Eren's Story, Prelude (ElementAurix)

[I’d like to begin with that this is my first attempt at writing of any kind (so I’m low-key terrified) so I don’t know how well it will turn out or how quickly I will be able to continue it. It does begin up topics of mental health, so be warned. I suffer from agoraphobia so I wanted to make an effort to both reach out to come out of my shell and to have something I can relate to with the character…also, fluffy seem like a great therapy device. This is just some character and story set up, any and all constructive criticism is welcome. Please enjoy.]

Eren sits at the computer, staring at the screen as he desperately tries to get control of his breathing. “Just another anxiety attack” he thinks, trying to reason with himself as he closes the lid of his laptop. No work will be done today either, it was too overwhelming.

Desperately, he opens a pill bottle and quickly pops a couple in his mouth and downs it with a gulp of water, hoping that his anti-anxiety medication kicks in quickly. Already feeling drained from night after night of insomnia and the pitiful quality of meager sleep he does get he drags himself back over to his bed, knowing that once the pills took effect that he would calm his nerves and eventually drift off to sleep.

That gave him a small sense of comfort as he flopped down onto his bed, pulling his phone off the charger to set it up on the pillow next to him. As he unlocks his phone to stare at the background, a faint smile crosses his face while tears well up in his eyes. A picture of a joyful woman with two small children, a boy of four and a girl at a year and a half, smile unmoving back at him as he breaks down.

After several minutes he begins to calm, the pills doing their job. He quickly taps his phone screen and a video starts to play as he closes his eyes. He hears cheerful giggling and the sound of presents being unwrapped, he could still smell the lingering scent of warm apple cider as he began reliving that memory. Eren didn’t need to see the video at this point, he had watched it so many times that it was burned into his memory.

One last tear falls, hearing the boy in the video say “Love you, daddy!” as speaks just above a whisper in unison with his own voice in the video, “Daddy loves you too.”. With that he fades off to sleep, hoping to finally get some rest…hoping the nightmares could be avoided for the night.


This is how Eren’s life had been the past few months, ever since he lost his family. He had always suffered from depression and anxiety, but it was something he had under control enough that he didn’t even need medication. But, after the fire and the hopelessness he has felt that night he fully downward-spiral into agoraphobia, according to his therapist.

He always thought it was like they show in the movies and on television, where the person goes outside, by choice or by force, and completely blackout on their doorstep. Thankfully, he didn’t have anything quite like that, but he found normal tasks he used to do now feel near impossible. Going to the store in the afternoon when it was excessively filled with people and noise, meeting new people, or even attempting a challenging coding project for work now began sources of dread for him.

His therapist had attempted several activities and coping methods to help, but most offered little to no improvement. Eventually, she suggested getting a pet again, which surprised him. Eren had often shared that he wasn’t ready for another dog or cat after losing them in the fire, too. As he moved to protest, she quickly motioned to calm down before saying “Have you thought about fluffies? They had been found to be rather useful in therapy for a multitude of reasons, whether it is for company and companionship, distraction, or cathartic stress relief.”. As you sat in silence a moment, she followed up with “At least give it some thought…You have to keep trying new things until you find something that works, otherwise, you’re going to end up in a mental hospital or even dead from the stress.”.

That continued to scratch at his mind all week and it was no different as he groggily began to wake up. Eren lets out a deep sigh, thinking “…What do I have to lose?”.

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23 Likes

I see good potential here. There are a couple tiny, minor mistakes that I could nitpick at, but as a whole, it seems pretty darn good. I really like it when people describe their characters’ mental issues. That’s something I definitely couldn’t manage to do well. I’ll look forward to the next part, whenever it comes out.

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This has great potential, I hope you write more of it.

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