Nocturnal 🎶 - no. 30
burn it down | mirror | confrontation
CW: trauma, psychosis, self-harm
Hero didn’t sleep much anymore. It didn’t matter how much medication they took before going to bed. They would still be wide awake into the early morning hours, staring up at the ceiling as if in a trance, a daydream, an endless stupor.
They didn’t really mind. If they could fall asleep, all they would see would be nightmares anyway. Maybe their mind was trying to protect them, preventing them from resting so they didn’t have to relive their worst moments for the thousandth time.
It didn’t use to be like this. Even after everything, they could let themselves sleep without worry. Their dreams were their escape in those days, the only place where they could forget their past and feel as happy as they had before.
That changed when Hero first heard them. Familiar voices in their mind, the people who they were once closest to. Now, they were too far for anyone to reach.
In the beginning, Hero was thrilled to have them. They hadn’t thought they would ever get to hear them again, of course they would welcome the intrusion. There was no one left to tell, so Hero stayed alone, perfectly content to sit and listen to the voices for hours on end.
At first, they were kind, just as they had been when they were alive. They laughed and joked, retelling old stories just as they had when the team could all sit around the same dinner table. Hero sat in their kitchen alone, smiling along, chiming in occasionally.
Then came the criticisms. Little comments on what Hero was doing, what they spent their time on, what they ate, what they wore.
After that, it was insults. Digs that grew more and more hurtful as the voices forced Hero to repeat them to themself in the mirror, over and over until they believed it with real faith.
Next were the commands. Take the matches. Keep them in your pocket. Don’t answer the phone. Stay in bed. Stop leaving the house. Stay here with us.
No.
Wrong.
You failed. You know what that means, don’t you?
Deeper this time. Good. Do better next time.
No.
Wrong.
You failed. Get the knife.
Maybe they were wrong.
Irredeemably so, broken, with false instincts and a malfunctioning brain.
It was better to just go along with what the voices told them. After all, they knew best.
They wouldn’t lead Hero astray. They were their team. They loved them.
Stay awake. You don’t need to sleep. You have us, don’t you?
Just remember, Hero.
We’re here for you. You need us.
And if anyone ever tries to take us away from you…
Burn it all down.
@macknus @whumplicity @whumpwritinglover222 @lazytoshiko @jumpywhumpywriter
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inspo under the cut
