Save Me From Me (Jesstra)

As It Pours

"Why can't it be you for once, Jesse?! Why can't you be the one suffering?!"

As soon as those words left Petra's mouth, her own eyes widened. She's never said anything like that to Jesse before... What the hell just came over her?

She knew she'd crossed the line when she'd mentioned Reuben, because Jesse's expression turned from uneasy and upset to just...pure sorrow, pure heartbreak.

Jesse had clasped a hand over her mouth, and what did Petra do? She had kept going. And by the time she was finished, by the time those last words had left her lips, only then did she seem to process that Jesse was in tears.

Petra swallowed thickly, staring at her best friend, at her crush, with wide, regretful eyes. "J...Jesse, I-" she started, but didn't get to finish, because Jesse let out the most heartbreaking sob in the world before turning and sprinting away.

"Jesse!" Petra shouted, regret extremely obvious in her voice. "Jesse, wait! Come back, please! I-I didn't mean it! Any of it!" She pleaded as she began to run after Jesse, panic and confusion coursing through her veins.

Petra would never say something so vile, something so cruel, to Jesse. Of course, she's had her moments in the past, like the couple times in the Portal Hall, but the things she just said...

Petra couldn't stop herself. She felt as if she literally had no control over her actions, over the words leaving her mouth, over the hateful expression that had taken hold of her face.

And she hated it. She heard herself talking, she saw how much she was affecting Jesse, yet those words just kept spilling from her lips as if that was all she could say in life. She couldn't stop.

Almost as if something was...controlling her.

Petra kept shouting Jesse's name, begging and pleading for her to come back, to let her explain. Though even if she did come back, Petra wouldn't even know how to explain. What just came over her, it...it wasn't normal, that was for sure.

But that didn't matter right now. What mattered was getting Jesse back. She could punch Petra in the face, yell at her, refuse to look at her, and that'd be fine. Jesse's safety was all Petra cared about, and in these woods, safety wasn't even a word that seemed to exist.

Petra paused for a moment, looking around her quickly and listening desperately for footsteps, or even crying. Anything that would indicate Jesse's whereabouts.

But it was just...silent. Almost deadly silent, and it bothered Petra more than she thought it would. The world seemed silent and still, not even a breeze or a rustle of leaves. Nothing.

"J...Jesse?" Petra called out, almost timidly, nervously now. Jesse could be anywhere right now, could've gone an entirely different way... "It's not safe out here, Jess, we've gotta-" she began again, but got oh so rudely interrupted.

Petra voiced an exclamation of surprise as an arrow flew into a tree beside her, the arrow inches from her ear. She quickly turned her head to see a skeleton, already locking another arrow into the string of its bow and taking aim. "Agh, come on!" Petra groaned before ducking down as the skeleton fired another arrow at her. "I really don't need this right now!" She grumbled to herself as she turned and ran to the right, simultaneously pulling out her sword.

Petra's eyes widened slightly as she saw three more skeletons emerge from the shadows of the trees and overgrowth. "You've gotta be kidding me!" She exclaimed, raising her sword to deflect an arrow, which she did successfully.

Though that wasn't all. Zombies were now in the mix as well. Petra was happy those things made noise, because if they didn't, she wouldn't have noticed them behind her. She turned quickly, raising her sword and swinging quickly, jabbing it through one of the zombies with a shout.

Then, to make things worse, rain began to pour down in rather copious amounts that Petra really didn't care for. She let out another exclamation of annoyance, the rain succeeding in making it harder to see, harder to dodge, harder to strike.

Petra needed to get out of here...she had to go. If she wanted to survive this, she had to go. Had to get to safety.

But Jesse...

There was blinding pain in Petra's shoulder, which had her yelling out, stumbling backwards into a zombie. An arrow had found its home in her shoulder, all because Petra was so damn worried about Jesse, which had caused her hesitation.

Quick as ever, despite the pain, Petra pulled out the arrow with a yelp, then quickly spun around and plunged it through the zombie's temple, causing it to shriek and collapse to the ground. Petra panted slightly from her injury, gripping her shoulder with her free hand.

Thunder boomed loudly, and that really brought Petra back to her senses. She couldn't find Jesse if she was killed by some skeletons and zombies, so if she wanted Jesse back, Petra needed to save herself first.

"D-dammit..." Petra mumbled, dodging another arrow before turning and sprinting in the opposite direction, swinging her sword at anything that came into her path.

After a while of exhausting running and heavy rain, Petra made it to the gates of Beacontown, panting heavily and slowly sheathing her sword. Everyone was inside their homes and sleeping, most likely, so she headed without commotion to where she and Jesse basically lived together.

She walked inside quickly, ignoring the throbbing pain in her shoulder. "Jesse?! You here?!" She called out, walking down the hallway. No response was heard. Petra looked in all of the rooms, and she even went ahead and checked the treasure room.

Nothing.

No one.

Jesse wasn't here. She wasn't here. She wasn't here.

Petra's breathing quickened. She suddenly pulled off her blue bandana from the top of her head and threw it across the room with a yell. She then drew her sword, swinging it against the wall repeatedly, letting out a yell each time.

Violence and brutality. That was Petra's escape. She was never one to just cry. It's happened before, yes, but she hated it. Hitting things seemed much more effective to calm her down. But it didn't seem to be working this time.

Why did I say those things?! Why didn't I stop myself?! What the hell's wrong with me?!

Then, Petra just threw her sword. It hit the mask of the White Pumpkin, sending it toppling to the floor, but she didn't care. She ran her fingers through her hair stressfully and leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down it until she was sitting on the floor, angry and regretful tears in her eyes.

"Jesse...Jesse, I'm s..so sorry," Petra whispered as if the dork was sitting right next to her. Her dork... Her everything.

But then...there was a voice. A voice that startled Petra, made her eyes widen.

"Oh, Petra, honey... Why are you the one apologizing? You weren't the one in control."

A pause.

"...I was."

~oOo~

AAAAAAA WHAT'S GOING ON 😱😆 Thank you for reading though, I really appreciate the feedback!