Chase Away The Demons

Walk | Talk | Think

It was weird to Callisto, purposefully seeking out the comforting embrace of another. For so long, as long as she could remember, her pains and discomforts had only ever been her own, and she had been forced to endure them by her own strength. The lesson had been ingrained in her after the disappearance of both of her parents before she was a year old, and her difficulty with trust and opening up had only been damaged further by the events that had transpired during her second year. She was supposed to be strong and self-reliant, capable of taking a beating, getting up, and moving on without help. It made her feel very unlike herself, less than herself, to crawl closer to this male who had only been meant as a temporary distraction and draw from his strength what she could not make strong within herself. She might have been shaking, but he was steady beside her, and his paw wrapped gently tighter to draw her closer into an embrace that offered her a sense of safety she had been long without.

With her strength compromised by both the nightmare and Jakart's steady comfort, the black and grey healer could feel her hold on her composure slipping. In vain, she tried to fight to keep it in place, clenching her silvery blue eyes shut as she willed the trembling of her lips that had suddenly started to stop, the shaking of her body to cease, and the sudden, worsening ache in her chest to abate. It's just a nightmare... It's just a nightmare! She wanted to cry the words out, to scream them and scold herself that she had no reason to behave in this way, no excuse for her to get so worked up over something that had not even happened.

But it had happened. Nightmare or not, the events that had played out in her dream were events that had also played out in life, events that had scarred her far deeper than she would have imagined. They haunted her, tortured her, and made life miserable as she struggled to overcome the damage that had been done to her psyche. She wanted more than anything to simply forget, to wipe it all from her memory, and no matter how close she got it never truly left her but always reared its grotesque, demonic head when she let her guard down. Now was no different, only she had faltered in defending herself from it in time, and in her stumble Jakart had stepped forward to be that shield for her, offering his strength and compassion when she had none of her own. I've got you, he whispered, and with the consoling lick he placed against her head and the soothing motion of his paw, Callisto broke down.

What feeble thread of composure she had been clinging to finally snapped, and with its release came months and months of repressed tears, overwhelming her as she choked out a sudden, uncontrollable sob. With her paws caught between them she could not reach out for him but pressed her face further into his chest as she cried and shook within his embrace, the quaking of her body worse now that her control had finally shattered. She had tried for so long to carry the heavy weight that was the burden of her history on her shoulders alone, but her strength had finally given out on her.