NO!

KIP sighed. It was one merely indicating disappointment.

His facial features changed. Those lifeless eyes that's typically plastered in some janitor's face had warped into soul-sucking voids. Streaks of dried bloody tears painted his cheeks. 

Horns that could end one's life with a single stab protruded from his head. As if there wasn't any more evidence to prove he was a demon in disguise. 

I panicked and stumbled. My vision started to blur as the green lights from my bracelet blinked with rhythm. The room flickered before I was flooded with scenes of my past.

I had been in this situation before.

Scenes of my very own being running from LROP and KIP; at one instance, I was dragged across the floor. My skin burned and begged for mercy but no one heard my calls. Another flashback abruptly interfered and I saw myself, waking up in the same cottage I woke up weeks prior, except it wasn't destroyed. 

The biggest surprise was the presence of a petite girl, whose bright, white smile and overflowing hair enhanced her beauty as she stood beside the younger me.

We sang holiday songs and accompanied each other during temporary snowstorms when she convinced me to stay with her for a bit longer before leaving. 

It was apparent I had always wanted to leave the cottage, to find purpose in this strange world covered with blizzards and delicate snowdrops. But every time I took one glance out the cottage window, she'd frown and persuade me to enjoy life crammed inside our little shelter.

Her eyes sparkled life when she radiated lively energy and outbursts of a child around me.

While she gazed into mine with pleas of an exhausted individual whenever we spoke of the future. 

Was there even a future for people like us? 

I once asked her, and she looked away. 

"#3, do you know what freedom feels like?"

I giggled at the thought of such rhetorical questions. "What's with the question, #102?" 

"You're so young," #102 lowered her eyelids and stared at the floor, "For you to have to endure this, your parents must have either been killed or succumbed to KIP's..."

"Who's KIP?"

She turned to me. Her hand aimed for my shoulder briefly before she retracted and forced a smile.

"Do you believe in Santa?"

"Seriously, what's with these questions?"

"I used to, but now I only believe in Krampus."

"Where are you going with this," I stood up from a chair creaking of old age, "How is this gonna help us understand why you're stuck here-"

"It's not just me. It's all our people."

This melancholic sense of grief, contagious to the point a few tears escaped my eye when she caressed my cheek. 

"Most of us are fighting to leave this city. We're tired of being in KIP's fantasy world." 

Fantasy world.

Fantasy world.

Fantasy world.

I shrieked and sewed my eyes shut, the flashbacks carrying my identity soon found their way into my head.

"WELCOME TO MERRIMENT CITY, #3."

I witnessed KIP and a man who referred to himself as LIG welcoming me to my home.

The graphics of the scene shifted back to the cottage, where #102 shook me violently during one of her emotional outbursts. 

"I can't do this anymore!" Her grip on my sleeve was equivalent to a thousand men mixed with sorrow, "#5, I don't want to endure this any longer, I-"

She bowed her head and bawled, before several of KIP's guards surrounded the cottage. They threw a smoke bomb inside after exploding the roof, separating the both of us forever. 

"No, stop!" I begged for my memories to slow down and give me mercy. 

The next scene showed me positioned at a fighting stance in front of KIP. With ragged pants and a bloody arm, I held a knife close to my chest, eyeing for his neck.

"#6, WHY DON'T YOU WANT HAPPINESS?" The heinous monster taunted me as if options were available. A standstill. 

I remained silent. 

Until a familiar face stood by the doorway. Gone were her beautiful set of bright, white teeth, because a row of hideous black ones was here to stay.

I nearly puked. 

"AH, THIS IS LROP," KIP took her hand and led her to me, "SHE WAS YOUR FRIEND RIGHT? LOOK, SHE'S FOUND HAPPINESS."

Before the scene faded, I witnessed LROP's grip on my face as she shoved down pills into my throat amidst my unforgettable screams. 

And then, I woke up to the sight of the sky. 

It was in the dead of winter that I first ran the distance between my cottage and the city I'd renounced long ago.

I did this 21 times. 

Wherever we are in this cruel world, I had thoughts of whether winter will ever disappear. 

For it felt like an eternity. My heart bled for those who continued to defy KIP's reign and attempted to flee, only to meet their demise by succumbing to his voodoo shit behind the scenes. 

Or some were like me.

We ran.

I ran and hid, but I was always caught. Just like my poor mother who went as far as infiltrating the forbidden forest no one had ever mapped. 

Whenever KIP found me, it was as if my organs had dropped to my knees and I screamed in agony, pleading with him to let me go.

The lot of us will never know his motives, or how he managed to erase our memories with a snap of his filthy fingers. 

And with years of stacked rage, I released my anger. My vision landed me back to the manager's office in the already evacuated shelter.

KIP's taunting grin imprinted itself into my mind.

Well, I say this every fucking time I had to face him, and still, the power of his voodoo shit managed to wipe any trace of Merriment City.

The rage boiled inside me as I snatched the bloody knife hiding in my pocket, ready to do another futile attempt to leave a mere scratch mark on KIP. 

It's a sad sight to know even with expectations of disappointment, a spark of hope lingered for me to move forward. My knife tasted the scent of blood, but it was none other than LROP's.

She had entered the room amidst my rage and blocked my attack with her decaying palms. Scars formed to indicate that someone inflicted pain. 

Perhaps that would be enough to trigger a revival the next time I arrive in this wretched place.

Sighing, I closed my eyes. Hands on my back held by none other than a former friend, the last thing I heard before I embraced bittersweet comfort was the snap of that monster's fingers.