It screams and staggers away from Alice. My attack must have blinded it, because it flails its tentacles wildly as it tries to drive me away. My bloodlust still unsated, I calmly seize one of the appendages and plunge my weapon twice more into its quivering flesh.

The weapon drives through its body, injuring it even more with fascinating ease. Each strike sprays my face with its blood. As I carve the monster to pieces and mutilating it, savoring its hideous screams, my mind is finally consumed by rage.

No mercy. I’ll see this monster suffer for what it’s done to Alice!

I give myself to the fury, howling at the top of my lungs as I slash, bash and crunch. Even after the flesh-beast stops moving, I keep on stabbing it’s flesh and bones until I realize that it can no longer feel pain. Cursing myself for killing it so quickly, I jammed the knife into the floor, snapping it in half.

When my thoughts finally regain some cohesion, I find myself still digging the broken knife into the floor. The monster is gone, but pieces of it are scattered everywhere. I stop hitting into the tile, and in the sudden silence I hear Alice’s faint sobs coming from a corner of the kitchen. “Alice!”

I pulled the cowering Alice into my arms. She stiffens in fear at first, but as soon as she realizes it’s me, she clings to my body and cries. “Shining… Shining! I was scared… so scared!” I don’t know what to say. I can only keep holding her.

This should never have happened to Alice. Everything in this twisted world is to blame – yes, including myself. I couldn’t protect her. If I’d been here, then maybe I could have prevented this.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” she says again and again in a voice choked with tears.

Not wanting to hear that from her, I pull her head into my chest. “Don’t say that, Alice! It’s not your fault!” I try to reassure her, but she shakes her head vigorously in denial.

“No, it is. I did it.”

I don’t understand. What is she saying? “You did… what?”

“I messed with his brain,” She answers, glancing at the dismembered monster with her swollen eyes. “I made the inside of his head the same as yours. I made him see the world like you do.”

It takes me some time to understand the meaning of Alice’s words. “What? But… how?”

Finally regaining her composure, Alice responds to my confusion in a low voice. “I can do stuff like that. I can change the bodies of other living beings. I’ve had this ability since I was born.” I was speechless. I don’t know what to say next, but to just listen. “Every organism is different, so I have to study them in detail before I know how to change them. By doing some research, I figured out what happened to your brain. So I wanted to see if I could do the same thing to someone else.”

“But… why?”

“I thought that if everyone were like you, they would all… be kind to me.” My heart aches at the loneliness in her voice as she confesses her sorrowful wish. “But that man… he wasn’t kind at all. He said he wanted to hurt me, break me, and he…” She starts crying into my chest again, unable to say any more. I gently rub her back while trying to get my jumbled thoughts together.

What is Alice, that she can do such a thing? The answer is beyond me. However, there is one thing that I can answer, here and now.

Alice is mistaken. “You think that I’m kind to you because of the accident?”

“Yeah,” she nods sadly

I smile and shake my head. “You’re wrong. That was only the beginning.” She looked at me with a confused face, not getting what I meant. “Our relationship is the sum of so much more. The time you and I have spent together – those days, those experiences, are what made us what we are.”

“Shining…”

“You’ve been there for me Alice – sharing my pain, giving me hope and joy. That’s how you became so important to me. See? It’s harder than you think.”

Alice is still crying, but now her tears feel warm in my chest. “Yeah, I understand. I finally understand.” Her smile shines through her tears. “I only have you, Shining. There will never be anyone else.” Now more than ever before, I feel the depth of the bond between us. And I’m sure that Alice feels it too.

I wrap my arms tightly around her and seal her lips with mine. Alice responds, winding her arms around my neck as our tongues desperately seek each other’s warmth. At this moment, Alice is my whole world, and I am hers. The Earth turns for us alone.

Of course. I still haven’t told her something very important. I don’t know why I’ve never said it before – perhaps because it was always so obvious. However, I should put it into words at least once – this oath of mine. “Alice… I”

“Wait.” She stops me with a finger against my lips. “Before that, Shining, tell me one thing. What do you want?”

“What do I… want?”

Alice nods, staring into my eyes with unusual solemnity. “Like I said, I can affect the bodies of living things in a way that nothing else can. And now that I’ve learned how to manipulate human brains…” Alice pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing. “I can turn you back to normal.”

“….What?!” Until now, that hasn’t even been in the realm of possibility.

“I just have to do the opposite of what I did to that man. It’s… really simple.” I replay Alice’s words in my head to be sure of their meaning. “So tell me, Shining. Do you want to return to your old like? Do you want to take back what you lost in the accident?”

“I…”

(Want it all back)

(Don’t need it anymore)