Apnea

Empty

She felt so empty, but her head was so loud. Slowly grading on her sanity, the voices were getting louder and louder. Why wouldn't they shut up? There was only so much she could take, but she could feel it. The feeling of breaking down, rotting. It felt like she was decaying.

She didn't know the time; it held no meaning anymore. How could it when her mind had forced her to run in a loop. A constant replay of words, of voices. It was all she could do to breathe, and even then, she struggled. Her eyes tracked the sun as it moved through the sky through her window, unable to move from her bed. She didn't know what time she woke up. She didn't care.

The light changed angles as the day crawled by, feeling endless. At some point, she heard the distant ring of a phone. As the sun dipped below the horizon, she wished the light would stay. It warmed her when nothing else could. Her body simply refused to work anymore, no longer under her control. The cold surrounded her, freezing her in place. 

The last rays went out, and she was plunged into darkness. Far away, dots of light filled the sky, and moonlight filtered into her empty room. She blinked. Hate. She hated this. This feeling, this weight preventing her from even lifting a finger.

Another day by and gone. And what did she do today? Absolutely nothing; she couldn't even get herself out of bed. The voices yelling at her to get her shit together, to end it or finish what she started. But she could barely move her hand. What was she supposed to do? Nothing was under her control anymore, not even her own breaths. They were jagged and sporadic, roughly being exhaled and then taking a second to realize air needed to be taken back in. 

A small whine started to escape her lips, the first sound she had made all day. The whine picked up in volume after inhaling another breath and shortly became a yell, a scream. That one sound broke whatever spell she had been under, causing her to jerk upright in bed, black sheets flying back. Her quirk activated, smashing the blanket into the wall. With all the pent-up anger, all the sadness, all the regret, she jumped out of her window and into the street three stories below. 

Before she hit the ground, she created a solid air platform, catching her after she jumped. She didn't care that she was only wearing a sports bra and sleeping shorts; she had to get out. Runaway, leave, fly, sprint, anything to get out of her head. Holding onto the platform's side, she focused and started to feel the cold air lashing at her face as she went up towards the sky. Finally, she screamed louder than before, where no one would hear her, she screamed.

"WHY!? WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME?" Her voice was rough and scratchy from not being used, but it still reached the ears of a man with patchwork skin sitting high up on a water tower. Looking up, he saw a figure being suspended by what seemed to be nothing.

This thing is too loud. His lip pulled up into a sneer and then opened into shock as the figure bolted away from the city.