Previously

I gladly hug him with a sigh of relief which quickly turns into quiet sobs.

While I cry into his chest, he pats my back, whispering reassuring words into my ear.

"Let it all out, (Y/N). You'll be okay because...

A breaking sound comes from the ground below me.

"P-PJ...? W-What is-"

"You'll finally be at rest."

Before I can say anything else, an unbearable pain strikes through my chest and hits me in the middle of my soul.

I cough up huge amounts of blood as I feel more of it drip from my chest and onto the floor of the white abyss.

I open my eyes to see that I am lifted in the air by three glitchy black bones.

(Y/N) LV 1 HP ⬜⬜⬜⬜ 0/100

"P-PJ-" I whisper my last words before being interrupted.

"Did you really think I would spare you after all you've done?"

Now

My eyes shoot open as I gasp, frightened and unnerved.

I sit up and fall off the chair, the blanket falling to the floor with me.

I tangle my fingers in my hair, as I feel the tears run down my cheeks.

I put one hand over my soul and the other one over my mouth to prevent me from making any noise from my sobbing and coughing.

'Stop being a crybaby!' I yell at myself in my head.

A knock comes from the bedroom door along with the sound of someone speaking.

"(Y/N)? Are you okay in there?" A voice, which I can not identify due to it being so muffled, comes from the other side of the door.

I immediately shut my mouth and hold my breath to stop any more sounds coming from me.

"(Y/N)?"

I stay silent.

"I'm..." the voice hesitates, "I'm gonna come in, okay?"

The door creaks open.

Standing in front of the door is PJ.

Images of his murderous form flicker back and forth.

"P-Please! D-Don't hurt me!" I scream, taking the blanket next to me and putting it over my head, hugging my knees.

"Hey, hey...it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you in any way," he reassures me.

I hear his footsteps draw near as my body tightens up into a smaller ball.

He slowly takes the blanket off my head and I get a look at him.

His cheekbones are lightly brushed with a magenta blush, sweat also running down the sides of his face.

I avert my eyes.

"What happened last night that got you so shaken up?"

"..."

'You are a cold and heartless creature!' I hear myself scream last night.

"Don't forget, (Y/N)~

I am you," her, whose name I will decidedly call Inverse, voice echoes through my head.

"S-She...She m-made me—"

"Who's she...?"

I look up at PJ, who's sitting cross-legged next to me.

Behind him is a glitchy figure with inverted colors.

I shake in terror as she flashes a menacing smile at me.

"B-Behind y-you..." I tremble, my words getting stuck in my throat.

PJ turns his head and makes a sound of confusion.

"Are you seeing things?"

Just as she appears, she disappears in the blink of an eye.

"N-No...I-I'm sure she was t-there...! She just d-disappeared..."

"It's okay, let's not worry about that right now. Who's she and what has gotten you so unnerved?"

"I-It's...hard to e-explain...?"

"Take your time. I'm here to listen."

"W-Well...this is g-gonna make me s-sound insane b-but..." I pause for a decent amount of time, trying to find a way to phrase my words,

"T-There's always been this v-voice...in my h-head that t-tells me things."

"What kind of things?"

"T-Things lik—"

'It's rude to talk about someone who's listening~'

"T-Things...I don't think I-I'm ready t-to say...

A-Anyway...last n-night, I h-had this..." I let out a nervous chuckle,

"A-Absolutely terrifying nightmare...w-where I..."

A lump forms in my throat as I try to speak,

"I-I..." I stutter, not knowing how to let out my emotions without them bursting.

"Take it easy and say it slowly," PJ instructs.

"I...I-I murdered e-everyone..." I hear my voice crack as my tears fall on the soft, carpeted floor, "...i-in cold b-blood..."

I look down at my hands.

One second, my hands and clothes are fine.

The next, I see myself holding a bloodstained knife. My shirt is dusted with monster remains and soaked in the sticky red liquid.

In front of me are more piles of dust and blood splatters on the floor.

"No...No, no, no, no, no..." I repeat those words over and over again.

I drop the knife and tangle my fingers in my hair again, moving back from the scene.

"Inverse, stop!"

My peripheral vision blacks up and I can only see what's in front of me.

Mr. Ink is being cornered into a wall by her. She raises the knife and beheads him in one swift motion.

Crack.

"(Y/N)?" A faint voice calls my name.

The image fades away but now reveals Mr. Error.

His mouth moves but no sound was in earshot for me.

Inverse takes a running start and digs the knife into his ribcage.

He dissolves into dust in almost an instant.

Crack.

"(Y/N)?" The voice calls me again, a little louder this time.

The scene vanishes and changes.

She slowly walks over to him as he shakes like a leaf in the wind.

"Cil!" I scream and try to get up but a force pins me down.

She slashes her knife and makes a wound on his front.

Crack.

"(Y/N)!" The voice snaps me out of my trance.

I blink a few times to refocus.

In front of me is PJ, sweating with his hands on my shoulders.

"Are, are you okay!?"

"Y-Yeah..." I manage to mumble out.

An uncomfortable nagging pain comes from the middle of my soul.

I slightly wince as I hold a fist over the area.

"What's wrong?"

"I-It's probably n-nothing..." I lie, the pain fading away a little.

"Are you sure?"

"I-I'll be okay..."

"How...how are you feeling?"

"A-A little t-traumatized but nothing I-I can't h-handle..."

"Alright then...I'll meet you downstairs at the breakfast table. Wash up a little," he holds my front hair up due to it obstructing the view of my eyes.

He gets up and holds out his arm. I take it and he pulls me up, wrapping me in a hug in the process.

"You'll be okay," he murmurs, probably trying to reassure himself more than me.

"Mm-hmm..." I hum in agreement to soothe his worries.

He lets go and walks to the door, stopping for a second.

He looks at me over his shoulder and continues on his way.

I slowly stand up and plop myself down on the bed, spreading my arms wide.

'This is not okay, Inverse!'

'Awww, but you're ruining my fun.'

'Your idea of fun is watching me suffer by harming the people around me, isn't it?'

'Precisely.'

I stretch my arms and back, my bones and spine popping like firecrackers.

After a few minutes of stretching like a cat, I sigh and get up from the bed.

I glance over at the electric clock.

10:39 am

I step into the bathroom and lock the door behind me.

I take a look at myself in the mirror.

My eyes are red and puffy from all the crying. I also have faint but visible dark circles under my eyes. My cheeks are a little red and have streams of dry tears.

'I look like a mess.'

I sigh and start with my morning routine.

After brushing my hair and wiping my face dry with a towel, I look decently presentable.

A sudden sharp pain comes from my soul.

'Ow ow ow ow what the heck!?

This shouldn't feel right...!'

I quickly but carefully take out my soul.

'No wonder...'

The cracks in my soul have become noticeably bigger.

The "dull yellow" it used to be is now mostly brown and almost not even glowing anymore.

Another pain strikes through me.

With one hand, I hold onto the counter for support so I don't drop to the ground.

With the other, I hold my soul.

'Why am I like this!?'

My breathing quickens and I feel the sweat dripping down my head.

A bit of time goes by before the pain subsides.

I get myself back up, staggering with my wobbly legs, and look at myself in the mirror once more.

I'm sweating bullets and panting from a loss of breath. My face is incredibly red this time and—

A scratchy feeling comes from my throat.

I lean over the sink and cough it out.

'What's wrong with me today!?'

On the sink is a small splatter of blood that I just coughed out.

'Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! What do I even do!?' I panic in my head.

'Okay! Just clean it up and tell someone...!?'

I quickly clean up the mess and I leave the bathroom with a napkin over my mouth.

I creep downstairs to see Mr. Ink and Mr. Error happily chatting on the couch.

"G-Good morning..."

"Good morning, (Y/N)! Food is on the table," Mr. Error greets me and points at the kitchen with his thumb.

"Thank you..." I walk over to the kitchen with my napkin.

In the kitchen is PJ, staring at his phone, looking bored out of his mind.

"(Y/N)."

"M-Morning..."

"Morning."

I take a seat next to him, placing the napkins down, and pull the plate of food on the table in front of me.

On the plate is a croissant sandwich with scrambled egg, sliced honey ham, and shredded cheddar cheese. Next to it is a small cup of various sliced fruits from kiwis to mangoes to cantaloupes and honeydew.

I take a bite out of the croissant and taste the savory spices and flavors.

"You know the nightmare you had last night?"

"Hmm..."

"How...how did it end...?

I swallow the food.

"Um..."

"You don't have to say it if you don't want," he says quickly, "...but I just want to...make sure of something..."

"W-What is it t-that you're n-not telling m-me?"

"Well...if I get a specific answer from you, I'll say it. But if not, I think it'll be better if I just keep my mouth shut."

"O-Okay then...well, it ended with..."

"P-PJ...? W-What is-"

"You'll finally be at rest."

...

I cough up huge amounts of blood as I feel more of it drip from my chest and onto the floor of the white abyss.

I open my eyes to see that I am lifted in the air by three glitchy black bones.

...

"Did you really think I would spare you after all you've done?"

'Stop it, Inverse!'

'Sorry, not sorry!' She giggles.

"Y-You kind of...k-killed me..." My body shudders at the thought of death by his hands.

"First of all, are you fine after that dream? It sounds scarring."

"I-I think I'll b-be fine...m-maybe...?"

"Okay...second, I...I think my assumption was correct."

"W-What do you m-mean?"

"This, this is gonna sound crazy...but hear me out," he pauses, "I um...I'm sorry."

"S-Sorry for w-what?"

"I...how do I explain this?... I was...in that dream...with you," he lets out slowly, pausing a few times.

It takes me a moment to register his words.

"W-Wait...so you m-mea—"

Something gets caught in my throat.

I grab the napkin on the table and put it over my mouth as I cough it out.

'God no...'

PJ looks at the napkin with wide eyes.

"Why the heck are you coughing up blood!?" He shouts, panicking.

"I-I don't know!!" I freak out with him.

"There's, there's gotta be a reasonable explanation for this!"

"What is going on here!?" Mr. Error enters the kitchen and tries to get our attention over all the screaming.

"She, she just coughed up blood!"

Just as I show him the napkin, another pain strikes me in the soul.

I put a hand over my soul area and hunch over.

"What, what's happening!?" PJ looks at me with terror, putting a hand over his chest, "Is it painful?"

I nod.

"Oh m-my God...h-help me...."

Mr. Ink comes into the kitchen and immediately goes back out. He rushes back in, holding a phone over his temporal bone.

* * * * * *

As everyone is yelling or screaming over each other, the sound of my rapid soul beat rings in my ears.

Time passes by quickly but my pain worsens.

Everyone's voices are muffled as the sound of sirens cut through the hushed yelling.

I squeeze my eyes shut from the pain and before you know it, I feel myself getting lifted and placed down on something soft but also hard.

The last thing I hear before the ambulance takes me away is,

"St_y str_ng, (Y/N)..."

~A/N~

Had a week off for exams week so I took that time to write ^^

I also accidentally permanently deleted a school file that I spent a month working on ;^;

Had a mental breakdown for an hour before picking myself back up and doing it ;-;

But no worries!!

Everything's fine now •^•

Word count: 2289 words (including A/N)

*nopes out*