Love Too Will Ruin Us (drabble)
Title: Love too Will Ruin Us, originally written for kh_drabble challenge [274] Sleep
Word Count: 659
Notes: Thanks to the lovely lettersandliars for the beta, any remaining errors are solely mine. ♥ Title and cut text taken from a poem by Richard Siken, Scheherazade. This is the marginally longer version that is not entered into the contest due to exceeding the word limit, but I am attached to the extra bit of details tossed in here.
They never tell you about the waiting, the pacing, the utter loneliness of being the one left behind. That being a princess of heart means putting you on a pedestal where no one can touch you or hold you or teach you how to fight- lest you should break. It means sitting on the dock while your two best friends load up their ship, kiss you on the cheek, and ask you to wait for them.
As if you’re given a choice in the matter.
Now is when the real problem arises: living on a sleepy island paradise is well enough if you haven’t tasted the stars and held worlds in your hand.
Kairi spends most of her time napping. She doesn’t mean to, but the sun strokes her shoulders and the breeze whispers softly and the ocean hushes them all until she is dozing peacefully where she lay. Some days it’s on the porch, curled in a wicker chair with a glass of lemonade sweating on the table beside her. Some days it’s at Selphie’s, letting the other girl brush her hair and tell her tales that may be true once upon a time.
Mostly it’s on the beach- within reach of the ocean, sand tangled in her hair and hands and dusting her eye-lids, the sun keeping guard overhead in the blue, blue sky.
A soft voice breaks the spell by invoking her name.
There is no ocean, no beach, no sun and no sky. There is only white, the faint hum of florescent lighting, and a cold chill all over her body.
She thinks she may have cried out.
“Kairi dear, do you know where you are?” A lady leans over her, adjusting the IVs and various cords attached to Kairi’s body. She has a kind face, the unfamiliar woman, if slightly pinched and mousey. Kairi can read the name-tag pinned above the breast pocket on her scrubs: Minnie, with a little red heart sticker besides it.
She thinks about the question, her brain fuzzy and distant, her mouth dry. Drugs, she thinks, it’s always drugs. “Castle Oblivion?” She tries to sit up, tugging at the restraints on her arms and legs. It feels like there are more than normal. She wonders if she tried to escape again, but has no memory of it and wonders if it wasn’t Namine instead (Doctor Isa say Namine is just a voice in her head.)
Minnie sighs and smiles and pets Kairi’s hair. “No dear, what’s the last thing you remember?”
She pulls a little harder on her restraints, body reacting sluggishly to her mental demands. There is a low buzz of panic building in the base of her throat and she knows: this is wrong, all wrong.
“I was waiting for my friend, Riku.” There is a strap across her forehead; this is new. She tries to convince herself to be calm. All she can see is the overhead lighting and Minnie’s face. She hears a door open, part of her (Namine, perhaps) acknowledges that she is out of time. “and Sora.”
There is the sound of distinct footsteps, even paces across the linoleum floor and another face joins Minnie. Doctor Xehanort does not smile, merely stares down at his patient for a moment. “Kairi, Kairi, Kairi. We’ve been through this before. There is no such person as Sora.” He taps her between the eyes. “It’s all in your head.”
They never tell you about the waiting, the pills, the empty promises that they can help you - make you better. They say they can make reality stay and stop twisting into the unreal: giant mice, talking dogs, cutting into your own skin - calling softly to the light-shadow version of yourself. It’s all right, dear; it’s all in your head, just hold still and take your medicine.
The door closes on her scream. It is not a surprising sound to the workers at Radiant Garden Mental Institution.
Word Count: 659
Notes: Thanks to the lovely lettersandliars for the beta, any remaining errors are solely mine. ♥ Title and cut text taken from a poem by Richard Siken, Scheherazade. This is the marginally longer version that is not entered into the contest due to exceeding the word limit, but I am attached to the extra bit of details tossed in here.
They never tell you about the waiting, the pacing, the utter loneliness of being the one left behind. That being a princess of heart means putting you on a pedestal where no one can touch you or hold you or teach you how to fight- lest you should break. It means sitting on the dock while your two best friends load up their ship, kiss you on the cheek, and ask you to wait for them.
As if you’re given a choice in the matter.
Now is when the real problem arises: living on a sleepy island paradise is well enough if you haven’t tasted the stars and held worlds in your hand.
Kairi spends most of her time napping. She doesn’t mean to, but the sun strokes her shoulders and the breeze whispers softly and the ocean hushes them all until she is dozing peacefully where she lay. Some days it’s on the porch, curled in a wicker chair with a glass of lemonade sweating on the table beside her. Some days it’s at Selphie’s, letting the other girl brush her hair and tell her tales that may be true once upon a time.
Mostly it’s on the beach- within reach of the ocean, sand tangled in her hair and hands and dusting her eye-lids, the sun keeping guard overhead in the blue, blue sky.
A soft voice breaks the spell by invoking her name.
There is no ocean, no beach, no sun and no sky. There is only white, the faint hum of florescent lighting, and a cold chill all over her body.
She thinks she may have cried out.
“Kairi dear, do you know where you are?” A lady leans over her, adjusting the IVs and various cords attached to Kairi’s body. She has a kind face, the unfamiliar woman, if slightly pinched and mousey. Kairi can read the name-tag pinned above the breast pocket on her scrubs: Minnie, with a little red heart sticker besides it.
She thinks about the question, her brain fuzzy and distant, her mouth dry. Drugs, she thinks, it’s always drugs. “Castle Oblivion?” She tries to sit up, tugging at the restraints on her arms and legs. It feels like there are more than normal. She wonders if she tried to escape again, but has no memory of it and wonders if it wasn’t Namine instead (Doctor Isa say Namine is just a voice in her head.)
Minnie sighs and smiles and pets Kairi’s hair. “No dear, what’s the last thing you remember?”
She pulls a little harder on her restraints, body reacting sluggishly to her mental demands. There is a low buzz of panic building in the base of her throat and she knows: this is wrong, all wrong.
“I was waiting for my friend, Riku.” There is a strap across her forehead; this is new. She tries to convince herself to be calm. All she can see is the overhead lighting and Minnie’s face. She hears a door open, part of her (Namine, perhaps) acknowledges that she is out of time. “and Sora.”
There is the sound of distinct footsteps, even paces across the linoleum floor and another face joins Minnie. Doctor Xehanort does not smile, merely stares down at his patient for a moment. “Kairi, Kairi, Kairi. We’ve been through this before. There is no such person as Sora.” He taps her between the eyes. “It’s all in your head.”
They never tell you about the waiting, the pills, the empty promises that they can help you - make you better. They say they can make reality stay and stop twisting into the unreal: giant mice, talking dogs, cutting into your own skin - calling softly to the light-shadow version of yourself. It’s all right, dear; it’s all in your head, just hold still and take your medicine.
The door closes on her scream. It is not a surprising sound to the workers at Radiant Garden Mental Institution.