Twenty Øne Piløts Øne-Shøts

Blurryface

"Blurryface made me do it." The little girl stared shamefully up at her mother, as if hoping she would believe the obvious lie. At her feet was shattered glass and a small puddle of milk.

Her mother sighed, regretting once again her choice to let her daughter listen to Twenty One Pilots. The music made the little girl happy. She would dance around the house singing off-key and trying to rap. But ever since Blurryface had been explained to her, she had been blaming every little thing on him.

"Kelli, Blurryface can't make you do things. It's your coice," she tried to explain.

"But..." The little girl tried to object, but she knew her mother was right.

"Kelli, go to your room until I come get you."

"Yes, momma." Kelli turned and sulked her way down the hall to her room. She closed the door loudly. Then she sat on her bed.

Blurryface had made her do it, hadn't he? Kelli knew she didn't want to throw the glass on the floor. Or did she? It had felt good. But momma was mad. That means it wasn't good.

Kelli looked around her room. Suddenly, there was something there. Something against the opposite wall.

The room felt darker, the air felt colder, and Kelli stared at the creature in fear. She couldn't quite tell what his face looked like. It seemed to shift from one scary thing to the next. It lifted its head and looked straight at her. She somehow felt it look inside her. It was the eyes, those empty, glowing red eyes, that seemed to be an endless expanse of nothingness. They wanted to consume everything, though even infinity couldn't fill them. It was the eyes that made Kelli scream. The creature smiled with ugly teeth, and then it laughed. The laugh had no humor or happiness. It was halfway between a croak and a wheeze, like a groan. Kelli screamed again, and the creature spoke. "No one can hear you. Hello, Kelli. I am Blurryface."

*******

Barbara swept the broken glass into a dustpan. Thankfully, Kelli had dropped the glass on the wooden floor and not the carpet. She sopped up the milk with some paper towels, sighing. Then she returned to her office. Most of her day was spent at her work, but she had to bring Kelli home from school. She did the rest of her work at home, spending less time than she wanted actually with Kelli. She stared at her computer screen. Words flew into her brain, but she couldn't figure out what they were. She groaned. This was supposed to be finished yesterday. She grabbed her phone and scrolled through her music, her eyes landing on Goner. She pressed Play.

The piano started. It never failed to relax Barbara. "I'm a goner. Somebody catch my breath. I'm a goner. Somebody catch my breath." The voice was soothing to her stressed mind. Raising a child singlehandedly was just too much sometimes. "I want to be known by you. I want to be known by you." She thought about Kelli, and how she wished she could get to know her better and spend more time with her. "I'm a goner. Somebody catch my breath. I'm a goner. Somebody catch my breath. I want to be known by you. I want to be known by you." The chorus started, and Barbara closed her eyes. "Though I'm weak and beaten down, I'll slip away into the sound." She smiled sadly. That was exactly what she was doing, slipping away into the sound. "The ghost of you is close to me. I'm inside out, you're underneath."

Barbara continued listening to the song. By the time the screaming came, she started crying. Her heart felt heavy. Her soul felt heavy. Her arms felt heavy. Her mind felt heavy. She mouthed the words. "I'm a goner. Somebody catch my breath. I'm a goner. Somebody catch my breath. I want to be known by you. I want to be known by you." The music faded to silence. She opened her eyes with a heavy breath. She checked her watch. It had been five minutes since she sent Kelli to her room. She got up and walked into Kelli's room.