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Edited at April 1, 2026 09:44 PM by Rose Thorn Manor
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Camery Valatieri - Camery watched him for a moment or two, her eyes soft until she heard him. He sounded so scared. Whatever was going on in his head... it had to have been horrible. Her hands ran softly along his shoulders, hoping to be of some sort of comfort.
He just seemed to get worse with time, shouting out loud in a way that just... terrified her. She furrowed her brows slightly, trying to talk to him. "Hey, Malakai you're alright," she whispered to him, her voice soft.
He couldn't hear her. She clocked that pretty quickly. So, she just sat with him silently, hoping to be some sort of comfort to him. She didn't know what was going on, but she was evidently worried about him. About what was going on in his head.
Though, she squeaked when he flopped over, and sort of rushed to his other side and put a soft hand on his cheek. "Malakai," she whispered hurriedly, gently shaking his shoulder, although again she got no response. She shook him a bit harder after a moment or two, though. He wasn't looking at her. He just looked like some sort of shell of a man, laying there.
"Hey, hey, Malakai talk to me," she whispered in a more rushed tone, although when she still didn't get very much.
She looked up at Orianna, her face drawn. "Can you go get someone?" She asked hurriedly. |
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Edited at April 1, 2026 09:44 PM by Rose Thorn Manor
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Camery Valatieri - Camery sat there, her eyes glued to Kai’s still form. Orianna had run off in a panic, and now she was alone with him. It was strange, being here in this quiet room, the weight of the silence pressing down on her chest like a physical thing. Her hand moved instinctively, brushing against the side of his body. He was so still. She knew he wouldn’t feel it, wouldn’t know she was here, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to reach out. To make him feel safe, if only for a moment.The nurses had said their part, the words heavy with authority and finality. Stress. They had said it like it was something she could manage. Could she? Had she somehow pushed him too far? She thought of all the times they’d clashed, the sharp words, the moments of tension. The way her temper flared when he closed himself off. Had that been too much for him? Was she the reason he was trapped like this? Her fingers curled into the fabric of his blanket, the soft material offering no comfort, only emptiness. It had to be her fault. Had to be. When they said there was nothing left for them to do, the breath she’d been holding for what felt like hours slipped out, ragged and uneven. The helplessness churned in her gut, like she was being swallowed by the unknown. He had to choose. Choose. Her mind repeated the word like a mantra. Choose what? To live or to die? She didn’t know what to do with that. How could anyone make that decision when they were stuck in a nightmare? She leaned forward, her forehead brushing against his, closing her eyes as if she could block out the rest of the world. Her hand lingered on his cheek, the warmth of his skin sending a jolt through her chest. She knew what borderline personality disorder was, but it felt different when it was the person you loved who was struggling with it. The fact that he had never told her, never let her in, made her feel even more isolated in this moment. "Is there really nothing we can do to help?" The question left her lips like a whisper, fragile and broken. The answer came back in the form of silence, and that was worse than any words could be. She wrapped him up in a blanket, the motion gentle, careful. As though she could protect him from whatever darkness he was facing, even though she had no idea how to fight it. |
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Edited at April 1, 2026 09:45 PM by Rose Thorn Manor
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Camery Valatieri - Camery lifted her head after a moment, and looked back to the head nurse, her eyes lighting up a little. "You do?" She asked quietly after a moment or two. Maybe... maybe if she could see what he was seeing, then she could understand what he was feeling later on, when he woke up. Because he had to wake up... he didn't get the choice not to. She wasn't giving him a choice. It might not be pretty, as the nurse had put it... but it didn't have to be pretty. All she wanted was for Malakai to be alright. The woman explained the screen, and Cam gave a soft nod. She still didn't understand it all, but she wanted to help in any way she could. "Well... can I see, then?" She asked hesitantly, her brows pinched tightly together. |
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Edited at April 1, 2026 09:45 PM by Rose Thorn Manor
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Camery Valatieri - Camery stood in silence, her hands gripping the edge of the counter as the nurse worked quickly, attaching monitors to Kai’s still body. Her eyes never left him, heart pounding in her chest with a desperate hope that he would be alright. She couldn’t help it; it was selfish, the way she clung to the thought of him waking up. The way she wanted him—needed him—to be okay, as if she could somehow fix whatever had broken him. When the screen flickered to life, her breath caught in her throat. She could see everything—everything. The sterile beeping and buzzing of the machines faded into the background as the images on the screen took center stage. It was clear now, what the nurse had been warning them about. This wasn’t going to be easy. The child on the screen—bloodied, bruised—looked so much like Kai, like her. A part of her wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t tear her eyes from the suffering, from the reality of what he was seeing, living, trapped in. Her body trembled, the sharp pain in her chest rising with every crack of the whip, every scream, every shred of agony. It felt like it was happening to her, like her own skin was being torn open. No. This wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him. Kai would never hurt anyone. She knew that, deep down. This was something else, something twisted by the past. She remembered the stories he’d told her—vivid, haunting memories of his father, of the torment he had endured. This wasn’t Kai hurting someone. This was his father’s cruelty, a nightmare distorted through Kai’s pain and trauma. Her hand shot up to her mouth, stifling the sob that clawed at her throat. She could hear the child’s cries—her child's cries. The scream felt like it was ripping her apart, yet she was powerless to stop it. It wasn’t real, not exactly. She knew that. It was a memory. A twisted, distorted memory that Kai was living through again and again. And yet, it felt real. Too real. She looked back at him, her eyes searching his motionless form, wishing she could reach him somehow, wish for him to wake. He was so still, so utterly unmoving, like he was trapped in this nightmare with no way out. How could she help him? How could she wake him from this? The answer escaped her, and the silence that filled the room felt suffocating. |
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Edited at April 1, 2026 09:46 PM by Rose Thorn Manor
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Camery Valatieri - Camery sat in the chair, her body frozen, her mind racing but unable to escape the horror unfolding before her. Every moment felt like it dragged her deeper into a pit of dread as she tried—desperately tried—to understand what was happening in the chaos of Kai’s dreams. The room felt suffocating, the air thick with an oppressive heaviness. The nurse had left hours ago, and Camery hadn’t moved. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the screen, from the images flashing before her, playing out over and over in brutal repetition. She watched as the scenes unfolded—each one more horrifying than the last. It wasn’t just the violence, the blood, the screams that left her paralyzed with fear. It was the realization that this was what Malakai had lived through. What his father had done to him. To his family. The twisted, warped memories replaying like a nightmare he couldn’t escape. She hadn’t understood. Not fully. Not until now. Her thoughts kept drifting, spiraling into the realization that she had been blind to just how much pain he had carried, how deep his scars ran. She had been flippant with his feelings, dismissive even. Time and time again, she had pushed him away, failed to see the cracks beneath his façade. The guilt pressed on her chest like a weight too heavy to bear. The dreams continued on, unrelenting, and she sank further into her thoughts. She didn’t know how long it had been since the nurse had left, but she barely noticed. Time felt irrelevant when every second was filled with torment. Then, just as the horror threatened to consume her, something shifted. A subtle movement. She blinked, unable to process what she was seeing. It was him. But it wasn’t. The figure before her wasn’t the Malakai she knew—the one trapped in that lifeless body, a prisoner of his own mind. This version of him, this other him, was no servant. He was different now. He wasn’t a boy, wasn’t the one she had seen so broken. This one... was watching over her. Her breath hitched as the realization crept in, though she couldn’t quite grasp its full meaning. Whoever he was now, this other self, he was trying to protect her, to care for her in a way that felt so distant and unfamiliar. A part of her wanted to scream, to shake him, to force him back to reality, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything except watch, as the dream continued its terrifying path. |
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Bright Sunshine with a few High Clouds
