They. They come slowly. They enchant you, with Their persuasive words and Their twisted beauty. They just try to help you find your way to the top. When you’re in your flood of despair, Their words pierce through the darkness with a force that could cut the sky and a sound that could resonate from planets away. They’re the ones who reach you when all others can’t get to you. But Their words slowly turn destructive. They whisper into yours ears everything that you are not. They tell you who is taking over and how to step on them to reign supreme. They tell you those who are only using you by pretending to care and how to get rid of them so you are alone. Completely alone. Except for Them. They are your envy, They are your fear, They are your doubt, They push you past your limits, until you lose everything. They are your hate. But by time you realize what They really are, it’s too late. I’d heard Them wrestling through my mind many times. Every time someone treated me as less, every time someone tried to pound on my vulnerability. It takes something more… to be better. To ignore the accursed words and actually be your own person. And you’ve failed. Your gaze wasn’t on me. It’s on the crimson knife that you’re holding. The knife you stabbed me with. I remember how this day started. You were more than just angry. I couldn’t even recognize you anymore. They weren’t just haunting you, They became you. I tried to reach out. To remind you of the dangers of listening to Them. I stayed close to you. But today was the first time I was ever scared of you. You saw it. It made you furious and more isolated than ever before. You advanced closer. I closed my eyes, waiting for impact. I didn’t see the flash of silver. The hatred in your eyes as you held the object that would end me. The shadow of a deed that could never be undone. I didn’t see anything. Instead, I felt a searing pain in my stomach. A burning and consuming pain that exploded in my chest, gaining more momentum with every second that passed. My eyes flew open to see the knife in your hand. I couldn’t recognize the emotion in your eyes anymore. It’s not regret, it’s not guilt, not even shock… I finally settled on realization. The moment you realized just how much They have controlled you. The pain doesn’t release me from it’s grasp. But it’s better than Theirs. I refused to be angry. Not after I saw what hate could do. The edges of my vision went hazy and dark red. I felt like I was going to collapse even though I was already lying down. Every breath I took felt like a hand; grabbing me and pulling me further and further into a world of darkness. I knew the pain would end soon. You could call the ambulance. The emergency services. Go get someone, at the very least. But you turned on yourself. In that moment, you’d never seen me so much and yet you were not seeing me at all. Blood coated your trembling fingers. You looked me in the eyes. “You made me do this,” his breathing came out in ragged spurts. It wasn’t true, but he was trying so hard to believe it. In that moment his heart, at least, was talking to Them. “Why?” In the back of my mind, I heard a dark wicked hysterical laugh. I wondered if I had gone insane but I knew it was real. And that was the last thought I had as the world faded into black; They succeeded.