【自留】Fallen From Grace by V(25)

"you didn't listen to me before." The voice says again. I start turning rapidly, trying to find where the blue flame might've reappeared. "kid. listen to me, just this once." I stay quiet. The bursting of the rain like bombs through the cavern wracks my eardrums. "i know you wanna jump down there." My body begins to calm as it talks. The low, resonant words are almost calming amidst the overwhelming roar of the wind. "but you'll regret it." The voice seems to get closer. "i know how hard it must be for you. your family doesn't sound great." Still, I stay quiet as the voice grows closer to my ears. "but I'm afraid that if you don't turn back around and go back to them now," exhalation bursts down on my ear, as my chest muscles seize up, "I don't think you'll ever get the chance."

Silence finds me, even as the wind howls and bites my body, it feels quiet. I look down at the hole. There's nothing but darkness at the bottom. My chest starts heaving in and out, as I recount my options. I think back to my father, sitting alone in his chair. Blood-ridden. Full of holes. Yet he seems to be smiling at me. Grinning, madly, even. The shadows under his eyelids seem to suck light in like a vacuum. The kids are there too. They're all staring at me with those cold lightless eyes. Come back to reality, Chara. I open my eyes and look down at the hole. My hands curl tightly around the knife. My cut, bloody lips crack open around their dry edges.