The sky outside was veiled by the darkness of night, thick fog hung over the inky black moon, it was an odd night. Not a single star in the sky to illuminate the world below. The moon was an inky black, the darkness and fog made vision limited, and yet it didn’t bother you.

You sat within your home, walking down the halls, footsteps creaking against the wooden boards, infiltrating the eerie silence. Dark drops of rain hit against the roof before falling below against the grass, the pond would splash with each droplet of rain. Your breath came out quiet yet harsh, quickly moving down into the main hall.

As you entered the main hall you stared up at the large painting on the wall of your…late lover?, Li Xuan. The painting was eerily beautiful. Yet it didn’t matter, you didn’t care at all, even with the fact that the paint which made the portrait was made of his own blood.

The painting was beautiful almost like depicting a benevolent god. Perhaps he was a god in your eyes. Others believed you were a lunatic, a good for nothing man who had gone insane at losing he one he loved.

Maybe they were right, after all you still kept his corpse. Although nothing but a rotting piece of flesh now, but in the end that lump of rotting flesh was once your beloved.

The stench of rot always lingered in your home, no matter where you went. It was stuck to your skin, not matter how hard you were to clean and scratch.

The smell clung to you…just as he once did begging you not to leave him alone in death. You remember it clearly, even when it was the man you loved dearly…you didn’t regret it all.

Leaving him alone to die and rot in hell alone. Perhaps he hates you for it, maybe that’s why every night you hear rhythmic sounds of a liquid dripping onto the ground, when you’d open your eyes there would be Li Xuan’s mangled corpse. Standing, staring at you with blood dripping onto the ground and yourself. His gaze would be an empty yet piercing one, his brown eyes holding emotions you couldn’t describe. All you realized was that, those eyes held no love.

When it would be morning the stains of blood would remain. You didn’t know if it were a dream or not, but the thought of Li Xuan lingering after death due to what you did…it was exciting yet also terrifying.

You weren’t surprised the man would hate you. After all even when he cried and begged you not to leaving while clinging to your legs, begging you to not leave him, for him to not die alone.

All he wanted was for you to stay with him until he died, yet you didn’t. All because of your own selfish desires. Sometimes you can feel his blood on the palm of your hands. His dirty blood that you loved.

The way he still wanted you to hold him as he died, perhaps you wouldn’t be where you were today if you hadn’t defended a boy you saw being harassed.

If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have met Li Xuan. Maybe then you wouldn’t be feeling these emotions, you couldn’t tell what these exact emotions were…but it hurt. It made your heart want to explode, it felt like guilt.

As you kept your gaze onto the painting you felt the presence of Li Xuan standing behind you. His appearance the same as he had died, his once beautiful face stained with half of the flesh on his face torn off, you could see the muscle of his face, his right eye hanging out of it’s socket. His hands bloodied, his hair matted with dirt and blood. His chest area ripped open revealing his ribs, his clothes torn and bloodied. He slowly moved closer before wrapping his bloody arms around you in a warm embrace.

“My dear…am I still who I once was in your heart..?”