The Void

Valhalla

Based on the prompt: Valhalla does not discriminate against the kind of fight you lost. Did you lose the battle with Cancer? Maybe you died in a fist fight. Even facing addiction. After taking a deep drink from his Flagon, Odin slams his cup down and asks for the glorious tale of your demise!

After taking a deep drink from his Flagon, Odin slams his cup down and asks, "Tell me your demise, mortal!"

I cleared my throat, unsure of exactly where to begin but, his eyes seemed to bore through my thoughts and suddenly, I knew exactly what to say.

"When the flowers seemed to bloom and the children scurried around my feet was when I saw her. She was perfect in ways I couldn't describe, gorgeous, smart, funny. It seemed like a far away dream. We went on our first date at the arcade, playing amongst cursing teenagers and crying kids. We didn't mind.

She went to the bathroom once and came out with a red nose and glazed eyes. She said he was an old friend. I payed no attention.

Days passed like night skies, beautiful and never ending. We danced and kissed and loved throughout our home, which was proclaimed "our home" six months into bliss.

She danced with other people a lot, always going to sketchy alleyways and dirty clubs. She just liked people, she always said. I payed it no attention.

It was cold and dark and dim, the first winter, when she asked me that.

'Hey, you ever wanna try weed?'

Years of glazed looks and addiction from loved ones had caused me to abhor anything drug related. I was stricken with grief, I was going to lose her, I knew, to the same vile substances I had dealt with seeing.

I had found that these vile substances had gotten hold of her long before I knew her and my butterfly flew away, screaming and crying, filled with horrid accusations of 'prude', 'boring',... 'useless'.

So in a sickening act of revenge, I fell to her level and chains, I found, had wrapped around my hands and placed me in a hell I couldn't begin to describe. Full of heroin, cocaine, pot, and acid, I discovered a cruel calm that completely overtook me.

Months went by, drifting without purpose, without a clean thought to try and change what I had done.

One fateful day, when the flowers seemed to bloom and the children scurried around my feet, I saw her again. She looked just as radiant as when she left, standing there with another man, content in her being, smoking a cigarette between swigs of beer.

'Useless boring prude', I was suddenly reminded, All those prior months of heaven suddenly squashed by my reluctance. So, that day, I vowed I would show her that I wasn't like that, I would be fun! I would be...fun."

I stopped to wipe some tears from my eyes, begging for this to be a nightmare. Odin silently sipped from his cup and whispered, "Finish it."

The words seemed to come from my head, almost, with how fluently they tumbled from my sobbing mouth.

"I returned to my apartment, full of dirt and grime I hadn't bothered to clean. I sobbed in misery, chugging my bottle just to make the pain dull. I used every single one of my "collection", you could say. Painkillers, coke, meth, you name it, I'd have probably done it. I felt loopy in a calm way with electricity racing through my veins while smoke soothed my aching heart. I felt on top of the world. I even drew myself a bath and soaked, sipping my liquid fire and waiting for the inevitable crash to come. But it never did, I never woke up."

I choked on my last word, falling to my knees, praying again. But what could I pray for now?

"I regret it," I sobbed. "I regret it so much, please!"

What I was saying "please" for, I have no idea. Odin sat up in his chair, filled with godliness and merely said, " Welcome, my child, to Valhalla."

~END~