𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐏

𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐏

𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐏

Splattering crystal drops hit and fell off the wet skin of your nose. They slipped down the cold warmth of your face, trailing rivulets of icy rain that coated you in a shivering embrace. The soft sting of the droplets found their way into the raw, open cut on your cheek, the gash pulsing red and raw.

Why?

Cranking your neck up to the dark, heavy sky, you let the rain cascade over your face, drenching your shivering body further, merging with the tears you couldn't feel anymore. The rain was relentless in the time of loss.

Why did you do it?

Another cold shiver ran up your spine, not just from the numbing chill, but from something inside you, something you couldn't put your finger on. Your hand clenched around the sticky handle of your short katana, feeling the red substance ooze between your fingers.

It felt like time itself had bled away as you stood in this long moment of confusion. You've felt as if you been here for hours.

Shifting your (E/C) eyes down to the source of all this crimson, you saw the most recent body lying there, silent and still, a mute reminder to your actions. The red pool spread around the man, mingling with the rain, diluting yet staining, a permanent reminder of what had happened.

Why are you still . . . Doing this? You had a life. A person. Someone to take you away from this ghastly job.

Your gaze slowly shifted further, past the lifeless form, and locked onto a pair of eyes that shimmered with a spectrum of colors, impossibly bright against the somber backdrop. They were rainbow eyes, reflecting every shade of human emotion, and they stared back at you with confused intensity.

He asked the same question you wished to know the answer to.

❝Why?❞

The word echoed through the rain, through the night, through the very core of your being, leaving you standing there, scrambling for an answer.

The rain continued its relentless assault, each drop a pinprick of cold against your skin, as if the sky itself was weeping for the scene below. You stood there, your breath visible in the frigid air, mingling with the mist that swirled around you.

The figure with the rainbow eyes remained unmoving, but shook. You felt his gaze penetrate deep into your mind, trying to find the reason for this betrayal of trust.

Why did he have to see?

The katana felt heavier in your hand, the weight of it pulling you down, grounding you in this surreal reality. Your grip tightened involuntarily, as if holding on to the weapon was the only thing anchoring you to the moment. The rain, the blood, the eyes––all of it blurred together in a haze of guilt.

His rainbow eyes blinked slowly, as if waiting for you to make a move, to answer the question hanging in the air. The silence between you was thick, almost suffocating, yet charged with a strange energy that made your heart race.

You felt a shift in the atmosphere, a subtle change that hinted at something momentous, something on the brink of happening.

The answer was close, tantalizingly within reach, yet distant. As you stood there, soaked and shivering, you knew that whatever came next would forever alter the course of your life. With him.

But what would come out?

❝I'm sorry.❞

The words slipped from your lips, barely audible over the soft patter of rain. Your gaze drifted from the man with rainbow eyes, down to the puddles where water mingled with blood, creating a morbid palette of colors. You couldn't look further, the shame pulling you away.

This was it, you thought.

You were done. The mission was complete. You could go home now. But now, you had none. You chose your job over something you longed for. The idea of walking away from those eyes that seemed to understand everything and nothing at once, made something inside you sink.

A sense of refusal stirred, whispering that perhaps this wasn't the end. But you knew better. You made a choice. Whether it was the wrong one or right one.

The thought was fleeting, a wisp of smoke dissolving into the air. You turned slowly, your muscles aching, the soreness in your heel a sharp reminder of the night's events.

You looked back one last time, at the saddened eyes still watching you, and then shifted your gaze to the ground littered with bodies.

Taking slow, meek steps, you walked over what you had caused, each footfall a heavy reminder of your actions. The rain seemed to cleanse the earth of the blood, but it couldn't wash away the memories, the weight of what you had done.

As you moved further away, the sight of yourself receded from his view, like a ghost disappearing into the mist. The world around you felt muted, the edges blurred.

What layed ahead was uncertain for you.  The sense of completion mingled with an unshakable feeling of loss.

You walked on, leaving behind the scene of red and rain, stepping into a future as murky and unpredictable as the storm that had just passed.

You got what you wanted. But lost everything in the process. Was killing him really worth it?