#my grandpa and had a small kid with him like 5 or 6
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Once again another Sally Face dream. This time him and Larry showed up at a family gathering a pushed their way through a crowd. Larry was like "I don't think your going to like Sally Face." That's all I remember him saying :(. Sally Face was so LITTLE like really short and Bill Cypher like. He then, somehow ended up like possessing a long dragon stuffed animal with the head of Simba from lion king? And he was just like i don't even remember what we talked about but we talked a lot. I was living in a room with no walls.
Later in the dream my grandma murdered someone with an axe? I didn't see it but I helped her cover it up. That was the second time I'd helped her cover up a murder in the dream. I think the first weapon was a pipe or something? I didn't even see that part I just knew it happened.
#dream log#then i drove her over to my 'dads house' for a family dinner thabksgiving type thing#there was s little ramp on the road that had a screen and a voice was like 'are you happy? ypu got away with lying to zillow' or something#because in the dream world there was a rule that you had to register anywhere that someone could sleep but my grandma and i hadnt registed#the car we were driving and so we were gonna drop it off at my dad i guess?? idk#so mu dad was loving in the stone building by a lake but there were a bunch of stone bukding and it was very easy to be lost#sometimes during this the house we were looking for turned unto my grandfathers house and i was searching for kt with my brother and my dad#they were like so rude about finding it but eventually IM the one that foind and the guy that opened the door looked literally nothing like#my grandpa and had a small kid with him like 5 or 6
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Star Patient: Chapter 4 (FINISHED SERIES)
WARNING: This series will include; possible inaccurate medical procedures and medical setting, gore, toxic relationships that should NOT be replicated in real life, murder, yanderes, cursing, suicide mentions, implications of misandry (male misogyny), and possibly more.
Inaccurate canon-timeline (this is before Ashley and Andrew murdered their parents).
Reader has a small fear of adult men/rape and has a history of suicide attempts.
Incest is not Wincest.
Amnesiac! Obsessive! Patient! Andrew Graves x Yandere! Nurse! Reader:
Wordcount: 11,018 words
Chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, current chapter, chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8, final chapter.
Want to listen to music while reading? Check out the Star Patient's Official Playlists! Multiple different playlists and genres!
"Andy."
"Hey Andy, wake up..."
"Andrew."
"Andrew, wake up!"
Andrew shot awake, before letting out a hiss, clutching his head as it pounded terribly. He cradled his head, before turning his attention to his bedside, where Ashley stood.
"What are you doing here?" Andrew questioned, still holding his head. "You manage to worm your way in here that quickly after getting banned?"
"Hospital security sucks." She hummed. "That, or they just hire any idiot off the street."
"Maybe you can get a job here." Andrew commented sarcastically, earning a half-hearted glare from his sister. "But you still didn't answer my question. Why are you here?"
"Well, how are you healing? Are we ready to get out of here?" Ashley questioned, sitting down on his bedside, the uneven distribution of weight on his bed causing his injured legs to shift, making him wince.
"I don't know..." he hissed between his teeth as pain shot through his legs and head. "I think it'd be best for me to stay here until I can walk again. We have no where to go when I heal up, and the nurse said I'd have to be bedridden for a few weeks to make sure my legs heal and get strong again." He spoke. "I bet there's probably going to have to be physical therapy too for my legs, so I can walk and crap."
"Ugh... healing broken bones takes too long. I feel like a kid watching their grandpa die." She groaned, physically deflating.
"What's the rush?" Andrew questioned. "We're out of our old city, and it's not like anyone's following us anymore."
Ashley had a look on her face, a flash of hesitancy appeared on her face, gaining Andrew's immediate interest. "I just... I had a dream last night, from the demon, and..." she paused, looking away as she thought what to say.
"And...? And what?" Andrew questioned, prompting for her to go on.
"Ah, never mind." She huffed, a little frustrated. "It's not something you can help with, being bedridden and all."
"Are you sure?" Andrew questioned, seeming concerned. "You can tell me—"
"Don't worry about it, Andy!" Ashley smiled, plastering on a fake smile. "It's nothing too big. So, how are the nurses and doctors treating you?"
"Good..." Andrew muttered.
He was concerned about Ashley's strange behavior, but he knew that if she didn't want to talk, she sure as hell won't.
"They're all fine... Some of the nurses and doctors here are pretty weird, but the one nurse that takes care of me seems pretty nice." Andrew explained. "but, she works in the pediatric branch so I don't see her much." Andrew quickly added, hoping that his lack of time and attention to the nurse would save him from another argument between the siblings.
"A nurse? Is she pretty?" Ashley questioned, keeping up her innocent smile.
Andrew knew this trap very well. He opted to look away from her eyes, staring out the window at the daylight outside.
"No..." he lied. "I wouldn't say that."
"Really? Even with her pretty (e/c) eyes and (h/c) hair?" Ashley questioned.
When did Ashley meet (Y/N)? Ashley had never been in the hospital during the night, so there's no way she met her inside the hospital.
"How did you know what she looked like? Did you meet (Y/N)?" Andrew questioned, curious as he turned his gaze back at Ashley.
"I knew it..." Ashley muttered, a distasteful expression on her face.
"What?" Andrew questioned, confused.
"Don't worry about it." Ashley spoke, standing up from the bed's end, the small movement causing Andrew's legs to hurt a bit. "I'm gonna go grab food. I didn't get any on the way here. I'll see you later, Andrew." Ashley smiled.
Before Andrew could open his mouth, Ashley walked out of his room, exploring the hospital as she avoided the nurses and security guards who could recognize her. She was able to snatch a scalpel lying in one of the empty doctor offices while a nurse was cleaning the exam table, headphones in her ears as she blasted music. Quite unprofessional really, but it helped Ashley get a weapon that was actually useful rather than an empty handgun.
She shoved it in her pocket and waited around the hospital for hours, changing her hiding spot every now and then. She made sure to stay in the pediatric branch, the branch Andrew said that pretty little nurse worked in. In one of her hiding spots, two little boys were rummaging around before they discovered her.
The two had been looking around for their parents after escaping their hospital rooms, Ashley figured due to them calling out “Mom! Dad!” in the hallways. They got to her hiding spot and opened the white curtain she was hiding behind, looking to see if their parents were behind there (kid logic, it makes no sense).
Before the two could scream, Ashley quickly covered their mouths with her hands.
“Don’t be brats now, stay quiet.” She hissed.
They looked at each other, then her, before nodding. Ashley looked hesitant to let them go, but she didn’t want to be discovered, so she moved her hands from their mouths, wiping her hands on her shirt.
“Are you a ghost?” one of the kids whispered.
“No.” She answered, her expression a mix between boredom and displeasure.
“Are you a nurse?” the other questioned.
“No.” Ashley scoffed, her tone almost sounding offended that they had the audacity to say that. “Like I’d work with kids."
“So, who are you? What are you doing here?” one of the blond boys questioned.
“I’m playing hide and seek with one of my friends.” She lied. “Leave, you’re gonna give away my hiding spot.” She huffed, grabbing the curtain and closing it to shield her from view.
Before the kids could ask to play too (having already forgotten their parents), they heard footsteps, followed by a voice.
“What are you two doing?” a female questioned, her shadow being seen through the curtain.
Both of the boys jumped, letting out squeals as they turned to look at her. Ashley grabbed the scalpel she stole out of her pocket, holding it tightly in her hand. Whether it was the she was looking for or not, she’d kill her if she gets discovered.
“N-nothing! Just… playing!” one of the boys spoke nervously.
Good… Ashley thought, smirking.
“I’m Tom, that’s Jerry.” One introduced themselves.
“Like the cartoon?” the nurse questioned.
Funny. Ashley thought sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the joke.
“Um… yes?” one of them spoke, hesitant in their answer.
“Well, it sure matches you both, since you sneaked out of your rooms.” The nurse commented. “Who are you talking to?” she questioned.
Ashley’s grip on the scalpel’s handle tightened, wiggling her shoulders to loosen up a bit in case the nurse got too curious, getting ready to kill her.
“Come along now.” The nurse spoke.
Ashley watched the two small shadows walk away from her hiding spot. The nurse stayed for a second, keeping her attention on the curtain, before she guided the two boys away from her. Ashley peeked her head out of the curtain, seeing a nurse with two little boys walking away. The nurse had (h/c) hair, but Ashley couldn’t see the color of her eyes.
Damn. Ashley thought. I think that was just my target…
She couldn’t be certain per se, but it was certainly the best description so far.
Well, it’s not the end of the world. In fact, it’s probably for the best. If she killed the girl in this hospital, not only could she get medical assistance from others in the hospital if something goes wrong, but it’d be a pain in the ass to hide the body somewhere here too (not to mention the security cameras). If someone died in the hospital, they’d check the security cameras and find Ashley, then Andrew would be in trouble too since Ashley walked in his room and he was left unharmed.
If she can’t kill her in the hospital, she’d just kill her at home. She can just hitch a ride in (Y/N)’s car, it’s really not that hard. Ashley can just follow the girl out of the hospital and either threaten her with the empty gun (not like the nurse would know) or she can just unlock her car depending on her car’s model.
Ashley made sure to follow behind (Y/N) for the rest of the night. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait too long. After rushing out of the staff room, she ran to the elevators. Ashley took the chance to rush down the hallway and slide down the hospital staircase railing, reaching the elevator’s lobby. She followed (Y/N) out of the hospital lobby, following her to her car.
(Y/N) unlocked the car and hopped in the driver’s seat, Ashley timing opening and closing the door from her the back passenger side on her right. (Y/N) buckled her seatbelt, turning up the radio to a random jazz station this late at night and sitting in her car, thinking in silence.
(Y/N) seemed to be muttering to herself, this combined with the radio on allowed Ashley to situate herself onto the car floor, away from (Y/N)’s vision. Maybe if (Y/N) wasn’t so upset, or maybe if she drove in silence without the auditory distraction, she would’ve noticed Ashley behind her; but she didn’t.
Ashley decided not to kill (Y/N) at the moment. If (Y/N) died, they’d crash and Ashley could potentially die or be hospitalized; which would give her a one-way ticket to jail after they examine (Y/N)’s body and realized she didn’t die from the crash.
(Y/N) kept muttering as she drove, seemingly annoyed. Ashley was a bit curious of what she was so upset about (Penelope’s potential crush for Andrew, she was upset about) but Ashley stayed quiet; it would be pretty stupid to say “hey, what are you muttering about?” when you snuck into your victim’s car to kill them.
The drive wasn’t too long, but to Ashley it felt like an entirety. When the car stopped, (Y/N) turned off the radio and stayed in the car for a few minutes, her hands gripping the steering wheel as she stared into space absentmindedly. She finally let out a sigh, then unlocked her car and hopped out. (Y/N) locked the car and walked to her apartment door on the first floor outside, opening the door and shutting it behind her.
Ashley undid the car door lock on the inside, popping up the lock button and carefully exiting the car (after a small heart attack from the inner lights of the car turning on once she opened the door). She made sure there were no people in the parking lot, then she shut the car door behind her and ran up to (Y/N)’s apartment.
Ashley walked up to the door, carefully trying the door handle to see if it was unlocked. It was.
This is almost pathetic how easy it is…
Either the work day tired her out, or she really has no common sense or street smarts.
Ashley slinked into the apartment, the house pitch black. (Y/N) didn’t even bother trying to light up the house, now this was starting to get almost sad.
Ashley crept carefully through the hallway, using her hands to guide her through the dark. Ashley made it to an opening that led into the living room, the only source of light being the window that showed the sun starting to rise.
(Y/N) was on her back as she laid on her couch, staring up at the ceiling silently, no thoughts seeming to go through her mind.
Okay, now this is depressing. Very depressing. Ashley almost felt a little sorry taking her life; or, what was left of it really, which wasn’t much it seemed.
Ashley carefully walked past the depressed nurse, finding her kitchen. Ashley decided she didn’t want the scalpel anymore and she traded it for a long kitchen knife instead, 8 inches long with a sharp, pointy blade.
She held the knife as she explored more of the house, finding (Y/N)’s room. The room was probably the most decorated of the house, with small plotted pants in the window (surprisingly alive, a comparison to their soon-to-be-dead owner). Her room wasn’t decorated much, having a dresser, a closet, a bookshelf of books, a bed, and a desk. Her walls were pretty plain, and she barely had anything on her dresser to hold other than a multimedia center on it.
Even her bedding was a plain grey, but there were colorful soft plushies that covered the bed to brighten up the room.
Ashley’s unsure if that’s childish or even more pathetic, needing plushies to replace humans? That’s just depressing.
Ashley was starting to doubt if it was even worth killing this woman, her life is already pathetic enough as it is. Ashley even contemplated if someone would even miss her. For now, Ashley hid behind the bedroom door and waited for (Y/N) to walk in… whenever she decides to stop sulking on the couch. . .
(Y/N) laid on her couch, staring at the ceiling pathetically. She couldn’t be bothered to think, or even recall her day. Days and week just all just seemed to blur into one now. If one of her patients told her this is how they felt in life, she’d be considered and talk with Doctor Ryan about scheduling an appointment with a therapist; but (Y/N) had been living like this since she was a child. It doesn’t affect her as much as it did when she was a child.
Being alone doesn’t hurt anymore.
I need to get up and shower… (Y/N) thought.
She turned on her side, staring at her reflection in her TV. She looked pathetic curled up on the couch like that.
She wanted to get up and get ready for deal, get rid of all the germs and hazardous matter that was stuck on her clothes and skin, but walking to the bathroom just seemed like a challenge.
She groaned, pausing a few seconds, before getting up from her couch and sluggishly walking to her room.
I just need to shower, eat a meal, then sleep. I should be feeling better tomorrow. She thought, telling herself the same lie she’s told herself for years.
She walked down her hallway, a plain hallway. It was nothing but bare wall, just about as empty as she felt here alone. She had no paintings to put up (and deciding what she’d hang up would be too much of a struggle). She didn’t want to hang up any of her awards or accomplishments, they held no meaning if her parents couldn’t see the victory or praise her for it. She had no family pictures, and even if she did, she wouldn’t have felt pride about the woman that would stand in the frame—not herself or her mother.
She let out a soft sigh, maybe she should get a pet? Sleeping in a bed covered with stuffed animals doesn't really make loneliness any better, just makes sleep more comfortable. Pets are great for depression too! But it'd be so bothersome trying to choose one, yet alone have time for it... maybe she could just get her a reptile, something that can live inside of a habitat and won't need much care; be independent and uncaring to touch, unlike her own needs.
She opened her bedroom door, flicking on the light switch. She stepped inside, rummaging through her drawers for a comfortable set of pajamas. Ashley stood in the corner, watching (Y/N) from behind the open bedroom door, before she decided to take her chance.
She carefully crept behind (Y/N), a kitchen knife in hand, one she stole from (Y/N)'s kitchen since Andrew wasted all the bullets in her gun when he shot that hitman in the park. She was a little nervous, it’d be her first kill without Andrew or the help of her demon friend.
As much as she’d like to give (Y/N)’s soul to the demon, this felt more like a personal kill. Surely the demon wouldn’t mind too much if Ashley gave them a dead body instead of a living person.
Ashley raised her knife in the air, planning to hit (Y/N)’s neck. She’d rather make this quick, they’re in an apartment complex so there’s neighbors around; she’d rather not have anyone hear what’s going on.
Before Ashley could plunge the knife down, (Y/N) turned around, her clothes in hand as she looked at Ashley. Her eyes widened, surprised, before it trailed to the silver blade in her hands.
“…Hey?” Ashley smiled, feigning an amused smile to hide the nervousness she felt in committing this act alone for the first time.
“Are you… trying to kill me with my own kitchen knife?” (Y/N) questioned, recognizing the blade almost immediately.
She even looked a bit annoyed that Ashley had the audacity to kill her with her own knife, her own money and cooking utensil being used against her. That’s indeed a bit frustrating once you push away that fear, recognizing you’re about to die.
“Uh, yeah?” Ashley confirmed. “Are you gonna fight, or is this gonna be—“
(Y/N) quickly grabbed her bottle of perfume before Ashley could finish her sentence, spraying Ashley in the eyes.
Yeah, not easy, it seemed.
“Fuck!” Ashley hissed, squeezing her eyes shut as she swung her knife rapidly in the air.
(Y/N) was trapped between Ashley and the dresser, trying to avoid the knife before it slashed her forearm. (Y/N) took the chance, using her dresser for leverage as she placed her foot on the dresser for a boost, smashing her shoulder into Ashley’s chest, pushing her away.
Ashley stumbled on the ground, the knife laying next to her as her eyes stung from the potent citrusy perfume. (Y/N) rushed past Ashley, but Ashley heard her steps and reached out. With luck, she successfully grabbed (Y/N)’s leg and tripped her, resorting in her falling right next to Ashley.
“Fucking bitch.” Ashley hissed venomously, feeling for her knife through her blurred vision.
She felt the cold blade, reaching a bit lower and grabbing the handle, keeping a strong hold of it. She kept ahold of (Y/N)’s leg as she stabbed her calf, hitting bone.
A terrible sharp and tingling sensation shot through (Y/N)’s leg, seeing white for a second as the pain caught up. (Y/N) let out a gasp, verging on a scream, before Ashley raised the knife once more, plunging it in a spot near the first wound.
(Y/N) reached back and kicked Ashley in the face a few times, resulting in Ashley letting go of (Y/N)’s foot. Ashley groaned, standing up from the ground as (Y/N) clutched her leg, knowing it wouldn’t be wise to try and stand up in case of any tearing or excessive bleeding. It’s not like she could run far now.
Ashley stood over her, tears in her eyes as she did her best to see through them and fight the stinging. They both glared at each other, needing no words to show their distaste in one another.
“I wouldn’t have to do this if you would’ve just stayed away from Andrew.” Ashley spoke, glaring down at her.
“Not my fault he prefers me. Maybe if you weren’t so obsessive and insecure he could somewhat tolerate your sorry ass.” (Y/N) retorted, a pained smile on her face to piss Ashley off.
“You’re one to talk.” She chuckled. “Must be real nice to come home alone, pathetically lounging around lazily.”
“I’m lazy because of hard work. What do you do for a living other than blowing heads and giving it?” (Y/N) chuckled at her vulgar comment (one with lack of evidence, but it wasn't supposed to be a fact), a smile on her face as she observed Ashley. “Doesn’t take much to use that mouth of yours, considering how big it is from all that big shit you talk.”
If Ashley wasn’t mad now, she was absolutely livid now at (Y/N)’s insult. She bent down and grabbed a fistful of (Y/N)’s hair, grabbing a fistful of it as she dragged (Y/N) up. (Y/N) stood on her one leg, keeping any weight off her injured one as Ashley glared at her.
“I can’t wait to kill you. I’ll even bring your head to Andrew so he could see how pathetic you look with your eyes rolled back and tongue hanging out. Hell, I think I’ll cut that tongue out after I’m done with you, that way you can’t bother the devil with it.” She hissed.
“You gonna eat it after? Have your own tongue-action with me since you’re so jealous?” (Y/N) chuckled. “Or would you rather that with your own brother? That’s pretty disgusting, if you ask me. Mommy and daddy didn’t give you enough attention so you had to resort to your own brother.”
Yes, because (Y/N) definitely had a healthy relationship with her parents to say that...
“I would never eat you. You’re too salty, and that’s not just your attitude too.” Ashley smirked. “After I cut your tongue out and take your head to Andrew, I’ll give your soul to that demon for some vision, then I’ll dump your body in some alley for some homeless man to use.”
“Demon?” (Y/N) questioned. “Of course you’d have connections with demons.”
“What can I say?” Ashley smiled as a stabbing sensation hit (Y/N)’s stomach. “I get around.”
“Yeah…” (Y/N) groaned, a pained chuckle escaping her. “I can tell…”
Ashley took the knife out of (Y/N’s stomach, going to plunging again, but (Y/N) quickly used her nails and smashed them into Ashley’s eyes, kneeing Ashley with her injured leg since she couldn’t use her healthy once because she’d just fall once applying pressure to her injured leg.
Ashley let out a short scream at the feeling. Ashley tumbled backwards as (Y/N) followed, using her weight to hold Ashley down as Ashley thrashed about. Ashley tried to stab (Y/N) again, but (Y/N) grabbed her wrists, the two of them struggling for the knife.
“Let go!” Ashley shouted, one of her eyes covered by (Y/N)’s sharp thumb.
“You first!” (Y/N) retorted, knowing very well the both of them wouldn't give up as she moved her other hand to the knife, now having both of her hands to try and fight for the knife. (Y/N) ignored the stinging in her forearm from earlier’s slashing.
(Y/N) was able to grab the knife from Ashley’s hands after a bit of a struggle and a few small cuts on the finger. She held onto the blade tightly as Ashley tried to keep (Y/N)’s wrist steady. It was proven fruitless as the first stab hit Ashley’s chest, hitting bone. Ashley let out a choked sob, pain pooling out of her mouth and chest.
(Y/N) scoffed, a bit annoyed at Ashley's struggle. If Ashley would just keep still, it wouldn’t hurt as bad. She was willing to make it quick, but Ashley’s squirming and thrashing around was only making her miss.
“Stop moving.” (Y/N) hissed, using her injured hand to hold Ashley still by her neck.
(Y/N) struck the knife down again, stabbing Ashley’s sternum. And again, she stabbed her chest, over and over as Ashley let out pained groans and small whimpers, doing her best to claw (Y/N)’s hands. Her hands weakened, her protests and strangled breaths shortening as her pulse weakened under (Y/N)’s hold while (Y/N)’s pulse and breaths only quickened, as if Ashley was giving her own life to her.
She kept stabbing...
She kept stabbing...
She kept stabbing.
It was like she couldn’t control her hand, like she had no thought other than the echo in her ears.
Stab…
Stab…
Stab.
She didn’t stop until her hand was soaked, too wet to hold the knife right. She realized she had been stabbing all the way down to the hilt, eight inches that was repeatedly stabbing into Ashley’s chest.
(Y/N) paused, staring down at Ashley’s face, both faces void of emotion and thought.
I did that. She realized.
A sick turning sensation lurked in her stomach, making her realize she was stabbed in an vital point. She dropped her knife, groaning as she hissed. She got up off Ashley’s dead body, crawling her way to her bathroom, making sure not to get any blood on her carpet. It would've been better for her if Ashley just kept the knife in her stomach, keeping the wound plugged in, but unfortunately Lady Luck seems to avoid (Y/N) any chance she can.
She opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a med-kit. Well, that’s one thing useful about being a nurse, you’re always prepared at home.
She opened the kit, but paused. She couldn’t just open up her stomach and stitch up the insides, but if she goes to the hospital like this she’d definitely get questioned. (Y/N) groaned, mulling over what she should do.
She didn’t mean to kill Ashley. Well, she did in self-defense, but she didn’t mean to do it so cruelly. It was almost like second-nature to harm her.
But she deserved it, didn’t she? She hurt Andrew, (Y/N) remembers that. Ashley made him jump, she’s the one that broke his legs and gave him internal bleeding in his head. (Y/N) made not know much about Ashley, but she knows how manipulative she is. She remembered hearing Ashley screaming at Andrew the first day she met Andrew. She remembered Ashley accusing Andrew of all the crimes he did; of course, he committed them, but she helped too, so she was still at fault.
The Graves siblings, even their name is fitting. Two siblings who put others in their graves, and now one is in their own.
(Y/N) couldn’t go to the police, not with this. It was self-defense, maybe with the intent of third-degree murder, a spur of the moment, nevertheless it was to protect herself even if she did get a bit carried away. She surely can’t just blame it all on stress or childhood neglect, she’d be a hypocrite.
She always refused to let her past get in the way of her future. The love she didn’t receive from her parents, she gave to herself. The support she never received from her parents, she gave to herself. She earned all her awards, her scholarships, her jobs, her money all on her own without any support, encouragement, or financial aid from her parents.
Her mother didn’t believe she could be a nurse. Her mother never really had any faith in her, but her mother never did stick around her long enough to bother learning who were daughter was.
“You’re far too apathetic and antisocial for that sort of thing, they'd be scared of you.” Her mother would say. “All you care about is yourself. You’d be fired within the first week for neglecting the kids..”
Ironic coming from her.
Her father didn’t want her to be a nurse either, not for pediatrics or adults.
“It’s just not a good idea. You’re too sensitive for such things. You couldn’t survive watching kids die everyday, that’s such a depressing job.” Her father would say. “You shouldn’t be a nurse in general. Adult men take advantage of caring nurses, it doesn’t help that you’re so... weak? You're just too innocent and pretty for that kind of work! It’s best you find something else. Do something that makes you happy!”
Yeah, she totally refuse to let her past get in her way... Her apartment was as void of color as her. She slept with plushies to cope with her loneliness. On bad days, she has no friends to call or parents who'd listen to her vent, so the stuffed animals listen to her instead. She doesn't ever have energy to eat or shower or clean, the only reason she does all those things is to keep herself somewhat healthy so she wouldn't draw any attention from others. She wouldn't want to be a bother to them over some measly emotions. She's dealt with depression practically her whole life, why suddenly indulge in change if it might worsen her condition.
She doesn't want to be happy, that would involve having to put energy into changing herself and her lifestyle, and all she wants to do is spend her energy hopping into bed and sleeping. She wasn't one to care for herself, she liked making other people happy.
Kids made her happy. Medicine made her happy. She loved working with kids, caring and nurturing for them like they were her own. She liked being the reason a kid could walk again, or talk, or play, or smile. She liked helping children, giving them the help they needed. She liked being able to change their lives, catch those early signs and prevent them from becoming herself; someone absolutely miserable, depressed, and hating herself. Hell, the only reason she hasn't killed herself was because she doesn't want to be a bother to other people.
She liked medicine. She liked studying medical advancements, all the new machines and inventions and vaccines and diseases and all! She liked learning about it all; medical procedures, illnesses and disorders, psychology facts, disorders, injuries, hell sometimes medicine could even dive into philosophy!
Medicine and kids made her happy because it was what she lacked as a child. She liked being a pediatric nurse, she liked giving kids the chance to receive help early on so they could be functional adults in life, so they couldn't end up like (Y/N); a mother who couldn't care about her, a misguided father, money being towards bills and education, no relationships or genuine connections or friendships with people, and no joy in life other than sleeping her days away. As a nurse, she could catch onto early symptoms for kids and be able to address the issues before it worsen; whether it'd be physical or mental health, that's why she's studying to be a pediatrician now.
But she can't be a pediatrician if she goes to jail. This act of self-defense was far too cruel and grotesque, the judges wouldn't believe that it was for self-defense, far too homicidal and beast-like with how she basically just slashed Ashley's ribcage open. No, she wouldn't win that court case at all. She'd lose her job, and she'd probably never be able to work in medical field ever! She needed to do something.
She put the med-kit back into her cabinet, instead she took off her shoe and grabbed her sock, plugging up her wound with it. Yes, it was very gross and she felt like gagging at this, but it was to insure she wouldn't bleed out. She had been stabbed in her stomach with an 8-inch knife, so no doubt there would be internal damage she couldn't patch up on her own. She used her other sock to plug in the hole on her right calf, plugging the wound up until it was stuffed despite the pain she felt digging her fingers into the wound. She put back on her shoes without her socks and stood up from the ground
She quickly got to work, grabbing two large black blankets. She wrapped up Ashley's body in both blankets, ensuring the blood wouldn't drip everywhere, and she dragged the body to her car. She put the body and knife in her trunk and limped back into her house, quickly mopping up the mess using hydrogen peroxide on her floors to completely get rid of all the blood. She put her phone on her charger at home, leaving it so the police couldn't track her location on her phone in case anything happens. She got in her car and drove, going further and further out of the city until a good distance away, going to the woods. She got the dead body and knife out of her car, dragging it a good ways into the dark woods before dropping it.
She couldn't leave the body in her apartment, and she couldn't just drop it off somewhere in the city when her DNA was under Ashley's fingernails when Ashley scratched her. She left the knife here too, she didn't want to keep a knife she almost got murdered with, and she didn't want to keep it as a trophy for her crimes either. Here in these woods, this is where the police will least likely find her and the murder weapon, at least for tonight. Tomorrow, (Y/N) will return and dig a grave for her, or maybe she'll luck out a wild animal will feast on her. Even then, nobody will probably miss her other than Andrew.
Jesus, what is she gonna tell Andrew? She can't just say she killed his sister! Even if he's a runaway criminal, she's one too now! He's probably not against murdering her, even if he doesn't like her better than the other nurses. I mean, she killed his sister, so it's only natural for him to kill her?
But, his sister was just a runaway, she was a criminal! Maybe there's no police looking for them, but still! (Y/N) was a nurse, she's saved plenty of lives, surely taking one can't be that bad? Especially if she took a wrongdoer's life?
Before she could turn around and walk out of the woods, she stopped, pausing. She had this nagging feeling to check Ashley’s pockets. It was like a gut instinct (or perhaps literally being gutted earlier) that told her to check. She got on the ground, undoing the blankets and checking Ashley’s pockets to sate this desire. She first found a gun in her waistband. (Y/N) took the gun, popping out the magazine to check how many rounds there were.
None, empty. Either Ashley found this gun with no bullets, or she already used them.
(Y/N) did some more digging and found a scalpel, a hospital scalpel from her work she could only assume. Perhaps Ashley was planning to kill (Y/N) with the small blade, before deciding to steal her kitchen knife instead. The bigger the better, right?
Finally, she looked in Ashley's pockets once more and found something in one of her pockets. Some black and red occult looking charm.
She remembered Ashley mentioning how she’d give a demon (Y/N)’s soul in exchange for a vision. Is this their charm that keeps them in contact, or in a contract together? Whatever it was, (Y/N) felt like she should keep it in case it was indeed something to a demon; she didn’t want it going into the wrong hands (as if she could talk). (Y/N) shoved the charm into her pocket, keeping the gun and scalpel now that it had her fingerprints, before turning around.
Did you see this coming, Ashley? (Y/N) thought, resisting the urge to let a smug smirk form on her face.
She limped back out of the woods, hopping into her car and hiding the two weapons under her car seat away from view. She turned the engine on, speeding to the hospital and going ten above the speed limit. It wasn't good for her to be out for so long. She could live with her leg being injured so long as she didn't bleed out, but her stomach could definitely develop to internal bleeding, if not already due to how big that knife was. On her way there, she tried thinking of an alibi. This is a knife wound, so it's mandatory for the hospital staff to report this incident to the police. The police are going to ask her questions about what happened and such. (Y/N) doesn't want to come clean, if she does, her whole life would be ruined! She'd lose the only thing she has in her life that she genuinely cares about; her job. If she loses her job and education, she'd be completely lost in this world with absolutely no passions or interests, she might just develop an interest for putting herself in a grave instead and take her life.
She thought about her alibi, before cooking up a shitty one. It's the only one she has for a time like this. She can just say that she was driving to the small local store near her apartment complex after work (thus explaining her hospital scrubs), and when she walked out, she was harassed by a man so she fought him and escaped, then drove to the hospital to get medical assistance. She could say she didn't recognize the man, and that he wore a mask so she couldn't see what he looked like. The store she was thinking about just had their cameras stolen a week ago and they have't bother replacing them yet, so there would be no camera footage to confirm or deny this accusation. Her apartment complex is on a bad side of town too (the rent was cheap there), and their camera footage must not be any higher than a quality of a Nokia, so it most likely didn't catch Ashley sneaking into her apartment, or (Y/N) dragging something out out her apartment. Maybe she can pull this off!
Sure, it's a bad excuse, but what else does she have? This is the best she can come up with on short notice, especially with no witnesses (which is good), along with no camera footage to protect or challenge her word. They'd just have to believe her because what else can they do? She's obviously injured! People in big cities get stabbed all the time and sometimes the assaulters get away with it, maybe she can do this too!
(Y/N) got to the hospital entrance and quickly made sure to do a check in her car to make sure there was no DNA of Ashley's. She hopped out of the car and brushed off any dirt or hair or such on her, making sure her gun and scalpel were hidden under her car seat, before limping into the hospital lobby and getting inside of the ER waiting room.
The receptionist sat doing work on her computer before her eyes trailed to (Y/N).
“Are you okay?” they questioned as (Y/N) held onto her stomach, applying pressure to the sock.
“I got stabbed in the stomach and my calf. I’ve been bleeding for quite a while, I reckon I’ll pass out soon.” She explained.
The nurse nodded and handed her the paperwork to complete. (Y/N) always thought paperwork in the ER was stupid, but it was to help identify the patient and their insurance and all that important information; even in the brink of death, you need to do work. Pathetic, really. It truly does show something about society, whether it's for your own good or not, even if your writing is alienated due to all of your blood on the paper or your blurred vision making it hard to concentrate.
(Y/N) sped through the packets of papers and agreements, doing her best to not bleed onto the paper or the hospital chairs (why are the chairs made of cloth instead of leather anyways? At least leather can be washed easier).
(Y/N) gave the papers to the receptionist, who accepted it and gave it to one of the doctors at the back room. (Y/N) sat down and waited for a doctor to call her name. Her stomach and leg hurt badly, it hurt to breathe and to walk, and her wounds just kept throbbing, spilling more blood and soaking up her temporary sock-bandages. She’s definitely going to throw away these socks…
The hospital’s bright LED lights hurt her eyes, giving her a headache. Or maybe the headache was from blood loss? Who knows really, it just hurt to sit here and wait.
Luckily, she didn’t have to wait too long before a nurse called her name. They helped her stand up from the chair, leading her to their office in quick fashion. They placed her down on the operating table, asking if she could remember her name, age, where she was, who the president was, etc.
“I’m (Y/N) (L/N), 22 years old. I got stabbed in my stomach by a knife, along with my right calf and a laceration on my right arm.” She informed the nurse as they put on medical gloves.
A trauma surgeon came in with a tray of alcohol wipes, a medical needle and thread, a medical stapler, and syringe of anesthesia. (Y/N) resisted the urge to groan, she didn’t like needles, but she understood it would make the surgery much easier for her and them.
(Y/N) rolled up her sleeves hesitantly, feeling self-conscious about the old scars on her wrists despite the more important matters at hand. The surgeon ignored her scars as he gave her the shot.
The surgeon pulled up her shirt to show her stomach as the nurse cut a hole on (Y/N)’s pants for her leg, making her remember the make-shift bandages she had.
“I had to use what I had to stop the bleeding, so I used my socks.” She spoke for her lie.
She would’ve said more, but she decided it was best not to in case she accidentally messed up her alibi. She opted to stay quiet, waiting for the anesthesia to take effect so the doctor could begin the quick surgery.
.
.
When you wake up from surgery or an accident, you’d expect to see bright light, instead she only saw a dim light peeking through. She opened her eyes, waking up and looking around her.
There was a curtain next to her, the white curtain had a slit and moonlight poured out, barely lighting the room. Her left arm was hooked to a IV, the needle sticking into the crevice of her elbow. The needle was slowing flowing blood into her, causing her to shudder at the thought of a needle stuck inside her.
Her eyes trailed down to her right arm, seeing her arm covered in bandages. She picked up her sheets, seeing her leg was covered in bandages too. She moved her hospital gown up, seeing her stomach was covered with a medical patch and medical tape to hold it in place.
This is probably going to take some time to heal. (Y/N) thought, resisting the urge to groan.
How fun, she’s going to spend weekend off here in the hospital. Either that, or she’ll stay home bedridden.
There was a soft knock on her door, before it opened, showing one of the doctors from the emergency department of the hospital. She had never met any of the doctors or nurses here, they’re always busy and on their feet running around.
“Ms. (L/N)?” he questioned, smiling.
“That’s me.” She nodded. “Hello, sir.”
“Hey! Have you just woken up?” he questioned, a clipboard and pen in his hand as he walked over to her bedside, standing over her.
“Yes.” She confirmed.
“Okay.” He commented, then cleared his throat. “So, you’ve been asleep for 18 hours. Usually anesthesia wears off in a few hours and you would wake up from some pain, but you stayed asleep for quite some time.” He spoke, flipping a page threw his papers clamped on his clipboard. “However, you could’ve been exhausted given you hadn’t slept because you were working earlier. Your medical history could’ve also helped contribute to that—hypersomnia and all.”
Yes, the condition she’s almost positive her mother gave her. Being locked in that small room as a toddler really did affect her sleep patterns and routine. There wasn’t much to do in that dark room other than cry, watch old cartoon re-runs a thousand times, and sleep—she chose the latter.
“Yeah, sorry.” She muttered, not sorry at all but still feeling the need to apologize.
“No worries. So, we did report your case to local authorities since it was a stabbing; you should know, hospital procedure and all.” The doctor spoke as (Y/N) nodding, knowing very well the protocol. “Great. So, there’s actually some officers here to question you about the incident. Are you fine with that?”
She nodded, ignoring her nerves that went haywire at the thought of talking to the police. So soon after her crime too!
“Okay, so before they come in. Let me explain to you really quick what’s going on.” He spoke, clearing his throat. “So you’re going to stay overnight, well more so over day since it’s 3 A.M. but we’ll look after you. So we stapled up your small intestine, and we stapled the skin of your stomach so that it wouldn’t rip or come undone in a large area like stitches would, along with your right calf. Your right arm has stitches due to how tight the skin is along with how deep the wound was. After two week, you can come back and we’ll remove the staples off your stomach and the sutures. For the next two weeks, you need to eat soft foods and liquids such as soups, breads, puddings, all that."
“That sounds fine.” She nodded.
“Sweet. So, before they come in, is there anything you want or need? Like, do you need to use the bathroom? Or are you hungry or thirsty?” he questioned.
“No, I’m fine.” she politely denied.
She’d rather not drink or eat anything, she felt like throwing up at the moment. She really didn’t feel like getting up and walking to the bathroom with an injured foot at the moment.
“Okay. I’ll let the officers in.” The doctor nodded, writing a few notes on his clipboard before heading towards the door.
He opened the door and used his hand to call the officers over. He left the door open as the officer walked in, a female and a male, who walked to (Y/N)’s bedside holding a notepad.
“Hello, Ms. (L/N), right?” the female smiled. “I’m Officer Jenny and this is my partner, Officer Dixon. We have a few questions for you.”
“Nice to meet you.” (Y/N) spoke, flashing the officers a polite smile.
“So, you’ve been admitted into the hospital for a stabbing, correct?” Officer Jenny questioned.
“That’s correct, ma’am.” (Y/N) nodded.
“When and where did you get stabbed?” Officer Jenny questioned.
“Well, I got stabbed in my stomach by a knife. When I fought them off, they slashed my right arm and they stabbed my right calf.” (Y/N) explained, mentally going over her words carefully as Officer Dixon wrote the information in his notepad.
“And when did this take place?” Officer Jenny questioned.
“Well, it was last night when I got off my shift. I work here at this hospital actually in the pediatric branch.” She added.
She was about to go on about her grocery store alibi, but paused. The timeframe won’t match. She took forever to get to the hospital after the stabbing so that she could clean her apartment, dispose of Ashley’s body, and finally get to the hospital. She can’t use the grocery store alibi since not only would be make no sense for her to get stabbed someplace where the cameras are coincidentally shut down, but none of the store employees would mention seeing her when they get questioned by the police, and it wouldn’t help that she decided to drive to the hospital bleeding instead of telling the store to call 911 or herself calling 911.
Her alibi is unreliable now, so she needs to quickly act now and change it while acting normal and resist hesitating. The officers’ body-cams would catch their interaction and it would be evaluated by licensed psychiatrists, looking out for any holes in the story, for how her words flow, her vocal patterns, her body language. The alibi is now a death trap.
“After my shift, I drove back to my apartment and went on a walk in a park. Perhaps 7 P.M, so it was dark because of it being November and all.” She explained. “The park was Pacific North Satellite park.” She added, a park not too far from her apartment complex.
“I didn’t bother changing out of my work scrubs because I was just going to shower when I got back to my apartment, and I had left my phone on the charger at home. I was walking down the path listening to nature when I heard footsteps in front of me. Someone came up to me with their hands in their hoodie pocket, a black hoodie.” She explained, lying her way through the story. “They walked past me and quickly slashed my right arm… and… they grabbed my arm and stabbed me in the stomach with their knife… and then when I tried to get away… they knocked me down and stabbed my right calf.” She spoke, pausing her words every now and then to appear distressed as she faked reliving the moment. "I ran back to my apartment, plugged up the most severe wounds with my socks, and drove to the hospital since it wasn't too far and I didn't have my phone to call the police or ambulance. It was late at night, so there wasn't anyone around to ask for help, and I didn't want to be trapped in my apartment in case they decided to follow me...
“Do you know who they were? Or did you catch what their face looked like?” Officer Jenny questioned as Office Dixon’s blurred, hastily writing down everything he heard.
“No.” (Y/N) shook her head. “They had a black hoodie with their hood up. They had grey jeans too. They were perhaps around 5’6 tall…” she lied. “I’m unsure of their gender, but I think they were male.”
The most common description of a killer, or stereotypical when comparing to Ted Bundy or Jeffery Dahmer. With so little information, it’d be pretty hard to try and identify someone, especially someone who doesn’t exist (but of course, only [Y/N] knows that).
“Do you think there could’ve been a specific motive or something you provoked?” Officer Jenny questioned, her question almost making (Y/N) scoff.
Provoke? Provoke? How the hell could I have provoke them? (Y/N) thought, almost forgetting her alibi was still a lie.
Sometimes she can even lie to herself with how scarily believable her lies are.
But even if this mysterious murderer she made up didn't have a motive, did Ashley have one? It made her wonder, did Ashley really kill her because she was hated her being Andrew’s nurse? Even then, how the hell did she find out who she was, or even why? Ashley had never seen (Y/N) and Andrew together, at least not without her knowledge.
“No, ma’am. I’m unsure why, and I don’t believe I provoked them.” (Y/N) answered.
“Is there any other information you’d like to tell us?” Officer Jenny questioned.
“No.” (Y/N) answered.
Short and sweet, it’s best to leave it all like this.
“Well, if you ever remember anything or have any questions, make sure to call the department.” Officer Jenny spoke. “If we find any information or such, we’ll give you a call.”
“If we find who done it, do you want to press charges?” Officer Dixon questioned, causing (Y/N) to pause and think.
“No. The process is too time-consuming, besides, I doubt they tried to kill me without a reason.” (Y/N) spoke.
Everything happens for a reason, after all. It’s logical to believe so.
(Y/N) had never believed in fate or destiny, she had always believed everything happens for a reason. She hated the belief of something out of her reach trying to control her or her life. She’d rather choose what she wants to do, not something like fate. (Y/N) believes what she sees, so she doesn’t believe anything that isn’t backed up with facts or evidence.
Ashley tried killing (Y/N) for a reason, she said it herself. She'll take the dead woman's word on it since it came from her mouth.
“I wouldn’t have to do this if you would’ve just stayed away from Andrew.” Her words rang in (Y/N)'s head.
The audacity of some people, does Ashley truly believe she can control who Andrew sees? It’s not like there was anything wrong with Andrew and (Y/N)’s relationship, they were simply nurse and patient, nothing more and nothing less. Who does Ashley believe she is trying to control Andrew? She doesn’t have his heart, his brain, his body, his thoughts, his mouth, his eyes. He could do whatever he pleases and Ashley shouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
Well, she can’t now. (Y/N) thought, holding back a chuckle.
"Are you sure, miss?” Officer Dixon questioned, surprised.
“I’m sure. Maybe they had a bad day or something.” (Y/N) shrugged.
“But you don’t just stab anyone on a bad day, this could be serious.” Officer Jenny spoke, her voice a little harsh compared to her gentle treatment earlier.
Officer Jenny seems to not like having a killer run around, or have about zero clues.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” (Y/N) sighed. "I'm very tired and I wish to rest.
“The town next to us, they had a killing in a park too. The victim was a man, he was shot, multiple bullets in his chest.” Officer Jenny spoke quickly, hoping the information could bring some details out of the injured woman. “You happened to be a park too, perhaps this was the same guy! We need as much information as we can. Please miss (L/N), we’re relying on you.”
“I’m sorry, but I truly don’t know. I don’t have anymore information to give to you.” (Y/N) sighed.
Officer Jenny’s face hardened as Officer Dixon closed his notepad.
“Very well. We’ll contact you in case we find any details.” Officer Dixon spoke, nodding his head down in respect and farewell, before telling Officer Jenny with his eyes that it was time to go.
“Get well soon, miss…” Officer Jenny sighed, walking out of the room with her partner.
Well, I forgot that part… (Y/N) thought, letting out a breath of relief.
The park killer from the next door town, right, how could she forget? The victim was a man was found dead on the sidewalk, a clean knife nearby him, no fingerprints. The man had a hood, sunglasses, and gloves; a strange attire to walk around in at night, especially the sunglasses part. He died with six bullet wounds in his chest, the news said. The murder was actually a few days ago, maybe even a week ago. Nevertheless, (Y/N) could bet it was Ashley and Andrew. Ashley had that empty gun on her, which was now under (Y/N)’s car seat.
(Y/N) turned her head to the window once the police left. She reached over and opened up the curtains, looking up at the stars, or what she could see. Light pollution in the city is a major pain, you can’t even enjoy nature now thanks to humans.
(Y/N) looked at the lights outside of the window, it’s the only thing semi-interesting to look at in a hospital bed. She didn’t want to turn on the TV, she knew it was all just re-runs of family-friendly movies like High School Musical or the local news. Unfortunately, hospitals don’t really have any good channels to watch.
It’s only for one day. (Y/N) thought.
She just had to deal with this for one day, then she could get back home and sleep. Despite always being so tired, she liked to work. The time she’d take to heal would feel like torture to her. Her depression made her feel a sense of worthlessness doing nothing, so being bedridden is just going to throw her in a depressive state. Usually she’d just get up and work overtime when she feels like this, but she really can’t if she’s injured.
Even though she has a reason to be lazing around in bed all day, she's not very happy about it. It's at times like these she wished she had some sort of entertainment in life, or at least friends, people she considered real friends. She had acquaintances growing up, but they just never really did it for her.
The people she hung around with was only for school, she never bothered hanging out with them outside of school that way she could focus on her studies. Besides, they weren't important people to her, she only talked with them because they had conversed with her first, and it gave her something to pass time with at school. She always did have that closed-off demeanor, it surprised her whole family when she decided she wanted to be a pediatric nurse, and later a pediatrician.
(Y/N) stared at the window in deep thought, thinking.
Maybe she could call her dad. The last time she called him was a month ago, to which she had to leave a voicemail... she never did receive a call back. And after that, she called on her birthday four months... to which she's still waiting for a call back.
Well, maybe he's just busy. He has a job and a life outside of his daughter, surely he'll call back eventually. She figured.
If she had her phone on her, she'd call and leave another voicemail for him to let him know he's okay.
Wait, what's the point in calling? She's fine, and she hadn't called him of her condition, so what's the point in calling and telling him that she's still alive? Even if he did answer, what will he say other than a "that's good. I'm glad you're okay. I have to get back to work now."
If there's no point calling her dad, then there's certainly no point in calling her mom, for obvious reasons.
(Y/N) groaned, hitting her head back against the pillow, before letting out a pained whine. Her head pounded terribly, followed by a slight ringing in her ears and a second of her vision blurring. Her right arm shot up to help soothe her head, before she let out a hiss, the movement of her arm causing a sharp pain to shoot up it.
"This sucks..." she complained, a pout making way onto her lips.
Before she could wallow in her sorrows any further, the door opened, gaining her attention. She turned her head, seeing a familiar man in a wheelchair.
"Andrew?" she questioned, surprised.
"Hey." He greeted, flashing a smile at her.
(Y/N) internally cringed at the sight of him, not that he was bad-looking or anything, but she wasn't expecting to see him so soon after what she's done.
"What are you doing here in the emergency department?" (Y/N) questioned, not bothering if the question sound a bit rude or not; she'll just blame it on the headache if he asks.
"I heard from the nurses that you got injured." Andrew explained, rolling his wheelchair up to her bedside.
"A nurse told you I was here?" (Y/N) questioned, confused.
Well, that's against hospital policy, giving away patient information like that to just anyone. It made her curious who from the nightshift had the audacity to tell him.
"Who told you?" (Y/N) questioned.
"Eh, I don't know. That nurse I had before you." He shrugged his shoulders carelessly, not bothering to remember the name. "It was something something. Started with a P. Maybe it was Pen, or Penny? Or was it Nancy? It doesn't really matter."
"Penelope?" (Y/N) smiled, almost giggling at his poor attempt to remember the nurse's name.
Right, makes sense. Penelope was Andrew's nurse before (Y/N), and Penelope seems to see (Y/N) as a friend, so she probably questioned Doctor Ryan where (Y/N) was. Doctor Ryan must've been informed as soon as he entered the office, considering he wasn't going to be able to teach (Y/N) for a few nights until she got better.
However, she felt a little happy that he couldn't remember Penelope's name (especially after [Y/N]'s little jealous episode from earlier at the thought of Penelope and Andrew being together. Obviously because she just enjoyed having Andrew as a patient, nothing more).
"Yeah, maybe that was her name?" he hummed, not bothering to think back if it was actually that nurse or not.
Yes, it was Penelope, he might not bother to remember her name, but he remembers her face from earlier when he and (Y/N) had gone to the staff room and Penelope was acting strange. He also remembered how tight and uncomfortable she had done his bandages on his broken ankles, much different compared to (Y/N)'s soft hands and nurturing personality.
"She shouldn't be giving away information like that." (Y/N) sighed, chuckling softly. "But thank you for coming."
It was a little heartwarming to know at least someone cared about her. Even if her parents did, at least her co-worker and close acquaintances did, even reserved patients such as Andrew were worried about her!
"So, what brought you over here? Did you have a question, or perhaps you need your bandages changed?" (Y/N) questioned, observing his body up and down to see if there was anything out of the ordinary or if he needed any assistance.
"No... I just... wanted to see for myself, I guess..." he muttered, looking away from her eyes as he resisted the urge to squirm under her gaze. "I heard you got hurt pretty bad, so I got curious..."
"You sure you didn't just miss me?" she teased, trying to brightened up or at least lightened the mood into a more comfortable atmosphere.
"Don't get ahead of yourself." He chuckled, her words succeeding in her goal as they both smiled at each other.
His smile softened, his eyes glazing over, seeming to be lost in thought. He seemed unsure of himself, before he just sighed.
"So... what happened?" he questioned. "If you don't mind me asking."
Her own smile faltered, doing her best to remain neutral and not puke her guts out as visions of stabbing Ashley's lifeless body took over her mind, hearing each explicit and disturbing wet splash as her hands slowly started to coat with blood from how violently she was pushing her knife into Ashley's chest, down to the hilt.
"I got attacked..." she spoke vaguely, clearing her throat awkwardly as she kept her eyes on him to see if he would believe her.
"Do you know by who?" Andrew questioned.
"No." She spoke quickly, internally cringing at how defensive her tone sounded.
Andrew's gaze hardened, his intuition not believing her. Of course he wouldn't believe her, living with Ashley basically his whole life had practically made him become a human lie detector. Before he could speak about the matter, she spoke up.
"Can you check on Hailey for me please? She was a bit down earlier today, surely you can cheer her up for me? Just don't mention my current condition to her, please." (Y/N) requested, sounding more of a pathetic demand and excuse to get him to leave her alone.
Andrew looked hesitant to leave her, before he sighed, nodding his head. "Yeah, sure..." he grumbled.
"Thank you." She hummed, giving him a false smile.
They had a moment to themselves, silently staring at each other, before Andrew turned his wheelchair around and rolled out of the room, closing the door behind him. (Y/N) let out a sigh of relief once she was alone, glad to have avoided the tough subject.
Maybe she'll tell him one day, once she gets to know him better and can be certain he wouldn't kill her for it.
She ignored the pain as she squirmed into a comfortable position to sleep in. She needed the rest, and sleep is the body's natural way of healing after her. Her eyes trailed to the curtains, watching the cars on the road zoom past the hospitals and watching as some lights started to shut off, night owls getting ready for bed too just like her.
She'll call her parents as soon as she gets out of the hospital, even if they've probably not heard the news or care about it, she still wants some sort of closure from her parents. Maybe they'll even take pity on her and stay on the phone for a bit, ask how she's doing, or what she's doing now.
Sounds like a plan. (Y/N) thought, closing her eyes as she ignored her body's pain, waiting for sleep to overtake her.
I know there hasn't been much of any Andrew and reader moments, but chapter 5 will have plenty, these past chapters have just been plot and character-development and such!
My next series will be a Yandere! Hitoshi Shinso x Yandere! Fem! Reader, so keep watch for that!
To the Ashley fans, I'm sorry for what I've done.
Want more Andrew Graves content? Check out the Andrew Graves masterlist!
Inbox is OPEN for questions about the story and new plotlines/ideas, not for request!
Chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, current chapter, chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8, final chapter.
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#stellar constellations#coffin of andy and leyley#andrew graves x reader#andy graves x reader#the coffin of andy and leyley#andy and leyley#andy graves#andrew graves#fem reader#x fem!reader#x reader#x y/n#x you#x female reader#x yn#x female y/n#yandere x yandere#yandere x you#yandere x reader#yandere#female yandere#yandere x willing reader#tcoaal andrew#tcoaal#andrew tcoaal
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January 5-6 2025 2010
Grandpa what the fuck.
'Today' is Jades birthday and Grandpa Harley has decided that little Jade needs to learn 'THE THRILL OF THE HUNT' in the most outlandish way possible. And Im not hating! Small town Texas? Yeah, alot of people get their kids into fishing or hunting for bonding experience. But my good sir, a whole ass whatever-gun-that-is for a tiny butterfly? Kinda Overkill dont you think?
Luckily, Somebody actually cares for Jade. Bec takes her away from crazy gramps straight to where the future present had been -ificated. Bec definitely sensed the arrival with his Skaia space-time powers.
With that we get to see Johns present getting many questions answered. @homestuckreplay wrote about some of them but the one thats been stuck in my brain was why John and Jade wear the opposite of their chat color. Turns out John 'went to a weird asian store the other day and saw this rad shirt' (of course its rad! its got a slime on it) and wanted Jade to have the blue one. I find this so cute, I definitely have a shirt my friend gave me Years ago that reminds me of her even if its worn out. That he wants Jade to have something in his color to remind her of him makes me think maybe he also has a crush on her or really loves her platonically (also as in @homestuckreplay headcannons Dave having a crush on Jade. Shes very likable apparently, wonder if Rose has a crush on her too?).
And then!
Dad Egbert! Hes still kickin'! Last we saw Jack decided hed be better off handling Dad himself. While we know Jack is his name and not Spades Slick, I am spotting that spade on his clothes which is probably a nod to us that yes, rhese characters do look very similar.
Jack, having decided he is the only one who can handle Dad, brings out a spring loaded switchblade. Dad is ahead of him though and lights his hat. Jacks face morphs into one of shock, I guess he didnt think Dad was packing heat (badum tss).
Dad goes on to spray shaving cream onto the hat and then rapidly stomps out the flames. The hat is nothing more than a smoldering pile. These panels can be read in two was, the first is Dad not expecting the hat to be as flammable as it is. As such hes quick to douse the flame, as a responsible fatherly figure should.
The second is disgust.
Listen, given we are operating under the assumption Dad is himself a working clown, hes seeing these people dressed as harlequins. So far, they have been attempting to subdue him in relatively non-violent ways. Similarly, he has responded in kind with pie and shaving cream. How angry do you think he is seeing Jack pull out a switchblade in clear violation of the Clown Commandments (mycoai.com/code-of-ethics/). So of course hes gonna lash out.
I hear you arguing "But Dad brought out a lighter!" And yes he did, because now there is a threat to him and to proper clown tomfoolery. Jack doesnt deserve that hat.
You release the prisoner. He is free to go.
More like hes happy to leave your dissapointing fake clown presence.
#i was posessed by the spirit of Dad at the end there#homestuck#homestuck replay#hsrp liveblog#epilepsy warning#chrono
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Marsupial au
[from this ask!]
The basics: everything is the same but the elves are marsupial and have pouches to carry around their babies!
Why would @nighttimepatrons and I make this au? Because it’s cute. Imagine little elflets trying to climb into their parents’ belly pouches to hide. Imagine the process of pouch-weaning an elflet who is really too big to be climbing in anymore. It’s just cute, ok?
Now, let’s talk about some elves and their pouches!
Nerdanel: Very roomy, very comfy. She’s had a lot of kids in there. Solid 8/10 (points deducted because occupants might get banged against rock she’s chiseling for her latest sculpture)
Feanor: Comfy place to curl up for a snooze but it gets a bit hot, and he will kick you out when he goes to the forge. 7/10
Maedhros: Excellent, so roomy, can easily hold two or more elflets at once, he’ll never bump against pointy table corners. 9/10 (some argue it’s too roomy)
Maglor/Celegorm/Caranthir: it’s fine, I guess, but why would you go in there when Maedhros is an option? 5/10 (at least Celegorm has good stories)
Curufin: “Leaving was the right thing to do, but I miss him sometimes. I miss all of them—who they were.” 3/10 (sample size of 1)
Ambarussar: The only things in those pouches are arrows. Unrated.
Glorfindel: A good place to hide for a few minutes or to peek out of during hikes to enjoy the view but he will evict you when he’s busy. 6/10
Erestor: Due to unfortunate childhood experiences, the only thing getting into this half-elf’s pouch is lent and yeast infections. 1/10 (Glorfindel’s trying to help)
Celeborn: He looks like the weak link during pouch-weaning, but it’s a trick. Grandpa will Not let you inside when mom says no more pouch. 7/10
Galadriel: No one’s dared to get in lately, but Celebrian reports that she was quite comfortable. 5/10 (points deducted for intimidation factor)
Celebrian: Cozy, a little tight with twins, very easy to fall asleep. 8/10
Gil-galad: Little Arwen’s claimed it as hers and only hers, so it mut be good. 7/10 (unfortunately she had to be pulled out after he fell at Sauron’s hands, which is very traumatic for an elflet)
Elrond: Much to his children’s confusion, he doesn’t have a pouch. No one in Melian’s line has one.
Marsupial clothing would be designed so that elflets have pouch access, so it isn’t an uncommon sight for little heads to suddenly poke out from between the folds of a robe, or for an elflet to start pulling at their parent’s clothes, trying to find the opening. Pants are a no-go when an elflet’s involved, there’s just no room to stretch.
Pouch hygiene is very important. A healthy pouch is a little moist and it should be regularly cleaned to prevent itchy yeast infections. Lent and dust can also cause irritation. Elrond gives Glorfindel salves to try to get Erestor to use in his crusty pouch so he doesn’t itch himself raw in his sleep.
There are some less fun parts, too, of course. Like the fact that itty bitty elflets might not be noticed if they fall out of the pouch, leaving them abandoned on the ground and too small to be alone for long. Or the way kidnappers can hold out a sack and some elflets will climb right in because it looks like a pouch. But most of this is happy! (outside of Erestor being relentlessly teased by his human playmates and Arwen being traumatized by Gil-galad’s death)
Oh, did I mention that Gil-galad, Elrond, and Celebrian are a threesome yet, because they are.
And kidnap fam totally happens. E+E like Maedhros’ pouch more than Maglor’s.
Ask me about fics that live rent-free in my head!
#it's silly and i love it#rent-free fic game#elves but marsupial#nerdanel#feanor#maedhros#sons of feanor#gil galad#celebrian#elrond#erestor#glorfindel#celeborn#galadriel#so many darn elves!#the silmarillion#grimwing gripes#the void answers
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My thoughts on my Day 5's drawings
Day 5 & 6 original post: 🌸
Man, Day 5 and 6 hit me in the feels a little bit too hard, that quote killed me
And meanwhile the Day 5 speedpaint is exporting, i'm going to write some of my thoughts on the individual illustrations that i did for this day.
First of all i wanted to draw every UU character that appeared in this arc at least once.
Have you seen Chikara's school?! it's so fucking big! There's no way Feng was the only P.E. teacher there, i have been in very small schools and they had at least 2. So i wanted to draw some of my ocs, that even though they aren't really average in terms of physical power, just seeing the absolute insanity that is Feng. I tried to make the illusion of a movement so fast, that Chikara's camera couldn't catch it without some blurring, like in Dr. Stone when Kohaku's movement always comes out blurry bcs she's that fast. (from left to right, the short version of the ocs' names are: Mari, Petra, Addler Xia and Lud)
2. i just wanted an excuse to draw Fuuko and Gina with my two most wholesome, nature-loving ocs (An and Marcel), Gina was meant to appear in this one and a ninth drawing, but Gina's presence just wasn't there, i looked at my sketch and thought "this is not Gina, she's not here"
3. UU science couple with my ocs' science team (left to right: Are {i hate his name, i need to change it}, Paula, Saulo and Todd), i feel that i didn't do justice to Nico and Ichico looking very ghostly with that skin color, i had to wing it based on the colored pages, also i felt that i was disrespecting both of them with that robot, but i still finished it, i'm in too deep to back down.
4. it's impossible that Sean didn't goof around some clubs, he's an actor, he had visited the music and drama club at least once, so i just put my most music related ocs in the place of the teachers in charge of them, Christi would have really loved to goof around.
5. I didn't know what to do with Billy, but i imagined that at least some teachers and students would have a crush for him, so i just put Mari for that role, Tella definetly used Untell on her so she can't get near Billy.
6. Grandpa Isshin! i originally wanted to draw both Isshins in the context of a school daycare, Grandpa Isshin and some teachers that have kids, picking their respective kids. But i wanted the spotlight on these two, so i scraped the idea. There was a point were i was overthinking Grandpa Isshin's eyebrows and how it reminded me of my late Grandpa's eyebrows, almost cried at that one.
7. Same as Feng but with Mui, also made Xia come back after she fainted with Feng, i felt incredibly cursed by Shen's presence in my canvas, after seeing the things i saw in my TL on twitter, i couldn't see Shen without thinking about it, so in the speedpaint there's a section where i put my refences and the characters specific colors from the anime, except for Shen, i stopped the recording bcs i felt cursed to have the anime reference in my canvas)
8. Drama club! also Chikara is here, maybe acting will help him with his Unmove, this one has the cursed unshaded eyes in the speedpaint, everytime i looked at their eyes i remembered @tadpolebobatea, once the speedpaint is ready i will curse all of you with the unshaded eyes.
#uuweek2024#undead unluck#ocs#so many ocs#chikara shigeno#sean datz#shen xiang#uu mui#fuuko izumo#gina chamber#feng kowloon#grandpa isshin#haruka isshin#billy alfred#nico vorgeil#ichico nemuri#so many tags#thoughts
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OC Deep Dive Questionnaire
Thanks for the tag @natolesims ! I love doing these.
Think I'll do my werewolf boi, Ajay this time (I did Miguel for the last one)
1. What uncommon/common fear do they have?
The dude acts fearless but he has one fear and it's stink bugs. Why? Well werewolf pups like practicing their hunting on small insects and stuff that cross their path and young Ajay decided to pounce on a stink bug and had a very bad time lol
bonus pic of smol pup Ajay
2. Do they have any pet peeves?
He doesn't like it when people move his stuff around. He's not organized but it works for him cause he has his weird disorganized places he keeps his things.
3. What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom?
his werewolf toy, this crystal light shaped like a moon that Sid made for him, something random he may have dug up during a rampage and forgot about (usually shoes, rocks and trash)
4. What do they notice first in a person?
Their smell, werewolf super smell and all. He can figure out if a person is an occult by the smell.
5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance?
A 10, he's been in so many werewolf brawls, and running through the forest, it takes a lot to actually get him to be very bothered by pain and he heals quickly. He wears his scars like badges of honor lol
6. Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure?
Fight fight fight! He likes fighting and hates to appear like a wimp.
7. Do they come from a big family/are they a family person?
No, he was an only child, had a mom and dad and that's it. He has a big family now though. (4 children, his husband, and his father who is still kicking) I would say he is a family person, he loves all his kids and is protective over them and his husband.
bonus family photo :)
and grandpa (ajay's father, Ravi) cause we love him and his terrible dad jokes
8. What animal represents them best?
Well...a wolf
9. What is a smell that they dislike?
Vampires have a necrotic undead smell he hates like most werewolves. He also hates coming across somewhere that was "marked" by another werewolf and gets territorial.
10. Have they broken any bones?
Nope
11. How would a stranger likely describe them?
Depends. If he's dressed nicely and calm, people see he's sure of himself or confident. When he's high fury/wearing his torn or rocker clothes, he still has that confident vibe but in a more intimidating way.
12. Are they a night owl or a morning bird?
Night Owl because werewolves are nocturnal, he'll be up in the morning anyway because he doesn't sleep much.
13. What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love?
He hates all artificial fruit candy, as for a flavor he loves, a steak, seasoned right (and very very rare)
14. Do they have any hobbies?
Yes, he likes to knit and paint mostly. He likes to read and likes tor forage/hunt for crystals or mushrooms that Sid might need
15. Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises?
I'd say he's pretty stoked
16. Do they like to wear jewelry?
Yeah, his moon necklace his mother gave him and other bracelets Sid makes him
17. Do they have neat or messy handwriting?
It's actually very neat!
18. What are two emotions they feel the most?
Energetic and confident
19. Do they have a favorite fabric?
really soft fleece, he'll fall asleep real quick in a pile of fleece sweaters lol
20. What kind of accent do they have?
subtle indian accent (mother had an indian accent, father has a southern usa accent so it's a mix of that)
The closest voice claim I have for him is Dr. Carrington from Fallout 4 I like imagining that he sounds very eloquent and chill (well at least until his fury gets high enough, then he's just loud, rough sounding and growly)
If you just want to talk about yours OC's just do this and say I tagged you or w/e, use all excuses to talk about your OC's and stories 👍🏼
(that and I'm not very active on here atm due to not wanting to play sims, social media detox and attempts at better habits in life.)
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What If Steve Were To Leave Hawkins? Part 17
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16
Just a few more parts! What happens next, should Steve have a talk with everybody, should there be more Eddie/Steve mush? We shall see! Let me know what you guys think!
And Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!
~*~*~*~
Steve was nervous. It was a new feeling for him and certainly not a welcome one. Apparently, Dustin had walkied the other kids while he was in the bathroom and had arranged a “small get together” with the rest of the Party. Hence the anxiety. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see the kids. But, he hadn’t seen any of them in the few months since he’d moved away and he was not looking forward to seeing their reactions. Would they be upset and yell at him just like they had yelled at Eddie? Or would they be upset since he’s stealing Eddie and Robin from them too? He didn’t know what to expect from the remaining members of the group which put him on edge. Steve had never liked putting himself in situations where he didn’t know what to expect.
Regardless of his apprehension, he loaded Eddie, Robin, and Dustin into the Beemer and made his way towards the Hopper-Byers residence. It was woefully apparent to the others that Steve was nervous. He was driving 10 mph under the speed limit and kept raking a hand through the swoop of his hair. At the fourth hair disturbance, Eddie grabbed Steve’s hand in his and settled it on his knee. “Stevie, it’ll be fine. They obviously want to see you if they planned all this. Relax.”
Dustin poked his head between the first two seats and glared menacingly at Steve. “And speed up! You’re moving slower than grandpa and he’s dead! Go!”
Steve heard Robin smack Dustin and pull him back from his position, “My god, Dustin. What the hell? Be respectful of the dead. Wow.”
“Oh, like I’m wrong? He’s going like 20 mph in a 40! Going too slow is just as dangerous as driving too fast, Robin…”
He ignored their squabbling and sped up to match the speed limit. Trying to waste time by driving slowly wasn’t going to help anything. He focused on the feel of Eddie’s hand in his own and let the worry seep out of him. Eddie was right, of course. The kids had to be happy to see him, right? Dustin certainly was. Also, bar Mike and Max, the remaining kids were angels. There was rarely any sass from Will, Lucas, or El. Mike and Max could be heathens and their insults could be biting. Even if they were mad though, they were all still his kids and he would own up to his actions. If anything, they were probably hurt and would need reassurance. Unlike what his parents had done for him, he could provide them with that.
Immediately when they pulled into the driveway, everyone flooded from the house. Most everyone had smiles on their faces and laughter in their mouths. Lucas, Will, and El ran directly to Steve while Mike and Max walked at a more sedate pace behind their friends.
When they reached him, Lucas, Will, and El engulfed Steve in a group hug. They were thrilled to see him after losing him so abruptly. They all hugged for a moment and appreciated each other’s presence before they pulled away.
“It is nice to see you, Steve.” El said. Will nodded at her words and mumbled his own little hello accompanied by an awkward wave. They might not be the closest members of the Party but they both loved each other still and Will was still happy to see another part of his family.
Lucas clapped Steve on the shoulder and redirected his attention to him, “good to see you Steve. We were worried about you but we’re glad you’re okay.”
Their relationship was often overlooked when compared to the others but Lucas always looked up to the man that had saved him from the racist bully trying to beat his face in. He had admired Steve since he helped them at the junkyard and took Billy’s plate to the head. And with that admiration came the subtle mimicry. Just like Mike with Eddie, Lucas had tried to share in Steve’s interests by practicing basketball with him and joining the team at school.
Steve smiled back at them. Mike glared at him from several paces away but his teenage moodiness was easily ignored in the face of Max’s subtle excitement. In true Max fashion, she slugged him in the arm, hard enough to make him wince. “Don’t do that again, dickhead. We thought you got your dumbass killed. Let us know when you’re going somewhere next time.”
Steve chuckled at her words but did feel somewhat chastened. “Sorry Max.”
She nodded her head and narrowed her eyes at him before giving him a brief hug, “I’m glad you’re okay.”
He nodded with his chin resting on her head, “me too.”
Hopper and Joyce came outside next, following the kids. Hopper was wearing a hideous Hawaiian shirt with flamingos on it while Joyce was wearing a green flannel two sizes too big. But both looked full of love, and slightly menacing, as they charged at Steve.
Joyce wrapped him in a motherly hug when she reached him and cooed, “Steve! Oh, you’re so thin! Have you been taking care of yourself?”
Steve smiled awkwardly at the open affection he rarely received from parents, “Eddie’s been taking good care of me. Thanks for throwing this together, it's nice to see everybody.”
“Of course, Steve! You’re family.” She said and lightly pinched his cheek.
Hopper grabbed him next. His face was a mixture of exasperation and parental affection as he hugged him close. Steve was surprised to find tears in his eyes when he pulled away. “What? Hop-”
Hopper placed a hand at the back of his neck and looked Steve straight in the eye. “Don’t do that again. You going off on your own without telling anybody took ten years off my life. You can’t just disappear like that. I expect you to stay in contact with us the entire time, got it? You’re like a son to me, kid. I don’t want to lose you again.”
Steve bit his lip as he struggled to keep his own tears in. He nodded stiltedly and reached out for another hug from Hopper. There was no reluctance from him and the other Party members made their way inside in an effort to give them a moment alone. Steve never considered how his departure from Hawkins might affect his found family. Even when he was settled in the city, he hadn’t thought to reach out to the Chief to let him know he was alright. But now, comfortable and safe in the arms of his father figure, Steve knew that he couldn’t just disappear like he did before. He might be moving but now he knew that the Party loved him and he would always have a place here amongst his family.
~*~*~*~
To the people on the taglist; are you guys still being notified when I post a new part? I think these tags are active but I tried putting them in the comments and it didn’t work. Please let me know! Hope you guys enjoy this part!
Part 18 Part 19 Part 20: Epilogue
Updated Taglist: @nickavalens @conversesweetheart @themostunoriginalpersonever @swimmingbirdrunningrock @eddiethegreatteddybear @harrumphingtons @call-me-big-eyes @moonshadows-13 @glittergluekintsugi @cpidcupk @doubleb11 @mentalcyborg @amoris-no-smut-allowed @purple-lemonade @labels-are-for-the-weak @thebrazilianatheist @rajumat @livelaughlexa @5ammi90 @colorful565 @marvelousforlife @chaoticcoffeequeen @gregre369 @suddenlyinlove @thegreatmistake @stillfullofshit @nburkhardt @batxsignalsx @newunknowns @thosemessyvibes @tailsfromthecrypt @luciana-rowan @bird-with-pencils @adaed5 @lolawon @flustratedcas @iwillfindmyneverland @messrs-weasley @skoomy-doompy @yearningagain @forest-fogg @bitchysunflower @stardust-era @newtstabber @bobatrash-queen @notjasontxdd @ohlook-afrog @00biscuit @grtwdsmwhr @oxidantdreamboat @the-witch-forever-lives @estrellami-1 @whatthemeepever @a-simple-gaywitch @imzadidragonfly @freddykicksasses @krimsonsimp
@whatthefuccck @delta-piscium @anaibis @tinynebula @darkwitchoferie @evix-syne666 @tawghasa @pyrohonk @lillys-weird-world @superduckmilkshake @paintsplatteredandimperfect @tiny-enthusiast @whalesharksart @krazyperson @username-i-guess @ilikechocolatemilkh @awkwardgravity1 @romanticdestruction
#awww Steve is back with his family!#don't mind Dustin being a sarcastic little shit again lol#steve harrington#eddie munson#robin buckley#dustin henderson#steddie#fanfic#mike wheeler#max mayfield#lucas sinclair#stanger things#chief jim hopper#joyce byers
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A Rich Welcome Home AU - Welcome Mansion
Okay! I think I'll go for it, the AU of Welcome Home and it's the Rich!Wally Darling. No clue of the AU name of it, but maybe Welcome Mansion... eh. I'll work on it. Anyway! The ideas of the roles I'll give to cast of Welcome Home Show. Plus some small info in my AU.
Wally Darling - The owner of the Darling Mansion. Took ownership after his parents passed away when he was only 14. He's been kinda spoil by his parents, but slowly becomes kinda cold after losing his parents, fearing to lose anyone he's close too. (He's probably 5'2" ft tall in this AU). There's a rumor about Wally, but are they true?
Barnaby B Beagle - Butler and Guard. Has been best/close friends with Wally since they were kids (at age 6 or 7). His adoptive mom is part of a family of maids & butlers. So far, one of the ones that Wally is somewhat nice to. Barnaby tries his best to make sure no intruders gets in... He is a guard DOG 😆Sorry!
Julie Joyful - Journalist, disguise as a Gardener. Has been working as a journalist in her family business for 5 years. She has heard rumors about Wally Darling and hopes to get the info before the others. Her partner in crimes is Frank, who has worked with her for 2 years. In order to get the truth, she decide to 'work' as a gardener to get close... which is hard.
Frank Frankly - News Reporter, disguise as a Butler. Takes their job serious as a reporter, having some odd feelings about the Darling Mansion. Tries to Julie from going into trouble, they were force to 'work' as a butler in order to get some info. However, a certain butler is making things hard to focus. *coughs*Eddie*coughs*
Eddie Dear - Head Butler. Has follows in his father's footsteps in butler lines. Despite Wally's somewhat harsh orders, Eddie could tell Wally is lonely and he hopes someone would at least get Wally to be nicer. For now, he follows Wally's orders and looks after the mansion. He does help and teaches new butlers and maids when they arrived and he is taking interest on the new butler named Frank.
Howdy Pillar - Limousine Driver. Work as Wally's driver for 2 years. Well-manner and goes where Wally would like to go, he doesn't get harsh treatment... unless he has to carry what Wally will buy (mainly hair products). He would talk his troubles towards the mechanic when the limo needs tune up.
Poppy Partridge - Kitchen Maid; also head Maid. Is like the mom towards everyone and is one of the ones who Wally treats nicely. She enjoys cooking and feeding everyone. If she gets sick, Wally would step in, but many would quickly take over to cook since Wally is not good at cooking.
Sally Starlet - Scullery Maid. Good in washing clothes, she's one of the new recruits, not knowing much about the Darling family. She would sometimes be in charge of telling stories to Wally to help him sleep and she's good at it, acting out and stuff. She does wonder what happened to his parents though, but it's a touchy subject...
Home - Mansion, duh! Had been around since Wally's great grandpa was alive. In this AU, Home the descendant of living buildings and enjoys hearing music playing. Sort of a second close friend and one of the ones that Wally is nice to. Knew the Darling family and sometimes reminds Wally he's a tad too harsh. Home is also one of the two who knows what happened to Wally's parents, sadly... no one, but Wally could understood them.
Now for my OCs that will be in Rich AU...
Eric Hopper - A recent homeless rabbit puppet, soon to becomes Butler. Lost his home after his mom kicked him out for losing a job. Despite that, he's still kind. As a kid, he did found and return something to a puppet boy with blue hair, but it was so long ago, Eric doesn't remember who was the boy until Eric stopped a robber from taking money from Wally Darling. As thanks, Eric was dragged and asked to be a butler which Eric agrees until he kinda regrets due to Wally's treatment. It seems he can under Home... [Also! In Eric's Place, Y/N would be also be in this role]
Whiskers Furball - Mechanic. In charge of fixing the limousine and often hears rumors about the Darling family. Somewhat an Informant for Julie to get juicy gossip around the neighborhood. He seems to lit up when Howdy comes around.
Possibly more??
...I might change the roles, but let's go with these for now. 😅 I might add Barnaby's mom in the AU, along with Julie's siblings if I want to. I will tried to sketch the main ones out in the roles in the future.
#welcome home#welcome home au#rich!wally darling#Welcome Mansion#GinnyICi Words#wally darling#frank frankly#juile joyful#sally starlet#poppy partridge#eddie dear#howdy piller#barnaby b beagle#home welcome home#welcome home ocs#Eric Hopper (WH)#Dr. Whiskers Furball (WH)#my stuff~
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Fifteen questions for fifteen mutuals!
(It will probably not be fifteen I am too scared to tag too many people)
I was tagged by @galaxycunt weeks ago, and I finally got around to answering.
Tagging @hereforthehaunts @cactme @plasticdodecagon @iwanttobecomeavoid @mars-colony no pressure tho!
Also, feel free to skip any questions you don’t wanna answer.
1. Are you named after anyone?
My great grandpa Tora. But he went by Tory. He was apparently a grumpy ol sonofabitch according to my dad, but it was also his idea to name me after him so 🤷♀️
2. When was the last time you cried?
Prolly like two days ago but I don’t know for sure for sure. I cry all the time. I think this time I was crying in frustration at packing for my last camping trip lol
3. Do you have kids?
Nope, and I don’t know if I want any tbh. It would really cut into my time of being the Weird/Fun Aunt who lets my nieces and nephews stay up too late and helps them dye their hair
4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Not nearly as much as I did when I was younger. We call that Growth 😌 but sometimes I can’t help myself
5. What sports do you play/have you played?
Ha. I am so uncoordinated I don’t play any sports. I played tennis for one year in high school and hated it. I’ve gone rock climbing once and really enjoyed it even though I was scared shitless, so I’d really like to get back into that. I’ve also been kind of wanting to play tennis again just for funsies with my husband and not actually pay attention to any rules or anything and just have fun.
6. What’s the first thing you notice about other people?
I think height? Because I’m pretty tall and if someone is taller than I am I definitely notice
7. Eye color?
Hazel is the least pretentious way to describe it. Or green…ish.
8. Scary movie or happy endings?
Why not both? I will say I like things to end happily, because I need to have some semblance of hope in the world lol, but also bittersweet endings will stick with me for the rest of my life.
9. Any special talents?
I am freaky good with names and faces. I will remember people who I had one college class with but never actually personally interacted with them. I can also like, trifold my tongue so it looks like a clover.
10. Where were you born?
Ha nice try fbi. Just kidding, it’s just a small town (like, less than a thousand people) in southern Utah and I highly doubt anyone would know the name or where it was, but if perchance they do, it probably means I know them in real life and I’d rather not risk it.
11. Free space
Ummmmm I love hiking and camping, and I’d love to get into photography and videography to be like a nature photographer, I think that would be cool. But I’m also Very Bad at taking pictures. I always forget to take them, or I frame it really bad or the lighting is really bad, I’ve got a lot to learn with that hobby lol. Also I wish I could just wear my crunchy/granolaey/outfits all the time business casual my absolute beloathed
12. Do you have any pets?
No 😔 I want one, either a cat or a dog, but honestly I have so much anxiety around it because there’s this CREATURE in my HOUSE and it needs me to live! And what if it eats my plants and what if my plants are toxic and what if it chews a hole in the floor or the door and we get kicked out and and and (you get the idea).
13. How tall are you?
5’10” 😎 my husband insists I’m 5’9” but he’s wrong
14. Favorite subject in school?
I’m still recovering from the god complex that being in English class gave me so, we’ll leave it at that.
15. Dream job?
I do not dream of labor, but I have a few ideas of what would be preferable than being a receptionist for the rest of my life lol. I’d like to open an online sticker/print shop and just draw and design cute silly stationary and stickers. I’ve also always dreamed of being an author, but seeing as how I can’t finish any of my wips that will probably remain a dream lol.
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Bob's Burgers Thanksgiving Specials Ranked (So far)
(Because screw it, if I did Halloween, might as well do Thanksgiving)
11. Putts-Giving--A pretty decent episode about the bond between the Belcher children. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is more of an after thought with this one, making it more of an episode that can happen at ANY time, not just Thanksgiving. So, for this particular ranking, it's dead last, even though it's not even that bad of an episode.
10. An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal--The show's first special and I love that it quickly establishes that Thanksgiving is Bob's favorite holiday. Bob's love for cooking is a neat aspect of his character and it makes sense that a day all about great food is the day he loves the most. It's just too bad that the first Thanksgiving special includes the family being careless towards Bob's desire to still have a family Thanksgiving despite the plan Mr. Fischoeder convinced them into. It's genuinely sweet, and it hurts that the family dismisses it. They all have their reasons and the ending ALMOST saves it, but it doesn't entirely succeed as this episode feels a bit mean spirited, even for an early season episode.
(Also, what was up with that My Neighbor Totoro reference? That came and went out of nowhere)
9. Diarrhea of a Poopy Kid--Now would be a good time to mention that I'm not a fan of the "kids tell stories" episodes. There's SOME good jokes, but they're always kind of meh to me. This one's no different, though it does get points for a warm ending and the brief bonding moments between Gene and Bob. Their relationship is always cute when they're on the same side and it's no different here. Wish we could have had it in a stronger episode, but that's what "Boys Just Want to Have Fungus" and "The Laser-inth" is for.
8. Gayle Makin' Bob Sled--Quite possibly the most irritating Gayle's ever been in the show. You actually FEEL Bob's anger and annoyance with her, with every bit of it being justified as Gayle's not at top form here. There's SOME good jokes, but not enough. Thankfully the subplot of Linda and the kids struggling to cook a turkey is entertaining enough to save it...barely.
7. Stuck in the Kitchen with You--I love Bob and Louise's father/daughter relationship. It's always adorable, even if they're at odds with each other like this because it results in a sweeter ending. And I love that Bob wanted Louise in the kitchen with him, wanting to depart some wisdom. What holds the episode down is a pretty weak subplot of the other kids doing a fake parade for the retiring home, which is more awkward than funny. But there's also a subplot featuring Linda that's carried by Sargent Basco's hilarity. So, I guess it balances out to a decent episode.
6. The Quirk-Ducers--Not particularly funny, even with Linda thinking that a potato looks like her grandpa, but the ending REALLY makes this one strong. Bob bringing the potato to support Linda's quirk of the week was sweet, I love that Louise learned for herself that she went too far (even if it was too late), and Tina bringing it all home with a pretty uplifting message SHE wanted, ending the play HER way. The journey was a bit of a mess, but the destination made it worth it in the end.
5. I Bob Your Pardon--A lot of this adventure feels forced, not just with its resolution but also with its conception. Tina convincing the family to save a turkey reminds me of an episode of Steven Universe where Steven makes a big deal out of a small thing and the Crystal Gems go, "Why should we care?" Thankfully, Bob's Burgers does things better by having the characters slowly care more about the adventure and having some great lines and interactions with these entertaining characters. Bob especially killed it as the straight man (per usual), and Linda cracking me up with how serious she took things. So while the story definitely takes some leaps, it proves that even a weak plot can work perfectly with entertaining characters driving it.
4. Turkey in a Can--The chaos in this one is TOO GOOD, with Bob freaking out over who dunked the turkey, Louise trying to catch the culprit, and, of course, the turkey counter guy who hints that Bob might be a little bisexual. It's all good stuff with a pretty warm ending that came as a decent enough twist.
3. Now We're Not Cooking with Gas--Knowing that Thanksgiving is Bob's favorite holiday is what helps sympathize with him here. He's desperate to make the perfect turkey, and with one he's been waiting to have for five years, so you can't blame him for going a little nuts. I mean, you CAN blame him a little bit, but you can understand why he acts so insane about a turkey. At least he learns his lesson on his own without anyone telling him to not go too far and the resolution feels a lot more genuine than in "An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal." I DO wish the episode ends with Bob NOT getting what he wants for some Thanksgiving miracle, but it also ends in a perfectly messy Thanksgiving dinner that works best for this family. So...I'll take it.
2. Dawn of the Peck--A pretty intense situation for the characters to be in, but still featuring some funny moments like everyone giving the birds the bird and Linda getting to the top of the pecking order. But the funniest bits come from Bob not realizing there was a city-wide catastrophe because he was inside the house getting drunk. It presents a pretty great contrast between great danger and laid-back humor, something I could only accept through a show like this.
1. Thanks-Hoarding--A great character study of Teddy that pretty much solidifies WHY he's the sixth member of the family. The Belchers all care about him and wants him to feel good, even if his quirks tend to drive them up a wall (especially Bob). Also, this is the first time Bob made the perfect dinner (twice) with little to no problems. Oh, there's stress, and this episode definitely nails the stress that comes with making the perfect dinner on this holiday, but it also nails the calming love that comes when you eat with family and friends that are family. It's a solid special that happens to be a solid episode, can't get much better.
And that's it. Weirdly enough, no Thanksgiving special this year either. Which feels especially wrong considering how it's Bob's favorite holiday. Bet HE'S salty about it. Still, there's probably SOME reason the writers have this year. Not that I'll ever find it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
#bob's burgers#tina belcher#louise belcher#gene belcher#bob belcher#linda belcher#calvin fischoeder#bobs burgers teddy#quick thoughts#what i thought about
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15 Questions OC Edition- Yoruk
Right, so since I've received at least one more tag for this game, I'll be doing this for the other two options that were voted for in the poll I did for this game. Today will be Yoruk, next week his mother.
Once more: Tags are only for those interested in the answers to the questions here. I am not tagging for anyone necessarily to do this game (unless of course, they want to).
Tags: @druidx, @asher-orion-writes, @homesteadchronicles, @warriorbookworm, @mariahwritesstuff, @ashirisu, @thesorcerersapprentice, @blind-the-winds
All that said: Let's get into this for one of my favourite OCs.
A quiet corner in the back room of the Hammer and Anvil, Fangthane. Yoruk Bloodvein sits back in his seat, sipping from a small glass containing firewater, while a shadowy figure opposite him nurses a mug of Snorri Ironforge's finest ale.
Interviewer: Thank you for agreeing to see me, especially on such short notice.
Yoruk: It's fine, I'd heard ye were goin' around asking folk a bunch o' questions from Merri. She said ye might ask aboot me.
Interviewer: Ah yes, how is the rest of the family?
Yoruk: They're a'right, but I dinna have all day to chat, so if we ca get this done?
Interviewer: Of course.
1. Are you named after anyone?
I think I was name for one of my great grandpas on my da's side. The Copperheart Clan has a fine and storied history, and the man I'm named after was a hero of great renown at a time when evil was far more prominent in the world. I hope I've lived up to that legacy, despite only playin' a bit part during the whole Ragnarok fiasco.
2. When was the last time you cried?
Oh, that'd be right after Gavid wis born. I ken Merri did all the hard work, but the minute I got that bairn into ma arms, I started bawlin'. Honestly, it's a good thing Elowyn was there to see to my wife because I wis in a right state for at least a good half hour. I'm no' ashamed to admit to that neither.
3. Do you have kids?
As mentioned; I have Gavid. Merri and I do plan on more children eventually, but we're happy with just the three of us for now. He's no' long started moving around, so he's a bit of a handful.
4. Do you use sarcasm?
All the time, I'm fairly certain Merri telt ye it was basically a third language around here. I do try not to use it too often because it gets a bit tiresome to work out when folk are being genuine.
5. What's the first thing you notice about people?
The body language for sure. I had to get used to quickly working out when a certain birth giver was in a mood and to not bother her with "inane, childish chit chat", and that's carried over to pretty much everybody else. It's pretty helpful in my job, though, it makes working out when someone's bein' a bit shifty without having to rely on magical methods.
6. What's your eye color?
Amber, which is typical for dwarves born into noble families.
7. Scary movies or happy endings?
Oh Merri told me about those. Happy endings fer definite. We just got incredibly lucky to get our own happy ending and I don't much like the idea of gettin' stressed out for entertainment.
8. Any special talents?
I'm actually a right dab hand at embroidery of all things. One of my tutors from when I was a wee lad was a much aulder woman who liked to embroider her clothes and I begged her to teach me because I thought it made her clothes look beautiful. I taught Merri because she needed something to do while stuck at home during her maternity leave.
9. Where were you born?
Right here in Fangthane, in my father's house.
10. What are your hobbies?
Aside from embroidery, I enjoy a good game of cards or dominoes. We've got a rather serious dominoes tournament going on in the rec room of my chapter house right now. I've made it to the quarter finals of it so far and am hopin' that I can at least make the final.
11. Have you any pets?
Dwarves aren't big on pets, honestly. I used to like petting the miners' ponies when I was a wee lad, but those are working animals. I don't think Alistair, my mount, counts either since he's technically a divine beast who's agreed to carry me around when I need him to.
12. What sports do you play/have played?
I'm not big into sports as such. Most of my time as a lad was spent with tutors to make sure I had a decent upbringing worthy of a man of nobility. I did get into dwarven fencing for a little bit, but felt the rules were a bit too restrictive and gave it up pretty quickly.
13. How tall are you?
Four foot eleven, so one of the tallest dwarves in Fangthane. I think there's only two, maybe three others who are even the same height.
14. Favorite subject in school?
Ididn't attend a school, as such, as I mentioned before, I had personal tutors. I did enjoy learnings some of the finer arts though, having a creative outlet made life a lot more bearable while I was growin' up.
15. Dream job?
I'm pretty damn happy in the one I've got, honestly. It keeps me close enough to my family, and I'm constantly helpin' folk with various wee problems, and it doesn't hurt that the hours are consistent so I can look after my wee boy. I'm determined to be a much more present father than mine was.
Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time, Sir Bloodvein. Your answers were most enlightening, especially when taking the ones your wife gave into consideration
Yoruk: Eh, we had different upbringings despite us both livin' in Fangthane our whole lives. That was bound to happen.
Interviewer: Indeed. I had best be off, I have one more stop on this round and I have quite the journey ahead of me.
Yoruk: A'right, bye then.
The Interviewer backs into the shadows and vanishes with barely a wisp of smoke. Yoruk politely declines to point out that he can see in the dark. and downs the rest of his drink before getting up and leaving.
#writeblr tag games#15 questions tag game#aquadestinyswriting#titan fighting fantasy#yoruk bloodvein#I liked getting the chance to go this much in depth into Yoruk honestly#he's a very different kind of person to Merri#and Selene#he still has so much trauma#but it wasn't inflicted by outside forces
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Thank you @gvnseylike for the tag! I enjoy doing these 🥰
Share your wallpaper
I use a wallpaper changer lol. Currently there's 271 in rotation, some are my own art, some are from various fandoms, some are my pets, stuff like that. It's biphobic to make me choose 😘
The last song you listened to:
😅 Take Me Away from the Lindsay Lohan/Jamie Lee Curtis Freaky Friday movie, actually. Best fictional song imo
Currently reading:
Bookclub with my dad - All About Love by bell hooks
Book buddies with my best friend- Shadow and Bone/working our way through the Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo
I also listen to a fuckload of audiobooks at work, just finished The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn. Now I'm revisiting Arc 8 of Unprepared Casters, will prolly finish that by Friday and idk what's after that. Reccs literally ALWAYS welcome I have headphones on a solid 6 hours a day minimum
Last Movie:
I think it was Glass Onion? Been on more of a TV kick lately
Craving:
It is so close to strawberry season and I am *dying* for some good strawberries. There's a strawberry farm 2 minutes from work and every day I look to see if their sign is up cause the second it is I'm buying a pallet
What are you wearing right now?
Black bandeau and comfy shorts, basically my jammies
How tall are you:
5'4. I am short and squishy.
Piercings:
I had my ears pierced as a kid, suffered for years trying all the different earring materials until I finally gave up and accepted that my body doesn't like being pierced and will die mad about it
Tattoos:
One on my back right hip, of my late pet rat Mungojerrie. I've had a total of 12 rats in my life (usually 4-5 at once) and adored them all, but Mungo's pattern was most suited to a tattoo so she represents my lil mischief. I want more tattoos but those cost money I don't have rn, so someday
Glasses? Contacts?
Either! Depending on the outfit. Wearing glasses a lot lately because I got some really cute glasses chains
Last drink:
Currently have two on my end table, water for hydration and Dr pepper cause it's tasty
Last show:
Bob's Burgers, the episode where Teddy pretends to be into hurling and Louise attempts to turn herself into an Avatar of the Buried by sacrificing Tina to a watery grave for a gd rusty ball jfc that was stressful my anxiety was through the ROOF
Last thing you ate:
McDonald's chicken nuggets. Is a lazy kind of night
Favorite color:
Green
Current obsession:
Mild hyperfixation on the grishaverse after season 2 of the entflix adaptation prompted a series reread
Unrelated obsession:
Dragon Age, specifically Dragon Age 2. It's my never ending hyperfixation lol
Any pets:
Two dogs, two cats, and a leopard gecko. The dogs are Ruby, a Doberman mix from a local rescue with separation anxiety that the rescue was not up front about, love my boy but I am *mad* at that rescue, and Angel, a byb min pin adopted from a friend's grandpa when he had to go into assisted living. The cats are Boris, an orange tabby adopted as a kitten from our vet, and Rangi, a calico adopted as an adolescent from the same vet a year later, after our first cat Natasha passed away. Last there's Heihei, the leopard gecko I adopted from the petsmart where I worked at the time after he was blinded by an eye infection and they couldn't sell him. He's a cool little dude.
Do you have a crush on anyone?
I am in a happy long term relationship lol
Favorite fictional character:
See answer one and don't be biphobic 😇, you get two - Fenris from Dragon Age 2 and Keladry of Mindelan from Protector of the Small. I adore them both and honestly for very similar reasons despite their vastly different backgrounds and personalities.
The last place you traveled:
Day trip, I went about an hour and a half away to ~nearby largeish city~ to see Hadestown and it was *incredible*. Overnight, I honestly have no idea, it's been like 7 years at least but it'd probably have been the last time I visited my Florida grandparents instead of the other way around, they've been spending half the year in our state lately and I can't afford to travel to visit them there. Yay adulthood.
Blank -
Share your wallpaper
The last song you listened to:
Currently reading:
Last Movie:
Craving:
What are you wearing right now?
How tall are you:
Piercings:
Tattoos:
Glasses? Contacts?
Last drink:
Last show:
Last thing you ate:
Favorite color:
Current obsession:
Unrelated obsession:
Any pets:
Do you have a crush on anyone?
Favorite fictional character:
The last place you traveled:
Tagging @dragongeek1, @becauseanders, and @silly-goofy-mood no pressure or anything, just if y'all wanna! 🥰
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The Walking Dead: North Wind
This is an original story that I've been working on that's set within TWD. What I'm posting here is arcs 1 to 4, and I'm currently working on arc 5. The whole thing is MAYBE about halfway done. @r0ry-the-great I hope you enjoy it, it's fairly long so if it take's you a while that's completely fine. I'd love to hear the notes that anyone has, or any errors you notice. I'll likely have to post it in chunks, so check my profile for other parts!
The Walking Dead:
North Wind
Arc 1:
Home Sweet Home
Before the Storm
There are some days that I wish the world would just end. Or that something would happen so that I don’t have to live the same day over and over. My husband leaves for work at 7:30 every morning, and gets home at 6. And here I am, making god damn Mac and Cheese for the five thousandth time. But hey, that’s what you get when someone knocks you up when you’re still in high school. I love my kids, but some days I just wish something different would happen. Sara asks me to help her do her hair every morning, and Jacob plays his Mario or whatever the fuck.
“SOUP’S ON!” I shout as I slide my long, curly black hair out of my face. I place two bowls on the table as the pitter patter of feet on the carpet draws closer. They both sit down and start eating.
“You make the best Mac and Cheese mom!” Jake says as he looks up at me with his freckled face.
“Trust me boy, I know, I’ve been living off the stuff longer than you’ve been alive.” I run my fingers through his short black hair. He gets his hair colour from me, Sara gets hers from her dad, she got my curls though her hair is shorter than mine too. He laughs, but I know it went over his head. I put the pot in the sink and start washing it.
“Mom, can we please come to the hospital with you this time?” Sara asks, “I want to see grandpa one last time before-”
“I told you before Sara, he’s not going to die.” I probably lie, “Besides, do you guys really want to sit in a boring hospital for several hours, or do you want to go out with your Uncle?”
“UNCLE MARK!” Jake shouts.
“Seems to me like he’s decided.”
“Ugh, fine.” Sara crosses her arm then pulls out her phone. He’s not in great shape after his heart attack, and that’s not how I want them to remember him. I close my eyes and breath heavily as I get back to washing the pot. After Jacob practically inhales his bowl, he goes over to the TV and turns it on, the news is on.
“A new video has surfaced online showing what appears to be a man attacking and… eating… another person in the streets of Los Angeles.” I grab the remote from him, “We are unsure about the validity of this video but we wi-” I change the channel.
“Let’s not watch that.” God, people will believe anything they see online these days. I highly doubt that people are just going around eating people on the street. The only way it could possibly be real is if it’s some drug that’s making them do that, but again, I highly doubt it. Some time goes by, I do some small chores, just some things to pass the time while we wait for Mark to get here. I hear the doorbell ringing, and Jake runs to the door.
“Hey buddy!” I hear Mark say as he walks in the door. I walk over to the door to greet him.
“Hi Elsie.” He says, putting Jake down on the ground.
“Hey, Mark.” I hug him, “Thanks for agreeing to do this for me.”
“Of course, you know I love spending time with them.” I grab my purse as Mark helps Jake put on his shoes, and the four of us shuffle into Mark’s car. As we drive through the city, I just stare out the window, watching everything go by. I was born here in Edmonton, lived here all my life. As much as I hated it growing up, I never left. Even when I had the chance to, I could’ve gone to the University of Calgary, University of Alberta, even BC, but I just had to stay here. I don’t know if I’ll ever leave, especially now. I wouldn’t want to just uproot my family’s lives, plus Simon would bitch about it since he has a good paying office job. But, home’s home, and my parents are here, so I wouldn’t want to leave them either. Fuck, I want to go somewhere else, explore the world, something, ANYTHING!
“SHIT!” Mark shouts, jerking the car to the side.
“The hell…?” I look over at him, Mark looks in the rear view mirror.
“Fucking crack heads I swear to god.” I look behind us, and see a dirty man stumbling across the road. That’s Edmonton for you I suppose, home sweet home.
Fall
Mark’s car pulls up in the front of the Royal Alexandra Hospital. I sigh heavily looking at the entrance.
“You ok?” Mark puts a hand on my shoulder. I have no idea how we came from the same parents, he was always able to build muscle way easier than me. I don’t know where my high metabolism came from, but Mark could probably break me in half with two fingers.
“Yeah…” I wipe a tear from my eye, then turn to him and smile, “Thank you.” I open the door and step out.
“I’ll be here in a couple hours, call me if you want me to come sooner.”
“Thank you, I will.” I stick my head in the car and look in the back, “Love you two, see you soon.”
“Bye mom!” Jake shouts.
“Bye.” Sara says, less excitedly. I close the door, waving as I turn around towards the doors. They slide open automatically as I step up to them. The lobby is large, full of people, some having worse days than I am, but some having better. I walk down the hall, towards an elevator. I step nervously outside of it as I wait for one to come down, tapping my foot as I lean against the wall. The elevator dings as the doors slide open, I step inside, hitting the button for the third floor. A sort of calm washes over me as I stand in the quiet empty elevator. Almost like it’s my own little pocket dimension, where the troubles of the world can’t bother me anymore. But that all goes away the second the doors slide open, and I’m forced to step outside, into the hallway. I walk into my dad’s room, the unfortunately all too familiar sound of the heart monitor rings out. Mom sees me and stands up to hug me.
“Hello, dear.” She kisses me on the cheek, her wrinkled skin feels weird on my face.
“Hi mom, how’s dad been?” I look over at him.
“He’s still asleep, but… but he’s been good.” I sit down in a chair beside the bed, I look at him, tears in my eyes, “I’ll give you some time with him.” Mom walks towards the door, closing it behind her. After she leaves, I close my eyes. There’s no better way to describe how he looks than like shit, there’s no way to sugar coat it. He’s still bald, so no change there, but he’s a lot thinner, practically skin and bone at this point.
“Hey dad, I… I miss you, the kids miss you. They wanted to come see you today, but… I don’t want them to remember you like this. I want them to remember how you were, smiling, and joking.” I chuckle, then go back to crying, “Fuck… I just… I don’t know.” I sit there in silence, just, taking everything in.
A few hours pass, mom and I sit in the room, talking with each other. Nothing really happens. I zone out for a while, get lost in another world for a while, but I’m interrupted by the door to the room opening, and… Mark walks in, the kids behind him.
“Mark?” I stand up, confused why they’re here.
“I’m sorry, they just wouldn’t stop asking.” I just sigh. I didn’t want the kids to see him like this.
“It’s fine, just… it’s fine.” I guess it isn’t the worst thing for them to see him one last time.
“We brought Tim’s though!” Mark waves out a box of timbits, I can’t help but chuckle as he places it down on the bedside table. We all sit in the room, the heart monitor continuing to ring out. Jake tries to convince his grandma to take her on a walk around the halls. She eventually obliges just to get him to shut up. He cheers as they walk out the door.
“Why don’t you go with them, Sara?” I nudge her, she glares at me, and groans.
“Fine.” She stands up, and walks out the door to follow. I sit back in my chair and close my eyes.
“You ok?” Mark asks.
“Yeah, just… tired of everything.”
“I understand what you’re saying.” He laughs, “But we’re still here, so we gotta fight.”
“Yeah… I guess…” I sit up in my chair, “How goes your love life?”
“What the fuck?” He laughs loudly.
“I don’t know.” I throw my arms out, “It’s the first question I thought of.”
“Well, I was talking with someone, but he kind of was an asshole.”
“Want me to kick his ass for you?” I turn to face him.
“I’d love that.” He smiles warmly, “I’ll join you.”
More time passes, the heart monitor starts driving me mad as I sit there. I keep my cool though, and I don’t let it make me actually crazy. Suddenly, the beeping gets slightly faster.
“Is that bad…?” I think out loud.
“I… I don’t know…” Mark stands up. The beeping gets even faster, and an alarm starts ringing out. Mark runs up to dad.
“What do we do!?” I look around the room. Then, right as doctors enter, the monitor flatlines.
“Dad…?” Mark whispers. Mom and the kids return as the doctors start chest compressions.
“Oscar!?” Mom shouts out. I grab her and hug her closely.
“They’re going to help him, let them help him.” Mark puts the kids behind him and motions them outside, mom follows. The doctors try to revive him with defibrillators, but nothing brings him back. They back away, as they turn off the monitor.
“I’m sorry…” A doctor places a hand on our shoulders, “We’ll give you time with him.” Tears flow down my face as I approach him. Out in the hall I hear the muffled cries of mom. Mom and the kids walk in the room, Mark sits down beside the bed, and puts his hand on dad’s arm. We all just kind of sit there in silence, none of us know what to do, what to think, even Jake is silent, which he never does. The silence is eventually broken, not by someone talking, but soft groans, from… dad?
“Dad…?” I whisper. Suddenly, dad lunges forward, biting Mark on the wrist. He cries out in pain as blood pours onto the bed.
“FUCK! DAD, STOP!” He shouts, trying to push dad off of him. I jump up to try and help, trying to move dad’s head back. He refuses to let go though. Mark eventually resorts to punching dad in the head. More doctors rush in after hearing the commotion. They all wrestle him down as we leave the room.
“Are you ok Mark!?” I shout, the kids crying, I do my best to console them.
“F-fuck…” He covers the wound with his hand, blood dripping onto the floor, “I-I-I.. I don’t know.” A doctor comes out of the room, a bandage in her hand.
“Let me help.” She grabs Mark’s arm, and starts wrapping it up.
“Thank you.” Mark says through grit teeth.
“What’s happening?” Mom asks.
“I don’t know…” The doctor pauses, “But I’d go home if I were you, and stay there.” I look down at Jake, who’s wrapping his arms around me. Mark puts his hand over the bandage on his arm.
“Ok… ok…” I can feel my heart almost pounding through my chest. The five of us quickly shuffle through the halls, people running around. We round a corner, and see someone biting someone else in the neck. He screams as blood sprays, and he slides to the ground. Jake screams, I pick him up, Mark manages to pick up Sara.
“Don’t look.” I can hear Jake crying as we jog towards the stairwell.
All of us cram into Mark’s car. It’s big enough where we all fit, just the backseat is a little cramp. I get in the driver's seat so Mark can rest his arm. I turn the key, and the engine roars to life. I throw the car in reverse and quickly back out of the parking spot. I grip the steering wheel tightly as I drive. We pass several wrecks, people running through the streets, people looting, people bleeding out in the street.
“Mom?” Jake whimpers.
“Yes hun?” I say, my eyes not moving from the road.
“Why did grandpa become a monster?” My stomach thinks.
“I-I don’t know Jake.” I put my hand on my forehead, “I just don’t know…” Police cars drive through the streets, setting up barricades and checkpoints. The sound of gunshots rings through the city. As I drive, Mark turns on the radio, someone is speaking, their voice frantic.
“-a drill, repeat, this is not a drill. Stephan Harper has sent out an alert to all Canadians. There is a national emergency, we don’t have all the information right now, but… it’s bad. People are coming back from the dead, and they… fuck… they attack anyone they see. We’ve heard that the West Edmonton Mall is being set up as a safezone, if you’re able to, go there. If you are unable to safely make it there, STAY! HOME! Do not go out unless absolutely necessary. Do not let anyone in, even if they look like someone you know. I don’t know what causes it, I don’t know if it’s certain people, or everyone or… or… I’ll do my best to give you any information I can as it becomes available. Goodluck everyone, and may God save us all.” I put my hand over my mouth as I process what was said.
Home Sweet Home
The bell echoes through the halls, and all of us pack up our bags and leave the class. Me and my friends Sasha and Emma exit the class, ready to go home. We open our lockers and toss out shit inside then slam them shut.
“You going to David’s party this weekend?” Sasha asks, her dark curly brown hair bounces, almost like it's weightless.
“I don’t know… my mom will be pissed.” I look over at her and move my hair out of my face.
“Come oooon.” Emma groans, “We need to get you laid!” I laugh awkwardly. They’ve been trying to get me a boyfriend since middle school, to little effect. Emma adjusts her bra strap and grabs my arm.
“You guess really need to stop-”
“Not gonna happen!” Emma laughs, “We’re going to West Ed, you need a new wardrobe.”
“Yeah, no offense, but if you want to get fucked, you need to dress a little sluttier than that.” I look down and my button down and jeans, with doc martens. It’s a style I’ve been rocking since grade 10.
“What’s wrong with my wardrobe?” I ask as Emma drags me along.
“You look like a lesbian.” Sasha laughs, “So all the guys think you’re a lesbian.” As we exit school and head towards the car, some guys catcall Sasha and Emma, but not me. I guess they’re right, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
I drive the car into the driveway, and throw it into park. I pause for a moment, collecting my thoughts before taking the keys out of the ignition. I step out of the car and open the rear door, helping Jake unbuckle, and pick him up out of the car. Mom helps Sara out and we all run inside. The front door swings open, and we all rush inside. I put Jake on the ground and slam the door shut, locking it behind us. Simon walks out from around the corner.
“The hell is going on!?” He asks, we all just look at him, “Why are they here?” He points to mom and Mark.
“Oh fuck you Simon.” Mark steps forward, mom stops him.
“There’s… something going on…” I start tearing up, “Dad died, and… and… he… came back, and he attacked Mark.”
“I’ve seen it on the news, I don’t… fuck… just…” Simon puts his hands on his head. Mark rubs the bandage in his arm, wincing in pain.
“I don’t know how long until this gets under control but the radio said to stay inside unless absolutely necessary.” I walk into the living room, and stare out the window. I see those monsters roam the street. They walk aimlessly, I close the blinds.
“What are we going to do?” Mark stumbles into the room.
“I don’t know… maybe we can ride it out.” I sit down on the couch, and cover my face. Jake shyly walks over and sits down beside me, putting his head on my shoulder.
“I’m scared mom.” He whispers.
“I know honey.” I run my fingers through his hair, “I am too, but we’re going to be ok.” I look over at Mark, he’s starting to sweat a lot. He notices me staring.
“I-I’m fine, just hurts a lot.” He forces a smile. I stand out and extend an arm out to him.
“You should rest, you can use the spare bedroom downstairs.”
“Ok… thank you.” He grabs my hand and I help him stand up. We walk towards the stairs, and I put his arm over my shoulder, and help him walk down the stairs. I open the door to the spare bedroom, and lay him down on the bed. He groans as he adjusts his position on the bed.
“If you need anything, let me know, ok?” I put the blanket over him.
“I will… thank you, Elsie.” He breathes heavily as I close the door, and walk back up the stairs.
I sit back down on the couch, and turn the tv on, and flip through channels. There’s nothing good, no good news, no hope.
“-protect yours-”
“-reanimatin-”
“-ay indoor-”
“-estroy the brain.” This channel catches my attention, “That’s the only way to take them down, nothing else seems to phase the resurrected. Unconfirmed reports state that bites… are lethal… if anyone you know is bit you mus-” My stomach drops.
“No…” I cover my mouth with my hand.
“Is Uncle Mark going to…?” Jake looks up at me.
“I…” I stand up, “God…” Tears form in my eyes. I look over at mom, she’s thinking exactly what I am. She starts crying. I walk out of the living room, and open the door to the backyard. I stand out on the porch, listening to the sounds. Cars, groans, gunshots. I breathe in the air, closing my eyes.
“You ok babe?” Simon puts his hands on my hips.
“Fuck…” I sigh and put my forehead on the rails, “On the tv… someone said that bites are apparently deadly…” I start crying harder, it hurts saying it out loud.
“What…?” He steps away, “So that means…”
“NO!” I shout before going back to a whisper, “We don’t know if it’s true.”
“But what if it is?” He covers his face with his hands, “We can’t take that risk, especially with the kids in the house.”
“You think I don’t know that!?” I step closer, “But we can’t just murder him.”
“It wouldn’t be murder, it would be a-a… a mercy killing.”
“I can’t believe you just said that.” I brush shoulders as I go back inside, “Stay away from him, we’ll figure out what to do in the morning.” Simon grunts and turns around, putting his hands on the rails.
Uncertainty
I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep last night. From the fear of what’s going on, to what might happen to Mark. I look over at the bedside clock, 6:43AM. I sigh as I sit up on the end of the bed, and slide my hair out of my face. After a moment, I finally decide to stand up. I walk over to the dresser, get some clothes, and go to shower. I don’t really wash though, I just stand in the hot water, staring into the wall. After a while I get out and wrap a towel around my body. After I get out, I wipe steam off the mirror, and stare into my eyes, inspecting, studying.
“God fucking damn it…” I break down, crouching down, tears flowing down my face. I lay down on the cold bathroom floor, quietly sobbing. I don’t even know how long I’m there for, could be a year for all I know. I finally collect myself, standing up, staring into the mirror again. My eyes are red from tears. I wipe them out of my eyes, and tie my hair back. After drying off and putting my clothes on, I walk out from the bathroom, and hear scratching at the front door. I creep down the hall, and peek around the corners, Mark is there, holding himself up on the wall.
“Mark…?” I come out, “Are you…?” His breathing is laboured, shallow.
“I… no… I’m not ok.” He groans, his face pale and drenched in sweat.
“What are you doing…?” I step closer slowly.
“I’m… I’m leaving so I… so I don’t put you and the kids in danger.”
“But you’ll never make it to the end of the block…” I step even closer, “...and we don’t know what’ll happen to you…”
“I know… but…” He looks out the door’s peephole, “Way I see it, I’m damned if I do… damned if I don’t.”
“We don’t know-”
“I do know.” He looks back at me, hand on the doorknob, “Tell the kids that… that I went to go find help.” I pull him into a hug.
“I will… just…” I start sobbing again, “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be… it isn’t your fault.” I can hear him struggling to breathe, he pulls away and grabs the doorknob again, looking back at me, tears in his eyes, “Goodbye… Elsie… I love you.”
“I love you, Mark.” He opens the door and steps out.
“Stay strong, for Jake and Sara.” The door quietly shuts, and I lock it behind him, looking out the peephole. He stumbles down the stairs, falling but catching himself. As he stands back up, he turns around for a moment, before turning back, and walking out into the street. He picks a direction, and goes, I lose sight of him shortly after.
The music is loud, almost deafening, Sasha and Emma are basically eating the faces of some random guys they met probably 5 minutes ago. I just sit there awkwardly, holding my cup with both hands. I feel weird in this outfit. It’s black, form fitting (not that there’s much form to fit), and very revealing. The skirt practically shows off my entire ass, and the top shows some sideboob. I don’t think my body is unattractive by any means, but I definitely don’t have as much… assets, as some of the other girls my age do. I stand up and start nervously walking around, taking a sip. It tastes like ass, but if it’ll make me feel less, I’m all for it. I want to go home, but I know Sasha and Emma won’t let me hear the end of it. I walk into the backyard and stand at the edge of the pool, looking at my reflection. It’s distorted by the people swimming in the water, but through it I see up my skirt, why did I let them talk me into buying this!? I pull the skirt down a bit to hide it a little better, then I continue walking around the edge of the pool and sit down on the edge of a sunchair. I bounce my leg anxiously as I just watch people dance, drink, makeout. I don't know if I envy them, or feel bad for them… maybe a bit of both.
“Hey.” A voice says from behind me. I turn around, and above me stand a tall muscular guy. He’s attractive, but… he looks a little old to be here.
“Hi…” I nervously respond. He sits down beside me, I shuffle away slightly.
“What’s up?” He puts a hand on my thigh.
“I… I don’t know…” I stare down into my drink.
“I’ve noticed you walking around, do you want to be here?” He asks.
“Not really… but my friend wouldn’t want me to go.”
“How about we get out of here?” He smiles at me, “We can go do something you’ll enjoy.” He stands up and extends a hand out, I grab it.
“Ok…” He helps me up.
“What’s your name?”
“E…Elsie…”
“Nice to meet you, Elsie.” He pulls me in, my eyes widen, “I’m Simon.”
Sara comes into the kitchen, she sees me sitting at the kitchen table, my face in my hands.
“Mom?” She whispers, I quickly collect myself.
“Yeah hun?”
“Are you ok?” She sits down across from me.
“Yeah just… figuring things out.”
“Uncle Mark died, didn’t he?”
“No… he just… he went to go find help.” I look up at her.
“So he is…”
“He didn’t want to put us in danger.” I look out the window, “I’m sorry.” She starts to cry, I quickly stand up to go comfort her. I hug her tightly, run my fingers through her hair.
“I’m scared mom.” She sniffles, “Why is this happening?”
“I wish I knew, baby.” I kiss her on the top of her head, “I’ll get you some breakfast.”
“Can I have eggs?” She asks, a smile on her face.
“Of course.” I flash her a smile as I crouch down to grab a pan, “Sunny side up, just the way you like it.” I put bread into the toaster and grab the carton of eggs. The eggs sizzle as it’s dropped down onto the hot pan, the smell fills the kitchen. They’re quickly done cooking as I slide them onto a plate I placed beside the stove. I pull out the toast and place it down onto the plate right beside the eggs. I bring the plate over to where Sara is sitting, she has a huge smile on her face.
“Thank you mom.”
“Of course, want a drink?” I put my hand on her shoulder.
“Do we have any orange juice left?” She looks up at me with her large eyes.
“I believe we still have a bit.” I walk over to the fridge and open it up, scanning. I pull out the carton, shaking it playfully before grabbing a glass from the cupboard.
I stare out the kitchen window, looking into the backyard. On the deck, Simon leans against the railing, smoking a cigarette. Sara and Jake are playing in the living room. Mom comes up behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder.
“We’re going to be ok Elsie.” She has that sweet look on her face. I want to believe her.
“Mark… he…”
“It wasn’t your fault.” She whispers, “He went out on his own terms, he was always stubborn like that.” She chuckles softly, I can’t help but chuckle too.
“He really was.” I close my eyes and sigh, “But we will live on, for him.”
“We will.” She kisses the side of my head and slowly walks away, “We will.” I walk out towards the backdoor, and slide it open. Simon looks back at me.
“I’m sorry… for last night.” He says, smoke coming out of his mouth, “I wanted all of us to be safe, none of us know what’s going on.”
“I know, it’s just…” I walk up beside him, leaning on the rail too. He offers his cigarette to me, I take it, “He was my brother, I couldn’t let that happen to him, from me or you, but he did it on his own, he walked out the front door without my help.” I put the cigarette in my mouth, and breathe in the smoke, holding it in for a while.
“I regret what I said” He looks over at me as I exhale, and offer the cigarette back, “I’m doing my best to keep up appearances for the kids but… I’m terrified.”
“Me too.” I look up into the sky, the moon’s dim light shines down on us, “I don’t know how long we’ll be able to ride this out for.”
“Will there even be an end?” He puts out the cigarette in his ashtray and tosses the butt into the grass, “Or is this how things are now?”
“People are working on stopping this I’m sure.” Far in the distance, I can hear the screams of someone. I don’t know what’s happening to them, but it can’t be pretty.
“Fuck, I hope you’re right.” He kisses me as he walks back inside, but I stay outside for a while longer.
Fin des temps
It’s been about two weeks now since everything happened. We’ve managed to keep morale up, but I don’t know how long we can keep it up for. The power went out four days ago. Simon managed to hook up a generator we used to bring camping. We have to keep most things turned off, but it works. Fuel is the main issue though. Simon has gone on a few runs to the nearby Co-op to get more fuel and other supplies. He says he had some close calls, but hasn't gotten any injuries. He uses a hammer to take out the monsters, says it’s efficient. There have been a few times the monsters came right up to the door, scratching at it. A few go away, but most don’t, and we have to take them out. I’ve done my fair share of… is it killing them if they’re already dead? I don’t know. Whatever the proper term is, I’ve taken a few out. I haven’t seen Mark, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not though. I know he’s dead, but… is he one of them? I can tell mom isn’t doing good. Losing both dad and Mark, a day apart. I’m barely keeping it together myself, I don’t know how she’s managing. Jake’s been taking things surprisingly well, he’s naive, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. Right now his biggest concern is that he can’t play on his Wii anymore. Sara has done her best to be there for Jake, I think she knows that he needs someone with him, he can’t be alone through this. I feel like we’re all just delaying the inevitable. Sooner or later, a group of monsters, or other people will find us. I don’t know what we’ll do then. We won’t be able to fight them off, we’d have to flee, but… then what? We have nowhere else to go. Fuck, I’m so scared. I want things to go back to normal, back to the way things were.
I watch out the front window, kitchen knife in my hand, awaiting Simon’s return. I grip the handle tightly. Monsters roam the streets, the amount of them seems to be growing. A car speeds down the road, I quickly close the curtain as it passes, engine roaring. Monsters turn to follow it. I exhale sharply as I open the curtain up more.
“There’s more than usual.” Mom walks up beside me, “Is Simon going to be ok?”
“He’ll be fine, he’s strong, smart.” I smile, hiding my worry, “He’ll be back any minute now.” I hear scratching at the patio door.
“Again?” Mom groans.
“Fuck me.” I walk towards the back door. Outside is a monster, scratching at the glass, groaning, eyes locked on me. No… I know her. Marry, she babysat Sara for us a few times. God damn it. I slide the door open, she reaches at me, but I push her back. I step outside onto the porch as Marry catches herself, coming at me some more. I reach my arm out to keep her at a distance. Her arm hits me in the face.
“I’m sorry.” I whisper and I drive the knife into the side of her head, she stops moving. Blood rushes out and I pull the knife out, she collapses to the ground. I put my hands on my knees to catch my breath. The knife clatters as I place it down onto the wood of the patio. Her wrists are cold, I hate how it feels. I pull as hard as I can, open the gate out to the alley, dragging her along the ground. I drop her to the ground, and move my hair out from in front of my face. Mom meets me at the door as I walk in, blood on my face.
“Are you ok?” She asks.
“Yeah… just… I hate doing that.” I wipe a tear from my eye. She hands me a rag, I wipe it on my face, doing my best to clean off the blood.
“I’m sorry you have to do this.” She pulls me into a hug, it’s warm.
“I noticed something.” I say with a sigh.
“What is it?”
“The monster, she wasn’t bitten.” I pull out from the hug, “Or at least not that I could see.”
“Do you think it’s possible that…?”
“Maybe it isn’t the bites that do it, maybe…” I put my hand on my forehead, “No, can’t be, it must’ve been somewhere I couldn’t see.”
“You might be right, it wouldn’t make any sense otherwise.”
Simon and I go into the bathroom of a Tim Horton’s, he locks the door behind us. I can feel my breathing get heavier as he pulls me in, kissing my neck. I moan softly as he starts thrusting into me. I wrap my legs around him as he pushes me against the wall. I put a hand on his shoulder, and the other on the back of his head, gripping his short hair softly.
“F-fuck Simon…” I manage to say through the euphoria, then I hear my phone ring, “Fuck… Sim-Simon stop… my phone.”
“Damn it.” He says as he pulls out and backs away. I crouch down and dig through my pocket, grabbing my phone, it’s Mark.
“Hello?” I say in my best “I totally wasn’t just having sex” voice.
“Elsie, you gotta get home, dad’s pissed!” Mark explains frantically.
“Why?” I ask as I move my hair out of my face, “What happened?”
“Well that depends, are you out with Simon again?” I pause for a bit.
“No…” There’s silence for a bit.
“So I take it that’s why he’s pissed then?” Mark chuckles.
“I don’t understand why he gets so pressed about it.” I complain, “I’m allowed to have a boyfriend!”
“Yeah well I don’t think they want you to date someone almost a decade older than you.”
“Fuck, just… can you buy me time?” I ask. Mark just sighs.
“I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you!” I smile, “You’re the best! Bye!”
“Buh-bye.” The line goes dead. I put my phone back in my pocket, and stand back up. Simon pulls me back in and we kiss.
Some time passes, and Simon finally comes back, a full jerry can in his hand. I quietly closes the door, locking it. I can tell he’s stressed, maybe something happened.
“Are you ok? What happened?” I quickly walk up to him, looking him over.
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” He takes off his hat, and places the fuel on the ground, “There were some other survivors, they shot at me, but I managed to get away.”
“Are you hurt!? Did they follow you!?”
“No, no honey, they were terrible shots.” He laughs. I pull him into a hug, holding him as tight as I can. He puts his hand on the back of my head.
“You were gone longer than you usually were, I was so worried, I thought that-”
“Hey, hey, look at me.” He pulls out of the hug, and looking deep into my eyes, “I made it, we’re ok, I’m ok.”
“DADDY!” Jake shouts, running up to him, giving him a hug.
“You have to be quiet, bud, the monsters will come if they hear you.” He takes off his backpack, “I got some goodies while I was out too.” He hands it to me, I grab it. It thuds down onto the kitchen table. I unzip it and open it up, peeking inside. Inside there’s a lot of canned goods, and some bottled water.
“This is really good, this is perfect!” I smile, looking over at Simon.
“All that will buy us lots of time.” He walks closer to me and sighs, “But I don’t think I’ll be able to go back there.”
“Why not?” I tilt my head.
“It was picked pretty clean, what I grabbed was basically the last of the food there.” He puts his hands on his hips, “We might be able to get fuel from there, but other supplies… I’ll need to scavenge somewhere else.” Fuck, this isn’t good. We don’t know what else, or who else, is out there. The situation in the rest of the city could be worse than it was here. The TV uses too much power, and we don’t have a radio, so we have no idea what’s going on everywhere else. Not just in Edmonton, but Alberta, Canada, the whole world. Some places could be better than here, worse, or some places might not even be affected at all.
“God damn it.” I mutter under my breath, “It could be dangerous for you.”
“I know, but… I have to, we’ll starve.”
“I know, just…” I pace around the kitchen, “Maybe we wait before we come to a concrete decision, give it a day or two.”
“I don’t know if we can Elsie. I don’t know how long we can wait.” He sounds angry, “The next closest store could be completely looted by the time I get there if we wait.”
“Fuck, I know!” I quietly yell, both so the monsters don’t hear us, but Jake and Sara too, “But I don’t want you to die out there, especially since some people shot at you today!”
“They’ll be long gone!” He steps closer to me, “We can’t just wait here, we have to get as many supplies as we can!” I take a step back, leaning against the counter.
“We will talk about this tomorrow.”
“Elsie! We need to-”
“Mom? Dad?” I look over, and see Jake standing in the doorway, “Why are you fighting?” Simon takes a step back from me, and walks up to him.
“We aren’t just…” I catch my breath.
“We’re discussing our plans for what to do, just in case things go wrong.” Simon kneels down.
“Can I help?” He flashes that goofy smile.
“We already finished talking, we have a plan.” I say, fighting tears.
“Aw… next time?”
“Next time.” Jake turns around and walks away, Simon following closely behind. I glare at Simon as he walks away.
In the Dead of Night
I stare at the ceiling, the house is silent, but I hear the activity of monsters roaming the street. Simon is softly snoring beside me, I shift my body to be a little further from him. I mull over things, what’s happened already, what might happen. I can’t shake this sinking feeling. Like things will inevitably go wrong, any minute now. I don’t know what will happen or when, but… god fucking damn it, I just want us to be safe, I want us to be able to survive here, but I don’t know how long we can. Why hasn’t the military come to help us? Or anyone? Is there even a military left anymore? I close my eyes again, trying to finally sleep. I haven’t had a decent amount of sleep since all this happened. I feel myself slowly start to drift off, everything feeling lighter. Suddenly I hear a loud crash, a window shattering. I shoot up and immediately grab my knife sitting on my nightstand and stand up. I see Simon doing the same as I run towards the bedroom door. I throw it open and run down the hall, opening the door to my kid’s rooms. The windows aren’t broken in either one.
“Mom?” Sara sits up in her bed, “What’s going on?”
“Stay here, a window broke, something might be inside.” I turn around and run back down the hall, and into the living room. The window near the TV shattered, and a monster got through. I run up to it, keeping it at arm’s length as I plunge the knife into its skull. I cry out as I pull it out, the monster collapses to the carpet floor, blood pouring out. Mom runs out, standing behind me.
“How can I help?” She shouts.
“Fuck… get a bag and grab as much stuff as you can, we can’t stay!” I yell frantically, “SIMON!” I hear his footsteps running as mom goes to pack. I kill another one as he reaches me.
“Yeah!?” He says, out of breath.
“Get the kids, we have to leave!” I push a monster back, another lunges at me, grabbing my arm, “Fuck…” I push its head away, grunting with the effort. Simon runs up and hits the monster over its head, breaking it open. It lets go, and Simon puts his hand on my shoulder.
“Try to keep away from them!”
“I know what I’m doing!” I snap as we back up. I knock over a bookshelf to try and slow them down.
“I’ll grab the kids, get ready to leave.” Simon runs down the hall.
“MOM! YOU ALMOST READY!?”
“ALMOST, JUST GETTING A FEW MORE THINGS!” A monster falls over the bookshelf, and I drive the knife down on it as it hits the ground. Another falls, I stomp my boot down on it, caving its skull in. Simon comes out with the kids, both of them crying.
“LETS GO, MY CAR IS PARKED IN THE ALLEY!” He screams, pointing to the back door.
“My mom is getting stuff from the kitchen!” I start walking towards it, “We aren’t leaving without her.” He looks around.
“Fuck… take the kids!” He steps them down, “I’ll get her out.” He runs towards the kitchen as I pick up Jake and lead Sara towards the backdoor. I slide the glassdoor open, looking back, monsters are starting to make it past the barricade.
“God damn it…” I mutter under my breath as we walk down the patio steps. I hear Simon shouting inside, but I can’t understand what he’s saying. We run into the alley, towards Simon’s car, a red Nissan Rogue. I help the kids in and slam the door shut, taking my seat behind the steering wheel. I put my knife on the dashboard and put the key in the ignition, but don’t turn the engine on yet.
“Where’s dad?” Jake says through his tears, “And grandma?”
“Th-they’re… they’re coming… they’ll be here soon.” I watch towards the house, the seconds feel like hours. I reach my hand back and put my hand on Jake’s knee, then move it over to Sara’s. Simon finally runs out of the backyard, holding a backpack… alone. He throws the door open and sits down.
“Where is she!?” I look at him, he just looks forward, “Simon!” He finally looks over at me.
“She… I’m sorry.” He reaches a hand out to me, rubbing my arm.
“No…” I put my head on the steering wheel, “FUCK!” Tears flow down my face as I turn the engine on. I start driving forwards, out the alley, and onto a road. I adjust the rearview mirror to look at Jake and Sara. They’re holding each other, crying. I wish I could hold them too, but we can’t stay.
“HE’S 26!?” Mom shouts at me, tears flow down my face like a river, “Do you have any idea how god damn irresponsible that is!?” I pace around the living room, not sure if I want to run away or scream.
“I LOVE HIM MOM, OK!? I shout.
“YOU ARE 17, YOU’RE STILL IN HIGHSCHOOL!” I put my face in my hands, “DO HIS PARENT’S KNOW ABOUT THIS!? I DOUBT THEY’RE PLEASED!”
“UGH!” I groan as I brush past her, opening the front door and slamming it behind me. I walk for a while, it’s September, so it isn’t exactly warm out. Cars rush by, wind blows, I cry. Then, eventually I get to a bench, and sit down, curling myself into a ball. I don’t even know how long I lay there for when Mark approaches me.
“Elsie?” He says in a calm voice.
“Leave me alone.” I say, he doesn’t listen.
“Well we both know I can’t.” He chuckles as he sits down beside me.
“I just do-... why can’t she just leave it alone?” I ask.
“Because she cares about you, and I care about you too.” He puts a hand on my foot, “We want to make sure you’re safe.”
“But I am, I care about him, he cares about me, I just don’t understand.” I wipe a tear from my eyes, mascara gets wiped off onto my hand.
“Elsie, you know exactly what I’m about to say.”
“I know… I just don’t see why it’s such an issue.”
“Because when he graduated you were in grade 3.” He laughs, and despite my best efforts, I do too, “I got you.”
“I really hate you, you know that?” I look up at him.
“That’s a big fat lie and we both know it.” He says, I kick his leg, “Hey, watch it, I just did my laundry.”
“When do you think I’ll be able to go back?” I ask, Mark exhales.
“She was PISSED when I left, so I’d at least wait until she goes to bed.
“That won’t be for like two more hours!” I sit up, and groan.
“Yeah…” He looks over at me, “C’mon, I’ll get you some Tim’s.” I couldn’t ask for a better younger brother, even though he does get on my nerves sometimes.
We drive through the neighborhoods, swerving in between abandoned cars and monsters roaming the streets.
“It feels weird not stopping at stop signs.” I chuckle, trying to make the best out of this shit situation.
“Elsie… are you ok?” Simon puts a hand on my thigh, “I mean… given what just happened.”
“Not really, but…” I sigh, “We just need to find somewhere to lie down for the night.”
“Where!?” Simon waves his hands in the air, “No matter where we go, it won’t be safe.”
“There has to be something out there, a building we can sleep in for the night, then maybe find something more permanent.”
“We have to keep moving.” He looks over at me, “We can’t stay in one place for too long, they’ll find us again.”
“We can fortify, defend.”
“How!?” He laughs, “Neither of us know how to build walls or defenses.”
“We will figure it out.” I look back forward, we’re leaving the city, “We just have to try.” Simon turns his head away from me, staring out the window. It looks weird without all the lights glowing in all the buildings. It feels off, uncanny.
“I… I tried to save her.” I look over at Simon, “We were on our way out, but… they grabbed her… there was nothing I could do.” I feel the tears forming in my eyes again.
“I know, just…” I wipe tears from my eyes, and grip the steering wheel tighter, “...that’s the way the world is now.” I pull the car into a gas station, it's dark, but there aren’t any monsters outside, so that’s a good sign.
“You want me to check inside?” Simon asks as I throw the vehicle into park.
“No, I got it.” I grab the knife off the dashboard, “Stay here and watch the kids, I’ll be quick.” Simon quickly opens the glove box.
“I think I got… there we are!” He rummages around before pulling out a flashlight, “Should make it a little easier to see in there.” I grab it from his hand and inspect it.
“Thank you, honey.” I kiss him then open the door.
“Love you.” He smiles.
“Love you too.” I step out and close the door. A cool night breeze hits me as I start to walk towards the door, the flashlight clicks as I turn it on, illuminating the building. I can see through the glass, I don’t see any monsters, or any people, inside. I grab the door handle and pull on it, locked.
“Fuck.” I mutter under my breath. Nothing is ever easy. I walk around the side of the building, slowly creeping. I grip my knife tightly and shine the light around the corner. A monster snarls at me and starts to walk towards me. I quickly drive the knife into his head, and toss him to the side. I whip the blade to get some of the blood off and keep walking. I come to a rear door and, surprise surprise, locked. I sigh and walk back around to the front, looking around for something to smash the window. My light shines down on a large rock. I pick it up, it’s cold to the touch. I grip it tightly and chuck it towards the glass door. The glass shatters, I reach my arm though and unlock the door. I open it up, expecting that chime that always plays at gas stations, but… an eerie silence. I step inside, glass snaps under my feet. I search the whole building, there’s still some supplies we could use. We’ll throw it in the car in the morning, figure out what will be the most useful. I open the door to the back room, around a corner, laying on the floor is a body, a gun in her hand, dried blood beside her head. I gag from the smell, almost throwing up, but I manage to keep it down. I pick up her gun and take out the magazine, there’s some bullets left, so I put it in the back of my pants, a makeshift holster. I grab the woman’s body by her legs and drag her towards the back door, swinging it open, and dropping her down onto the ground. I walk back inside and take a deep breath before searching the rest, it’s all clear. As I exit the building, I see Simon standing outside the car, leaning against the side, watching towards the building. I wave him down and he runs to the driver’s seat and hops in, turning on the engine. He drives up right in front of the door, and rolls down the window.
“Is it safe?” He asks.
“There’s no monsters inside, won’t be comfortable, but it’ll work for the night.” I pull out the pistol, “Found this too, someone used it to… I guess they couldn’t handle it.”
“Fuck…” He rubs his chin.
“I dragged her outside, the kids won’t see it.” I open the door, and pick up Jake, he groans, half asleep, “C’mon bud, we found a place to sleep.”
“How long will we be here?” He says in a groggy voice.
“Just for tonight, we’ll find somewhere more comfortable tomorrow.”
“Ok…” He is barely awake as I carry him inside. We walk into the backroom, I sit him down on a chair, Simon places Sara on a chair near him as well.
“We can find some jackets or blankets for them to sleep on.” Simon says as he opens some of the lockers. I wander around the store, picking up anything that could work. There’s a bunch of jackets in the office behind the registers, perfect. I return to the back and start setting up beds, rolling up jackets for pillows, table cloth for blankets, and whatever else we could find for the actual bed. We tuck the kids in, and I sit near them.
“I’ll be on watch.” Simon says, “Give me the gun, just in case.” I take the pistol out, handing it to him.
“Get me when you want to sleep, I can be on watch too.”
“I will, thank you.”
“Of course.” I smile, “Thank you.” I run my fingers through Sara’s hair, then Jake’s.
“Mom?” Jake whispers.
“Yes, Jake?”
“When will we go back home?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t think we can.” I sigh, “It isn’t safe there anymore.��
“Oh…” He starts to cry.
“We’ll find somewhere better though, everything is going to be ok.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.” I chuckle, “Now get some sleep.” I turn off the flashlight, and close my eyes, trying to get some sleep myself, I need it, desperately.
From a combination of stress and cold concrete floor, I don’t get very much sleep. I fall asleep for maybe thirty minutes at a time, but I can’t stay asleep. So I might as well let Simon get some sleep. I grab my knife and stand up and creep towards the front of the store. As I step out into the front, I can see the sun starting to come over the horizon. It isn’t visible yet, just a slight bit of orange right before sunrise. Simon is standing behind the counter, pistol in hand, watching out the window.
“Hey.” I whisper as I approach. He looks over at me with surprise.
“What are you doing up?”
“I can’t sleep.” I groan, “Figured I’d let you sleep.”
“You sure.” He grabs my hand, “I don’t mind staying up.”
“I’m sure, you go get some rest.” I smile softly at him, he kisses me.
“Thank you.” He places the pistol on the counter for me, “See you in the morning hun.”
“Have a good sleep.” I chuckle, grabbing the pistol. He walks away, into the back of the store. I sigh and look out the window, the dim moon barely illuminates the prairie. I can see the hills, but that's about it. I wander around the store a little bit, just looking, remembering. When I was younger, me, Mark, mom, dad, we always stopped here when we went camping in Devon Lions. We would get snacks, bugspray, sunscreen, propane, everything we needed. I remember Mark would always beg mom to get those shitty gas station sandwiches. They were always terrible, but, god damn, I’d give anything to have just one more. I chuckle as I remember that metallic taste they always had. I miss those times, simpler times, happier times. Not times like this. This isn’t the world I want for my kids. I want them to have the life that I did, but… I don’t know if that’s possible anymore. I don’t know if…
“What the fuck…?” I whisper to myself. Outside the store, I see a person looking through the trunk of our car. I ready my pistol and walk towards the door. I quietly open it and step outside, and walk around to the trunk of the car.
“Who the hell are you!?” I shout, pointing the pistol at the man.
“MIERDA!” He jumps back, “I did not know this car belonged to anyone.” He chuckles. The man is wearing camo, and has a rifle over his shoulder.
“Well it’s ours, now leave.” I command.
“My apologies, la amiga.” He puts his hands up, and has a big smile on his face, “Do you all live here?”
“How do you know it isn’t just me?”
“You said ‘ours’, kind of a dead giveaway.” He chuckles, “But do not worry, for I am not here to hurt anyone.”
“How can I know you’re telling the truth?” I say, not lowering the pistol.
“I mean… I guess you just have to trust me.” He scratches his bearded chin, “Look at it this way, my abuelo used to take me hunting all the time, he taught me all about outdoor survival.”
“So?”
“So… I can be of great use to you.” He strikes a pose, “You have a very… suburban look to you, so you need someone who knows how to hunt, make camp, that kind of thing, am I wrong?”
“I guess you’re right.” I slowly lower the pistol.
“Do we have a deal?”
“Maybe, I’ll talk to my husband in the morning, see what he thinks.” I pause for a bit, “What’s your name?”
“Dios mío, where are my manners?” He puts his hand on his forehead, “My name is Hugo, at your service.” He bows, this guy is very theatrical.
“I’m Elsie.” I nervously smile
“Pleasure to meet you Elsie.” He shakes my hand before I have time to pull away, “You will not regret this.” He closes the trunk, and we walk into the store. He grabs a snack off the shelf, sets his rifle down and sits on the ground. I’m scared of what Simon is going to say about him. He does seem to know what he’s doing, especially if he’s been able to make it on his own the past couple weeks. So he could be useful for us, since he claims to know how to make shelter. Having a hunter doesn’t seem bad either, there’s lots of deer and other animals all around, so hopefully we’ll never run out of food. Maybe he could be an ally, maybe even a friend. Time will tell I suppose.
Trust
I struggle to stay awake, but my hand doesn’t leave my pistol as I watch Hugo. He leans against a counter, looking out the window. I mean, he doesn’t look threatening, he seems very bubbly. But I need to be careful, if for whatever reason, he kills me, then… they’d be defenseless. I look to my right, and see a monster stumbling in the parking lot. I put the pistol in the back of my pants and grab my knife.
“I got it.” I say, walking towards the door.
“You sure?” Hugo walks towards the door too.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” I push the door open and step out. The wind blows my hair into my face, I quickly brush it out. As I approach, I see that there’s actually two monsters. Shouldn’t be an issue though, I think. I step into a readied stance as they get closer, grunting as I quickly jab at the first one as it reaches out to me. I struggle to get the knife out. The monster snarls as it reaches for my arm, and I softly scream as I jump back, my knife still in the monster’s skull.
“God damn it.” I mutter under my breath. The monster gets closer, I put my hands on its shoulders to keep it away. I strain as I use all my strength to keep it away. The monster’s face gets closer to mine. Suddenly, a knife gets slammed into the skull of the monster. I push it away and take a step back, putting my hands on my knees to catch my breath.
“Thank you…” I say shakily. Hugo takes my knife out of the other monster’s head.
“Of course, friend.” He smiles warmly and hands the knife to me. I grab it and wipe the blood off on my pant leg.
“Is that what we are now?” I chuckle.
“Well, you haven’t tried to kill me, so I’d say we’re best friends.” We start walking back towards the store.
“I suppose that’s fair.” I look over at him, he adjusts his rifle, and slides his knife into his pocket, “Friendship is in short supply these days.”
“Most people I’ve encountered have a ‘shoot on sight’ policy.” He sighs, “I personally prefer to try and talk before shooting.”
“Have you killed anyone?” I ask as we step back inside.
“No, I aim for non-deadly areas.” He sets his rifle down on the ground in front of the counter, “The majority of people are smart enough to run away once they get shot at.” I nod.
“That seems reasonable.” I feel easier.
“You and your family, you from Edmonton?”
“Yeah, I was born there, married there, I liked it.” I sigh, “Where are you from?”
“Well, I was born in San Juanito, down in México, but we moved up to Canada shortly after that, grew up in Fort McMurray.”
“Damn, and you walked all the way from there?”
“Yeah, legs burn like a mother fucker.” He laughs.
“Was it bad up there?” I ask. Hugo's expression changes.
“It was pretty bad.” He looks out the window, “Smaller population than here, but it was still bad. Lots of people died, my parents didn’t make it out. I barely made it out myself.”
“I’m sorry.” I put my hand on his shoulder, “I’ve lost people too, but we have to do our best to make the best out of this.”
“I know… I’ll live on, for them.”
“That’s good.” I smile, “And that’s all any of us can really do now.”
“What’s your family’s goal?” He asks, “Gonna be nomadic? Live off the land?”
“My husband and I talked about maybe finding a place we can settle down, reinforce, a place where we can live.”
“That sounds really nice.”
“I’m sure you will be able to join us.” I take a sip from a water bottle, “My husband can be a little… intense sometimes. But he’ll come around, don’t let him scare you.” Hugo laughs.
“Thank you, I’ll do my best.”
I walk through the halls at school, wandering while I wait for it to be time to go to my next class. I put my hand to my stomach as I’m randomly hit with the urge to vomit. I try to fight it off, but it's unavoidable. The sound of my footsteps echoes through the halls as I damn near sprint towards the nearest bathroom. I throw the door open to the first stall, lock it, throw the seat up, barely making it in time. I cough and gag as my breakfast comes out. Once it finally stops, I grab some toilet paper and wipe my mouth, then check to make sure I didn’t get any in my hair. After spitting the residue out of my mouth and into the toilet before flushing. God damn, what the hell was that…
“No… no, no no nonononono.” I put my hands on my head as the realization hits me. I run out of the stall, and out of the school, pulling out my phone and calling Simon. It rings for a while before he finally picks up.
“Hey bab-”
“SIMON I’M FUCKING LATE!” I shout as I sprint as fast as I can to the nearest convenience store.
“Late? Late for what?” He asks.
“No, no, I’m late late.”
“Fuck…” He pauses, “...are you sure?”
“I don’t know… I’m going to 7/11 to get a test.” It’s hard, but I keep running, each step is painful, and my lungs sting.
“What will we do if-”
“I… I don’t fucking know, just… let’s see what it says first.”
“Call me as soon as you know.” He says.
“Ok… I will… love you.”
“Love you too.” He hangs up, and I open the door to the 7/11.
The sun gets higher, I can see more of the prairie. The endless ocean of grass and hills. Far in the distance I can see a few monsters, roaming, going away from the city. I suppose I should wake up Simon so we can get ready to leave. I open the door to the back, it creaks softly. Simon is sitting on the ground, arms crossed, asleep. I nudge him on the shoulder softly.
“Hmm.” he groans, “What’s up?”
“We should get ready to head out, pack whatever we can into the car.”
“Fuck…” He stretches, “What time is it?”
“8? I don’t know.” As he stands up, I stop him, “Before we go out, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?” He looks at me, concerned, “What happened?”
“I found someone, his name is Hugo.”
“What!?” He yells, but in a whisper.
“He isn’t a threat, he can be a huge help to us.” I frantically say, he pushes past me, and walks towards the front of the store. I quickly follow behind him. As we step out, he scans the room, and sees Hugo.
“What the hell do you want!?” Hugo turns around, raising his hands.
“Hey, I’m not a threat, I just-”
“Bullshit.” Simon grabs the collar of Hugo’s hunting jacket, “What are you scheming!?”
“Nothing estúpido.”
“Simon fucking stop!” I pull Simon back and get between them, “He saved my life.” Simon grunts angrily.
“How could you just let him in here?” He pokes my chest, “What if he tried to kill you, or the kids!?”
“I stayed on alert, he helped me, he can be trusted.”
“Fuck.” Simon turns around and takes a few steps back, “He can stay, but he does one sketchy thing, I’m throwing him out.”
“Thank you.” Hugo says graciously.
“Shut up.”
“Wow, ok.” Hugo scoffs as Simon walks away, “What a charmer.”
“I warned you.” I chuckle, “Sorry.”
“It’s ok, he’ll warm up to my wonderful personality soon enough.”
“Let’s get packing, pick up whatever could be useful and throw it in the car.”
“Yes ma'am.” Hugo salutes and starts browsing the aisles. I follow suit. On one of the shelves, I see a few jerry cans. We could maybe put some gas in them, just in case we drive far. I don’t know how to get the pumps to dispense gas, Simon might though. I walk into the back, and see him leaning against a wall.
“What?” He says grumpily.
“I found some jerry cans, do you know how to make the pumps work?”
“Yeah.” He walks forward a bit, “If these pumps are like the ones in town, I should be able to.”
“Perfect, thank you.”
“Yeah.” He sighs, “Just so you know, I’m not happy about him coming with us.”
“I know, but we need him.” I glare at him, “He has lots of survival skills, more than both of us have combined.”
“I know, just… we need to put our kid’s safety first.”
“I know and I am, that’s why I’m saying we need him.”
“Fuck…” He walks towards the store, and grabs the jerry cans.
I throw another pack of water bottles, and stretch my arms, grunting as I do. I look over towards the pumps and watch Simon filling up the jerry cans. Hugo comes out carrying some vehicle maintenance items, oil, transmission fluid, whatever we might need.
“I think we can fit a bit more stuff in here, we should get more food.” Hugo looks over at me, and puts his hands on his hips.
“Yeah there’s still plenty of room.” I start walking back inside, “Let’s go.” We walk back inside, and I scan the shelves.
“Mom?” Jake says, “Who’s that?” I look over and see Jake standing in the doorway, pointing towards Hugo.
“That’s my new friend, Hugo.”
“What’s up little man?” He waves. Jake shyly waves back.
“Is he nice?”
“He’s nice.” I laugh, “He’s a pretty cool guy I’d say.”
“Awesome!” Jake shouts excitedly. Sara follows closely behind, rubbing her eyes.
“What the…?” She stares at Hugo.
“That’s Hugo, he’s going to be coming with us.” I explain.
“Why?” She asks.
“He’ll be a huge help to us.”
“When are we leaving?”
“Soon, once we pack up.” Sara stumbles up to me, still half asleep, and hugs me tightly. I run my fingers through her hair, and she walks away to go to the bathroom. I sigh and look outside, Simon is putting the full jerry cans in the trunk. He walks back inside.
“We leave in ten, be ready.” I nod at him, and grab some last minute items, walking back outside and tossing them in the back of the car. Hugo throws a few more in as well, and I slam the trunk shut. I put my hands on my hips, brush my hair out of my face, and look back towards the city. I can see billows of smoke rising over the city. I don’t know what caused them, but what I do know is that we’re safer out here than in there. From the monsters to the people, the city is dangerous. I wonder if the people in the West Edmonton Mall are doing ok. Are they safe, or did they get overrun? Sara, Jake, and Simon walk outside.
“You ready?” He asks.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I walk towards the driver’s seat.
“Let’s get this show on the road.” Hugo walks towards the car.
“Sit up front with me.” I look over at Hugo, “Simon, you sit in the back with the kids.”
“Why do I have to?” He groans.
“Because I said so.” I open the back door and help Jake in. Simon and Sara get in from the other side. I sit down in the driver’s seat, and put the key in the ignition.
We drive down the road, nothing but prairie in every direction. I’m only going 50 km/h to do my best to conserve fuel. It feels really slow, but way faster than walking. There’s a few vehicle wrecks, a couple monsters roaming in the ditch, other than that, it’s uneventful.
“How you doing Jake?” I ask, looking at him through the rear-view mirror.
“I’m excited, it’s going to be like a vacation!” He says excitedly. Well at least one of us has optimism.
“Sara?”
“I guess I feel the same, but I’m nervous.”
“I know.” I look forward again, “We’ll be ok though, I promise.” Hugo fiddles with the radio, trying to see if anything is broadcasting. There’s nothing but static for a while, but then we hear something.
“-rumh-” A voice says.
“Go back to that one.” I say, Hugo goes back.
“-ettlem-... -tyr-... -eum.-...” The voice is hard to make out, there’s too much static.
“Could anyone understand what they said?” I ask.
“No.” Simon says.
“I think it’s too far away, we can’t get a clear signal.” Hugo looks out the window.
“Damn it.” I hit the steering wheel. We pass another wreck, but as we do, a monster walks out. We hit it, and I hear a huge bang, that can’t be good..
“FUCK!” I slam on the breaks.
“God damn it!” Simon shouts as the car stops.
“Is everyone ok?” I ask.
“Yeah.
“I’m ok!’
“What happened?”
“A monster walked out into the road.” I sigh and unbuckle my seatbelt. I step outside, the hood of the car is drenched in blood, good thing the car is red already. I look behind us, but I don’t see the monster. There’s a giant trail of blood and guts behind us though. I walk to the front of the car and crouch down. The monster reaches out at me, but it can’t move.
“Oh fuck me.” I groan. Hugo walks out, rifle in hand.
“Everything good?” he asks.
“Not really, the monster is stuck under the car, it’s still alive too.” Hugo crouches down beside me.
“I’ll grab the arms and yank it out, you put it down once it’s out.”
“Got it.” I walk back to the car and grab my knife.
“Ready?” He looks up at me.
“Ready.” Hugo strains as he pulls. I hear the snapping of bones and ligaments, it’s disgusting. The top half of the monster slides out, it groans and I quickly drive my knife into the top of its skull. Hugo wipes his hands on his pants.
“See? We’re a perfect team.” He cheers.
“I guess we are.” I laugh. Hugo drags the monster and tosses it into the ditch. I pop the hood and open it up. I don’t really know what I’m looking at, or looking for, never was much of a mechanic.
“That noise can’t be good, right?” I look over at Hugo, he scratches his chin.
“The radiator might be fucked.” He leans in closer to it.
“Can we fix it?”
“Maybe, not here though.” He looks around, then points, “There’s a farm right over there, the car should be able to make it.”
“God I hope so.” We get back into the car.
“Is everything ok?” Simon asks.
“Hugo says the radiator might be broken, but there’s a farm just down the road, we should be able to make it there, figure out what to do from there.” I explain, as I put the car back into drive.
“God damn it.” Simon groans, “If we can’t fix my car I’m gonna be pissed.” I step on the gas, the noise gets louder. We don’t have much of a choice, so we press on. I silently pray that the car doesn’t just explode or something, because that’s what it sounds like.
Drift Away
Against all odds, the car makes it to the farm. We drive along the dirt road, and park in front of the house. It’s a quaint little house. Not too big, not too small. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Maybe this is the place we’re looking for.
“Me and Simon will go check inside, Hugo, you wait out here, keep an eye out.” I explain as I unbuckle.
“Wait, you want him out here? With the kids!?” Simon objects.
“Yes, I trust him.” I look back, “Plus with his rifle, he can keep a better eye out.”
“You just met him last night and you’re trusting him with the safety of our children!?”
“If he wanted to do something bad, he would’ve done it by now.” I explain.
“Are you out of your damn mind!?”
“No, I just have a good eye for character.”
“Pfft, yeah, alright, we’ll see if that’s still true when you get one, or all, of us killed.” The three of us get out of the car. I pull my pistol out, and grip my knife tightly.
“Shout if you need help, I’ll rush in as fast as I can.” Hugo smiles at me.
“Thank you, you holler too if you need us.” We walk towards the front door, I aim my pistol as Simon slowly reaches for the door, and pushes it open. The door creaks, and I look in. I don’t see anything, so we step inside. The floorboards creak, and I feel my heart start to pound. The living room is open, and empty, same with the kitchen and dining room. We find our way to some stairs. One going down, the other going up.
“You check downstairs, I’ll go up?” I look back at Simon.
“Why?” He whispers, “Shouldn’t we stick together?”
“We’ll get done faster this way, it’ll be fine.”
“Fine just…” He sighs and grips his hammer tighter, “...if you need help, call for me and I’ll come running.”
“I will, don’t worry.” I reassure, he kisses me on the cheek. He sneaks down the stairs, and I quietly walk up. The carpet muffles my footsteps slightly. My eyes shift around, inspecting everything. I walk into the bathroom, I quickly look through the drawers and cabinets. There’s some medical supplies, which will be a huge help. I walk out, we can go through the rest later. I walk into a bedroom, and hear footsteps. To my right, a man charges at me, with a battlecry, he slams me into the wall. I cry out in pain as I tumble to the floor. I point my pistol up, but the man kicks it out of my hand. I grunt as I crawl backwards.
“We aren’t here to-” He punches me in the side of the head. I cry out, and roll sideways. I kick the man in the knee as hard as I can, he stumbles back and cries out in pain.
“Agh, you bitch.” I pick my knife up off the floor and quickly stand up, holding it at him. He pulls out a screw driver.
“SIMON!” I scream. The man charges at me again, I slash my knife at him. He sticks his hand up, and the knife cuts a deep hole through it. He grunts, then jabs the screwdriver at my left leg. I feel a sharp pain, and scream. He laughs softly, and I punch him in the face, and kick him away with my other leg. Simon runs up the stairs and enters the room, looking at me, then down at the man.
“What did you do!?” He shouts. I push my hand down around the screwdriver sticking out of my thigh. My breath is shaky, and I’m barely keeping it together.
“He… he came out of nowhere.” I mutter. The man tries to stand up, but Simon kicks him back down.
“You’re… you’re in MY HOME!” He yells.
“We would’ve… left if you… if you asked.” I try to stand up, but fall back down.
“No, we wouldn’t have.” Simon waves his hammer towards the man in a threatening manner, “We’re taking this place, especially now that you hurt my wife!”
“God…” He sits up with a grunt, “...I just wanted to die in peace.”
“What do you mean!?” Simon asks, demanding an answer. He groans in pain as he lifts up his shirt. There’s a bit on his lower abdomen, fuck…
“You’re…”
“Please… please kill me…” He starts to cry, “Please… don’t let me be one of them.” He breaks down. I try to stand up again, it’s excruciating, but I manage to stand up, holding onto the window sill for support.
“We can help you… right?” I look over at Simon. He has an expression that’s a mixture of anger and sadness on his face. It’s something that I’ve never seen before.
“I… yeah…” He mutters. I think he’s confused. This guy attacked me, now begging for our help, asking for us to kill him.
“Thank you… thank you…” He wipes tears from his eyes, “I just want to see my wife again.”
“You will, soon.” I smile softly, trying to comfort him. The man stands up, but Simon doesn’t let down his guard.
“I want to die under my wife’s tree, it’s out front.” He slowly starts walking. I walk over to the pistol on the floor, kneeling down to pick it up. Shocks of pain shoot through my body, and my breathing gets faster, but I manage to pick it up, then stand back up without falling over.
“You ok?” Simon asks.
“Yeah… yeah… I’ll be fine, just… let’s get this over with.” I try to catch my breath. I put the pistol in the back of my wants, and grip my knife tightly, stumbling as I walk forward.
I slowly step outside, grunting with each step. The wind hits the side of my face, the sun feels really nice though.
“Holy shit!” Hugo shouts, running over, “Are you ok!?”
“Yeah… had a little… scuffle.” I chuckle, then groan, and grip my leg tightly. Blood drips to the ground.
“Who’s that?” He asks as Simon follows the man towards the tree.
“I don’t know his name, but he lives here.” I just watch them walk for a moment, “He’s the one that did this, he’s bit and asked us to put him down.”
“Do you want some help with that?” Hugo looks into my eyes.
“Yeah that might not be a bad idea.” I try to catch my breath, “In the upstairs bedroom there were some medical supplies, maybe some bandages.” He helps me sit down on a bench on the front porch, then heads inside. Jake and Sara walk up to me.
“Mom…?” Jake looks down at my leg.
“Are you ok?” Sara asks.
“I’ll be ok guys.” I look down at my hand, which is now drenched in blood, “Hugo’s finding some bandages for me.”
“How did this happen?” Jake looks up at me.
“There was someone inside, he didn’t like us being in there.” I look to my left, Simon is helping the man sit down, “Dad is going to help him though, he’s sick, and asked for our help.” Hugo comes outside, carrying a bunch of medical supplies, and places them down beside me.
“You guys might not want to watch this.” Hugo kneels down and looks over at the kids.
“Why?” Jake asks.
“There might be lots of blood.”
“Oh, ok.” He walks away, Sara follows closely behind. Hugo spread out the supplies.
“You ready?” He asks me, I close my eyes and breathe in.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I grit my teeth as Hugo grabs the screwdriver.
“I’m sorry Elsie.” He yanks it out, I scream in pain. Blood shoots out, and he quickly rolls up my pant leg. Hugo hands me a bit of cloth and I press it down on my thigh. My breathing gets faster.
“Ah… f-fuck…” I cry. Hugo grabs a bottle and a rag. He pours the bottle onto it.
“Lift up the cloth.” He waves his hand, “This is going to hurt like a perra.” I nervously lift it up, and he puts the rag down onto the wound. It stings, and I cry, struggling to keep still.
“God…” I cover my eyes.
“We’re almost done.” I feel him wrapping the bandage around my leg, then secures it down.
“Is that it…?”
“That’s it, that’s all!” He stands up. He sticks his hand out, helping me stand. I grab his hand and stumble a bit as I stand.
“Thank you, Hugo.” I hug him.
“Ah, it’s no problem.” He laughs, “It’s my pleasure.” I start to slowly walk towards the tree. It takes a long time for me to make my way over. But, eventually I stumble to Simon, catching myself on his shoulder.
“Are you ok Elsie?” He asks.
“Yeah, Hugo patched me up.” I try to catch my breath.
“That’s good.” He exhales with relief.
“I’m really sorry ma’am.” The man looks up at me.
“It’s ok, I don’t blame you.” I look down at him, “You were protecting your home.” He’s starting to sweat a lot. I look over at Simon.
“I think… I think I’m ready now…” He looks up, towards the sky. I pull the pistol out, and aim it down at him.
“Elsie, no.” Simon grabs my arm, “You shouldn’t.”
“I… I got it… I can… I can do it.” My hand shakes, and my voice trembles. The man closes his eyes, seeming to accept what’s about to happen. I start to cry, and take a giant breath in.
“I’m so sorry.” I say through tears. The man doesn’t say anything. I slowly start to squeeze the trigger. A giant bang rings out, and the pistol recoils back. I stumble, but catch myself. I look down, seeing what I did. The man’s body is limp, and a trail of blood flows down the side of his head. I drop the pistol, and fall down to my knees, breaking down. Simon crouches down beside me, and rubs my arm.
“It was for the best, Elsie.” He kisses my cheek, “He isn’t in pain anymore.”
“I know… but… I just… he…” I can’t even form a sentence. I punch the ground, and scream as loud as I can.
Instability
He never even told us his name. I killed a man, and I never knew his name. I know that he was suffering, and I ended it, but… it doesn’t make it any less painful. Simon buried him under that tree, it’s where he would’ve wanted to be buried. I lay down on the couch in the living room, resting my leg for a moment. Hugo and Simon weren’t able to find any painkillers in the house, so I just have to power through. I silently cry to myself as I stare up at the ceiling. I groan in pain as I sit up, and put my hand on the bandage. There’s some blood starting to soak through the bandage, I’ll have to get it changed soon. Outside the window, I can see Hugo keeping watch. He has his rifle in his hands, just scanning the area. I’m terrified of what could come, or who, or… whatever threats are out there. I fear for my family, but maybe here we can make something for ourselves. We can maybe start something here. I smile softly as I think about it, but the pain quickly washes it away. I stand up and walk to the front door, it creaks as I swing it open. Hugo looks behind him, facing me.
“You shouldn’t be standing, Elsie.” He says in a caring voice.
“I know but… I don’t want to let you two do all the work.” I look towards the tree where I shot the man. Simon is digging a grave for him, it’s the only thing we can do for him now. Hugo notices me staring.
“Don’t blame yourself for what happened.” He puts his hand on my shoulder, “He was bit, you put him out of his misery.”
“I know that, but it still feels wrong.” I wipe a tear from my eye, “It… fuck… it didn’t feel real.”
“It was the right thing to do, and you’re strong to be able to do that” He leans his rifle against the wall, “I don’t think I could kill someone, mercy killing or otherwise.”
“What if I keep doing it?” Tears flow down my face, “What if one day I like killing.”
“I don’t think it will come to that.” Hugo gives me a reassuring smile, “One day people will come together, rebuild society. Just right now, we’re in a, uhh… a limpieza.”
“I want to believe you.” I move my hair out of my face, “I really want to believe you but… none of us know how this ends, if it ever will.”
“Well, maybe there will still be the aumentó, but maybe we can recreate what was, maybe we can adapt.”
“Yeah… yeah maybe.” I smile softly thinking about that possible future. Maybe there are people out there who are working on trying to build that world. I hope that they’re out there. I hope that we can find them.
I walk out of the office after handing in a form to drop out. I thought long and hard about it, but… I won’t be able to take care of my kid while still being in school. I don’t want to drop out, I want to go to college one day, but… I need to put my baby first. I cry as I get into Simon’s car. He grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly.
“We’re going to be ok babe.” He smiles at me and wipes away a tear from my eye.
“I hope you’re right, but… I just don’t know anymore.” I put my hand on my stomach, feeling soft kicks. Mom was obviously livid, and dad was even angrier.
“Where do you want me to take you?” He asks.
“Can I stay at your place for a bit? My parents aren’t happy with me for dropping out.”
“Of course.” He kisses me, then rubs my leg, “You know you’re always welcome.” I smile at him as we start driving, his hand still on my leg. I rest my head on the window, and close my eyes.
I sit out on the front porch. It’s calming, helps me to ignore the pain. There’s a soft breeze flowing around us. The couple of trees wave, their leaves rustling. Jake sits on the ground beside me, playing with some toy cars he found. I look down at him, watching. I smile, I’ve always loved how innocent he is. He never had a care in the world, only ever caring about Mario and his cartoons. His teachers told me that he might have ADHD, I think they might’ve been right. We had an appointment with a specialist, but… you know. I think the appointment was probably sometime this week. I should phone them, tell them we might not be able to make it. I chuckle at my shitty joke. Simon returns from the tree, shovel in hand. He leans it beside the door.
“How are you holding up babe?” He asks.
“I’m doing about as good as I can, considering the circumstances.” I lean back in the chair.
“Do you need anything?” He asks.
“Could you help me change my bandage?” I look up.
“Uhh, yeah, sure.” He says, almost like he was hoping I wouldn’t need anything, “Let me go grab the stuff, and I’ll help you.”
“Thank you.” I smile. He turns around and walks back inside. There’s some silence for a moment after he leaves. Hugo picks his rifle back up and cradles it in his arm.
“So… I know it’s not my place, but…” He pauses for a moment, scratching his stubble, “He’s a bit dick, no?”
“He has his moments, but… he means well.” I look out across the horizon. The sun is getting lower, and will probably set in an hour or two.
“What do you think he’d do if… something ever happened?”
“What do you mean?” I look up at him. He walks up to me and leans closer.
“If you or… one of the kids get bit?” He whispers.
“I… I don’t know.” I look down at my leg, “I want to hope that he’d do what’s right, but… I just don’t know.”
“Well… let’s hope it never comes to that.” He walks back to where he was standing before. I don’t know what he’d do. I play through different scenarios in my head. I get bit, he leaves me. I get bit he puts me down. Sara or Jake get bit… no. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. Could he?
Simon finally comes back, medical supplies in hand. He sets them down beside me. I roll up my pant leg, wincing in pain, swearing under my breath. Simon unwraps the bandage from my leg, and places it aside. He pours rubbing alcohol onto a rag, then looks up at me.
“Ready?” He asks. I take a deep breath.
“Yeah…” I close my eyes. My leg stings, I grunt, trying not to kick my leg. He cleans it thoroughly, then quickly wraps it back up. I roll the pant leg back down, and place my foot down on the floor.
“You good?”
“I’m… I’m good.” I put my hand on my thigh as he kisses me.
“The fuck…?” Hugo says. I quickly look over at him, he’s aiming his rifle. I look down the dirt road, there’s two people walking up it. Simon walks to the porch’s railing, looking out. He has the pistol in the back of his pants, and he puts his hand on the grip before letting go.
“Jake, get inside.” Simon orders.
“Why?” He whines.
“Because I said so.” Simon says, louder this time. Jake stands up, and walks back inside. I stand up, pain shooting through my leg. The three of us start walking towards the strangers. Well, “walking” might be a bit of a stretch for me, more like a hobble, but I get there. As we approach, Hugo aims his rifle at them, they both throw their hands up in the air.
“Woah, woah!” The man shouts, “We aren’t looking for trouble.”
“What do you want!?” Simon commands.
“We just… we need help.”
“With what?” I step forward.
“We… we’re starving, and… and we don’t know where we are.” The woman says from behind.
“Please, help us.” The man begs, “My name is Erik, and… this is my girlfriend Ana.”
“We can’t help you.” Simon says in a condescending tone.
“We can’t just let them starve.” I put my hand on Simon’s shoulder.
“Yeah but we can’t give up our supplies.”
“Simon, listen to her.” Hugo looks over as he lowers his rifle.
“No!” Simon screams, “We have to think about ourselves, our family, US!”
“What if we were in their shoes?” I wave my hand towards Erik and Ana, “Wouldn’t you want them to help us?”
“Yeah, but…”
“So let’s help them.” I say calmly.
“I… fine.” He huffs.
“I’ll get you something to keep you going.” I look over at them and smile.
“Thank you.” Ana says, relief in her voice.
“Thank you so much.” I turn around and walk back towards the house.
I stumble inside, my leg killing me.
“Mom?” Sara asks, “What’s going on?”
“Some people showed up, they need help, so I’m getting them a bit of food.” I grab a tote bag and walk into the pantry. Grabbing some of the smaller food items, granola bars, fruit snacks, beef jerky, and a few water bottles. I do one last quick scan before putting the supplies into the bag. Suddenly a gunshot rings out, my head snaps up. I quickly stand up and walk as fast as I can back outside, throwing the door open.
“NO!” I hear someone scream, but I can’t quite tell who it is. As I approach, what I see makes my stomach drop. Erik is on the ground, blood flowing down his face from a bullet hole in his forehead, and Simon points the pistol towards them. Hugo is standing there in disbelief. Ana is hysterically crying as I approach.
“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?” I scream. Simon turns to face me, his face full of many different emotions at once.
“I… he…” Simon stutters.
“You fucking killed him pendejo!” Hugo pushes Simon. Ana holds Erik’s body, pleading for him to wake up. I put my hands on my head, trying to figure out what to do.
“I thought…”
“I don’t think you fucking did.” Hugo screams, “What did you ‘think’ genio?”
“He reached for a weapon…” Simon looks down at Erik’s body, “I swear he…” Ana stands up, knife in hand. Hugo and Simon point their guns at her, I take a step back.
“YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM!” She screams.
“I’M SORRY!” Simon shouts back, fighting tears. She charges forward, raising the knife and shouting. Simon fires three more shots, hitting her in the stomach, arm and chest. She stumbles for a moment before collapsing to the ground. My and Hugo run up to her, flipping her over. There’s blood everywhere, and she’s gasping for air.
“Fuck… you shot her lung.” Hugo turns around. Simon stands there, dropping the gun.
“I-”
“Simon!” I yell, “Shut the fuck up!” The gurgles of Ana gasping for air slowly fades as she suffocates on her own blood. She finally stops moving. I just sit there, holding her, trying to figure out what to do, what to think. I don’t even know how much time passes. None of us move. The sound of a low groan breaks me out of my trance. I look into Ana’s eyes.
“Ana…?” I whisper, “Are you-” She jumps up, growling. I scream as I fall backwards. I push as hard as I can, trying to keep her from biting me.
“Elsie!” Hugo shouts. As I fight I look over, Simon just stands there. Hugo tries to wrestle Ana off of me.
“SIMON!” I grunt, “SIMON… H-HELP!” He snaps out of it, finally seeing what’s going on. He picks up the gun, walks up to us, puts the barrel to the side of her skull, and pulls the trigger. Blood drips onto my face, and my ears start ringing. Hugo falls backwards onto his ass. Simon says something to me, but I can’t hear anything.
“Wha…?” I feel drunk. My hearing slowly comes back.
“I’m sorry.” He reaches out to help me up, but I ignore him. I push Ana’s body off of me, and stand up, wiping the blood off my face.
No Coming Back
I kneel down on my knees over her corpse. I’ve looked over her body at least 3 times, no bite, not even a scratch. I guess mom and I were right back in Edmonton, you turn no matter what. Hugo comes back from dragging Erik away, breathing heavily as he walks up to me.
“Did you find one?” He asks.
“No… nothing…”
“So we’re all… dios nos salve.” He puts his face into his hands, “So what… what do we do?”
“I don’t… I guess we just keep trying to survive.” I stand up, “It doesn’t seem like it kills you outright, just brings you back after.”
“Should we tell Simon and the kids?”
“Probably Simon, but maybe not the kids… not yet.” I kick the dirt, looking down. I don’t know what to think anymore. Simon murdering them, and now we know that we’re all infected. The way Ana and Hugo reacted… I don’t think he was reaching for a weapon. Why would he even try that? He had two guns on him, that would’ve been suicide. If he murdered them, then… no, there’s no way he’d leave her in the house on purpose. He wouldn’t leave her to die. He… I… fuck. Hugo notices I’m upset.
“Are you ok?” He steps forward slightly.
“Yeah just…” I take a deep breath in to collect myself, “...just thinking of things, of what happened.”
“We’re going to be ok, Elsie.” He smiles, “We’ll figure out what to do about… this.”
“I hope you’re right Hugo.” I move my hair behind my ears, “I really fucking do.” Hugo crouches down, grabbing Ana’s ankles.
“I’ll take care of this, you go inside and rest your leg.” He stands back up and begins walking backwards.
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” He grunts every few steps. I turn around to walk away, closing my eyes for a few moments. The door creaks open, and I step inside. It’s cold, we really need to do something about the power situation. There’s gotta be a generator on the farm somewhere. Winter will be here within a month, and we need to be ready, because it won’t be fun. Winters here weren’t fun before the world ended, so it’ll be even worse now. Jake runs up to me, hugging me tight, almost knocking me over. I catch myself on the wall, chuckling.
“You ok Jake?” I ask.
“Mom, what happened?” He whimpers, “I heard loud noises, then dad came in, and he looked angry.”
“Uhh… some people came, but we scared them off.” I lie.
“Are we going to be safe here?”
“Yeah, I'm sure we will be.” I ruffle his hair, “We just have to set up first, get some defenses up, and we’ll be untouchable.”
“Just like my games?” He looks up at me, I chuckle.
“Yeah bud, just like your games.” He pulls out from the hug and runs off to do god knows what. I walk over to the couch and lay back down, sighing heavily. Out the window I can see Hugo shoveling. I turn my headway and look up at the ceiling. I close my eyes and can feel myself drifting off to sleep.
“¡Tú lo mataste, pedazo de basura humana!” Hugo yells. I shoot up, sitting up on the couch.
“I CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE FUCK YOU’RE SAYING!” Simon yells back. Hugo walks out of one of the bedrooms, and stomps down the stairs. I stand up.
“What’s going on!?” I frantically ask.
“Él necesita ir.” He mutters under his breath, and walks outside. I look up the stairs, and go to find Simon. As I enter the room, Simon is sitting on the bed, his head in his hands.
“What the fuck happened!?” I wave my hands around. Simon looks up at me, there’s tears in his eyes, he never cries.
“I… I didn’t mean to kill him… I just…”
“But what was the yelling about?” I ask.
“Hugo thinks that I meant to do it, that I… that I’m a murderer.” He wipes his nose on his shirt sleeve, gross. I step closer, sitting down on the bed beside him.
“Then tell me exactly what happened, I want to try and help.” I put my hand on his.
“Umm… after you went inside, he started acting… weird I guess.”
“Weird how?”
“He was… walking weird, I guess.” Simon runs his fingers through his hair, “He seemed nervous, and it made me nervous, so I just pulled the gun out, I didn’t point it at him or anything like that.”
“Then why did you shoot?”
“He reached his hand behind him, quickly.” He starts to cry more, “I didn’t have much time to react, I was scared, I had to…” I put his head into my shoulder.
“You did what you thought was right… it was something you had to do.” I don’t know if I believe what I’m saying. I don’t know what to think anymore.
“I know but… it didn’t get easier.”
“What do you mean ‘it didn’t get easier’?” I look down at him.
“Uhh… back in Edmonton, on one of my runs I… someone attacked me, and they wouldn’t stop.” He sits up, “By the time they did, they were already going to die…” Why did he never tell me about that? He told me everything that happened when he went on runs. Why would he not tell me that? That’s one of the only things he shouldn’t not tell me.
“Just make me one promise, ok?” I say softly.
“What is it?”
“You’ll do everything possible to avoid killing, talk before you shoot, ok?”
“Yeah… yeah, ok, I can do that.” He smiles, I smile back, and kiss him.
“I’m going to go talk to Hugo, I’ll try to calm him down.” I stand up and walk to the bedroom door, “He’s hurting, we all are, he needs a friend.”
“Ok… I think that’s a good idea.” I turn around and leave.
I open the front door and step outside. The wind is blowing pretty hard, almost knocking me over, my hair whips. It’s really dark and hard to see, but I shine my flashlight, and can see Hugo, leaning against the railing, talking under his breath.
“Dios te juzgue por lo que hiciste.”
“Hugo?” I put a hand on his shoulder.
“What did he say happened?” Hugo asks sternly.
“Erik started acting nervous, so he pulled his pistol out, but didn’t aim it, then Erik reached his hand behind him, so Simon shot.” I explain, Hugo chuckles.
“That’s not what I saw.” He looks up into the sky.
“What did you see?”
“Erik seemed calm to me, and he never reached behind him, he just… shot.” Hugo drops his head down, putting it in his arms, “I’m just glad that it was over for him right away, that’s more than we can say for Ana…”
“Did you find a gun on Erik’s body?” I ask.
“No.” Hugo brings his head back up, and looks over at me, “He did have a knife though, Ana grabbed it.” I sit down on a chair, pulling out a cigarette, lighting it.
“I don’t know what to think anymore.” I inhale, “I haven’t known what to think since this all started, but now…” I exhale heavily. Hugo turns around, and sits down beside me.
“Can I have one?” He asks.
“You smoke?”
“I do now.” He laughs. I pull another one out and hand it to him, then bring the lighter over, and ignite the tip. He puts it in his mouth and inhales, before starting to cough a bunch. I just laugh.
“Damn it really is your first time.” I barely keep myself together. Hugo finally collects himself.
“Fuck… this tastes horrible.” He coughs again, “You like this!?”
“Well, not really, but it helps calm me down.”
“Well, I think I’ll keep not smoking.”
“Are you going to finish that?” I ask. He takes another drag, then starts coughing more.
“Yeah… I’ll suffer through it, I don't want it to go to waste.” I sit back, and stare out. The landscape is pitch black. I shine the flash light out, and I can barely make out a monster walking towards the house. I stand up to go deal with it, but Hugo puts a hand on my shoulder.
“I got it, keep the light on it.” He says as he picks his rifle up, and takes aim. I do my best to keep the light steady on the monster. After a few moments, he fires, and the monster collapses. We’ll deal with the body in the morning. Hugo turns to me and bows, I give him an applause.
“Very impressive shot!” I praise.
“Thank you, thank you, I know, I’m the best.” We both laugh. I toss the butt of my cigarette onto the ground.
“I’m going to head back inside, you coming?” I ask.
“Nah, not yet.” He sighs, “I’m gonna sit out here for a little longer.”
“Ok, I’ll see you later then.”
“See you, amiga.” I open the door and step back inside.
End of arc 1
#the walking dead#twd#the walking dead fic#the walking dead fanfiction#the walking dead fandom#twd fanfiction#oc#ocs#original character#twd oc#twd fic#tw depressing thoughts#tw depressing stuff#tw disordered thoughts#tw death
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PURPLE - WRIST - REST - IS
AGAIN - SUPER - HUGE - SO
DID - NOT - MEASURE - THE
3 ROUNDS - HAS - SOFT HAI
TAPE - WHAT - I'VE - BEEN
WISHING - SO - WILL - YES
MEASURE - 9:35P EST - MALE
MANAGER - OPENED - MY HAI
DOOR - WHERE - I AM - NAKED
SCRUBBING - HE - CALLS - YES
WOMEN - MENTALLY - ILL - A
TRUE - MISOGYNIST - HATRED
AND - ABUSE - OF - FOREIGN
WOMEN - ESPECIALLY - HE
ATTACKED - BECAUSE
SAT - 1P - 5P - AUTHORS
OF - FLORIDA - MEET THEM
HE - WENT - 2 - LUNCH - TO
GO - TOWARDS - MAIN LIBRARY
HE - HAS - BEEN - STALKING ME
LISTENING - HOW - 2 - MURDER
2 - GET - $150 BILLION - NO USD
NOW - OVER - $250 BILLION AS
HOMELESS - BLKS - WENT
CRAZY - BALD - HEAD THAT
LET - TREE - HIT - MY HEAD
ONLY - BOUGHT - BEER - NO
DRINK - 4 - ME - INLOVE AND
MIAMI - POLICE - ALLOWED
PUBLIC - ALCOHOL - DRINK'G
HE - WAS - JUST - CRAZY - SO
THAT's - DONE - MANAGER
WAS - STALKING ME - THUS
WAS - GOING - 2 - BOX - ME
FRIDAY - NIGHT - TGIF TGIF
SINCE - 1941 - WHEELCHAIR
DEMOCRAT - ROOSEVELT
WHO - PUT - AMERICAN
JAPANESE - CONCENTRATION
CAMPS - STARVED - 3 MEALS
A - DAY - FLORIDA - BEGAN
BAKER - ACT
CONCENTRATION - CAMP
4 - EVERYONE - LESS THAN
3 DAYS - 4 - BIRTH CONTROL
PILLS USER - COED - U SEE
SOMEONE - WENT - ALL THE
WAY - WITH - ME - REALLY
I - KNOW - WHO
3RD - DAY - THEY'RE - YES
PREGNANT - PILLS - 2 HAI
HOW - MANY - KIDS THEY
WANT - NOT - 2 - BURN THE
AREA - LIKE - THE - BLK
GYNECOLOGIST - HE WAS
DESCRIBING - BURNING TUBES
I - SCREAMED - SHUT UP
SHOWED - BABIES - IN - THE
WOMB - HE - AIN'T - GIVING 2
50 AND OLDER - HE SMILED
DR MARIA MEJIA - UGLY
HISPANIC - TOPIRAMAX
SEASONIQUE - SAID - NO
2 - THAT - SHE - SAID BIRTH
CONTROL - A - JOKE - SO IS
BONIVA - BONE - DETERIOR -
RATION - PREVENTOR - JUST
ONCE - PER - MONTH - SHE
SAID - USA - PSYCHO - MEDS
NO 1 - SHE - DOESN'T - GIVE
2 - ST JUDE's - SHE SAID - A
SCAM - 1 UGLY - WEIRDO SO
I - TOOK - IT - AND - STOPPED
BLOODFLOW - NO NEED FOR
GYNOCOLOGY - SO - HAPPY
TOPIRAMAX - 50 MG
TODAY - FOOD STAMPS - $67
FEB - 2 - UC - SIGNALS - 2 ME
2 - MANUALLY - APPLY
DO - I - HAVE - PIG - FARM
LAND - 4 - PROFIT - STUPIDS
DO - I - HAVE STOCKS BONDS
I - ALMOST - HAD - A - HEART
ATTACK - 15 MIN - AGO - NOW
I'M - FINE - SUSHI - 4 - ME SO
SINCE - EBT - DOESNT' - GIVE
MONEY - 4 - DELI - FRIED CKN
CHECKING - 13ST - SUSHI
I'M - 2 - WEAK - 2 - GO - 4
INARI - MAYBE - TONIGHT
BECAUSE - MONDAY - NO
FOOD - TONIGHT - RIVER
LANDING - INARI - $7.05
FOUND - ROOT BEER - 0 CAL
IS - ABOVE - IS ONLY - 8 INCH
INSTEAD - OF - 14 INCH HARD
2 - GET - OUT - FOUND - TENT
4 - IT - TRIED - 2 - FING - 4 FT
WIDTH - NO SUCH - THING
SO - 5 FT - LIKE - MINE BUT
LONG - 10 INCHES - MORE
INSTEAD - OF 3 INCH - YES
ABOVE - SUPER EXPENSIVE
ARRIVES - TOMORROW
CAMILLUS HOUSE
THEY KICKED - ME - OUT
THEY - WANTED - 2 - THROW
PACKAGES - ON MY - FACE 2
BATTERY - AND - ASSAULT
LIKE - MY - PHILIPPINE
ADOPTED - FATHER - WAS
WATCHING - LITTLE HOUSE
ON - THE - PRAIRIE - AND HE
GOT - HIS - SLIPPER - AND HIT
MY - HEAD - HOLE ON - FORE
HEAD - TIRED OF - SUBJECT
RAN - 2 - GRANDPA - NO MORE
FUEL - SHOOT - HIM - HAVE TO
GO - 2 - MAKATI MEDICAL CTR
CHARGE - ON - THEM
HE - SHOT - MY - ADOPTED
DAD - TWICE - SO - THERE
ME - HIS - 1ST - GRANDCHILD
THEN - WE - WENT - 2 - PARIS
WHAT - DO - U - WANT - FR
PARIS - GRANDPAPA - HE
TOLD - ME - GOT - HIS THEIR
MACAROONS - NICE - TELL
TEACHERS - WHAT - WENT
ON - GONE - 4 - 3 MONTHS
ABOVE - IS - ONLY - 6 LBS
PUT - IN - SMALL - BAG
OTHER - 15 LBS - DESTROYING
SIDES - OF - TENT - HEAVY
AND - LONG - EASY - 2 - YES
ASSEMBLE - NO - COT - WHY
THOSE - BECOME - FLAT YES
FAST - USING - AIR MAT WITH
MANDATORY - TWIN - FITTED
SHEET - OR - WILL FREEZE U
ABOVE - IS - BEST - INCLUDES
FREE - OVERNIGHT DELIVERY
THE - PRICE - TENT - IS GREEN
75.6 - LENGTH
TENT - 86.5 - INSIDE
MAT - 77 INCH - OVER 9 INCH
LEFT - NICE - ROOM - LEFT
SO - LIKE - GREEN FOREST
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Twenty-Two
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📎: Oikawa Tooru x gn!reader
📎: Timeskip, fluff, 628 words
📎: warnings; none
6:16 a.m.
Though you would never admit it, he always looked stunning in the morning; his usually perfectly-styled hair being all over the place, the “beautifully-toned” muscles he loves to brag about basking in warm early morning sunlight seeping through your windows, and occasional drooling— a sight reserved only for you to see.
“Good Morning, Grandpa” watching as his eyes flutter open, you try to hold back a laugh when he looks at you offended.
“Excuse me?? What happened to ‘Good morning Tooru, my beautiful youthful boyfriend’ ??” God knows only you can make him that energized ballistic at six in the morning.
“Well you are officially a year older today but apparently not old enough to not be mistaken for a minor in Argentinian clubs”
“IT WAS ONE TIME!” He argues, pulling you back to bed and *attempt* to tickle an apology out of you.
———
July 20, 2000
Age: 6
“I’m only giving you this because my mom told me to” you say, clearly annoyed at the tiny brunette.
“Well, I’M only saying sorry because my mom said little kids like you are dramatic and I need to be a bigger person” he still smugly accepts the gift, but not before giving you a look that he probably considered threatening.
“You’re the one who drew aliens on my pretty paper!”
“The decoration wasn’t pretty! And it’s my birthday so you have to be nice to me>:(“
“Whatever, nerd” you whisper under your breath, though he still heard of course.
“You’re just mad because nobody likes you for that one time you told the teacher we were selling candy at the back of the classroom” he retorted
And someway, somehow, believe it or not; that was the start of your friendship.
———
July 20, 2022
10:24 p.m.
It had already been a few hours after you had dinner; lovely restaurant, great food, and your ever-extravagant boyfriend to top it all off; but what kind of romantic date with it be without the walk through the park under a sea full of stars?
“You’re welcome by the way” you whisper to him as you walked through the paved path.
“For what?” He asked, looking at you with a disgusting lovestruck grin— like always.
“For staying with your pathetic ass for 22 years and what was it, like- 5 ex-girlfriends??” It can be so difficult pining for this man istg
“It was two! And stop mentioning that like you didn’t steal my first kiss in middle school” He pouts; yeah sure as if that’ll win ya’ over (it does).
“And if it’s not too much trouble..” stopping in his tracks, he pulls you closer by the waist before continuing “There’s one more gift I want to ask of you”
“Hmm, I am feeling a little generous today; what is it you wish for, oh great king Tooru?” You ask jokingly, pulling away from his grasp to let out a few giggles.
Contrary to popular belief; Oikawa Tooru was not a materialistic person, he’s a hopeless romantic with a weirdly inspiring volleyball obsession— plus he is already pretty wealthy so there isn’t really anything you could give him that he couldn’t already get for himself.
You kept pondering on what he could possibly want from you, not even noticing him taking out something that seemed to be a small velvet box from his coat and getting down on one knee…
Wait.
“Tooru...”
“Darling, I’m so sorry for making you wait twenty-two years for this but I could exactly ask you in 3rd grade so I’m just going to do it now; Y/n, will you marry me?”
Okay so maybe there was one thing you could offer him— your heart, if you haven’t already after all these years.
#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu imagines#haikyuu x you#haikyuu scenarios#luni’s fake scenarios#haikyuu fluff#haikyuu#oikawa x reader#haikyuu oikawa#hq oikawa#oikawa fluff#oikawa tooru#oikawa timeskip#oikawa x you#oikawa x reader fluff
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I am not the anon who sent the Jimmy Kimmel ask, but i would love to read something like that.
Mean tweets for the Lions at last! This was a blast to write, and as always, SW credit goes to @lumosinlove <3
Dorcas turned her million-watt smile on the camera with a wink. “Hello Lions, and welcome back to Lion Pride! The regular season has officially begun, which means this place has been crawling with wonderful fans who regularly take to the internet to show their appreciation, so I think it’s about time we give them a reality check from the less-adoring viewers. Buckle up, boys!”
#1: Kasey Winter
Kasey was giggling before he even began speaking. “This is so weirdly specific, and I can’t decide if it’s a compliment or not. Can’t fucking stand Gryff’s starting goalie,” he read. “Winter’s just a pretty-boy poser that looks like a golden retriever got let loose in the net.”
#2: James Potter
“Alright, here we go,” James muttered as he took the phone. “Pots, shut up about your kid. We get it. You had sex.” He glanced up at the camera over his glasses. “I will not.”
#3: Pascal Dumais
Dumo cleared his throat and squinted at the screen. “At this point, it’s a miracle Pascal Dumais—oh, that’s me!—can even make it down the ice. Go back to AARP before you throw your back out.” He chuckled under his breath before looking up. “See, I can just tell this was written by a college student. Go study for your math test instead of stalking Twitter, mon ami, and I’ll worry about my back.”
#4: Logan Tremblay
“Tremzy has two expressions: confused and chihuahua on crack. Someone please get him off the ice before he—” Logan broke off to dissolve into laughter, his face going red with it as several other people burst out laughing off screen. “—before he bites someone. Also, I fucking hate his accent. Are you okay?”
#5: Finn O’Hara
“Someday I want to ask Finn O’Hara whether he’s insecure about his asymmetrical ears,” Finn read, then paused and frowned, raising his hand to the side of his head. “My what? Lo!”
“What?” a distant voice answered.
“Are my ears asymmetrical?”
There was a beat of silence. “Well, yeah, but to be honest I kind of forgot about it after a while.”
Finn stared down at the phone, then shook his head. “Well, now I am.”
“It’s really not that bad!” Logan called.
#6: Leo Knut
“You found one?” Leo asked eagerly as he took the phone.
“Took a bit of digging,” Dorcas laughed.
He turned to the camera with a grin. “Dorcas was giving me grief because nobody was being mean enough to me on Twitter. Okay… Leo Knut looks like a ferret on stilts. Nobody with a nose that small needs to have legs that long. I do need them, actually, or else the walk to your mom’s house would take an extra five minutes.”
#7: Sirius Black
“Nice and succinct, and quite a bit nicer than what I was expecting,” Sirius mused as he took the phone, clearly biting back a smile. “Sirius Black. What a dick.”
#8: Remus Lupin
Remus pushed the front of his hair back before readjusting his baseball cap so it sat backwards, then took the phone and snorted. “Remus Lupin always looks bored as hell. Other than that, I don’t have a problem with him, but he sounds like my grandpa and it’s really unsettling.” The last few words came out on a laugh as he looked up. “I’m sorry? I think?”
#9: Thomas Walker
“@walkietalkie has got a mouth the size of the Atlantic Ocean. Talker, if you see this, please shut the fuck up,” Talker read, then turned to the camera and suppressed a laugh before raising his eyebrows. “Okay, I want you to take a look at my nickname and my username, then think about what you just said real nice and slow. Take your time on this one.”
#10: Olli Halla
“Olli Halla blinks like a sloth. Sometimes I want to shake him to make sure he’s still awake,” Olli snickered. “You people are so creative!”
#11: Evgeni Kuznetsov
Kuny’s eyes crinkled with his grin as he read. “Fuck you Kuny for having the longest last name. I can never spell it and your first name is not any better. Learn Russian, fix problem. Sounds like a you problem, though.”
#12: Alastor Moody
“The Lions PT looks like a Halloween decoration.” Moody huffed, then turned to the camera with his characteristic scowl. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
#kasey winter#james potter#pascal dumais#logan tremblay#finn ohara#leo knut#sirius black#remus lupin#thomas walker#talker#olli halla#kuny#alastor moody#moody#sweater weather#vaincre#lumosinlove#my fic#fanfic#social media#lion pride#mean tweets#insults#dorcas meadowes
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