DAYMARE 6: Mince for Peace part 2

I’ve gotten through five chapters of the online novel I’m reading, and shockingly, a lot of what happens to the main character mirrors my own life.

I keep trying to forget about the tragedy when I watched that horror movie, where I had a life and death experience. My all-time favorite horror movie has become my all-time nightmare.

Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of strange things happening around me. I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination running wild, but these things keep haunting me. I’ve kept it all to myself because if I told anyone, even my parents, they’d probably think I’m crazy. For a second, I thought I might have gone crazy.

Weeks have passed since I stayed in this place, and many unexplained events have happened. I thought I could get past them because they must be all hallucinations. Terrifying events keep happening, and it’s getting deadlier day by day.

One time, I told Mom, but she didn’t believe me. I ended up in a situation where I could only trust myself…

***

“Hh…”

The heavy breathing through my lungs. The drops of warm and cold sweat poured out through my pores. My shivering hands and knees. The liquid splattered on my cheeks. My eyes were covered with darkness as dark as the night is. The insects and crickets sing a lullaby to the bluish-white moon.

The calm evening became bloody.

“S-Stop…” she groaned, begging for mercy.

D-Don’t do this to them…

So, she’s still alive. What a tough crack.

I watched the other corpse. He isn’t moving, must be unconscious. I don’t want to hear her voice.

“Hes-”

My lips formed a curve.

Hestral, nooo!

“Argghhh!” she screamed.

I intensely struck their heads. I desperately chopped their skull to my heart’s content. I saw them lying… bleeding. Mouths are open, hoping to call out for help without voices. Their fluttering fingers and those eerie eyes staring at me gave me chills that urged me to mutilate their lifeless body.

I scream and cry, but no one can hear me, not even myself. That person has gone deaf, and that person is me. I can’t reach out to anyone else, because I’m supposed to be the one saving myself.

I am not content.

I targeted their hearts that had stopped pumping. A heart that is supposed to give life, but now is futile. A life that I took from them.

“Hahaha!” I laughed-an evil laugh.

Stop it! I never wanted to do this. I am not a killer!

Killing wouldn’t have been so amazing.

It gives me goosebumps; I can see my skin hair stiff. A feeling that I’ve been freed from a prison cell after a century. So excited like I rode an extreme ride from galaxy to Earth for just a second. An adventure like my spirit was separated from my body.

A fulfillment for myself.

That’s right… that isn’t me. No one else can stop what I’m doing except me, yet what hope do I have when the other me refuses to listen?

“Ahahaha-"

I was about to laugh again and strike my victims when I sensed that someone else, aside from the three of us, was here in this room.

I closed my mouth. I was about to laugh again. I lowered my hands that are holding a blunt murder weapon. I alerted myself and widened my eyes. I gazed at a strange shadow in the left corner of the room. I dropped my weapon when I stumbled on the corpse. I remained silent for a moment to observe the noise.

*ttssskk*

I avert my eyes to where I heard the noise. It was in the left corner of this room again. I composed myself and held my weapon. I walked to the left corner slowly to confront that stupid noise. I felt different kind of shiver from what I felt while killing the two. I hold a tighter grip on my weapon.

Why don’t you show yourself? Afraid of me?

“Show yourself!” I bawled.

But nothing showed up. I guess I have no choice but to teach a lesson to this one.

I walked again. Now I am standing in the left corner. I shrugged when I saw a rubbish closet.

*tsskk*

I heard a strange sound again. This one never knows when to give up.

Wait!

There’s still the closet, the only thing that I haven’t checked yet.

I smirked.

I know someone’s hiding there. Better show yourself, doofus, or else you will be the third in my corpse collection.

I held my weapon in my right hand, and using my left hand, I quickly pulled the handle

“Hh!” you gasped.

There you are, lurking in shadows, waiting for the right moment to execute your last touch for the story’s finale—my finale.

I saw you. I saw you standing inside the closet. You looked surprised when you saw me. I stared at you from head to toe in confusion.

I was going to ask you ‘What are you doing inside my closet?’ when you glared at me.

My other me is clueless, but I already know who you are.

You seem… monstrous. It sent shivers down my spine. Then you smirked — the kind that made my heart race in grave fear.

My weapon slipped from my hand as I froze.
You stepped out of the closet and grabbed me by the neck, lifting me.

This is a situation I could not avoid or prevent. I already knew this would happen to me, which left me with no choice but to face it. I initially refused to accept it, but the fact that I’m writing this now means I have come to terms with my inevitable fate. I knew I would end up like this.

I opened my mouth to scream, but I ended up gasping for air. I couldn’t breathe. I coughed, my face going numb, my hands brushing against your ice-cold hands and arms.

You just glared at me, still wearing that smirk.

I endured living in this place for two and a half months. It’s not that long, but it’s been hell for me. This is even worse than when I was in Clairene. The life to start anew in this province was never granted.

You’re the reason why I have become like this. You made me do something sinister I could never have imagined.

Everything has a price, and my life will be the price for what I’ve done. I swear… I never wanted to do this. But it won’t end if no one ends it.

At this moment, in this room…

You just witnessed that I killed two of our own…

And now I was the one who was being hunted.

I know that I will face retribution…

But this is not supposed to be like this.

You are my witness, but simultaneously…

my killer

The one reading this… if you have reached the final page of my journal, it means only one thing—I am gone from this world

Daymare is worse than nightmares because the horror walks with you through the brightness of day—a terror you can never escape even when you’re awake.

Whoever dares read that story next… prepare to meet your death.

I’m Hestral Gern, this has been my greatest daymare.