(orv : Asmara)
Run .
I run.
I have no more breath, no more direction, nothing.
Just the mist. It sticks to my skin, it suffocates me. Everything smells of mold, of death.
No…
No
NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOO.
WHY, WHY? AH?
The screams still echo behind me.
Or maybe in my head.
I don't know anymore.
My hands tremble, stained with an unknown black, My bare foot torn by thorns and stones. My nails are split. I knew it….but I couldn't stop anymore, why? You don't stop, WHY!!! ISN'T THAT MY ROLE? IT'S NOT MY FAULT IF THEY'RE WEAK, IT'S THEIR FAULT IF I STARTED THIS…. IT'S NOT MY FAULT…IT'S NOT MY FAULT…
I don't even feel the weight of my weapon anymore. I must have dropped the flashlight a long time ago.
The whole forest seems to be laughing, mocking me.
The trunks whisper, repeating my name in low voices.
Asmara… Asmara… why are you running?…
- SHUT UP, HAAAAA NO I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! I yelled into the void.
My voice was lost in the mist.
how long I've been running away.
Where am I exactly, everything looks the same
Aie!
I trip over a root, fall, get up again. My arm is bleeding, my skin is raw.
I lost Sadness, lost Disgust.
Maybe they are already…. Maybe they are...
I grab onto a branch, pull, breathe deeply.
- Breathe, Asmara. Breathe. They're fake. All fake. The shadows... the shadows are following you, that's all. They're all fake.
I keep telling myself that.
Again and again.
And suddenly, a noise.
Steps.
In front of me.
Voices.
I stop dead in my tracks.
I listen.
Trembling in my corner.
- …Asmara ?
It's his voice.
Roum.
No.
Not him. It's not him.
I step back, pointing my gun in front of me, trembling.
The mist splits.
Five silhouettes appear. Connected by a rope.
The same order.
The same face.
Again.
- No… no, no, no! I screamed.
BANG !
Shoot a bullet
The detonation explodes, bounces off the trunks, and hits me in the ears.
- ASMA—
The bullet grazed his cheek.
Roum stops, hands raised.
- Hey, it's me! It's Roum! Calm down!
- DEMON! I KNOW IT'S YOU, DEMON, DEMON I screamed.
I rush at him, push him, grab him by the collar.
- You think I don't recognize you?! You think I don't know what you are?!
I crush him to the ground. My knee on his chest.
He struggles, surprised.
- But you're completely sick! Stop!, Joy yelled, throwing herself at me and taking my weapons
But I cling to this "Roum"
I feel his breath, hot, his heart beating and the blood trickling down his cheek. But that doesn't prove anything.
Shadows imitate everything.
Even that.
I raise my knife.
- Do you want to play again? Do you want to have me again?!
- Asmara, stop! It's us! It's your team!
A hand grabs my arm.
Joy.
His face is livid, his eyes wide
- What the hell are you doing?! Why are you attacking him?! You're crazy.
I push her back with an elbow in the face.
She falls on her side.
"Don't come any closer!" I yelled. "You're not Joy! You're not real!"
Roum coughs, his cheek bleeding.
- What are you talking about? We heard screams! We left the camp to look!
"Lie!" I yelled again.
I pull Roum's gun and fire blindly.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The bullets get lost in the fog.
CLAP! CLAP!
The sharp click of the empty trigger.
Nothing more.
My breathing becomes ragged.
I see everything moving around me.
Faces multiply.
Joy, Rum, Disgust, again, again.
The same gestures. The same cries.
I stagger, my heart pounding in my chest.
I grabbed this "Roum" and put the knife to his throat
- They pretend to be them... you know that well, Asmara... don't listen to them... we're the real ones
Why do you have to be complicated, who is fake, who is real
-Shut up, shut up, shut up!
I step back, the knife at this Roum's throat. But the second Roum approaches slowly, his hands open.
- Asmara… look at me, I'm the real one, kill him, he's manipulating you, he's the fake one, kill, kill, kill
-kill
-kill
-kill
The second group resumed
-Sick bastard, let him go, you want to kill us now, your team, shouted Joy, approaching
I stare at his face.
His eyes.
All too human.
Too real.
It's definitely a trap.
- You're lying! Stay away, don't come any closer or I'll kill him.
And I hit.
The knife pierces his shoulder.
A scream, this time, a real scream of pain.
Roum falls to his knees.
Blood spurts, bright red, real.
Not black. Not slimy.
I remain frozen.
Fingers clenched on the handle.
Roum looks at me, teeth clenched, panting.
- You… are going crazy now, why are you doing this?
Joy rushes in.
- Are you sick, Asmara! What's wrong with you?! You're going too far, it's us, damn it, IT'S US!
I stagger, step back, drop my knife.
Everything is rocking.
Everything is spinning.
My head.
The ground moves, the mist embraces me like an ice blanket.
- No... no... you... you're all lying... you're lying, you're reflections, you're not real...
I cover my head with my hands.
I hear their voices, their cries, their footsteps.
He comes closer to me, only one sentence turns:
The real Roum always apologizes... this one didn't. He's not the real one.
Asmara laughed. A nervous, dry, broken laugh.
Joy walks away, furious.
- We can't leave her like this!
Approaching me
- What are you going to do?! shouted Disgust.
She came over and grabbed me by the hair
"If we help her, she'll shoot us one by one," Joy replied.
-HAAAAAAA HAAA LET ME GO, DEMON
I scratched his hand
And screamed even more.
I stare into the mist.
And the second Roum who stared at me with his eyes of mischief
They're not the real ones, that's for sure.
Roum approaches again, his hand clutching his wound.
- Asmara, listen to me... Joy, free her please.
I stare at him, unable to speak.
The world is still rocking.
The ground is cracking.
The trees, the trees….
And deep in the fog... a silhouette appears.
My face.
Moi.
A second Asmara, standing, motionless, looking at me without saying anything.
I stand frozen, mouth open.
- No… no, no, no, no…
Roum turns around abruptly.
- What's up?!
She moved closer.
The second "me", she gets closer.
She is here.
-HA…. AHAH… AH, she's here, she's here
I stand there, motionless, my legs trembling.
-she is completely deranged, cried joyfully, she is completely delirious, pulling more on my hair
I can't tell the difference anymore.
Between them.
And me.
Is it really me who is going crazy or are they the fake ones?