Jackal : The Goddess Of Death

A few days later, Alice and Yoshi woke up in the hospital together. However, the atmosphere was awkward because now, they could both properly process Yoshi's rejection. Yoshi got out of his bed and went beside Alice.

"Can I take you for a walk?" he asked her politely.

Alice accepted and the two went out to the school's courtyard together. Alice had to speak what was on her mind. Not knowing the truth was killing her.

"Yoshi... I just have to know. Why did you reject me? No, let me rephrase that. Why do you feel like you're not worth my time?"

"... You don't truly know me, Alice. You simply only know what I show to you. If you knew the real me, you'd probably hate me."

"Who are you to decide that?"

"Huh?"

"I'll like who I like and I chose to like you. I'm not gonna let you... no, I'm not gonna allow you to force me to stop liking you. So, out with it already."

"... Promise that when I explain... you won't hate me..."

"I promise."

"..."

Yoshi grabbed the straps of his mask and pulled it down. What lay under it shocked Alice. One-half of his mouth and his left cheek were covered with burns. The right side of his mouth was slit wide open, revealing his teeth and gums.

"..."

"I look hideous, don't I... I have the audacity to kill anomalies when I look like one myself. Kind of ironic, actually."

"Yoshi... what happened?"

"You don't want to know."

"But I do... Even if we're not lovers, you're still my best friend. Please... tell me what's haunting you. Remember what you said. You said we'd have each other. If we see something that makes us hurt, we can talk about it to each other."

"..."

"Plus, forget about you. Just look at me. I'm a freak. A monster even when compared to other keepers. I know what it's like."

Yoshi let out a deep sigh. "Alright. Fine." Yoshi then explained his entire past to Alice.

Olivia was a prostitute and Yoshi's mother. It was just how she made her money. Sex was her life. Her love was solely committed to sexual pleasure and money. It was her everything. The cunning vixen who would often drug men she had sex with and stole all their money. She never liked birth control, and it showed. She had over 24 abortions. Each and every baby she showed zero remorse for the killing. They were simply less than human in her eyes. However, one day, after having sex with a mysterious man and trying to get an abortion, it didn't work. Abortions, pills, she even tried to stab herself in the stomach to kill the baby, but nothing worked.

When the baby was born, she tried to kill the boy several times. She'd often scream obscenity at her own son while beating him, bruising the boy's pretty, brown skin. His purple eyes and black hair would blend with his blood. Still, the boy clutched to his innocence. He still wanted the validation of his mother but never got it. Every attempt was either met with a verbal barrage or severe and painful beatings. She didn't even bother to name her own son. His birth certificate was blank where his name was supposed to be. Because that's what she thought about the little boy. A blank. A nobody.

Olivia's hatred grew with each passing month as the older the boy got.

Olivia had met a man one day. An up-and-coming rapper who she had a great time with. By her definition, "the best sex she ever had." It was so good, that she used the baby in her womb to trap the rapper into marrying her and birthed their daughter, Lulu.

After coming home drunk one night and losing a record deal because of a scandal, he tried to beat the young boy to death. The noise of the abuse woke the sleeping Lulu up in her room. The husband threw the boy into a draw, fracturing the boy's skull and spilling the utensils all over the ground. The husband charged for the boy. Out of fear and instinct, the boy gripped one of the dropped kitchen knives and stabbed the man in the liver, making him fall to the ground with a loud thud.

The boy tried to run away. He tried to get his little sister and escape out of that place, but it was too late. Olivia had seen her husband's dead body. In a frenzy, she snapped at her already battered and broken son. She grabbed one of the knives and slit his mouth. The boy tried to cry in pain, but Olivia covered his mouth and stabbed him in the ribs again and again and again. All with a sadistic smile on her face.

She threw her son into a table, snapping the furniture in half. He held onto his bleeding mouth and split ribs. However, the boy had hit a table with candles on it. Two candles flew at Olivia. One hit her dress, and the other one, her hair. Olivia was engulfed in flames, and her screams only got more and more intense.

Another one of the candles slid by the boy's face, burning half of his cheek and half of his mouth. He noticed the whole room was getting engulfed in flames. It was hot. Really hot. Excruciatingly hot. So hot, that the boy was about to accept the sweet release of death. But then, he heard something. Crying. A baby's cry.

Lulu was still in the house and the flames were advancing towards her room. The 6-year-old boy was far too young for all this, but life doesn't wait for anyone. However, he refused to let the life of another be snuffed out. Despite losing so much blood that most scientists would already consider him dead, he fought. He clinged on to life. He crawled his way towards Lulu's room. Every second, every millisecond, he thought he would faint. Though maybe he should just give up. But he couldn't. Not now, not yet, not ever.

He made it to Lulu's room, and thankfully the door was open. When he had gotten there, he used all his strength to get up. As he reached out for Lulu, he heard a crackling sound above him. It was the ceiling. Before the boy could react, the debris from the ceiling had come down on Lulu, crushing her and killing the baby instantly.

The boy, falling to his knees, covered in the blood and guts of his little sister could do nothing but cry as the flames started to surround him. "Why God?!" the boy cried out. And finally, the boy collapsed.