Spook-tober 2025: Day 23

Fall to Ruin

Leo Driver

This was… Expected to say the least. I tried to delay the inevitable and look where that got me. Alone. Unwanted all over again. I have no one else to blame but myself for this, yet…

Why does it still feel painful? I finally nipped the bandaid, why does it all linger like it did? Why? Shouldn’t the guilt wash away like that of my sins for the past? Didn’t I take responsibility?

“No.” I hear a small voice chirp into my ear, “You did the opposite. How could you dare claim a lie?”

“Am I really lying?” I ask with a weary tone, my eyes growing heavy each passing moment between us.

“Yes,” the voice said. “No man true to himself would ever lie about his own feelings. You’re trying to hide again. Just admit it. “

“Perhaps I am.” I agreed, yet I couldn’t bear to acknowledge what was bubbling in my chest. “But you should also understand why I hide in the first place.”

“No one’s immortal.” The voice told me.

“Not completely.” I retorted.

“Regardless, it’s not an excuse.” The voice continued, “You’re too old to act like a child. Grow up.”

“Now that’s just cruel.” I chuckled.

“But it’s the truth.” It’s tone didn’t waver, “You have acted immature the past 200 years. It’s over, you’re finished. Not even tough love can save you.”

And then it was gone. The truth had fallen onto my lap, but I chose not to see it. I close my eyes and took my last breath. My empire has finally fallen by the very flesh I preyed upon, the stake strikes my heart along with my misery. The curtains close and the words fade into my dying mind:

“Mors vincit omnia.”