The red moon hung in the sky like an open wound
Its light bled through the trees
Turning shadows into whispers
And whispers into footsteps
Kenta had fallen asleep by the fire
Curled up with a wooden sword at his side
Shigure didn't wake him
He stepped outside alone
The forest wasn't quiet
Not tonight
Leaves rustled without wind
And somewhere
Something was breathing just loud enough to be heard
But too far to touch
Shigure walked toward it
He wasn't hunting
He was being invited
The path twisted
Branches clawed at his sleeves
But he didn't stop
Then he heard it
Her voice
Gentle
Caring
Dead
"Shigure"
He stopped
That name had once sounded like hope
Now it felt like chains
He didn't turn around
"Why did you leave me" the voice asked
Soft
Broken
He spoke without looking back
"You weren't real then"
The voice came closer
So did the sound of feet
No crunch of leaves
Just steps made of memory
"But I'm here now" it said
He turned
She stood beneath the red glow
The same eyes
The same smile
The same way she held her hands when nervous
But it wasn't her
The forest couldn't fake the little details
The scar on her chin was missing
So was the necklace she never took off
"Nice trick" he said
She tilted her head
Confused
Sad
Then her face melted
Not literally
But piece by piece
Like clay losing its shape
Until it was just a blur with eyes too wide and teeth too many
Shigure took a step forward
It hissed
"You should have come to me when you had the chance"
He said nothing
The thing lunged
He ducked
Grabbed a broken branch from the ground
Drove it upward into its stomach
It didn't bleed
Just screeched like a flute made of bone
He twisted
Shoved
And the thing collapsed in on itself
The forest fell quiet again
But the voice remained
Echoing from every tree
Every stone
"You can kill the face
But not the memory"
He stood over what remained
Shaking
Not from fear
But because for a moment
He wanted to believe it was really her
And that
More than the monster
Was the part that hurt the most
He turned back toward the shack
Kenta was still asleep
Still dreaming of monsters that laugh
Shigure sat beside him
Stared at the flames
And whispered
"I'm not sorry I left"
But the tremble in his voice betrayed the lie he wished was true