Persphyni : I am Destruction

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Her eyes shut on their own accord. Her body slowly breaking down as she struggles to climb the steps. Her hand weakly grasps the metal railing, sliding her palm upwards to try and remain upright.

Her chest tightened as the air pressure began to weigh down on her. Forcing her lungs to collapse and lose space.

Space. That was where she had sent them.

Her head was heavy as her neck strained to stay upright. Her muscles in her legs and arms felt numb while she climbed the stairs blindly.

She knew where she needed to go. But she didn't know if she was going to make it there.

She needed to go up. To the surface. To the stars.

To say goodbye one last time. And to confess her slowly dying heart before them.

And to the sky she would look, envisioning him standing beside her with a smile. His hand outstretched to grab hers as she'd shakily raise her own.

This was all a dream.

As her mind slowly began to shut down due to the lack of oxygen, she dreamed of all the impossible things she would never be able to do now.

Things she couldn't even imagine because she never allowed herself to dream before.

Her body dropping to the floor as the image of a smaller hand in hers floated into her mind.

Her heart slowing as the hand turned into a bright, pure, and beautiful smile.

Her breathing easing into nothing as a small giggle could be heard within the depths of her imagination.

The unending torment of what could never be.

_______•*•*•*•________

She had hated them. She was disgusted by them. She learned to like them. She protected them. She bled for them. She fought for them. She sacrificed for them. And now, now she died for them.

For her family.

_______•*•*•*•________

The notebook and pen lay sprawled on the floor. The glass door cracked open as the body lay halfway in and halfway out. Face down, hiding the identity but the flaming red locks singled the body out.

Her left arm lay tucked underneath her unmoving body as the right was bent upwards like she was trying to crawl forward.

Her left leg was outstretched with a slight bend in the knee while the right was fully extended.

It almost appeared she was sleeping. Only her chest and upper back didn't move. There was no oxygen being sent to her lungs nor carbon dioxide being pushed from them.

But she wasn't sleeping, at least not in the sense of the common definition. She was resting for all eternity now.

She is dead.

Her heart failing as no oxygen was there to be taken throughout the body — cutting off her brain's ability to keep her heart functioning.

She was dead.

For the first time in her life, she felt nothing.

No pain.

No agony.

No suffering.

No self-loathing.

No hatred.

It was calm. Still. Serene.

Like when the breeze softly moves the leaves of a large oak. The oak unmoving as the wind dances across it without a care in the world.

She had found her stability. She had found her roots. It only took her until she was about to die to find it.

But, just like the oak, she couldn't survive without her roots.

Her roots were long and stretched out into the network of the world. Resting on top of other roots, entwining, cocooning, protecting. Her roots stretched far beyond the reach she thought she had.

And they traveled so far and so wide that she had become stretched thin.

_______•*•*•*•_______

This is where I pause. Laying on the floor. Heart silencing as my lungs no longer move.

I died.

The bridge was in front of me. Winged Death stood on the other side with his hand outstretched towards me with a soft, seductive smile.

He knew he had me. I knew he had me too.

There was no words from him as I slowly stood from the base of the trunk and stepped towards the bridge. Stepped towards Death.

"It seems like I didn't get those hundred years." He gave a laugh as I placed my foot gently on the bridge. My other foot following as I made my way over to the darker knoll. One step after the other, and just as I reached the end and was about to take the first step off the bridge, I hesitated.

My foot hovered in the air as the voice called my name. A voice I knew all too well.

When he saw me pause, he gave another laugh. His smirk remaining as he stretched out his arms to form a "T".

"Go." Death said. "Turn around and return. I was foolish to think it would be your time. Fate seems to enjoy tricking the two of us." He continued his arms lowering as his large, ebony wings extended to their full length.

"But know this. The next time we meet, there will be no turning back. You, Persphyni Atlys, you will be mine." Then he gracefully opened his wings further before giving a single beat of the beautiful limbs. His body flying upwards as the air from his wings pushed against my body.

My foot landed on the bridge. My body turning on its own accord as I moved back towards the bright green field with a lone tree and a field of flowers. As I reached the edge of the bridge I had only just came from, I brought my foot without a moments pause. As my foot hit the green grass, my eyes snapped shut.

My muscles tightened and cramped. Then everything went dark and silent.

The world turning empty as I remained dead in the real world.

"Wake up! Damnit! Wake up, Pers!"

I felt the briefest prick in my arm before I felt nothing at all.