Retrace Preview

Happily ever after is so once upon a time. Sometimes, life decides to be a jerk and hack away at your happy ending with a chainsaw.

***

A different thought entered my head. It was a memory of sorts, but it wasn’t mine…at least, not from the three years that I remember.


I pushed a door open, the old thing creaking with effort. I stepped inside, the old floorboards creaking under my weight as I picked my way through the debris. "Sorry for intruding," I called. The door slammed shut when I reached the middle of the room. A few beams of moonlight shone through the cracks of the boarded up window near the high ceiling, illuminating the room with a dim light. It was your average abandoned warehouse.


A shaggy-haired teenager stepped out of the shadows. A knife glinted in his hand, but I looked at it disinterestedly before turning away. How boring. Can’t he be a little more original?


"A little eleven year old girl like you can't be D. What, did the real one send you in because he was too chicken?" he pressed the flat of the blade under my chin, making me look up at him. I hid my repulsion behind boredom. The guy’s hair was blond, he had piercings and an unlit cigarette was clenched between his teeth. He reeked of tobacco. Gross. My nose crinkled in disgust at the scent.


"Hey, big brother, don't you know smoking is bad for you?" I pointed at the cigarette with a small, pale hand. "You could get lung cancer."


"I didn't come here to have a little girl nag me. Where is he?" He pressed the edge of the knife against my throat. Even though the sharp edge was right against my flesh, I yawned, irritating him. "Do you want to be headless, little girl? Where's D?"


"I'm right here. I'm D."


The teen growled. He pulled the knife back, preparing to stab me. I wasn’t afraid. They tried to do this all the time, thinking they’d win because of my size. Heh, idiots.


I stepped aside, letting the knife pass me. "That's not very nice. You don't go stabbing someone you just met." I made a jerking motion with my right arm, a blade appearing in my hand. "But then again, I'm not nice."


The boy's eyes widened. He looked down, seeing the hilt of the knife sticking out of his stomach. He fell to the floor, clutching his wound. Blood seeped through his fingers and stained his shirt.


"Don't worry; I missed your vital organs," I examined the blood on the blade, as if mesmerized. "Your blood's a pretty colour, big brother. I want to paint with it." I grabbed a fistful of his hair, forcing him to look up. I dragged the blade across his cheek, a thin line of blood now marking his face. I drew two more lines, forming a D before releasing his hair.


Now he looks acceptable. I felt a smile making its way to my face.


I held the knife tightly; ready to plunge it into his flesh again. I drove it into his arm, enjoying his scream of pain. I laughed giddily as I pulled it out, blood dripping from the knife’s tip. A sense of euphoria flooded my being. The boy seemed to be frozen in horror. The fear that showed in their eyes as I stood over them with my knife…nothing could ever compare to it.


I pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket, using it to wipe the blood off my knife. The newly cleaned knife disappeared into my sleeve once more. The bloodstained handkerchief floated to the floor, the crimson liquid dried to a disgusting brownish colour. I set it alight with a match, making sure that the evidence was burnt before I made my way to the door. “Bye bye, big brother. I had fun playing with you.”


I turned the knob and opened the door, letting light in. The light caused silhouettes of normal objects to form weird shapes on the wall. I looked back at the boy.


He was bleeding on the ground, more knife wounds on his body. His breathing was shaky and shallow. It was clearly a struggle for him to get enough air. It won’t take long. Night night, big brother. I shut the door behind me, casting the room in darkness once more.


A girlish giggle escaped my lips. I held up a small vial of colourless liquid, peering at the contents using the moonlight. Poison. My blade had been coated in it. The poison should’ve entered and mixed with his bloodstream right now. He’d first lose motor function. After that, his senses would slowly deteriorate. I smiled. His brain and heart would shut down.


“Why are humans so stupid? Why do they like challenging those stronger than them? It’d be smarter to stay where you are.”

***

Interested? This will be posted on inkpop under Kanda Yuu (I love D.Gray-Man) later this year. Around November if everything goes smoothly.