𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒

000. the purpose of pain

"OH, DON'T CRY, DARLING," she caressed his cheek, smoothing away his tears. "The pain all has a purpose, you know."

"D-don't touch me," he shuddered. "Don't you dare touch me, not after what you've done."

"I do what I want. You'll soon come to learn that," she smiled, stroking his hair, the way one would pet an obedient dog.

"Why? Why would you do this?" he sobbed, grasping his hair in his hands, shaking on the floor. "Why would you do this to me?"

"Because," she said softly, digging her nails into his scalp. "Because I need to make you pay for the hell you put me through."

"You did horrible things, you do horrible things," he gasped, pain watering his eyes. "You deserved every bit of hell we gave you."

"I don't deny it," she laughed, a dark and evil thing. "But like I said. The pain all has a purpose."

"And what is that?" he demanded, his despair beginning to curdle.

"To teach a lesson," she purred. "Without the pain you dealt me, I would never have seen the truth."

"Your truth, not the real Truth."

"My truth will be the Truth, sooner or later. In the world you've created, reality and imagination are subjective," she smiled, tightening her grip on his hair. He cried out. "You thought you could trap me. Instead, I'm going to trap you. I'm going to make you hurt more than you've ever hurt before."

"And then what? Kill me?" he gritted his teeth against the pain of her nails ripping into his scalp.

"Certainly not," her lips pursed, frowning. "I would never kill you. Then you wouldn't be able to learn the lesson."

"Which is?" he grunted, blood trickling down his temples.

"That I. Always. Win."

He cried out as her nails cut deep, bloody divots into his head. She dug deeper at every word.

"You took everything from me. I'm going to give you so much, and then I'm going to take it all away. And then you're going to see," she smiled, kissing his forehead. "You'll see just how much pain can teach you."

"Get the fuck away from me," he snarled, reaching up and wrenching her wrist. She gasped as he threw her to the floor, twisting her arm behind her back, pinning her in place. "I was going easy on you. But clearly, you haven't hurt enough."

She chuckled, face down in the dirt, black blood trickling from her nose.

"You're going to regret that," she sang, as she faded to nothing but shadow, and he was left with empty hands, and the creeping feeling of doom.