Kurson Castle Eternity

“I don’t think I ever understood you.”

A farmer stands before a row of graves. Each of them is new, carefully dug, honoured in the ways that the Underground has learned to honour the dead over a century. He is alone.

“Honestly, I don’t know if there’s a world out there where we could understand each other. You – somehow, you managed to take everything from me, without even caring or realising, because there was something just deeply wrong with you. I can’t comprehend why, or what I did wrong, or what mum did wrong, if it was the pressure that got to you, or…or whatever else.

“You’re dead, and I hate you. I despise you, and so does everyone else whose life was ever touched or taken by you, and I –“

John’s form shakes with a sob, and they drop the journal they are holding – but someone catches it, takes John’s hand in his own. He looks to the man next to him. Elias smiles, gentle, and they squeeze his hand in response.

With a deep breath, he looks back to the grave in front of him. John kneels down in the dirt, staining his farmer’s uniform even further, and starts to dig – brushing away some of the sand, creating a hole just deep enough that wind should not sweep it away (though no one yet understands this foreign Overground weather, there is an instinct to bury that diary as close to the body as possible, to never again be read by anyone). He places the journal in the hole, then quietly, perhaps reverently, piles the dirt and sand back atop it. They stand, and Elias takes their hand again, staring in silence at the grave for many minutes.

Finally…

“Goodbye, Kurson.”

Kurson Castle Diary Entry 06/11/2140:
Dear Diary, I visit her every Sunday. The only person who ever understood me is dying. I hope with all my heart that one day she can open her eyes again and see the man I've become. I hope she can see my progress in the career for which she had educated me in for years. My mother, my soul.

Kurson Castle Diary Entry 15/11/2140:
Dear Diary, Don is inviting me again to join this silly rat cult. My old friend, Edward Murk formed it not too long ago and it seems to be attracting all sorts of fools and psychos, including my father, of course. Perhaps I'll visit my old man, it has been a while after all, I don't even think he's seen mum in her current state - does he even know? Maybe I'll bump into my old friend whilst I'm there too.

Kurson Castle Diary Entry 23/11/2140:
Dear Diary, This is it. My purpose. I can feel it within me, the urge to accept Edward's idea. My destiny a mere “yes” away. I knew my life would be worth more than slaving away at a desk for hours at a time. Poor Carl Shaw will not see this coming, oh, and my dear diary, don't you worry, you shall be hidden where no one could ever find you.

Kurson Castle Diary Entry 30/11/2140:
Dear Diary, I have found a new source of happiness within my life. I'm shaking completely throughout my body constantly. My co-workers surely know something is up every time a giggle to myself at the desk - perhaps they think I'm madly in love. I guess they would be right. They would be MORE than right. This is exactly who I'm supposed to be, I know it.

Kurson Castle Diary Entry 31/12/2140:
Dear Diary, It's been a while since I've had time to write. I can't control my breathing anymore. Briana will die soon. The poison is administered. I can't wait. I can't hold the excitement any longer. She will be my second! She will die soon, so soon!

Kurson Castle Diary Entry 02/01/2141:
Dear Diary, I killed my own mother.

Kurson Castle Diary Entry 12/01/2141:
I need to kill them. I can feel their blood trickling down me.

Kurson Castle Diary Entry 21/01/2141:
Ada shall die along with her sibling, Edwin. I will make sure of it.

Written by Eden S.