Sometimes, you have been feeling like you're drowning. Not necessarily in water, but in time. Who were you then, who are you now? You don't really know and you deny to recognize the truth.

It has been a rough evening for both of you. You had made dinner, yet he had been refusing to eat for hours now.
It is at that moment that the clock strikes 10 PM that he grabs his phone and announces:

"We're having guests. Get ready."

You pause. Guests? People that come over into your house by free will? All the friends he has are strange and mean. Maybe he lost his mind from not eating enough that he got that lonely, he needs more than you.
Maybe he breaks his own rules now.

You nod silently, before leaving the kitchen. Guests, guests, guests. Who? Why? Is there anything to celebrate?
You walk upstairs into your shared bedroom to pick out a clean shirt, lost in thoughts still. You can't remember the current date, it has been a while, maybe there really is a reason to celebrate. Or maybe you're neglecting him, maybe you're--

You're interrupted. You hear him calling from downstairs, alongside with a few voices you can barely recognize.

Is it that higher being he always talks about? That woman that begins like a good start but ends in a nauseous mess? No, she sounds different. She has been showing up around your home, making you feel uneasy and as if you were about to throw up. She fears that. Her claims of you mistreating him are all way too quick, but her finger always points at you - she almost sounds like his mother.
Yet his mother is long dead by now.

It takes you a moment to recognize the voice. Your eyes widen a little and your heart beats in a way you forgot it even could, yet you punch yourself with your fist to shut it up.

As if in times like this I'd think romantically about anyone else at all. I have no right to leave. Right?

You go downstairs, yet as soon as you lay your eyes on the three other people standing there you swallow hard.

Nate, Lucia and Yara.
Trapped, enslaved and freed.

They all look at you, differently and Nate and Yara are the only ones smiling. Lucia holds hands tightly with him, you force yourself to a smile.

Your lover smiles up at you, giving you the energy you portrayed onto him back. For once the dark bags under his eyes seem a bit lighter. Maybe he really needs to see other people.

Did I neglect him?

As your feet touch the ground Lucia looks you up and down. She is the best friend of that higher being.
She stares at you motionless once more, before throwing her hair back and saying: "We're in the kitchen, I'm making him food."

Before you're able to protest, you're being dragged away by Nate's hand.

-----

Even though it is cold outside already, Nate doesn't hesitate to drag you down under the stars. Yara follows you, smiling as well and for the first time in a while you see beyond your world; there are billions of little shining dots on a pitch black wallpaper.
You don't remember when you've seen the stars the last time.

You turn to look at Yara, yet she stares up as well. You try to open your mouth and make a noise yet you're once more interrupted by a soft hand carefully pulling your head into Nate's direction.
As you look into his eyes you're lost for a second. It is a sky for itself, and unlike the eyes of your lover, there is actual light trapped in this. You can't help but smile and carefully lay your head against his, while he holds your body close to his.

"Wait. This isn't supposed to happen, right?
You're staying out here in a different world? With a different lover, in a different part of this story? No, this just isn't right!
Inside of your home Lucia made him food, now they make out, now he betrays you with someone that he and you made up, doesn't that feel disgusting? You have to stop him, will you?"

You can hear the snake whisper into your ear. No one else sees it. But they are able to notice your discomfort.

"Come on, stay with us! Look at the stars, how they shine so bright in the night, we are here and we're gonna hold you until our arms get tired."
You hear Yara's soft voice. She has been here all along.

"But she's wrong."

"Hey. I know... I know stuff is pretty crazy at the moment and I don't wanna know what is going to happen if you go back inside, but... let me hold you. For more than one night, for more than a moment. Don't let the light take you away from me. You matter to me, dragonfly."

You freeze a little as someone finally says your nickname again. It has been years since you last heard someone create a nickname for you and actually use it. They all abandoned the concept of nicknames. Never, in all your years of waiting you heard someone again making up a silly sound, a funny word to call you lovingly. How does it feel to come home and feel safe, how does it feel to finally lay your lips onto someone else's again and feel actually loved, wanted, chosen, like that name is something only one person calls you, to signal that you're that special to them--

You can feel tears rise in your eyes, yet the snake licks them away and sucks out your sudden realization and urge for real love.

You're his bunny, after all.

"All you need is him",
It whispers, licking its snake lips. It has tasted more than those tears. It has tasted everything, every little thing, and it has been reporting everything.
"Jump back inside, little bunny. It's where you belong."

You stand up, apologizing, but then you run inside again, just to find him upstairs, asleep with Lucia in his arm. She is wide awake.

And her eyes glitter like the one's of the snake.

That night, you multiply try to set an end to this, to his suffering. Cutting the dark red ropes inside your arms, with the snake watching you in disappointment. You don't notice how much weight you have already lost, you're only skin and bones. You try again and again.
Without success, you end up watching Lucia leave your home, blood splattered all over her clothes.
With your own blood running down your flesh, you find him almost dismembered.

You hate yourself.
You swear one thing.
And the snake repeats.

"Never shall you see Nate again, or that Yara girl.
They lured you into the night so she could use him for his body when he is weak and then tear him apart.
What a terrible lover you are, bunny!
You better swear--"

I swear to never leave him alone again, even it means I'll have to give my life.
He is my life sense.