episode_0042

The video started with a dark screen.

It was a video that she had intended to watch to kill time before going to sleep, but the content was far beyond what Alice had expected.

In the video, Arthur was pinned to a wall, his left hand seemed to be stuck to the wall as if it was fixed to something and he couldn’t move. He seemed to have had all of his clothes taken away, leaving his naked body exposed.

Arthur’s body was covered in purple and red bruises, as if he had been severely assaulted.

“Ah…”

A voice that came out without one’s knowledge because of embarrassment.

When he came to, he was already running at full speed towards Arthur’s room.

“Tracking.”

As before, a blue arrow points inside Arthur’s room.

First of all, since she didn’t know Arthur’s condition, Alice knocked on the door loudly in a hurry.

-Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Arthur? Open the door!! If you don’t open it, I’ll just break it down and come in!!”

“…”

But no sound was heard from inside.

If it’s clearly inside, it’s a sound that must be reacting, right? I have no choice, I’ll just break it and go in.

“..?”

However, contrary to expectations that it would be locked, Arthur’s room was not locked and was opened with great ease by Alice’s hand.

-Ugh.

Alice carefully entered Arthur’s room and slowly looked around the room. However, Arthur was nowhere to be found. So now the only space in the room where Arthur could be was the bathroom with the door closed.

A very nervous Aris slowly moved towards the bathroom door and tried to open it, but she couldn’t help but stop and listen for a moment at the sound coming from inside the bathroom.

-Square.. square..

What does this mean..?

-Square.. square..

A sound that continued at regular intervals. It was the first time Alice had heard it, but for some reason, it made her imagine ominous thoughts.

“Okay, I’ll go in..”

Alice slowly opened the door, making a sound so that Arthur could hear her while inside the bathroom.

-Kkiiik..

-Square.. square.. square.. square..

As Alice opened the door, Arthur came into view. Arthur was in the bathtub, and she could see him moving his left hand and doing something repeatedly.

“Arthur..?”

Alice approached Arthur, calling his name, but Arthur did not seem to notice Alice approaching, as he continued to move his hands while looking down.

-Square.. square..

Hearing an unknown sound, Alice gradually approached Arthur, and unlike the bathroom entrance where only her face was visible, she was now close enough to see Arthur’s upper body.

Arthur’s body, which he looked at, was covered in bruises just like in the video, and Alice’s footsteps became faster and faster.

Stop.

Alice, who had arrived next to Arthur, was startled and embarrassed by the object Arthur was holding, but quickly regained her senses and snatched the object Arthur was holding.

“Huh..?”

Arthur turned his head only after his belongings were taken away, and he discovered Alice, and his pupils began to shake.

“Ah..Aris? Oh, no!! Don’t look!!!”

Arthur suddenly shouted at Alice to stop looking at him and get out, but Alice quietly pulled Arthur out of the bathtub.

Arthur, who was forcibly dragged out of the bathtub, struggled to get down, but Alice silently hugged him.

“Arthur.. I’m sorry. It’s all my fault, so you don’t have to do this..”

After hearing Alice’s words, Arthur stopped struggling, and after a while, Alice felt that Arthur had calmed down and carefully lowered Arthur to the floor.

-Thud.

As soon as Arthur’s feet touched the floor, he sank to the ground helplessly and began to sob quietly.

When Alice saw this, she threw the knife Arthur was holding out of the bathroom, took out the towel next to her, and carefully wiped Arthur’s body.

-Swish.. swish.. swish.

The towel used to wipe Arthur’s body was soaked with red blood.

“Mi..sorry I tried to erase everything.. but it wouldn’t erase with water…”

“It’s okay. I don’t care, so don’t do it again.”

Alice guessed that the reason Arthur stabbed her was because of the writing on her lower body.

Arthur’s lower abdomen was covered in insulting words such as rag, whore, herbal pills, and one cup of cum, and his thighs around his genitals were painted with countless stick figures.

So it seemed like they tried to cut out these letters with a knife because they couldn’t be erased with water.

After quite some time, Alice, who thought she had cleaned Arthur’s body to some extent, got up from her seat and emptied the water in the bathtub that was full of Arthur’s blood.

-Kurururur..

The hole in the bathtub emptied the water inside with a loud noise, but the blood stains on the wall remained intact.

“Ah.. I’ll erase it…”

“No.. Let’s get out of the bathroom first.”

Alice carried Arthur, who was sitting weakly, and laid him on the bed. Alice also climbed onto the bed and hugged Arthur tightly.

After a moment of silence, Arthur spoke first.

“Ah..Aris, this isn’t a..a dream, is it? Is it really you..?”

As Arthur spoke, trembling, Alice hugged him tighter.

“Of course.. So, don’t think about anything and just go to sleep tonight.. I’ll be by your side watching over you..”

But Arthur’s trembling did not stop despite Alice’s words.

“That’s a lie. You always reassure me like this, and when I wake up, I always wake up in that warehouse.”

“Why… why didn’t you save me… I looked for you every day… I called your name thousands and thousands of times a day…”

“I’m sorry.. I’m sorry..”

“Do you know what I’ve done to you?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why did you appear in my dreams..? Why do you lie when you won’t save me?”

“Why do you keep giving me hope!!!! I just wanted to give up on everything..”

“I’m sorry for lying.. I’m sorry for not being able to protect you..”

“Please tell me this isn’t a dream.. I’m so scared that when I close my eyes I’ll wake up in that warehouse again.. Now when I close my eyes, I just hope tomorrow never comes..”

-Brrr.

At the same time, Arthur’s whole body began to tremble violently. So much so that his own body, which was holding Arthur, also began to tremble.

“Arthur, I’ll be by your side from now on. So, will you trust me one more time?”

“Ugh… That’s a lie..! Why are you lying again!! You’re not going to save me!! When I open my eyes tomorrow, I’ll be back in hell!!”

Alice carefully took Arthur’s left hand and placed it against her heart.

Thump, thump, thump.

“Arthur, can you feel my heartbeat? It’s not a dream or a lie. I promise you with everything I have..”

“Is that really the real Aris..?”

“Ah… why, why, why now… I was so sick… I’m still so sick…”

Seeing Arthur suffering and blaming himself, Alice’s heart began to tear apart little by little.

“Ugh… I’m sorry… Actually, it wasn’t your fault…”

“I just waited and was disappointed.. I’m sorry.. It’s all my fault, Alice.. Please don’t abandon me.. Please.. Please..!”

Now, Arthur began to blame himself and pray to Alice.

“… Arthur, you must have had a hard time..? Let’s forget everything and sleep well today.. Okay?”

Arthur became quiet at Alice’s words, and Alice began to tell him memories from the past.

“Do you remember when we were kids and we used to play tag all the time? You hid so well that I spent the whole day looking for you. My mom and dad were looking for you too…”

“By the way, do you remember when we first went on a date? I tried to kiss you, but you surprised me by doing it first, so I was really flustered. But I was actually really happy at that time?”

“And also..”

Arthur, who had been quietly listening to Alice’s story for a long time, fell asleep in Alice’s arms.

After confirming that Arthur was asleep, Alice closed her eyes to fall asleep herself.

… … …

The next morning.

When Arthur woke up, he realized that he was in Alice’s arms and that he had finally escaped from that hell.

Arthur carefully opened his eyes and looked at the sleeping Alice.

“Ah..Alice, are you sleeping?”

“… ”

“You’re sleeping.. I have something to tell you..”

“While you were gone… I was kidnapped and locked in a strange warehouse. There, I was taken to a woman I didn’t know, raped…! When I said no, she kept hitting me… Hehe… Sob… She even hit me and raped me when I was sleeping…”

“Later, even strange women came and raped me. While doing so, they called me a rag. They drew on my body. They forced me to drink dirty water. Sob. They even made me film strange videos. They threatened to send the videos to you if I didn’t listen to them. So I had no choice but to do what they told me..? I guess I hated showing you this kind of thing even more..”

“You wouldn’t know if I didn’t say anything, right? You’d just see the graffiti on my body and think, “I was treated badly.” I don’t want you to know the truth. If you found out, you’d curse me and abandon me. Yeah. That’s why you’re not going to tell me. If I just keep quiet, you can pretend like this never happened, right? I’ll be greedy too. You’ll understand, right, Alice? ”

“… ”

-Ouch.

“Iris, I love you.”