Note: This is a really short vignette inspired by Sasuke's words in chapter 385, "I was so young...My only explanation was that was all a horrible nightmare...I wanted to believe it wasn't real, that I was just trapped in someone's cruel genjutsu...", as well as my own experiences trying to wake up from nightmares. Luckily, I always did...
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Close your eyes, I tell myself.
Close them, scrunch them shut,
so tightly that your head aches and pounds.
Pinch yourself. Hard.
Convince yourself that the blood that you can smell
all around you
belongs to nobody but yourself.
Fall to the floor. Don't be frightened.
If you're lucky, you'll be awake
before your head touches the ground.
Bite your tongue. Don't stop.
Not until your mouth
is numb and tasting of coppery, sickening sweetness.
Scream. Like you're being shredded to pieces.
Until the sound
astonishes even yourself.
Yes, scream.
That always worked before,
Didn't it?
I'll wake up.
Sweating and shivering
in my bed.
Mama will come and
Suggest that I sleep in my brother's room,
But I won't go there. I'll go with her instead.
I open my eyes.
I stop screaming.
But nothing's changed.
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