(symbols are because they didn't have names!)
I, Eve, was remembering my past as flashback.
A warm, golden haze.
Two adults with blurred faces and shining blonde hair laughed softly.
"Hehe… now ■●● gets to be a big sister too."
"How nostalgic… This child will surely will grow up to be just as beautiful as ■●●! After all, her big sister is already this cute!"
In the middle of them, a little girl with dull gray hair bounced with excitement.
I didn't know who they were.
But watching that child look so happy, so carefree, somehow warmed something deep inside my chest.
"Mommy! I wanna hold ▲▲■ too!"
The girl stretched her arms toward the woman cradling a newborn with the same golden hair.
The couple smiled fondly, carefully transferring the tiny baby into the girl's small, trembling arms.
The girl held the fragile life as though it were the most precious, dangerous thing in the world.
The parents watched her with gentle eyes.
It was such a warm, loving family scene.
They would surely live happily ever after.
That's how bright and kind the moment felt.
Truly… so happy—
Static ripped across the dream.
"What… is this?"
"■●●… what is that ominous magic? What did you do? Why is ▲▲■… dead?"
"N-no… I didn't do anything—"
The image flipped.
The baby—now nothing but a motionless lump of flesh.
The couple stared at the gray-haired girl with raw terror and hatred.
The warmth was gone.
Only a bewildered child and parents glaring at her like she was a monster remained.
(No… stop… I don't want to see any more…!)
Even though it was just a dream, even though it had nothing to do with me, I desperately didn't want to watch what came next.
But the dream marched on, ignoring my will.
"D-Daddy… Mommy… I'm scared… it's scary… help me…!"
Black, sinister magic poured from the girl's body, coiling around her like living smoke.
She reached toward her parents, begging for comfort, for safety.
She only wanted them to tell her everything would be all right.
But—
"G-get away… monster!"
They slapped her hand away and screamed the word "monster."
Those were not the eyes of parents looking at their daughter.
In their gaze, the little girl they had cherished moments ago no longer existed.
¶
"Oi, don't sleep, Number 15!"
A metallic clang and a furious shout yanked me awake.
I forced my heavy body upright and looked around.
Iron bars surrounded me on all sides.
The air was thick with dust and ash; no one had cleaned this place in years.
"Tch… survived again, you damn devil. Just die already."
The guard spat the words through the bars, face twisted in disgust, then hawked phlegm on the floor and left.
He didn't hit me.
He never did anymore.
Just woke me with noise and insults, same as always.
I lowered my head and looked at myself.
Rags barely qualifying as clothes, soaked with sweat.
Skin sickly pale, limbs thin as twigs.
And around my neck, a heavy collar like the ones put on beasts.
Another nightmare.
The same one I'd seen hundreds of times.
I hated remembering.
That happy family, the moment everything shattered, the instant I lost my name and became "it."
In the dream I was only a bystander… yet the moment I woke, every detail flooded back.
That girl was me.
I curled into a ball, hugging my knees tightly, exactly like I did every time the dream came.
Why am I even alive?
They feed me just enough slop to keep my heart beating, nothing more.
No friends, no family, no hobbies, no dreams, no future.
An empty life stretched inside iron bars.
I could die any day and no one would care.
I wanted to die.
I wanted someone, anyone, to end it.
But even that was forbidden.
No matter how many times they cut my head off with a sword,
crushed me into paste with magic,
burned me alive until only bones remained—
I never died.
This thing they called a "blessing" was nothing but a curse.
The moment I took lethal damage, black magic erupted on its own, stitching me back together in seconds.
Head severed? It reattached while I was unconscious.
Body reduced to meat? A few minutes later I was whole again.
And every time the black magic saved me, it killed whoever had hurt me.
They all died glaring at me like I was the devil, faces twisted in resentment and despair.
Life in a cage.
Occasionally dragged to illegal arenas, forced to fight other slaves while masked nobles laughed and bet money.
Hope had died long ago.
My parents abandoned me, calling me a monster.
The sweet-talking slaver who bought me lied about giving me a "better life."
Every time I started to trust someone, they betrayed me.
Eventually I stopped believing in anyone.
I buried my face in my knees and squeezed tighter.
A lullaby my mother used to read drifted into my mind uninvited,
the simple fairy tale of a hero who defeated the demon king and was granted one wish by the gods.
I don't remember what the hero wished for.
But if I, not the hero, could have one single wish granted…
I wouldn't ask to be saved. That's pointless.
I wouldn't ask to turn back time. The past doesn't matter anymore.
I want nothing.
I desire nothing.
There is only one thing I wish for.
"…Please let it end."
Let this life finally, finally come to an end.