sinking down, down

[facultwist]

Death is a drop into a blackness that swallows you. You feel the movement of not air but shadow across your face as you plummet, and there is no bottom. No crash.

If there is another side, you do not reach it.

It is neither the light of heaven or the fires of hell that greets you when you wake. And wake you do, to the buzz and flicker of old fluorescent lights.

You are laid out beside a full-size competitive swimming pool, half-filled with stagnant water. The doors out are blocked off by locked doors covered in caution tape. The locker rooms are long since emptied, paint peeling from the humidity. The only signs of habitation are a few pieces of scattered graffiti.

Welcome to your new home. There's no sunlight, no indication of time passing. Just you and each other and your thoughts. the stagnant water bubbles a little occasionally, but there's nothing in it.

Before long you'll realize that you no longer need to eat or drink. You might notice your hand go through something if you don't focus. You're a ghost now. What's that they say about unfinished business?

Comments

[thatsplato]

W-what? [Misty freezes, suddenly.

No. This can’t be happening. This is somehow even worse than—]

[protomartyr]

That's what Vanity thinks. I'm asking you.

[thatsplato]

[Misty whirls on Vanity, staring at her like a crazed animal. A girl on the edge.]

You! You weren’t there! You can’t know anything!

cw: ableism

[protomartyr]

[ So Vanity was right. So Lottie was as sick as they've always said. No wonder she can't make Hatsune hear her. They were never listening to anything anyway.

Lottie tilts her head towards the ceiling. ]

Hey, Misty. Wanna hear a secret?

[thatsplato]

[She knows it’s a trap. She does. She’s not a complete idiot. But knowing others secrets has always been a siren call.]

What?

cw: implied fictional one sided student teacher relationship

[protomartyr]

[ Lottie doesn't look down. You're not supposed to, when you're standing on the edge of a cliff. ]

Coach Ben is gay.

[thatsplato]

[For the second time, she wonders if this is what Crystal, Sayo and Kanon felt like. When the world was torn away from them—- except this time, she doesn’t hit the ground. Her heart is still plummeting, her mind racing— she’s screaming before she realizes it’s her to shut herself up—- ]

N-no! No he’s not! He loves me!

[protomartyr]

[ Lottie shrugs. Her voice is soft, but also a little empty. ]

We all have things we believe to get us through the day. Probably best we stop lying to ourselves, huh?

cw ableism and a fake student teacher relationship and stalking

[thatsplato]

You—- you—- [Misty balls her fists. Did she know? Deep, deep down, there were clues. by which we mean very shallow

He never answered her calls, texts, dms, or friend requests, not under her own identity at least. He’d been at pride last summer. But that made sense! He was such a good guy, so kind, of course he was an ally—- but no? He wasn’t so good and kind. He’d led her on. He let her think he loved her, that someone, anyone could love her, just like Lottie had made her think that she could have friends, a community, when no one ever really had cared—- no one except—- and now she was alone, and everyone was looking at her with that same look——]

Fine! My mushrooms were in the soup! So what?! They weren't meant for you!

[sweetsynergy]

I can make an educated guess. You gonna answer her?

[thatsplato]

[Well, she was going to try and kill Vanity again, but—- secret time in the thread above.]

[sweetsynergy]

[Oh that's definitely not gonna end well.]

[Just. Taking a step back here.]