Darkness.
That was all he could see. An endless, suffocating void.
It wasn't just around him. It was inside him. A heavy, inescapable fog coiling through his mind, pressing against every thought, blurring every memory. His life played out like a distant film reel, flickering and fragmented, slipping through his grasp every time he tried to hold on.
The voices of the people he loved were out there somewhere, faint and muffled, as though coming from underwater. He wanted to reach them, to shout, to let them know he was still here, but his voice wasn't his own.
The voice he heard was wrong. Familiar but twisted. It moved his lips, it formed his words, but it wasn't him. He wasn't in control.
Finn should have been dead. That much he knew. He should have slipped into the peace of oblivion, away from the pain and the weight of it all. But he hadn't.
Why?
Because it wasn't done with him.
That thing. It had sunk its claws too deep, entwined its will with his until he couldn't tell where it ended and he began. It wasn't finished.
It needed him.
No, that wasn't right. Finn wasn't what it wanted. Not really. He was just a pawn, a puppet to be worn and discarded.
The Mimic wanted something else.
Someone else.
And that someone was Archie.
Finn felt it deep in his soul, like a cold hand tightening around his heart. He wasn't the target, he was the bait. And the thought of it, the realization of how little control he had, made the darkness swallow him whole.
What did it really want? Why was it doing this?
The questions plagued Finn's mind, looping endlessly in the oppressive darkness that surrounded him. The Mimic's presence was suffocating, its grip unyielding. Finn couldn't break free, no matter how hard he tried. He was trapped in a nightmare with no end, forced to watch his life unravel, his body used like a tool for someone else's twisted agenda.
He wished for a way out. Desperately, fervently. He wanted to taste freedom, to feel sunlight on his skin again, to be himself. He wanted to laugh at stupid jokes, to throw a football without that invisible weight pressing down on his soul, to see Archie's smile and know it was real, not something twisted and manipulated by the creature inside him.
But no matter how hard he pushed, no matter how much he screamed, the darkness held him fast.
Until it didn't.
The words came out of nowhere, breaking through the void like a piercing light.
"I love you too. I'm sorry I didn't say it when I had the chance."
It was Archie's voice.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Finn felt something. A hand reaching into the murky waters that drowned him, pulling him up to the surface. His lungs expanded as though he'd just taken his first breath.
The darkness faltered.
For a second, a fleeting, precious second, he broke through. Clarity washed over him, light seeping into his mind, pushing back the Mimic's suffocating hold. He could feel again. Archie's words echoed in his soul, filling the empty space where hope had been extinguished.
But it was just a moment. A fragile flicker of light before the darkness swallowed him again.
And yet, that moment was everything.
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A Spirit Between Us (bxb)
RomanceWhat's the definition of perfect? Finley O'conner. He has it all. Charm, popularity, and annoyingly good looks. But beneath the confident facade lies a secret, the reason why his seemingly perfect life flipped upside down. His raging crush on Arch...