Stuck between a rock and a desert (2)

A google search of the words "night sky" will show you millions of pictures and images of beautiful dark blue skies that are filled with stars and clouds, professionally photographed and edited to appear more aesthetic than they originally are. But even if you don't photograph it and edit it, seeing these sights just with your naked eyes are already breathtaking enough. Most of these images show the beautiful auroras of the north, the sea of stars in the east, the shiny constellations of the west, and the big yellow moon of the south. No matter where you are in the world, taking a look at the night sky will always fascinate you... unless of course if you are blind.

You don't see white, you don't even see darkness. When you're blind, you don't see anything at all, like when you close your left eye and you try to look through your left eye. No light, no darkness, and no stars. What would life be like if you lived that way?

Well, for most people, there would be no difference. After all, when you saw that guy being bullied by your classmates, you pretended that you didn't see it. When you saw that random stranger being surrounded and being beaten up by gang members on the streets, you scurried away, afraid of meddling into their business. Lastly, when you saw that girl being forcefully pulled into that van by a bunch of dudes, you just stood... far far away.

Even when the war happened and everybody was supposed to help each other, everybody else was busy saving themselves. Somebody asked for help, you didn't turn back. Somebody shouted your name, you ran away faster. Somebody held your hand, but you let go because they were holding you back. Your classmates, your friends, your family... they trusted you, but you left them because you were selfis---.

"STOP! Stop it! Please..."

A soft sobbing sound came from the shadow who sat upright on top of a bed. Darkened by the silent room illuminated only by the rising shine from the moon, the shadow hugged their knees and buried their face between their arms.

For the past five weeks, Aldrin has been having nightmares of a strange, unfamiliar voice that kept narrating the same beautifully phrased paragraph. Yet for some reason, despite the fact that Aldrin can't understand clearly what the voice was trying to say, he feels as if he was the one the voice was talking to. Everytime he hears this voice, he feels so naked as if all of his secrets are being played in front of him and in front of a giant audience.

He can't remember clearly what the voice was saying, but Aldrin felt as if he was being accused of a very heavy crime, and that people pointed at him, and that made his heart heavy.

And recently, the nightmare was getting more and more scarier, so much so that he started crying just after waking up.

Still, there's no way to stop a dream from happening, one cannot push themselves to stay awake for a long period of time. The brain will just shut down if Aldrin does that, and it did, and he heard the unfamiliar voice narrating paragraphs once again.

Most blind people aren't truly blind, most of them just refuse to open their eyes, afraid of knowing the truth.

boom boom boom

"Shut up!!!"

Once again, from far away, Aldrin heard what sounds like a giant hammer pounding against a building. He started hearing this continuous hammering sound for the same amount of time his nightmares had started haunting him. He felt that things weren't right, there was no way a small hammer can create that kind of sound, and because of that Aldrin started to feel as if some danger was looming around him.

That familiar feeling of danger that had already been honed over and over again during the war saved Aldrin's life all the time. That was the very reason he is still alive today.

Yet it was also the reason why he never looked back that day.

In the room covered by darkness shined upon by the soft blue light that came from the rising moon, the shadow sitting upright on the bed slowly but surely fell down. As he laid down on the bed, the tears that just came out of his eyes slowly dried up. He clenched his fists and slammed it on the bed, but the supposedly loud slamming sound was silenced by his bed.

That night, just like Aldrin's room, all lights in Davao City shut off.

———

"So if it had those arms and legs dangling all over its body, can it also get more? If it can, then things will only get more and more dangerous as time passes by."

Under the gaze of the stars silently staring into Rando's room, Rando and his dog Browney sat beside a table and talked about the blood red slime existence that Rando met earlier. Of course, only Rando is doing all the talking. Browney just sat beside him and occasionally put her head on Rando's lap, dogs can't talk, right?.

In front of them both is Rando's green notebook, where the word 'Collector' that Rando wrote earlier is encircled. Initially, the meaning behind putting the word Collector under his description of the Existence that he encountered during the day is because of all the limbs attached to it, looking as if it was collected, gathered, and had now become part of this mobile museum. But if his guess is right, and the Slime Collector can indeed collect more body parts and attach them to itself, then the term 'Collector' will get a whole new meaning, a new and terrifying meaning.

"It can't be, right? How could a disease cause a person to attach body parts to himself?"

The thought of a disease making a person into a monster that collects body parts is ridiculous in and on itself, yet the more Rando thinks about it, the more scared he becomes.

As if sensing the stress emanating from Rando, Browney suddenly barked and jumped onto his lap and sat still. And Rando, who was in deep thought, broke out of this idea and realizes that his cute dog is now sitting on him. He stretched out his hands and ruffled his dog's fur. His other hand which was holding a pen continued to jump up and down as if it was thinking what to write next.

Suddenly, the lights went off.

Rando's originally well-lit room is now covered in darkness, with only the light from the rising moon and the stars from the night sky making him able to see. Rando stood up and went to the window where he could see some parts of the city.

And there he saw, the lights that he originally saw from far away are now gone.

For the first time since the beginning of the war, the lights from the whole city had once again turned off. And just like during the war, the people under the light that were originally oblivious of the dangers of the Existence, could now start to experience for themselves what Rando had experienced during the day.

As night falls, soon shall the innocent.