The Hybrid Fateful Sorrow

You don't believe in monster, do you?

The smell of the baked strawberry pie lingers inside the house. Lady Munzen incessantly induces the two sisters to have a taste of her baked pie.

“Come on now, please have a taste of the strawberry pie; I specially made it for you both,” Lady Munzen said.

The two sisters gaze at one another, hoping to find an excuse sufficient enough to avoid breaking their promise to Amadeus.

“But Amadeus isn’t here yet,” Elise said in a worrying voice.

“The strawberry looks undoubtedly delicious, Lady Munzen. But we promise to wait for Amadeus; we always eat together,” Amelia said.

Munzen’s eyes were unsettled as they wandered in the walls and above, seeking the right words. Targeting the sisters’ kind heart, with a bit of guilt, and they’ll bite, she thought.

“But I made it special and worked hard for it, just for you both. I just wish I could see you both have a taste while I hope it is still warm enough,” Munzen said with her fidgety hands tapping on the table.

Amelia’s eyes turn doubtful, having a sensation of unusual gesture that Lady Munzen is purveying. So attentive to her action, why does she act so strange? But she has been helpful even since the start, she thought. Amelia doesn’t have any complex grounds to doubt Lady Munzen’s act of kindness.

“Alright, Lady Munzen,” she let out a weak laugh, “We are indeed thankful for all the help you have given to us,” she said.

“Oh! Thank you, Amelia,” Munzen said.

“We should be the one thanking you,” Amelia said.

Amelia serves the strawberry pie to Elise, Lady Munzen, and her.

“Oh! You don’t need to give me one,” Munzen pauses as she nervously laughs, “I already had one. I solely made it for you both,” she said.

“Thank you, Lady Munzen. You are a very kind lady. I’m sorry Amadeus yelled at you before,” Elise said.

“What? Amadeus yelled at Lady Munzen?” Amelia asked.

“Oh no, no! Don’t worry about that. I was bothersome to Amadeus, and it was first in the morning,” Munzen said in a defensive tone.

“I’m sure you weren’t; I’m sorry about that. I will talk to Amadeus and make up with you. He’s very resourceful. I’m sure you can find something for him to do,” Amelia said.

“Okay, I’ll take your word for it. Please have a bite now, and tell me if you are pleased with it,” Munzen said.

The two sisters heeded Munzen’s pleas, with the two each reaped a crumb of pie to have a bite.

The ambiguity that Amelia was feeling a while ago popped right back instantly after she took a bite. The strawberry tasted right, but the sisters felt a weird tingle at the edge of their tongues.

Lady Munzen is deliberately antsier, looking over as the sisters consume her special strawberry pie.

Amelia’s eyes are beginning to doze off as she asks Lady Munzen.

“What’s in this pie?”

“Strawberry! What else is in there? Come on! Have some more,” her eyes eerily grew bigger. “Continue to eat!” Munzen said.

“No!” Amelia said in a loud voice as she averted Elise from eating further.

Was it her instinct to survive? Amelia raises her voice, undermining Munzen’s kindness before.

“I think,” she tried to relax her eyes before she continued to speak, “I think you need to go now, Lady Munzen,” Amelia said.

“What? Why? What’s wrong, you didn’t like it?” Munzen asked.

“Sister, My head. Where is Amadeus?” Elise said with heavy eyes.

“You need to leave, Lady Munzen. We are going to look for Amadeus,” Amelia said as she stood up.

The name Amadeus sends panic to Munzen bones as her eyes veered from the sisters to the door. He is not going to reappear soon, is he? I need to work fast! She figured.

Munzen hurries towards the kitchen to seize a knife; she draws back to the sisters with a knife in her hand.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Munzen ordered.

“What do you mean? Why are you doing this?” Amelia said in a confounded tone.

“You don’t believe in monsters, do you?” Munzen said.

“Of course not!” Amelia said.

“I do,” she said as she walked closer to the sisters.

“Well, you… you let a monster, a disease, into your house! Amadeus is a devil spawn and a sickness to our land!” Munzen announced.

Amelia pulled Elise to her behind as she retorted, “That’s not right! He’s not what you think he is.”

“You are the monster in our house!” Elise blurted.

Elise could not stand any longer as she stumbled to her knees and gradually crashed to the floor.

“Elise, oh no!” Amelia yelled with fright in her voice.

Amelia crouches on the floor to tend the unconscious Elise, “What was in the pie? Lady Munzen?” she asked.

“What’s in there is not enough to kill you, but enough to put you both in your dreams,” Munzen said.

Amelia defies the chemical in her body as she persists in staying conscious.

“Why are you doing this to us? What have we done to deserve this?” She asked.

“Half the older people in our village are either sick or dead! My sister Handel, you killed her by letting Amadeus in our village to spread his disease,” Munzen said.

“How could we become the reason for this?” Amelia asked.

“You know why! You know what he’s capable of, you know, and you let it happen! I can’t let you get out of here. Oh no, no, I won’t let you call that monster back! We have a plan set for him,” Munzen said as she jabs the knife at the table.

With Amelia's eyes dozing off as her body rests near Elise, Munzen snatches the unlit lamp nearby as she poured the oil to the edge and walls of the sisters’ house.

Amelia was feigning her dozing off as she resisted standing up. Securing the knife in hand, she speaks. “Stop whatever you are doing! Lady Munzen! I won’t hesitate on using this. I gutted so many animals before, and you are acting like one,” Amelia said as she pointed the knife at Munzen.

“You are going to kill me too!?” Munzen said.

“If you make me! I’m not a monster, Elise is not a monster, Amadeus is different, but he’s not one as well!” Amelia said.

Lady Munzen hurls the empty lamp at her face as she tries to run away towards the door.

Amelia staggers as she sweeps the lamp away. Clutching the knife in her trembling hands, she charges at Munzen’s back.

“Don’t kill me!” shrieking as she runs, “You f*cking monsters all of you!” Munzen screamed.

Lady Munzen’s death is imminent, seeing the bright tip of the blade in Amelia’s hand. The fear that Munzen is feeling is entirely different from what she felt when she saw her bedridden sister. When your life is out of your control is a wholly different kind of fear, she thought as she cowers in panic.

“I don’t want to die, oh dear God!” Lady Munzen said, covering her head.

She can hear a loud thud on the ground with a metal sliding on the floor; someone has fallen. The chemical in her body finally kicks in. Amelia collapses on the floor.

Lady Munzen shrieked when the knife brushed against her feet. With her eyes recovering as she glances at what’s become of her attacker. Upon seeing Amelia on the ground, with her eyes shut and her consciousness apart.

She gathers the strength to scream, “This is what’s meant to happen! The God heeded my request so that I could save my village!”

“Thank you for saving me, God of all!”