Truth Needs No Colors

by Lastingimage24

Intermission. Anecdotes for the End of Your World - Anthem

Anthem leaned out on the balcony, taking a drag off of his cigarette, the intoxicating smoke warming his soul. If one could see him now, the expression on his face would be indecipherable. Joy? Sadness? Some combination of the two? Who knew?

There was still a fading pain pulsing in his cheek, and many spots in his bones and extremities were still tender, the worst of which being his sprained leg now in an elastic bandage. THe pain felt good now, though. A badge of his principles.

He should’ve killed the fuckers.

...

...No, no. He shouldn’t have. One of those guys might be someone like Books. A good guy with one bad idea. A good guy with an even better son. He couldn’t take away someone like that.

“Anthem?”

A welcome surprise. Sketch apprehensively approached the side of Anthem, like a cautious but curious dog approaching a pony with a treat.

“Sup, kiddo?” he responded. He thought that he would’ve wanted to be alone right now, but for some reason the grey unicorn was an exception.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, your mom did a good job.” Anthem ruffled the mane on the kid’s head. Sketch’s age was a bit more in the foreground now that Anthem had just spent the last couple hours conversing with his parents.

“That’s not what I meant,” he pouted, fixing the now disheveled hair.

“Whatddya mean?”

“I’m talking about... well, you.” Sketch rubbed his shoulder bashfully. “You haven’t been having the best day.”

Understatement. “Heh, yeah well... shit happens.”

Sketch pawed at the railing, chipping some paint in the process. Anthem rose his brow at the fidgeting teen, expecting a question any moment.

“Okay, so...” Ah. There it is. “Anthem... you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But, uh... what happened with your parents?”

...

...Sooner or later, he was going to ask that. Anthem exhaled a long, agitated sigh. He hoped Sketch would realize it was for the weight on his heart rather than annoyance at Sketch. He leaned on a hoof, and then immediately regretted it, pain shooting through his cheek and leg.

Delicious, delicious pain. Anything to numb the real pain. Maybe he didn’t regret it after all.

“My daddy was pretty cool, Sketchy. Chill dude. We butt our heads like any family, but at the end of the day we were family. He got sick and couldn’t get better. It wasn’t the hospital’s fault, I know, but I wasn’t able to make it before he passed, and all I could think of was how lonely he must have been. You see, Momma wasn’t a very sociable pony. She couldn’t go outside most of the time. So he died alone.

“It was devastating, for sure, but I could’ve gotten over it if that was the end of the story. But later that month, my uncle died too. Same thing. I was still mourning my Daddy, so I was out of town getting drunk off my ass. I came back home and found out he died yesterday. My an’ my uncle were close, even though he hated my daddy. And now he was gone too. Hated hospitals ever since.

My uncle left me his sizable will. He wasn’t a millionaire or anything, but he was pretty well off. All I did with it was get drunk and party. After all, I wasn’t going to have to work anymore, at least for a while.

I still lived with Momma at the time, you know, taking care of her. Daddy was her whole world, so losing him was even rougher on her. But unlike me, she wasn’t getting better. In fact, quite the opposite.”

Anthem bit his lip, this being his first pause in the story. Sketch gave him the respect he deserved, and just nodded sagely.

Anthem could feel his throat tightening.

“You see... she was lonely. Really, really lonely. She... couldn’t cope with it, and eventually she... asked something of me. I had just turned into an adult, you see... but I was still young, so I didn't... I didn’t know if I should... I couldn’t say no to her.” Tears started to fall down a wincing face. “I just wanted her to feel better. I would’ve done anything.”

“Oh... my lord.” All of the blood drained from Sketch’s face, and he looked nauseous. He probably couldn’t think of anything more to say. Who could?

“So, of course it didn’t help. I stopped talking to her after that. I couldn’t even look at her anymore. She tried to make it normal. She tried to make it right. But eventually, I think she realized what she did. She stopped talking to me too. Both ashamed of what we did.

“After a couple months, I moved out. Haven’t talked to her since. Probably never will. I heard she’s doing well, at least. She went to a... ‘hospital’ to get some help. I don’t know if she told anypony what she did. Doesn’t matter. I’d just deny it anyway.

“I don’t blame her for it. I mean maybe I should, but I don’t. But you can’t erase something like that. You can’t.”

A heavy silence fell upon the room. It wasn’t the first time Anthem had told this story. It won’t be the last. And every time he told it the same thing happened. Silence. Regret.

Sketch, to his credit, responded faster than most. Almost as fast as Haren. “I guess... it makes sense.”

That wasn’t what Anthem was expecting. “Uhh, what? What do you mean?”

“Well you had trouble with intimate relationships for a while. And that’s why. That experience with your mother... if fucked up your perception of sex and love. You’re lucky you were able to work yourself out of that.”

“Fuck,” he cursed, unable to keep it to himself. “I hadn’t thought of it like that...”

Sketch nodded, and had a pencil-thin smile. “What you went through fucking sucks, Anthem, but look at you now. A bastion of hope and love. A pillar to lean on. You’re a good guy despite it all.”

Anthem laughed, running his hoof through his mane. “Yeah... I am a pretty cool guy.”

Sketch leaned further on the balcony, smirking. “I’m glad you told me, Anthem, I was afraid you weren’t going to.”

“Nah, man,” Anthem chortled. “We’re family. No more secrets.”

“No more secrets.”

Author's Note:

I'm sorry if this is too dark :L

Comments

[mustangdrew4]

Geez that's rough. I have to agree with Sketch though. Anthem is pretty resilient to have gone through that and come out the way he has.

Dark but well written.

[Amos Anon]

“You see... she was lonely. Really, really lonely. She... couldn’t cope with it, and eventually she... asked something of me. I had just turned into an adult, you see... but I was still young, so I didn't... I didn’t know if I should... I couldn’t say no to her.” Tears started to fall down a wincing face. “I just wanted her to feel better. I would’ve done anything.”

(Divine expletive)

[Lastingimage24]

9890054
It's what we call in the tragic backstory industry a 'yikes'.