She sat there. Still. Legs swinging. She was like the rest of them. Only she wasn't. She was a clone. She was an outcast. They didn't bat an eye. She buried it down where eyes couldn't see. It clawed on the walls until its nails bled. It squirmed until it gave out. It studied the world through a peephole. Until it was forced back into the depths. It scratched until it was engulfed by a thick plaster. It didn't dare come out. This monster didn't devour corpses, or feast on blood. This monster haunted her thoughts. Chained her down. Stalled the clock; ticking, but never advancing. Suffocated her in dense melancholy. It was the silent kind of killer. The kind who could sneak up without a peep. The kind who leaked doubt into every thought. Years of conditioning taught it one thing. Shadows were survival.
Her legs, pale and fragile, stood. Shakily stood. Look forward, she thought. Her lips curved upwards. Plaster it there. She thought. Her face was stained with lies. Liar, she thought. Her eyes fixed on the wall. Her face stuck. Layers of glue gripping it in place. The wall. Blank. White. Nothing.
She walked. The perfect type, the type they all longed for. The controlled type. The forced type. She was the only one that knew. To the door. Just the door. To the gate. Only the gate. Up the hill. Get up the hill and you'll stop. Through the passage. She didn't let out a breath. Didn't collapse. Just… Stood. Stood there.
She felt it come up. The first wave arrived. Light and translucent. Then came the second and the third. Before she knew it, she was drowning in liquid pain flowing through her veins. Invading her thoughts. Seeping through every crevice of her. The glue dropped. The voices blurred together in an evil cacophony of static. The world drained to grayscale. The mask gave out.
She squeezed her eyes shut. She blocked her ears of all sound. She bit her tongue until the thoughts shrivelled up. Back down. Drowned. Her lips curved again. Through broken glass. The plaster stuck again. The normal sounds returned. And her legs moved. Again.
And the door clicked behind her.
The thing that goes unseen and people fail to notice, though, is this kind of silent killer is the most deadly. So look under their façade, and pull them up before they drown.
