#I’m coping w the fact I got broken up yesterday sorry | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

eighth--wonder · 4 years ago

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alright fuck it

here's a lil story i'm writing. i have no idea where it's heading but i want to share it.

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Stranger

“Do you have a minute?” asks the stranger that has taken a seat next to me. I just wanted to read a book in the park and NOT talk to people. It’s the reason I’m out here, to not talk to people. Well, that, and the fact that my therapist keeps yelling at me to go outside.

“Y-yes?” I said back to him, shutting my book. There it goes, that darn stutter.

“I’ve had a heck of a day. I got laid off from the only thing keeping me from living in my parents' basement, my phone shattered after this stupid kid knocked into me on his bike, I lost this really important family heirloom after my house was robbed by my step-mom, and, I have no friends to vent to, which why I’m talking to you, a stranger. No offense.”

I smiled. “None t-taken. That sounds li-like a pretty crappy d-day to m-me.”

He looked confused. “You…”

“I-i-i-it’s my s-stutter.”

“Oh. I’m Cody by the way.” He said, delivering a warm smile along with a hand to shake.

I shook his hand. “I’m Wil-Wilson. N-nice to me-meet you.”

Here is usually where the people who thought I could be a potential friend go away, but Cody was different. He stayed, asking me what book I was reading, talked about how the economy was failing, new shows on Netflix. Ya know, the usual.

Eventually, he decided that I was good friend material, and we exchanged numbers.

I walked home after Cody left, considering my social interaction bar had been used up for the day talking to him. Cody, the only person who judged me by how I acted instead of my stutter. He was nice, his appearance wasn’t anything out of the usual indicating he wasn’t a serial killer, which was always a perk. He also didn’t show any signs of isolation which is why I was surprised when he told me he didn't have any friends, but everybody copes in their own way, I guess. His tone of voice suggested that he goes to therapy, he sounded very on edge, possibly paranoia, but he did say he had a bad day.

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts. My CSI training tended to kick in from time to time. I had gotten “let go” from my CSI position at NJPD because of head trauma, also known as, “We don’t want a kid with a broken dream and a stutter solving murders.”

I opened the door to my apartment and stepped inside. Just as I had expected, nothing had happened. My living room was a mess, decorative throw pillows all pilled and smushed. The coffee table had empty coffee mugs littered around its surface leaving white rings on the table. I guess I should clean them up.

After cleaning up the coffee mugs and the white heat rings, I grabbed a cup of water, sat down in front of the TV, and flipped to the news.

As usual, the news delivered nothing but depressing news about how the president’s attempt to do something-or-other was succeeding. Or failing. I never paid attention to the news.

I turned the TV off and decided to go do something productive with my time and then did nothing because who has time for productivity and stared at the ceiling.

Eventually, my body started telling me I needed to sleep and listening to it, I changed into my sleepwear and went to bed.

I woke up to birds chirping and the sun shining through my bedroom window, which would lead you to think I would have a wonderful day, meet someone new, maybe go shopping for supplies to make a delicious meal, but no. My plan for the day was to update my laptop, watch some TV, then maybe mow the lawn.

While I was staring at the black screen of my updating laptop, my phone vibrated signaling a text message had come through. Getting text messages was not a usual occurrence for me. I only ever got messages from my data plan telling me I ran out of data. I looked down at my phone and to my surprise, it was Cody asking if I wanted to hang out today. After proofreading my response and then proofreading it again, I sent it to him.

Waiting for his response, I sat on my bed chewing my nails.

What if he isn’t really your friend, he’s just pretending to be?

What if it’s all a joke and he hates you?

No, stop that.

Why would anybody want to be friends with you?

You can’t even speak right.

Stop.

Nobody even likes you.

That’s it.

I got up and got changed, avoiding looking in any mirrors. My outfit wasn’t anything extraordinary, a pair of jeans with an old band t-shirt and leather jacket matched with Converse. Without waiting for a meeting place from Cody, I headed out the door, slinging my beige satchel over my shoulder. In my satchel was my phone, my wallet, a pocket knife and a lighter.

I arrived at the park searching for Cody: vitiligo, blonde hair, freckles, blue eyes, glasses, a pretty good sense of style. Judging by what he wore yesterday which was a pair of work pants, a long-sleeved light pink dress shirt, and a navy blue tie, he would wear something casual like jeans and a sweatshirt. What he wore yesterday was obviously his work clothes but as he said, he had gotten laid off from his job so he wouldn’t be wearing work clothes.

I had actually done research on jobs for him based on the personality gathered from him. I know, I know. I’m weird because somehow I know his entire personality after just meeting him for the first time. Yeah well, I don’t care. The job turnouts were nice, things along the lines of psychiatrists, therapists. Ya know, socially demanding jobs. Something I could never do.

Eventually, I found Cody at a coffee shop talking to the lady at the counter about how she should go see a therapist to cope with the loss of her husband. What a gentleman.

He turned around to find a seat in the crowded coffee shop and noticed me standing in the middle of the shop, staring at him like a loser.

“Wilson, you found me!” He said, walking up to me as if he had known me longer than a quick chat on a bench.

“I did,” I said, nervous that other people would see. “Now le-let’s go,” I said, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the door.

“Don’t you want anything?” He said, struggling not to spill his coffee.

“No, I’ll p-pick up a Mo-Monster on the w-way to the ma-mall,” I said.

Realizing I was basically holding Cody’s hand, I let go and turned to face him.

“S-sorry,” I said, turning a slight shade of pink.

Cody situated himself. “About what?”

“Nevermi-mind,” I shook my head as if doing that would remove the awkwardness from the situation.

Cody kind of smiled. “Okay. So, we’re we headed?”

“I was th-thinking the mall, m-maybe hit up H-Hot Topic,” I said as I started to walk down the trail.

The trail at the park was an absolute must if you’re a tourist. In the fall, the trail became covered in amber-gold leaves. Animals of all sorts rustled the leaves, burrowing to make their homes. Grumpy park keepers raking leaves into piles only to have children jump in them and ruin them. God, I love it.

“Sure. Doesn’t the mall have a food court? We could stop there and get something to eat.”

I turned to look at him. “Th-that would be g-great.”

We walked in silence to the mall. I could never quite figure out Cody’s shopping preference. He looked like he shopped at Kohls or Sears. Some relatively nice places. Maybe Boscovs. I, on the other hand, shop at places like Hot Topic and Journeys.

We arrived at the mall and made a direct line to a Hot Topic. I could tell Cody had never entered a Hot Topic in his life, considering the fact he scrunched up when he saw the cashier.

I walked up beside him and nudged him. “This your fi-first time?”

He took a sip of his coffee. “In a Hot Topic, yes.”

I turned back to the t-shirts. “I can te-tell.”

We browsed the store, Cody striking some conversation with other shop goers. How is he so social? He even got the kids in Hot Topic to talk to him.

“Wilson, c’mere!” Cody yelled from the other side of the store. The entire store, which consisted of like, 3 people, turned to look at me.

I chuckled awkwardly. “Uh, h-h-hi.” I gave a tiny socially awkward wave which was responded with an understanding nod from some kid in a Panic! At the Disco shirt.

I scurried over to the other side of the store. “Wha-what do you wa-want!” I hissed at him.

Cody gestured over to the shirt he had in his right hand. “Don’t you like this band? I saw them on your lockscreen.”

He was holding a Twenty One Pilots shirt that had the words: “I belive in Josh Dun” etched around the alien-like symbol that represented Josh Dun. The shirt wasn’t really my style, but Cody looked so proud of himself for finding a shirt that I could possibly like, that I couldn’t turn it down. I grabbed the sirt from his hands and slung it over my shoulder. I looked for other t-shirts, failed, and ended up in the pin section. A sign underneath the bucket read, “Buy 2 get 1 free”. I was always a sucker for deals.

“Watcha doing?” A voice was accompanied by a brush on my shoulder. I suspected that it was Cody’s arm, because his hand brushed against mine. As if that same hand had taken a paintbrush, my face was painted a light red. Well, more of a light pink. For some reason, Cody’s touch made my chest feel all weird, my stomach flutter, and my face heat up. Of course I knew what this feeling was, I’m not stupid.

“Uh, I’m l-looking for pi-pins. They’re b-buy two get one fr-free.” I said.

Cody was immediately intrigued. He rummaged through the pins, discarding ones he didn’t like. I already held two pins in my hand, a Fall Out Boy one and a subtle LGBTQ+ Pride pin.

Now, Cody wasn’t the type of person I would have thought to have also picked out an LGBTQ+ Pride pin as well, but here we are, Cody with an extremely flamboyant Pride pin in the palm of his hand.

My face tuned a medium shade of red. Holy crap, Cody’s gay. I mean, it didn’t bother me, obviously, but you never would have guessed it.

Somehow, I completed the transaction between the cashier and I, and me and Cody made a beeline for the Five Guys. Five Guys was a restaurant I had come to many times when I was a kid. I ordered what I usually got, a Veggie Sandwich. Cody ordered a Cheeseburger with Small Fries. An order I can respect. We searched for a place to sit before choosing a seat underneath the trees they put in the mall. It never occured to me why they put trees in the mall until now.

Seeing Cody smile at me from underneath the trees, a stray ray of sunlight shone through his glasses and making its way to his blue eyes, his smile making me feel warm inside. God, what I would do to take a picture of him right now.

“H-hey, can I t-take a p-p-picture of y-you, Cody?” I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket.

“Sure. Where do you want me to look?” He said. I was honestly surprised by his reaction. He didn’t think I was weird or refuse.

I adjusted my phone camera to the light settings. “J-just look directly a-at the c-cam-camera and smi-smile.”

He did as I said, smiling directly at the camera. The shot was super cliche, but he looked great.

I took the picture, ignoring weird looks from other customers, and sent it to Cody. The picture came out nice.

“Put a black and white filter on it.” Cody’s voice sounded from my shoulder. His chin rested right where my shoulder met my neck.

I put the black and white filter on it. The ray of sunlight that passed diagnally on his face was turned to a light gray.

“But it l-look-looks better with col-colour.” I said, changing it back.

Cody stared at it for a few moments, his face looked rather studious, as if he wanted to remember every aspect of the photo.

“Yeah, your right. Keep it coloured.”

I smiled. “I’m al-always ri-right.”

Something about how quickly our friendship had formed made an impact on me. We met on a bench yesterday and now I’m sending him a picture I took of him in a mall plainly because I wanted to. Something wasn’t right; friendships don’t move this quickly. People weren’t just nice. As depressing as it sounds, it’s true. People aren’t nice with no reason. We’d love them to be, but they just aren’t.

Cody threw away the remains of his lunch and sat back down in front of me.

“So, want do you want to do now?” He said.

I shrugged. “I do-don’t know. May-maybe we c-could go to-”

Cody gasped. “What about a play! There’s a theatre down the street, and the admission’s free!”

I smiled. I friggin’ love plays. Especially musicals. Something about how people can change their person to a completely different personality always made me happy.

“I lo-love the sound of th-that.” I said, standing up and throwing the remains of my veggie sandwich in the garbage can.

We left the mall in a hurry, rushing to hail a cab to the nearest theatre. We both sat in the back of the cab as the driver drove us to our location.

“So, do y-you know wha-what play it i-i-is?” I asked.

Cody shook his head no. “Honestly, I don’t really care what play it is. I just love the acting behind it.” He said.

“Me t-too. I just lo-love how the pe-pe-people on st-stage can tra-transform into wha-whatever chara-character they ne-need to-” I was cut off by the cab driver.

“Ay kid, could ya knock it off with that stutter? It’s really annoyin’ and it’s gettin’ on my nerves.” He said. He had a heavy jersey accent, a contrast to our current location of New York.

“Yes s-sir.” I said, folding my hands in my lap and drawing my eyes to my feet.

Cody kept looking between me and the cab driver. “What? No.” He said, knocking on the glass that divided the passengers and the driver.

“Sir, can you pull over?” He said. His tone sounded like a mother who was about to scold her child.

The cab driver groaned and pulled over.

“What?” He said, twisting his body so he could see through the little window.

“My friend can’t help his stutter, okay? And for you to ask him to ‘knock it off’ was extremely impolite.” Cody said.

‘Friend’. I held back my smile.

The cab driver snorted. “I don’t care if he can help it or not, it’s annoying and it distracts me from driving.”

Cody laughed in disbelief. “Oh, I see. Well, in that case, can you stop talking in that obnoxious jersey accent of yours? It distracts me from enjoying the view. And, maybe stop smelling like rotten fries because it makes it hard to focus. And I would heavily enjoy it if you threw out that black ice smelly tree, because all it does is combine with the scent of feces back here and makes it smell worse.” He smiled sweetly. “Thanks so much, mmm-bye.”

He opened the cab door and walked over to the sidewalk to open mine. I got out, throwing a dirty look at the cab driver. We left without paying.

“Hey, th-thanks for standing u-u-up for me b-back there. It rea-really meant a lo-lot.” I said.

Cody smiled. “No problem! It just pisses me off when people are mean to others.”

We walked to the theatre. Cody was right, the admission was free and it was one of my favourite plays. Romeo and Juliet.

Cody and I walked up to the admission box, standing rather close to each other.

“One ticket for me and one for my friend.” He said.

There it was. That word Friend. Now that I think of if, I haven’t really had a friend before. Yeah, I know. You’re probably thinking ‘Wilson, I bet you had at least one friend.’ Nope. None of the kids in elementary school talked to me enough for me to develop a friendship with them, and middle school was, well, middle school, and after my accident in high school, no one spoke to me straight up. I’m honestly surprised I have the social skills I have.

We walked down the aisle and found our seats. We were seated in the 3rd row of the middle section. So right near the front.

“Have you ever seen Romeo and Juliet?” Cody asked.

I raised my eyebrows. “Have I ev-ever seen R-Romeo and Juli-Juliet?”

Cody smiled. “I take it you have. Well good, because I’ve never seen it.”

“Really?” I said. How?????

Cody shook his head. “Nope. Never seen it.”

I sighed. “Do you at le-least know th-the p-plot?”

“More or less. I know theres a thing with a balcony?”

“Yes.”

“And they,” He looked side to side, checking for people. “Both die?”

I smiled and nodded. “Y-Yes! So you kno-know the basic-ics. G-Good.”

We turned our attention to the stage as the lights dimmed.

yea that's it so far. ask me if you wanna be tagged!

#stranger #<- that's the name of the story btw #danny tries to write

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corruptforest-blog · 7 years ago

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Chapter 10: Coping With Changes

Leliana’s vision slowly came into focus as she woke up on the bed in her tent. She looked around the space, as if it was unfamiliar to her. She supported herself with her elbows, lifting and eventually sitting body up on the edge of the bed. She managed to stand, and started to stretch, her bones giving off a satisfying crack as they loosened up. She heard the flaps to her tent open up, revealing Ryn, holding an object made of brown leather in her hands.

“Hi, Ryn,” Leliana greeted. “When did we get back to the base?”

Ryn jumped at the sound of her voice, she hadn’t realized she was awake. She looked over at Leliana with wide eyes, and shaking hands as she clutched the leather.

“L-Lily… You shouldn’t be standing yet, you should lay down until you regain your strength. The…events of last night weren’t good for any of us.” Ryn said, trying to keep a calm tone as she gestured for Leliana to lay back on the bed.

Leliana wouldn’t budge. The events Ryn spoke of all came rushing back. She fought the impulse to touch her eye socket. She turned away from Ryn.

“Get me a mirror, please.” Leliana said.

“I assure you, it’s not as bad as y-” Ryn started.

“Please, Ryn.”

She could feel Ryn’s stare on her, until she finally heard a reluctant reply.

“Yes, Lily.”

She returned with a hand mirror, slightly dirty and dusty, as it had been sitting at the back of the camp’s storage tent unused. It was clean enough for her to see what she had wanted to. This time she gave in to the need to touch it. The now forever closed eyelid that had held her left eye. It had small scars around it, ugly, pink scars where claws had scraped at it to get to the eyeball under. Now, tears started to drop, washing some of the dust off the old mirror. Ryn tapped her on the shoulder, making her jump from forgetting that the girl was there. Ryn held out the brown leather object she was holding, and Leliana took it with a dismissive nod. Ryn left without a word. Only once she was sure the other girl was gone, did she put on the eyepatch.

=====================================

Ryn’s next stop was to Anubis. His fresh bandages were already starting to look too bloody to keep on, but the camp only had so many. His eyes hadn’t been completely taken out, but they were sliced open to the point that they might as well have been. He seemed to be adjusting to being without sight well enough, but Ryn still had trouble telling whether this was bravado, or if he really was already numb to the fact that he’d never see again.

“You haven’t touched your berries or jerky.” Ryn pointed out.

“I’m not hungry.”

Ryn looked down in deep thought. “…I could feed y-”

“I don’t need to be fed.” It came out more harshly than he meant it to. But he didn’t care. Admittedly, it felt good to snap at someone after yesterday. If only he wasn’t given a shot of guilt as his reward. “Sorry.” he added, with a sigh.

“I under-… Well, I can’t say I understand what you’re going through.” Ryn said, shrugging. “Only you know how you feel, and yesterday was a lot for anyone to take in. You gonna be okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” he said.

=====================================

“It’d be much more of a nuisance to go searching for a new heir, when she’s got a perfectly broken one right here!”

“Be who you really are! A monster.”

“You desperately try to run away from your fate, try to be merciful to humans. Try to be human.”

The pixie’s words echoed through his head. He didn’t have a nightmare while he was passed out, but he almost wished he did. As if the guilt that made his head hurt wasn’t enough. As soon as he got out of bed that morning, he headed straight to the stream. It used to calm him when he found he couldn’t sleep, or when he found his thoughts heading towards…dark places.

He watched as the small waves splashed against the smooth gray rocks. The mini waterfall that led into the stream made a peaceful babbling noise. For a second, he really did feel relaxed. He felt so unlike the merciless war machine he was raised to be. He sighed out loud.

He didn’t want to admit that the pixies were right. Didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t the least bit human. He really didn’t want to admit that his mother might have broken him a long time ago. Her teaching went bone-deep, every lesson on combat, flight, and war strategy, it all sunk in to make him her perfect, little, obedient minion.

“Jin!”

Jin turned his head, being shocked out of his meditation. Ryn ran up to him, sitting down beside him and catching her breath.

“When I realized…you weren’t in your tent…I searched everywhere for you!” Ryn panted.

“I wanted to be alone.” Jin muttered.

“That’s no way to live.” she teased. “Not for you, anyway. You’re not the tough, brooding, loner type.”

“How do you know that?”

“If you were, you would’ve dropped us a long time ago. Now, what are you doing out here alone?”

“I-I just…couldn’t face them. Not after doing what I did. Anubis is blind, Ryn, and Lily had her eye ripped out. Both caused by me. I don’t even know where’d I start, if I talked to them.”

“How about you stop feeling sorry for yourself, and come back to camp?” Ryn asked.

“I’m being serious, Ry-”

“So am I! The best thing for you to do is to get back to camp, and get back to work on finding us a way out of here. I’m not saying that you should act like nothing’s wrong. Just that you shouldn’t let it get in your way.” Ryn placed a supportive hand on Jin’s shoulder. “You’re strong in the real way. What happened last night wasn’t your fault, I refuse to believe you did that of your own free will. Just know that, none of us think any less of you because of it. Continue being the leader we know you are, and before long everything will be going much more smoothly.”

Jin just stared into the stream, watching the water as it flowed past.

“Nothing will ever be like normal.” he said, still not looking at her.

“No, but we’ll make this our new normal. Keep moving forward, and all that.” Ryn swallowed a lump in her throat. “I’ll admit though, this is a tall hill we’ve got to climb over. But, we’re not doing anything by just sitting here talking about what we should do. What do you say w-”

Her words were cut off by lips being pressed against hers. Her eyes widened, and she instinctively shoved Jin away.

“What are you doing?” Ryn yelled, standing up.

“Sorry, I guess I’m just not used to anyone treating me so…equally. Before I was the high and mighty Corrupted Prince to my mother, a waste of corrupted DNA to corrupts who thought they deserved the title more, and now neither Anubis or Lily, the closest things to friends are gonna want anything to do with me.” Jin forced a lighthearted grin. “Then again, maybe it’s just the effects of going eighteen years without seeing another human being finally getting to me.”

She playfully slapped him upside his head. But, before she could say a word in reply, Leliana dashed into the small clearing.

“Ryn! Anubis left the base!” she announced.

“What? Why didn’t you follow him?” Ryn asked.

“I tried, but he knows the areas better than I do! I lost him. I don’t know how he managed to get so far without being able to see! I didn’t know what else to do but to find you.” Leliana said, her breathing making it sound like she was having a panic attack.

Jin was already on his feet. “Come on! He couldn’t have gotten that far. Can you tell us which way he went?”

Leliana gave a nod, and started to lead the way. Jin grabbed her arm. “It was dangerous enough for you to travel this far alone. Especially in your…condition. Let me lead, just point me in the right direction.” he said, softly.

She looked away, and this time, she hesitated before finally nodding.

=====================================

Anubis may have been blind, but he still knew the layout of the forest. In mere minutes, he had already managed to leave camp all on his own. His hearing warned him to stray away from certain areas where he heard the distinct growl of a primitive corrupted beast. It wasn’t Ragnarok, or else the ground would be rumbling under his feet. He didn’t waste time thinking about who it could be, instead feeling his way forward into a clearing.

Then, right into the side of a big boulder. He scolded himself for his lack of attention to his surroundings, just because he couldn’t see didn’t mean he could keep making these mistakes. He tried to feel his way around it, and soon realized it wasn’t a boulder. It was the side of a stone cave. He could feel the rocky interior, and hear the distant drops of water that fell from the top. He started to wonder if he was further away from camp then he thought. That was when Anubis felt a claw touch his shoulder, and he sharply spun around, fangs bared.

“Easy, easy!” a voice said. It was a corrupt. Going by it’s deep voice, Anubis could only assume it belonged to a male.

“Stay away!” Anubis demanded. “I’m not looking for a fight.” he added. He lowered his defensive stance, but didn’t completely let his guard down.

“I’m not gonna hurt you. I have no reason to!” the voice said, it had a strangely kind tone for a corrupt. “If anything I should be the hostile one. I mean, you are inside my home after all.”

“…Sorry.” Anubis finally said. “I’m used to facing much more violent corrupts.”

“Well, I’ve never been one for fighting, in fact, it’s the reason I’m down here. As a pup, I refused to be involved in battle training.” he explained. “The only reason I’ve lived here so long is by being nomadic, moving from a cave one day to an underground hideout the next. I’m never in one place long enough to attract attention from the beast-”

The corrupt was interrupted by a crack of lightning, and Anubis could feel cold wind blow past him. “I think the second worst part about this place is the weird weather patterns. It was perfectly fine just a second ago.” he muttered. “Anyway, you better get deeper into the cave, sounds like a big storm’s coming.”

“I should be getting back to my own camp, the others might be worri-”

“I insist! It’s warmer than it seems in this place.”

Anubis hesitated, as the storm clouds seemed to get closer. “…Fine.” he said. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“The name’s Tak!”

=====================================

As Anubis and Tak took refuge in the cave, and the others looked for him with no idea where he was, the queen chuckled darkly on her throne in the corrupt mansion. Her assistant sat at her side, looking up at her in delight.

“For every failure comes a great success, Acantha!” The queen said. “The assassin has yet to return with my son’s head, yet the pixies did one better. Nothing like psychological damage to lower morale, isn’t that right dear?”

“Yes, your highness. Before long, his allies will fall, and he’ll have no choice but to come crawling back to his destiny!” Acantha replied, with a cheerful hiss.

“Why wait? I already have one of my more primitive beasts down there with an animalistic desire for blood.” Acantha tilted her head in confusion. The queen chuckled at her oblivious reaction. “You’ll see soon enough, my loyal pet.”

Acantha stared down at her panther claws, and ran her forked tongue over her python fangs. She wasn’t an ordinary house cat, and thus, didn’t like to be referred to as a ‘pet’. But, for her beloved queen, she bit her tongue.

TO BE CONTINUED

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