It was loud.

Loud loud loud loud. Voices shot angery words at my reflection. The voices where my own, birthed from my mind. They hurt, yet I could not stop them. I never could.

At least that’s how it was only moments ago. Now, it was uncannily silent. A feeling I was unused to.

Instead of the sea of darkness, of angery voices and sharp knives, it was lighter. I was lighter. My sagging shoulders had been relived of their weight. The view was softer, like instead of a thundering monsoon it was a calm pitter-patter of rain on a roof. It was… beautiful.

“Where am I?” I half whispered, half gasped in a broken voice that hadn’t been used in a while.

A cloaked figure entered my line of vision, but I didn’t feel startled. I didn’t want to run, or hide myself. I felt at ease, for some reason I could not explain.

The figure spoke. “You are in a place where your greif and self-hatred have no power. You are in a place greater than all your terrible feelings. Welcome, child. To the land of beyond.”