When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

The End Is Where We Begin

Wake up.

Eat.

Go to classes.

Come home.

Change.

Go to work.

Come back home.

Eat.

Sleep.

The routine of which Y/N was used to was slowly killing her. It's not like it was a necessarily bad routine, she was just so tired. It was taking a toll on her. She found herself just going through the motions, not really finding any passion in things like she used to. She couldn't even remember the last time she hung out with her friends; and her mind was becoming dangerous after such a long time of self induced isolation.

It was like a side effect of going through the motions, she just stopped caring about things. Unfortunately, she had developed a mentality based around the idea that if she were to just die, at least she didn't have to go to work just to pay the bills, just to wake up and go to classes she didn't want anymore, and then go back to work again.

It got so bad that Y/N didn't even bother looking both ways when crossing the street, finding herself in a funk, praying to whatever deity that might exist just to make her life interesting again. Praying for someone; anyone, she didn't even care who, to throw a wrench in the wheel.

I suppose her prayers got answered on her way to work one day, when a car's frantic honking snapped her out of her self pity party, and collided with her body at a speed that sent her flying down the street.

Y/N thought she had died, she couldn't feel anything. She really considered the idea that maybe she had died on impact, and that the afterlife just looked exactly the same as it did when she was living, just... Numb this time around. That's exactly how she felt. Numb. Number than usual. Every part of her body was numb, save for the feeling of the thick blood pooling around her body.

She tried to move her hand to try and see the blood pooling in the palm of her hand, but found that she was completely paralyzed. She could only manage to twitch her fingers, feeling the slickness of blood between them. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. Y/N was trapped inside of her own body. Seconds later, the realization came that she wasn't completely numb when she felt someone pick her up like she was a bride, or a princess or something. It was more that she couldn't feel her body, but she could feel her surroundings. She wasn't sure why that was, but it terrified her none the less. She struggled, unable to see the face of the person carrying her, afraid. Y/N decided that just maybe she wasn't dead, because if she really was dead and this really was the afterlife, no one would be able to see her, not to mention touch her.

"Shh," the person who was either about to be her savior or her murderer whispered, and it sounded like a strain on them, like they weren't used to being so quiet. The hand that was supporting her head was petting her hair, which she could tell by the resistance of the strands against their fingers, was matted with blood. "Calm down. Struggling isn't gonna help, you're not gonna get anywhere. Just sleep."

They were trying to soothe her into relaxing with calm words and gentle strokes to her head, but Y/N wasn't willing to go out without a fight, even if she really had no control over her body. She twisted her neck as hard as she could to get a look at them, essentially deciding that if she was gonna die (assuming that she wasn't already dead), she was determined to look her killer in the face. No matter how hard she struggled, she was only able to turn maybe a whole centimeter. However, what she saw was so confusing, she wasn't sure if she really saw what she thought she did. Her eyebrows, which were the only parts of her body she could move with no problems for some reason, furrowed in confusion. She tried to speak, but it came out as more of a confused gargle.

The person carrying her-- if they could be considered that-- had red skin. Like, red as roses. And horns, she was sure she saw, except it looked like one was busted. Except, Y/N tried to reason with herself, That can't be true. That doesn't make any sense.

At the sound of the confused sound Y/N made, her carrier looked down at her, and their eyes connected for a second. Y/N's vision was blurry to the point where almost all she could see was obscure shapes and blurred colors, but she was almost absolutely sure they'd made eye contact. She could tell a grin made its way onto his features. "Lights out, princess." She tried to say something again, but she was unconscious before she could think of anything to say.