"Such a sad sight," a soft voice said while weeping, "It's such a beautiful red, but its owner will never be able to see it"
A beautiful, curvaceous girl, with blue hair, soft pale skin, and bare red-stained feet was kneeling, looking down at the ground. Half of a meter-long blue snake was twitching above the dirt. Its cold, sea-colored scales were repelling the warm crimson oozing out of its bleeding carcass. The girl who held one half of the snake in her hands dropped it and wiped the ever-flowing tears from her face, sniffling and finally managing to stop the stream raining down from either eye.
"Ah, this world, is so sad"
The Little Mermaid, or rather, the sorrowful girl, took in a deep breath and fought back against the tears. She stood up and shook her head, clapping her hands against her face, looking forward towards a sorrowful future, though it didn't take long before she met a pitiful, sorrowful, delusional individual
Individual?
That couldn't be right. After all-
"Brother, is this where you want me to go?"
This voice, a girl? A young boy? Whoever it was, it was clearly speaking to someone else, and yet…
"Haha, don't worry, sweet brother. The witch won't find us. Even if she does, I'll make sure she doesn't hurt you"
No response was given, but the voice still responded as though it were the most natural thing to do. Responding to the silence in the air with an empty voice, devoid of self. What a sorry sight
The sorrowful mermaid began to walk in the direction of the voice and came across a small pond. Sitting at the edge of the water was seemed to be a girl, her face covered with a hood and her hair in what seemed to be a bob. Her eyes were fixated on nothing but the lantern in her right hand.
A lantern, no, it looked more like a cage. A cage with some sort of face trapped inside. Was it a face? It looked a lot more like a-
"Brother, why won't you talk? Did I do something wrong? Tell me, please! What did I do! Can't you tell your dear sister, Gretel?"
With a frighteningly lonely tone, the girl shook the lantern, hoping for a response. Hoping for this "brother" to answer the question that had just been asked. Of course, for the onlooking mermaid, it was a moving scene worthy of having tears shed. After all-
"Ah, yes. I don't know. Maybe a year? Two? I don't know… when I hugged you… when I last held your hand when I last pampered you… when I last..."
"Ummm, pardon me?"
The mermaid spoke out first. Why did she do it? She could have savored the sadness in the girl's eyes but felt inside herself as though there could be more. More sadness, more sorrow, more tears, more beauty. Yes, she felt something from this person. She felt two sins coming from the girl on her knees. What could they be? How could they break this girl the way they did? She wanted to know, maybe it could break her too...
"Ah..."
The girl, Gretel, looked up with a blank stare, mouth agape, and said nothing then asked "brother"
"Did you hear? Is it the witch?"
"Witch?" The Little Mermaid said, turning around swiftly
A witch? Could it be? Was it a witch behind this poor girl's problems as well? Oh, how sad, what a sorry sight. Another victim, just like her. What did she give up? Not her voice, nor her legs, nor could it be a prince, after all, this girl didn't look like a princess. Could it be? Did this girl give her sanity? It could be, and yet, behind the empty expression the girl gave while looking up, there something more. Something that said she wasn't truly empty. That there was something else, maybe even-
"Ah, no… please! Say something, brother! I'll handle the witch, please don't leave me!"
The girl stood up, clutching in her left hand a glowing, purple sword and unintentionally dropping the lantern onto the ground. Out rolled what seemed to be a pale head, but in reality, was nothing more than a pastry covered in frosting. The pastry didn't seem to melt in the flames that were within the lit lantern- no, was there ever a fire inside the cage? It was too clean. What was it? An illusion? A delusion? A fake?
"Fake…" as she mumbled these world, The Little Mermaids fishtail hair became transparent, revealing a pair of swords as she took a few steps back. Her mind was racing, trying to think of a way to bring this delusional girl into deeper despair. Would it even be possible? There was no way to know unless she tried.
While being deep in thought, the empty girl lunged forward, her face filled with anger while screaming "witch". Before she could take a second step forward, however-
"Ah!"
The cage that she had dropped had found its way below her foot, causing her to stumble and fall on top of The Sorrowfilled Girl who was just as confused as Gretel. The two crashed down on the ground, stunned for a moment. The first to try and stand up was the mermaid, who attempted to push the hollow-eyed girl away, but stopped abruptly.
She had tried to push off the girl's chest but felt nothing there.
More precisely, she had felt no chest blossoming from this girl. Of course, she had instantly noticed more than just the lack of a chest. There were the girl's shoulders and her arms; not slender under her clothing, but much more like the arms of the prince that had carried her in his castle until the day she disappeared into nothing more than sea foam
Yes, everything about this girl seemed to remind her about the prince: his charming smile, his figure, the young appearance… and yet, this was no prince. Instead, it was "Gretel"; The sister clinging at the illusion of her brother. A girl who wanted to protect "brother" from this "witch". This was the reality the girl has been living in. Why was it then, Gretel reminded the mermaid more of that boy who fell in love with the wrong girl?
It seemed wrong to do so given the moment, but the Little Mermaid broke into tears remembering her sorrowful past while Gretel was still laying on top of her, shedding streams of her own while looking at he pastry that had rolled on the ground
"But brother… this witch… you don't want me to kill her? Why… Why? Why! Why won't you speak to me!?"
Clawing her way towards the edge of the pond to place the pastry back into the cage, Gretel screamed at the top of her lungs, their cries reminded the sorrow-filled girl of a wounded animal, of a nightmare on repeat. Their screams could echo off the very sky if Gretel got any louder than they already were. There were sounds from the other side of the pond; a few small spirit nightmares making a splash as they ran away, clearly aware crossing a wounded animal was a mistake they didn't want to commit to.
The screams of anguish asking for forgiveness enter the mermaid's ears and etched themselves into her heart. It was a melody she was sure to never forget. Truly, one girl's sorrow could become a little mermaid's treasure.
With tears hiding a smile, the mermaid in question stood up and turned away as to not interrupt such a beautiful wailing.
Of course, Gretel, the one left behind, paid no heed to the one that just left. In fact, it was possible that from the beginning they had never even known the mermaid was there. Then again, feigning ignorance might have been an act as well. Was delusion truly the sin carried by Gretel? To anyone around them, there might have been a second sin, maybe even the only sin inside the sister's heart.
Something so strong, something so worthless.
Where did such bottomless infatuation stem from? Infatuation with whom? With the brother? With the idea of the brother? Could it be something other than that? What about guilt? Regret for the death of half of the siblings. An outsider would want to know this. How did Hansel die? Was it the witch? The more she spoke, the more she denied the death of the brother. The sister claims he's still alive, still breathing, still capable.
He may be.
In fact, reality can be what feeds delusions into existing in the first place. These delusions are what mold our reality and create our perspective
Gretel's perspective: The brother refuses to speak to the sister
The mermaid's perspective: A prince is the sister of a dead brother
Reality is what we see
What we see is perspective
And perspective creates our reality
A full circle; an endless nightmare. Will delusion win out at the end, or will reality correct the poor sister's sin?
