cw:

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Darkness.

 

Complete, total darkness.

 

Mari finds herself surrounded by shadow on all sides, with no indication of where she is or how she got here. Seeing no other option, she picks a direction and starts walking in hopes she’ll eventually find some clue about what’s going on. This continues for some time, and if nothing else she has to admit the peace and quiet is a nice change of pace compared to the chaos she’s been dealing with, but unfortunately it doesn’t last for long.

 

Mari takes a moment to examine her surroundings, just in case something’s changed since she started walking, but when she turns back in the direction she’s headed, there’s now an image of an older woman with long black hair standing in front of her.

 

Who the hell do you think you are, acting like this?

 

The words carry themselves through the air without the apparition’s lips ever moving, and Mari takes on an expression of abject terror and confusion.

 

“No… W-What are you doing here?” Mari’s voice is shaky.

 

You’re always going off and doing whatever you want, do you ever stop to think about how I feel?

 

“I-I don’t… I don’t fucking care how you feel!” Mari lashes out at the image of the woman, its form dissolving into smoke as she takes a swipe at it.

 

Mari stands there for a few moments, breathing heavily as she looks at her hand. A cold, empty feeling lingers where her skin made contact with the smoke.

 

Why can’t you just listen to me for once?

 

Mari turns around to find the woman standing behind her, she strikes it again, and the feeling grows stronger as it dissipates.

 

“You.. You don’t get to tell me what to do…” Her words drip with anger.

 

After everything I’ve done for you, you repay me by acting like this?

 

What will your sister think when she sees what you’ve done to yourself?

 

Two more copies of the woman appear in front of Mari, whose hands have started shaking.

 

“Shut up, SHUT UP!” She yells as she charges through them both, desperate to get away. The smoke gets all over her face and arms, causing the cold feeling to spread further across her body.

 

This isn’t how I raised you.

 

Can’t we have a mature conversation about this?

 

Where did you get those clothes?

 

Several more of the woman appear in various places all throughout the darkness, and the only thing Mari can think to do is to ignore their words and keep running. She tries to avoid coming into contact with them where she can, but sometimes they pop up too close for her to react, and she finds herself feeling emptier as she runs through the smoke, the cold feeling starting to become painful as she feels a sharpness in her lungs.

 

“Why can’t… you just… leave me alone!?” She yells between breaths as she tries to hide the tears streaming down her face. Whatever the smoke is doing to her is clearly starting to take its toll, as she’s panting heavily as she runs, and is starting to have trouble keeping up the pace.

 

If you really cared about me you’d give this stupid game up right now.

 

I just don’t understand what was wrong with ■■■■■■, why do you need to change your name?

 

*sigh*... It’s always something with you, isn’t it?

 

Come on, stop being childish and tell me what’s really going on.

 

There were never any signs before, you expect me to believe you just suddenly want this? If you were genuine you would have said something long before now.

 

I won’t tolerate this nonsense in my house!

 

Where did you even get a stupid idea like this?

 

You don’t really believe what you’re saying, do you?

 

You’re not my daughter.

 

The apparitions only grow more numerous as Mari keeps trying to escape, and before long they’re so tightly packed in the darkness that it’s no longer possible to keep avoiding them, and she has no choice but to try and push through them as the smoke covers her body.

 

She forces herself to keep going for as long as she can, but she’s so cold… so tired… even just moving her body is starting to become a challenge, and before long she stumbles over, no longer able to continue. Everything hurts so much, her lungs are struggling to function from the smoke, and her heart is breaking into pieces from the words being slung at her.

 

The woman is all she can see as she lies on the dark ground as they close in on her, and she’s unable to do anything except sob uncontrollably. There are so many of it now that Mari can barely even make out what it’s saying to her. It’s all just a chorus of hurtful words stabbing her through the heart, sounding more like television static than anything else, and yet the feelings are still getting through to her. She tries to get up and move again but nothing happens, she’s too cold, and the only thing she can feel is a multitude of sharp pains in her chest as she finds it increasingly difficult to breathe, it doesn’t seem like her body is able to listen to her anymore.

 

Slowly, everything starts to go dark. Mari silently wishes for someone to help her, but just before she loses consciousness she hears one more voice, somehow much more audible above all the others.

 

It’s that Cassandra girl who put all these ideas in your head, isn’t it? Well you can be sure you won’t be seeing her anymore.

 

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Mari wakes up in a panic, covered in sweat.

 

She takes a lot of short, strained breaths, searching her bed for something that isn’t there. She recognises that she’s able to breathe again, but her weakened lungs make it hard for her to get enough air in her current state. She begins to panic more when she can’t find what she’s looking for, but she finally notices it on the floor next to her. She picks up the large plush toy, an orange dinosaur that Cassandra got her, and hugs it tight as she falls back onto her pillows. Her breaths can only now begin to slow down after finding what she was looking for, she must have thrown it off the bed in her sleep.

 

She’s in her bedroom, far from any dangers. A couple of birds can be heard chirping outside as a small amount of morning light streams in from a gap in the curtains. Martin is lying on one of the far corners of Mari’s large, comfy, bed, and he chirps angrily at her when she looks in his direction, clearly not pleased about having been woken up.

 

Mari has started to ground herself, and continues to hold the dinosaur close to her, still having trouble breathing properly. The plush was a gift to congratulate her on finding a place to live after staying with Cassandra and her parents for a few months, and in the years since she’s struggled to go to sleep without it, needless to say it’s incredibly important to her. After a few minutes her breaths finally steady and she can start to properly process what happened.

 

“What the fuck…” She says weakly. “I got over that nightmare a few years ago, and now it’s happened three times this week…”

 

She eventually leans over to grab her phone on the nightstand, figuring it’s probably about the time she needs to get up, and is reminded of some good news. After a chaotic week of trying to balance her work and managing two dolls at once, it’s finally the weekend, and she doesn’t have to get up early today. This comes as a huge relief, as she’s still pretty shaken, and doesn’t exactly feel like getting up right now.

 

There are a few things that Mari wanted to get done today, as not having to work means she can finally dedicate some time to other matters around the house, but for the time being none of that is a priority. 

 

She settles back into bed, getting into a comfy position where she can hold her dinosaur with one arm, and uses the other to start reading comics on her phone. Before long Martin walks up the bed to join her, purring softly as he loafs on her torso. Mari’s decided to stay here for a while, at least until she feels better. Those things she wanted to do can wait until later in the day.