#y/nashcroft

[opossum-writes]

Mystery Man: Pt. 2

A/N: I might make a love triangle, but i’m not sure. I’ll make a poll.

WC: 2033

Pt. 1

~~~

I sit in the kitchen of my childhood home, eating some cereal with a cup of pigs blood. My father walks in, all dressed up for work. “Hey, kid. Where is Cub 2?” He asks, adjusting his tie. “Oh, she stayed at a friend’s house last night.” I answer, and he nods.

This is typically the part of everyday where he says goodbye and leaves, but for some reason he sat down across from me on the table. “Alright, kid. I’m gonna tell you something, and I want you to promise me you won’t tell anyone. Not even your sister or mother, okay?” He says, looking me in the eyes with a stern look.

“I probably won’t come home today. I don’t know what will happen to me, but I know that whatever happens, it won’t be good. You won’t see me again. I have written my will. It’s in the drawer on the left side of my desk.” He explains. Usually he’s a lot more cheerful.

“Wait, what?” I say. Father’s watch starts beeping, and he immediately gets up and grabs his briefcase. “I have to go. I love you, Y/N. Take care of your sister, okay?” He says as he opens the front door and steps out. Before leaving, he looks at me one last time and smiles.

The house then begins to change. Vines start growing all along the walls, the wood starts rotting away and plants start sprouting between the floor boards. The milk in my bowl of cereal goes bad and moldy. I get up, scared, and take a few steps back, but I bump into someone. I turn around and i’m face to face with my mother, but something is different. She looks like a rotten corpse. She smiles at me, her sharp fangs looking deadlier than usual. “You shouldn’t keep secrets from your family, Y/N.” She says, her voice distorted.

“I-I’m sorry, mother… I didn’t want to disappoint him!” I practically shout, tears running down my face. “Wake up!!” She screams.

~~

I jolt upright, sweating bullets. I look around me, and breathe a sigh of relief. It was just a nightmare. I’m okay.

I’ve been having nightmares reliving the last time I saw my father. It always starts the same way, but ends differently. That was probably the worst one so far.

I look over to my phone to check the time, and I immediately get out of bed when I realize i’m late for my first class.

I run toward my dresser and pull out my uniform. I grab my mask and put it on, and grab my backpack and run out of my dorm and down the hall.

~~

“Mr. Ashcroft! So glad that you could join us. Please take a seat.” The botany teacher, Ms. Thornhill, says. She has a polite smile on her face. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to sleep in! I think I forgot to set my alarm.” I explain. “It’s alright. Just don’t let it happen again, Y/N.” Ms. Thornhill replies, and gestures to the only open seat. It’s next to Enid.

I look at Enid, and she’s smiling. She excitedly pats the seat next to her. I sigh, and take a seat, placing my bag under the desk. “As I was saying…” Ms. Thornhill starts the lesson, but I tune it out. I rest my head in the palm of my hand, and retreat into my own mind. I can’t seem to stop thinking about my father.

Why did he want me to keep it a secret? What happened to him? And why? What did he do?? And why did he enroll Kat and I into Nevermore Academy? What is the importance of this school? He always does things for a reason. He always has some sort of plan. He doesn’t just make decisions for the hell of it. Why was it so important to him that he put it in his will?

As my mind swirls with question after question, I feel anger start to boil within me. Who killed him? What did he do to deserve it? Why would he make me keep a secret? Why me and not Kat? Or mother? He knows I hate secrets. They make me feel so guilty. He knows me better than I know myself, so why would he put me in this situation? Why?!

My thoughts are interrupted by my claws coming out and cutting my cheek. I immediately put my claws away and put pressure on the cut. “Oh my god! Are you okay?!” Enid asks, clearly worried. I don’t reply. The girl sitting across from me turns around to look at what happened. She has a blank expression on her face. “Move your hand.” She says. At this point, all eyes are on me. I do as she says and move my hand, revealing my bloody cheek. The cut was pretty deep. No matter how much pressure I put on it, the blood never stopped coming.

“You need stitches.” She says, and gets up, grabbing her black bag from underneath the table. She sets it down in front of me on the desk and grabs a pair of gloves, and surgical thread and needles, along with a pair of tweezers and some gauze and medical tape.

“Why the hell do you carry that around? Whats next, do you have an OR at home?” I say, confused. She doesn’t reply, and simply grabs Enid’s wrist and takes the scrunchie she was wearing and uses it to clean the blood. Enid is clearly not happy about it, but just lets Wednesday do it anyway. “Excuse me, Wednesday, my classroom is not a place to stitch a wound. Why don’t you escort Y/N to the school medic?” Ms. Thornhill suggests, but the girl, who I guess is named Wednesday, doesn’t say a word.

She puts down the blood soaked scrunchie, and ties the surgical thread to the needle and picks up the needle with the tweezers and starts suturing the cut. It’s painful, but i’ve been through worse. It’s nothing I can’t handle. Usually, if someone tried this I’d probably tell them off, but the cut wouldn’t stop bleeding and I don’t want to get an infection.

Once Wednesday is done stitching my wound, I use my claws to cut the excess thread after she tied it all together. “Keep it dry, then after two days start washing with soap and water twice a day. In ten days, come see me. I’ll take them out.” She says, and sits back down. “Uh, alright, Doc.” I reply.

Ms. Thornhill clears her throat, and that reminds me that we’re still in the middle of class. I don’t tune out her lesson this time.

~~

School is over, and I’m sitting next to Kat outside, watching everyone work on their boat for the “Poe Cup” or whatever this event is. I didn’t pay too much attention when Enid rambled excitedly to me about it during lunch. “So… what the fuck happened to your face?” Kat asks. “I accidentally cut myself with my claws during botany class. That one girl… I think her name is Wednesday… she stitched me up.” I explain, and Kat chuckles. “That one weirdo who wears all black?” Kat replies, and I shrug. “I guess you could call her that.” I say. “You should thank her. Maybe you could ask her out. I doubt she’d go full doctor on you if she didn’t have the hots for you.” Kat laughs, and I groan. “Shut up.” I glare at her. “Seriously, though.” Kat says, nudging me with her elbow.

“I think she’d stab me if I asked her out. But… I don’t know. I might. I do need to thank her for pulling a Doc McStuffins on me in the middle of class.” I reply, and get up. “I’ll see you when I see you, Kat. Don’t get into any trouble, I don’t wanna have to bail you out of detention.” I say, and walk off.

As i’m walking, I see Enid painting her boat and Wednesday standing next to her. I approach the two of them from behind. I clear my throat to get their attention, and Enid jumps. “Jesus Christ! Don’t sneak up on me like that.” Enid says. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to thank Wednesday for the stitches.” I explain. “I only did because your blood was getting everywhere.” Wednesday replies, but I can see right through that. I was bleeding a lot, sure, but it only got on me. Well, also Enid’s scrunchie, but that was only because Wednesday used it to clean up the blood.

“Why do you wear a mask? Do you have a reason to hide your face?” Wednesday asks. “I wear it because my father did when he attended this school. I don’t have any skeletons in my closet. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. The literal kind as well.” I chuckle, and Enid does as well. Wednesday just stares at the two of us with a blank expression.

I stop laughing and scratch the back of my neck awkwardly. “Alright, uh… i’ll be on my way.” I say, and start walking away, but i’m stopped by Enid grabbing my wrist.

~ENID’S POV~

“Wait! Let me see what you look like under the mask.” I say. Y/N just smiles slightly at me, his E/C eyes looking into mine. I start to get a little flustered under his gaze. “If you win the poe cup, i’ll take it off. Deal?” He says. I nod my head. There is no way I’m losing to Bianca now.

I let go of Y/N’s wrist and he walks away. I watch him as he leaves. “Enid! Keep painting.” Yoko shouts, and I quickly get back to painting the boat.

“As I was saying before Y/N interrupted, Weems has been watching me like a vulture circling a carcass.” Wednesday continues. “And you want me to cover so that you can return to the scene of a crime that didn’t happen?” I ask. “I have beekeeping club this afternoon. I need you as decoy.” Wednesday explains. “Sorry. Two strikes. I’m busy and bees totally creep me out. Why don’t you ask Thing? Oh wait, you can’t because he’s mad at you.” I replied. “Why’s he mad? He’s the one who screwed up with Rowan.” Wednesday asks. I shrug. “All I know is that we spent an hour giving each other manis, and he really opened up. He feels like you don’t respect him as a person.” I answer. “Technically, he’s only a hand.” Wednesday says. “Wednesday! He’s your family. And he would do anything for you. Go apologize and I’ll reconsider helping you.” I say, and get back to painting the boat. Wednesday doesn’t reply, and just storms off.

After a while of painting in silence, Yoko speaks up. “You seem to like that new boy.” She says. “I do not! I’m just curious about him.” I defend myself. “Then why are you being so defensive about it?” Yoko smirks. I sigh. “I guess thats fair. I don’t know, can you blame me? Imagine if a new girl showed up wearing a mask, and they haven’t made any effort to make any friends and mainly stick to one person? You’d probably think they were hot! I love a good mystery.” I explain, and Yoko puts her hands up “I’m not judging! It’s just something I noticed. He seems kinda into you. You should ask him out.” Yoko says. “I barely know him. Plus, he’d probably say no. If he were to ask out anyone, it’d probably be Wednesday. After all, she did stitch up his cut in the middle of class. If a guy did that for me, i’d ask him out. It’s a total meet cute.” I explain.

“Well, I don’t see why he wouldn’t ask you out. The way he looks at you doesn’t seem very platonic.” Yoko shrugs. Huh. Maybe he does like me after all. I guess i’ll never know unless I try. Who knows? Maybe this mystery man is my soulmate.

To Be Continued…