drabble . 009 -- drifting
drabble . 009 -- word of the day: pain
fandom: dreamfall
character: april ryan
title: drifting
spoilers, but only me and four other people in the world has ever played dreamfall.
---
Death was something she'd never really been afraid of.
It wasn't the tough, hardass cover she cherished so dearly that spoke those words. If it had been, her voice would've cracked, her face would've contorted from the effort it took to keep from crying. A lot of kids said that shit back on Stark--"I'm not afraid to die." Death was everywhere in the city after all, standing around the next corner, stalking the shadows of cheap hookers and hobos before breaking and entering into rich neighborhoods. Death was the seedy merchant you just couldn't shake, the self-righteous asshole cop who wouldn't take a bribe, the president of a monopoly on food and firearms. "I'm not afraid to die" was just something to chew on before you choked on the fear.
Everyone was scared shitless of death, and rightfully so. April Ryan was simply an anomaly.
She had her lesson on fear and death a few years back. Her first step onto Arcadian soil was a crack in the dam, one that spidered as something began to bubble up behind it. She started doing stupid things, stupid things, things that could've ended in pain and misery and the kind of slow, horrifying death that only existed in the movies. The result was a chain reaction of stupidity that loosed her from the hypnotic sway of fate and tradition, the tradition of dying that the human race had perpetuated since time immemorial. The crack became a web, the web became chunks of crumbling stone and plaster, and then the dam broke.
And when the dam broke, she knew she couldn't go home. The fearless had no place in a world built on fear.
So when she felt the cold steel slide so neatly into her stomach, like a puzzle piece locking into place, she wondered why she was choking--she wondered why she was fighting, screaming and thrashing at death's advances, running and running and running and clinging to people, places, every voice and thought that kept her moving through wind and rain and snow and war. She didn't fear death, she didn't, she knew she didn't, but that didn't mean she couldn't outrun him, couldn't hide for just a little while more--
The water took her like a mother with warm arms, wrapping her tight and pulling her under, safe and sound and blood billowing out like clouds as she drifted and waterlogged breaths coming in ragged and forced and she knew, she knew--fuck you, death, it's not gonna end this way.
fandom: dreamfall
character: april ryan
title: drifting
spoilers, but only me and four other people in the world has ever played dreamfall.
---
Death was something she'd never really been afraid of.
It wasn't the tough, hardass cover she cherished so dearly that spoke those words. If it had been, her voice would've cracked, her face would've contorted from the effort it took to keep from crying. A lot of kids said that shit back on Stark--"I'm not afraid to die." Death was everywhere in the city after all, standing around the next corner, stalking the shadows of cheap hookers and hobos before breaking and entering into rich neighborhoods. Death was the seedy merchant you just couldn't shake, the self-righteous asshole cop who wouldn't take a bribe, the president of a monopoly on food and firearms. "I'm not afraid to die" was just something to chew on before you choked on the fear.
Everyone was scared shitless of death, and rightfully so. April Ryan was simply an anomaly.
She had her lesson on fear and death a few years back. Her first step onto Arcadian soil was a crack in the dam, one that spidered as something began to bubble up behind it. She started doing stupid things, stupid things, things that could've ended in pain and misery and the kind of slow, horrifying death that only existed in the movies. The result was a chain reaction of stupidity that loosed her from the hypnotic sway of fate and tradition, the tradition of dying that the human race had perpetuated since time immemorial. The crack became a web, the web became chunks of crumbling stone and plaster, and then the dam broke.
And when the dam broke, she knew she couldn't go home. The fearless had no place in a world built on fear.
So when she felt the cold steel slide so neatly into her stomach, like a puzzle piece locking into place, she wondered why she was choking--she wondered why she was fighting, screaming and thrashing at death's advances, running and running and running and clinging to people, places, every voice and thought that kept her moving through wind and rain and snow and war. She didn't fear death, she didn't, she knew she didn't, but that didn't mean she couldn't outrun him, couldn't hide for just a little while more--
The water took her like a mother with warm arms, wrapping her tight and pulling her under, safe and sound and blood billowing out like clouds as she drifted and waterlogged breaths coming in ragged and forced and she knew, she knew--fuck you, death, it's not gonna end this way.