A Monster That Cannot Pray

What is prayer?

‘Pray’ (祈) and ‘pray’ (禱).

Putting together two characters meaning to beseech God, prayer (祈禱).

Literally, it was something done to wish for something from God.

“Oh, Lord…!”

“Lord! Please guide our family to heaven…!”

At least, in the acrid smoke billowing along the ceiling.

For a young man watching his parents pray while caught up in some unknown religion… it certainly wasn’t a word with a very good meaning.

Tak. Tadak…

Looking around, crackling flames were spreading here and there, making whooshing sounds.

Along with the popping sounds of cheap incandescent bulbs melting from the high temperature, and the harsh smell choking his throat—

“Ah, this is bullshit… really.”

The young man cursed himself for being fooled into coming here one last time by people who were supposed to be parents.

He had already tried to break down the door.

However, in the brief moment he tried to subdue his parents and carry them out, the cheap iron door of the semi-basement room had warped from the heat distortion, becoming too sturdy for the young man who hadn’t undergone any special training to break.

The distinctive wailing siren of a fire truck could be heard from outside, but…

“……”

To the young man covering his mouth with his sleeve, it seemed far more likely that he would burn to death or suffocate here, or be killed by falling ceiling debris, rather than the fire being extinguished or him being rescued.

“Ah… this is really driving me crazy…!”

The young man, as if having made some decision, bit his lower lip hard and approached his parents who were praying loudly like madmen in the middle of the room—

“Please, just… is it that hard to live normally…!”

In the form of embracing his parents, who were kneeling in prayer and waiting for death without even noticing his approach.

Whack—!

Even as his head was struck by a large piece of debris falling from the ceiling.

‘If I had known it would be like this, I should have visited more often…’

Blaming himself rather than his parents who put him in this situation.

‘If there is such a thing as a next life…’

He quietly meets his end.

‘…I hope I can live a normal, human-like life.’