I Won't Let Him

INTERLUDE: OMORI

INTERLUDE

I was hiding in the bathroom. I had already locked the door so that nobody could come in and find me.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't calm down. Nothing made sense anymore...

Why did I turn around? Why...? Why did I have to turn around?!

Oh god, MARI... She was looking at me...!

She was staring right at me! Why was she staring?! How could she stare at me like that?!

It didn't make any sense. Nothing made sense!

She wasn't breathing.

She wouldn't move.

I waited... I waited for so long for her to wake up, move, breathe, do anything- but she never woke up...

No matter how much I shook her awake, she just wouldn't wake up- and it was my fault...!

BASIL... He told me to do it. To help him bring MARI outside in the backyard.

I didn't know why. He kept telling me to trust him, that everything was going to be okay.

I didn't understand why. I couldn't even make sense out of anything.

But I trusted him. I wanted to trust him. He was one of my best friends... If he knew what to do, I had to trust him to help me fix it...

But... but...

He hung her body to the tree with a jump rope. He tied it into a noose and pulled her body up there to hang on the tree.

I didn't understand why. I couldn't make any sense out of it. How was this going to help?

He told me that now I wouldn't be in trouble for pushing MARI down the stairs.

Was I going to be in trouble?

No, what am I saying? Of course, I would have gotten in trouble... I just killed my sister by pushing her down the stairs- Of course I was...

BASIL just wanted to protect me, didn't he?

But... But why did MARI have her eyes open when we turned around?

Why was she staring at me?! Her eyes were closed the entire time when I moved her to our room! Her eyes stayed close even when I helped BASIL bring her outside to the backyard!

So how?! How could she look at me with her eyes open like that when I turned around?! How was it possible if she was already-

...

...

...

No... NO...!

It couldn't be...?

She was... She was... still alive...?

She was... still alive... and she woke up just as we hung her?

Oh god, please no... No, please God, don't be true...

NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO-

SHE WAS DEAD, I KNOW SHE WAS DEAD!

I kept checking over and over and over to try to see if she was still breathing- SHE WOULDN'T BREATHE!

She never woke up.

But how could she open her eyes if she was dead...?

Oh god... MARI... She-

She wasn't dead. Not yet.