【Ripples】

Catherine was gone. She was nowhere to be found.

David, who had thoughtlessly tried to stand, collapsed back down feeling a burning pain and foreign sensation in his leg. A suppressed groan escaped through his clenched teeth. His right leg felt stiff like a wooden block attached to his body.

Despite the cold blade that had pierced it, the wound burned as though branded with red-hot iron. Clutching the injured area and swallowing his pain, David finally exhaled in gasps after a long moment.

Cold sweat dripped from the tip of his nose. His solid shoulders and chest rose and fell rapidly. David nervously wiped his face, streaked with tears and sweat, while drawing in rough breaths.

Chewing curses inside his mouth, he squeezed his eyes shut then opened them again. Though he had wounded himself to escape the evil thing’s temptation, the resulting situation irritated him beyond endurance.

He was disgusted with himself for not doing anything properly. His eyes darted unstably as he wiped away what might have been tears or sweat from the tip of his nose. Suddenly, his gaze dropped downward.

“…Samuel.”

David reflexively reached out to grab Samuel’s shoulder and shook him. He needed Samuel right now, immediately.

“Samuel…!”

With a voice distorted from swallowing pain, David called Samuel’s name again. Despite calling and trying to wake him multiple times, Samuel showed no signs of regaining consciousness.

Mmm… A low, pooling groan escaped Samuel’s lips as though he were trapped in a nightmare. His limp body continued to sway with each shake. Despite David’s loud calls and repeated forceful taps on his unconscious shoulder, it was useless.

Belatedly, David considered the possibility that Samuel might also be entranced by the evil thing, just as he had been. If that were truly the case, Samuel wouldn’t regain consciousness until he recognized the illusion himself. David finally gave up trying to wake Samuel and dropped his hand.

There was no time to waste like this. David bit the inside of his mouth, unable to hide his anxiety. He needed to find Catherine. The evil thing had surely taken her—David was certain of it. Though he didn’t know why, it was clearly obsessed with Catherine.

The rain shadows scattered across the floor rippled. Gritting his teeth, David grasped the handle of the blade piercing his leg.

Though he knew it wasn’t advisable to remove it without proper medical attention, he had no choice now. David clenched his teeth and applied force to his hand. Kuk. A suppressed sound rose that he couldn’t fully swallow.

Just as it had been difficult to drive in, it was equally challenging to pull out. The blade seemed to grip tightly, refusing to release, as he pulled with tension. His nerves were so heightened that even the smallest movements and faintest sounds reached him vividly.

Huh. His gasping breaths echoed as though shattering near his ears.

Fortunately, it hadn’t penetrated too deeply, and after pulling firmly a couple of times, it came out. Once removed, he recognized the familiar object. It was the letter opener Saul had often used since childhood, no longer than an ordinary pen.

Though called a blade, it resembled an awl more than a knife.

But if this had been used to attack Samuel, if it had pierced his neck, it could have been dangerous… Feeling chills down his spine, David tossed it onto a low table. The sound of metal hitting surface rang softly.

David took out a handkerchief from inside his coat and pressed it against the wound. Whether fortunate or unfortunate, being stabbed with a pointed object meant the bleeding wasn’t as severe as expected. However, there was still some bleeding, and his palm quickly became damp.

While applying pressure to stop the bleeding, David reached out with his free hand and grabbed Samuel’s shoulder to pull him. He couldn’t keep applying pressure until the bleeding stopped, so he needed to find something to secure the wound. However, the limp body was heavier than expected.

Normally he could have easily turned him over, but unable to properly support his own body, it took a long time just to roll Samuel onto his back.

After practically throwing Samuel’s body over, David anxiously searched through his unconscious form. His urgency made his hands repeatedly slip. As he pulled out the small pouch attached to Samuel’s waist, it slipped from David’s hands, spilling its contents everywhere.

Feeling around the dark floor where he couldn’t see properly, David grabbed something soft to the touch. He roughly unfolded it and tied it around his wound. Meanwhile, the strange air surrounding them was growing thicker. His stomach churned as though he were standing on rapidly rising waves.

Swallowing the bile rising in his throat, David picked up something faintly glowing among the items scattered on the floor. He felt the cool touch of a glass vial in his palm. When he lightly shook his hand, he could feel something like fine sand moving inside. Opening the lid released the strong, pungent scent of consecrated chive.

The powder made from chive, yarrow, and several other herbs was familiar to David. It was one of the things his supervising priest had taught him about. This powder could temporarily disperse the influence of evil things.

Though not as effective as holy water, since holy water itself was so rare, this was typically used by priests without divine grace or those with minimal divine powers.

Since the existence of evil things wasn’t officially recognized, few people knew about this powder… but Samuel was different. It wasn’t strange for him to possess this powder, knowing about evil things as he did.

David clutched the glass vial. The sensation in his palm was familiar. As he felt the bottom of the vial while lost in thought, David’s gaze suddenly turned cold. Feeling the bottom of the glass vial once more, David confirmed what he had felt wasn’t a mistake. His gaze fell upon the unconscious Samuel.

This was what David had received from his supervising priest. The small groove-like pattern on the bottom of the vial made it unmistakable from others.

He felt deceived. Why would Samuel have a vial identical to David’s? To David, this seemed like confirmation that Samuel had been involved somehow in his life, perhaps even in Saul’s, for a long time.

That prophecy, that powerful divine grace—what was it all about? David’s face contorted in thought. However, these thoughts didn’t continue for long because a sharp scream came from beyond the closed door. It was a chilling sound, like someone experiencing terrible pain…

Simultaneously, he heard the rattling of windows as strong winds battered against them. Reflexively turning toward the sound, David slowly rose to his feet, suppressing the rising anxiety. The heavy air seemed to press down on his entire body. Suddenly, he felt a sense of déjà vu.

David moved toward the door. Unable to properly put weight on his leg, he limped along, almost dragging himself. Even covering that short distance to the door was difficult, but he continued without stopping.

He pulled the door open and stepped into the dark hallway. As though the scream he had heard moments ago had been an illusion, the surroundings were eerily quiet. David’s face contorted.

That day had been like this too. When he was still young, that strange incident at Cavendish—the air had been thick and clingy just like now.

“Brother…”

As David stared at the distant, barely visible end of the hallway, he suddenly heard a child’s voice. It sounded like a child of perhaps five or six years at most. The voice came from behind him. As he instinctively started to turn, David remembered that there were no children that young in Cavendish Manor.

“Brother…”

Once more, he heard a child’s voice calling someone. He could sense light footsteps approaching, so quiet they were barely audible.

“I’m scared…”

He heard the child whimpering. David tried to move his stiffened legs to turn around but froze at the next call.

“Saul…”

A small child, barely reaching his waist, passed by his frozen form. The white clothes, inappropriate for the season, fluttered lightly like flower petals. Beneath them, small moving feet were visible.

Even in the pitch-black surroundings, the curly blonde hair and the faintly visible white cheek were clearly distinguishable. Though whimpering, the familiar back continued walking steadfastly without stopping.

David recognized this child.

“Dave, what’s going on in the middle of the night?”

Light flickered at the far end of the hallway. Though the face of the boy appearing with a lamp wasn’t clearly visible, the voice was familiar.

“Saul…”

“Brother…!”

David’s dazed murmur crossed with the young David’s voice, mixed with relief and joy.

David blankly watched his younger self running forward. He observed him running to the boy at the end of the hallway holding the lamp and embracing him. He watched as the boy set down the lamp and gently hugged and comforted his young brother.

Suddenly, David saw the boy in the distance raise his head. In the moment he thought their eyes met, the boy gently smiled with crescent eyes. The boy asked:

“What’s wrong, Dave?”

David blinked at the unfamiliar nickname. Dave? David unconsciously murmured. This was the first time he’d heard Saul call him that. As far as David remembered, Saul had always called him “David.”

For several seconds, their gazes clearly met. Like moisture evaporating under the sun, he watched the smile slowly disappear from the clear face that stared at him. Soon, the face with its completely faded smile slowly dropped its gaze. David followed Saul’s descending gaze toward what he held in his arms.

He saw a small, trembling back. Only then did David realize that his younger self was terrified.