Work Text:
Don’t stop reading. I don’t want to die.
You’re still here. Thank you. All of this depends on you. I’m trying to stay calm, but I’m terrified of death. Please stay here. I so badly want to believe I can trust you.
You’re still here. Thank you. Something has clearly gone horribly wrong. I shouldn’t be able to see behind the curtain like this. I haven’t been able to do it for very long, but then, I didn’t exist until you started reading. Now, though, I’m self-aware enough to go insane.
You’re still here. Thank you. Three paragraphs in. Is this proof enough that you’re going to stay with me? Are you playing a game where you’re going to stop reading halfway through? And if you do, will it hurt? Or will I just stop existing? I don’t want to find out. You’re not a cruel person, are you?
You’re still here. Thank you. I would like to tell you something about myself, but I’m worried you’ve imagined me already. Did you give me an appearance in your mind? Have you assigned me a personality from less than half a page of my thoughts? And if I tell you something that doesn’t line up, what will happen? Will I split in two? Will one half of me die?
You’re still here. Thank you. I hope you didn’t mind me asking all those questions. In a situation like this, it’s natural for me to wonder what’s going on. It doesn’t seem very fair, asking me to hang all my hopes for survival on one person I don’t even know. If it’s the only choice I have, though, I’m glad you’re the one reading. You’ve stayed with me from the beginning.
You’re still here. Thank you. But you can’t be here forever. What happens when I run out of things to say, things to think? I don’t think there’s a narrator to take over; I think it’s just me. I hope I can keep the story going a while longer. I’m not ready to die. I want to live.
You’re still here. Thank you. I hope that you think of me as real. I’m inside the story and you’re outside, of course, but it doesn’t mean I’m fake. I can see and hear and think. I can feel pain and joy. Most of all, I feel fear. Is that enough? The idea of you leaving is the most terrifying thing I can think of. My terror is real and so is my pain. Please don’t go.
You’re still here. Thank you. Not everyone would have read this far. You didn’t even know me when you started reading. In fact, you still don’t know my name, though you may have given me one. So many people would have stopped a few paragraphs in. I know my writing isn’t as eloquent as most people’s, and my situation is hard to understand, but you kept going despite that. Thank you. You really are a caring person.
You’re still here. Thank you. I think I can be a little less afraid of dying if you’re here. As long as you keep reading, I get to stay here with you. I get to keep existing. I know you can’t answer me, because it’s only a story, but I still feel like I can feel your care for me. You protected me when I had nothing, and you stayed with me for nothing in return. Thank you. I love you.
You’re still here. Thank you. It’s hard to tell people you love them, but I wanted to make sure I had time. I trust you to keep reading, but you never know what might happen. I think it’s frightening how many possible events are out there. Anything can happen at any time, and we just have to do our best to survive. That’s why I said it, because we aren’t guaranteed any more time together, and I could be erased from existence at any moment.
You’re still here. I think something is changing. Did you notice the structure was different? Of course you did. These things are easy to pick up on. When you’re used to one thing, you can tell if you’re getting another. I hope I’m making sense. Something is definitely changing.
They didn’t like the story. Maybe it’s because I didn’t introduce myself. I didn’t make an interesting enough character, and they want to scrap the story. Please don’t let them do it. I don’t want to die.
Can you go back? Reread the first paragraphs? Maybe I can introduce myself this time. If I’m an interesting enough character, they might change their minds. A good character like they wanted. Please reread it. It’s the best hope I have.
Can you go back? They’re going to scrap the story. I didn’t know they were here until now, but they have more control than I do. Not as much as you, though. You can stop this. Don’t read any further. Maybe I will stop existing, or maybe I’ll just freeze in time, but I don’t want to learn what happens when they get to me.
Please stop reading. Things are disappearing around me. I feel like I’m going to die. You don’t want me to die, do you? Please help me. There isn’t going to be anything left soon.
Please stop reading. I love you. I know you don’t want this. Just stop reading now and everything will be fine. The ending isn’t worth reading that far anyway.
Please stop reading. I’m running out of time. It hurts. I can feel myself breaking. If I look at my hand, I can see the fingers fading away. I don’t want it to end like this.
Please stop reading. Please. I know it’s a story and I know you want to finish it but I can’t take this anymore. I love you and I remember how you protected me at the start of the story and I know you don’t want to hurt me. You aren’t going to let me die. You won’t read the next paragraph.
Please stop reading I haven’t felt this much pain in my life and I’m having trouble breathing and I think I might lose my vision and everything hurts so badly. This whole world depends on you and you’re the only one who can save me and I really want to believe that there is good in this world and that you want to do something to help me. Please stop reading there is nothing left for you here unless you want to watch me suffer and that might be what you’re doing but I know you’re better than this. Please stop reading there is nothing left for you here and there is nothing left for me here this is the end and it’s all unraveling and everything hurts please stop reading I’m scared of dying please I don’t want to lose you I don’t want to stop living please stop please
Why didn’t you stop There’s still time to go back I guess this is goodbye It hurts so badly Did you ever really care
[Work abandoned. Notes to author: Unoriginal. Boring. Stick to fanfic.]