gore wh*re [ghost x reader]

Chapter 2

a/n: starting with a lil flashback, and then hopping in where we left off on the last chapter :)

tw: it's not super explicit, but loss of loved ones and experiencing ptsd/survivor's guilt is alluded to in this chapter. Also torture is described.

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Darkness.

It was your only constant.

Its depths were familiar even though you knew horrors crept in its shadows — whispers of humanity fraying, monsters cloaked in human flesh. All the while, you stayed, hiding and waiting for a rescue that never came. Akin to a diseased fly on the wall — one who begged for the merciful hand of death — forced to watch as humankind tore itself apart.

But it spared you.

And took everything else you loved.

At first, you were grateful, alive and breathing even if it was among the inky blackness. A plant could survive in the absence of light... until it languished, having to choose between death or a wicked rebirth. An evolution that transformed it into something horrendous.

Survivors' guilt washed across your soul, pressing your battered mind and body into the dirt.

Why had you been pardoned, left to pick up the pieces?

Panicked breathing pushed itself in and out of your lungs painfully, uncaring for the way gasps tore from your throat. The sobs.

Until finally nothingness settled into the void in your heart, replacing the love you used to grasp.

Until your brain caught up with what you'd witnessed — your new reality.

New feelings swirled beneath the surface of your skin, clawing at your flesh, begging to be let out.

Agony.

Rage.

Always rage.

All because death was a selfish entity, a miserable thing that craved company whether someone wanted it or not. And it had taken from you...

Never again.

That would be the last time, and even if death visited again, unwelcomed, you'd be ready. You'd wait with sharpened teeth and nails. It would regret not killing you when it had the chance — when you were weak.

Now, when death looked upon your face, you hoped it trembled for you had nothing to lose.

And everything to gain.

Besides, could it even take a soul that had withered away until only fury remained?

***

Toeing the line of antagonizing your captor and playing nice has become a mind-numbing activity for you. As much as Ghost is predictable, he can flip a switch, unleashing every attribute linked to his morbid namesake.

But for now, he decides that you aren't enough of a nuisance to slaughter.

This realization is filled with both relief and exhaustion. An opportunity to end the neverending pain sounds appealing, but you'll never admit that to anyone.