Chapter Text
Melanie was tired. A certain kind of tiredness that could only come from working in such a vile place like the archives. The mere walk to this place was enough to stir dread in her gut.
She hated it so much that she was currently concocting a new form of horrifying death for Elias, in the form of some brutal blunt force trauma, and she didn't notice the new face at the front desk.
Until she spoke.
“Are you Melanie?” a small voice asked her and Melanie snapped out of her murderous daze to lean slightly over the too tall desk. Like, did they really expect the receptionists to stand while talking to people.
“Yes. I’m assuming you're that new hire, Shelby.” and by the smile on her face she was right. Shelby had a smattering of freckles on her face and she was currently sitting crisscross on her chair, her small desk cluttered with stationary and half finished drawings and crochet projects. She had a wide smile on her face and her little lanyard was adorned with pins of Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, a couple bats and some more but her general vibe was quite comfortable.
Shelby was apparently very good at first impressions, at least in her case.
Shelby’s glance flickered over Melanie’s shoulder for a moment and that was all the reason she needed to exit this conversation. Was it weird to dislike somebody who was overly bright when you had been around darkness so much?
She was walking away when the new girl called out to her.
“Wait! Basira told me you liked the Vampire Diaries.”
“What of it?”
“I wrote them and I thought you might like talking about them!”
Melanie stopped dead in her tracks. Here was the author of one of her favourite book series and she was trying to be friendly?! This was an opportunity she couldn't pass up and trying to hold back her fangirl she continued the conversation.
“Uhm I can email you my number so we can chat later. If you would like to, of course.” she stammered a bit but Shelby’s smile didn't falter.
“Oooooh yes please! I’ll let you go now, bu-bye!” she called and Melanie walked away, feeling a strange sense of dumbfoundedness at just meeting one of her favourite authors, Sh. Goldsmith.
𓆩✎📼𓆪
Jon was yet to meet the newest addition of this prison and from the weird way Martin spoke about her she was an interesting person. Tim wasn't a big fan of her apparently but nowadays did he like anyone?
To be fair, losing Sasha was a heavy blow for him and made him more cautious about caring. Still his general attitude was quite unpleasant and he was fed up with Tim’s sudden lashing out.
Still if Martin didn't have a good view of her then Jon wasn't inclined to trust her suddenly.
“Wat cha doin?” A small voice came from the doorway, very inquisitive but genuine interest was present.
“Ah oh, your Shelby right?”
“Yessir. So what are you doing?”
“I'm about to record a statement. About,” he squinted at the title, “vampires apparently.”
She paled a little bit but it could have been a trick of the light with how pale she already was.
“Allllrighty then. I'll leave you to it.” She said and walked back the way she came, towards the break room.
Was she just making the rounds to introduce herself? Or did she need something. ‘Whatever’, Jon thought and he turned back to his statement, tape recorder going already.
𓆩✎📼𓆪
It was dark where she was. Not truly dark really, more like she could see absolutely nothing, feel nothing, if she stayed for too long she would know nothing. Nothing but the nothingness that comes with being dead.
Dead? When did she think she was dead? Maybe it was the most obvious conclusion to explain her situation. She was always the logical one. Was she?
Would Tim even remember her anymore, would anyone? The real her. God, she should have quit when she had the chance. If she ever did… Did she?
Who was she?