Night had fallen over the city but Jin was at hospital.
His hands tightly clasped around Annabelle's, stared at her face, his uneven breathing mingling with her faint and irregular breaths.
She looked more peaceful than in previous days, but the pallor of her skin remained unsettling.
He could still feel the warmth in her body, and yet, something cold lingered in her gaze—an absence that stirred a deep, gnawing anxiety inside him.
Ginny sat curled up in a corner of the room.
His eyes, full of worry, kept darting toward Jin, but he said nothing.
He couldn't. He didn't need to. Jin already knew what he wanted to say.
He clenched his jaw. That old companion—rage—was rising again.
— "You know…" he finally said, voice hoarse with emotion. "You remind me of someone."
Annabelle, as always, gave no answer. But that silence, that hollow void, pulled something from deep inside him.
A memory he thought he'd buried beneath layers of fury, but which always came crawling back when he least expected.
He closed his eyes. And the world changed.
Flashback
It was dark that night, too.
My mother was driving, one hand on the wheel, the other toying with a silver bracelet she always wore.
She hummed softly, her voice light—filled with that rare calm that only true happiness brings.
— "Do you remember what we promised, Jin ?" she asked, a smile at the corner of her lips.
I nodded, even though I wasn't sure what she meant.
I was eight back then, far more interested in moon following me than in her words.
— "We're going home," she said, "and this time, we'll do fireworks. You'll let me show you how they work, okay honey ?"
I grinned, amused by her confidence. It felt like nothing could ever go wrong.
Butpeacediesfast.
A deafening crash. My head hit the seat.
Tires screeched. Steel groaned. The car tilted, then rolled. In that moment, the world simply stopped.
I was stuck, trapped under crushed glass.
My mother lay slumped over the steering wheel, her face pale, her eyes wide, searching for my hand.
She tried to speak, but before she could say anything, the man stepped out of his vehicle.
A man—or at least, that's what I thought at first.
I remember his eyes more than anything.
They glowed.
A sickly, red gleam, like something unholy lived behind them.
His movements were jerky, as if strings pulled him against hiswill.
He approached, tore the door open with inhuman strength, and didn't even notice I was there.
I saw everything.
I saw the demon inside him.
He wore a human face, but something twisted and vile had hollowed him out.
— "Mom…" I whispered, trembling. "Are you okay ?"
She smiled weakly.
— "I'm okay, sweetheart. I just need… to close my eyes for a second."
And before I could speak again, the man stepped back and smashed the window with something heavy.
He left. But not before I saw it—something moving behind his eyes. A shape. Crooked. Grotesque.
And then… I heard it. A voice. Not with my ears, but inside my head.
"Thisisn'tover."
She died before the police ever showed up.
And me ? I was just a kid who saw something no one would believe.
A child who met the truth behind the mask.
Jin opened his eyes.
He slowly stood and walked over to the window, his gaze lost in the night.
— "You see, Annabelle… what I saw that night made me who I am now," he said, almost to himself. "A monster forged by demon. And yet, when I look at you, I see my mother."
Ginny rose to her feet and quietly crossed the room. She stopped near him, head bowed, silent as ever.
Jin placed his hand against the wooden frame of the window, eyes still locked on the empty street outside.
— " All of this… for what? For them ? For a world that pretends this evil doesn't exist ? Where is God ?"
The silence stretched between them, but inside him, a vow made long ago.
A promise created in blood and broken glass.
What he couldn't do back then… what he couldn't stop… he would finish now.
He finally turned to Annabelle. His expression softened.
He stepped close, leaning over her fragile form.
— "Don't worry. I'm bringing you back." He paused, eyes steady. "They're going to pay."