Faded

Why...?

                Wadanohara was feeling down for a majority of the rest of the day. Idate was just brutally murdered and Emalf was the culprit. Did anyone else suspect him of being the killer? The orca did eat his friend… it was unfortunate, but the flame demon didn’t have to go out of his way and kill the other. They could have worked it out, and the nurse was too late. With Vendetto digested in the Orca’s stomach, Cherryblod gone, and Idate buried outside, it was already starting to seem different. Idate’s jar of lollipops were still on his dresser, Cherryblod left his bloody bat, and the son of the flame devil left his spear behind. It was lying upon his crimson mattress which she had not gotten around to cleaning; it didn’t stink up the room, in fact, the spear seemed to… almost dwell upon it as if it were real. It always had those strange qualities.

Memoca was out and about in the streets shopping for whatever it was; she told Wadanohara it was a gift for her, but as to what, that part was a surprise. The pelican had gone to several stores searching for the perfect gift, and she found it: a plush shark. The witch would love this! She quickly purchased it and wrote a note on a sticky pad; stashing it in her pocket. It was dark out, and when she didn’t return home by curfew, the nurse was concerned. Perhaps Memoca had got caught in some late night traffic on the streets? No… streets shouldn’t be that crowded at night. It was already ten o’clock, and Samekichi was sitting behind her; nuzzling against her cheek.

“Samekichi… I’m worried. What if Memoca got hurt…?”

She queried, only getting a soothing hush from the shark. He was trying to get her to fall asleep; she had difficulty doing that as of late. After Vendetto was killed, she was shaken up in almost every way. Insomnia resulted from those experiences, and even when she saw Satanick in the demon's place… that was scorched into her memory like no other. The nurse was thankful to have the shark comfort her and bring her peace, but… the pelican was wavering in her mind.

“I bet she’s fine, Wadanohara. Get some rest… if anything did happen, we’d be notified of it… shhh…”

His hand traced down her side to reach her puny hand in return, and entwined their fingers together; gently squeezing her hand as if to tell the witch that he was there for her. A smile grew upon her lips and she leaned back into him; closing her eyes and trying not to think about the possibilities of Memoca’s disappearance.

Emalf was in his room curled up in a ball against the door, making what seemed to be sobs. His tail was sprawled out limp on the ground, and he had his face in his hands. Vendetto was still dead… did murdering that orca really make a difference? Now that he was thinking about it, he actually committed manslaughter. If that wasn’t a horrifying thought, the demon didn’t know what was.

“Ada… I’m sorry… I… I know killin’ the dude isn’t what ya would’ve wanted… I just… eff…”

He spoke through his tears; punching himself lightly against the forehead. How stupid was he? Sure, he’d done some dumb stuff before, but going out of his way to kill someone for revenge? That was way against his character. Revenge… wasn’t Vendetto all about that? That was over Ivlis, and Ivlis was just downright weird, but this… this was Idate. He was a coldhearted whale, not an airhead devil (an airhead candy devil? Dang, that’d be neat).

Kcalb’s room was still at the end of the hall; somehow able to exist when there wasn’t anything on the other side of that wall. The black ooze was still clearly present, but now whenever the nurse came in touch with it, it would welcome her by rearranging itself into a golden door, the same shade of gold as the color of the wall, and positioned a knob in her grasp.

Now, however, seeing that everyone around him was dying of different causes, he was starting to grow extremely paranoid. It was too much like what happened back at the garden… the gray garden. The devil would grow anxious to the point that he was talking out loud and having a conversation with the atmosphere, and even believing that his power was the cause behind the perishes. Kcalb had not told of this to anyone, but with the nurse’s lack of checking on him (assuming he was fine; no news was good news), he kept those feelings welled up inside him; now to wait for them to burst.

His mental state was beyond anything he had ever imagined. He could hear Etihw, he could hear Wodahs… the devil could hear their agonizing screams. They were all desperately begging for him to hear them, crying out,

“You did this to us! You did this!!”

“Please… save us… we’re so lonely here…”

“You really are a bad guy…!”

“You’ve gone out of your way to destroy the hearts and minds of our innocent kin… how could you…? You’re a monster… and that’s all you’ll ever be. I hope you’re happy with that fate.”

When the voices started growing that in depth, he would fall to his knees with his hands pressed against his head; pleading for them to seize… and they never would. Was this all Etihw’s fault for this torment? He hadn’t done any harm to them as of late.

“Stop… stop… p…lease… I’ve… done nothing… Please… stop it… it hurts… I’m sorry… listen…to me… Eti… Eti… E…ti…”

The devil’s body would tremble, and if it got worse, he would often exhaust himself to the point of slumber. Whenever he fell asleep on the ground, it was a conspiracy that he was more prone to nightmares. That coffin Kcalb so dearly cherished… not only comforted him, but protected him. Hopefully one day that knowledge would spread to others; he didn’t want anyone else to suffer the pain he had to go through.

Wadanohara was aware of only Emalf’s sadness, not the devil’s paranoia. The witch was aware of Memoca’s schizophrenia, but not Samekichi’s heart murmur. The nurse had been aware of Satanick’s nightmares, but not Vendetto’s post-traumatic stress disorder. There was so much she didn’t know…

And neither did she know that she just lost another patient to the turmoil of the outside world.