Lyric Challenge, Selection #2
Title: If Only
Word Count: 325
Author: hhhellcat
Fandom: Original
Rating: G
Author's notes: This very short story was written for innerslytherin's Song Lyrics Fic Challenge. The prompt was a lyric from the song "Something Beautiful" by Robbie Williams. It applies to so many different ships that I couldn't pin it to any one fandom, so it stands alone.
Every night you admit defeat
And cry yourself blind
- "Something Beautiful" by Robbie Williams
I wish there were something I could do to make it better. I listen to you cry every night and I feel helpless. You've tried to tell me what it's like but the concept eludes me no matter how hard I try to understand. It's like trying to hold onto a handful of sand; I think I have it, only to watch that brief flash of insight disappear, trickling away until the despondency I feel matches your own.
No one else knows what is going on in your head but me and I ache for you, as you will not allow yourself to do. They all see the facade; they never bother to look beneath the surface. If they did, though, would they see that you struggle just to make it to the end of another day? Would they see the torment that never leaves you, even when you let down your guard and simply live in the moment? Somehow I doubt it, for people are prone to tunnel vision, even as you and I are. We see only what we want to see, and ignore that which is all around us. And yet, those brief instances when our eyes have met, when the cosmos themselves seem to stop, all possibility is laid bare, there for the taking if only we were so brave.
Every night you admit defeat and cry yourself blind, but I know better. With each dawn, you arise triumphant, the victor of a battle of which I am the only one to bear witness. If only I could show you that I see you not as the failure you see in the mirror, but as the strongest of us all. If only you could gaze in the mirror and see past the pain and the regret. If only you could learn to love yourself as I do, then perhaps the tears would cease, and your dreams would be peaceful.
If only....
Word Count: 325
Author: hhhellcat
Fandom: Original
Rating: G
Author's notes: This very short story was written for innerslytherin's Song Lyrics Fic Challenge. The prompt was a lyric from the song "Something Beautiful" by Robbie Williams. It applies to so many different ships that I couldn't pin it to any one fandom, so it stands alone.
Every night you admit defeat
And cry yourself blind
- "Something Beautiful" by Robbie Williams
I wish there were something I could do to make it better. I listen to you cry every night and I feel helpless. You've tried to tell me what it's like but the concept eludes me no matter how hard I try to understand. It's like trying to hold onto a handful of sand; I think I have it, only to watch that brief flash of insight disappear, trickling away until the despondency I feel matches your own.
No one else knows what is going on in your head but me and I ache for you, as you will not allow yourself to do. They all see the facade; they never bother to look beneath the surface. If they did, though, would they see that you struggle just to make it to the end of another day? Would they see the torment that never leaves you, even when you let down your guard and simply live in the moment? Somehow I doubt it, for people are prone to tunnel vision, even as you and I are. We see only what we want to see, and ignore that which is all around us. And yet, those brief instances when our eyes have met, when the cosmos themselves seem to stop, all possibility is laid bare, there for the taking if only we were so brave.
Every night you admit defeat and cry yourself blind, but I know better. With each dawn, you arise triumphant, the victor of a battle of which I am the only one to bear witness. If only I could show you that I see you not as the failure you see in the mirror, but as the strongest of us all. If only you could gaze in the mirror and see past the pain and the regret. If only you could learn to love yourself as I do, then perhaps the tears would cease, and your dreams would be peaceful.
If only....