Chapter 78 - Masked Maniac

"How?"

Kasumi was flabbergasted and Hanae was stone cold. Not a single movement came from the sisters, but the father decided to push them out of the way. They slammed into the wall then to the floor, their bodies just a pile of limbs.

"Move over, don't stand in the way of others! What have I taught you that you would be this way?"

After their father left, the sisters remained on the floor. The tears dried up on Kasumi's cheek and Hanae became so still that her arms and legs began to cramp. They finally moved when they heard a groan come from their mother.

Kasumi got up first, "Mother? Are you alright?"

Kokoro lifted her head and groaned even louder. She looked at her daughters and sighed with relief, happy that they didn't get harmed by the masked maniac from last night.

Kokoro smiled, "My daughters, you are alright! Oh, how I was worried!"

Hanae and Kasumi felt guilty when their mother said that. Their mother was so worried about their safety while they decided to not save her from the torture that was inflicted upon her.

Kasumi raised an eyebrow, acting oblivious, "Why were you worried, mother?"

Kokoro sighed and tried to get up, but fell back down. This fall made her back hurt even worse than before, so she decided to stop trying to get away from her bed.

"Well, last night I was taken away. A masked man took me into the middle of the forest... a-and..."

Kokoro started to break down. Large streams of tears glided down her face, onto her clothes, hair, and bedsheets.

"W-well... He tortured me... He drowned me with his water... t-then... he burned me! Oh... how painful it was..."

Kokoro cried and cried, but her daughters were left confused. If she was burned and drowned, why did she look so healthy?

Hanae questioned this first, "Mother... are you lying?"

This stopped Kokoro's bawling, "L-lying? Why would I lie about something so serious like this?"

Hanae cleared her throat and said, "Well... you look perfectly fine... No bruises, burns... nothing!"

Kokoro raised and eyebrow as her eyes grew wide with shock, "Nothing!"

She took her arms from underneath the blanket. No marks! She glanced at the mirror next to her bed. No burns! No slashes! No scars!

Kokoro began to cough on air for not breathing due to shock.

Kasumi rushed to her side in urgency, "Mother! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Kokoro pushed her daughter away, "Leave me be! I'm fine!"

Kokoro then said, "But why?"

Hanae held back her sister and asked, "Mother... are you sure that you're fine? You don't seem... right in the head."

Kasumi agreed with her, "Yes, it seems that way. Maybe you had a bad dream, and thought that it was so real that it actually happened."

Kokoro glared at her daughters, "Are you calling your mother a liar? I am telling the truth!"

In anger, Kokoro got off the bad, no matter how painful it was, and smashed the vase on her bedside table against the wall.

The vase shattered, and glass, water, and flowers were scattered around the room. Kasumi and Hanae cried out from the sharp sound, but Kokoro didn't even flinch. She didn't even flinch when the shards of glass pierced her skin, making tiny red streaks come down her face and arms.

With her eyes colored red, Kokoro continued to wreck the room in anger. Her worried daughters began to scream at the maids that their mother has gone crazy and someone needs to stop her.

The maids became frazzled and screamed along with them, until the screams reached the manor's owner, also known as Lord Kenta.