Eren couldn't tell if he was in a dream or not. The edges of his vision were fuzzy, and certain objects in the background were blurry until he really looked at them. However, Eren knew something was off because he was in the park by his old house. The landmarks became more familiar as he realized he was back in Shiganshina.
The park was empty. Eren hadn't visited Shiganshina ever since his parents died, but the park brought back memories. He could vaguely remember playing with his two closest friends, Mikasa and Armin, right by the empty sandbox. He kicked at the damp clumps of sand, and crushed them under his foot. Remembering his two old friends made him uneasy for some reason. He hadn't thought of them for years for some reason.
The sound of a swing creaking made him turn his head sharply in that direction. He could have sworn the park was empty. There were two swings that Eren and his two friends used to swing on. Mikasa and Armin would take turns so they could both have the chance to swing with Eren. The swings were empty, but one was moving slowly back and forth. Eren started to hope that this was a dream. He could hear his senses heighten as his blood began to pump faster. He nervously peered at the rest of the park. There was no wind blowing the dead leaves, yet the swing was still moving.
There was a tiny puddle of water next to the slide. The puddle was there when Eren had entered the park, but the book lying in it was something new. Eren knew books didn't just appear out of nowhere, so someone must have entered the park. Just when Eren turned his back on the book, he heard a wet squeaking noise behind him. Eren barely breathed as he recognized the sound of someone climbing up the slide. When the squeaking noise stopped, he turned around suddenly and saw the book floating in the air. The book was lifted from the ground around nine feet directly vertical from the puddle. He was confused what was holding it up, but even more confused at why the book seemed so familiar. There were no strings, but there was a faint shimmer like frosty air by the book.
As the book began to fall, Eren instinctively began to cover his ears. He found himself questioning why he would need to cover his ears for a book falling.
The book landed in the puddle with a large splash. Eren cringed as the book made a thud that was disproportionate to the size of it. The sound of the thud reverberated in his ears, despite using his hands to cover his ears. Eren didn't realize his eyes were cringed shut until he opened them when he felt something brush past him.
Eren wasn't tall, but he could look down and see a blonde mop of hair. Only a child would be that short. Eren forced himself to move his feet backwards as the child focused in his dream. The blonde haircut and blue eyes told Eren at first glance that it was definitely Armin, but the look in the dark blue eyes told him to be wary. Eren had heard of the term cold eyes before, but never knew what they looked like. Armin had large blue eyes with abnormally large, dilated pupils. He was glaring blankly at Eren, and the glare burned through Eren's eyes just as the loud book had hurt his ears.
"You dropped your book, Eren," Armin whispered, holding out a soggy book for Eren to take. The book was plain and brown, but there were around nine bookmarks along the side. He could only make out a couple words on the faded cover, which were "Grisha", "experiment number", and "memory".
Armin had a voice that sounded like a sweet innocent child. He had a playful tone that he used as he started to tilt his head. "Come on Eren, you've never been so hesitant before," he said, louder.
Something flashed in Eren's mind and he gave out a strangled scream as he flung the book away with his hand. As soon as the book left Armin's hand, Armin vanished. Eren fell to the ground, shocked at his own violent reaction. "Why am I scared of a childhood friend?" he whispered to himself as he stood up. He began to brush the dirt off of his knees.
"You're getting yourself dirty, Eren," yet another voice whispered. Eren turned around as a coppery smell began to waft over him.
Mikasa stood by the trees that lined the edge of the park. She looked like she always did, with a faint pink dress and a red scarf around her neck. Her hair was long like when Eren had first met her at age nine, before she got a haircut to the scarf wouldn't get tangled in her hair. She had always had dark eyes, but with Eren they seemed to light up. Mikasa's smile was always so beautiful because she rarely showed it to anyone but Eren.
"Mikasa!" Eren said as he began to walk towards her. He began to laugh. "You always worry about me like a mother."
Immediately after he said "mother", Eren shuddered. Somehow the word felt like lead in his mouth and he felt sick to his stomach. He stopped walking as his senses told him something wasn't right. Or something didn't smell right.
As soon as he stopped approaching Mikasa, Mikasa began to approach him. Her silent steps didn't help Eren's growing sense of unease. The smell of copper became stronger.
"Why are you afraid of me, Eren?" Mikasa stated. Her smile and lit up face had disappeared back into the coldness she reserved for others besides Eren and Armin. Mikasa's face soon became blurry as Eren focused in on her scarf. From a distance he had thought that the red fringes seemed frayed, but his dream addled state saw that the fringes were not thread, but rather drops of blood dripping down. Mikasa's dress flashed between white and pink. The drops of blood dripped onto her white dress, but the drops were absorbed into her dress, turning it pink. Then the dress turned white again.
Eren was so mesmerized by the dress that he didn't realize Mikasa was opening her scarf. "It's all your fault," she coldly said. Underneath the scarf was a large slit in her throat. Horrified, Eren saw decaying, torn flesh that surrounded the fleshy pink lining of her trachea. The scarf had been covering the wound, so blood began to rush out, spraying Mikasa and Eren. As Eren turned to run away, the bloody scarf was wrapped around his mouth like a gag. He was pulled back by Mikasa, with the extreme strength she always had.
Eren's stomach turned as the coagulating blood hit his tongue. All perceptions of Mikasa being the same Mikasa he knew were shattered. Mikasa would never harm or damage Eren.
Coughing, Eren swung his elbow backwards, hoping to land on Mikasa. Before his elbow hit anything, the scarf around his mouth vanished. Eren didn't even bother to look back as he rushed towards the park exit.
As he rushed towards the exit, he slipped and fell. Groaning, he held his right arm and cradled it by his chest. He didn't know if he had fractured it during the fall, but his whole arm was burning. He felt like needles were poking his skin from the inside and outside.
His entire body was covered in blood, partly because of Mikasa's scarf, and partly because of the large puddle of blood he had slipped on. Eren's eyes widened as he realized that the small puddle of water near the slide was slowly turning red. The blood swirled in long tendrils. Eren's terrified eyes looked at the center of the puddle, where the blood was coming from.
Armin's blank eyes stared back at Eren's as Eren began to cry out in anguish. His entire body began shaking and his fingernails began to tear into his own skin as he scratched himself in despair. Armin's head was bent at an unnatural angle. His head was coming detached from his neck, and Eren saw the clean white of Armin's spine. Armin was holding the book with an extended hand, like he had reached out to touch it. The book's spine was beginning to tear off.
Eren sobbed in disbelief as he saw Armin's mouth begin to move. It was impossible, because Eren was sure that Armin had fallen from a deadly height. Armin's sweet voice turned bitter as his cut up mouth rasped out, "Murderer."
AN:
So, I haven't been updating my old stories in a while. However, this little plot bunny wouldn't leave my head. The good thing is that I have 9 chapters planned out, so this will be finished hopefully during April (when I have spring break to finish this up).
It's a little similar to Seeing in Red, because it's a murder mystery, but I was really inspired by Crime and Punishment along with various horror films.
