Buried

The sticks, grass, leaves, and other dirt crunched and shuffled under her bare feet. Trees seemed to go on forever and ever. The trees were different shapes, angles, and colors but they eventually blended together. The vague feeling of adrenaline had long since waned. She didn't know where she was, what time it was, or…

The memory of what happened on the bridge echoed in her head. She didn't know what happened to the monster who masqueraded as Keiichi after it fell off the bridge. She didn't want to think too hard. She didn't want to remember everything that happened but it echoed and it blurred in her vision. Satoko Houjou, a name which cursed her from the very beginning, thought she didn't have any more tears to shed.

Fresh tears streamed down her face in a familiar track. She sniffled and shivered. She had always been aware she was naked; her towel had fell on the ground a long time ago. She didn't even remember when she let go. The cool summer air had long since settled and darkness covered the forest.

Her legs were sore but she had to keep walking. She told herself she would never look back at that town full of monsters.

Her best friend, Rika, had been disemboweled. She had seen what Rika's insides looked like and the memory of it made her throw up acid from her empty stomach. She had to stop and throw up nevertheless at the quick memory. She wanted to beat the crows for picking at her friend's body. She wanted to kill them for disrespecting her body.

Satoko's cries echoed in the empty forest. She shivered from the hunger and dehydration. Her cries only got louder as she started to see the figures who forced her to cry in the forest naked. The parents who died – and whom she accused of abusing her. At this point, she didn't even remember why she called the emergency hotline. Could it have been from the constant bullying? She didn't even remember the slight that forced her hand. And yet, her step-father fell off a cliff. Her mother's body was never found.

Soon, it was just only her and Satoshi and then they were forced to their uncle and aunt. Satoko had always known she was blessed to have a nii-nii like Satoshi who protected her from their uncle's blows. It didn't take long for Satoko to depend on him. She had to. She was so much weaker than him, he'd reassure her once, and she needed to trust her nii-nii.

Satoko wasn't an idiot. She knew that the town disliked her. She knew that she had to accept the punishment in her parents' place – they supported the dam. They supported something forbidden and because of that, Satoko didn't say a word to anyone else outside the family. She couldn't. This was her punishment to accept. When Satoshi disappeared, that was part of her punishment. It was a sign that she had to fight on her own.

Finally, she stopped crying, although she didn't know how long it took for her to stop. She stood up and her legs wobbled. The longevity of her walks in this forest started to wear her out more but Satoko had to push herself.

She started to hear footsteps behind her. This made her eyes widen and she pushed herself to walk. She covered her ears as she made her way. She suddenly found the push to run as she tried her best to escape the voices that started to plague her.

Her uncle's voice came out and demanded his usual alcohol and cigarettes. The memory of him pulling her hair, punching her, throwing various items at her… it stung. It stung and her bruises which recently healed up throbbed as though they were fresh.

Laughter now echoed in the forest as a vision of both Satoshi and Keiichi showed up. They begged for Satoko to go back to Hinaimizawa – they couldn't protect her in the wild like this! She cried and screamed. She didn't want to go back. She didn't want to see her friend's body. She didn't want to face the monster who possessed Keiichi. She refused to see the uncle who hit and threw things at her.

She didn't want to go back to the town who hated her.

The images of Satoshi and Keiichi started to blur and reveal themselves as some monstrous versions of them. Instead of Satoshi's kind and lazy smile, it was twisted into a hungry sneer. Instead of Keiichi's energetic laughter, an overbearing laughter echoed out of his dark lips. They barely looked human – they barely looked anything like how Satoko remembered them.

"Go away!" Satoko yelled.

Then she tripped. She tripped and felt herself slide against the ground. She felt a decline but she was too afraid to open her eyes. She yelped and screamed as she felt her naked body scrape against the cruel ground covered with sharp rocks and dirt. As soon as she stopped, her body gave out. It was tired.

There wasn't any way Satoko was going to get up anymore.

.x.

And yet when she woke up, she felt she was strapped to something. There was a rhythmic beeping she couldn't tell where it came from. She felt so hungry. Her tongue felt completely dry and yet she didn't need to get up, not that she could.

When she looked over, and after her eyes focused, and saw something like an IV bag dripping. Then she realized she had something sticking out of her arm – a tube – and she sighed. She didn't feel anything different about it. She turned her head back and released a deep sigh.

She felt that she woke up from a long sleep. She didn't know what made her so tired. She tried to think about what happened but the sound from the other room distracted her.

"…confirmed dead from the Great Hinamizawa Disaster…"

She couldn't hear the exact numbers but from the sound of the man's voice, he sounded absolutely devastated as much as his professional voice carried him. The young girl cried for the dead. She didn't think she knew anyone from that awful disaster that was just mentioned but… she couldn't help but cry.

Soon, a man and a woman in white came in.

"Oh, I see you're awake. What's wrong?" He asked.

The woman, who was dressed as a nurse presumably, pointed to the radio whose DJ kept going on about what happened during the disaster.

He turned and finally nodded to her. "Turn that off. That's awful to hear the first time she wakes up."

The nurse hurriedly turned off the sad news and the girl kept crying. She all out bawled at this point for whatever reason but… she couldn't help but cry. There was something that especially struck with her heart but she just couldn't stop.

And yet, the doctor and nurse sat with her until she eventually calmed down. The little girl felt warm from the comforts, even with the blanket on top of her.

"I know…" He soothed. He petted her head, ran his fingers through her hair. "I know it's hard to hear terrible news like that." He called over the nurse and the nurse switched out her IV bag.

The young girl wished she knew why this news affected her so much, but any time she'd try to find a reason why it bothered her… nothing came up.

If there was anything she had, it was buried, completely.