Mortalized

Cripple (9)

     Cold... So, so cold. My feet were freezing. Nothing but crude wrappings there to protect them. Pain. There was so much of it. I was drowning in it.. again. It was my burden to carry. I was a monster, afterall.

     Blood leaked from my side and into the puddle beneath me. Only the distant light reflecting dimly off the liquid substance shown it was even there, as the floor was also so, so dark. Nearly every bone in my body had been broken. The feeling of my body finally having the time to sew itself back together made my stomach ache, for more reasons than one. Why couldn't I just leave myself crippled, broken; dead? Why couldn't I just slip away into the afterlife? Surely, I would be happier there. I shivered. I was a monster. My body would never let me do that. May as well learn to live with it... But, how? My face had been smashed inward and was swollen from the beating, just like the rest of me. But, in time, it would be as if nothing happened. Just like all the other times before.

     The cold wall at my back was the only sense of comfort I had. My arms were too broken to wrap around myself in a comforting hold, instead laying limply in front of me as I lay on my side. This was the point where tears would usually fill my eyes, and weak sobbing would make my ribs sting with every sharp inhale, but, again.. I was a monster... Monsters don't cry... At least, not anymore.

     "Psst, Hero..? You out here?" A familiar voice turned around a corner, followed by the head of a young teen my age cautiously poking in to see how I was doing. I swallowed the blood pooling in my mouth and attempted to call back to him, only making pitiful groaning sounds instead. The brown haired individual turned his blue eyes to me swiftly, jaw dropping at the sight of his brother. "He-Hero!" He quickly came running to me.

     "S-shhh!" I managed, trying to lift my head and make myself look more alive. Unfortunately, however, I had a lot of healing left to do. The boy ran up to me, diving on his knees to scoop me up in his arms, worry consuming his face as he examined me and all my injuries.

     "Oh, lord Jeb they are getting worse. We need to get you out of here, before you eventually get killed!" The young teen began to panic, head filled with ideas.

     "No.." I said weakly, best arm slowly raising to point out the massive scars on my brother's arm that hadn't healed, like all mine did. "..You aren't like me." My eyes began to water as they stared into the dark blue eyes of my brother. "...Yo-u, aren't a- a- a, monster.." I began to cry, my bent inward ribs threatening to impale my lungs were I to burst into full crying. A look of both concern and care and anger took my brother's usually optimistic and determined face, as he pulled me closer to him, one hand stroking through my messy hair in a means of immediate comfort.

     "Sshhh, shhh.. No.. you are not a monster. Stop listening to them. Sshhh.. They just want to hurt you even more.." He repeated into my ear. My own lungs fought to keep themselves from taking too deep of a breath while also trying to calm myself down. As much as I wanted to argue; as much as I knew he was wrong; as much as I so badly wanted him to believe I was the monster I claimed I was, I also didn't. With all honesty, I didn't want to be a monster.

     Though the room was dark and cold, the comfort of my brother there, holding me tightly, thumb gently stroking my head just above the ear where I found the most comfort, continuing to mumble under his breath that I was not a monster, all managed to soothe me. In time, my breathing had calmed and my eyes drew heavy. After I had calmed down it was just the usual shivering that followed, as my mind and body alike were still recovering. Pretty soon it was just, silence; but not the bad kind. I could tell my brother was still a little shaken too, as he never got any rest when I was the one getting hurt, and vise versa. I could even just barely see the dark circles under his eyes, created by anxiety on top of hours spent up. He probably slept much less than me; always watching over my resting form like a.. a mother bear, or something. It was about that time, when I was beginning to doze off, that my breathing fell into an even slower pattern, which always worried my twin. Even though he was a little smaller than me, my brother managed to slide me onto his lap so that I could soak up as much body heat as possible. That was the only way he really knew how to help me when my face was turning pale, afterall.

     My brother then began slowly rocking in his place, likely just to comfort himself this time, since rocking was always his thing. And, as the silence slowly slipped further into our ears, I finally fell asleep.. not anticipating tomorrow...

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Welp! It's a shortie, but I still hope you guys liked it! :D

Also, little update to those who have been keeping up with this, I switched out Entity303 for Null, since that fits a lot better with the perfected lore I have finally been polishing up.

Aaaand, seeya!
Stay epic!