Dark, Yandere, and Bad Endings Compilation - ?a½Red Lily, Lobelia
Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter
Muffled voice of a youth resonated in the dusk of the cathedral.
Holes had been gouged in the ceiling, and the door that separated the interior from the exterior had been destroyed by a pagan invasion long ago. Even the stained glass windows, formerly brilliant shades of blue, were either cracked or long since gone. A statue of a holy mother with a missing head stood alone on the chaotic altar, and the nave leading to it was in shambles and perilous to step on.
Despite this, he always made his way through the nave, in keeping with his conscientious nature.
A drunkard adult claimed that the place remained deserted due to a lack of money, while a priest lamented that it was due to a lack of faith, and a passerby merchant drew the conclusion that the place’s remote location and lack of history did not merit a redevelopment.
He grew attached to this place. Even the humble sinners who infested the shadows of the street somehow did not drop by this church. Apparently, the people hanging out here once contracted an epidemic en masse, causing widespread dread. Nonetheless, when not only the wicked, but even those who sought to rebuild the church were haunted, it was understandable that the church was no longer considered sacred, but rather an ominous place to be feared.
On the contrary, the youthful and dreamy young man was thrilled by the fact that the place was inaccessible to all, which was proof that it was a true sanctuary and a miracle that this abandoned statue of a goddess had been able to accomplish.
The first time he crept in with his heart pulsating, he was convinced of his belief. The dreamer spent every spare moment he had in the place, praying to the half-destroyed statue of the goddess.
Up until a few weeks ago, his belief that nothing evil would befall him should he continue to do so was unquestionable.
In the city where he resided, it was regarded as more at risk in the daytime than at night.
Grown-ups would warn their children. Do not venture out in the daytime when the sun is high in the sky. For the devil lurks in the shadows and devours them. The good children shuddered at the terror of the tale and would never step out in the daylight. Once becoming adults, they could avoid hazardous places, but even so, few were willing to go out during the day.
This was because the sunlight that shone on the arid land of his homeland represented a threat to living creatures. To walk in the sun, especially at noon in the summer, was tantamount to being burned at the stake. Walking in the shade, on the other hand, would offer protection from the heat, but in its place, the most menacing thing in the world, even more sinister than nature, would be found hanging around.
??Human.
They were all vile and barbaric, refusing to allow their prey to escape when passing in front of them. Men will be stripped and dismembered, and women will have the additional complication of indecency in the process.
Wise residents therefore exaggerated the horror of the daytime to their children, shut the doors of their houses securely while the sun was still up, and waited for the night to descend upon them in a nap. In this city, sleep reigned in the late afternoon, whereas the healthy people rose and worked in the evening and at night.
The youth, hence, came to this place slightly earlier in the day than the typical resident. He came to this place.
“O Lord, please…”
Sunlight from the collapsed ceiling tinged the youth in red. By nature, his hair was shining blonde, his eyes were blue like the clear azure sky, and his skin was pure white, described as fairer than a woman’s. The beauty that was described as angelic in his boyhood still radiated even now that he will soon become a man.
A chill unexpectedly swept over him, prompting him to leap to his feet and turn around. There, standing before him, was the girl he had been desperately trying to forget through prayer??but had failed to do so for even a single moment.
Dark brown hair in unrestrained disarray, a mole under her eyes, tanned brown skin, and large earrings dangling from her ears, different from the ones each time he saw her, swaying. The upper parts of her arms and breasts were boldly exposed, and her skirt fluttered as she walked. On her bare left arm, a vivid lapis lazuli-colored tattoo of a flower attracted the eyes.
The woman introduced herself as Karmencita. Nobody was aware of her true name, even though it was evidently a pseudonym. In no time at all, she has settled in the rear part of town, where she worked as a dancer by day and a flower vendor by night. She could be regarded as the first of the dark lurkers in the back alleys, a corrupt existence.
In age, she sometimes appeared to be twenty, but she was probably over thirty. With a bottle of liquor in one hand, a trophy of sorts, she often hummed along the back alleys. She would repeat a somewhat out-of-tune melody unceasingly without growing tired of it. It was like a broken music box.
The youth despised this woman. He had only heard rumors about her.
He was an earnest seminary student. Consequently, he naturally abhorred the notorious, lascivious devil who indulged in debauchery with a different man every day, deceiving the hearts of those who loved her, and desecrating his hometown.
Among his friends, some had lost family members at her hands. She was a vicious demon whose charms would ensnare any man she came across in her path, eventually breaking them down and rendering them useless. And yet, mysteriously, she continued to linger in the dark corners of the city because she was manipulating the men on guard duty, he remembered someone remarking this to him as if in a fit of vomit.
As a young lad, the woman was nothing more than a rumor to him.
He came from a rather ordinary??perhaps even privileged?? family.
He had never experienced any problems with his family and was on good terms with them. Mikaela, who had grown up in the neighborhood with him all these years, was a good friend, and if she wanted, he would be willing to give up his seminary studies, get married, and have a family??this conflict was a former worry and an aspect of his happiness.
That was, until that day when he made a turn in the back alley.
“Jose, you’ve been fleeing to a place like this?”
The youth was pitifully frightened when the woman’s voice reached him. Having invaded what had been his sole sanctuary, Karmencita caught a premonition of sweet pleasure in his fearful gaze. Swearing in the nave, she made her way to the altar, where she embraced him.
“Have you been a good boy, my sweet boy?”
At last the youth called Jose came to his senses and shook her off.
“Don’t touch me, you devil’s minion!”
Pushed aside, the woman tumbled to the rough church floor, but soon recovered, shook her head, and then beamed.
The youth’s originally white skin grew pale even further. Perhaps it was because of his original form, but he looked strangely like a puppet when he forced himself to suppress the expression on his face.
“I am not Jose…!”
“It doesn’t matter what your real name is. Even I have a pseudonym, and so do you. We’re on the same side, aren’t we, little boy?”
Karmencita??as the woman introduced or referred to??was as agile as a cat. From the corners of her lifted mouth, one strangely sharp canine tooth gleamed like the menace of a predator.
“Jose, what did you pray to God for? Did you receive a reprieve?”
“Shut up… and leave! This place has no room for a slutty witch like you!”
Screaming in a fit of rage, Jose threw the book in his hand at the woman. Dodging it, she took a step or two. With a dance-like motion, the woman approached the youth, whose panic was beginning to grip him. The shimmering brown color caught his azure eyes and held onto them.
“Hey, Jose? Tell me. Has God forgiven you?”
“Shut upppppp!”
Enraged, the youth lunged at the woman. With no resistance from the woman, he strangled her, entranced.
“Are you a murderer, Jose? What an unbelievable lamb you are, in front of the Goddess!”
The woman’s words snapped his attention back to what he was doing, and he immediately leaped away from her. Clutching at the crumpled statue of the Goddess, he cried out.
“Please forgive me! Save me from this evil! Please guide me!?Please, save me!”
“It’s been a long time, Jose. I remember the first time we met, you said that too…”
“O Lord!”
“What’s the point in repeating the name of someone who doesn’t come when you call for them?”
The fingers of Karmencita, slowly pursuing him, ruffled Jose’s hair on his forehead. All he could do was moan and invoke his heart’s desire, nothing more. Even when pushed down on the altar, in front of the holy mother, he can only shut his eyes and shiver.
“Jose, you should know by now. Right, God doesn’t help us in times like this. If you want to be saved, you have to do it yourself. Well, if you want to have yourself all exposed in broad daylight, I’ll cooperate with you??”
“…Don’t say it.”
While the youth’s face contorted into a more grieving expression, the woman released a malicious laugh deep in her throat.
His stifled scream was engulfed by the woman’s mouth. Karmencita straddled the youth, who was pinned down on his back, and violated him. Her tongue grazed the row of teeth when she thought she was lapping at his lips, and then she pried the tip open to erode even deeper. At the sound of the raw fluids, Jose was on the verge of lashing out, but before he could, the woman disengaged herself and interrupted.
“Are we going to stop? Hmm?”
Red sunlight was fading, and instead the darkness, the night, was creeping in. In the hazy darkness, the black silhouette of the woman loomed suspiciously.
Perhaps the old Jose would have been able to deny the woman at that moment. He may have been able to escape. Yet, he couldn’t do it now. Despite his aversion??no, did he truly feel aversion?? He looked up at her, his face dim and lifeless.
??If he hadn’t gone to the back alley that day. He wouldn’t have suffered such anguish.
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That day was the birthday of Mikaela, his childhood friend. When he left home to go celebrate, he realized that he had accidentally left the present he had intended to give her outside. The time was noon. Following the good behavior, he should have gone to get the present after dark.
However, someone might have already taken it by then, and if it was too late, he might not be able to give it to her by the end of the day.
??The experience of sheltered upbringing of never having had so many hardships, not so many major injuries or illnesses, and being told by everyone that he was blessed and loved by God, resulted in a shallow pride.
He was caught off guard all the way. As long as he went through the bright lights, it would be fine. With this thought, he snuck out of the house in the late afternoon after his family had retired to bed.
At first, he was able to walk under the light, but soon his juvenility was overcome by the heat. Summer days were harsher than he thought, which was why he decided to take a short break and drifted into the shadows of the building.
Hearing moaning in the shadows, he wondered if someone had collapsed, or had been overcome by the heat, and if so, he had to help them.
So he peeked into the darkness, and it turned out to be??
A man and a woman were there. While the man had his back to him, the woman instantly noticed the presence of the peeping tom. Upon spotting the two people who had fallen down, the youth, who was not familiar with this kind of situation, misunderstood and hurried to rush over to stop them, which was a poor decision too. For a moment, the brown eyes widened in surprise, followed by an immediate twisting grin.
The youth was dragged directly into the alleyway.
Beaten unconscious by the burly man who had been the woman’s partner until then, the youth, who had no experience in violent behavior, was no match for the man. At the woman’s insistence, the man had just finished his fun, but he was pissed off at being peeked at arbitrarily.
On top of the helplessly tumbled youth, Karmencita danced as she pleased. Many times he was propelled to great heights until his voice was hoarse.
When all was over, the woman scattered coins all over him as he stared dazedly up at the bright sky that was only slightly visible from the alleyway. She took the man by the arm, and with a broad smile, left him there.
“Jose, see you later. I have grown fond of you. I’ll meet you again, sweet boy??”
That day, the sky was a clear blue without a cloud in the sky. Contrary to the filthy Jose, a beautiful, clear sky stretched high in the distance. Much more so than ever before, so much so that it was hopelessly out of reach even if he reached out to touch it.
??Oh, my Lord. Please forgive me for this sin.
Lying there, he covered his face with his hands. His words of repentance did not penetrate to anyone.
From that day on, the youth’s nightmare unfolded.
Karmencita seemed to possess a mysterious art. When he looked into her brown eyes, no matter how wary or reluctant he was, Jose felt his strength slipping away from his body. At the touch of her brown skin, he felt his body instantly burst into a blaze of sensations.
The woman arrived out of nowhere, seemingly on the lookout for the youth when he was alone. She would wander in from the back alley, usually under a ridiculously bright azure sky, pull him in, and leave him to defile himself as she pleased.
“This is a secret between you and me. That man is dead. All that’s left is for you to keep your mouth shut. If you keep quiet, I’ll keep quiet too.”
For the second time, the woman put her finger on the young man’s lips and said.
“Or do you cry, Jose? Do you want to cry to your daddy, your mommy, your brother, your sweet childhood friend, your friend, your teacher??or the town guards that you have been defiled by this black devil? Hmm? If you do that, I’ll give you all the approval you need. After all, it’s a fact.”
The youth’s self-esteem did not permit him to do so. Apart from this woman, he was still an angel and an honor student who was envied by everyone. The thought of that breakdown??of the envy of those around him giving way to contempt??sent shivers down his legs.
The woman was like a flame. Meltingly hot, he thought he would be scorched to death if swallowed. As the youth was shaken, he was reminded of the flames of hell. He must repent. He must not continue on this path of depravity. In his dazed consciousness, he weaved familiar words and sought to chant holy phrases. But soon it was disrupted by the devil’s out-of-tune melody, which soon changed from a mournful moan to a sweet panting voice.
In spite of all this, Jose managed to maintain his angelic appearance to his family, childhood friend, and others around him, thanks to his prayers in this abandoned church.
Clutching the hand of the faceless statue of the holy mother, he clung to it, ranting and raving, pleading for forgiveness and weeping aloud. Knowing that no one would come here, he could expose everything there. Without ears or the mouth of the holy mother, he felt safe and repeated his penance over and over again. As long as he kept doing that, he could still believe that the line between the high, blue sky and his Lord must be connected to him, at least by a thread.
He could bounce back. Next time, he would properly reject her, and he would overcome her.
Every day, he relied on this belief??
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However, the demon that hovered over Jose has finally decided to take even his sanctuary away from him. She decided it was time to deprive him of it, so she came.
“Jose, Jose. You poor boy. But, you know, you’re already soiled. You haven’t heard a voice of mercy, right?”
The youth grunted and covered his face with his arms. The woman was unbuttoning his shirt with a deft, familiar hand, but there was nothing he could do about it now, whereas before he had been able to smack and flick it off.
Even Jose knew that. His head, his heart, and his body remembered.
Regardless of how much he tried to deny it, there was no escaping the taste of honey once he knew it. One bite of the sweet fruit and there was no stopping until it was all devoured and swallowed.
Having been forced to taste a glimpse of the Lord’s desire to keep pleasure away from mankind, Jose had no doubt as to why.
Human beings cannot conquer this desire.
Adam may have been able to subdue Eve, but he was no match for Lilith.
He was only a weak man, far from being a virtuous saint. One layer at a time, Karmencita peeled away the skin until it was right in front of her, beyond the point where it was impossible to disregard.
The usual repetition of gentle vibrations and near-stops completely intoxicated the youth. Eventually, under the woman’s feverishly anticipatory gaze, he reached out for her voluntarily for the first time. It was slowly at first??and eventually, violently, devouring her.
When Karmencita confirmed it, a victorious snarl escaped her lips, and she herself made an exaggerated noise and embraced the youth. When she left claw marks on his back, Jose arched his back with joy and closed his eyes. Kissing him on the mouth as a token of ownership, he shuddered with pleasure.
In the church, completely submerged in the darkness of the night, two shadows overlapped before the broken statue of the holy mother. On the front side of town, people were finally emerging from their homes at a safe hour to chat, but this was already becoming a distant world for Jose. The azure sky had become so far away that he could no longer see it at all.
Jose, having succumbed to Karmencita, was quickly transformed.
First, tempted by the woman, he began to pickpocket and then to steal. Lies were told with impunity. Whatever the woman told him to do, he would do it. If he did what she wanted, she would reward him. Jose could not live without her. She was like a living drug.
His blackened hand reached out from a passing stranger, to an acquaintance, to a friend, and finally to his family.
Even the endearing Mikaela, who had been on his side until the very end, finally gave up on her childhood friend. For Jose, even she no longer seemed like anything more than a mere money-grubber. When he learned that Mikaela was not obeying him, he pulled on her pigtails and kicked her until she stopped moving.
Ultimately, he even erased his own family with his own hands.
When the son returned home after a long absence, he was completely changed for the worse. His father, who was supposed to be mild and gentle, burst into tears and angrily lashed out at him.
When he came to, the youth was hurling as many blunt objects as he could gather from around the area, and his father was totally immobilized. The people around him, who had discovered the scene and were about to make a fuss, were quickly stabbed to death with the knife he was holding. After searching through the house and finding anything he might need to escape, it was only when he stepped over the bodies that he realized that those who were making noise were his mother and siblings.
Jose was no longer perturbed by such things. It was not the first time he had killed someone, nor did it make him feel any emotion.
No, in reality, he was hurt. He despaired that he had finally reached this point.
However, Karmencita was already much more important than they were. He could live without his family, but he could not live without the woman. Therefore, after a little conflict, he was able to discard them readily.
He then fled hand in hand with his mistress and moved to another city. The woman apparently liked Jose enough to be willing to do so.
By the time five years had passed, the youth had entirely transformed from a devout lamb who enjoyed a nap at the time of day when the sun blazed, to a shady denizen who strolled through the back alleys with impunity.
Meanwhile, almost all the wicked things he hadn’t done were gone.
Karmencita rejoiced at this. The mood, as it were, was that of a demon who had succeeded in enticing the fallen. The more evil and darker the youth did, the more she applauded, and the more she rewarded him with a special prize.
Incidentally, this Karmencita was naturally and unremittingly bored. She lasted for five years, which was a remarkably prolonged period of time.
One morning in the fifth year, she looked at the face of the now fully grown youth and realized that she didn’t think anything of it.
Not only could she not think of it as desirable, but she couldn’t think of it as disgusting or anything like that.
She was bored. She had ceased to be interested in him.
For her, boredom was an immediate reason to leave.
The moment she thought of it, she would immediately say or do something about it, and she quickly parted ways with him.
The youth’s eyes widened at the suddenness of Karmencita’s proposition, followed by a stiffening of his body. He had developed into a splendid rogue, but his face, which had been so adorable no matter how threatening he was before, began to take on an air of insecurity.
“Eh… I don’t get what you’re saying, Karmencita.”
“Shall I say it again? I’m tired of it, Jose. I’m tired of you, Jose. I’m completely tired of you.”
Karmencita waved her hand in the air, but Jose stood there with a grim look on his face, holding the jug of water that he had apparently been preparing for her.
The woman abruptly thrust out her left hand to him and showed it to him.
“Look. This is what Escamillo bought for me. A man should be rich after all.”
“A ring in poor taste??and here you go again, Escamillo. How many guys have you had?”
“Who knows, I don’t memorize all that nonsense. I don’t count numbers higher than three. My best man is Escamillo. My little lamb is Jose. That’s enough. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
The woman called Escamillo her best customer. Hence, Escamillo did not represent the same person but changed regularly and frequently. At times, once every three days.
Although Jose didn’t like it, he knew that Karmencita was not the kind of lovely woman who would do what he asked. Rather, if he didn’t like it, she took the initiative and deliberately acted on it.
Jose’s hands were quivering as he managed to put the jug back on the desk. When he thought it was placed safely on the desk, it spilled loudly, wetting his hands and the floor, but he couldn’t afford to be bothered.
“If so, Karmencita… What about me? What am I to you? There were many Escamillo. But I have always been one. That’s why until now… what in the world am I to you? Answer me, Karmencita!”
“You are a toy, Jose. Nothing more, and nothing less than that. You have been my only toy, but that will end today. I mean, I’m tired of you. Now it’s time to part ways. We’ve been together for quite a long time, but it doesn’t mean anything anymore. So, bye-bye.”
Karmencita dismissed him and tried to leave for real just like that. The youth, whose originally white face has turned even more morbidly pale, quickly reached for the flower on her arm and seized it.
“Karmencita, you can’t go. You mustn’t cast me aside, you can’t do that.”
“Heh, why not?”
Surprisingly, the woman looked back at the youth, both because he was so forceful that she couldn’t shake him off, and out of pure curiosity. Jose pleaded with her earnestly.
“I am so tainted, because of you. You made me this way. Hey, don’t you remember? I used to be a really serious and virtuous boy until I met you. And then you??you destroyed it all. You were the one who deprived me of everything I had!”
Yet, the woman snickered at the youth, who was quietly fuming with anger. The more he said it, the colder her feelings became. Because it was something she was too familiar with, and it was trivial. Numerous Escamillo and other insignificant men clung to her, ranting about the same thing.
“Right??I broke all of you. I didn’t like it. You were like a sugar candy, a sweet little thing, a doll-like cutie. Yeah, that’s right, I’ve wanted to break you since the first time I saw you, all of you, soiled!”
Karmencita despised beautiful, lovely, and adorable things like the old Jose. Whenever something like that crossed her vision, she couldn’t help but impulsively destroy it. There was no reason for this, nor was it because she had been treated horribly by such creatures in the past. It was just a physiological aversion. Just as people had an instinctive aversion to filth, she turned against things that were too beautiful.
She dragged Jose into the back alley that day because she saw a doll-like youth and was driven by a ferocious urge to destroy him at all costs. Jose was a human being with all the elements that set her against him. Beloved surroundings, appreciative peers, a guaranteed social status, and his angelic appearance.
In the beginning, she pounced on him out of mere conditional reflex, and then savored the taste because it was unexpectedly palatable.
The reason she followed him relentlessly was simply that she enjoyed witnessing his frightened face, his desired reaction, and the unparalleled thrill of watching his gradual degradation.
The gradual destruction of a work of beauty by her own hands brought her the ultimate bliss. The longer she spent with Jose, the happier she was with him.
However, once the breakdown came to an end, once he was broken, she had no more use for him, nor did she hold any regrets about it. He had captivated her for a long time, but she felt that today was the end of that.
“But it doesn’t matter, I’m done with it. You’ve fallen enough and I’ve had my fun. That’s the end of it.”
“End of it? What do you mean?”
“I’m going to marry Escamillo. This is the wedding ring he gave me.”
Karmencita uttered the words that had just occurred to her.??It was like a pin, like some kind of string.
The youth with the terribly upset look on his face, the one that she should have been thoroughly fed up with by now??there was something about him that seemed to be bubbling up. This trapped expression was similar to when she first met him??there was something different about him from the other men.
She wanted to pursue it by all means and decided to push him further to try to extract something of that quality from him.
She thought she was done with him, but then again, perhaps the man wasn’t quite broken yet. If so, she would have to see him through to the end, properly.
Holding on to her arm tightly, Jose shook his body unsteadily from side to side in a vacuous manner. His movements were somewhat similar to those of a doll without a fixed head.
“It’s a lie. There have been times when you’ve left me. You have followed Escamillo, many times. But marriage? You never married anyone. And Escamillo??I don’t even remember his real name! You don’t even love him.”
“I do love him. Probably the first, for the time being.”
“But you’ll grow bored of it. That’s the kind of woman you are.”
“You’re right, Jose. You know me so well. That is why I am growing tired of you. Now let me go. I will go to Escamillo. I’m going to marry him and become his.”
At that instant, Karmencita felt her body shift. Her arms were pulled back with such force that she thought they would fall out, and she found herself thrown onto the bed in her room. Jose immediately draped over her and thrust his hands to either side of her face as if to fully block her escape route.
In her silence, feeling the powerful beat of her racing heart in her chest, she continued to stare into those blue eyes that resembled glass beads, and eventually the young man smiled softly.
“You’re wrong, Karmencita. It’s me that you love. If anyone you would want to marry, it would be me. Because you are mine.”
The words were unexpected, and Karmencita’s mouth hung open momentarily. Her astonishment turned to a tight smile as she quickly realized what he meant.
“Hah??Who loves whom? Me? For you? Ahahahaha??”
“I didn’t say anything funny. Because we love each other more than anyone else, that’s why I’ve done all the awful things I’ve done. I did it all for you. For the love of you!”
Karmencita interrupted the youth as he continued in an impassioned, yet somehow chilling tone, “You’re wrong, it’s not love. That’s just an excuse, a dependence. You still want to be a good boy, right? That’s why you’re shoving the blame on me, that’s all.”
Tracing her fingertips across the youth’s cheek, she continued, “Hey, Jose. You are the one who chose to follow me in the end. I ruined you, but I don’t take responsibility for that. Because it was you who voluntarily destroyed your own path, even though you could have stayed on it. You were the one who called out to God, but didn’t move on your own.”
Hearing Karmencita’s words, the youth silently took her left hand and kissed it on the cheek. Outside it was completely noon, and although it was probably sunny again today, no blue sky could be seen from this dimly lit room in the back alley. The air both outside the window and inside the room was gray and not quite clear.
“Even if you really do love me, I still won’t love you. Because I don’t want to be with you anymore. I want to go to Escamillo now. He’s going to take me in his arms, and I’m going to be satisfied.”
“??No matter what?”
“Right, no matter what??”
A deafening noise was heard. Simultaneously, something fell from above, and Karmencita promptly closed her eyes.
??Shortly after, a sharp pain shot through her left hand. When she opened her eyes while screaming, her vision was strangely red. At the end of her left wrist, which was firmly gripped by the youth, was the source of the pain.
Her left ring finger had gone somewhere. No, it was quickly found. It was rolling around in the mouth of the youth who was now restraining her with his whole body.
Wild screams and blows came flying. Over and over again, they rained down until the woman was limp and motionless. To the face, and to other parts of the body as well. The man’s arms were heavy, as he was accustomed to hurting people.
??The woman thought to herself that something like this had occurred before. As she recalled, it was the other way around.
Her body ached and was not as she wanted it to be, but her mind was oddly composed??and for some reason, she heard a churning, a simmering of anticipation in the deepest part of her body.
“Ah, Karmencita, you poor thing, you look so awful. But it’s your fault.”
Jose pulled the chewed-off left ring finger out of his mouth and flashed it at her. A slight trickle of blood ran down her face. Although it was somewhat difficult to open one eye, Karmencita could distinctly see the angelic man’s innocent smile.
His face, though, was already half red from the blood of another person. It was the clearest sign that he was no angel.
“It’s all your fault. If it weren’t for you, I would still be an angel. I won’t let you go. I won’t allow you to have a happy ending, and I won’t allow you to leave me behind. You have to take full responsibility for turning me into this…”
The ring finger, from which he had only removed the ring, was once again in his mouth, and he was playing with it with his tongue as if to say it was a delicacy.
The woman was swollen and battered from being struck all over the place during her earlier resistance, but her head was perfectly cool. The pain caused her some difficulty, but she could feel her cheeks rising naturally.
“??Responsibility? How?”
“It’s easy. Tell me you love me, and stay with me. You don’t need Escamillo anymore, do you? Jose is enough. Then I’ll do everything I can for you, just as I always have.”
The youth’s eyes were as clear and blue as the sky as he looked down at her. Similar to the blue sky high in the afternoon, where he had once prayed and begged for forgiveness.
However, look at that. The sky could not be this narrow and hollow. What lay before this eye was a pretentious ball of glass.
Karmencita sneered, “??I see. Then I will tell you. I don’t love you. I don’t even think of anything about you. All the words of love I’ve ever spoken to you are a trick, a lie.”
“Karmencita, hey, you can’t, you know? You have to listen properly to me.”
“I love Escamillo. I don’t want to stay with you. I’m going to him. Losing a finger won’t do you any good, Jose.”
“Then what if you lose your leg so you can’t walk? You’ll lose it, you know?”
“Try it??”
The sound of a jerk was heard, and a shock was felt in the right thigh. Jose seemed to have somehow taken out his knife, which he was completely adept at handling. While letting it fall here and there, he checked the woman’s state of mind in between.
Her rejection of him had not ceased. To be honest, her interest in Escamillo now was to the extent that she couldn’t even remember his face well, so it wasn’t as if she couldn’t do it with the youth who was becoming such an entertaining presence.
But she continually denied him. The more she did so, the more she could watch from this special seat with plenty of time to appreciate the cloudiness of those seemingly clear, sky-like eyes. How could she quit such an enjoyable experience in the middle of it? Compared to this pleasure, the pain of her own body was of secondary or even tertiary importance.
Each time Karmencita denied him, each time she spoke of her false love for Escamillo, Jose, in turn, would swing the knife down in his hand.
Foot, hand, ear, nose, eye??the woman exclaimed in agony as one of her parts was lost, and fainted several times. Jose did not allow her to sleep, and she did not want to sleep either. Never had her heart been so thrilled to be alive. Her heart, which had been somewhat cold for a long time, was burning hot.
“??Karmencita. There’s nowhere else you can get to, and yet you still refuse me??You and I have no choice but to be together. You are all I have left. Are you betraying me?”
Perhaps it is time to finish up.
At the sound of the man’s sorrowful voice, Karmencita shook her head slowly to show her rejection.
The man’s eyes were simultaneously indignant, exasperated, and disoriented, to which Karmencita intrigued him by moving only her lips.
There is still a part of me that hasn’t been removed, Jose.
A hot mass was pulsing inside her chest, which she pulled up to rub against Jose’s arm.
Apparently, Jose caught on to what she meant right away. He rubbed the area and squinted raptly at the symbol of life force, the master of pulsation.
“Karmencita is hot. I thought so from the beginning. Like a flame. If I touch you, I’ll get scorched. ??If you don’t agree with me, I’ll have to take it away from you like this, even if it’s a little unwilling. I have no choice. Let’s burn it together. Just like when we first met.”
She, too, had her face contorted in ecstasy.
She had to admit it. More than any other man she had ever treated, she had fallen head over heels in love with this angelic man who had once been so innocent. Seeing the man go half-crazy every time she denied him, no matter how much it pained her, she could not stop herself from acting foolishly.
Only Karmencita knew that the foolish man who was now thrashing about, stealing from women here and there, and the foolish young man who had once sobbed and called out God’s name in the cathedral, was the very same person.
It’s a wonder how I could have nurtured him to this point??A strange sense of accomplishment suffused her heart.
Jose, holding the knife in a reverse grip, suddenly stopped.
“Karmencita, there’s something that’s been bugging me for a while now, and I’d like to ask you about it.”
The youth abruptly pointed to the woman’s arm, which was hanging slack, and asked with a strangely innocent look on his face.
“What is that flower on your arm? Why did you carve this flower? If I don’t ask you now, I won’t be able to ask you again. Or will you not answer me that, too?”
When Karmencita mustered up the energy to open her eyes, she giggled. She wanted to put her mouth over the youth’s ear, but she could not do so because her hands were of a rather awkward shape and length. But Jose’s face came closer, and she breathed a sigh of relief before whispering.
“This is the flower of??you know??poison. It makes anything that touches it darkens.”
Hearing her answer, Jose laughed, as if he was satisfied with the answer, and then he gave her a quick poke in the heart. Over and over again, he repeated the same movement with an angelic smile on his face.
Her body bounced in sync with each thrust, reminding him of something he had always done. He chuckled at the silly thought, contorted his face, and put his ear to her chest.
Silence. The heat that had burned him so much must be slowly receding. With a sudden thought, Jose reluctantly withdrew from her for a moment. What he was looking for was soon found. An abundance of oil and a match.
Before the heat can cool off, he located the woman’s ring fingerless hand and clutched a knife to it with both hands. Once completely ready, he set it on fire. After watching her burn properly, he laid himself down in the scorching heat and pulled himself closer to her.
The summer sun scorched people. White walls were erected to protect people from nature’s ferocity, and the streets were lined with back alleys, but the people who walked these alleys at noon were outcasts in human guise, spitting in the heavens and indulging in their pleasures. The obedient sheep must not go out during that time. For in the daytime, demons more terrible than wolves come out and devour people.
A red flower illuminated the darkness of the late afternoon among the oppressive heat. It was the blood that overflowed and soon blossomed into a supple flame. The flame spread silently, then ferociously, engulfing everything.
At the center of it were two people. One of them pressed the knife to the woman’s wrist and snapped his own neck. His eyebrows were furrowed as if he had been unable to bear the pain of his death, but his lips were locked in a soft grin. The other woman was devoid in many parts of her body and her face was almost swollen and crushed, yet it was still visible that her mouth was twisted into a smile.
With the two snickering smiling faces in the center, reds spread everywhere.
The tattoo on the woman’s left arm floated strikingly in the midst of the all-red scene.
The name of that flower, Lobelia.
A brilliant lapis lazuli radiance, like that of the summer sky, perpetually shone through among the chilly, dark red lilies.