"I had a dream just now."
"Hm."
"Do you know what it was?"
"..."
"...I dreamed I'd fallen into hell. It was dark, and unfamiliar, and frightening, and everywhere I turned there was a new danger waiting for me. Screams echoed off the walls, and around every corner there was someone new who desired my life."
"Hm."
"I dreamed they had your faces. Our friends at school, Mom, Dad, you, everyone-they all attacked me with aIl they had. They desired nothing more than to kill me, and to condemn me to stay with them forever. It was the only thing, out of anything, that they needed."
"..."
"I made it out, after destroying, outsmarting, and running from every creature I'd met. I was hurt. I was exhausted. I was starving, but I managed to climb back out of that place and back home. I made it back. I opened the door and finally let my legs give out, and I knew...I thought I knew...that someone would catch me."
"..."
"But they didn't. I fell on the floor alone. And then I realized. Mom and Dad had gone on a vacation. They'd packed and headed up into the mountains to visit friends. They hadn't thought to look for me, to worry, not even to wonder why I hadn't woken up on the morning they left. They didn't notice at all."
"...?"
"So I went back."
"..."
"I went back into hell. I let the demons chase me. I let them hurt me, threaten me, kill me over and over because I knew they NEEDED me. They needed to destroy me to be free."
"..."
"And it was...nice...to be needed. I didn't care what for. They...needed me. And...it was nice, just for once, down there in hell...to be needed."
"...mm."
"...you're not listening, are you?"
"...mm."
"Azzy?"
"..."
"...goodnight, Azzy."
"...mm-hm. G'night...Kris."