The Mimic: Origins

Chapter 8: Ritsuzo

I entered a cave with my only flashlight; it was difficult to find one in this place. I couldn’t help but wonder what all of these things had to do with me. I’ve passed countless monsters, yet this is the first time I’ve encountered something like this. I just want to continue trying to find my friends. I feel so lost while I’m trying to find them, hoping that I’m not too late and they’re not dead. Being in this place made me realize something, something that I never really had the time to think of since my cousin’s disappearance. I never really thought about the fact my life has been surrounded with several lies and here I am stuck in this dreadful place. My family never even mentioned these so-called “ancestors” to me before. I feel so betrayed. I know they probably had their reasoning, but I wish I knew more about these people instead of going through this hell right now. I bet it’s probably not as fun for them either. I can still hear their sobs and screams as I’m continuing forward.

Every step of mine crunched and splashed beneath me. It felt like forever until I came upon a large statue of a woman. She glowed under the moonlight despite being made of stone. It was awkward to look at that statue because I couldn’t believe stone could shimmer like this. I started to slowly walk towards the statue, but then I remembered an old television show I watched when I was younger that scared me. Out of all things to deal with in this place, it just had to be statues.. and dolls. I couldn’t get over the thought that this statue would probably move at any given time. I stared into her piercing dark eyes as I slowly walked towards a bush in order to hide out of fear. I thought I saw a sparkle in its hollow eyes, something quite odd.

I heard a voice nearby and jumped into the bush as quickly as I could. The limbs of the bush held onto me tightly while screaming. There was a sharp pain all over my body, but I dared not to make a sound because I certainly did not want to be found. Although I was in an awkward position, I could still see the statue. I noticed a shadow creeping towards the statue. It released several butterflies as it talked to itself. The raspy voice sounded like it belonged to a female, I just couldn’t quite grasp what she looked like. I watched as she carved another stone statue next to the one I believed she had built. “If only I could muster the courage to talk with people. Everyone would be coming to my door asking for a statue from me! Oh, how grand that could be. I wish everyone could see that I, too, am better than any man at sculpting,” said the woman as she chuckled.

As much as I hate to admit it, I was scared. Not because I was somewhere unfamiliar, but because I didn’t know what this strange woman could do. I didn’t know what she was capable of, nor did I wish to know. I just wanted to get out of this place as quickly as possible. Untangling from the branches, I frantically ran far from the woman. I ran without looking back, thinking that she couldn’t hear me over her own conversations. However, I was extremely wrong. I could hear her swift steps behind me drawing ever so near. Every step I took seemed to bring her closer towards me. I gave it my all while attempting to get farther and farther, but she tackled me to the ground before I could avoid her.

The world around me was a constant blur, hard to make of what was happening. Am I going to die this way? The thought of death, as well as anything negative, swam through my mind. My world was going to end this way, here and now. I didn’t want it to end, though. This was just the beginning.. the beginning of a new start. I wasn’t going to go down this way, I’d rather die proud than feel regret. My vision started to clear up little by little, I still noticed the woman was on top of me. Her hands gripped my throat like a child hugging a cherished stuffed animal. It was hard to breathe as I kept punching her, attempting to get her off of me. I swung my fists so forcefully that I hit her off of me and started rolling into the river. I clung onto the moist mud, begging for life to let me live and not let go of my soul. The frigid river water gripped my legs tightly, extracting heat from my flesh. I made an effort to climb onto land, but the mud gave way under my grasp.

Down I descended into the disdainful river of past memories and regrets with a small hint of cheerfulness, relief even. Perhaps I would outlive my survival chances in this god forsaken place. My lungs were starting to fill with burning pain as I plunged further into the blanket of water. I could hardly see through it all. I gasped out the last remaining air my lungs tried so hard to cling onto and faded into the void.

My eyelids shot open to the painful urge of coughing and throwing up. I puked out the water I held in me. How long was I.. was I dead? My mind ached just trying to think. I only knew one thing: I have to get out of here as soon as possible. I sat up, tilting my head back toward the sky. The stars were so bright like a light source, just not bright enough. I mustered the energy to stand up and head down a pathway that was near. It was annoying being unable to see clearly, if only I didn’t drop that stupid flashlight when I was tackled by that weird woman. I paused right in my tracks. I was the only person here, as far as I knew, the only person going through these trials. How the heck was that woman alive? Am I losing my mind? Surely-

I heard laughter in the distance. Once again, I found myself hiding in a bush almost out of habit at this point. There she was, the weird woman from earlier. Although this time, the moon wasn’t out quite yet. It was sunset now, but I could’ve sworn it was just night time earlier. The woman laughed even more as I watched her grab a butterfly from a dark figure’s hands and smash it to pieces. The sound of the butterfly’s last moments crawled all over my spine. I covered my mouth to keep my screams internal. This wasn’t normal. None of this was normal. I didn’t know what was going on anymore, but I hope my cousin didn’t have to go through this much damage. I can barely even handle this.

I blinked and everything changed. The woman made a business out of sculpting now. She seemed popular with several at her door. Little by little, she got rid of every statue she created. Again, she laughed even more than before. She spoke to herself smugly, “Ha! I’ll be richer than everyone else in this village. Idiots. They’ll all run out of money eventually thanks to my convincing. They believe these statues are idols for their Gods.” She laughed even more as she continued counting her profit.

Lastly, I blinked again and caused everything to change. Now it was night time. I could tell due to the moonlight becoming extremely bright on her skin. Something was different this time, something peculiar. I moved forward out of the bush to get a closer look, thanks to stupidity. The woman was frozen in place and she was slowly turning into a statue. I immediately covered my ears with my hands. I could hear the unenjoyable croaking she made as the last of her life slipped from her. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that this would end. I didn’t want to see anymore of this. I peeked out of my right eye to see a glowing butterfly. I slowly walked toward it, amazed by its beauty. I wasn’t even close enough to touch it before it fluttered away, almost as if it was in a rush to be somewhere. I looked around to make sure nothing was around before continuing my journey. The sooner I got to the end of this, the better.