a black hole in her head, the other, pierced through with a knife. The features of her face told Mariko it wasn't Juno, not her at all. It was the monster that tormented Mariko's past, the same face, the same hair, the same eyes. For a moment, the image burned into the back of Mariko's mind, and then she awoke with a start.

Sweating heavily and breathing fast, it took a moment for Mariko to calm herself from her frightful dream. For the rest of the night, Mariko stayed awake. Again and again, she tried to sleep. Nothing worked. Even the images of Juno were tainted again and again by the monster that haunted her unconscious mind, and it was invading her conscious mind too.

All those frightful images, of the same person, with only one message. A message that Mariko had embraced before now, but found herself becoming more independent from since joining Juno. A message to kill everyone, everything, to stop the emotions of sadness and pain from ever entering her mind again. Constantly reminding her of the torment she had suffered at the hands of those who had enslaved her.

It was too much for the child's mind to bear, and she descended into a fit of uncontrolled crying. Insanity almost encroached on her being, as she desperately tried to fend off mentally the spectre that haunted her.

"Why must Mariko-san kill?"

...

"But Mariko-san is happy with Juno-san!"

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"But Juno-san would never hurt Mariko-san!"

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"Mariko-san won't do it!"

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"Mariko-san can't do it!"

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"Go away! Mariko-san is happy without you!"

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"Mariko-san wont listen to you! Go away! The only thing making Mariko-san sad is you. I want to kill you!"

...

With that, Mariko stopped speaking, and again, tried to sleep. She had succeeded in banishing the ghost from her mind, for now, but she would always fear this entity, lurking inside her brain.