Stolen Voices ✓

August 5th

last chapter was a little random, but its so this one makes more sense...Mara has official lost everyone (she thinks she has at least). Also why she has trust issues-

trigger warning: self harm

August 5th:

Mara loves heights, the world appears so much smaller below her. She can fit a river in her palm, a bolder between her fingertips. She can extend her arms wide, letting the wind beat her chest, and feel like she is floating. She can be weightless against the breeze, allowing it to carry her and every apprehension with it away. The tears stream down her face, dried with the wind, leaving streaks in their wake.

Her shallow breathing makes her chest ache as she hysterically screams out into the wind, letting her voice brace the storm. She is shivering in her thin top and shorts, with bruises on her legs and scrapes on her palms. Her hair is a mess around her as she's been dragging her nails through it. Pulling at the dark blonde roots to create some sense of pain.

Everything is moving so fast, yet the world seems so painstakingly sluggish and blurry. Mara is whispering to herself, mumbling incoherent words under her breath. Her trembling hands coming to the side of her head as she walks in pacing circles.

They hate me, and I need to fix it. Fix it how? The source? Where's the source? The beginning is where everything began. Where did we start? Life, death, it's all a cycle, and a circle comes to an end. An end is an end. It's my end.

Her thoughts don't stop as she grapples to make sense of them. The more she picks them apart, the more they pile on until she is so lost in her head reality seems like a parable. Drowning so profusely in her own logic, letting the icy water fill her lungs, she doesn't notice the hands reaching out for her.

Elias and Ryn tentatively walk up to Mara, who is delusional and dissociating. Their stomachs wrap with worry at how close her feet are to the edge of the cliff, how unbalanced she seems. The stimulating scent of the wind striking their noses.

"Mara," Elias murmured softly, his voice is carried by the breeze. Mara whirls around to face them head-on, dark brown rings beneath her eyes. Her blue irises look crazed, her lips bleeding where she bites down too strong.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me here?" Mara mutters, stepping back slightly. Her heel grazes the edge of the cliff, rocks plunging towards the ground. Elias's arm darts out as if he can reach her. He is too far away to grasp her, his fingertips met by air. She will fall if she takes another step.

"We came here for you," Ryn moved forward hesitantly, making sure that her steps are easily visible by Mara, not to panic her. As if she is dancing with a frightened primate, trying to tame them while declaring her trust.

"What? Why? How did you find me?" Her voice cracks, a steady teardrop streaming down her face. She doesn't brush it away, letting it fall to the slit between her lips, a salty taste subduing her.

"I'm your best friend," Ryn shrugs, as if it is obvious, "I had a hunch." Mara pulls a face, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth as she pinches her eyes shut in anguish.

"No, no, no, but the source," Mara cries, her arms wrapping around herself. Ryn looks calm, her expression stoic, but inside she is a riot of worry and grief. She's seen Mara in such a high before, but never this low. They, her family, always managed to catch her before she gets this bad. They always seem to help her in a way that nobody can understand.

"What source, Emmy?" Elias stands next to Ryn, his voice a low hum. He intertwine his fingers so they won't tremble, trying not to alarm her. He wants to make her feel calm, even normal, so she won't do something irrational out of fear. Such as jumping, she looks ready to do it.