screwthatnoise

♥ v2

A cold, delicate hand grabs yours and pulls. It pulls, and it pulls... there's a sense of urgency in this icy grasp, as well as a trace of reluctance. Abruptly the hand let's go, right as your vision fades to black, and for a brief moment, only a brief moment, your senses disappear. There's only the eerie sensation of weightlessness before your feet are settled back on solid ground again.

(please join #echolife! ♪)

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[ picks it up and dusts it off carefully ]

It might be this one.

"Huh?"

Janta lifts its head.

"That might be it! It looks really plain... huh."

He tilts his head, he seems kind of disappointed!

[ hmm, suspicious so he'll delicately balance Janta between his chest and the book as he tries to crack it open ]

It opens, though dust will fly out. Janta shakes its head...

The first page is blank, but there are five tabs on the side, written in neat, inky handwriting. This book doesn't look like something that was published. It looks handmade.

> IT'S JUST HOW IT WAS.
> IT'S JUST HOW IT IS.
> IT CAN'T BE THIS WAY.
> I WANT TO STOP IT.
> I CAN'T STOP IT.

[ traces along the tabs, appreciating the quality of it ]

"It's just how it was..." [ flips to that tab ]

Scenes plays out on the pages. It's from first-person perspective.

A knife is pointed at a teenager and a child.

Suddenly a voice rings out, in your own head: "Just because I don't know him doesn't mean I shouldn't care."

Next you're watching as a man takes a gunshot to the head while rain pours down on everything.

When these scenes finish playing, you might have a case of cold chills.

[ shivers, splaying his fingers over the page ]

Are these really her memories...

Edited 2013-08-02 00:22 (UTC)

The page feels cold under your fingertips, too.

Janta is quiet for a moment. He nods against you.

"Yes. These really... are her memories. Why do you think otherwise?"

He doesn't sound irked or bothered; it seems like he's genuinely curious.

It doesn't seem fair for someone as young as her to have experienced such awful things...

[ pats Janta's head before turning to IT'S JUST HOW IT IS. ]

The stuffed bear makes a 'hmm' sound.

Again, the following scenes play out on the pages of the book from a first-person perspective.

'You' are walking into the room of a young girl. Before she can turn around to see 'you', you knock her unconscious.

Echo's voice resounds through your own head softly. "I'm sorry..."

The scene is brief, and you're left with this foreign feeling of guilt.

Ah... Hail-san doesn't seem to be a violent person either.

[ but that scene said otherwise? he keeps turning, moving onto IT CAN'T BE THIS WAY. ]

Janta nods, speaking nervously. "...she can be, but she doesn't want to be. Not... not if it can be helped. That is the best way to put it...!"

The pages show another disjointed scene.

'You' nearly leap over a balcony to save an antidote bottle that a man had almost dropped over the ledge.

'You' are almost slapped across the face for doing that.

A voice resounds through your own head. "Thank you... you saved Ḿ̵̧i̢śs ͞Sh̸̕a̡r̶̶o̸̧͝ǹ̵̢." The name is a little incoherent...

Another voice. Echo's again. "It was because of what you said..."

They do not wrap off with any strange feeling this time.

She saved someone... I don't think this is something to get rid of...

[ continuing on, I WANT TO STOP IT., even if it sounds ominous ]

More disjointed scenes play out on the pages.

'You' leaped before a large... laser beam? Powerful energy? To save another girl.

'You' are reaching through the bars of a questionable prison cell to hug someone tightly, almost desperately.

A voice—Zwei's voice—echoes through your own head. "An echo is always an echo... you can't change anything!"

Suddenly you're experiencing a dull ache in the back of your head.

[ groans a little ]

Has Zwei always been there telling her these things? It's not right.

Janta pauses, considering you.

"A... always! Zwei is older than Hail, she has always been around. Because... this is Zwei's body!"

[ oh, that changes things ]

I... see...

[ hm, still not happy about this, though, so he goes to the final tab I CAN'T STOP IT. ]

The last pages.

'You' are slapped across the face, and knocked onto the floor. 'You' clutch your head tightly.

A man's voice resounds through your own head: "Taking my anger out... heh. She's just a doll."

Zwei's laughter follows that echoey voice. "An echo is just an echo!"

Next, jarringly, 'you' are staring up at Zwei's crazed, wide-eyed face.

Her voice is heard in your head once more, loudly, deliriously: "The reverberation is going to die soon anyway, that way you won't have to be sad anymore!"

It ends.

You're left with the painful sensation of being slapped across the face, and it leaves a cold sensation on your skin behind.

Edited 2013-08-02 03:38 (UTC)

[ abruptly brings a hand to his face, cradling his cheek ]

Ah....

Twisted cackling resounds through the room. The narration does not apologize for overusing words like that.

Zwei's voice breaks the silence.

"Oh... did you like what you saw?"

[ snaps the book closed and places Janta on top ]

What I saw has reaffirmed what I know. That Hail-san is a good person and you are not.

A pair of shadowy hands appear off to the side.

And they applaud.

"Congratulations! You have figured me out. The mystery of mysteries, hahaha!!"

[ stiffens at the sight of those hands, cautiously taking a step back ]

How did Hail-san come to inhabit... your body?

"Who knows how split personalities work... but I've heard it might have been trauma. That really makes no sense though, haha!"

But you've been the one furthering the trauma...

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