Chapter 13: Love, Death, And Everything That Follows

"We live on a dang farm!" Vanity, Edith's daughter complained. She was wearing the bracelet that her now stepdad had gotten for her months ago, before he and her mom's wedding. "We have so much food, and still it takes forever for dinner to be ready!"

"Patience, Vanity," Edith reminded her. Vanity grumbled and put her face on the table.

"We're done!" Abir exclaimed from the kitchen. He ran out and placed a juicy turkey on the table, on a silver platter.

"We did our best," Vanilla followed up, shyly. She had her hair hiding her eyes. "We hope you like it." Vanilla was still cautious of the new man in her family. She may have had lingering trust issues from her biological father leaving them for a new family. Living on a farm with all the animals was strange too, even if they liked them. Although, her older sister, Vanity, had no problem adapting to this new lifestyle, and life altogether. She had happily welcomed Abir into the Fishington family.

"Gimme the grub!" Vanity shouted, as hyper as ever. She slammed her fists onto the table, and watched intently with a smile and a glint in her eye as Abir cut a leg off the turkey and gave it to her. She dug right in.

"I think it's great that Vanilla is helping make dinner now," Edith said. Vanilla smiled shyly. "Vanity, stop playing with your food." Vanity stuck a tongue out at her mother, with mashed up turkey still on it. Vanilla cringed away.

Spot walked up to Abir's plate, with him laughing nervously and not paying attention. Spot shot out his tongue and grabbed the plate with it. "Huh? Hey!" Abir shouted. "No. Bad Spot." Spot didn't listen, he just looked at Abir with the plate stretching the inside of his mouth apart, making his cheeks reflect the shape of the plate.

"Did you feed Yoshi today?" Edith asked. "He seems awfully hungry."

"Yeah, and his name is Spot," Abir reminded her. "We've talked about this."

"Okay, okay," Edith giggled. She leaned in and kissed Abir on the cheek. "I love you." She whispered into his ear, just like the day they had confessed.

Abir thought it was perfect. So what could possibly happen to ruin this?

It was midnight. Abir woke suddenly to the sound of gunshots. He jolted awake, and instantly reached for his rifle. He couldn't tell if the shots were directed towards someone in the house, or someone outside. Perhaps a fight had broken out outside? Edith was next to him in the bed, asleep, so she was fine. He decided he shouldn't wake her, lest they draw attention to themselves. Edith didn't exactly handle intense pressure well. Besides, he would protect everyone.

Nevertheless, Abir had Spot stay behind while he went quietly down the stairs. The kids' room was the first stop. He had to make sure they were okay. However, when he reached the bottom of the stairs, he noticed, the door wide open with the lock blown out. Abir felt his heart sink.

Somebody was in the house.

Abir made a mad dash to the kids' room. He caught a glimpse of them asleep in their beds, before in a flash of red, everything changed. There were now figures cloaked in black standing over the sleeping children, both held some kind of dagger. "NOOOOO!" Abir shouted, straining his voice. He tried running forward, but he was too late.

The figures jabbed the daggers into the children's chests. Blood spilled on the blankets, and on the carpet. Vanity, Vanilla... they were both dead. Abir felt tears rush to his eyes as he tackled a figure, screaming. He fired the gun and a bullet tore through the figure's head. Looking at the figure's face, he saw... a Shy Guy mask. But this wasn't a Shy Guy. This was a human. The other figure slid out of the room, with the same mask on. He didn't have time to unmask the figure he had shot. He needed to stop the other one from going to the bedroom upstairs, where Spot and Edith were!

Abir chased the figure, but then something grabbed his neck. "You're not going anywhere!" A low-pitch, twisted voice cried.

"What are you doing?!" Abir shouted.

"This is what you deserve," the voice muttered. "You don't know it yet, but you tricked me, you made me think you were my friend. You are just another obstacle in my way to revenge. Die."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Abir spat. He struggled to be let go as he was picked up, and felt whoever was grabbing him clench tighter on his neck. "Why are you doing this?" Abir whimpered, his voice coming out raspy and hushed due to the pressure on his throat. He dropped his gun.

"I just explained why I am doing this," the voice said. "Are you incapable of listening?" The voice paused. "Here. Just for that, I'm going to make your death a lot more painful."

Abir was thrown at the wall. He was free... he could save Edith! He scrambled up the stairs, but felt something pick him up again. This time, it felt more like he was floating. "Huh...?" He asked, looking around. Indeed... he was just floating. He was then spun around like a lasso, at a velocity that made him crash right through walls. He was then subject to an energy blast, shooting him through the wall again and out into the desolate, quiet midnight town.

Abir felt like he was dying. And maybe he was. He tried getting up. But he felt something press him back down to the ground. "Ngh!" He grunted in pain. He saw the figure standing on him. He couldn't talk. He was in so much pain.

"It really is a shame," the figure said. "I trusted you at one point. How naive I was." The figure pulled out that same type of knife, and stabbed it into Abir's throat, drawing it down to his chest. Abir fell limp, dead. "It won't be long now."

Abir could only see red in that moment. When the red faded, he found himself in a strange liquid. Like water. But he could breathe it like air. "Huh. So it seems you've died," the voice of Len, the girl from the alleyway said.

Abir gasped. He opened his mouth to scream, but felt it fill up with water. It burned. "Do not speak. It is not your right," Len warned. "It seems something quite unexpected happened. In order to avoid this in future iterations, it appears some adjustments have to be made."

Abir had so many questions. Had Len not been crazy? Had she been right about everything? How was she here? How was any of this possible? What did she mean by... adjustments?

"Yes, yes..." Len spoke. "You will be reborn... a demon."

And that was the last thing Abir ever heard. Until many years later, when he was reborn in a hospital, in Honyrup Town. Reborn, as a demon. As Riba.