Promptober 2025 Day 3: Shattered Glass

Using ThePromptFoundry’s Ominous October list and Chicago Spirit OC borrowed from @asininestars (Ira is mine)

Ira’s shout of warning comes too late. something dark and heavy collides with Warren’s back. Envelops him, sloughing down down around his sides. Slipping inside him, shrugging him on like a perfectly fitted coat.

This is it, he thinks as it closes over his head. This is how he finally dies, swallowed by one of the monsters in Ira’s gate. He’s not sure whether he’s surprised or not by the tinge of relief that comes with that thought.

Only… it hits him like a gong, the notion that he would want to die. The revulsion of that, the shock that he is shocked, they crash through him, shaking him to pieces. He’s choking on it.

He has nͣˡeʷvͣʸeˢr wanted to die
Ever since his father sͭ ͬeͥ ͤnͩ tͭ ͦ hͩiͬ ͦʷmᶰ aͪwͥaͫy

Staring into himself in horror, in revulsion, Theo meets Warren’s eyes with a lifted chin and angry defiance.

His father tried to kill him?
His father didn’t?

Warren reels back from Theo’s gaze, the judgment he sees there.

Distantly, they—he—they hear Ira’s voice calling, pleading for him to come back to him. It’s the wrong name. It’s not.

I’ve never been worth anything.
Contempt, disgust, defiant self-worth. That you wouldn’t fight for yourself? That you let that trash decide what you were worth?
Horror, revulsion, heartbreak. What can I do but trust someone will help me?
Bitterness, ripping his organs apart like a rusty saw. Who else but me can I ever trust to stand up and fight for me?

He opens his eyes to double-vision. The world of this nightmare self that lets itself wither and be butchered for the sake of approval. This nightmare self that rejects love and trust and the hope of an outstretched hand.

ʷtͣhͬ ͬeͤᶰo looks up at Ira and feels the glass of their self shatter.