Time: 5:00 a.m.
Too early or too late, in such hours, you can't tell if you're at the end of yesterday or the start of today.
The rain that roared and thundered all night finally tired out, leaving only stubborn drops, like forgotten goodbyes. The sun, as before, didn't come. And won't, not on a day like this. Morning gray again, dull. Wind rustled leaves, as if trying to wake someone. Or maybe the opposite.
The landscape so bleak it felt painted by an artist with only one color left in the palette — gray. He smeared it on the canvas without inspiration, without idea, just because he didn't know what else to do.
Voting results.
Ah yes. Voting. Wonderful form of democratic betrayal.
They threw me out. Coldly, unanimously, as if I was something... extra. Like dust in the eye. Like crumbs on the tablecloth, just swept into the trash.
The killer could be anyone. Yahweh, please. Hov, no problem. Tiamut, right now. Servants, why not. Kamiki... especially him. And for Aragi, the main suspect was the witch. Of course, everyone has their own witch.
But despite that, despite anyone could be guilty, they decided: Enua.
How convenient. Expand the suspects? Why, much easier to fixate on the one who resists least.
Me.
Hi, I'm the Scapegoat; nice to meet you.
Though maybe it couldn't be avoided.
We all came here with different goals, different fates, different traumas. What united us? The game? Lies? Or that in this place, everyone had something to lose?
We didn't argue for truth, we fought for the chance to be heard. But words mean nothing if your voice is quieter than a gunshot.
Power — that's the only currency in this coordinate system. Right is the one who can impose their truth.
So said the one I entrusted half the sky to.
Time: 5:30.
I'm still standing in the rain, or rather its echo. Cold clings to skin, water runs down my face like tearless crying. But I have nothing to cry with, everything dried up inside long ago.
Sun? No. Sky the same foggy mess.
I understood, no good day coming. Good days don't exist if you're not in their number from the start.
I'm still here, near the mansion. Like a discarded thing left by the trash bin.
Go into the forest? Why? I'm not an animal, though... am I?
No food. No water. They didn't even try to leave me a chance, let him die outside, at least not in front of us.
Wind hasn't stopped. Rain hasn't gone, neither have I.
Clothes stuck to body. Cold gnaws bones, and I wonder: can I get sick? Die from cold? Hunger? Loneliness?
What kind of god am I now if I feel like a human?
We were all stripped of powers upon arriving on the island. That's what she wanted, the witch. She wanted us to suffer equally.
Time: 6:00.
Made a decision. Go into the forest.
If no food, maybe find something to dull the humiliation.
Walked about 300 meters from the mansion. Maybe more. It's hidden by trees now, as if the island itself tries to forget I exist.
Every bush, every trunk, I studied them like cursed scrolls. But nothing, no berries, no mushrooms. Nothing to say: "you're still needed." If I were my old self, I'd kill myself without hesitation for such humiliation.
How much time passed? How much more? I became like a lost animal not knowing where to go. Where's my herd if I'm a god?
Words in my defense convinced no one. Because... everyone wanted to accuse me.
And if so, any logic unnecessary.
You weren't witnesses. You didn't see. You didn't know. You didn't feel!
I'm the only one who saw truth. My eyes pure. My heart steady. My mind clear.
But you... You chose a convenient enemy.
Hate.
Hate.
Hate.
I sat under a tree, leaned back. Closed eyes and laughed.
"Ah... hah..."
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha..."
"Akhah-hah-ghah-hah... ha-ha... hah-kha-hah..."
Let laughter be armor.
Let laughter be my last strength.
Don't show pain.
Don't surrender.
Don't let them stand above you, even if you're on the ground.
Such is the path, such my choice. Such the fate of those who once gained power to decide others' lives.
And if this fate unfair... I refuse to accept it.
Time: 6:30