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Hikiko opened the black door and stepped into a technicolor nightmare.
The ground and the skies were flashing like a television screen gone wrong. A trinity of colors—red, white and blue—bounced off the glassy surfaces scattered across the horizon, spiralling through her vision into complete disarray. They shrieked at her through her eyes, repeating over and over in loops lasting seconds, until she was forced to shut her eyes and cover them with her hands to find respite from it all.
But that was nothing compared to the second torture in the room. A metallic, high-pitched wailing resounded across the plain, seemingly originating from the ground below. It rose and fell like the ripples across wire. It was daggers stabbing into her brain. It was rusted nails tearing off her skin through her nerves. Constant, agonizing, dreadful beyond measure. She fell to her knees and slammed her hands over her ears.
The noise quieted. The flashing colors bled through her shut eyelids and tore her vision to pieces. She covered her eyes again and the wailing blasted her eardrums. The realisation hit her like a car collision. Vision or hearing. She could only protect one. She couldn't do both.
The wailing reached a crescendo. Her vision twisted and bent. Through the shapes and the wails, she could discern something familiar and terrible…
“Sunny! Sunny! SUNNY!”
“Miss, please stand back!”
“He's my brother! Let me ride with you! Let me see him, damn you!”
A pitiless, repulsive girl wailed as a medical professional restrained her at the front porch of her home. She thrashed like a mad animal, but could only watch as her beloved little brother was loaded on a stretcher towards the back of an ambulance.
The flashing lights of the ambulance lit up the shadowy night, revealing the wound on her brother’s head, where the violin neck had pierced straight through. It flashed red, like the blood dripping down his face. It flashed blue, like the cold grave where he would soon join. Again and again, until the back of the ambulance was closed, hiding the boy from sight.
The girl felt her strength vanish. She collapsed in a heap, sobbing as the medical professional attempted to calm her down. A different young boy glared accusingly at her from the doorway. The lights of neighbouring households switched on as the occupants rose to see what the ruckus about. The ambulance sped down the street, leaving behind the echoes of the sirens in its wake…
Hikiko bit down on her lip, drawing blood. The pain snapped her back into focus. She took a deep breath and composed herself.
A black key lay somewhere in this hellscape. Like all before, it would not come to her. Hikiko gritted her teeth, covered her ears and began crawling across the ground.