A Deceitful Wonderland

Chapter 23 Tears

Karamatsu buried his face in his knees, a blank expression on his face.

There was pain shooting through his wrist, Karamatsu wincing everytime he moved it.

He tried to clear his mind, just wanting to hear nothing but pure silence. His head ached from crying, his body ached from the bruises he had gotten from his supposed "older brother"

Karamatsu wanted to gag at the thought. This Osomatsu wasn't his older brother.

Karamatsu wanted to scream as loudly as possible until his throat was sore but he chose to stay silent.

Screaming won't solve anything.

He was just tired. Tired Of fighting. tired of hurting.

Karamatsu lifted his head, his eyes half lidded. He began singing a song with a soft melody, his voice echoing through the walls.

He hasn't sang using his real voice in a long time. Rather than his voice sounding deep and smooth, it was soft and delicate.

Even with the pain of his broken wrist, singing calmed him down. Singing had always calmed him down.

He took soft breaths as he sang, tuning out every other noise outside of his confined space.

He felt a wet droplet hit his knuckles and he didn't need to look down to see what it was. He knew he was crying.

Vision blurred, voice now shaky, and eyes half lidded, he continued.

He didn't even hear the concerned black cat scratching at his window and calling his name.

"Karamatsu!" Ichi yelled, trying to get Kara's attention but Karamatsu remained in that state as if he locked himself in his own mind.

Ichi peered through the window, looking down to see several long nails, hammered into the windowsill.

"Did Osomatsu seriously fucking nail the window shut!?" Ichi said out loud.

Ichimatsu looked back up to see Karamatsu slumped over by the wall, still sitting on the bed but he was no longer singing.

Karamatsu had deadpan look on his face which was kind of scary yet familiar.

He was breathing heavily, his nails beginning to dig into his hoodie sleeves.

"Oh no.." Ichi said under his breath, jumping from the windowsill and looking for another way inside.

He was all too familiar with this.

Karamatsu's breath became frantic as his body shook violently. His vision blurred and he felt dizzy, almost sick.

His eyes darted around the room as he brought his hand up to his mouth, further coiling himself into a tight ball.

It seemed like the room was getting darker. Karamatsu's head was spinning. He felt like something terrible was going to happen, he felt unsafe.

Ichi soon entered the room, having found an open window somewhere and quickly making his way over to Kara's room

"Oh God, Karamatsu calm down!" Ichi said, running towards Karamatsu and jumping onto the bed next to him.

Karamatsu frantically looked around shaking his head as tears fell from his eyes and he found it harder and harder to breathe.

"Karamatsu pull yourself together!" Ichi yelled in a concerned tone, resting his paw on Karamatsu's leg and looking up at him.

Karamatsu tried to speak but couldn't say anything coherent.