Shattered

Chapter 1

Tord clung to his few strings of sanity after the "incident". Or at least that's what Paul called it. The "incident". Nothing more... Nothing less. Tord couldn't cope when confronted with the full reality of it all... The enormity of what he had done to his friends.
His only friends.
Who trusted him.
Who loved him.
Who treasured him like the family he always wanted and needed.
He would often find himself alone.
Alone with his thoughts.
His thoughts that tortured him day and night.
He was silently screaming. Screaming and writhing as his brain constantly smothered him with nightmares. Sometimes his friends were dead.
At his hands.
AT HIS HANDS.
He would look down and stare at the blood on his hands and frown and then look up and realize... Realize who's blood it was. It was a different color each time.
Green.
Purple.
Blue.
Green.
Blue.
Purple.
He would start screaming. No. Sobbing.
Or both.
He couldn't decide.
All he felt was the guilt that gnawed at him. And the terror. The fear of being alone and losing them. Tears constantly streaked his face as he teetered on the thin line between sanity and oblivion.
Then he would wake up. His scarred face wet and burning from the salt in his tears and his sweat. It seared his skin. He reached for the bottle. It didn't matter what it was.
ANYTHING
anything to soothe the pain both internal and external. He never read the label. Just felt the burning. The burning that seemed to numb everything it touched. Then nothing. Peace.
Momentary peace.
But momentary was all it was.
Paul and Patryk would enter and leave his room just to make sure he was still breathing. They just had to keep him alive. They tried not to attach much sentiment to their leader but failed miserably often finding themselves coddling him as a mother and father would.
They knew everything about him. They knew him like the back of the back of their hands. Yet he knew almost nothing about their personal lives. For starters, Paul and Patrick were married. This was of course kept secret for infinite reasons. They also were quite fond of Tord and often thought of him as a son. They didn't have to stay with him. They've been offered many higher paying jobs that are much easier. They just didn't want to leave him alone. Especially not while he's like this. He's falling apart and they don't know what to do.
Strand by strand snaps as his last strings of sanity are plucked from his hands.
Little did they know his self destruct wasn't only on the inside.