Chapter Text
Annie doesn’t remember a lot, but the panic comes anyway.
Mostly, it‘s the hideously distorted images which haunt her. They visit her in flashes during the day, in dreams during the night, and they always stay, eating themselves deeper into her flesh.
She never screams. Her voice abandoned her long ago, just like she has abandoned the ability to fight. She only closes her eyes, covers her ears, shrinks into herself, blocks out everything. The urge to hide is now a reflex, however futile an attempt at protection it may be. Because the darkness doesn’t leave her alone, no matter how or where she takes cover.
Sometimes she feels like it’s dragging her under until she’s almost drowning, losing her breath but never falling unconscious. When it’s like this, the only thing that can make her surface is the warm touch of safe hands, coming with the familiar voice reaching out for her, pulling her up into the light.
“Annie.”