NO AUDIENCE COULD EVER WANT YOU! // Open

[Ares]

A R E S

They said "Be strong," they said, "Never be weak."
So I cut everyone off and isolated myself. I will never be weak.

Though she did take time to rest every now and then, she didn't try to get closer to anyone. In times where she almost broke into tears from the emotional turmoil, she reasoned that it was weak to cry, and she had to be strong. So she never cried. Always seemed strong for a child. She isolated herself, refused to talk to others and simply read or draw or wander. Simple words spoken to inquiries, sufficing their concerns and worries with a gentle affirmation of good health. But she never told them she was lonely, never told them how she had to hold herself together at night, never told them the thoughts she would have by the ocean. Never telling them she was aching and wanting comfort.

She got what she wanted, she got stronger. But she needed love and affirmation and comfort and she never searched those out. She got solitude but needed company. Tired paws lead the child to the ocean once more. A monster had formed in her mind, urging her to do things and she resisted but the whisper was always there. She was scared and she was alone now and she would be forever alone unless she threw herself into the ocean for her soul to be swept up... no. No that was weak and she was strong and she needed to be better and...

Her black form stood resolute with the ocean, swamp becoming a nice blue horizon. The beast kept whispering for her to go, to swim until she was tired and even then swim more until the ocean swallowed her. The thoughts terrified her and she found herself backing up until she fell onto her haunches and her shoulders hunched up and she shook with an oncoming deluge of tears. She bit her lip and tongue until the metallic taste hit her. When she released she seemed to crumple in on herself like an imploding star, fighting back silver tears as they broke her defenses and trickled down her cheeks and onto the ground beneath her. She would not cry. She had to be strong. She had to be strong. She had to be.

"Speech"

— Reggan