59th entry

Season: Autumn

Weather: Cloudy

Day of the week: Tuesday

Date: 23rd April, 2024

I left the apartment but nearly ran into Bezel and the evil demon while at the local shops. I didn't think they had really found a place nearby to stay. Which meant it wasn't safe for me to hang around anymore. I really needed to find a place to live.

Although I ducked behind a pillar and tried to leave the area before they spotted me, the evil demon was sharp. He spotted me and immediately gave chase while Bezel followed behind at a walking pace. She probably hadn't gotten over her miscarriage yet and her health was weak. She should be resting at home then. Not roaming around with the evil demon.

I ran for about half a block before my injuries that hadn't fully healed began to catch up with me. It wasn't long before the evil demon caught up with me and grabbed my hand. Although I tried to fight him and there were people in the street watching, they didn't do anything to help me when he pulled me back to where Bezel was still slowly walking in our direction.

The moment I was standing in front of Bezel, she slapped me so hard that I saw stars and fell to the ground all dizzy. While I was sitting on the ground trying to blink away the dizziness, a strong backhand made my head whiplash in the other direction, directly knocking me over.

I lay on the cold ground for a moment, not wanting to believe that they had slapped me in public. Were they wanting someone to film them as evidence for the police? Were they wanting to go to gaol? When my eyes managed to focus for a moment, I caught sight of a dried up earthworm in a crack of the pavement that likely had not made it back underground before the sun came up and dried it all up.

The evil demon and Bezel dragged me into a taxi and I was in too much of a daze to struggle hard. I was much too dizzy.

When I was pulled out of the car, it was in the old abandoned industrial area that had been badly affected by the earthquake a few years back but never cleaned up. The relevant companies had all moved out of the area due to the dangerous sinkholes and cracks in the unstable ground here.

The taxi drove away, leaving us alone just outside the temporary fences that had been put up around the place. The evil demon didn't hesitate to grab me by the hair and half force me, half drag me through the gap in the fence into the dangerous ground.

My scalp burned from the strength of his grip in my hair, making my eyes well with tears. Inside an empty warehouse area, the evil demon threw me on the ground and went looking for a weapon. When he found one, he lit into me so hard that I'm sure I heard a few bones crack or pop.

Bezel found a rusty pipe somewhere and also hit me hard. She got me on the shoulder and the side of my neck, which almost knocked me out. I had to curl up into a tight ball in order to try and protect myself. They didn't even want to talk to me anymore. They just wanted to hurt me.

Why hurt me? What good would it do? It wouldn't make them feel much better and when the police found them, they'd be in prison for longer.

It hurt. Having the people who were once the ones closest to you trying to kill you hurt. It hurt more than the bruises and injuries that they gave me.

"Bezel can't have children anymore," the evil demon hissed. "It's your fault. All your fault."

How was it my fault? I wasn't anywhere near her when she miscarried. I was on the other side of the country.

"You weren't there to look after her when she was pregnant. You're a failure of a big sister."

How was I meant to know she was pregnant? Pregnant out of wedlock too. Our parents wouldn't have been pleased with that and so she had hidden it, knowing what our parents were like. If she had hidden her pregnancy, how was I meant to magically know she was pregnant when I was struggling to survive on the other side of the country. You tell me. If you ask me, I have nobody else I can ask either.

I couldn't say anything. He had me in a choking grip, both hands around my throat.

When had they even gotten together as many and woman? When had he revealed his secret that only I had known to her? It wasn't a secret anymore, right? Although he was dressed in a somewhat androgynous manner so that it was hard to determine which gender he was portraying today, Bezel did know that he wasn't a girl, right? The secret was out. Wasn't it? There was no need to kill me for the secret anymore, right?

In fact, it was very possible that the evil demon was actually a non-binary gender. It would make sense for all the confusion over the years. But I hadn't had time to dwell on that. Not when I was being choked and my life was gradually slipping away.

"If you had been there, I wouldn't have gotten drunk and made her pregnant," the evil demon hissed in my ear. "She wouldn't have started suspecting me. Why weren't you there to stop me?"

Was this what he wanted to kill me for? His own mistake? It wasn't even my fault. If he cared about Bezel so much, why didn't he reveal his gender to her and then go and get married like he wanted to? What was stopping them? If he loved Bezel so much, why couldn't he ever remember what things she liked or didn't like? Did he even love Bezel at all, or was she just part of another of his convoluted plan for revenge on the people he perceived to have harmed him? I didn't get it.

"Didn't you say you were getting married?" I whispered to him with difficulty through my gritted teeth.

"I lied," the evil demon smiled, hissing in my ear. "I just wanted you to come back as quickly as possible so that I could eliminate you and all the other threats in one go."

"Our parents? They know too?"

"See. You're not so stupid."

Where were my security details? Didn't Umbrey say he had given me two hidden body guards? Where were they? Were they even doing their job?

"You're the one who sent that man who raped me and got me pregnant," Bezel told me with conviction, sitting down on a random stool that had been left behind. "You're so evil. If Devine hadn't investigated and found out the truth, I wouldn't have believed that you hated me so much."

I shook my head, wanting to tell her it wasn't me, but the hands around my neck tightened, preventing me from talking or shaking my head, let alone breathing. I could feel the blood pressure in my head increasing and my face growing red as I fought for my life.

She completely believed all the lies he had woven for her. What was she going to do the day she discovered the truth? When she found out how much he had been lying to her? What would she do?

Or did she know that he was lying but still chose to blindly follow him and believe in him to the point that she could disregard all else?

My vision was spotting and dark spots were crowding the view out. My nails scrabbled and scratched at the evil demon's long sleeves and thick rubber gloves to no avail.

My struggles grew weaker as I ran out of air and energy. I gave up on hoping for help to arrive. My hands slipped and I lay still.

There was an angry roar and Umbrey tackled the evil demon off me, freeing my throat. I could breathe. I gasped and coughed and cried from the pain.

While I was trying to draw air back into my lungs, I heard the police announcing themselves. Finally.

Bezel shrieked and I turned my head just in time to see her draw a kitchen knife from somewhere and pounce on me with the knife. The knife has barely scraped through my skin when a uniformed lady tackled Bezel to the ground, wrestling with her for the knife.

It was as if I had blinked. Suddenly, paramedics were shifting me with the help of the police and Umbrey's men, sliding me off the pat slide onto the bed.

"Don't - don't hurt them," I had managed to squeeze words out my sore and swollen throat, grasping at the dim figure of the dark shadow lord. "They're my siblings."

"Siblings?" Umbrey had snorted through his nose. "They definitely don't see you as siblings."

"They're my siblings," I had rasped painfully, repeating myself.

"Alright. Alright, don't talk. Your throat is injured," Umbrey flapped an arm at me. "Don't worry. I won't touch them. This time I'll let the police deal with them, ok?"

I went to the hospital. They went to the police station to be locked up. My little sister and my big brother.

My heart hurts. It hurts so much.