With a tiny squeak, the butterfly is drawn into Grace's mouth and crushed, like a potato chip in a potato chip crushing machine.
And for a moment, there is nothing out of the ordinary.
Then, she is sinking, sinking, sinking, away from the light, away from the shouting, away from the voices that do not know, do not know, cannot listen, will not hear. And the deeper she sinks, the further she should be, from the things that are living, greedy and ignorant and unkind. Only... the grasping hands and the angry voices seem to follow her deeper, tangled ends of ragged nets snatching at her legs. The Depths are not deep enough, not deep enough, not deep enough.
Hide or fight! Hide or fight! calls a butterfly's voice, so very urgent yet as soft as a baby's breath.
cw: references to mob violence, sensory overload, panic attacks
And for a moment, there is nothing out of the ordinary.
Then, she is sinking, sinking, sinking, away from the light, away from the shouting, away from the voices that do not know, do not know, cannot listen, will not hear. And the deeper she sinks, the further she should be, from the things that are living, greedy and ignorant and unkind. Only... the grasping hands and the angry voices seem to follow her deeper, tangled ends of ragged nets snatching at her legs. The Depths are not deep enough, not deep enough, not deep enough.
Hide or fight! Hide or fight! calls a butterfly's voice, so very urgent yet as soft as a baby's breath.