Work Text:
It had to be done.
I carefully entered the almost empty room. The air felt thick as I was forced to inhale it. Could I really do this? The voice didn’t want me to.
“Don’t do it! It’s not worth it. You don’t have to do this!”
Something like that. It all seemed incoherent to my ears. It stung hearing what used to be such a proud and prideful voice almost whine. Pitiful.
It was time.
I began ascending up the stairs. It was such a simple task really but my body grew heavier each step I took. Faint tics echoed against the walls as I continued up. Tic, tic, tic…
The voice grew more distant the further I went. Time seemed to stand still.
But I didn’t. I continued up, up, up.
By now it was a struggle to get up each step, it felt as though there was gum on the bottom of my shoe clinging me to the stair.
But I continued.
The top seemed so close.
So tantalizingly close.
“STANLEY PLEASE!” The voice screamed, it’s voice laced with desperation and what seemed to be pain.
No, it couldn’t be.
It was just another trick.
It’s always another trick.
I’m not going to fall for it.
“Are you really going to throw yourself off the edge just to keep me from being happy?” The narrator whispered, clearly discouraged.
I’m not going to fall for it I’m not going to fall for it I’m not going to fall for it…
The last tic echoed against the wall the noise seeming louder than it was almost knocking me over.
“Stanley?” The voice asked.
I hadn’t been listening.
“Please come down from there…”
I took a step forward.
“Please?” It was feigning despondency.
It had to be.
Another step.
Silence.
I took a final step, my foot not colliding with any sort of structure as I began my flight towards the floor.
“NOOOO!” The sudden sound made me wince.
But I felt calm. I felt fine. I felt at peace even as the floor came into view at an alarming rate, my face coming closer to the concrete as the seconds went by.
But I was floating
I was on cloud 9
I was so trapped in my own mind I almost didn’t hear the crack
I almost didn’t feel the pain that exploded in my legs
I almost didn’t hear the narrators pleas.
Almost.
But maybe I’d finally be free.