I walked the same road I always did.
The same stones.
The same faces.
The same laughter.
Even the dust seemed to fall in a fixed pattern.
"Good morning!" My friend called out, with the same tone I had heard a thousand times before.
I forced a smile—empty, heavy, as if nailed onto my face.
But inside… something else stirred.
Something that roared.
The pain… it returned.
It stabbed my chest without warning.
For a heartbeat, everything vanished—the street, the faces, the sky—swallowed whole by a suffocating darkness.
And then came the voices.
Unknown. Twisting. Overlapping. Screaming within me. Not asking. Commanding.
Stop.
Move.
Erase them all.
I almost screamed, but I bit down hard on my tongue until blood filled my mouth.
No… I won't let them.
I won't let them take me.
Head bowed.
Fists clenched.
I swallowed the fire, like I always did.
Until silence came.
When I opened my eyes, the world had returned.
The village stood the same. My friend was laughing. A child ran past. A woman carried a basket of vegetables.
Nothing had changed.
…Except me.
I felt as though I had swallowed black fire.
Heavier. Colder.
Yet still, I smiled. A cold smile that deceived everyone.
No one asked.
No one noticed.
As if nothing had happened.
But I knew.
One day… this fracture inside me will tear open.
And when it does—
It will consume everything.