The War.

Chapter 27: Escape?

⚠️ HUGE TW: ATTEMPTED SUICIDE ⚠️
tw; roger
!! please skip if this triggers you !!

guys i am so sorry for this one, but this was made purely for awareness purposes.

i know many people are struggling with self hatred and suicidal thoughts, but take this as a sign to stay.

there are reasons to stay.

dm me on tiktok if you want to talk, my user is autschlld.

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Siobhan felt more exhausted with each passing day. The relief from Stella's healing spell had faded, and the familiar pain crept back, sharper than before. Every movement hurt, every breath ached, and the thought of spending another day in this miserable cycle filled her with dread. She needed to escape. Desperately. But how?

How could she break free when Roger was always looming over her, pulling her strings like she was his puppet? Every plan she thought of seemed impossible under his watchful eye.

Siobhan tried to find a way to calm her racing thoughts, to relax even for a moment. Maybe if she could give her mind a break, she could think more clearly. Roger wasn't home — probably out meeting with his group or doing whatever it was he did. All the doors and windows were locked, and she'd tried before to break one open, but nothing worked. Every escape attempt had ended in failure.

With a sigh, she reached for a book on the nearby shelf. The title on the front cover read "Escape." She paused, feeling a bitter pang in her chest. Another cruel reminder of how trapped she was, how impossible leaving felt. Still, she opened the book, letting the words draw her in, trying to lose herself in the pages and forget, if only for a little while.

Hours slipped by like minutes as Siobhan read, lost in the world between the pages. She had zoned out completely, unaware of the passing time until she found herself at the final chapter. She continued reading, each word resonating in her mind, her breath quickening with the story's pace. As she reached the last few sentences, her eyes widened, the words seeming to echo louder and louder in her head.

As I leapt, freedom embraced me, a calm like none I'd ever known. For the first time, I held my fate in my own hands. I was free.

Death was the only escape.

Siobhan stared at the page, her mind a storm of thoughts. She had been battling the urge to end it all for so many years, clinging to reasons to stay, convincing herself she couldn't leave. But now, for the first time, she felt the fight draining from her, the will to try slipping away.

She didn't feel like fighting anymore.

She didn't feel like trying anymore.

She didn't feel like living anymore.

She made her way to the makeshift "library" in the house, her fingers trembling as she searched behind one of the bookshelves for a note—the note that had kept her going for so long.

Stay.
Stay for Vivian.
She loves you, you know she loves you.
You need to stay.
Imagine her at your funeral, sobbing over your dead body.
Stay.