Chapters Author's Note
This is my attempt at writing something that isn't gory or scary. Scootaloo may not be my favourite crusader but she sure is fun to write about. As always, I hope you like it and make sure to constructively criticise if you need to.
Exile
“Come on Scootaloo! Ya can’t stay in there forever!” called Applebloom from the other side of the door. Scootaloo lay on her bed facing her navy blue wall. She was on top of her sheets and her left ear rested on her pillow. The window was closed and the curtain was pulled to, shutting out the world and leaving her in darkness.
“Scootaloo? Please answer us!” pleaded Sweetie Belle. She had a crack in her voice and sounded like she was going to cry any minute now. She knocked on the door again. Scootaloo didn’t move to open it. She didn’t do anything but perform the necessary functions for life and would only leave the room for a minute at a time, five times a day to eat, drink and use the toilet. While she was out she didn’t converse nor turn her head to listen to a voice. She just did what she wanted to do, and locked herself in her bedroom again. In her hooves was an almost wrecked Spitfire plushie that had the inner fabric sticking out of one of the legs.
“Why are you ignorin’ us Scootaloo?” said Applebloom. “We are still friends right?” Scootaloo said nothing.
“Please talk Scootaloo, you’re scarin’ me!” Nothing.
“Let’s just go. It’s obvious that she’s not coming out.” Said Sweetie Belle. The two walked away from the door and down the stairs, their hoofsteps getting more and more muffled with every step they travelled. Scootaloo dropped her plushie and stood up. ‘Finally they’re gone!’ she thought to herself. She opened up her toy box and picked out a plastic bag that was at the bottom beneath a pile of pictures of her and Rainbow Dash. She stopped to pick one up.
She remembered the scene like it was yesterday. She was sitting with Rainbow with a broken wrist. She had fallen off her scooter and landed hard on a rock. She was crying but Rainbow was calm, cool and collected. She was making her a bandage with a reel she had in a home first aid kit. She had been taken to hospital after that for a more permanent fix. Even so, it was a nice memory. Tears pricked in the corners of her eyes and her throat was beginning to hurt. A tear emerged and rolled down her face and onto the laminate picture, splashing and covering her ear. She threw it down and walked over to the door with the bag in hoof.
She retrieved another padlock and hooked it onto the holder that was becoming overcrowded. She twisted the metal hook round and depressed it, changing the combination to 459 before closing it and walking back to her bed. Four locks now chained the door shut.
*Meanwhile at the school*
Cheerilee tapped her pencil on the desk in front of her. All of the kids had left so she was left to mark their homework in peace and quiet. It was maths work which was definitely not her forte but it was compulsory in the curriculum so she had to teach it. There were some blatantly hopeless attempts from those who did it the night before and some good tries. Applebloom, as usual, got a ‘B’, Sweetie Belle also got a ‘B’ most of the time but there were some rare occasions where she received an ‘A’ or ‘A+’ (A* in England). The trouble makers, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara got their usual ‘C’s. When marking though, Cheerilee was worried about Scootaloo. She hadn’t come to school for a week and word was out that she was never coming back. She hadn’t received any word from her family since she disappeared.
*Back to Scootaloo*
Scootaloo was back to doing nothing. She had resorted to hyperventilation to try and knock herself out. She was successful on a few tries but sometimes she just burst into tears midway. When she was unconscious she had nothing to worry about. She couldn’t hear, see, feel, taste or smell anything. She was surrounded by silence. She was at her most peaceful in one of these phases but eventually the constant blackouts were causing some adverse health effects. She was waking up with no memory of what had just happened. She couldn’t remember what she was doing only fifteen minutes ago and her head seemed to be emptying itself. She also noticed that she needed to use the toilet more and more, causing her even more distress at having to leave her room. It was like she thought that there was something outside, just waiting for her to emerge.
She was haunted by the memory of her two worst enemies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. When she managed to sleep on one of those rare occasions, she would be trapped in a nightmare and a constant merry-go-round of bullying.
She lay on her bed, the clock indicating the time to be half past midnight. She attempted to get some sleep, knowing that the nightmares would come. She had been practicing lucid dreaming in her loneliness. She shut her eyes and waited for something to happen.
That was weird; she didn’t recognise the corridor she was in. She saw the ladder close behind her and looked around in confusion. She could have sworn that it was her attic. Her concentration was broken when she heard hoofsteps. She looked around for any way out, but all of the doors that led to the rooms had oddly disappeared. A shadow appeared on the wall at the top of the stairs. It was a stallion. He had somepony with him, a mare. They came closer and closer to the top of the stairs; Scootaloo was now panicking, and ran into the corner of the corridor, waiting for her inevitable discovery. Just as the figures should have rounded the corner, they didn’t. The shadows simply faded away into nothingness.
Scootaloo suddenly felt the floor beneath her give way, and she looked down to see that she was falling. She screamed and flapped her wings as hard as she could but to no avail. She could see nothing but herself in the mysterious darkness.
She stopped falling, wings still flapping, elevating her ever so slightly. She noticed, and fell to the floor with a thud. She recognised where she was, for she hadn’t moved at all. She was still in the same place, same white carpet, and same cream walls. She looked again, and this time the doors were there. Nopony was walking up the staircase anymore. She stood up and cautiously walked to the top. She peered around the corner and saw nothing out of order. Boots were lined up against the wall and a rack above held a few coats. She moved, step by step to the ground floor. Still nothing. But when she turned, she was surprised to see something gouged into the wall. The letters were threatening and imposing, and simply said ‘RUN’
Scootaloo turned tail, only to be stopped by an unbearable noise. It was a high pitched whistle that came from nowhere in particular. It stung her ears to listen and she knelt down, hooves trying their best to block it out.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” she bellowed as she shot up from her slumber. Her heart pounded and she fought to stop herself from crying.
“Y-You OK squirt?” said a voice that Scootaloo had been trying to avoid.
“WHAT?” she roared, turning towards the speaker.
“I was just seeing if you were okay,” Rainbow Dash explained.
“HOW DID YOU GET IN?” Rainbow Dash moved slightly to block the view of the crowbar that lay on the floor next to the open door.
Scootaloo sighed and rested her head in her hooves. “What do you want?”
“I want you out of here,”
“Don’t bother. I’m not coming out,”
“Scootaloo, you can’t just stay here for the rest of your life!”
“Yes I can, just watch me!”
“Scootaloo listen! Why won’t you come out?”
“Because if I do then I’ll just get picked on again!”
“Scootaloo,”
“What?”
“Do you think that I would ever intentionally let that happen to you?”
“Well, no. But..!”
“No buts! Please come out,” Scootaloo was crying onto her hooves as she was given the decision to leave her room or to stay. Well, Rainbow was quite a trusted friend, but how would she know if the bullying would in fact go away. She thought hard. After a minute, she made her decision.
“No!”
Author's Note
Scootaloo's problems are getting worse, and she's beginning to develop something that could change everything. What can rainbow dash do to help?
Hope you enjoy this chapter. As always leave constructive criticism if needed and like it if you enjoyed it.
<3 Metric.
Catch Me If You Can
“GET OFF ME!”
“You’re not staying here for the rest of your life!”
“THIS IS CHILD ABUSE!
“Stop struggling!”
Scootaloo held to the door frame trying her best to stay in her room. Rainbow was dragging her out against her will and she didn’t like it. She grip loosened and she slipped through door. She turned and kicked Dash in the stomach and became free from the grip. Rainbow fell back winded and Scootaloo sprinted towards the stairs and down to lobby room. Waiting at the door were her parents who tried to grab their daughter. Scootaloo’s mother had red eyes from crying and tried her best to stop her child from escaping. Scootaloo ran through into the living room and hopped up onto the window sill.
The three ponies followed, one unicorn and two pegasi. Scootaloo pushed the window open and hopped out into the flowerbed filled with bluebells. She took off in the direction of the road, running as fast as her hooves would carry her. Rainbow stormed through the front door, clutching her chest and trying her best to run after her. Scootaloo was already out of sight, running down a dusty road decorated with bland rocks and gravel that made the surface uncomfortable to tread upon. She walked down a side alley, brick walls on either side but a slightly more level asphalt. Scootaloo slowed to a trot, she was out of breath and pretty sure that she had lost her followers. She balanced herself, one hoof on the back wall of the alley.
She had remained calm up until this point but the stress of being out in the open was starting to take its toll on her mentality. She began to be more diligent, eyes flitting around to look at every corner and dark spot. The opening that was a few metres away was her main priority though. She tried her best to back herself into a corner where she couldn’t be seen as easily. The sky above was also a problem, she knew that Rainbow could fly and do a helo-scout on her. She used her small figure to curl into a small target, only showing the darkest parts of her body which turned out to be her mane.
‘What am I doing here?’ thought Scootaloo. ‘Why am I curled up into a ball in an alleyway?’ She uncurled and stood up. She looked around confused, trying to look for anything to indicate why she was here and not at home. She took a step closer to the entranceway. Then another, and another. Each step she took she seemed to have the feeling of déjà vu but she had no idea why because she sure as hell hadn’t been here before. She emerged into the sunlight and recognised it as the road that she took on the way to school.
“HEY!” Scootaloo jumped and turned to see Rainbow Dash speeding after her. She landed and slammed on the brakes to stop right in front of Scootaloo.
“What’s the problem?” asked Scootaloo, a little concerned at why Rainbow seemed to be angry at her.
“What do you think?”
“Um, has something very bad happened?”
“By bad do you mean distressing half of Ponyville for a week?”
“Why would I do that?”
“Stop acting like you don’t know!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“You really remember nothing?”
“Yup.” Rainbow dash looked to the side, a worried look on her face. “Is that a problem?” wondered Scootaloo. Rainbow didn’t answer, her brain ticking that something even worse had happened and she hadn’t known.
“I think you may have…”
“What?”
“…Sh-Short term memory loss,”
“What?”
“You don’t remember what happened,”
“WHAT HAPPENED?”
“You stayed distressed in your room for a week and scared a lot of ponies,”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened as the memories began to repopulate her memory.
“GET AWAY FROM ME! I DON’T KNOW HOW I GOT HERE BUT GET AWAY FROM ME!”
“What’s going on?” Scootaloo was already off, running down towards her school and past the many houses on either side of the street. Her legs weren’t carrying her very fast and Rainbow flew ahead and stomped to the ground, stopping Scootaloo in her tracks.
“Please let me help you,” pleaded Rainbow Dash, getting a little exhausted with this little filly’s antics. Scootaloo was now getting really angry and began crying again.
“PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE!” Rainbow Dash was now crying as well.
“SCOOTALOO PLEASE! TRUST ME, I’LL STOP THE BULLYING!”
“J-just leave me! Why can’t you see? My life has been nothing but pain and misery!”
“Stop! I want you to listen to me! I will always value you and I will always be there for you! I have become so worried about you that I cried every night. Didn’t you want me to be like you’re sister?”
“I-I…” Scootaloo couldn’t form the words and all that came out was an illegible stammer that was followed by uncontrollable sobbing.
“Chin up kid. Say what you want,”
“I LOVE YOU RAINBOW DASH! I WANT YOU TO HELP ME! PLEASE BE MY BIG SISTER!”
“I’m sorry! I’m so very sorry!”
“Don’t be. I’ll always be here for you. No matter what the cost.”
All Rainbow had to do was get Scootaloo to fly. Now how was she going to do that? Scootaloo lay in the cloud bed in Rainbow’s bedroom attempting to sleep after such a traumatic experience whereas Rainbow slept on the sofa in the living room. She was kept awake trying to think of something that she could do to help her friend. After carrying her back to her house she had notified her parents of the situation and left them a note telling them where she lived so that if they wanted to see their child then they could. They hadn’t come yet so that just left the two to deal with their own problems. It was pitch black in the room and the only noise was the low hum of the dishwasher. The sofa was made of good quality cloud-bound leather that was able to be used in cloud houses such as Rainbows.
“What is it Scoots?” asked Rainbow rubbing her right eye with her hoof.
“I can’t sleep,”
“That makes two of us, do you want me to stay with you?”
“I don’t know. That might help,”
“Alright, let’s go and see.”
Scootaloo hopped onto the bed and ley herself down. Rainbow brought the sheets up to her neck and turned out the lights. She sat on a wicker chair with a cushion reducing the creaking nature of the wood. She waited until her night vision developed and observed what she could of the room. It was as she knew it: poster of the Wonderbolts in a corner, chest of drawers in another and a desk curving around to the bedside. Scootaloo lay with her back to her host, making it a lot harder to see if she was indeed sleeping.
“Can you hear that?” asked Scootaloo, her voice wavering.
“Hear what?”
“That voice,”
“What voice?”
“Why’s that?”
“Excuse me? What’s going on?”
“I have no idea,”
“You’re not telling me that you’re hearing voices in your head?”
“I’ll answer her if I want to!”
“Oh no! I need to get you to hospital!”
“Why?”
“Just come with me!”
Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo and flew out of her front door, headed straight for the medical centre.
Author's Note
Chapter 3 guys! I can't believe how many people like this.
Disorder
“Now Scootaloo, I need you to tell me when this started,” said the pink haired nurse. She was sat in a cushioned chair with a clipboard held in her hooves and a pen that she gripped in her mouth. Rainbow Dash sat in another chair and tried to make it look like she wasn’t worried. She had her front legs crossed in front of her and distracted herself by examining the nurse and the room. The medical expert had a nametag on that said ‘Miss Redheart’. At least she knew her name now.
“Well, I…”
“It’s normal to be nervous, just say when you first started hearing the voices,”
“Well, I’d been bullied a lot at school and decided to stay away from everypony because I was scared of it,”
“And do you think that there was anything that could have caused the actual symptoms?” Redheart was used to dealing with patients who gave vague information.
“I dunno. It all seems a bit hazy; I guess I wasn’t really thinking about what I was doing,”
“Try to think back because your, Mother..?”
“Friend,” corrected Rainbow.
“…Friend told me that you were talking to her and you seemed to remember nothing at the time. But later you remembered it all,”
“Okay, um… Well, I felt totally down in life and the only way I could get away was to pass out so I started forcing myself to pass out,”
“Oh now that’s not good!”
“What was that? Rainbow Dash I can listen if I want!”
“I didn’t say anything!” (RD)
“I think that was an auditory hallucination,” (RH)
“A what?” (RD +SL)
“An auditory hallucination. She’s hearing voices and she can’t quite tell when somepony actually said something and when they didn’t,” (RH)
“I thought so!” (RD)
“Well I think she may need medication and/or counselling for the problem,” Redheart stood up from her seat and removed her hat, letting her mane flow from beneath. She sighed, and strode up to the door, pulling the handle and swinging it inwards. “I’m afraid there’s nothing more I can do, I’ve never treated any Schizophrenics before and it isn’t my preferred field. I’m sorry.” She motioned for her ‘visitors’ to exit the claustrophobic examining room.
The two ponies strolled down the white walled corridor in silence, their hooves tapping and echoing against the tiles that decorated the floor in what looked like a random assortment of black and white tiles but actually turned out to be a snake wrapped around a pole.
“Yeah?”
“When will this stop? The voices aren’t nice because I can’t tell what’s real. Sometimes they tell me to kill myself and it’s hard not to,” she choked over the pain in her throat and felt the tears well up in her eyes.
“Don’t cry kid, we’ll sort this. It’ll just take a little time. Don’t you listen to those horrible voices because they’ll just bring you down!”
“Please tell me that wasn’t you who just told me to jump off a bridge!”
“Did you hear anything of what I just said?”
“I hear the last bit,” she sniffed and wiped a teardrop from her cheek. “I can’t get away from the voices! They’re there all the time like there’s somepony stuck in my head, torturing me from the inside!” Rainbow coughed awkwardly and thought about what her friend had just said. It was quite a powerful statement and caused her to feel even worse about the situation.
“Are you going to sign out of the hospital?” asked a burgundy stallion sat behind the counter, a mug of a hot liquid levitated beside him. His right hoof lay on a piece of paper with names written down, each with their own separate line. A gleaming black pen stood in a holder screwed to the table. Rainbow apologised and found their name to sign off.
The streets of Ponyville were empty at this time of night, only a few lone carriages wheeled around the streets with gruff looking males pulling them. They looked like they wouldn’t hesitate to knock someone out if they got in the way. The carts mostly contained freight with large advertisements for their company on the side. Scootaloo and Rainbow dash ignored them though, for they had no reason to investigate.
“Do you wanna go back to your house or should we head back to mine? Bear in mind your parents’ll be worried sick with you gone,” suggested Rainbow Dash.
“I wanna talk to Sweetie Belle,”
“She’ll be asleep by now, you can talk to her tomorrow possibly after school,”
“I want, to talk, to Sweetie Belle,”
“Now Scoots, be reasonable. She’s going to be in bed and asleep and probably won’t appreciate you waking her or Rarity for that matter!”
“Well then I’ll go by myself if I have to!”
“Scootaloo! Why do you want to talk to her so badly anyway?”
“Because she understands me! When I wake up from a nightmare I wish that she was with me. Hearing her voice makes me calm in the dark!; and she’s the one I want to see to help me through this!”
“Can’t it wait?”
“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash. But this can’t wait.” With this, she turned and ran towards Carousel Boutique. Rainbow spread her elegant wings and soared off after her, and swiftly landed in the way of the charging filly. “We’ll come back as soon as we can tomorrow!” said Rainbow. Scootaloo sidestepped and kept on running.
“Stop Scootaloo! I don’t want Rarity or Sweetie Belle complaining that they’ve been awoken by a diehard pony who wants to talk to her friend at midnight!” Scootaloo didn’t say anything in return but just kept at a run. She sprinted past Town Hall with tears beginning to fall from her eyes. She gritted her teeth and darted as fast as she could across the bridge. Rainbow had to actually try to keep up with Scootaloo’s speed and nearly crashed into her at such a velocity but veered away at the last second to plant her face into a small shrub.
“BURGLAR!” screamed Rarity out of fear and brought down the cooking utensil to make contact with the side of Scootaloo’s skull. The filly was knocked off her feet and thudded onto her back. The front light finally came on in time to see Rainbow Dash recovering from her recent mishap, holding a hoof to her face to stem a nosebleed, and a dazed foal with a minor concussion lying in pain on the grass.
“OH MY GOSH! Are you alright?” Scootaloo rubbed her temple and, with some effort, propped herself up on her elbow.
“I… Think so,” said the discombobulated Scootaloo. “What happened?”
“Rarity accidentally mistook you for a burglar and hit you in self-defence,”
“Darling I am so very sorry! I never meant to cause somepony like you harm!” apologised the panicked Rarity.
“I-It’s alright,”
“Gosh I hope I haven’t caused you brain damage,”
“I don’t think you have, it just hurts,”
“But, what are you doing here in the first place, I thought you were safe with Rainbow,” Sweetie Belle asked, worried.
“It’s a long story,” stated Rainbow Dash who at that point was being ignored.
“That’s kind of why I’m here,”
“What is it?”
“C-Can we talk about it one to one?”
“Well, sure I guess,”
“Thank you.” The pony was then invited into the home where she could talk to her friend in peace.
Author's Note
Chapter 4 finally out. Personally, this is the worst chapter for me but it's hard to write under the pressure of school and such. I'm really sorry for the wait and the fact that fog hasn't been updated in ages. I know that these just sound like excuses so I'm going to try and get back to writing more, especially on weekends. I hope you understand.
Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy this. I think this is really just a transition chapter to set the scene for the next major section of the plot. Don't forget that I like constructive criticism and likes, follows, favourites and so on are always appreciated.
<3 Metric
Descent
Sweetie Belle’s bed was a lot softer than Scootaloo’s. She almost sank in to the mattress as she sat down after being invited in. Sweetie Belle yawned after closing the door and plonked herself down next to her friend. “Alright Scootaloo, tell me what you want to tell me,”
“Well, you were probably told that Rainbow Dash managed to get me out of my pit eventually,” Sweetie Belle nodded. “And that she took me back to her place,”
“Yeah,”
“Well, things went really bad when I tried to go to sleep. At first I thought that the stress was doing bad things to my head but I started hearing voices. It was a stallion at first, with a gruff voice and slight croak like his throat hurt. It then changed into a Mare’s voice. It was weird because I knew that I’d heard it before but I couldn’t put my hoof on it,”
“What did they say?”
“Things like: “Don’t listen to her lies” or something like that. I went down to see Rainbow about it but it just led to further trouble and I recognised the mare in my head; it sounded like, like *sob*!”
“Sounded like whom?”
“Like APPLEBLOOM! She told me not to listen to anypony and that if I did then bad things would happen! Dash took me to the hospital then and we met a nurse. I was too nervous to tell her the really bad stuff,”
“And this was?” Sweetie Belle questioned, gingerly lifting a hoof to place on her friend’s shoulder.
“They were telling me to kill myself!” Sweetie pulled in her friend to have her sob into her white furred collar. Tears were wetting Sweetie Belle’s shoulder and ran down to her thighs where they dripped onto the sheets.
“Come on Scoots, you know that Applebloom would never say such a thing right?”
“Of course! But it’s scary because it’s constantly happening and there’s nothing that I can do about it!” Sweetie Belle stammered, trying to think of what to say. She was being bombarded by so much information at once and her brain didn’t have much time to process it so she was in a muddle about what she was going to do. She decided to say nothing and just stroked her friend’s mane. She let out a loud yawn and rubbed her tired eyes.
‘Where am I? What am I doing? I’m in a bedroom I recognise. It’s not mine. Who’s with me? Sweetie Belle? Why am I at her house?’ Scootaloo looked around, her ear aching and eyes full of fatigue. Her head rested on the heart of her friend. She felt the soft beat soothing and calming. Scootaloo’s eyes felt hot and tingly like she’d just been crying.
‘Is someone talking in a different room?’ she wondered as a voice spoke in close proximity to her. Scootaloo looked around the room. It looked exactly how she remembered it looking from when she was last there on a crusade. Her desk clock clicked from 07:02 to 07:03. From behind the venetian blinds a ray of light illuminated the sides and providing enough light to see by. She was now becoming aware of the sounds. She heard the gentle breathing and felt the rise and fall of Sweetie’s chest with her hoof. There was a hoof wrapped around her neck, resting with no pressure. Scootaloo’s back legs were sprawled over the covers and her mane was a mess.
She daintily moved the arm from her neck and sat up, leaning against the wall. Why couldn’t she remember why she was there? She Slid off the bed and began to walk towards the door. Sweetie Belle’s eyes flickered open and she rolled over to face Scootaloo.
“Wh-what happened?” she muttered through a stretch. “Oh ow, my chest really hurts.”
“I’ve no idea what happened,” Scootaloo replied.
“We were talking, and I guess we must have nodded off,”
“I guess so,”
“Do you feel any better?”
“Any better with what?”
“Are you hearing the voices?”
“If you mean the one telling me to leave the room then yes,”
“Oh god! Why can’t you just get better?” Sweetie Belle facehoofed and gave an exasperated sigh. “Look, I want to help you but I don’t know how! I need you to co-operate here. Where can I help you?”
“I don’t know what are you asking me for?”
“BECAUSE YOU’RE THE ONE WITH THE BLOODY CONDITION!” Scootaloo fell silent. “Sorry, it’s just stress,”
“I dunno, but I don’t want to go into rehab because it sounds scary,”
“I hate to break it to you Scoots but that may be the best option for you,”
“But then I wouldn’t be able to see you! Sweetie Belle you are the light of my life, the only respite in the cold, dark depths of despair! You’re the pony who truly understands me and my feelings. I love you Sweetie Belle and I don’t want to leave you. I’d be bereft and it wouldn’t help at all. I want you to understand that this is harder for me than it is for you! After all, I’m the one hearing the voices! If I have to go into rehab then I may as well do what they say and just end my life there and then!”
Scootaloo turned and slammed her hoof against the wall, fury rushing through her veins and corrupting her heart. She head-butted the door and stumbled back a few steps before tripping over the saddlebags that were precariously placed in the centre of the room. She toppled over, crashing to the ground which was followed by a scream from the white unicorn in the room. Sweetie Belle heard hoofsteps coming from downstairs and then more as they climbed the staircase. Scootaloo was completely out of it. Her eyes were shut and her breathing was faster than normal. Sweetie panicked and fell of the bed, hurting her hoof in the process. She yelled louder as an agonising ache shot up her leg.
Tears streamed down as the door to Sweetie’s room was thrown open. Rainbow Dash and Rarity stood in the doorway, shocked to see what was going on. Rainbow ran to the unconscious being and starting going through the first aid drill that she had learnt at the Wonderbolt academy while Rarity tried her best to calm her sister down. Scootaloo was completely unresponsive.
Little did the group know that Scootaloo was in pain, a terrible pain that was inescapable, trapping her in a nest of knives that constantly jabbed into her from every angle. The pain pulled her further into the darkness, away from the known world. Away from her friends. Away from her life.
