Chapter 19: Vanity of Vanities, All is Vanity

Are my feelings of affection for Hazyah genuine, or a form of coping from my mental anguish? I don't know the answer yet. I tried my hardest to figure it out, but I was left with a blank page…

I feel like, before I can sort out my thoughts and emotions, before I can move on with my life, I have to confront Alisha… She is the cause of my mental anguish after all.

So I sent her a text message, inviting her to the school's rooftop, which is off-limits for students below S rank.

But since I am an S ranked student, I have access to the rooftop and simply left the door open. So that she could come to me.

The sun was just about to set, despite the fact that it was around ten o'clock in the evening when I watched over this utopian school from the rooftop.

I guess that's summer for you…

I heard the door move and footsteps slowly approaching me…

"You wanted to talk," Alisha said.

"Yes," I didn't turn around to face her. My gaze was still upon the utopian school and the students who enjoyed themselves.

"What do you want to talk about, Sansula?" She asked.

"You weren't born from caring and loving parents," I began. "So you were without a name. And I named you…"

"What are you getting at?"

"I gave you the love and care you should've received from your parents," I sighed. "What did you do for me in return, Alisha?"

"I-I… I…" She stumbled on her words, and couldn't think of anything. Just as I thought.

"Was manipulating my life the way you expressed your gratitude, then?" I asked.

"Huh?" She replied, confused.

"You are my fiance, the girl my parents took into their care, and the very first living being I named. Yet, you are also a homunculus created in a laboratory…"

I heard no response from Alisha. But I take it that she is very shocked, since she had no idea I knew all of this about her.

"What… Where did you get this information?" She asked, panicking.

"You manipulated my every move, Alisha. Making sure I unknowingly did your bidding… Me joining the military and excelling as a Dutch soldier, was all a part of your plan. You coupled me with Mandane only to destroy our relationship in the end, just so that you could hurt the poor girl. I managed to cause her to break free from her Sin of Sloth, and you ruined that for her by breaking us apart.

You coupled me with Haniya so that she would be taken over by her Sin of Lust and seduce me. That's very wicked of you, you know? You know that she absolutely cannot do such things according to her religion. And the fake fire in that private all-girls school was to frighten Eliza and cause me to rescue her… What about Kayla? You annihilated her quite literally. All while using me as a pawn to get that done. And you had the audacity to kill Zipporah and her husband by using one of my weapons…"

I heard Alisha… sobbing? Why is she crying all of a sudden? She isn't the victim but the perpetrator! I turned around in rage, but softened up when I saw her crying like a little girl…

"Why…?" I asked, confused.

19.1

"You sympathize with them… but you don't sympathize with me…" She cried.

"What?"

"Haven't you been told that my very own sisters ostracized me? That my very own fourteen parents abandoned me?"

"I have, but…"

"But, but what? You don't care? Is that it?" She wiped her tears. "No one ever cares about me. I'm always the one in the wrong. Because I'm a 'devil', 'inherently evil'. 'Wicked to the core'. That's how it is."

I just noticed something… Why are her eyes red? And why does she have fangs?

"I didn't say that…"

"But that is how you think of me! I thought you'd be different, Sansula! I love you! The fact that the only person I love turns on me, makes me feel more devastated than I already did! I know that I manipulated your life, but can you blame me? After everything I've been through, how can you expect me not to turn 'psycho'?"

"Well…"

"Let me tell you something. I don't give a crap about Mandane, Haniya, Eliza, Kayla or any of my sisters. I don't pity them because they deserve every misfortune I send their way," she said. "How are they the victims? While they are the cause of me spreading corruption on earth? Make it make sense to me! Explain to me why, Sansula!"

"The hell? Are you gaslighting me?" My rage returned to me. "I have absolutely nothing to do with your sibling spat, alright? So you simply have no justification for what you did to me. Whether you are the victim or the perpetrator doesn't change that."

"But you pity them and sympathize with them! Why not with me?"

"It's kind of difficult to sympathize with the person who manipulated your life…"

"I'm sorry, okay? I apologize," she said. "How can I make up for it?"

"Stop hurting people, Alisha. That's how you can make up for it. Stop hurting your sisters and the people they hold dear."

"So I should be the only one in pain? How is that fair?"

"My parents took you in and you became a Badilitess. You have a family of your own. So you should move on from your past. Things are different now. You're no longer alone."

"I can't move on! My sisters don't feel regret or remorse for what they did to me! They need to be taught a lesson!"

"Who do you think you are? A Goddess? You are not in the position to inflict punishment on people, Alisha."

"Do you expect God to punish them on my behalf?" She asked. "After everything I have done, I am inclined to believe that God is on their side now. I most likely lost his divine support at this point. So there's no turning back…"

"Alisha, you…" I was at a loss for words.

"Do you know what it feels like to wake up everyday with a sensation that you shouldn't have existed?" She asked, as tears of blood rolled down her cheeks. "I never asked to be born. Nor did I ask to be born as a homunculus. I didn't ask to be abandoned by my sisters, mothers and fathers. I didn't ask for any of that. I never wanted to hurt people, let alone kill people. I turned out this way because I feel ruined, Sansula. My soul is in anguish. It's suffering, but no one bats an eye. The fact that I am unwanted, undesirable, that no one truly understands me, is evidence that the world would've been better off without me. I wish that I did not exist."

"Alisha…"

"Scrap that name. I reject the name 'Alisha', from today onwards I no longer associate myself with that name. You broke my heart, Sansula. You are no different to my sisters and my parents. So I'll make sure to break you, too."

"Alisha, please. Don't do anything dangerous. I'm here for you, okay?"

"Why do people only start caring about me when I'm contemplating ending it all…" She chuckled.

19.2

Alisha walked closer to me and stood beside me, watching the students, laughing and enjoying themselves. Some of them began behaving strangely…

Their skin turned either completely white or completely black, depending on their original skin tone. They developed fangs and sharp claws, and their eyes turned red…

These students who turned into monsters began hunting down and killing the students that remained human. By drinking their blood or killing them with their claws.

We heard terrifying screams for help…

"When humans successfully created homunculi in a laboratory, we knew the world would not be the same…" Alisha uttered. "A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Bible, in the Book of Ecclesiastes; Koheleth complains about the creation of the seven days of Creation, that all is vanity of vanities. Similarly, I complain about my own creation, seven times, because I originate from seven couples, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." I suppose everyone thought that about me, one way or another…"

Someone opened the door in a hurry; it was Mandane, looking concerned.

Alisha turned around and looked at her with a sorrowful smile.

"All things are wearisome; no one can utter it; the eye shall not be sated from seeing, nor shall the ear be filled from hearing," she continued. "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

Alisha stood on the edge of the rooftop, smiling carelessly, behind her a beautiful lunar eclipse. She allowed herself to fall off the rooftop, shocking me and Mandane.

We both looked as some of the monsters stacked on each other, so that Alisha fell on them, sparing her from death.

"She is completely out of her mind…" I said.

"But what the hell is going on, Sansula? Why have some students turned into these monstrous creatures?" Mandane asked.

"I have absolutely no idea. I feel like none of this is even real. But we have to save the students who haven't transformed into monsters."

I ran back into the school complex, Mandane followed me. I left the school and headed to the monsters, who ended up surrounding me and her.

"Sansula?" She asked, terrified. "They are our classmates!"

I grabbed my gun and said: "Stay behind me, Mandane…" I began to shoot my classmates one by one, taking their lives each.

I killed a number of 8 classmates; 4 males and 4 females. Mandane fell on her knees, in utter shock. And the classmates who hadn't transformed into monsters looked at me, as if I was some sort of a monster, too. I guess that I did become a monster from that day onwards…

Zephyrine was among them too, but she looked rather relieved and grateful.

"Sansula…" She said, tears welled up in her eyes. "What's going on…"

We heard the principal say from the announcement speakers: "We have confirmed that there are no monsters roaming around anymore. So can every student, teacher and employee come out of hiding, and assemble in the sports hall please? I repeat…"

19.3

I led Mandane, Zephyrine and my classmates who were with us to the sports hall safely, all the while I kept my gun at hand. Everyone was shocked to see me walk in with a gun, except for the principal, Hazyah, Yeshaya, Zipporah and Maeve, of course.

Hazyah ran up to me, asking if I was okay. "What happened, Sansula? Are you okay?"

"Some students suddenly turned into monsters and started killing students who hadn't transformed," I explained. "So I took my gun and killed the students that turned into monsters…"

"You had no other option in order to save the lives of the human students," she said. "So you did the right thing."

"I know…" I sighed.

"See?" She smiled. "You are a real superhero."

The principal stood before us with all five teachers. "Can every student form a row behind their teacher?" He requested.

We did as we were told. Every teacher counted the students of their class to see if no one was missing. Turns out that we miss 13 students.

"12 of these students belong to my class," Yeshaya said. "Sansula, you were there, right? Report to us what had happened."

"Fleur van Rijn, Naomi Pieters, Sanne de Vries, Aisha El-Hadi and Jordy Bakker, Lucas Jansen, Kwame Adu, Pieter de Jong, turned into monstrous creatures with red eyes, claws and fangs," I explained. "They killed Isabella Garcia, Yara Mohamed, Daan van Leeuwen and Amir Khan. What is remarkable is that the female monsters went after the human males, and vice versa. I took out the monsters by shooting them with my gun. I had no other choice."

"Looks like we are dealing with a virus outbreak…" The principal said, shocking us all. "But this isn't like any virus humanity has dealt with before. So this virus has an alien origin. There's no doubt about that."

"How can that be…" Zipporah couldn't believe it. Neither could the rest of us.

"Who is the missing 13th student?" The principal asked.

"Alisha…" Zipporah uttered. "And her eyes were red, she had fangs too. Do you think she might have anything to do with this virus, father?"

"She does?!" He was shocked to hear that. "Ah… I fear the worst…"

"Can't we send everyone back home?" Zipporah asked.

"No, I just asked my fellow scientists and looked at news articles to see what was going on… And this is a global virus outbreak. It seems that things outside this school are worse than they are here. The government urged me to keep everyone in this school for the time being. Can each teacher return the personal smartphones to the students after this, so that they can reach out to their families and see if they are okay."

"Good," Zipporah replied.

"Besides that, I have something very important to share. My colleagues informed me that there are symptoms one can determine whether a human will transform into a monster or not."

"What are those?" Yeshaya asked.

"Feeling stuffy, erratic breathing, bloodshot eyes… And an excessive thirst in the blood of a person from the opposite gender."

"Does anyone here have these symptoms?". Mr. Achtouk asked. No one answered his question, obviously. But all of us felt uneasy, thinking that there are people in here who do have these symptoms but are simply hiding it.

"Sir, can I take it from here?" Yeshaya requested.

"What do you have in mind, Yeshaya?" The principal asked.

"The situation is dire, but the system we put in place must go on, otherwise our girls might drown in their sins," he answered. "So I have a proposal…"

"Tell us."

"Every class that manages to save one life, earns 5.000 class credits. And every class that manages to take a monster's life, earns 5.000 class credits. It doubles if you save the life of someone outside of your class, or if you take the life of a monster outside of your class," he explained. "So motivate yourselves and each other in protecting your class and in taking responsibility, having a sense of duty."

"That's preposterous!" Mrs. Zomerland said. "You want our students to take each other's lives? Shouldn't we, as the adults in the situation, do that? And life and death aren't things you can measure with fucking class credits! Are you serious?!"

"Yes, I am serious," he sighed. "There are, however, rules or commandments everyone must abide by. Or else, credits will be deducted from you and your class…"

Here are the rules laid down by Yeshaya:

1. You cannot leave the school.

2. You cannot abandon the system.

3. You cannot disregard what the teachers and principal say.

4. Remember the rules and abide by them.

5. Obey your homeroom teacher.

6. You cannot murder humans.

7. You cannot harm humans either mentally or physically.

8. You cannot take anything away from a human.

9. You cannot suspect a human of transforming unless you have evidence for it.

10. You cannot conspire against other humans.

"The rules are put in place in order to make sure the school won't fall into absolute chaos," Yeshaya said.

"I accept your proposal, Yeshaya," the teacher said.

"That means that my class accumulated 45.000 CC, making them the new class 1-A." Everyone disliked this development, but we had no choice but to accept our new reality…

"Everyone, follow your homeroom teacher back to your classrooms. They will give you your personal smartphones. After which they will lead you to the dormitories. Use your kitchen knife as a weapon to protect yourselves. Assemble in your classrooms tomorrow at 30 minutes past 8 in the morning." The principal said.

I followed Yeshaya to the classroom, together with Mandane, Zephyrine, Princess Maeve, Abeni, Omar Hassan, Thijs van der Hout and Youssef Aït Oussakour.

"I can't believe that Naomi died…" Youssef cried. "I hope the rest of my family and friends are still alive…"

Indeed, Youssef and Naomi were pretty close and already knew each other prior to enrolling to this school. I feel sorry for him… I killed her after all.

"You did well, Sansula," Maeve praised me. "All thanks to you, we managed to become class A overnight."

"Is that all you can think of at this moment?" Zephyrine asked, bewildered.

"All I care about is being at the top, since that is where I belong."

"Your sin will be your downfall."

"Say that again, peasant."

"Stop fighting you two!" Yeshaya retorted. "Now is not the time."

We returned to our classrooms. Yeshaya gave each of us our personal smartphones. Well, I already had mine, though. Since I am a S ranked student.

"Don't turn on your devices yet," he said. "Do it once you're back to your dorm room…"

We followed Yeshaya back to the dormitories. "Say, Sansula," Zephyrine called me.

"Yes?"

"You will protect me… You will protect us, right?"

"Definitely," I said, determined. Which put her mind a little bit at ease.

Everyone returned to their dorm rooms. Fortunately, no one transformed into a monster.

Yeshaya, Mr. Achtouk and Mr. van Bossen buried the 12 deceased class E students in the school park. All the while Zipporah was looking for Alisha.

"Who are you looking for, Zipporah?"

Zipporah turned around to see who asked her that question. And it was none other than Alisha herself…