A Fairy Out of Her Tale - Dear Diary - 46. Scene 46

18th January 1995

Dear Diary of Unexpected Flashbacks,

I spent my day with Unn today. I wasn’t quite expecting it, but she wasn’t in any condition to go to to school, and I figured it would be better to spend the morning with company, even if that company was still not quite there mentally, if you know what I mean?

(In case you don’t, I mean Unn still hadn’t recovered from whatever treatment Lóránt gave her, and it was making her fluctuate in and out of consciousness - and her swimming pool bed - as well as causing her to say weird nonsense whenever she was awake.)

But there was this one time - one single bout of consciousness in a sea of nonsense - when Unn’s eyes turned sharp and alert, her voice came out steady and firm, and her wet, slimy fingers gripped my wrist as if they held her lifeline. She wasn’t telling me a hallucination or a dream, and even now I don’t know what to think about it.

‘You know demons, right? You know the horrible beats they are. But I bet you don’t know you’re not the only one stuck here because of them. Why do you think we’re all under Lóránt’s protection? Why do you think the four of us had to be assigned special protection from the only people the demons fear and respect? We’ve all had bad runs with those monsters and ended up in Daisen as a result. Including me.’

‘Why are you telling me this now?’

‘Because my stomach hurts, my intestines are on fire, and I’m pooping non-stop on my own bed. I’m letting all the unpleasantness out. And to tell the truth, I’m beginning to like you more than I thought I would.’

‘Like me as in…?’

‘Not in a lovingly way.’ Unn must have sensed my relief at that. I had enough romantic troubles dealing with one love interest. ‘But you did come rushing to help me when you heard of my digestive distress. I don’t think Lydia or Kris would’ve bothered, so you deserve some credit.’

‘Thanks.’

Unn’s eyes lost focus and her body slipped underwater. She had done this before a few times, so I was prepared to wait until she regained consciousness and reemerged. I wasn’t prepared for her to reappear immediately, though.

‘Do you want to know how demons fucked up my life?’

‘Do you want to tell me?’ Was she really prepared to do that? Even I had only told Lydia the details of my fall from grace, so I didn’t expect her to be ready to share things so promptly.

‘I want you to know what a bunch of lying bastards they are. How they trick you into thinking life with them is a wonderful paradise, only for you to realise too late that they’re stealing your soul and lying through their teeth until you can no longer escape their influence.’ She gripped both my hands in hers. The water made her skin cold and slimy like a frog’s, so it wasn’t the most pleasant experience. ‘That’s how they turn good people into willing slaves, empty vessels who can no longer think for themselves.’

I waited for Unn’s next words, but what I got instead was another blackout. She disappeared underwater for a good five minutes, and when she came back she babbled on about dogs’ inability to swim in anything other than the “doggy stroke” and didn’t seem to remember she had something important to tell me.

Disappointing, I know, but I figured I could ask her more once she properly recovered and could think straight for more than two minutes at a time.

It was only much later (now, actually, in the post-dinner quietness), that I realised that Unn gave me a clue about what could’ve possibly made Morumpi act the way he did and betray the family he loved. Maybe the demons did something to him that meant he couldn’t escape their orders, even if he didn’t want to go through with them.

On one hand, this gives me hope that my step-father really loved us until the end, and hadn’t been just fooling us all along.

On the other hand, though, it means I took the life of someone who never truly wished me any harm and felt nothing but love towards me.

And that’s so much worse.