Cruor Pectoris (Blood of the Heart) - Flash Fiction collection

Survivor (TW: mention of suicide)

I am a survivor.

I have battled and warred with my demons, the malignant spirits ripping at every exposed part of me, weighing me down with scars I am ashamed to bear.

But though they have beaten me down more times than I have the will to count, I have always risen back up in the end.

They can't put me down forever.

I won't let them get the best of me!

Do you hear me, demons?

I try to drown you, but you can still swim.

I try to outrun you, but your stamina always outlasts mine.

I try to hide from you, but your all-seeing eyes punch through every defence I have- no matter how much time and energy I put into building them up.

I promise you this: I will not give up. I will not negotiate a ceasefire with you. I will not let you take over me.

I have the strength, the willpower. It's always been there, nestled safely in the farthest depths of my soul.

I might not have had the courage to reach past the nightmares and the bad memories and all the pain, I might not have had enough hope within me to do that alone, but-

I wasn't alone-

I've never been alone-

It hasn't been just you, demons, accompanying me.

I have my soul-brother.

He has been the barrier between you and me- he has given me his own courage, his own hope.

He has been my crutch when my injuries have been too much for me to bear.

He took my broken pieces and patched me up- he helped make me into the survivor I am.

Together with him, I am stronger than you.

With him fighting beside me, I can't give up.

He's given me so many reasons to live, pushing back all the reasons I had to die.

I have always known I had the strength- I just never believed it.

I was blind- but he has opened my eyes.

I'm not alone.

I'm more than enough.

I'll learn to love myself.

You can't pull me down.

I am a survivor.