There is a gorgeous woman before you, perfectly silhouetted by the crackling fireplace behind her, and she’s wrapped in a luxuriously dark winter coat.
Her name is Eloise.
[[Eloise Harmon->Eloise]]
[[But it //isn't.//->Not Eloise]]“I appreciate the trust, Fallon.”
Without so much as turning her head, Eloise pulls a cigarette from her pocket and reaches back toward the hearth.
She lights it up in the inferno. Breathes it in.
“My terms haven’t changed. Give up the information, and I won’t bug you any longer. Nor will anyone for that matter.”
Her round features are caught in firelight. She raises a brow. Waiting.
[["And if I don't? Will that be the same too?"->Over]]
[[Cravings of home shoved heartlessly down. But not far enough.->Cravings]]
“You don’t value yourself at all, do you?.”
The violating feeling of her fingers in your synapses does not leave room for self-value. And she’s wrong anyway.
You //do// value yourself, maybe too much.
“I’ve made it very clear what I want. Why do you torture yourself so if you aren’t a masochist?”
[[It's not my fault.->Not My Fault]]
[[I'm no one's playthng.->Plaything]]
“It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. You’re the last one who knows, and we need to have those memories.”
She takes one step forward. A warning.
“I don’t want to force you. I avoided it for as long as I could, but if I have to do it…”
An intense gaze meets yours.
“I will.”
[[It //burns//.->Burning]]“We’re all playthings to them. Me, you…”
Her eyebrows furrow. She won’t look you in the eyes anymore.
“What either of us do doesn’t matter, ultimately.”
Her fingers retreat from your brain, she breathes hard.
“So why..?”
[["I'd rather die in summer than winter..."->Summer]]You beg her to stop.
She doesn’t listen. You wonder if you trusted her once, but trust was never a factor.
//It had always been fear.//
(text-style:"bold","expand","fidget")[(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ENDING 3: Burn]]You sleep beside each other that night.
In the morning, the fire is out, and her eyes aren’t embers anymore. She wears the colors of the dead hearth.
Is she still as beautiful to you now, surrounded by rubble and dirty meltwater?
(text-style:"bold","expand","fidget")[(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ENDING 4: Extinguish]]She’s silent.
Then she sighs. Harder than usual.
“You won’t survive the snow, Fallon. It’ll change. But not in a way you’ll benefit from.”
[[ “But you know I don’t want to benefit. I want it //over.//”->Mourn]]“It won’t hurt if you don’t resist. You’ll feel…”
She strides forward, hair flicking up with the movement. Captivating.
“//Warm.//”
[[And you're so, //so// cold...->Melt]]You melt into her, letting her take on your weight, your burdens. She soothes you to sleep.
But when morning comes, the hearth is dead.
And Eloise is //gone.//
(text-style:"fidget")[(text-style:"bold","expand")[(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ENDING 2: Melt]]]Eloise tries to be gentle.
But force is force, and it feels like your skull is being opened carelessly like a coin purse, trinkets and things spilling out all over her gloved hands.
“I’ll visit your grave, Fallon.”
(text-style:"fidget")[(text-style:"bold","expand")[(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ENDING 1: Scar]]]