It was soft here. Warm and black, far away from them. Dull thought fragments lured her gently away from her pain and the sounds, whispering rebellion toward another life. Something before the sewers, something before the darkness- a life away from the powdered drug.

Just another step, it sang to her, teasing her into nothing. Another life was so far away, another life wasn't possible. This- this was all there was. There was Edris; there was blood, and that was it. Still, they tried to point her away from this, lead her to something far away from a painful reality. A place with no pain, a place where she was small, a place with green everywhere. This fantasy was just that, and her drug-numbed mind pulled her away from it.

There was no green, there was only black. You can't go away. No, never, of course not. Darkness was all there was, silence was enveloping her world. Floating on waves of sub-conscious, she didn't hear the gunshots or feel herself falling. That horrible, one-eyed gaze remained open, her lungs barely taking in air as she lay face-down on the white ceramic tile. She didn't feel her mother fall onto her in fear of being shot- didn't hear the last screams of the nurses and doctors. The thick smell of blood didn't hit her nose.

She was far, far away from everything, the IV in her arm pulling her farther and farther from her pain and suffering. It was a much nicer place to be. She didn't have to listen to her wheezing breaths and struggle to breathe. It was soft here; calm here. A smile touched her pale lips, the first movement since her seizure. This gentle blackness was her reality, the green her fantasy. A fantasy for when she went far away, a fantasy being saved for later. She'd see that place soon, when her cravings died; when she knew reality was useless. There was something more than this...