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Supercard Archives / Re: AARON ASPHYXIA vs LILITH LOCKE
« Last post by LilithLocke on March 28, 2025, 09:05:04 PM »Therapy Day Three: I fucked up.
The phone rings twice before a soft click is heard. There’s a few moments of silence from both sides, the only sound is the whirring of the hotel room air system.
Dr. Harris spoke calmly. “Lilith? I wasn't expecting a call from you tonight. Are you alright? Has something happened?”
Lilith shifted quietly, trying to stay quiet, but she couldn’t. “Hey, Doc. Yeah, I... I just needed to talk to someone. I did something again.”
Dr Harris pauses, listening intently. “Alright, take a deep breath. We can have a real appointment after this week's show. Tell me what happened.”
Lilith is hesitant, fidgeting with the phone cord and then a loose thread on her sleeve. “It’s Kevin. I left him a note. I thought it would... I don't know, mean something to him. But he just threw it away. Didn’t even hesitate. Like it was trash. Like I was trash.”
She can hear Dr. Harris shuffling. Sounded like he was leaning forward a bit, probably grabbing some paper to write out her current situation. “I see. What did the note say?”
Softly, eyes darting around the dimly lit room. She really hated that she had called. "YOU SAID YOU NEEDED ME. NEVER FORGET IT. CAUSE I WON’T! xoxo LILITH."
Dr. Harris presses fingers together, thinking. “And where did you leave it Lilith?” He had a feeling he already knew. “Lilith..”
Lilith's voice wavers, rubbing her forehead. “In his car. On the driver’s seat. He found it before he got in.” She shivered a bit, remembering the gaze he had in his eyes.
Dr. Harris pauses, his tone is firm yet gentle. “Lilith, I need to ask—how did you get into his car?"
Lilith gives a shaky sigh, gripping the phone tighter. “It wasn’t locked. I didn’t break in or anything. I just... I saw it, and I couldn’t help myself. He’s been so distant lately. So cold. I just wanted to remind him that he’s not alone. That I’m here for him.”
Dr. Harris leans back, processing the information she had just given him. “Well it’s good you didn’t break in.” He took a deep breath, knowing the next part might be hard for her to handle. “And how did he react?”
Lilith’s voice tightens, hands clenched into fists. “He looked disgusted. Like I made his skin crawl. He tossed the note out like it was nothing. Then he drove away. Ran right over it.” You could hear the heartbreak in her voice. “Like I was nothing.”
Dr. Harris nods slowly. “That must have hurt. And it’s perfectly normal to feel rejection. It’s what you do now that matters.”
Lilith laughed bitterly, running a hand through her hair. “Yeah. You could say that. I mean, I poured myself into those words. And he just... erased me. Like I didn’t even exist. He acted like I’ve not done everything for him.”
Dr. Harris folds hands together. “Lilith, I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but Kevin’s reaction—it’s telling you something. He’s setting a boundary.”
Lilith snaps and starts to pace around her hotel room. “I know what you’re going to say! That I should stop. That I should just give up. But how do you give up on someone who needs you? Who said they needed you?”
Dr. Harris leans forward, voice steady. “When did he say that, Lilith?”
Lilith whispers, staring down at the floor. “A long time ago, I heard it. But he did. And I believed him. I still believe him.” She knew he meant it.
Dr. Harris exhaled, choosing words carefully. “Yes, because you were having him arrested, he’d say anything to get out of that. But things have changed. And right now, Kevin is making it clear that he wants space. The more you push, the more he’ll pull away. That’s not a connection, Lilith. That’s control. And it’s not healthy for either of you."
Lilith’s voice breaks, as she wraps her arms around herself. “But if I let go... what if he really forgets me?”
Dr. Harris softly, watching her reaction. “I think the real question is—what happens if you don’t?”
A long silence stretches between them. Lilith swallows hard, blinking rapidly as her vision blurs. A soft sniffle is heard on the other end of the line.
Lilith wipes her eyes angrily. “I don’t know who I am without knowing him.”
Dr. Harris’s voice once again becomes gentle but firm, almost fatherly. “That’s what we need to work on. Not Kevin. You.”
Lilith's voice comes back soft and unsure that she believes him. “...Okay.”
Dr. Harris nods to himself. “I want you to take care of yourself tonight. No more notes. No more waiting outside his home, his hotel, his car, his locker room. Can you do that for me?”
Lilith’s voice is barely audible, staring out the window at the dark street. “I’ll try.”
Dr. Harris gives a small smile, hoping he was getting through to her. “That’s all I ask. We’ll talk more in our next session, alright?”
Lilith gives a deep sigh, gripping the phone one last time before nodding. “Yeah. Alright.”
The call ends with a soft click. Lilith lingers, staring at her phone, lost in thought. She paced around her hotel room trying to resist the urge to do something rash. Dare she find out what room he was in for the show.
The camera flickers to life in a dimly lit room. Shadows dance across cracked walls, the lone source of illumination a single, swaying lightbulb overhead. Lilith sits in a decrepit wooden chair, rocking slightly, her fingers tapping erratically against the armrests. Her eyes are hollow yet alight with an eerie fascination. A sharp, twisted grin curls her lips as she tilts her head, staring directly into the camera. Her voice is soft, almost a whisper.
“Do you believe in ghosts, Aaron? Do you ever hear them in the dead of night, whispering sweet little nothings in your ear? I do.” She lets out an erratic giggle, that brightens her dark eyes for a moment. “Oh, I do… I’ve seen them. Moving about.. Barely holding onto the world of the living.”
She laced her fingers together, pressing them tightly against her chest as if cradling something precious and fragile. Her expression flickers between sorrow and euphoria. Her breath hitches.
“I see them everywhere. I feel them, crawling beneath my skin, scratching inside my skull. They tell me things... secrets... truths.”
Her eyes suddenly widened, unblinking. She tilts her head, gaze focused on the camera in front other.
“Kevin... oh, Kevin... he’s one of them now, you know? He’s a ghost. A phantom. A beautiful, wretched illusion that drifts just beyond my reach. He won’t speak to me anymore. Won’t even look at me. Can you believe that?” She chuckles. “After all I’ve done for him... after all I’ve given him…”
Her smile falters, replaced by a twitching scowl. She grips the armrests tightly, her knuckles whitening.
“But you, Aaron... you’re real, aren’t you? Flesh and blood. Bones to break. Skin to carve. A heart that still beats so deliciously inside that arrogant little chest of yours.”
She leans forward, the shadows swallowing half of her face, her grin stretching.
“You stand in front of me like you have a right to exist in my space. You think you can fight me? Beat me? Silence me? Oh, sweet girl, you have no idea what you’ve walked into…”
She suddenly bursts into a fit of laughter, rocking back and forth in her chair, her fingers twitching. The sound is shrill, unhinged, like nails scraping against glass.
“You’re just another distraction. Another obstacle between me and him. But don’t worry, Aaron. I’ll make sure you understand exactly what that means. You see, when I take you apart, piece by agonizing piece, it won’t just be about winning. No, no, no..." Shaking her head. "It’ll be a message.”
She sighs, tilting her head dreamily as she reaches out toward the camera, tracing a ghostly pattern in the air.
“When I’m finished with you, when you’re lying broken at my feet, gasping for air, struggling to remember your own name... he’ll see me. He’ll have no choice. Because I won’t be ignored, Aaron. Not by him. Not by anyone. Not anymore. I’m done being an afterthought here. I will be noticed.”
Her expression darkens, her eyes burning with something indescribable.
“So tell me, little Asphyxia... how does it feel to be marked? To be chosen? To be the lamb I lead to slaughter.The one I sacrifice on the altar to please them.. To please him.”
Her breathing quickens as she runs her hands through her hair, tugging at the strands as if trying to pull something unseen from her mind. She whispers, her voice shaking. It was clear that nothing was going to hold her back.
“The Ghosts..” She spoke quickly.
“They tell me things, Aaron. They whisper in the dark, in the quiet moments, in the spaces between dreams and nightmares. They tell me about pain. They tell me all about suffering. About you.”
She begins tracing invisible lines on her arms, as if mapping out something sacred, something violent.
“You think you’re strong, don’t you? You think you’ve faced darkness? Oh, sweet thing, you don’t know darkness. You don’t know the feeling of it coiling around your throat, squeezing, choking, laughing at your struggles. But you will. I’ll show you.”
A slow, shuddering breath escapes her lips, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment as if savoring a private pleasure. It was as if something inside her had snapped and she was ready to do whatever must be done to make herself unforgettable.
“You’ll beg, Aaron. You’ll scream. You’ll cry out for mercy, and I will look down at you, and I will smile. Because the pain and anguish on your face will be like a drug to me. It will soothe the beast inside, that's scratching and clawing, clawing and scratching, night after night to get out. To escape the prison of my mind.”
She presses a finger against her lips, shushing the camera as a sickeningly sweet smile spreads across her face.
“Don’t worry, darling… I won’t be quick about it. I promise to enjoy it. You will too. I promise I’ll make it last.”
She suddenly tilts her head back and lets out a slow, guttural laugh that echoes through the room, the lightbulb above her swaying more violently now, casting warped shadows against the walls. The air itself seems heavier, suffocating.
“You don’t walk away from me, Aaron. Nobody does. Kevin thinks he has. But he hasn’t. He’s just waiting. Waiting for me to remind him... waiting for me to come back home.”
Her fingers drum against the armrests again, erratic, impatient.
“And you... you’re just another step toward that. Another thing I must destroy. Another body to be buried beneath the weight of my devotion.”
She suddenly stops moving, her body eerily still, her eyes locked onto the camera like a predator sizing up its prey.
“I’ll see you soon, Asphyxia. I’ll see you in the dark. I’ll see you when the screams become whispers and the pain becomes pleasure. And when the match is over, when your body is broken and your spirit is shattered…”
She leans in, her lips nearly brushing the lens.
”..he’ll see me, too.”
The screen distorts, static crackling before abruptly cutting to black. The static fades back in for a moment. The camera flickers, revealing Lilith again, but she is closer now, her face barely an inch from the lens. Her pupils are dilated, and she is breathing heavily, her lips quivering as if she is on the verge of something unspeakable. She whispers to the camera.
“Do you know what obsession tastes like, Aaron? It’s sweet. Sickly. Like honey mixed with blood. It coats your tongue, clings to your throat, and it never, ever goes away. Despite how hard you try.”
Her fingers creep along the edges of the frame, nails scraping, slow and deliberate.
“He used to taste it, you know. He used to love it. And now... now he pretends he doesn’t remember. People who lose their obsessions go mad fending forit. They hold back a part of them that should never be controlled or put into a box. People have forgotten that. But I don’t. I remember everything.”
She tilts her head, her voice softening, almost childlike. Doing this, preparing for a match seemed so simple after everything she had been doing recently.
“I wonder... will you remember me, Aaron? When the lights fade and the pain sets in? Will my name be the last thing you whisper before everything turns black? Before you asphyxiate?” She lets out a laugh. “See what I did there? I made a play on your name.. Your real name or your stage name makes no difference. Asphyxia.. You’ll get it, I don’t mind choking you out if that’s what gets me the win.”
A long silence. Then, with an almost tender smile, she presses her hand against the camera lens.
“Sweet dreams, little Asphyxia.”
The feed crackles.
STATIC
Screen cuts to black—this time, for good. Then, just when silence seems final, a faint whisper echoes back, so low it’s barely audible:
“Kevin... I'm coming home…”
The screen remains black. But the breathing continues. A rasping, whispering breath that lingers, crawling beneath the viewer’s skin like an unwelcome touch. It stretches on... until finally, it fades.
Lilith sat in the dim hotel room, the walls pressing in on her like the weight of all her failures. The conversation with Dr. Harris still echoed in her mind, his voice firm but gentle, like a tether keeping her from floating into the abyss she had built for herself. She hated how rational he sounded. She hated how much sense he made.
But most of all, she hated that she couldn’t bring herself to believe him.
Her fingers traced the faint indentations of the phone cord where she had gripped it too tightly. She could still feel the ghost of it in her palm. Her eyes flickered toward the window, to the street below, dark and empty except for the occasional car headlights sweeping through the gloom. Was he out there? Was he thinking about her at all? Or was she nothing more than a shadow he had already forgotten?
She let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head at the absurdity of it all. He had said he needed her once. Those words had been real. They had meant something. And now, now she was supposed to just accept that they had faded? That they no longer carried the same weight? No. That wasn’t how love worked. That wasn’t how devotion worked.
Dr. Harris wanted her to move on. To let go. To ‘find herself’ beyond Kevin. But what if there was nothing beyond him? What if she unraveled every thread of who she was, only to find that the only thing holding her together had been him all along? The thought was suffocating, a weight pressing down on her chest until she could barely breathe.
Her mind spun back to the note, the simple scrap of paper she had written with the desperate hope that it would remind him, pull him back to her. But he hadn’t hesitated. He had thrown it away. Thrown her away. She clenched her jaw, feeling the sting of rejection all over again. He was lying to himself. He had to be. No one could just erase another person so easily, not when there was history, not when there was love.
Love.
That’s what this was, wasn’t it? Even if the world painted her as obsessive, as dangerous, she knew what she felt. And she knew what he had felt, too, before everything had twisted into this unbearable distance. He had needed her. He had wanted her. And if he had forgotten that, then it was her job to remind him.
Her fingers curled into fists as she rose from the chair, pacing the small space. Every step felt heavier than the last, weighed down by the war waging inside her. Dr. Harris had warned her not to wait outside Kevin’s home. Not to linger near his hotel. Not to leave any more notes.
He thought she was suffocating Kevin. That she was chasing a ghost.
But Kevin wasn’t a ghost. He was still here, still breathing, still real. And he was still hers, whether he admitted it or not.
Her breath hitched as she thought about their last real moment together, before everything had shattered. The way he had looked at her then, the way his voice had cracked when he had spoken her name. She closed her eyes, willing the memory to stay clear in her mind. It was proof that what they had wasn’t just in her head. That it had been real. That it was real.
The room felt colder now, the air thick with something she couldn’t quite name. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to find warmth where there was none. The silence stretched on, oppressive and unrelenting. She could hear her own heartbeat pounding against her ribs, a steady reminder that she was still here, still fighting.
Dr. Harris thought she needed to work on herself. To find an identity outside of Kevin. But what he didn’t understand was that Kevin was her identity. Every part of her was woven into him, into the space they had occupied together. To unravel that would be to destroy herself entirely. And she wasn’t ready for that.
She wasn’t ready to disappear.
Her eyes drifted to the door, to the keycard resting on the bedside table. It would be so easy to find out which room he was in. So easy to just be near him, even if he didn’t know she was there. She wasn’t going to hurt him. She wasn’t some kind of monster. She just wanted to see him, to remind herself that he was real. That they were real.
Dr. Harris would say it was unhealthy. That she was feeding an obsession instead of healing.
But how could she heal when the wound was still bleeding?
She took a slow, shuddering breath, forcing herself to sit back down. She could feel the weight of her own desperation pressing against her bones, threatening to consume her whole. She didn’t want to be this person. She didn’t want to be the woman who left notes in unlocked cars and paced hotel hallways searching for someone who no longer wanted to be found.
But what choice did she have?
She ran a hand through her hair, tugging slightly at the strands as if that might pull the chaos from her mind. She needed to think. She needed to be careful. The last thing she wanted was for Kevin to hate her. To truly, irrevocably hate her.
Dr. Harris’s words came back to her then, unbidden. The more you push, the more he’ll pull away.
Her stomach twisted at the thought. What if she was making things worse? What if, by trying to hold on, she was only pushing him further from her? What if she lost him completely?
Her throat tightened, and she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, willing herself not to cry. She didn’t have time for tears. She needed a plan. A way to remind him without scaring him. A way to make him see that she was still the woman he had once needed.
The camera flickers in her mind’s eye, the image of herself speaking to Aaron, to the world, to him. It had felt so easy to pour her emotions into that, to let the words flow like venom from her lips. She had always been good at turning her pain into something useful.
Maybe that was the answer. Maybe the only way to make Kevin see was to make the whole world see first. To remind him through the fire and the fury of the stage, through the echoes of her voice in the ring. If he wouldn’t hear her now, then she would make sure he had no choice but to listen.
Her lips curled into a slow, deliberate smile.
She wasn’t giving up.
Not yet.
Not ever.
The phone rings twice before a soft click is heard. There’s a few moments of silence from both sides, the only sound is the whirring of the hotel room air system.
Dr. Harris spoke calmly. “Lilith? I wasn't expecting a call from you tonight. Are you alright? Has something happened?”
Lilith shifted quietly, trying to stay quiet, but she couldn’t. “Hey, Doc. Yeah, I... I just needed to talk to someone. I did something again.”
Dr Harris pauses, listening intently. “Alright, take a deep breath. We can have a real appointment after this week's show. Tell me what happened.”
Lilith is hesitant, fidgeting with the phone cord and then a loose thread on her sleeve. “It’s Kevin. I left him a note. I thought it would... I don't know, mean something to him. But he just threw it away. Didn’t even hesitate. Like it was trash. Like I was trash.”
She can hear Dr. Harris shuffling. Sounded like he was leaning forward a bit, probably grabbing some paper to write out her current situation. “I see. What did the note say?”
Softly, eyes darting around the dimly lit room. She really hated that she had called. "YOU SAID YOU NEEDED ME. NEVER FORGET IT. CAUSE I WON’T! xoxo LILITH."
Dr. Harris presses fingers together, thinking. “And where did you leave it Lilith?” He had a feeling he already knew. “Lilith..”
Lilith's voice wavers, rubbing her forehead. “In his car. On the driver’s seat. He found it before he got in.” She shivered a bit, remembering the gaze he had in his eyes.
Dr. Harris pauses, his tone is firm yet gentle. “Lilith, I need to ask—how did you get into his car?"
Lilith gives a shaky sigh, gripping the phone tighter. “It wasn’t locked. I didn’t break in or anything. I just... I saw it, and I couldn’t help myself. He’s been so distant lately. So cold. I just wanted to remind him that he’s not alone. That I’m here for him.”
Dr. Harris leans back, processing the information she had just given him. “Well it’s good you didn’t break in.” He took a deep breath, knowing the next part might be hard for her to handle. “And how did he react?”
Lilith’s voice tightens, hands clenched into fists. “He looked disgusted. Like I made his skin crawl. He tossed the note out like it was nothing. Then he drove away. Ran right over it.” You could hear the heartbreak in her voice. “Like I was nothing.”
Dr. Harris nods slowly. “That must have hurt. And it’s perfectly normal to feel rejection. It’s what you do now that matters.”
Lilith laughed bitterly, running a hand through her hair. “Yeah. You could say that. I mean, I poured myself into those words. And he just... erased me. Like I didn’t even exist. He acted like I’ve not done everything for him.”
Dr. Harris folds hands together. “Lilith, I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but Kevin’s reaction—it’s telling you something. He’s setting a boundary.”
Lilith snaps and starts to pace around her hotel room. “I know what you’re going to say! That I should stop. That I should just give up. But how do you give up on someone who needs you? Who said they needed you?”
Dr. Harris leans forward, voice steady. “When did he say that, Lilith?”
Lilith whispers, staring down at the floor. “A long time ago, I heard it. But he did. And I believed him. I still believe him.” She knew he meant it.
Dr. Harris exhaled, choosing words carefully. “Yes, because you were having him arrested, he’d say anything to get out of that. But things have changed. And right now, Kevin is making it clear that he wants space. The more you push, the more he’ll pull away. That’s not a connection, Lilith. That’s control. And it’s not healthy for either of you."
Lilith’s voice breaks, as she wraps her arms around herself. “But if I let go... what if he really forgets me?”
Dr. Harris softly, watching her reaction. “I think the real question is—what happens if you don’t?”
A long silence stretches between them. Lilith swallows hard, blinking rapidly as her vision blurs. A soft sniffle is heard on the other end of the line.
Lilith wipes her eyes angrily. “I don’t know who I am without knowing him.”
Dr. Harris’s voice once again becomes gentle but firm, almost fatherly. “That’s what we need to work on. Not Kevin. You.”
Lilith's voice comes back soft and unsure that she believes him. “...Okay.”
Dr. Harris nods to himself. “I want you to take care of yourself tonight. No more notes. No more waiting outside his home, his hotel, his car, his locker room. Can you do that for me?”
Lilith’s voice is barely audible, staring out the window at the dark street. “I’ll try.”
Dr. Harris gives a small smile, hoping he was getting through to her. “That’s all I ask. We’ll talk more in our next session, alright?”
Lilith gives a deep sigh, gripping the phone one last time before nodding. “Yeah. Alright.”
The call ends with a soft click. Lilith lingers, staring at her phone, lost in thought. She paced around her hotel room trying to resist the urge to do something rash. Dare she find out what room he was in for the show.
The camera flickers to life in a dimly lit room. Shadows dance across cracked walls, the lone source of illumination a single, swaying lightbulb overhead. Lilith sits in a decrepit wooden chair, rocking slightly, her fingers tapping erratically against the armrests. Her eyes are hollow yet alight with an eerie fascination. A sharp, twisted grin curls her lips as she tilts her head, staring directly into the camera. Her voice is soft, almost a whisper.
“Do you believe in ghosts, Aaron? Do you ever hear them in the dead of night, whispering sweet little nothings in your ear? I do.” She lets out an erratic giggle, that brightens her dark eyes for a moment. “Oh, I do… I’ve seen them. Moving about.. Barely holding onto the world of the living.”
She laced her fingers together, pressing them tightly against her chest as if cradling something precious and fragile. Her expression flickers between sorrow and euphoria. Her breath hitches.
“I see them everywhere. I feel them, crawling beneath my skin, scratching inside my skull. They tell me things... secrets... truths.”
Her eyes suddenly widened, unblinking. She tilts her head, gaze focused on the camera in front other.
“Kevin... oh, Kevin... he’s one of them now, you know? He’s a ghost. A phantom. A beautiful, wretched illusion that drifts just beyond my reach. He won’t speak to me anymore. Won’t even look at me. Can you believe that?” She chuckles. “After all I’ve done for him... after all I’ve given him…”
Her smile falters, replaced by a twitching scowl. She grips the armrests tightly, her knuckles whitening.
“But you, Aaron... you’re real, aren’t you? Flesh and blood. Bones to break. Skin to carve. A heart that still beats so deliciously inside that arrogant little chest of yours.”
She leans forward, the shadows swallowing half of her face, her grin stretching.
“You stand in front of me like you have a right to exist in my space. You think you can fight me? Beat me? Silence me? Oh, sweet girl, you have no idea what you’ve walked into…”
She suddenly bursts into a fit of laughter, rocking back and forth in her chair, her fingers twitching. The sound is shrill, unhinged, like nails scraping against glass.
“You’re just another distraction. Another obstacle between me and him. But don’t worry, Aaron. I’ll make sure you understand exactly what that means. You see, when I take you apart, piece by agonizing piece, it won’t just be about winning. No, no, no..." Shaking her head. "It’ll be a message.”
She sighs, tilting her head dreamily as she reaches out toward the camera, tracing a ghostly pattern in the air.
“When I’m finished with you, when you’re lying broken at my feet, gasping for air, struggling to remember your own name... he’ll see me. He’ll have no choice. Because I won’t be ignored, Aaron. Not by him. Not by anyone. Not anymore. I’m done being an afterthought here. I will be noticed.”
Her expression darkens, her eyes burning with something indescribable.
“So tell me, little Asphyxia... how does it feel to be marked? To be chosen? To be the lamb I lead to slaughter.The one I sacrifice on the altar to please them.. To please him.”
Her breathing quickens as she runs her hands through her hair, tugging at the strands as if trying to pull something unseen from her mind. She whispers, her voice shaking. It was clear that nothing was going to hold her back.
“The Ghosts..” She spoke quickly.
“They tell me things, Aaron. They whisper in the dark, in the quiet moments, in the spaces between dreams and nightmares. They tell me about pain. They tell me all about suffering. About you.”
She begins tracing invisible lines on her arms, as if mapping out something sacred, something violent.
“You think you’re strong, don’t you? You think you’ve faced darkness? Oh, sweet thing, you don’t know darkness. You don’t know the feeling of it coiling around your throat, squeezing, choking, laughing at your struggles. But you will. I’ll show you.”
A slow, shuddering breath escapes her lips, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment as if savoring a private pleasure. It was as if something inside her had snapped and she was ready to do whatever must be done to make herself unforgettable.
“You’ll beg, Aaron. You’ll scream. You’ll cry out for mercy, and I will look down at you, and I will smile. Because the pain and anguish on your face will be like a drug to me. It will soothe the beast inside, that's scratching and clawing, clawing and scratching, night after night to get out. To escape the prison of my mind.”
She presses a finger against her lips, shushing the camera as a sickeningly sweet smile spreads across her face.
“Don’t worry, darling… I won’t be quick about it. I promise to enjoy it. You will too. I promise I’ll make it last.”
She suddenly tilts her head back and lets out a slow, guttural laugh that echoes through the room, the lightbulb above her swaying more violently now, casting warped shadows against the walls. The air itself seems heavier, suffocating.
“You don’t walk away from me, Aaron. Nobody does. Kevin thinks he has. But he hasn’t. He’s just waiting. Waiting for me to remind him... waiting for me to come back home.”
Her fingers drum against the armrests again, erratic, impatient.
“And you... you’re just another step toward that. Another thing I must destroy. Another body to be buried beneath the weight of my devotion.”
She suddenly stops moving, her body eerily still, her eyes locked onto the camera like a predator sizing up its prey.
“I’ll see you soon, Asphyxia. I’ll see you in the dark. I’ll see you when the screams become whispers and the pain becomes pleasure. And when the match is over, when your body is broken and your spirit is shattered…”
She leans in, her lips nearly brushing the lens.
”..he’ll see me, too.”
The screen distorts, static crackling before abruptly cutting to black. The static fades back in for a moment. The camera flickers, revealing Lilith again, but she is closer now, her face barely an inch from the lens. Her pupils are dilated, and she is breathing heavily, her lips quivering as if she is on the verge of something unspeakable. She whispers to the camera.
“Do you know what obsession tastes like, Aaron? It’s sweet. Sickly. Like honey mixed with blood. It coats your tongue, clings to your throat, and it never, ever goes away. Despite how hard you try.”
Her fingers creep along the edges of the frame, nails scraping, slow and deliberate.
“He used to taste it, you know. He used to love it. And now... now he pretends he doesn’t remember. People who lose their obsessions go mad fending forit. They hold back a part of them that should never be controlled or put into a box. People have forgotten that. But I don’t. I remember everything.”
She tilts her head, her voice softening, almost childlike. Doing this, preparing for a match seemed so simple after everything she had been doing recently.
“I wonder... will you remember me, Aaron? When the lights fade and the pain sets in? Will my name be the last thing you whisper before everything turns black? Before you asphyxiate?” She lets out a laugh. “See what I did there? I made a play on your name.. Your real name or your stage name makes no difference. Asphyxia.. You’ll get it, I don’t mind choking you out if that’s what gets me the win.”
A long silence. Then, with an almost tender smile, she presses her hand against the camera lens.
“Sweet dreams, little Asphyxia.”
The feed crackles.
STATIC
Screen cuts to black—this time, for good. Then, just when silence seems final, a faint whisper echoes back, so low it’s barely audible:
“Kevin... I'm coming home…”
The screen remains black. But the breathing continues. A rasping, whispering breath that lingers, crawling beneath the viewer’s skin like an unwelcome touch. It stretches on... until finally, it fades.
Lilith sat in the dim hotel room, the walls pressing in on her like the weight of all her failures. The conversation with Dr. Harris still echoed in her mind, his voice firm but gentle, like a tether keeping her from floating into the abyss she had built for herself. She hated how rational he sounded. She hated how much sense he made.
But most of all, she hated that she couldn’t bring herself to believe him.
Her fingers traced the faint indentations of the phone cord where she had gripped it too tightly. She could still feel the ghost of it in her palm. Her eyes flickered toward the window, to the street below, dark and empty except for the occasional car headlights sweeping through the gloom. Was he out there? Was he thinking about her at all? Or was she nothing more than a shadow he had already forgotten?
She let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head at the absurdity of it all. He had said he needed her once. Those words had been real. They had meant something. And now, now she was supposed to just accept that they had faded? That they no longer carried the same weight? No. That wasn’t how love worked. That wasn’t how devotion worked.
Dr. Harris wanted her to move on. To let go. To ‘find herself’ beyond Kevin. But what if there was nothing beyond him? What if she unraveled every thread of who she was, only to find that the only thing holding her together had been him all along? The thought was suffocating, a weight pressing down on her chest until she could barely breathe.
Her mind spun back to the note, the simple scrap of paper she had written with the desperate hope that it would remind him, pull him back to her. But he hadn’t hesitated. He had thrown it away. Thrown her away. She clenched her jaw, feeling the sting of rejection all over again. He was lying to himself. He had to be. No one could just erase another person so easily, not when there was history, not when there was love.
Love.
That’s what this was, wasn’t it? Even if the world painted her as obsessive, as dangerous, she knew what she felt. And she knew what he had felt, too, before everything had twisted into this unbearable distance. He had needed her. He had wanted her. And if he had forgotten that, then it was her job to remind him.
Her fingers curled into fists as she rose from the chair, pacing the small space. Every step felt heavier than the last, weighed down by the war waging inside her. Dr. Harris had warned her not to wait outside Kevin’s home. Not to linger near his hotel. Not to leave any more notes.
He thought she was suffocating Kevin. That she was chasing a ghost.
But Kevin wasn’t a ghost. He was still here, still breathing, still real. And he was still hers, whether he admitted it or not.
Her breath hitched as she thought about their last real moment together, before everything had shattered. The way he had looked at her then, the way his voice had cracked when he had spoken her name. She closed her eyes, willing the memory to stay clear in her mind. It was proof that what they had wasn’t just in her head. That it had been real. That it was real.
The room felt colder now, the air thick with something she couldn’t quite name. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to find warmth where there was none. The silence stretched on, oppressive and unrelenting. She could hear her own heartbeat pounding against her ribs, a steady reminder that she was still here, still fighting.
Dr. Harris thought she needed to work on herself. To find an identity outside of Kevin. But what he didn’t understand was that Kevin was her identity. Every part of her was woven into him, into the space they had occupied together. To unravel that would be to destroy herself entirely. And she wasn’t ready for that.
She wasn’t ready to disappear.
Her eyes drifted to the door, to the keycard resting on the bedside table. It would be so easy to find out which room he was in. So easy to just be near him, even if he didn’t know she was there. She wasn’t going to hurt him. She wasn’t some kind of monster. She just wanted to see him, to remind herself that he was real. That they were real.
Dr. Harris would say it was unhealthy. That she was feeding an obsession instead of healing.
But how could she heal when the wound was still bleeding?
She took a slow, shuddering breath, forcing herself to sit back down. She could feel the weight of her own desperation pressing against her bones, threatening to consume her whole. She didn’t want to be this person. She didn’t want to be the woman who left notes in unlocked cars and paced hotel hallways searching for someone who no longer wanted to be found.
But what choice did she have?
She ran a hand through her hair, tugging slightly at the strands as if that might pull the chaos from her mind. She needed to think. She needed to be careful. The last thing she wanted was for Kevin to hate her. To truly, irrevocably hate her.
Dr. Harris’s words came back to her then, unbidden. The more you push, the more he’ll pull away.
Her stomach twisted at the thought. What if she was making things worse? What if, by trying to hold on, she was only pushing him further from her? What if she lost him completely?
Her throat tightened, and she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, willing herself not to cry. She didn’t have time for tears. She needed a plan. A way to remind him without scaring him. A way to make him see that she was still the woman he had once needed.
The camera flickers in her mind’s eye, the image of herself speaking to Aaron, to the world, to him. It had felt so easy to pour her emotions into that, to let the words flow like venom from her lips. She had always been good at turning her pain into something useful.
Maybe that was the answer. Maybe the only way to make Kevin see was to make the whole world see first. To remind him through the fire and the fury of the stage, through the echoes of her voice in the ring. If he wouldn’t hear her now, then she would make sure he had no choice but to listen.
Her lips curled into a slow, deliberate smile.
She wasn’t giving up.
Not yet.
Not ever.
