Day 27: Compassion

Said was sitting down, watching a livestream on his phone.
The images showed the protests about to begin in Tokyo, the capital.

He stopped watching the stream.
Took a deep breath.
Then he wrote a message in the group.

The title of the post was The Last Supper.

Hello everyone.
Due to the protests, I find myself needing to write this.
The country’s current situation is a great unknown.
And I don’t believe this will end well.

Said paused before continuing.

For some time now, I’ve felt that the purpose of this group is finally taking shape.
We have discovered, recovered, and researched the energy… and also our memories, the ones from before that light.

The words flowed with an unsettling calm.

Talking, sharing memories, research, discoveries, or simply how we feel…
allowed us to realize that we share far more than we ever thought.

That peace I long for so deeply—and that I know you do as well—
that feeling of relief, of belonging…

To me, you are like brothers.

Thank you for supporting one another as a community until our very last breaths.
This is our last supper.
Those who rise from the table last will carry the plates and bring the evening to an end.

Thank you, brothers.
Use the energy well.
Never forget it.
We are Bastard Society.

In front of the monitor, Sally understood the true meaning of the message.
Said had already made his decision.

—Rest in peace, Said —she said, her tone cold.

And then, she made one as well.

She went live.

As always, viewers began to pour in.

—I want to tell you something —she said, her voice calm—.
—Lately, many bad things have happened.
—And I don’t mean only that I was in a coma.

She looked at the screen, but it felt as though she were speaking to something deeper.

—I feel trapped between two worlds…
—And I don’t feel like I belong to either.
—Sometimes my own body feels strange to me.
—As if it weren’t mine.

She breathed.

—Life… my life… sometimes feels like a movie.
—Some scenes seem to speak to you from a dark room.
—They aren’t meant to be understood…
—They’re meant to make you feel that someone else has also felt invisible.
—That someone else has also felt that no matter how much you do, there’s always another who shines more.
—Who speaks better.
—Who achieves everything more easily.
—And you’re just there…
—Fading away.

The chat remained silent.

—In that dull, absurd, and hostile world…
—Where even sounds are too loud and you are too small…
—A kind of story is born that doesn’t need monsters to be frightening.
—It only shows you what you already feel and forces you to face it.
—A silent paranoia.
—An identity that fractures.
—An anguish that doesn’t scream, but pierces.
—You see it and realize that the true horror is becoming an extra in your own life.

Sally lowered her gaze for a second.

—That’s why I’m sharing this with you.
—To face the pain.
—Even if only for an instant.
—Together.

As the stream continued,
elsewhere, Said’s lifeless body began to release energy.

Tik.
Tak.

All paths seemed to lead to nothing changing.

But a clock only marks the hour.
Not destiny.

The witch laughed.