d r a b b l e | o p e n
─── jace wayland, p o s t p a r a b a t a i l o s t
jace hunched forward, throat muscles contracting as he coughed and gasped, desperately. his arms were shaking as he propped himself on his hands, over the bathroom tiles, half laid in and out of the shower. the water still hitting his legs made him shake further. his eyes were wide as he continued to gag, distraught in his eyes as he scrambled to try and get the water out of his lungs. he could almost hear it the splash of water, the uncontrollable gush as it was punched out of his lungs, but in reality nothing was coming out. his fingers curled on the floor, nails hurting as he pressed them down, elbows threatening to give in, but he stayed completely unaware.
in his head, the water hitting him was ice cold. it splashed against his mouth and nose mixed with the bitter cooper of blood, entering by brute force and asphyxiating his lungs. he coughed and struggled against the binds and his broken ribs, gurgling as they laughed. and then the hits would come again, so heavy he could hear his bones snapping. he slipped and fell down to his forearms as a cold panic brew in his throat and weighed his stomach. he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get air in no matter how hard he tried, couldn’t think, the tiles completely blind to him as all he saw were dirty, rusty, metal walls and darkness, so much darkness.
was he alone? he didn’t know. he never really knew, aside from the screams and shrieks from the mutilated people his father imprisoned, until the first hit came. that was how they liked to announce themselves. he imagined a faint touch on his face, he was sure he did, but didn’t have the spirit to flinch away. it was valentine, he knew it. could almost hear the luring words. if only you weren’t so stubborn, jonathan... i could give you everything. his eyebrows were pressed to the point of aching, lips parted helplessly trying to swallow air in, as he trashed in the grip of his panic attack.