the-broken-pen - Oh Love,
I Was Always Going To End Up The Villain
Oh Love, I Was Always Going To End Up The Villain

Archangel, she/her, 18Requests are my lifeblood, send them to meFeral, Morally Gray, Creature of The Woods(Requests are open)

196 posts

Fog Licked At The Edges Of The Bridge, Curling Around The Street Lamps And Up Into The Stars. It Was

Fog licked at the edges of the bridge, curling around the street lamps and up into the stars. It was cold, bitterly in a way that sliced to the bone. She shivered, tucking her coat around her.

The street was as silent as a tomb, nothing more than wet concrete and wind, and she could be at home right now. She probably should be, at least. At home, her cat was probably waiting for her in warm bed sheets.

Here, though, secrets might be waiting.

And oh, how she loved secrets.

The suicides weren't anything special- every city has them. She had dealt with her fair share.

But this? This was strange. One person jumps off a bridge, and it's a tragedy. Two, it's awful.

And three? That's a pattern.

The wind picked up, howling as it tore through her hair. Ten minutes. Ten more and she would leave. It was edging towards two in the morning, and from what little the autopsies could gather, that was the latest time of death.

Five minutes.

Eight.

Nine.

She pushed off the edge of the bridge, turning—and froze.

"Hi," the little girl smiled, all teeth. She had ribbons in her hair.

"Hi." It was more out of reflex than anything. She glanced up, and found no parent, no guardian. Just empty street.

"Are you out here all alone?"

"No," the girl replied drily. "You're here too."

She paused. "Right. Your parents-"

"Are dead," the girl blinked, and smiled softly. "Yours are too."

Her throat went dry. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"That your parents are dead," the girl repeated.

She didn't have a response to that, and she was trained in crisis management. Her chest squeezed like a vise, tighter,tighter still.

The girl seemed to know.

"You want to know," the girl observed, eyeing her. Her eyes drifted over the edge, the water deep and churning.

Deep and dark and deadly.

"Yes," she admitted.

The girl's smile disappeared.

"I wish you didn't."

The wind had vanished.

She studied the girl, in her perfect dress and braided hair.

"You know, don't you."

The girl tipped her head one way, then the other.

"Yes. But then again I know a lot of things. So in the scheme of it, it isn't important to me."

"People are dying," her voice went sharp. She regretted it as soon as the girl’s eyes snapped to hers.

"Everyone dies."

"Not like this," she said, and the girl shrugged one shoulder.

"Death is death in every form." She turned her gaze to the water. “The method reaches the same result."

"Where are your parents?"

"I lied," the girl said bluntly. "Earlier, when I said they were dead. They don't exist. Not really, at least. Belief systems are so strange sometimes-"

"Stop."

The girl did, patiently.

"You see the people who die here?"

"Of course I do," the girl said it like it was obvious.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Why?"

"Why do they die?"

The girl twirled one long strand of hair around her finger, face the picture of child innocence.

"Because they jump, silly."

"And why do they jump?"

The world went silent. The girls face dropped. Something infinitesimal slammed onto her back, the weight of a star itself, the air like thick syrup.

"I can show you," the girl took a step forward. The strand of hair dropped. "If you like."

She swallowed, throat dry. "I do," she rasped.

"You don't," the girl corrected, but she stepped forward anyways.

"They always do this," she murmured, and she was almost certain it wasn't directed at her.

Her small hand landed her forehead, and she was gone.

The vicious bite of loss, the cry of a child, the smell of burnt toast. Abandoned buildings and car filled highways. And empty tombstone, barren elementary school chairs.

It roared through her head like a newly released dam and she was almost certain she was crying, that tiny palm set so firmly on her forehead.

She sat on the edge of the bridge, feet dangling. The girl sat with her, legs kicking in the air as she hummed.

She choked on a sob, cheeks wet.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

She merely nodded, throat closed.

The girl took her hand, fingers tiny and warm.

“You’re okay,” the girl soothed, but she didn’t believe her.

The water beckoned.

“What’s your name,” she managed, and the girl smiled, just barely. She released her hand.

“Say hi to my brother for me.”

“I thought your family didn’t exist.”

“My parents don’t,” the girl agreed. “My siblings and I kind of do.”

“Ah,” she laughed, and it was wet. “Makes perfect sense.”

The girl’s mouth twitched.

“Truth.”

The puzzle pieces clicked into place. The girl’s name. Truth.

Her sister was going to have to take care of her cat from now on.

“That’s why,” she said dully. “It’s you.”

“I don’t give them anything they don’t ask for. It’s not my fault most of them don’t realize they never want what they think they do.”

She watched the water undulate for a moment.

“What’s your brother’s name.”

The girl’s smile turned into something wide, child-like joy.

“Death.”

She laughed then, and it rang out over the water. The girl still smiled.

“Truth hurts,” she murmured. The girl nodded.

“Truth hurts.”

Her fingers slackened on the edge of the bridge and she finally, finally let herself fall.

Truth stayed behind, image wavering above her as the waves swallowed her whole.

For a moment she wondered who would find the little girl next. Who would be bestowed that knowledge. Who would feel that pain.

Who would get to meet her brother, afterwards.

She supposed it didn’t matter, after all.

Everyone meets them both at some point.

Truth hurts, indeed.

The dark swallowed her whole.

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More Posts from The-broken-pen

1 year ago

Here's a prompt for you: write about a mask someone wears. Can be fiction, nonfiction (about yourself, an experience, people in general), maybe a poem. What kind of mask is it? What does it look like? Why are they wearing it?

“You can stop, you know.”

The villain froze for a moment, smile almost slipping, and set down their lunch tray. The hero leaned against the table next to them, knuckles white.

“In case you haven’t noticed,” they gestured to themself. “I’m reformed. I already stopped.”

The hero waived a hand. “Not that. I know that, I’m the one who helped you do it.”

The villain kept smiling, even as the edges began to crack like fine china.

“Hero,” they said as gently as they could. “Are you alright?”

The hero stared at them for a moment, as if they weren’t sure what was happening, as if the villain’s very existence confused them. They blew an angry breath out of their nose.

“I’m fine,” the hero said pointedly. “You aren’t.”

The villain ignored them at that, sitting down to stir their lunch. It was half cold and entirely unappetizing, but happy people ate the compound rations and were happy about it. And the villain was reformed, and good, and happy. So they ate.

Their bowl disappeared from in front of them, and they studied the plastic of the table for a moment. When they looked up, the hero’s eyes burned into them.

“Stop. It.”

This time, the villain was the one who sighed. “Can I have my lunch back please?”

The hero threw the bowl an unimpressed look. “What, this crap? Nobody likes this, and I can especially tell that you don’t. Your face is exactly the same as the first time you met me, and you tried to stab me directly after that. So. Stop.”

“I don’t know what you want from me,” the villain grit out. “I’m smiling, I’m contributing, I’m doing good things. No more murder, no more crimes. That’s what you wanted, right?”

“I wanted you to want that. I wanted you to have that. I never wanted this.”

“This what, hero.”

The hero gestured to their face.

“That. That smile.”

The villain gave them a dry look, even as their smile faded. “What, I can’t smile?”

The hero regarded them, fingers laced together under their chin, food abandoned. The villain picked at a hangnail and tried to look calm. This was why they had been avoiding the hero—the villain could read them like a book, but the hero could read them just as well.

Someone clattered down the hall, laughing, and then it was just the two of them again.

“You don’t have to be happy,” the hero said quietly, “to be good.”

The fine china, the mask, shattered.

The hero sighed, but it wasn’t triumphant. Relief, maybe. Or sadness.

“Why couldn’t you have left it alone,” the villain’s voice wobbled traitorously. The hero smiled, just slightly. A smile for a smile.

“Because you were drowning in there. And you don’t deserve that.”

“I’m trying to be good,” they murmured. The hero reached out and stilled their hands before they could pick them bloody.

“You are good. But you’re also hurting. You can do both. It’s okay.”

The villain shoulders loosened, as if the hero had stolen some huge burden from them.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” the villain agreed.

The hero smiled, a soft thing.

“Only smile when it doesn’t feel like a burden to do so,” the hero stood, leaning over the villain for a moment.

They left the villain in the lunch room, staring down at their hands.

Months later, when the hero told an awful joke, the villain laughed. They smiled at the hero, and it was warm. So warm.

And the hero smiled too.


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1 year ago

Heads up Seven Up

Rules: post seven lines, then tag seven people

Snippet:

“Nat,” he said, and it was a curse and an oath and a prayer.

She just stared at him, running her eyes over his face.

God, she loved him.

His hands went to her arms, but his eyes stayed trained on her face. There was pressure on her wrists, and she squirmed in discomfort, pins and needles breaking out. He hushed her, finally looking down at her arms.

She opened her mouth to say anything, I love you, hey, just his name.

Thank you for the tag @meadowofbluebells

@jay-avian @oh-no-another-idea @imaginativemind29new @clairelsonao3 @ettawritesnstudies


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1 year ago

Thank you for the tag, lovely @jay-avian !

It took me a LONG time to come up with this one (I spent like, hours on my bathroom floor when I was twelve brainstorming ideas and they were all absolutely awful) until somehow, I came up with this one.

Mainly, it stems from how I see myself (bear with me). I’m not super attached to my corporeal form, so essentially I’m a bottle, and all the me is inside of it. And that me, in my head, is this massive tangled scribble ink ball (picture spaghetti) filled with scraps of ribbon, words and adjectives in typewriter font, song lyrics, and memories. I kind of just spill that stuff into the world wherever I go, when writing or singing or doing anything really, and that reminded me of a leaky pen. It doesn’t spill stuff on purpose, and it can still write on purpose, but inherently it still sometimes leaves drops behind, and vomits puddles.

So the ink is my me and the mark I leave on the world through the things I create and do.

Along with that, though I haven’t used it on here, generally my username is some form of Archangel (I’ve got no explanation. Supernatural was formative for me.)

Gently tagging @imaginativemind29new @clairelsonao3 @oh-no-another-idea

what made u guys pick ur url's !


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1 year ago

I am in a writer’s block spell so I would greatly appreciate some writing asks/requests if you have them 🥺


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1 year ago

The 1989 TV vault tracks just cured my depression, kissed my forehead, and handed me a lit match.


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