Go to work.
Get engulfed.
Thicken your constitution.
Deaden your nerves until
feelings glance off of
your steely exterior.
Your apathy is a samurai,
deflecting emotions
with unnatural precision.
PLING
PLING
PLING
PLING
the fallen garnish your feet
like pencil shavings.
You are sharpened.

[reads a news article about people suffering]

Somewhere, seemingly distant, a voice cries or sings. It starts faint, but you know it's going to get much louder. No. That's not quite right. You know it IS much louder.

You know its volume is being filtered somehow. You know because you're doing the filtering. Or a least you're trying.
[trying is the wrong word]
fighting. You are fighting this noise down. You are an indomitable force that fights everything. Wasn't it you that moved like wind? Wasn't it you that struck your enemies true? A warrior that stands fearless above all.

[something is looming]

Of course you would want to tune this out. It's not just a loud noise. Pretty sure there's pain involved. Pretty sure you might be hurt. That's why you had to turn the noise down.
[it's a scream]
the scream down. I mean, even a warrior is scared by pain. No shame in that. The scary scream had to be muted. It's what anyone would do. It doesn't make you less warrior. I mean, did you see those moves out there?

[PLING PLING PLING]

But something is not right. This [scream] is somehow frightening. You don't feel very warrior–like right now. You feel ill. Weak. How long have you been fighting this noise down? How loud is this thing? I mean, is it safe to check or will the noise crush you where you stand?

It's considered unwise for a man to open his door when he knows a flood is on the other side.

But you need to open this door. You've been dishonest with yourself
[Sun and moon and stars and void]
You've been dishonest with the cosmos and it's time to repent. You will drown.
It will be relief somehow.

[Go home.
Get engulfed.
Open up your conscience.
Feel your scream in every
emotion as they ripple
throughout your juicy guts.
Your catharsis is a newborn fawn,
clumsily alerting
every predator.]



You are broken.
You are crying.
You are the screaming.
[steel melts]
You were cutting down yourself
with precision.
[PLING]

You'll wonder how it can be so,
in a fair world,
that this scream should be turned against you.

After all, you've been taught
that a warrior keeps their screams to themselves.