"I used to think that nightmares ended as soon as you woke up. Turns out, some follow you into the daylight. Others? crawl straight into your skin and rot your sanity away for however long you want them to. Key word: want."
It was the dead middle of the night, the waxing crescent was but a sliver of a line in the boundless sky. Lu Xie stared up, hoping to find a spark of inspiration, the sky stared back. Empty.
He had gotten his hands on an ultra-lens telescope, the latest model in fact. After all, he planned to quietly get rid of himself soon.
"Im sure professor Atmos wouldn't mind."
The engravings "A T M O S" spelled out in cursive writing along the base of the telescope. It was the newest model from the international association of space administration itself.
"Lucky bastard, constantly getting whatever he asks for."
Lu murmured under his breath, the scent of disdain was present all around him. trying to forget this fact, he continued prying his eyes on the last bit of moon that was visible to him, the final thing he wanted to know was what the star sailors lived like.
"Amazing..." The zoom of the telescope was strong enough to be able to view the surface of the moon all the way from Earth... Albeit not with the clearest vision.
His amusement came to an end when the only slice of space he could view fully descended into darkness.
"What a shame."
The word shame only reminded Lu of himself.
…
Now, with a soured mood he begrudgingly retreated to his private dormitory.
The young teen popped open an orange container, the label scratched off with minimal effort. The pills rattled in the container as he held it up to the dim light filtering through the blinds. A reminder of his helplessness... His mouth ran dry, but he ignored it. He didn't need to hesitate anymore. He had already made the decision a long time ago.
One by one, the pills drop onto the palm of his hand, smooth and rounded, their edges catching the light like tiny, silent promises. Promises of an end. Promises of freedom from this dreadful life.
"Goodbye, world,"
He muttered to himself. It wasn't a goodbye to anyone in particular, just the way things had always been. The weight of it was... underwhelming. He'd expected more from this moment, maybe a sense of relief. But there was none.
"How corny!"
Lu immediately swallowed like there was no tomorrow. literally. the gushing of ice-cold water down his throat brought him his final positive feeling in this world, not the most satisfying end to say the least.
Tucking himself in, Lu snuggled comfortably in the sheets.
"This isn't so bad."
The ticking of the clock kept him awake. Each "Tick!" was like a jab at his conscience, trying to get him to gain some mental clarity and actually understand the gravity of the situation.
"It's not too late to turn back y'know?"
"Shut up, just... let me sleep,"
Even he himself was driving him mad, truly nobody supported him now.
Thunder erupts outside and Lu opens the note his parents had left him before they had perished in that brutal pit of flames.
"Be a good boy and listen to Uncle Watt, Mommy and Daddy are sure to pack some snacks for you when we get back okay?" - Love, Mom
Tears stream down his cheek. The sniffling alone would get him a noise complaint, if he even had any roommates left.
"Mother... father... I'm so, *hic* Sor- ry. — ACK!"
Lu convulsed on his bed—soon to be coffin
"The effects shouldn't be this soon!"
He wanted to question more, but there was no time. Should he try to stop the effects from developing further or should he bear the pain and let the grasp of death take him away?
Lu reached for his drawer but the pain only increased.
Muscles twitched, foam seeped out of his mouth. His vision faltering as the lights seemingly turning on and off in his vision. His body tensed, heart hammering against his ribs. It wasn't supposed to hurt like this... Not at all!
His sight flickered like a broken film reel, the edges of the room distorting into impossible angles. Each gasp for air was met with a sharp sting to the heart. His mind was in a fog, and the pain was almost as unbearable as replaying each of his traumas a thousand times. He felt like throwing up, but the slightest movements put every strand of muscle fibre in constant agony
The world bent inwards, the room stretching and warping like some hideous mockery from a higher dimensional being toying with him.
Suddenly, the walls collapsed in on him, the sounds, the visions, everything. Lu felt as if the overstimulation had fried his neurons completely. He heardeverything, saweverything, felteverything.
And then,
There was nothing.