Comatose

5. Shattered Reality

❝People change for two main reasons: their minds have opened, or their hearts have been broken.❞

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CINCO:

SHATTERED REALITY

She was drowning, falling back into that dark pound of nothingness. Invisible hands held her heart in a vice grip, and anxiety laughed in her face as trails of blood seeped between those long fingers to make a puddle beneath her bare feet. Her knuckles were white as she kept her breaking reality clenched in her fists, and she wobbled under the hot stream of water needles.

The peace she usually found in those minutes in the steamy bathroom was nowhere to be felt; her mind swirled with the uncontrollable train of thought that refused to let her breath. Her lungs burned as tilted her head to face the waterfall, before she turned it off and allowed the humid air to fill her again. For an instant, her mental agony faded and gave room to a stinging sensation pounding on her neck. Reaching up to caress the sensitive skin, a sickening feeling took shape in her stomach as the remembrance of Hayama trying to dominate her assaulted her tormented mind.

Kaiya gasped and placed a hand in front of her on the slippery wall, if only to avoid falling on her knee as a gut-wrenching sensation gripped her insides and squeezed. As she tried to hold on to the spinning reality, she searched for a towel and almost slipped when her foot bumped into the small step that separated the shower plate from the rest of the bathroom.

Her eyes found her reflection on the mirror the second she stood, and they caressed her bruised skin with dread. A sob threatened to slip out as a moment of clarity cleared her mind, and she took in her small, but noticeable wounds that decorated the most hidden and sacred parts of her body.

Why had she allowed that to happen?

Kaiya had hidden from emotional agony the only way she knew, by seeking comfort in the hands of physical pain. As long as the cries of her heart were muffled by gasps and screams, she hadn't minded the assault to her body — she had welcomed it. However, something had unbalanced her and shattered her fortress of glass.

His voice still echoed in her head, smooth and clear like a cloudless morning. His presence was so powerful Kaiya had felt it the moment his body had brushed hers, and her broken heart had sent a message to her mind: to stop fighting, to let that power possess and embrace her, to give in.

But how could she?

After everything, there was no way Kaiya was going to allow hope to reinforce the pillars that were crumbling by the second. She wouldn't even allow a pang of curiosity to sprout from the unknown reasons of his comeback. Clenching her fists and wrapping the towel around her shaking body, she closed her eyes as dizziness suddenly sent her to fall on her knees.

Aomine had seen a glimpse of the person he created, but she wouldn't let him be close the gap between them and relish in the fact that he had succeeded in tearing her apart.

But coming to her defence like that... Who gave him the right to step inside her castle like he owned it?

Suddenly, everything became too much for her to keep inside. Gripping the toilet, she emptied her stomach between sobs and gasps. If Aria was still there, she had definitely heard her drown in her own damaged reality.

The door opened slowly, almost with hesitance. But Kaiya remained crouched over the remains of her fortress, tensing ever so slightly as a hand was placed on her back and her hair was pulled from her face with care.