Chapter 17: Past, Present, and Future
A dank, moldy smell nearly smothered him. He was standing in what looked like an old cabin that was nearly falling apart. The only thing in the packed dirt floor room was a filthy straw bed sitting in the corner messily.
"So many regrets... So many regrets..."
Gaara noticed for the first time a dark figure huddled in the other corner. His voice was old and cracked, repeating the same phrase over and over again.
"What do you regret?" Gaara found himself asking the stranger. He looked up warily, his face hidden in the darkness.
"Ah? What's this?" he said in his dusty voice. "Another ghost from my past here to bid me farewell?" Gaara didn't answer.
"There's only one thing I regret," the dark figure wheezed. "It caused me to be the unhappiest I had ever been. The death of my angel."
"You're crazy old man, there's no such thing as angels." The old man let out a dry laugh.
"Listen well, boy. There are angels in this world, even though you may not see them. My angel took the form of the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I regret her death so much..."
"What happened to her?" Gaara found his mouth moving again without his consent.
"You're a nosy little spirit, aren't you? Why did you come to torment this old man in his last moments? Can't you just let me pass away silently? Then again, maybe I do deserve a slow painful death, after what I did to her..."
"What did you do to her?" The old man laughed, or maybe he was coughing? It was hard to tell beneath all the wheezing.
"I tried to save her."
"But you killed her?"
"It was the most regrettable thing I ever did. I didn't even try to stop her."
"How could you try to save her, then end up killing her?"
"I just didn't know enough about the heart. I was an ignorant little whelp..."
"The heart?" The old man pretended not to hear him. He continued grumbling to himself.
"She was just too attached to this world. Maybe she loved me? If she did, I didn't deserve it. If only I could see her beautiful eyes one more time..."
"What did you do to her?" Gaara suddenly found himself extremely interested.
"One day she was there, the next morning I went to say goodbye, she was gone. Simple as that."
"She died over night?"
"No," he replied sadly. "She lingered for a little over a week. She starved herself to death. The last time I heard her voice, she was dreaming about the times we slept under the stars. So many regrets..." The old man started sobbing as Gaara felt his blood freeze.
"Old man, what was her name?" he asked slowly. The old man continued sobbing for a while, then he finally calmed down. Gaara could hear his dry cough as he tried to regain his breath.
"Kitai." The old man moved into the light. His face was wrinkled and miserable. Dark circles surrounded his eyes. On his forehead, was the tattoo for "love."