Work Text:
He laughs—but he burns
Lines and boxes over a page
Erase, erase
Perfect,
You can’t disappoint the client
Weeks and weeks of work
Just for a “this is all you got?”
Then all over again
When will it stop, when will it stop?
The endless working, the voices inside
Pleading—yelling to let go,
To end it all.
But that would disappoint the client,
wouldn’t it?
Keep working, Kaveh. Keep working.
He nudges and nudges
Could Alhaitham please leave me alone for once?!
I snapped. I snapped.
I didn’t mean to. I really didn’t.
He yelled back, now I’m scared.
I struggle to hold back my emotions.
I struggle to keep them inside, to not let the bottle spill out.
So I go into my room.
Putting myself to work as the voices become louder and louder.
You’re a fraud.
Failure.
Disappointment.
You ruin everything good in your life.
And they never shut up.
As much as he pleads for them to.
No one would miss you.
He struggles to ignore the voices, to not pay attention.
He works himself to the brim for the next days, thinking he has to make up for his bout of emotions in the earlier day.
He becomes tired, yet he laughs.
With that attitude of his that masks everything underneath.
And how ignorant people are, not noticing his inner wounds.
So he cries and cries.
Erases and erases.
Perfection.
He thinks as he tightens the noose hung loosely by the ceiling.
He stands on a chair.
You’re a burden.
No one will miss you.
…
.
Everyone cried, overcome with guilt.
Kaveh, the genius architect, killed by his own hands.
Yet everyone remained ignorant, not being able to find out the cause.
The cause for his misery, for his agony, for his scars.
So Kaveh left the living with an empty heart, hoping for a better future.