Miss, It’s Just a Cold

Chapter 56: Love

“Come on, what are you doing? Sit down.”

Daniel had a bullet lodged in his shoulder.

I’d aimed for his head, but it missed, and that was annoying.

“Not going to sit down? No?”

Mother just sat there with a stony expression, silently glaring at me.

So, I adjusted my aim and pointed the gun at Daniel’s neck with both hands.

Then, I pulled the trigger.

Daniel, who had been clutching his shoulder and stumbling around, grabbed at his neck.

But the hole in his neck wasn’t going to close up just because he held it.

Like a faucet left running, blood gushed out of him.

The thick, dirty blood sprayed all over the table, soaking the greasy, expensive food, drenching Ellie and Father along with it.

Father squeezed his eyes shut.

He doesn’t want to believe this is real, huh?

Ellie wiped her face with her hand, looked down at her blood-soaked fingers, and started screaming.

“Shh, shh. Ellie, be quiet.”

I raised my left index finger to my lips while keeping the gun steady in my right hand.

“Quiet, Ellie.”

But she didn’t stop screaming.

With a sigh, I aimed at her and pulled the trigger.

I had aimed for her chest, but just like before, it hit her shoulder instead.

My aim is really something, huh?

At least she stopped screaming. That’s something.

“Why are you all staring at me like that?”

Everyone was frozen in place, too stunned to move.

Perfect.

I opened the chamber and reloaded the gun, taking fresh bullets from my pouch.

Click. Clink. One by one.

Then, I cocked the hammer.

I wonder if they think this is their chance.

The fourth sibling — I can’t even remember his name properly anymore — came charging at me.

I didn’t have to aim carefully. I just swung the gun in his direction and pulled the trigger.

BANG.

The recoil made my wrist tingle, but it wasn’t bad.

The fourth sibling crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

I could hear it now.

Hic hic.

Gasping breaths.

Shivering lips.

The gnashing of teeth.

The bitter stench of blood.

The savory smell of warm food.

And, strangely enough, I felt free.

I’d been waiting for this for so long.

“Mother, have a seat.

Better yet, sit on top of Daniel.”

“You… You… What are you thinking?! What have you done?!”

“Just Daniel isn’t enough, huh?”

At my words, Mother swallowed hard, her throat bobbing.

Her body trembled, but she slowly sat on top of Daniel, who was still bleeding out.

She tried to press down on the gash in his neck with her hands, hoping to stop the flow.

But then I fired a shot at the ceiling, and Mother froze.

Her whole body shook like a leaf.

“It’s a joke, it’s a joke.

Why are you freaking out, huh? Hehe.”

Piss.

The smell of urine hit my nose.

It was coming from Ellie’s direction.

For a moment, I considered blowing her head off, but I sighed instead.

She’s still my sister, after all.

“Now, where were we?”

“You… you…”

“Ah, right. You were going to ‘erase the child,’ huh?

Relax, Mother. There’s no baby.

Still a virgin here! No damage to my ‘market value,’ as you like to call it. Ahaha.”

“Emily, I… I’m sorry. Just put the gun down for now…”

Oh?

She dares to mouth off like that?

I fired the gun again.

How many shots had I fired so far?

I opened the chamber.

Only two bullets left.

I took my time reloading, letting each clink echo loudly in the silence.

Click. Clink. Click.

No one dared to move.

Maybe they remembered what had happened to the fourth sibling.

Or maybe they were all just cowards.

These are the people who let me rot like this.

They had let me rot while living in comfort.

“None of you have the right to tell me what to do.

Don’t even bother apologizing.

I’m not here to kill anyone.

How could I kill my family, after all?”

But children aren’t family.

A baby isn’t a family.

Even if it doesn’t exist.

For years, I’ve been dying slowly in this world that these pathetic people built for me.

I have so many complaints.

But I won’t have enough time to return all of them.

Still, I can leave them with something unforgettable.

This isn’t some noble act of vengeance.

I know that.

I tried to justify it to myself.

I told myself it was “justice.”

But looking at Daniel, bleeding out like a fish on a chopping block, I realized it wasn’t.

And that’s fine.

Maybe they don’t deserve this.

But it’s enough for me to know that I suffered.

I don’t care anymore.

I just hope they suffer for the rest of their miserable lives.

“Mother, you told me to go to the punishment room, didn’t you?

Let’s go then.

Everyone, get up.”

They hesitated, but they stood.

They always listen when they think they’re in danger.

“Wh-What about Daniel…?”

“Shut up, Fabian.

Learn to read the room.”

Fabian was shaking like a leaf.

He probably thinks, “Does this really have to happen?”

Maybe it doesn’t.

But I suffered like I was dying every day.

So who cares.

One by one, the family members stood up from the dining table and slowly walked toward the punishment room.

I followed behind them, gun pointed at their backs.

There was a distance between us, just enough to give me time to react if one of them tried something.

My wrist was still tingling from the recoil.

As we were leaving the dining room, someone grabbed my clothes.

Who?

I turned and saw Daniel.

He was bleeding like a slaughtered pig, but somehow, his shaky hand had managed to grab the hem of my coat.

It irritated me so much that I slammed the butt of my gun right into the bridge of his nose.

Thud.

But even with his face bashed in, his hand didn’t let go.

Everyone was watching me.

Do they have hope?

Maybe they think it’ll all be over if Daniel somehow stops me.

Fools.

Maybe they’re hoping I’ll suddenly have a change of heart and let them go.

Fools.

I’m petty and pathetic, so they don’t have to worry about that ever happening.

Daniel’s hand, stained with blood, kept gripping my coat.

His other hand, limp from the bullet wound in his shoulder, trembled as it reached for me.

I pressed the barrel of the gun against his forehead.

Our eyes met.

His eyes were filled with all sorts of emotions, but I wondered if emotions like his had any value at all.

Who cares?

I pulled the trigger.

His head didn’t just get a clean hole through it.

It split open like someone had hacked it with an axe.

Blood splattered everywhere.

Some of it got on my face.

It felt sticky.

The sensation was so uncomfortable that I wiped it off with the back of my hand.

Daniel’s body collapsed to the floor, and I fired two more shots into his corpse.

I had to make sure they wouldn’t be able to “fix” him when they cleaned up the body.

His eyes had popped out.

One of them rolled along the floor, bumping into chair legs and bits of broken tableware.

I kicked it.

It felt grossly soft, so I stopped and pressed down on it with my foot instead.

Squish.

It burst.

Warm liquid shot out as the eye crumpled under the weight.

Pfft.

A chuckle slipped out.

How fitting. He lived like a fool, and he died like one too.

I won’t die like that.

I’ll never die like that.

“So, what are you all waiting for? Get moving. To the punishment room.”

“A-Ah… D-Daniel, my… my child…!”

Mother’s voice was trembling.

I shot Daniel’s torso once more, then reloaded.

Still plenty of bullets left.

I’m not sure if I should thank Aria for that, or Count Eisenach.

Whoever it was, they did a great job.

Back before I became “Emily,” I never understood why people preferred revolvers when they could use modern semi-automatic pistols instead.

But now I get it.

It’s the feeling.

There’s something so tangible about it.

When you pull the trigger, you feel it.

When you reload, you hear it.

And when someone dies, it’s like your senses come alive.

I can feel every detail of it.

The family members stumbled toward the punishment room — the same room where I’d been dragged by my hair more times than I could count.

They’re moving on their own now.

Not surprising.

Not surprising at all.

There’s nothing to be surprised about anymore.

I felt no sadness.

My heart didn’t ache at all.

I was just a little shaken, that’s all.

My wrist was sore from the recoil.

“Mother, why don’t you take a seat on that chair over there?

The rest of you can sit next to her or behind her.”

“On the floor…?”

The floor was filthy.

Of course, it was.

No one cleaned it.

I’d spat on it, bled on it, puked on it, and sometimes, yeah, I’d wet myself too.

The floor reeked.

But when I twitched my finger near the trigger, Ellie stopped complaining.

She sat down without another word.

Guns really are humanity’s greatest invention.

They help you have such productive conversations.

Everyone gets a chance to speak.

“Alright, now that we’re here…

Anyone have something they’d like to say?”

I glanced at Mother.

She was still glaring at me, so I decided to be generous and offer her a chance to speak.

“You… you…

You killed my child…

YOU killed my child, you worthless wretch!”

She rose from her chair, her whole body trembling with rage.

I sighed and spoke calmly.

“I’m your child too.

At least for now, right?”

Am I?

Or am I not?

I don’t know.

There are too many things in this world I don’t understand.

But it’s too annoying to think about it.

“Sit back down, Mother.

Unless you want me to shoot your ‘friends’ sitting next to you instead.”

Mother’s head turned slowly, her eyes darting toward Ellie and Fabian.

Her face crumpled.

She lowered herself back into her seat and burst into tears.

“Don’t cry too loudly, Mother.

I’ll shoot you if you do.”

Her sobbing turned into soft hiccups.

Her body shook as she tried to stifle her tears.

“Ah… I’ve imagined this moment every day.

And now it’s finally happening.

I’ve always wanted to have a nice, friendly chat with my dear family.

I waited for the right moment, wasting day after day, but now, finally, we can talk.”

“This is a ‘chat’?! What kind of insane conversation is this?!”

“Oh, so what would you call it then?

This is exactly how you all used to ‘talk’ to me.”

A cigarette would be nice right about now.

This was going to take a while.

A long, boring, annoying story.

But I was so used to it.

I was too used to it.

It felt so familiar that…

Ah… ahh-choo!

I sneezed.