Chapter Text
Summer was always the best time of year. You could just stay home and veg out on the couch. Nothing to worry about, the stress of school being washed away by the warm nights. Nights where you would stay up until dawn, reading whatever you had managed to finesse from your local library.
For its usual reputation, summer wasn't very busy. Hell, the past three summers are all a blur from the lack of events. And you were content with this summer being the same. And it was, for the most part.
Until your mother had decided that it was time to move. Again.
You stare out the window at the blurry scenery, some shitty emo band blasting in your one working earbud. You couldn't really make out anything, one second you were on the highway and the next you were driving through a neighborhood. It was all blurring together.
"But you'll love it here! Trust me," a woman was talking, apparently. You blink, was she talking before?
"Yeah, that's what you said last time," you snicker, eyes drifting up to spot a small purple butterfly as it delicately lands on the inside of the window.
"Oh don't be like that," she spoke, voice warm and sweet like honey. It brought a sense of safety, comfort. "I really mean it this time. It's alot smaller, not as many people."
You shrug, "I mean yeah. What's with you and small towns?"
A giggle is heard from the woman next to you. "Oh you know, I just like the coziness of it..."
The voice soon becomes a muted, jumbled mess as you shift your gaze out the window. The scenery continued to shift and blur before your eyes. It was somewhat mesmerizing, you could focus on something but it would slowly merge into something entirely new. You squinted, trying to make sense of it all.
You blinked, and suddenly you were sitting in front of a house. Your new home. Your eyes drifted back to the butterfly, before a voice cut through the silence.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm.." You trailed off, as faintly, the sound of soft wings flapping filled the air. Turning, you watched as the small insect fluttered to the face of the woman next to you. Joining what seemed like hundreds of others, combined into a writhing mass of violet wings that obscured her face.
There was a moment of hesitation before you spoke. "I'm fine."
Mother nodded slowly, "Okay, make sure to get your stuff up to your room alright?"
"Yes ma'am," you mutter, hastily opening the car door and stepping out into the summer sun. It was suprisingly not too warm. Perfect temperature for being outside.
Making your way to the backseat, you open the door. Eyes scanning the pile of boxes carefully stuffed in there. They soon land on a smaller box settled atop the others. Your name hastily scribbled on it in black marker. Or was it red? It seems to shift every time you look at it.
Holding the box takes both of your hands, so you shut the door with your foot and turn towards your new home. The building stands in front of you, it's an old house. Chipped brown paint coats the exterior, and the roof is missing a few shingles. The grass is about ankle high as you walk through it. If you turn left, there's a small, dilapidated garden. Accompanied by a tree with a swing on it. It is covered with vines, and there's few yellow flowers growing near it.
Mother held the door open as you walked inside, a box of her own in her hands. As you enter you let out a small sigh. The room was barren, white walls and dark wooden floorboards illuminated by a singular light, the other looked like like was busted.
Your last home was much smaller, only one story. And it was always cozy and warm. There would always be the faint aroma of your mother's baking mixed with the stronger smell of something that can't quite be named. The smell of home.
But this place, it was cold. Uninviting, it was where you had to be. And you'd just have to make it home.
"This place smells musty" you remark, scruncing up your nose. The whole place smells like when you leave your clothes in the washer for too long.
You can hear mother smelling the air before she makes a vaguely disgusted "eugh" and props open the door. "Yeah, it smells worse than you!" She giggles at the joke, but you just pout.
"Oh come on I'm only teasing!"
"Yeah, I know. You're such a bully" you roll your eyes, to which she snickers.
"Alright, well this 'bully' is buying us dinner." She remarks, watching as your face lights up at the mention of food.
The rest of the day was blurry, you and your mother had unpacked most of the things in your boxes. The few that weren't unpacked were left for tomorrow. You had already filled your closet, and made your bed. But it was clear that you had some shopping to do. Which was also left for your tomorrow selves.
Currently, you and mother were sitting on the porch. Drinking some tea while eating takeout. The two of you were laughing and talking, enjoying your time together as the sun set and the cicadas started to sing.
"How are you liking the house?" Mother asks, stirring her tea with a straw.
Covering your mouth with your hand, voice somewhat muffled by the half-eaten burger sitting in your maw, you respond "well, it's nice. A bit run down. But nice "
"Good." She smiles softly "I wouldn't want you to be embarrassed of it when you invite people over."
You hold back a chuckle, instead taking a sip of your drink, the taste is one you can't quite describe. Was it tea or soda? "Yeah well, that's if I make any friends."
"Oh you will! I've seen some kids your age walking around here. Maybe you can go introduce yourself to them?"
"Yeah. Just walk up to a total stranger, asking to be their friend. Thats totally what a normal person would you" rolling your eyes you ball up the wrapper of your burger and throw it in the bag, reaching to grab your mother's fries. Which she quickly snatches up. Raising them above your head and away from your grubby little hands.
"Nuh uh! I'm not giving you these!"
"Awe come onnn!" You groan "please? Come on I'm starvinggg"
"Hmm." She hummed, a devious idea coming to her mind. "How about this. I'll give you these fries if you... make one friend tomorrow."
"Seriously?"
"Yep! If you want these you're gonna have to promise me." She shakes the fries from side to side, that witch.
Theres a silence as you bite your lip in contemplation. Making friends is really hard, but then again free fries. Eventually you groan dramatically "fineeee"
"Promise?" She asks, lowering the fries.
"Promise." You blurt, before snatching the fries from her grasp and shoving them into your gaping maw.
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The memory soon dissipates. Leaving you half alseep and drenched in darkness.
The first thing you notice when you wake is that you're cold. The next thing is the pounding headache you have. You groan, trying to open your eyes only to be met with darkness. You reach up, grabbing at something attached to your face. It takes a second of pawing at it before you're Pulling it off and tossing it across the room. Shifting your position you sit up, rubbing your eyes.
The room soon comes into focus. The bright fluorescent lightbulb above you doing just wonders for your headache. You're in a bathtub-- your bathtub, it's empty. Your clothes are damp and there's an overwhelming smell of metal. Reaching out, you move a gloved hand against the rim of the tub In an attempt to steady yourself. A trail of red smearing against the dirty porcelain in its wake. Blinking in mild confusion, you look down at yourself.
You're covered in half-dried blood, black boots caked with mud, and your clothes are ripped in multiple places. As if they've been cut with something. You can only let out another groan as you shift again. Now leaning on the side of the tub, looking down at your dirty bathroom floor. Your eyes trail over to a white, bloodied and featureless mask sitting in front of you.
With a slow blink and a concerning amount of apathy towards your situation, you reach over to grab the shower handle. Slowly turning It on and letting the cold water rinse you of whatever crime you were covered in.
You closed your eyes and sink back into the tub. The coolness of the water making your sore body very happy.
The memory kept playing through your head as you soaked. The weird ways your brain had covered up certain aspects of memories with the most absurd things. It wasn't uncommon. The faces of people often were obscured by the strangest of things or their voices being a jumbled mess. It was almost surreal how your memories would pop up this muddled and out of the blue, especially after you have an 'episode'.
The "shower" takes a while, and it consists of you continuing space out until the wetness of your clothes have become too uncomfortable to handle.
When it does you sit up, Turning the water off and pushing the hair out of your face. You take a moment to breathe before getting out of the tub.
You try to take a step, and you cant help but stumble. As a sharp pain shoots through your right leg. You curse under your breath, but suck it up and limp. Going across the room and into the rest of your apartment, almost tripping over your mask In the process.
It's dark, the only light coming from the streetlamps outside. Which barely illuminate muddy footsteps leading from the entrance to the bathroom. You sigh, cleaning that up is gonna be a problem for later. For now, you focus on getting out of these clothes. You look like a wet cat.
Once you reach your bedroom, you undress and haphazardly throw the clothes into an overflowing hamper along with tossing your boots in a corner. Gods, your room is a mess.
Your whole apartment is a mess, really.
What little clothes you have are either in a broken hamper, or strewn across various parts of your abode. It hasn't been swept of vacuumed in... probably since you moved in. And thank gods you don't own any dishes or else those would be overflowing in the sink.
You quickly turned your attention to a mirror in the corner of your room. Eyes scanning yourself. Your hand trails along the various Bruises and cuts that littered your form. It looked like you had taken a serious beating. There was a good sized cut along your side, lining up with one of the cuts on the hoodie you were wearing. Thankfully, Your leg didn't look broken, you probably just twisted it. No need for the first aid kit today.
After grabbing some new clothes-- some old shirt and a pair of sweatpants--, along with patching up your wounds. You found yourself sitting on your bed, a little black crossbody satchel in your hands. It only fit a beat up old Polaroid camera and a few timy boxes of photos. In fact, the bag looked like it was made specifically for these items.
You never did know when you had gotten the camera. It was just in your hands when you woke up one day.
You dug through the bags contents. Of the photos had a name, date, and consisted of the same thing.
Photos of your past victims.
All of them you recognized, until you found a new one that was unlabeled. It was a blurry photo of a completely decimated corpse. The face beaten to a pulp, making any features unrecognizable. You must have been in some kind of state because you don't remember this one at all.
All you do is let out a quiet huff, and label it with the current date. Dread wells in your chest at the thought of how often this has been happening recently. Waking up in the strangest of places with no memory or context of what happened the night, week, or even longer, prior.
Normally, you'd remember killing people. A random creep from the bar, a thief, people who you deem deserving. Those you don't remember might have deserved it too, but the chance that you could have taken the life of an innocent claws at the back of your mind.
All this is just exhausting, why can't you just have one day where something weird doesn't happen? You flop back onto the bed, holding the photo above your head and staring at it. As if looking hard enough will just make it spill all its secrets. Maybe show something, but the blurriness of it just makes it near impossible to make anything out.
The most you can get is that it vaguely looks like some sort of forest, the whole background I made up of greens. But there's a darker color that breaks it up just behind the corpse. maybe there's two poles in the background? Legs perhaps? Legs! That's it! Why would there be random poles in the middle of a forest?
But the small victory is quickly snuffed out as you pause. Excitement turning to dread as you realize something.
There was a witness and you have no idea who they are.