kh_drabble | [259] Say Goodbye: Underworld

Challenge: [259] Say Goodbye
Title: Underworld
Word Count: 353
Rating: G
Spoilers: Major spoilers for BbS
Notes: Because darkness isn't fun. :(

Underworld

My goodbye is a long, long walk back to the beginning.

It starts when the dot of light fades like the last star's salute to dawn, and I fall and fall, a crumbling leaf in the wind.

Five,

ten,

fifty,

one hundred, and then I wonder what comes after.

One foot in front of the other – left, right, left, right, onwards and upwards – and save for the ache of persistence in my heart, it doesn't hurt at all. I can't grow tired and I can't pant with exhaustion; the too-clear air laps up beads of sweat before I can comprehend I am suffering at all. When I really think hard, I can shed one tear before the air convulses and thieves that single privilege.

It's quiet. The sea of shadows can echo and resound like the toll of death-drenched bells, but they choose to drive the stab of silence to nudge me over the brink, under the surface, into handmade dark visions. A nightmare thrives on the absence of normality and sense; and I have to keep walking, because walking makes a sound, and the sound of crushed stone and metallic scuffs are the only marks I can make to convince myself, I'm still here.

There are no weathers to battle – no raging rain or tumultuous gales – and no one to talk to, not even a reflection. I am stripped of purpose and reason. Sometimes, I start to retrieve splinters of old and forgotten life, ones that never mattered and now are too precious to slip through my fingers. Small habits of mine, lost grains of smells and touches I loved, fraying memories of childhood and growing up. Things like…like…

…and then something makes me forget.

The Darkness is elegant in its cruelty and its subtle, refined methods of torture.

My goodbye is a long, long, ever so weary walk back to the beginning.

Each heavy thud is a prayer I am one step closer to home, each rattling breath a hope the straight and narrow path will come full circle, and each echoing heartbeat is a promise – my farewell will be the prelude to my rebirth.