Camilla POV

Oh god, oh god, oh god! 

She found it... what will she think now! 

She's going to know I'm a murderer, she's going to leave me permanently, never come, never look back. What if what if what if... yes...

Grabbing the stainless steal by the wooden handle. An everyday item used to cut vegetables, perfect. With this, she won't have to leave, she can't...

He... he he he! 

It's the perfect crime...

n- No!

What am I thinking!? I feel so ashamed...

Ah stupid stupid me! 

How could I even consider such a thing like that... why did I think of such a thing... 

I need to breathe a little, this is too much for me to handle... too much stress, stress I don't want, not a bit.

Let's tend to the garden for a little while.

...y...yes... 

Into the tranquil field, fleshed out with a colourful blossom. It keeps me calm, it kept me sane all this time. Every year, everyday, every month, I see them grow, bloom and wilt. Over and over there is no end to the cycle of the flower.

Just lying down and feeling the petals brings ease to my heart. The smell makes me fester in my own imagination. Tending to it daily makes me distracted. 

Because of that, I understand how to care for them. Simply you can't force it into anything. You can't force  it to grow in an environment it doesn't belong to. You can't force too much water into it, else it becomes yellow and soggy. Too little water it becomes all limp. Not enough sunlight it becomes long and weird, but too much sunlight, the leaves become bleached. 

It's all about the right timing, and it's only with patience can you let the flower become beautiful. 

If I was alive, I would've been a florist. 

"...hahhh...."(Camilla)

If only...

There was a little shade underneath a tree that I found. My garden expanded a bit. Not too big but bigger than most. This was truly a blessing for me now that I am dead.

I can't leave my home, not even an inch away from it so I am ever so grateful to have this garden I call my personal haven. 

Feeling the warm sunlight and the cool breeze against my cheeks, my eyelids became heavy.

...

...

...

-----

"n- no, please it was not me!"(Camilla)

"Then who was it! Over and over again ya told us to wait a bit more and then good tings will happen! BUT IT NEVER DID!"

Simply, I was terrified.

Alone, cornered in the basement of my house. They raided everything, I sought shelter in the only place I thought they wouldn't find but alas it was to no avail. 

Hidden deep inside the deep cavern of the underground, the harsh and the decrepit. 

But they found it.

"An then outta the blue all our livestock, all our crops, all our stuff gone! Jus like that!"

"P- please listen to me! It was th-"(Camilla)

"The who!? I say it's you rich folk selling our own things for yahself!"

The mob was like a wave and I was in the middle of a storm. I wasn't able to explain what happened to all the grains or the animals. They didn't give me the chance to explain it, they were too fed up.

My unskilled self, my poor management, the drought the... angels... led up to this very moment. Hungry, poor and exhausted they had no one but one to place this blame on... me...

And now this is where it ended up. Their face had contorted to wicked scowls as my arms were pin to the walls. 

In the not too far distance I saw a dangerous red-orange hue. 

A sharp pain in my chest, I slowly turned my head to look. 

Impaled with a rusty spade, my organs jumbled with blood into chunky bits. My eyes wide open and my hands just lightly tracing the thick liquid. Pain became numb but my hands still shook.

"You deserved it."

"It was all your fault."

"You deserved it."

"It was all your fault."

"You deserved it."

"It was all your fault."

"You deserved it."

"It was all your fault."

The cackling wont stop! Please someone...

"You deserved it."

"It was all your fault."

  h  e  l  p    m  e

"-AH!"(Camilla)

Breathing heavily I woke in cold sweat. 

It was just a nightmare... I'm fine... 

I'm fine...

I'm fine.

It became dark so I decided to leave. Floating inside the mansion and seeking the comfort, the door opened with a creak.

Seeing these two brings tranquility to my heart. 

Cheryl was sleeping a log, completely knocked out while Reiko was...

Reiko? r- REIKO!?

Oh no oh no where is she!?

Could she be!? 

No way...

In a rush to flew to the place I suspected. 

Down under the floor into the cave I went. I was in a rush, did she see what's farther inside!? Did she see it already!? Oh no no no! 

Deeper inside the cave, the more and more she'll see of what it holds. She'll learn about its dark past.

-----

Reiko POV

I couldn't believe my eyes, what I was seeing. 

A scene so grotesque but intriguing, so tragic yet confusing. As if it was not even real to begin, like a movie prop or a sick joke. Even with all the bones, they all paled in comparison to what was right in front of my eyes. 

I was aghast and fell down onto my hiney. With nervous sweat dripping down slowly and a mouth that refused to say a whisper. 

What was shown right there, the thing embedded into my eyes was a corpse but not a regular corpse.

Hands crudely impaled onto a wooden cross, the abdomen ripped and torn, piece of flesh sticking out like mince meat. Skin a sickly green, it had yet finished decomposition with an old, yellow eyeball sticking out from the left and on the right hollow. 

Her feet was an unrecognisable jumble. Her fingers broken in half like wood. 

To top it all off was the shredded white and black dress.

I shouldn't have come here, regrets only pile as I realised my nosiness led me to see this. 

That's why she didn't want to talk about it... how could I-...

"i- it w- was... w- was this..."(Reiko)

"yes... this is me..."(Camilla)

h- huueeh!?

So suddenly, I didn't know how to react and just babbled like an idiot. Camilla just adjacent looked at herself, her old body with longing eyes. Caressing her former self gently, a tear drop fell out her right eye. 

"I- I uh I'm sorry! I didn't know this was here, I shouldn't have come here, I shouldn't have-"(Reiko)

"No, it's alright.."(Camilla)

Shushing me, she helped me up.

"I've been killed about... eighty years ago.

And ever since then, I've been living alone, stuck to haunt this mansion.

You are the first and only person to find out about this, and I'm fine with that. For so long I had no one to talk to, no one to tell. This feeling only festered deep inside.

So... I have a request."(Camilla)

"Wh- what is it?"(Reiko)

"Will you listen to my story?"(Camilla)

...

"A rough night like any other. 

Overburdened and buried by all the documents I was left exhausted. 

Just a year ago my parents were murdered and bit by bit, the maids, cooks, butlers... they all left, I was abandoned. My heart was left hollow, but I trudge onwards with little hope. 

But that little hope's light was dying.

I was given a gift by boy, not too long ago. He had golden blonde hair, the fairest skin and most peculiar of all, a pair of white wings, he was an angel and a boy, named Gabriel.

The day we met he gave me a one-eyed compass and promised to meet again. 

And we did.

After about a year a half, when I was alone and tired out of my mind. 

Out of the blue, the compass was pointing to something. Immediately I rushed to where it was, my heart filled with joy.

As I went outside, there I saw an army, a mob, a crowd of them, people with white wings.

Was this a blessing? Was this real?

I thought.

It was a wish, a dream that had come true! But that dream hid a secret nightmare. 

One by one,  even though we were already in a shortage of crops and supplies, they stole. 

They were never angels, they were  demons.

Their smiles nothing but a wicked, sadistic smirk.

Stores ravaged, our weapons melted into scrap and then stolen. Fruits, grains, livestock, nothing was saved. Like greedy pigs they took it all.

My heart pumped harder than ever, as stress consumed me. On the verge of tears about to burst, I shouted, screamed, yelled for them to stop but they didn't listen. 

"STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP!"(Camilla)

I wanted it all to stop but it never did.

They were cold, heartless, selfish everything bad you could think of.

There was nothing I could do, there wasn't anything I could do. 

From the corner of my eye, I caught glimpse of him. Standing so casual as if he wasn't ruining the lives of many. 

"y- You! STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY!"(Camilla)

I grabbed him by the collar and shouted angrily. Shaking him with tears in my eyes, he responded only with calm.

"No can do, consider it a charity."(Gabriel)

"n-NO! GIVE IT ALL BACK!"(Camilla)

He was dismissive about my plight, My shaking stopped, not because of my will but because of the sudden weight to it all. Contrary to how he looked, he was much stronger. 

"Enough of this silly girl."(Gabriel)

I was heartbroken, all our hard work, gone to waste, worse he had not even remembered my name.

What was I to do, I was alone and powerless. Thinking for something a realisation struck.

"Stop it or... I'm going to rally everyone an enact war!"(Camilla)

It was a silly idea to begin with, what were mere farmers going to do against the flying angels? We had no magicians, weapons or any skilled fighters, but in an act of desperation I spouted nonsense. 

...

No response...

"A- are you listening? I'll-"(Camilla)

"Shush, it doesn't matter what's what or not, we casted a spell and now they won't wake up until dawn... Wait why aren't you asleep? Were you awake when...."(Gabriel)

His words became muffled in my ears. 

A fueling rage emerging deep within. 

Feeling powerless I did what my instincts told me to. 

My hand balled into a fist, I threw a punch with all my strength to his jaw.

But, it didn't do anything.

Gabriel became visually annoyed and in a flash

Smack!

He slapped my face, having enough force to knock me out cold.

...

"uuhhh huh?"(Camilla)

My head was ringing when woke, it was morning the next day. Feeling panic, I looked around. Everything... everything was gone... my heart had sunk and the worst had yet to come. 

"Hey!"

"what?"(Camilla)

A gruff voice resounded from behind, a callous hand grabbing my arm. I turned to face a large, old man. He was a farmer, characterised by his blue overalls, muddy boots, and straw hat. 

His eyes were bugling, his teeth grating. If he had not been giant, his face would've been more humorous than intimidating. 

"what did you do with all our stuff?"

"huh wha?"(Camilla)

"I asked, WHERE IS OUR STUFF!"

I mumbled, feeling weak in my legs. Dilating eyes, I couldn't explain a thing. His frustration only grew. 

Feeling his hand tighten. 

"i- i- it was, the, the people with, the people with wings..."(Camilla)

"People with wings ey? DON'T TAKE ME FOR A FOOL! WHAT DID YOU DO!"

His voice boomed causing my ears to ring.

"I- I'm..."(Camilla)

Pushing his arm away, I booked it back home. 

The door slammed as I became breathless. 

Truly, I curled into a ball, I cried, feeling helpless to do anything. 

Windows were broken, the field plundered as if a swarm had just come by. 

"what am I going to do..."(Camilla)

I whimpered...

...

BANG! 

Loud banging from the door, a loud hodgepodge voices coming from behind the door. What's going on, what's that?

Looking from the peephole, I was physically taken aback. A mob, an angry mob of people gathered behind. 

"Get out an' explain to us all! What's all this!"

BANG! BANG!

They were already mad at me before.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Whenever I left, they yelled, threatened and even tried to assault me. 

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Now they are angrier.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

What will they do to me now?

Everything inside my head told me to run away. All of the warning signals going off at once.

Before the door fell off, I ran for safety.

"Over there!"

An amalgamation of baritone and soprano, a vocal mess, roaring throughout my home.

 I ran as fast as I could, unable to keep up with the mob. 

I went to the only place I knew could keep me safe. 

I opened up the door to the cellar and hurried down.

Underneath the cavern, the unfinished, unfurnished cavern. With moss, spiders, centipedes and more, it was a place I would originally never be at but it did have one thing. It was big with enough places to hide. 

Becoming small, curled in a corner, hearing the beating of my heart in my ears.

Hoping that someone, something anything would save me.

It wasn't long till they found the cellar.

Scouring through the deep dark that they weren't aware of, I thought I was safe. One by one they gave up and left, I was going to live. But-

"Kek!"(Camilla)

Something had tightly grabbed onto my neck. A man's hand, raising me high up.

"Oi everyone over here!"

I gasped for air as to my horror, they came back, wearing devilish smiles.

"Now explain! Where are our food! Our animals! Our cloth! Did you sell em all for yaself!"

"..."(Camilla)

"Huh? Scared"

He threw me to the wall. I felt my back physically crack. Grabbing me by the collar and raising me up till we were eye to eye.

"p- please it was not me... they were st- stolen, by people, by angels!"(Camilla)

I pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Hah? Then I'm the bloody king."

In the background, even with my ring ears, I could hear them chanting for my death. Not one was sympathetic, not one showed pity.

"I'm tired of ya charade, I'm tired it of it all."

With a sharpened spade, he impaled me deep into my abdomen. Organs becoming chunks of flesh, but I didn't die yet. I was pinned to the wall, his hand on my neck, crushing. 

The last thing I remembered before everything went black, was the spade again, this time directly in view, eye to spade. And...

I died.

But I woke up. 

Maybe it was a curse or sheer willpower. 

But I woke up,

"AHHHHHH!"(Camilla)

A pained shriek as a burst of mana I didn't even know I had, fired. 

They turned into sharp icicles,penetrating everyone there. Woman or man, child or elderly, none were safe. 

In a reckless rage the ice spread quickly all around the mansion. If you hadn't been stabbed by the sharp point of the ice, you would've been frozen solid. 

I didn't mean to do any of it, but my body, my magic had its own mind. My mind foggy with violence, vengeance, I had no control of my own body. 

I heard their pleas, I heard them call me a devil, they prayed to god, they prayed for my death.

It was only after everyone was gone had I realised what I did. 

It was only then it all registered.

It was only then I was able to control my body and mind.

But it was too late.

Because at that point, I had already become a murderer.

I had already become a monster."(Camilla)