60Alright. I'm finally back to this fic with a total rewrite.
I felt power, sizzling and arcing off my frail 'body', the skin of which felt like flaking wood chips. I frowned and growled as I directed it into him, slamming him into the wooden pikes. "Leave me alone." I war—Threatened—, a sickly feeling of satisfaction tickling over me.
"No." I felt remors—Disgust—as he stumbled back to his feet, "No, I'm not leaving." He walked towards me slowly, his hands in front of him. Whether to safe guard himself or to calm me, I was unsure of his intent. "Just listen to me."
He hummed nervously, "Once upon a time, long ago..." He searched for his words for a moment, "There was a little girl!"
I balked in confusion. "What?" A new story?
"A little girl who was different from the other people in her village."
I growled,—Hurt—splitting my power into fourths. "I'm not listening!" No more stories.
We sung lightly as we tormented him, pushing and shoving him in the circle we formed. "She could see and do things that no one could understand!" We cringed, "And that made them scared of her!"
Fear leaked into our thoughts, "I don't like this story!"
He refused to listen to us, "She turned away from everyone and became sad and lonely—" We put all our fear into shoving him, "And had no one to turn to!"
Fury—We glared at him, our power flying in circles faster and faster until it fused in me. "Stop it." The world blinded away in sickly lime light.
I rose from the ground, my power arcing off the flying pebbles and deathly dirt. "The more she turned away from people, the more scared they were of her. And they did something terrible." Something terrible…? "They became so scared, they took her away and killed her. "
I… I remember this story. It's so familiar… "No!"
"But even though she was dead," Dead… "Something in her came back!"
Memories rushed into my mind at a lightning bolts pace, flooding my thoughts with horrible images. "Stop!" I can end this. My thoughts became erratic, splitting away as something beat down my will. I will end this.
"And this part of her wouldn't go away, not for three hundred years!" He wouldn't shut up long enough, I couldn't focus—couldn't fight back.
"Shut up!" I yelled in rage, he was making me lose.
"And the longer it stayed, the less there was of the little girl!"
Destroy. Power exploded from me, spinning and twisting into the ground. Screaming echoed in my ears as I tore the world apart around me. "I'll make you suffer!" kill.
"Why?!"
"Because." I slowed, "Because…" Because… what…? Why did...
"Because you want everyone to hurt just as much as you are."I... "So when you wake up, you play this mean game. But you don't play fair!" He yelled as he bound from one rock to another.
I frowned, waving my arms away in frustration. "They hurt me."
"So you hurt them back?"
Hate. "I wanted everyone to see how rotten they were."
He jumped and grappled onto my tree, "You're just like them, Agatha."
Hate!"No I'm not!" How dare he? How dare he touch my tree? How dare he accuse me of that?!
Hate! "You're a bully!" Hurt. I blew him away from my tree—as he should be—and slammed him back into it. Kill. I pushed him away again, quickly slamming him back into the tree. Kill! I slammed him again. I… Slammed him again…? I frowned, slowly stopping. Kill! I smashed him into my tree again, my face contorting in rage.
I grabbed at my reality, twisting it to let him fall. But he was—unfortunately—awake enough to grab on and pull himself to safety. I glared down at him as he held on for dear life to that crooked branch. "They did something awful, but that doesn't mean you should too! All that's left of you now is mean and horrible."
"That's not true!" I stared down at my hands in confusion. I'm a great person! I'm caring and kind!
"Then stop!" I looked up at him,—kill—ignoring the voice in my head. "This is wrong and you know it!" I... "You spent so long remembering the bad people, that you've forgotten the good ones!" Crush! N-No! I wouldn't ever forget—Kill! "There must have been someone who loved you, and cared for you. You don't remember them?" Destroy!
Kill! Kill! The voice in my head started screaming, my mind distorting into something wrong. "Leave me alone!" I yelled at him and my thoughts, trying to gather my emotions.
"You're not alone, you have to remember!"
I pulled away, needing to retreat. "Keep away from me!" I was afraid.
"Remember!" He grabbed my hand.
Awake. I took a sharp breathe, oxygen being forced into my lungs by instinct as my eyes opened, staring at the ceiling above me. I blinked, gripping and releasing the heavy quilt over me a few times without looking down at it.
I kept breathing. Slow inhale, slow exhale. In, out. I slowly tore my glance down and stared at my hands holding the blanket. Holding. I hesitantly released the blanket, bringing a shaky hand up and touching my own face. "It's warm."
"True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories".
—Florence King