the young boy with tattered shorts and a t-shirt two sizes too big held an ax with clumsy hands. as giant as he was for his age, he was still dwarfed by the shadow of his father looming behind him.
you’ll outgrow a jacket the minute we buy one. when i was your age, i was runnin’ around shirtless in the snow.
the boy said nothing. his father polished off the bottle in his hand and tossed it to the side of the stump in front of them both. a thick chunk of wood rested on top of it, waiting to be split into firewood.
do it again. the right way. don’t make me repeat myself.
the oregon winter tore through the boy’s t-shirt like paper as he hesitantly adjusted his grip on the ax. it was a heavy thing, and no amount of fidgeting made the worn, splintered wood any kinder to his hands. he reeled it back the same way he did for his little league baseball games, then-
no, damnit. remember what i said!
the boy’s father swatted the back of his head, and the boy quickly corrected himself. he let the blade rest on the edge of the stump instead, and his hands slid over to the back of the handle. backpedaling, he tried to lift the blade up into the air.
it didn’t get far. the blade wasn’t balanced the same as his plastic bats, and he couldn’t lift it high enough over his shoulders to swing at the chunk of wood on the stump. he kept trying to raise it, but the ax began to shake.
swing, damn it!
the boy tensed, and the blade swung down, but it didn’t catch the wood. instead, it wedged itself in the roots at the base of the stump. startled, the boy’s grip loosened, and he let go of the ax.
what are you doing, kid? pick it back up.
the boy stumbles forwards, but his feet are clumsy too. he is downward-bound, and scrapes his knee against the scraps of wood around the stump. his palms plant firmly into the ground on either side of himself, and he seethes. tears threaten to dot his eyes.
rub some dirt on it, thomas. get up.
thomas doesn’t move.
i don’t wanna do this anymore.
but his father’s shadow looms over him.
i don’t care. you’ll learn to use that damn thing if it kills you.
Have a lovely year and don't let anything upset you because you deserve to be happy!
Also I really think this whole song fits the vibe of Nico so please check the lyrics for me.
I'm not happy with this short-ass thing but I had to post something, sorry for this awful thing, Nico.
❝Under skin, I got a heart made out of chrome and ice❞
↺Everyone loved Nico. She was beautiful, smart, and charming. How could someone could not like her, she was the perfect human-being in every possible way. And she knew that.
↺No one liked Nico. She was mean, straight forward, and neglectful. Everyone either hated her or get caught in her fatal charm once they tried to talk with Nico. She also knew this.
↺To outside, she had a frozen heart that was impossible to melt. To inside, she had a heart burning with hatred which was impossible to freeze. She didn't want none of them, she only wanted a beating heart, however, even the thought of that made her sick in the stomach.
↺So she was cold, she was full of hate, and she was full of anger. Anger to everyone else and everything else at the world. But the truth was, her anger was actually for herself. For not being better, for not being perfect enough.
↺She had to be perfect. She needed to be the best human in the world just to prove she was better than others. No, she would be more than human, she would be a God. Nico only neeeded to be unbreakable so that no one would even dare to hurt her again.
↺That's why she killed herself slowly and reborned from her poisonous ashes just like a Phoenix.
❝My words are laced in venom lies❞
↺Nico wasn't perfect at all, hell, she was very far from it. But she couldn't just accept that her hard work was nothing but an attempt in vain. She had to find a way to cover her mistakes, so she would be good enough for her expectations. And when she was so sick of every single thing, she found the best way to be a perfect God.
↺She started to lie.
↺Her lies weren't simple white lies. They were a literal death trap that leaded who was unlucky enough to talk with Nico to a painful end. And Nico was waiting them at the end of the road covered with her untruths.
↺And maybe, maybe if she tried hard enough to believe all the fake things she told to herself, they would actually became real. Maybe she would actually be perfect one day.
↺Even though she never found lying strange to her nature, she still needed some time to get used to it. And that time came closer even what she had expected. Turned out, she was born to live a life full of sweet masks and lies in a world filled with bitter truths.
↺Her relationships lacked any kind of meaning that was supposed to be in a real bond. And it was all her fault. She wore a different façade for each relationship she ever had that she forgot who she was.