Life Lost and Found
By: Mel Kat
He stormed into his room and slammed the door shut behind him. He sagged down onto the bed. I can't do this anymore. I can't keep this façade going. The others need it. Or they'd all have been crazy by now. But it's eating me up from the inside out. He stood up and walked into the bathroom. He looked into the mirror. What he saw there would make anyone else stagger back, but he was used to it. His shimmering violet orbs were glazed and distant…and gray. His hair was thinning and falling out. His skin was greasy, oily, and stretched over the fine bones. This was him. This was him without his mask on, without his façade over him to cover everything they had done. This was the real Duo Maxwell.
Duo opened the drawer on his left side and drew out a razor. The only thing that never failed him.
I can't keep this going on. It's eating me inside out.
He slashed his arm. Drops of red sputtered out from it.
My mask is shattering. It's been breaking ever since I first killed.
Duo cut his leg. More blood.
I did it for them…for the other pilots. I put on the laughing mask so that they wouldn't go crazy, but I was instead.
Slash. Blood.
I realized it too late. It's too late for me. I can't control this.
Slash. Blood.
Every day it's the same. I killed more people.
Slash. Blood.
The war is over, but in my mind, it's just begun. I'm fighting with the dead people's screams in my own head.
Slash. Blood.
Duo began to feel dizzy. Blood had drained from his face and his breathing became a struggle. His eyes began to droop, and Duo staggered. He fell to his knees. He looked at the tile floor. It was covered in blood. He was dieing. Slowly. Someone laughed. Someone laughed at him. He looked down at his chest and saw it shaking. He was laughing at himself, and so were the voices in his head. Finally. Duo fell to the ground and darkness devoured his mind and soul.
