The Things I'd Rather Forget // Countryhumans AU

Ch 19: Giving up \ / The Puppet on Strings.

Despite the short figure's pitch-black eyes and emotionless face, she was still very recognizable.

...

Rhode Island.

---x--- (we're going back in time)

Rhode Island laid down on her bed, hearing the door close and hearing Texas walk away to their siblings. She felt tired, but that was becoming normal for her at this point. Why complain? At least she was helping her siblings. Maybe even dad, but she wasn't sure how if she was. All she could do now is wait. But that's assuming she even knew what she was waiting for anymore. Waiting to die? Waiting to be separated from her siblings? Waiting for the pain again? Rhode Island wasn't sure.

She laid there for a while until she just knew that the pain was going to happen soon. She was way too good at telling when the pain was about to start through little changes in the atmosphere of the room, which is understandable considering that waiting for these changes is the only thing she can do if her siblings aren't around. She started bracing herself for the pain that would happen any minute now...

But she wasn't prepared. How could she? This pain felt ten times worse than every other time, and she thought the previous pain was bad. The pain consumed her body, it was all Rhode Island could think about. The pain scattered her own thoughts and awareness easily. She felt like she was being ripped apart into tiny pieces, it was awful. No, it was more than awful. It was agonizing.

Amongst the pain though, she heard a voice. She couldn't focus on individual words however. It all sounded muffled. Rhode Island kept fighting back against the pain though, it was the only thing she could focus on through the pain: to fight back no matter what. After a few minutes of fighting back- though it felt like hours of endless agony- Rhode Island realized that she didn't have enough energy to fully fight back anymore. Dread formed deep inside her soul in response.

Rhode Island coughed harshly and opened her eyes to see a blurry splotch of red on her bed. Upon the sight of blood, it seemed to dawn on Rhode Island that she needed help and couldn't face the pain alone this time. Trying to gather what little energy she had left, she called out for help. Her voice was weak, but she kept on calling out for help.

...But nobody came. Not once. No matter how loudly Rhode Island screamed or how desperately she cried, no one ever came. Tears started falling down Rhode Island's cheeks as she kept on sobbing out for help, her voice growing quieter with each new cry. No matter what she did, Rhode Island was left there alone and in incredible pain, her spirits and hope dropping even lower by the second.

Among the sadness and intense pain, Rhode Island started hearing an eerily familiar voice, but she was in so much pain that she couldn't place a name to the voice, "Isn't this cruel? You're calling out for help and yet none of your siblings are coming to help you in your time of need. Some family, huh?" The eerily familiar voice asked spitefully. It only made Rhode Island sob one final time, was her family really not coming to help her? Rhode Island tried to shake her head, but all that happened was another bloody cough that racked her entire body.

"We're similar in that way, I guess. When I needed help, my 'family' left me to die. We've both been abandoned by our family. Right, sis?" The voice continued, traces of contempt starting to creep into his voice.

Rhode Island felt her heart object, but didn't have enough energy to say anything anymore, she had wasted all that energy on calling out for help. So, Rhode Island scraped up what was left of her energy and tried to focus on using it to fight back against, but she couldn't even properly focus on that. With her hope plummeting, the only thing she could think about was how this voice was one of her brothers'. However, even that thought left her after a few more seconds of pain.