@intcrference called in for a possessed gal!
SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHY SHE’S HERE. it does. it knows why, but their thoughts are not one and the same ... not entirely. the end of one and the beginning of the other bleed and blend, but not in all things, and not all of the time. she cannot hide from it, but it can hide from her. it hides its reasons for pulling her from her bed, for moving her legs through her backyard, over the fence, into the WOODS. it hides why she detoured to her kitchen, why her fingers wrapped around a knife from a drawer, and why they haven’t let go since.
but she cannot hide the fear that floods into her mind when she sees HIM. it is never a good thing when it brings them together. it slips back in for a moment, eases her nerves with placating lies that atlas and she are on the same side, that he has no reason to harm her, that it brought them both here to fulfill a PURPOSE. she despises how well it works, that her nerves settle and her breathing slows, because of the saccharine sweet words of a monster.
she coughs when she tries to speak, somehow manages to push up darkened blood through a restrained throat. it punishes her because she will not let it have her voice, squeezes the air out of her lungs and chokes her throat like a constricting snake. even after it retreats more, unfurls itself enough for her to speak, the dull ache remains, and her voice comes out strained and little more than a whisper. ❝ do - do you know why we’re here ... this time ? ❞