After Yashiro Nene's nightmare, everything was eerily quiet for a while.
The morning of the 10th of April was spent indoors; watching shows and videos of hot singers, cleaning and trying to get rid of the feeling of emptiness resting just beneath her skin in the process. Something was not right, it hadn't been from the very start and Nene had always known. It was in the back of her head, the buzzing noise your ears fill the absolute lack of sound with. Except ten times stronger. There was a time Nene was worried she might have tinnitus, she couldn't exactly pinpoint when it started but the moment she realised it, she knew it had always been there.
The 11th of April was a school day. Nene woke up an hour before her alarm, unable to sleep any more than she already had. But she still stayed looking up the ceiling, thinking of nothing and everything at the same time until her alarm went off. With a sweet, innocent melody just loud enough to wake a sleeping Nene up; she got off her bed almost robotically. Fixing the sheets, fixing her dress (white, lacy around the shoulders, cute), fixing her hair (loose ponytail, effortlessly beautiful) fixing her shoes and soon she was at the campus. She had no idea when she got there, when all her morning classes were done with and when lunch break started. Aoi-chan didn't have classes today, despite their similar schedule their free days differed. The day went on with no other noise other than the silent buzz. It almost felt like it was spreading; just an inch, from her head down her whole body. Her head hit the soft pillows and immediately she fell asleep.
On the night of April 12th, Nene started to take notice of how silent everything felt besides the buzz in her head. Could it be that she was having hearing problems? When Aoi-chan was speaking to her today, Nene could barely hear a word of it. She had to keep asking Aoi to repeat, one more time, sorry I didn't hear, come again?
(She wasn't saying anything important anyway.)
The buzz got stronger.
13th of April and Nene almost broke down to tears in front of the whole class. Fast steps took her to the nearest bathroom, she almost fell on her way but she made it with her hands on her ears. She had to wash her face, water splashing again and again and again; trying to rip off something that wasn't even there. Oh god, the noise. It was deafening now, banging against the walls of her skull. Nene could feel it begging to crack from inside. The blood, gushing out of her ears with pieces of her shredded brain, staining her hair in knots of red and dark pink meat. The worst part, she could still hear it. White, static noise louder than humanly possible, dicing her organs into TV pixels. Waves of sound hitting every possible part of her skin hard enough to bruise; dark yellow, ugly green and sickly pale purple.
Cold water.
How long would it take for this place to flood and finally drown Nene in its serene waters? How long until the excruciating pain brought by sound alone will be replaced by burning lungs?
It wouldn't stop.
She had to make it stop. In desperation, her eyes met with the pure white tiles of the bathroom. Solid. It looked hard enough to-
"Hush."
It all went quiet. Yet it was nothing blissful. Nene slowly lifted her head to face herself on the mirror. Large red eyes stared back at her, swollen and tear stained, her hair a mushy mess of white and teal. Then, she heard something speak.
"Gorgeous."
She gasped and fell back as what she thought was her reflection smiled, her eyes briefly shining; gold, incomprehensible, and utterly horrifying. The pain of the fall went unfelt as she started to back off on the tiles, until her back hit the only cabin door in the claustrophobic bathroom. She heard it again.
"Nowhere to run now."
"STOP!! STOP IT, I CAN'T TAKE IT I CAN'T I CAN'T!!!!! STOP OR I'LL RIP MY HEAD O-OFF!!!"
Her voice broke down multiple times through her explicit threats, she knew this creature rested in her head, it couldn't be anywhere else. It had to be, and if Yashiro destroyed its home then...
"I will never disappear."
Its voice was as mocking as it was three days ago, except all the more real and ringing; echoing inside her skull.
"Why are you doing this to me..."
A loud, ungraceful sob escaped her. She hed her head in her hands, as if trying to contain the chaos seeping through it. She closed her eyes, finally giving up this pointless war. She starts crying her heart out when she doesn't receive an immediate response, mumbling through her hiccups and wails, getting quieter as time passes. She doesn't hear anything else until she takes a moment to just breathe.
"Because..."
The voice cuts through the false safety she constructed once again. Only this time, it doesn't echo in her head — this time, it's constant and horrifying clear, almost as if the source is right next her ear.
She feels the intake of a breath brush against her skin and her heart leaps out of her ribcage. It's purely on instinct that she keeps frozen in place, not even attempting to run because even she knew that her attacker had her in its claws now. Twin black widows, latching on her skin; familiar yet all the more terrifying.
"...You're gonna die if I don't."
Its words didn't echo.
It almost sounded....Human.
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