"Lies are beautiful..."
He had saved you.
Saved you from the horrifying nightmare that was now the outside world. It had all happened so suddenly, one second everything was normal and then...the world around you turning to darkness and monsters. Life had morphed into a nightmare, everything you'd known becoming...
Dark. It was like the sun had slipped away, leaving you lost in a world of shadows. The shadows seemed to swirl and spin, creating a strange scene before you.
Dangerous. Monsters stalking and snarling, creeping closer and closer towards you. They were chasing you! Trying to grab you and pull you into the dark.
You screamed...oh, how you screamed!
You were screaming and running, terrified and confused! Through the darkness and the terror, you ran and ran. The streets and paths seemed to be tangled and twisted and...you were so lost! So lost and so scared! And then...he came.
"Come on! We need to leave!"
He reached out to you, his hand grasping yours and...you grasped back. You took his hand and followed him. You didn't know why but you felt so certain that he...he was you savior.
Would he save you from this nightmare?
Would you be safe?
Perhaps. You ran together now as he took you away, taking you into his arms and pulling you away from the darkness.
He brought you to his home, a cabin hidden deep within the forest. Trees towered tall overhead, stretching across the land for miles and miles ad everything else was so...far away. Here he said it was safe, that the monsters might not come here but, if they did, he could take care of them. He could protect you.
And then you felt safe, at least a little bit.
Shivering in the darkness, he smiled at you.
"You don't have to worry, Y/N," he said, "everything is okay."
Was it?
There was darkness outside. Monsters. Mayhem.
Everything you had once known was gone, gone, gone...your home. Your family. Your friends. He told you that the monsters had mostly likely killed them all and, if they hadn't, they had been turned into creatures just like them...they were gone, as good as dead.
He was all that you had now.
~
He had loved you.
Loved you and protected you, keeping you safe and warm through this nightmare of a world. Everyone you once knew and everything you had loved was gone but...
He was here.
Still here.
Still at your side, where he said that he would always be...it comforted you, having him here. He comforted you so sweetly. Leading you through the darkness, holding you when the nightmares came, taking care of everything.
Sometimes you heard them, the monsters.
Feet thudding slowly upon the forest floor, groaning and moaning and cries of hunger. Closer and closer. Louder and louder. Shadows beginning to swirl, screams echoing through the air, thud, thud, thud until...
You saw them through the windows.
Creeping through the trees slowly, lurking through the shadows. Thud, thud, thud! They would come to the windows of the cabin, banging upon the glass and howling hungrily...you would scream for him to come.
He always came. After making sure it was safe again, he would run into your room to come check on you, racing to your side.
Every time.
Every night.
"I'm here! I'm here, Y/N..."
He always scared the creatures away and then...he would come to check on you. He held you, and comforted you...If tears streamed down your face, he would gently wipe them away. If you couldn't stop screaming, he knew just how to calm you. If you were shaking and sobbing, he would spend hours comforting you. And he would kiss you. His lips were cold yet sweet and you...you kissed him back.
You kissed him.
Sweetly, slowly, wonderfully. It was so wonderful, feeling warmth again.
Arms wrapped around him, pulling him close to your heart and holding him tighter and tighter, hoping and praying that he wouldn't leave you. You didn't want him to leave you. You didn't want to be alone. He wouldn't, would he? No...no, he would never leave...
You loved him.
Deeply and truly, you adored your savior.
The nightmare may have taken away everything else but...it had given you something beautiful in return for your pain and loss. Safety. Warmth. Love. Yes, you loved him and...
And he had loved you.
~
He had lied to you.
The nightmare was a lie. The sounds, the screams, the sleepless nights spent surrounded by absolute terror. It was all in your head.
It was all a lie.
A delusion caused that was by drugs he was secretly dosing you with they said. "They" were the police that had rescued you, bursting down the door and dragging him away as you screamed and cried. The doctors that were treating you, slowly easing you off the drugs and dealing with the mental and physical anguish you had suffered. Your friends. Your family. They were all here, all of them telling you everything.
It was all a lie, they said.
And he was the true monster, a liar and an evil man, they told you.
But you couldn't believe it. You...you didn't want to believe it! In your heart, you felt certain that this couldn't be true...could it?
It was cold here.
So very cold and so very quiet and...lonely. People visited sometimes. Nurses poked around. But you...you were alone, whether the others were there or not. The doctors said that you were improving quickly and soon, maybe in a few weeks, you might get to go home.
Home...
Home...
Where even was that anymore?
How was it truly home without him? How were you safe without him? A million feelings mixed and swirled within you and, god, it was all so confusing! Your mind told you one thing and your heart told you something totally different.
Your mind told you that it was all a lie.
A delusion. A drug based fantasy. It wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real! You said it over and over but...but why did it sound so wrong?
Your heart told you that it was love.
Someone who loves you doesn't kidnap you, right? They don't keep you locked away...they don't drug you...that's not love, is it?
You thought of his lips, pressed to your in a slow, sweet kiss. You dreamed of him holding you again, comforting you. And you didn't know what to believe anymore...
Did you want him to come back? To save you again?
Or did you want him to stay far, far away?
He had saved you...he had lied to you...he had stolen you...he had loved you.
And as you lay alone in the darkness of the hospital, you still felt him. You still craved him. You still loved him. Tears slipped down your face as you sobbed but this time...there was no one to wipe them away. There was no one to comfort you.
You were alone.
"The truth is painful."
