Chapter Text
"Hold your breath. No matter the pain, hold your breath."
The words sung in his head until it bled through his ears; the rhythm long forgotten, the trill of warmth run cold, and the words thrumming louder than his own heartbeat. He was no longer the song, but a part of it. And that, to his dismay, was even worse.
He could hear his heart beginning to slam painfully against his chest at the shadows growing thicker and darker around him. The boy curled his legs closer until his knees were tucked under his chin. He ran the words through his head louder than before, training his eyes on the sliver of light that slithered through the door crack. The light pink rays mingled with gold before him. Yet as the beautiful array of light began to wane towards the ground, the boy’s heart began to hammer once more.
"Won't you hand over your wings and promise me you will never fly?"
His nails bit into the flesh of his knees. Sweat crept down his back into the tattered strips of his gown. The rough scrape of shriveled, mangy fabric grazing his back became the only comfort he had. He clenched his eyes shut, imagining the gown’s brushes to be a wholesome, warm hand. The imagined hand curled into an arm, radiating warmth that became alien to him for the past year. And with that warmth came the familiar curl of lips, chapped, yet rosy all the same, mouthing stories without names against his forehead. Tears silently pooled at the corners of the boy’s eyes and he clenched them harder.
“Beat and scream against the sky until the world falls down.”
The boy slowly opened his eyes again. His breath caught in his throat as the light stood but three inches above the ground. Heat wrinkled behind the boy’s eyes before his vision grew glassy. He sucked in his bottom lip and buried his teeth into the flesh, digging deeper with each moment the shadows began to devour the light.
Every fiber of his body burned for him to move. His muscles twitched and jerked, silently begging him to bury his self deeper in the closet until he molded into the wall. Yet he remained still. His tears racing down his cheeks as the last swirl of gold went out.
“Hold on. Hold on. Hold on to your breath.”
The boy’s tears stained the collar of his gown at the hushed footsteps falling outside the door.
“No matter the pain, hold on with your very breath.”
The gears of the lock clicked.
“You who bear no wings or heart against the shattering sky—can you, can you, hold onto your—”
The boy’s scream was lost in his tears as the man lifted him from the debris of wood. The tears dripping from his trembling face plopped onto the ground that was infested by ice instantly. From that day on, he never stopped screaming.