The officer reached for it. Sophia jerked back and covered her neck with both hands.
Rage flared in his face. He swung at her nose, but she ducked and his fist crashed into the wall. Pain only fueled his fury. He kicked her in the stomach. Once. Twice. Again. Her cries echoed in the alley, sharp and thin. She still did not uncover her necklace.
The sound of her pain snapped something inside me. All the memories from the night we killed the beast surged up at once—the helplessness, the rage, the instinct to protect. My vision narrowed to the officer's exposed nape. Everything else vanished.
Without thinking, I grabbed the knife lying beside me. I drove it into the eye of one man. Pulled it free. Stabbed another in the shoulder. When they staggered back, screaming, I was free.
I sprang toward the officer, aiming the blade directly at his nape. In midair, just inches away, I saw the hair at the back of his neck stand up. He dodged—fast, impossibly fast.
And the blade sank into Sophia's throat instead.
She was looking up at me. Her hands had fallen away from her necklace.
Blood burst from the wound, warm and shockingly bright against the white dress. It spilled over my fingers. The gown we bought together bloomed red as the fabric drank it in."
Indra's voice broke. He could not continue. Obero reached out and placed a handkerchief in his hand. Indra wiped his face, breathing shakily, and forced himself onward.
"In her final moments," he said softly, "Sophia lifted her hand to my cheek. She wiped my tears away. Then she looked at Arthur, still unconscious on the ground, and tried to speak. But the blade in her throat… she could not form a sound. Still, I know she was trying to say 'Take care of Arthur.'"
His voice trembled again.
"She turned back to me. With her eyes, she told me to come closer. When I leaned in, she gave me a small kiss on the lips. Just a soft peck. Then she rested back against the wall.
"Looking at me, she struggled to speak. After fighting for breath, she managed one word."He swallowed.
"'Smile.
Her hand slipped from my cheek.Her eyes dimmed.Her soul gone.
She laid on the snowy field with her white dress drenched red, she looked the same way she looked when we killed the beast.
I froze with my hands still wrapped around the knife. I could not move, could not breathe. A moment later Arthur jolted awake and ran toward us. I felt his stare on me, sharp and cold, but he said nothing. He only bent down, lifted Sophia into his arms, and held her close as he cried, kissing her face over and over.
When the knife got in his way, he pulled it from her throat and hurled it upward into the darkness above the alley. It never came back down.
I stood there, useless, watching him. After a long time, he laid her gently on the ground and sat beside her, their backs resting against the wall. He wept until there were no more tears, then leaned his forehead onto her shoulder and fell asleep like that, still holding her hand.
It took an eternity for my senses to return. When they did, dawn was already breaking across the sky. Without remembering how, I found myself standing in front of the door of our old house. I went inside. As I walked, I accidentally kicked the table. A box toppled over and burst open. When I knelt to pick up the spilled clothes, my legs gave out. I collapsed on the floor and drifted into unconsciousness without even realizing it.
I woke a day later.
My first thought was 'This is a dream'. But when I saw the dried blood on my hands, on my clothes, I knew instantly it was not. Panic flooded in, followed by guilt, followed by the urge to find Arthur. But shame held me back. Fear held me back. I could not face him. I also could not run away.
So I stayed in that house. I stayed for an entire month without stepping outside, eating whatever rotten food was left until even the garbage was gone. Only then, when hunger forced me, did I approach the door again.
An envelope had been pushed through the gap. Inside was a letter informing me of a lab interview scheduled three days later. But that was not what made me leave the house. I left because there was simply no food left, no scraps, nothing.
When I walked outside to find something to eat, people stared. Some covered their noses. When I caught my reflection in the shop window, I almost did not recognize myself.
I returned home and tried to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes I heard her final word again and again.
Smile. Smile. Smile.
Later, I attended the interview. I was accepted. From that day on, I work here in the lab. Some months after I joined, I heard a rumor that Arthur had moved to the Western Kingdom. That was the last I ever heard of him.
Now I live in the same old house where all our memories sit engraved into the walls, and I work in this lab that was always our dream. That… that is how I have lived. And that is my tale so far."
Indra finished speaking.
A moment later, Obero stood and gently woke Isha. She rubbed her eyes, mumbling, "I want to sleep more, Papa."
"If we do not leave, we will miss the bus," he said, but she only slumped against him again. With a sigh, he lifted her onto his shoulders. "Then sleep on me."
Obero turned to Indra and looked into his eyes."Do you have a wish that only the one who created everything can grant?"
Indra blinked slowly, as if answering yes.
Still drowsy, Isha placed a crystal bishop chess piece into Indra's hand while Obero said, "Keep this close. You will get a chance to wish."
As soon as Indra touched it, the piece glowed faintly. And then, in the next breath, Obero and Isha vanished from sight.
A distant shout echoed down the hall."Dummy!"
Indra quickly slipped the necklace back into his pocket and ran toward the voice, still gripping the crystal bishop. As he sprinted through the hallway, he skidded to a stop in front of the gramophone—the one Isha had broken earlier.
He reached his hand toward it.
His fingers stopped midair, as if pressed against something invisible. Surprised, he tried with his other hand—the one holding the bishop—and that too was blocked. He pulled back, then tapped the spot with the chess piece. A metallic clink rang out.
There was still glass there.
"How did she go in," he whispered, "if the glass is still here?"
Before he could think further, another shout rang through the hallway."Dummy!"
Indra tucked the glowing bishop into his lab coat and sprinted toward the sound once more.
End of piece