Melodious Alone

Phoebe

I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?

Recovering from the blight in some ways struck Phoebe as far worse than coming down from it. She had lost herself in those days and weeks when the illness had been at its worst but she remembered it still as it began to fade away. It had been as though she had been trapped in her own head, watching as her body enacted all sorts of violence and spewed hatred on the world around her; unable to stop or reign in the force that twisted her mind and emotions to everything that she abhorred. And in its wake, she was left alone, having caused irreparable damage between her and those closest to her (at least irreparable by her own measurements).

Fortunately, as the blight began to settle and fade away, she had been released from the prison. Everything about her seemed dulled, her coloring, her hair, her eyes – her vibrancy had been dampened and stained by the blight. She had washed herself until her skin felt raw and red, unable to scrub away the taint she felt from the blood of her friends she had spilled on herself. And now she walked, aimlessly, lost in her own mind, barely registering the pink dragon at her side. She didn’t stop until her feet hit a set of stairs. She gazed up them, realizing she had found her way to the mezzanine stairs in the temple. It was rarely used and a nice, quiet refuge. Slowly she ascended them, shuffling her way over to a built in bench by a window. In silence, she sat, curling up her legs and wrapping her oversized scarf around her like a blanket, leaning on the wall to gaze out at the window at the destroyed Spire and snow covered settlement.

Loneliness creeped in like the window draft, chilling her to her bones. But she deserved it.