An Infestation.

Friend, Please

People become broken; they always do. It's bound to happen, every person has been broken. It doesn't matter if it's only been a crack or they are missing some shards, they are still broken. Some people don't even know they are until they are alone in silence, when ringing in your ears is replaced with whispers that seem to say nothing yet something at the exact same time. The whispers is the things you suppress during the day, attack you at night or when you are alone in silence.

Anxiety hears them; but they aren't whispers. They are roars of a lion that shake his bones, they are the explosion of a bomb that makes the air being knocked out of his lungs, they are the ringing of a bell at noon that pounds against his skull.

The others had grown worry that he spends so much time in his room, locked in, refusing to talk to someone. Not even Dad's jokes seem to crack a smile on his face-- he didn't seem himself.

No sarcastic comment. No bitter response. Nothing. Just nothing.

The only time he gets out of his room is when he comes out to walk to the Broken Hall, where Depression's old room is. The room was covered with vines of red roses, they tangled up to every inch of the room. The roses never seemed to die even when they haven't given a drop of water.

Princey, who was pressured to talk to him because both Morality and Logic told him to 'grow up' and just apologize, stood in front of the closed door that was in the Broken Hall. He was annoyed by the fact that he was the one who had to apologize even if he didn't do anything. Well, killing Anxiety's mother is in a way something-- but she asked him to. With a heavy sigh, he opens the door and expected to see the anxious, mourning Trait on the floor with his back pressed against the rose vines covered bed with the vines twitching around him (it seems that they have grown fond of him due to his connection with Depression). But was surprised to see the room empty.

Not wanting to worry the others, Princey walked through the vines, not wanting to be pierced by them, and looked around in the hopes to find him asleep on the floor with the vines nesting him. Nothing.

With slight worry, he walked out of the room and tried to figure out where Anxiety could be. Then, he remembers something.

Princey walked to the garden room and pushed the door open to see the sky empty of colors, clouds rolled with the wind that bent the branches of the trees, waving them back and forth in a way of waving arms against the sky. The royal Trait walks through the garden, with an idea where the other could be. Anxiety said that Depression did no harm towards him, that she (just like him) is a Trait that is so complex that when you finish with one layer to understand her, other ten layers appear. As a way to make Anxiety feel a little bit comfortable, Logic and Patton (with the help of Roman) decided to make a tombstone as a way to remember her. They wrote her name on a large stone and put roses around it, and the glass rose she turned to was set in the growing, making it look like it's growing out of the ground.

The royal Trait then found the other. Anxiety was on the ground, legs criss-crossed in front of the stone. Even from afar, Roman could feel his sadness, his gloominess, his pain. Sudden guilt made his stomach flip and his heart skip a beat, Princey's mouth filled with sourness that made him nauseous.

"You know, I'm not mad at you, Princey." The dark and mourning Trait said, not looking back at him. Princey took a step foward and stood next to him but still far behind to show his respect. Anxiety continued, "I saw what happened and she did asked you to do it." He let out an empty chuckle, "What do you expect her to say? She lost; you won." He stopped and he sniffles, "You always win, anyways..."

The guilt was too much that it made his knees shake. He felt uncharacteristically weak and selfish. Princey took someone's life without a real reason-- a reason that seemed logical and rational at the moment but he couldn't stop thinking about it. He dropped to his knees beside Anxiety. Roman opens him mouth, lips and jaw shaking, "I feel for you, I-I don't know why or how, but when did you believe that you were alone? I know I'm being dramatic but I have a feeling that--that you would say this, you say that spiders crawled inside and build themselves a home where light was. Anxiety, I've seen your room so I believe that this statement would be true.

"Petrified of who you are what you have become; you will hide from everyone, denying that you someone to exterminate your bones." Anxiety then covered his face with his hands, covering his eyes as if it helped him to shut away Princey, pushing back the tears he was embarrassed to shed in front of him. But why do I care? he scowled himself. He then felt other hands on his wrists as they lower them from his face. They were warm against his skin, "Please, remove your hands from over your eyes...for us?

"I know you want to leave but-- please-- don't take your life away from us." Roman, still holding his wrists, gazed into Anxiety's eyes. They looked darker than usual, empty and hollow, the iconic eyeshadow made everything he was, sven darker and almost pitch black. "You've been living life like a ghost; you walk by everyone you know. You say that you're fine but have lost your sway and glow. Why do I have a feeling that you were once so...happy and healthy and looked so alive? Why?

"So I stopped by to let you know, please, remove your hands over your eyes for us. I know you don't want to but, please, don't take your life away from us.

"Would you let me know your plans for tonight? Because I just won't let go until we both see the light in your heart. And I have nothing else to say, but I would listen to you all day. Yes, I will." Anxiety then felt so weak and tired, he slowly closed his eyes and leaned against Roman's shoulder, his breath evening out. Two single tears slowly roll down his cheeks and fall from your chin onto his lap. Roman put his chin on top of Virgil's head.

"Friend, please, remove your hands from over your eyes for me? I know you want to leave but, friend, please-- don't take your life away from me."

The sky began to cry with Virgil as Roman held onto him. Tears from the sky didn't hit them, almost as if they were being protected by something. Roman looked at the tombstone in front of him, he didn't pay attention to it while carving her name. But now, he's reading it for the first time. It read:

Mara "Depression" Jackson-Rodriguez.

Mother of two. Saviour of one. Belongs to no one. May she rest in peace.

Roman hummed as he read her name engraved on the stone. "Miss Jackson?"

The sound of thunder roared at him after the name left his lips. He looked around to see it pouring while he and Virgil and the stone remained dry.

~Le Fin~