Inspired by “idontwannabeyouanymore” — Billie Eilish

Karma always knew when you were lying — not to him, but to yourself. He found you standing in front of the bathroom mirror long after practice ended, the fluorescent lights washing you out, turning you into something ghostlike. Your shoulders were hunched, your eyes were hollow, and your fingers gripped the sink so hard your skin paled. You didn’t cry. You never did. You just stared at your reflection with that silent, bruising kind of disappointment — the kind that didn’t need words to hurt.

Karma didn’t announce himself. He stepped inside quietly and leaned against the doorframe, watching the way your chest rose too fast, like breathing was a task you were failing at. He’d seen you crumble a thousand ways, but this… this was the quiet kind of breaking, the kind that came from a heart tired of fighting itself. “You’re cruel, you know,” Karma murmured. “To you. Always to you.” You flinched, eyes darting away from the mirror as if ashamed to be caught hating your own reflection. Karma walked up behind you, not touching, just close enough that you could feel the heat of him — enough to remind you that you existed, that someone saw you even when you couldn’t stand to.

“You look at yourself like you’re something to apologize for,” he said softly. “Like you’re made wrong.” Your breath wavered. Karma didn’t try to fix you. He just stood beside you, looking at your reflection with the kind of gaze you didn’t think anyone would ever give you — steady, unafraid, real. And for a moment, you could almost believe you weren’t the enemy.