Author's Notes:
I've thought of this often over the past year. I knew I wanted to write this one next after the last chapter, but I wasn't sure how I wanted to tell these emotions, this story... until last week. Please be advised that this depicts a suicide, and read at your own risk. I feel the writing is simple and bland in a way, but I wrote how I felt it needed to be wrote... or, I guess, how I had felt the emotions inside my heart while thinking about it. Just keep in mind that this is just as much poetry, to me, as it is a story.
To be honest, I'm not really sure what I will post next. It surprised me even writing this thing this weekend, even as small as it is. But whatever I do post, I hope it's a welcome surprise. :3
And as always, enjoy~
Disclaimer: The Loud House Copyright Nickelodeon (2019); Humanity by Scorpions (2007)
Humanity, Goodbye
Lori sat down at her kitchen table.
A woman in her early thirties. Wrinkles 'round her eyes, a beautiful face just beginning to show wear and age.
She lifted a cup of coffee to her lips, blowing across the steamy top.
She thought of everything that brought her to that exact spot. Her time away from her siblings and parents. Her time devoted to college, her career.
The mug was set on the tabletop; a finger lazily stroked around the lid.
She looked down, absently noting the cup was half empty.
She sighed and left it in place.
Like a wind carrying a leaf to and fro, the woman found herself being led through the living room.
Lori smiled as she paused at the mantle above the fireplace.
Her hand stroked the side of her wedding picture; remembering her nerves and anxiety as she held Bobby's hands, said her vows, walked down the aisle as a newly wed bride…
A wind captured her feet and she took off once again.
Coming to a door, she peeked inside and gave a tiny grin.
She stepped inside and approached the twin beds, standing between them.
Lori bent down and pushed back the hair of her son, kissing his forehead.
She leaned down and kissed the cheek of her daughter as well.
And before she left, as she leaned against the door frame, she looked at them with a tear falling from her chin to the ground.
"Mommy loves you both very much," she spoke in a quiet whisper.
Before she even knew it, she was at the end of a hallway.
Where a window was waiting with parted curtains.
She looked outside and saw the moon staring down at her.
She saw the shadows crawling toward her from the trees in the backyard.
She turned around and suddenly the lights were off in the house.
Or perhaps they were never on to begin with.
She walked away from the window, her body stiff and shaking.
The shadows, claw-like branches threatening to strangle her, followed closely; nipping at her heels with relentless speed.
She passed an open door, to a room with an open window.
And the moon gazed down upon an empty bedroom, with not a single bed, nor blanket, nor child.
She passed by a fireplace, and the reflection of moonlight glistened over a single frame, showing her degree she had earned from university.
The woman found herself staring down at a coffee mug.
The dark liquid inside didn't stir.
The shadows over passed her, shrouding the table in broken, shattered darkness.
Closing her eyes for a moment.
Sighing.
She sat down.
And from her pocket, she procured a little bottle.
She sat her phone down to the table, and the speakers softly played the song dwelling in her heart.
Humanity, auf wiedersehen, it's time to say goodbye. The party's over, as the laughter dies… an angel cries…
She crushed a handful of tablets, stirring them into the murky depths of her mug.
Humanity, it's au revoir to your insanity…
She blew a gust of breath over the liquid, as she brought the mug to her lips.
You sold your soul to feed your vanity, your fantasies, and lies…
Her throat bobbed as she gulped it down.
A bitter taste more bearable than the bitter pain inside her heart.
You're a drop in the rain, just a number, not a name; and you don't see it… you don't believe it…
Lori let herself hum along with the song as her hands gripped the edge of the table.
Her nails digging in…
At the end of the day, you're a needle in the hay; you signed and sealed it, and now you gotta deal with it.
Her breath caught as her vision swam, as the shadowy claws scraped her sight from her mind.
Humanity…
Her elbow bumped into another chair as she slumped to the side, tipping, falling…
Humanity…
Her eyes closed as she fell into nothing, too dead to even feel the impact.
Goodbye.
The dark one hummed the song she'd heard from her older sister's radio just that morning.
A pair of earbuds in her ears played it on repeat.
Two dark eyes stared through the parted window in her room, seeing the silent carving on the single tree in the backyard.
The inscription LLxRS surrounded by a heart.
And she wondered to herself…
What could be.
What would be.
And what never will be.
A frail smile cracked across her pale cheeks as she approached her bed, lifting the coffin's door and stepping inside.
And as the moon's shadowy demons swarmed around her, she heard the words repeated over again.
Humanity…
Goodbye.