Die A Fucking Legend: Neon Raven

Chapter 12: Bright Side

May wakes up again. He's lost track of how many times he's been going in and out of consciousness. Or how long he's been doing this cycle. The blanket covering him has gotten heavy, and he can feel an imprint of his body in the mattress beneath. His eyes feel like sandbags, begging to be closed again, so he could fade out of reality once more. With the drapes blocking out the windows and lights constantly out, he doesn't know if it's day or night.

His room has devolved into a trash heap. Unwashed clothes and general garbage are strewn about. Countless pizza boxes have been stacked into numerous trash towers around him. The mirror in the corner of his room has been smashed to pieces. The one in the bathroom is cracked.

Further clogging up the room are May's familiars. Blade sits next to May on the bed, staring out at the other crows. Talon paces back and forth, arms folded. Momentum leans against a wall. Flicker sits on the nightstand between the bed and the window.

"Why the fuck are we still cooped up in here?" Talon rambles again. "I feel like I'm gonna break something again! Why are we still fucking in here!"

"Hey." Blade calls out to Talon. "You know we're not ready to go outside. Just give us some time."

"How much more time do we need?"

"Look, that was an ordeal on us. We can't just get back into the swing of things just like that."

"Everyone has it fucking rough! It's fucking pathetic to hole up like this, as if we're the only ones who go through bad things!"

"Just chill Talon." Momentum joins. "We're just taking things at our own pace. What's the harm? We still have money, rent's fine and we get to eat pizza all the time and sleep whenever. I think we earned that, right?"

"Yeah, and what happens when we run out? Or when we can't walk through all this shit anymore? I feel like I'm losing my fucking mind in here!"

"What's the point?" Flicker asks. "Why do anything anymore?"

"To be happy?" Momentum asks.

"Is this happiness?"

"Well, we've made good memories."

"What memories? Getting exploited for our bodies? Fun times." He chuckles dryly.

"We met Ilia and Julie."

"And then had it all crash and burn. Did you see the looks on their faces when they waded through the aftermath? Julie couldn't barely stomach it."

"Well... Dante?"

"The one who died? If he hadn't wasted time on us, he might still be alive today."

"You can't seriously believe we caused that, right?" Blade turns to Flicker.

"Of course we did. Everything's our fault. If we just weren't ourselves, everything would be so much better." Blade turns away, unable to speak against it. "What floor are we on again?"

"Seventh? Eighth? I forget." Blade answers.

"If we jump out now, it'd be relatively painless, don't you think?"

"No, we're not going to kill ourselves."

"Why not. What do we have to live for? We can't do anything. The only thing we can do is be someone's sex toy. What's the point?"

May's weak voice calls out from underneath the sheets. "Just... just shut up, please." They turn back into their crow forms and recede into the shadows, keeping their beaks shut. For only a moment, May is left with a deafening silence, before that too is taken away from him. Voices pick up their chatter not long after. He doesn't know if it's the crows, or the voice in his head, or even their voice in his head. But the distant clamoring grinds at his ears and brain like sandpaper. Fresh memories return to the forefront of his mind time and time again, despite his best efforts to drown them. He can still recollect every sensation perfectly, as if he was still trapped in that basement to this day. He'd weep if not for his tears being dry.