No One Really Understands

Afflicted.

Karkat ran from Them, tripping over rocks and cracks in the ground that seemed to appear from nowhere. His breath was loud and ragged in his ears. His bare feet slapped painfully on the concrete ground. But he couldn't stop or slow. If he did, They would catch him. He swung his head around, searching for somewhere to hide. He spotted a narrow alley sandwiched between two building. He darted into it and stopped, leaning on the wall to clutch his side and catch his breath. But his peace was short lived. They'd seen him go down the alley and soon appeared behind him. Karkat let out a soft yelp of alarm and took of down the alley. He ran as fast and as hard as he could, but the alley seemed to stretch on forever, getting longer with each step he took, and They were getting closer as Karkat began to tire.

Suddenly, Karkat's foot caught on a crack and he found himself falling. He fell hard and tumbled head over heels for several feet. They quickly leapt upon him, encircling him. Karkat looked up, nauseous with fear. The leader grinned down at him and knelt. He placed a hand on the troll's shoulder and drove an unseen blade deep into his stomach. There was no pain, but Karkat still let out a loud choked gasp. The extreme terror in his chest was almost as real as the bright red blood gushing from the wound.

Suddenly, the attackers vanished in clouds of black smoke. When it cleared, it gave way to a seemingly endless sea of Karkat's classmates. He shrank away from them and pressed his hands to his stomach, trying to shield his shameful blood from view. But they'd already all seen the rapidly expanding pool of it in front of him. Immediately, they began pointing and jeering and shouting at him. karkat flinched and felt tears sting him eyes. His eyes found a row of familiar people at the front of the mob, leading the tormenting. Terezi, Gamzee, and the rest of the trolls. Even Dave. They all seemed to scowl at him in unison.

"D-dave," Karkat gasped softly. The blonde boy sneered down at the bleeding troll. He drew back his arm, and Karkat didn't realize what he was holding until it was too late. The rock seemed to materialize in front of him, mere inches from his forehead. He didn't even have enough time to react before--

Karkat awoke with a loud, desperate gasp. He looked around in fear, trying to see something, anything, in the suffocating darkness of his room. His hands clawed at his stomach, searching desperately for the hole in his flesh, but found only his hot unbroken skin. He stared down at his stomach, panting hard. It had been another nightmare.

...D-dream... t-that's all... just a dream...

His fingers fluttered to his forehead, lightly brushing the spot where the rock would've hit him, crushing his skull. He hated the way it just cut off like that. To him, it was worse that way, what with the phantom pain that often carried over to the real world, as if his mind was trying to make up for the lack of sensation. He drew his legs to his heaving chest, rocking gently back and forth. Slowly, his heart stopped racing and his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Karkat glanced over at his alarm clock. 4:37. Still an hour and a half until his alarm would go off. But Karkat knew he couldn't go back to sleep. The nightmare would just start over again, and he was pumped up with too much adrenaline to fall asleep anyway. Reluctantly, Karkat uncurled himself and stood.

Might as well get ready.

Karkat padded to the bathroom and peeled off his sweaty sleep clothes. He stepped into the shower. The water was ice cold, and he shivered in spite of himself, but it felt good on his burning skin. The water flowed over his arms, making the wounds on his wrists sting dully. He hung his head back, closing his eyes, letting the water spray in his face. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he imagined letting the water fill his mouth and nose until it spilled into his lungs and drowned him. He imagined filling the tub with water and slipping under the surface, never to take a breath of air again. While the idea sounded much more preferable, Karkat pushed it away. Not now. Later.