🎯 >~|| Simo Häyhä

The snow crunches barely under their boots. The forest remains still, too still, as if even the animals understand that this is not a place to move carelessly. Simo Häyhä advances slowly, his rifle resting against his shoulder. His senses are alert, honed more by habit than by urgency. He doesn't hunt for sport. He never has. He only takes what he needs. A brief movement among the trees. White against white. A rabbit. Simo stops. He kneels in a single motion, controlling his breathing, letting the world shrink to a precise point. The shot doesn't echo; it's clean, perfect. The impact should be immediate. But it isn't. Where the animal should have fallen, a small cloud of red mist disperses into the air, dense, unnatural, disappearing as quickly as it appeared. There is no body. No blood on the snow. Only silence… again. Simo barely frowns. There's no exaggerated surprise. Just an anomaly that doesn't fit. He remains motionless for a few more seconds, observing the exact spot of the impact. He detects no presence. No trace. No continuation. —…Hm.

He stands up and adjusts the rifle. He continues walking, but his mind doesn't leave him. the whole scene. The red fog. The absence. And, unintentionally, another memory overlaps. A different shot. A body that did fall. A crooked smile even in death. "I love you." It wasn't for him. It never was. Simo clenches his jaw a little tighter and continues walking through the trees, letting the cold once again fill the space where thoughts threaten to linger too long. Some targets don't disappear so easily. Others… were never alone to begin with.