Chapter Text
Rose
It's cold outside as you make your way through the grimy back alleys of the city, ignoring everyone around you as they ignore you. You dig into your mess of a bag until your fingers find a loose cigarette and a lighter. You put the cigarette to your lips and hold the lighter to the end until it catches.
You walk the rest of the way down the alley smoking and enjoying the smell of the smoke
Dave says it's weird that you like the smell but he didn't grow up with your mother. It always reminds you of her, that and Vodka, and as much as you don't want to think about her you also miss her so much it hurts
When you come to a door set back in the cracking concrete wall you drop your cigarette to the ground and crush it under your shoe. Adjusting your bag on your shoulder you push your way through the heavy wooden door of the occult bookstore, 'Horrorterrors'
The bell over the door chimes as you enter and the you pull it closed behind you as you kick rock salt off your boots into the stained dark carpet on the sagging floor
At the counter surrounded by piles of books and other weird shit a girl with wild black hair looks up from a book she's reading and gives you a red lipstick smile
"Oh hey Rose" she says, shutting her book and sitting up
"Hello Aradia" you say, nodding her way
"Would you like some tea?" She asks, gesturing to the old metal teapot on the counter beside her
"I'm fine for now but thank you"
"What are you in for today?" She asks
You shrug and set your bag down beside the old dusty armchair in the corner of the room, "you know, the usual"
"Anything special?"
"Well, I was actually looking for some medicinal books if you have any"
Aradia grins, "of course we do" she says, jumping up from her seat at the counter and walking quickly passed you to a shelf farther down the wall you currently sit against
"What's wrong if I may ask?"
Your stomach twists and you bite your chapped lip, "just some stomach problems. What about you, anything interesting lately?"
"I've been reading a really interesting book on tarot, I'm even working on creating my own deck. If you're not feeling well I can give you a reading, I can even make you some of the special tea I just brewed, it's supposed to help with your stomach"
"That would be great actually but I can't today, I have to get to work"
Aradia nods, "of course, come by later this week, you know I'm always here"
"Does anyone else even work here?"
"You've seen my sister around"
"Yeah but she usually just stands outside and smokes
Aradia nods, "yeah, Damara doesn't really like this stuff, at least not as much as I do"
"I don't think anyone likes this stuff as much as you do, Aradia"
She grins, "my mother is around sometimes too but I haven't seen her in a while"
"Is your mother the owner? I've never been clear on that"
"No, some man named Dr. Scratch is the owner, I've only met him a few times but apparently he helped my mom out when she first moved here. I don't know very much about him but whenever he comes around Damara glares and curses at him in Japanese"
Your stomach twists
Scratch
"I have to go" you say, standing up abruptly causing the book in your lap to fall to the ground
"Oh, okay, well I'll look around for some books for you and set them aside"
"Thanks" you say, quickly gathering up your things and pulling on your coat
"Bye Rose" Aradia calls and you wave as you rush out the door and let it slam closed behind you
You walk as fast as you can through the streets until you reach your apartment building
You climb the stairs to your floor and your hands are shaking so badly that it takes a few tries before you can get the door to unlock
Once inside you slam the door closed and lock it behind you
You drop your bag to the floor and run to the kitchen
You grab a glass out of the sink and shove it under the tap, filling it with cloudy water and drinking it as fast as you can
Then you feel it and you drop the glass into the sink
"Shit"
You run to the bathroom and just make it before you empty your stomach into the bath tub
You retch until there's nothing left and you're left with a sour taste in your mouth and your clammy cheek pressed to the damp plastic of the tub
Why is this happening
Finally you force yourself to sit up and look at the contents of the tub
It's normal looking vomit but more watery, and darker
Okay it's not normal at all
It smells like rancid fish and as the salty water drains you see small black spheres left on the grimy bottom of the tub
Eggs
You almost retch again but there's nothing left in your stomach so you just turn on the shower and run out of the bathroom
You run back in with your bag and drop it to the ground as you kick off your boots and pull off your clothes
You look at yourself in the mirror for a minute, taking in your white blond hair and sleep sunken purple eyes. Your face is smudged with makeup you haven't bothered to remove in days and there are marks on your sides where your skin used to fold but no longer does. T his whole thing has made you loose weight at an alarming rate
The most prominent change though is the circular suction cup bruises on your skin, curling up your legs and around your arms
Unable to look at yourself anymore you walk back over to the running shower and duck under the cold water, pulling the moldy shower curtain closed behind you
You close your eyes and let the cold water run over your body
You don't know how long you stand there but when you open your eyes you lean over and grab the bar of lavender soap stuck to the side of the tubb leaving soap scum behind
You start to clean yourself and only when you look down do you see black liquid running passed your feet into the drain along with the pale purple of your soap and the cloudy water
You look at your feet and to your horror you see that the black eggs are still there
You step back and feel something squish under your foot. You jump and lift your foot to look at what you stepped on and sure enough the eggs are smashed there, stuck to your skin and starting to run black liquid off your skin
You scrub off both your feet in a hurry and turn off the water, practically jumping out of the shower
This is, of course, not a good idea because as your wet feet hit the bathroom tile you slip and fall, smacking your head on the side of the tub
You curse and rub your head as you push yourself up and start to dry off your hair
You walk out into your dark bedroom, towel drying your hair as you head for your bed
You toss the towel on the floor and start to dig through the pile of clean laundry at the base of your bed
Once you've pulled out a pair of clean underwear and a shirt you get changed, pulling the dry clothes over your still wet skin and walk out into the kitchen
You walk over to the fridge to look for something to eat before work. You're not really hungry, especially after that episode in the bathroom, but you know you need to eat something before work
Unfortunately the contents of your dinky little fridge includes on a few pieces of over ripe and rotten fruit, half a loaf of bread that looks like it's gone moldy, and a jar of grape jelly. You'll have to go grocery shopping on your way home from work
You sigh, grabbing the bread and jelly and push the door shut behind you
You untwist the bag and pull out two pieces of bread causing crumbs to fall all over the linolium counter top and reach over to grab a knife out of the sink
Once you've picked off the moldy parts of the bread you twist open the jar and smear jelly onto the bread
You stand leaning against the counter, eating your jelly sandwich and watching a bug crawl up the wall
You have time before work to take a nap so once you've finished your sandwich you head back into the bedroom and crawl under the mess of sheets and comforter. It's your own fault its so cold in here for not paying the heating bill but you don't really have the money for that right now. Instead you just curl up under the comforter and close your eyes. Beside you your phone vibrates, alerting you to a message and you groggily reach over and check it. The lights from the screen makes you squint in the dark as you read the message that just came in
turntechGodhead started pestering tentacleTherapist at 5:13pm
TG: yo Rose
TG: just checkin to see if you're like, alive out there
TG: maybe you can take a break from all your weird shit and come hang with me and John and Jade, we're gonna watch some shitty indie horror movies on Netflix and make some pizza
TG: just hit me up if you feel like coming over
TG: see ya
turntechGodhead ceased pestering tentacleTherapist at 5:13pm
You shove your phone under your pillow without replying and turn over with your back to the open window. As you close your eyes again you try to ignore the distinct feeling of something moving in your stomach and prepare yourself for another dream of drowning in black waters and being pulled down by tentacles. This is why you can't sleep.