Chapter Text
Trees closed in from all sides. Darkness laid like a thick fog across the entire forest. Momo breathed the fog into her lungs, and she winced, the icy chill stinging her lungs. She was shivering so violently that she struggled to wrap her blue-tipped hand around her mother’s.
Cerise clutched Momo’s hand tightly. She traversed the dense clots of foliage carefully, taking more time than necessary traveling in zig-zag patterns.
She would use up every second she had left with her daughter.
“Where are we going, Momma?” Momo whispered.
“We’re—We won’t be long, honey,” Cerise answered shakily. “Just a little more walking, c-can you do that for me?”
Momo pushed out her lip into a pout. “Mhm.”
Cerise turned her head at the sound of her daughter’s voice and laughed tearily. “That’s my girl.”
Momo didn’t know why they were in the forest so late. Most of their day had been spent in Central City, and the sun was dipping back to the horizon when they left. They were going to miss dinner if they didn’t hurry.
Cerise stopped when the forest opened up into a clearing. She staggered at the tree line and squeezed her hand around Momo’s even tighter. Momo tried to pull her hand away. Her mother wouldn’t budge.
The clearing opened up to a small rock formation. Moonlight shone like a spotlight, washing the gray stone in white luminescence. Lighting bugs flickered; the stars twinkled; Momo marveled at the oasis that seemed to sparkle.
Cerise pulled Momo with her to the middle of the clearing, setting her down on the glowing rocks. “This is the prettiest place in the whole world, Momo. Don’t you think?”
Momo nodded. “It’s beautiful, but the world is so big! There’s got to be more pretty places just like this all over!”
“The world is huge, you’re not wrong about that.” Cerise cupped her daughter’s face. “There is so much that you don’t know.”
“Not yet!” Momo smiled. “I want to know as much as I can about everything! I want to be like you, because you know so many things.” Momo pointed her finger up at the sky. “You taught me all of the constellations, like Andromeda!” She drew the unique ‘u’ shape in the air enthusiastically, eyes wide and bright, reflecting the glittering heavens.
“I—” Cerise whimpered, “I-I don’t know everything.”
Momo scrunched her eyebrows. “That’s okay. We can learn everything together!”
“Darling,” Cerise crooned, so quiet that Momo almost didn’t hear, “There’s going to be a day when I won’t be here anymore.”
Cerise’s eyes shined glossy, her cheeks laced with thin ribbons of tears. She wept with her head bent like a child. Her shoulders shook with cries and she prayed that her legs would root into the ground beneath her so that she would never have to leave Momo. So that one day, she could flower into a tree and be around watch her daughter grow old and get wrinkles and have every ounce of human knowledge crammed into her head.
“Then I’d travel the world to find you, Momma.” Momo swiped her thumb under her mom’s eyes to flick away tears. “I always would.”
Her daughter’s efforts did nothing to dry Cerise’s tears. Her sobs left her breathless and burned her chest. She heaved as much air as she could to calm herself down and felt dizziness turn her stomach. She had to get herself together.
Afterall, she brought her daughter here for a reason.
Momo waited patiently for her mother to regain composure; Cerise sat back onto her heels, wiped her face, and took another shaky breath. Cerise pulled back her long skirt to grab a dagger that was tucked in a band tied around her thigh. The sharp metal edge caught the white light of the moon, the glare so bright that it hurt Momo’s eyes.
“I need you to take good care of this knife, okay? Keep it wrapped up in your hand like this.” Cerise folded her left palm over the blade, handle in her right.
Momo nodded uneasily. Cerise slowly placed the dagger in her daughter’s hands and breathed in shakily again. She had to do this.
Once Momo had copied the her mother’s demonstration, Cerise continued, “And now, I’m going to go that way.” She pointed her thumb behind her shoulder, in the directed they came from. “When you can’t see me anymore…” Cerise touched Momo’s hands that were curled around the dagger. “...You’re going to squeeze your hand, and pull the knife. Pull hard and fast."
“...But won’t that hurt?” Momo whined.
“O-only for a second, I promise,” Cerise comforted, “and then I’ll come right back!”
Momo blinked in confusion. “...Why do I have to do this?”
“I-I’ll tell you everything someday, but not right now,” Cerise spoke fast, face paling. Clouds shrouded the moon and the oasis darkened. She was running out of time.
Cerise placed her hands on the sides of her daughter’s head, kissing her hair. “You are so, so brave, and so, so, smart.” She rested her forehead on Momo’s. “I love you. I love you so very much.”
“I love you…” Momo tapered off her sentence, her mother already at the edge of the clearing.
She was alone.
Moonlight dotted the ground. Momo could see her mother’s ponytail swishing behind her back. The chill of the night returned and Momo couldn’t help chattering her teeth. Trees blocked her view of Cerise, but Momo could still see her moving. In the corner of Momo’s eye, the flashing of the moonlight highlighted silver piles scattering over the clearing. Cerise was nowhere to be seen. Momo felt her throat close up when she recognized what the piles were of.
They were bones. Piles of pale bones.
Her heartbeat rushed blood into her ears. She wanted to run after her mother. She wanted to eat the warm food her mother made. She wanted to sit in front of the fireplace at the foot of her mother’s chair while she told stories. She wanted to go home.
But Momo shut her eyes tight. Her mother had told her what she had to do. The blade in her hand was cold and punctuated against her skin. She inhaled, looking away from her hands, and dragged the dagger over her palm.
Her colds hands screamed at the warm blood that pooled from the slit. Momo hissed at the searing pain that prickled all the way up her arm. She dropped the dagger, instead using her right hand to cradle her left. She had done it.
“Momma?” Momo called.
Her only answer was the sounds of fluttering in the trees behind her.
Twigs snapped loudly. “Mom!” Momo turned to look over her shoulder.
Bats flew from out of the forest in a black horde. Momo swatted at the bats around her hair. She flung out her hands to catch herself on the ground, smearing dirt and pebbles into her cut.
Momo shrieked and cowered from the bats in a fetal position. She cradled her hand to her chest, wishing for her mom to come back and scoop her up and take her out of this once peaceful glade. From under her arm, Momo peaked out. There was nothing in sight. The clearing was empty.
She had to find her. It was getting too dark. There were bats, too—she knew how much her mom hated bats. There was—
Low rumbling. Growling.
Momo raised her head and looked up into the red eyes of a beast. A large beast, with a hunched back that bristled in defense. It’s mouth opened, the smell of death and rot rolling off its tongue. Tendrils of drool dripped over razor-sharp teeth. The beast pulled back his lips, curling its snout into an ugly snarl that brightened its eyes glimmer with bloodlust.
Momo screamed.