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Was it possible to electrocute yourself by holding a phone with sweaty hands?
Probably not. All the same, Kris could hardly bring themself to move. They stayed curled up on their bed, hand clamped so tightly around their phone it gave them cramps. The muffled sounds of their mother joking around with that skeleton creep downstairs weren’t enough to pierce through the ominous droning in their ears.
Shivering, drenched in sweat… If there was ever a time to get electrocuted, now would be great.
Too much had happened today. The sheer weight of it all was a burden too heavy to bear. And it just wouldn’t end! The festival was in a few hours, and how was Kris supposed to get any sleep with THAT looming over their head?
They didn’t want to go. They had to, it was important, they knew that… but the thought of seeing Noelle there, the thought of spending any time alone with her, the news that she was ‘looking forward’ to it… ugh, it was like there were worms trying to drill through their stomach. They couldn’t stand it. The terror and dread were threatening to make them throw up.
They had to fix it somehow. But how? They had already tried, and it had already failed! And it was all just going to get worse! For them… for Noelle…
Her face popped into their mind’s eye before they could stop it. That haunting look she had given them earlier, in her room, when that vile soul had tightened its iron grip over them and forced them to grab her hand and–
They sat up at top speed. No way, absolutely no way were they allowing themself to think about it for a second longer, or they would explode.
The room was still dark. Somewhere in the distance a clock chimed three times.
Okay, fine. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Whatever the plan was, it wasn’t worth hurting Noelle any further. They had to sort this out. NOW.
Shuffling their way through the dark over to the birdcage, they stuck their hand through the bars and gave the soul a light flick.
No response.
Good, all was clear for the moment. They opened the cage door and, rather reluctantly, took the soul out and shoved it into their chest. Probably a few hours until they’d have to worry about it taking over again, though they couldn’t be certain. All the same, it was a risk they simply had to take right now. Before it was too late.
-
Sneaking into the Holiday mansion had never been a problem. Kris clambered through Noelle’s bedroom window on autopilot, like they had done hundreds of times before.
“K-Kris?! Wh… what are you doing here…?”
As expected, Noelle was still fully awake even at this hour. Kris hopped off the window ledge to see that she was sitting up in her bed, staring at them with that haunting, blank look in her eyes. Her dark circles from a lack of sleep had only got more prominent since yesterday.
It turned their stomach to see her like this. What could they even say to her?
Sorry, it was just a prank…
Too late for that miserable excuse anymore. Besides, that absolute demon of a soul would just override it again, like it did before. It wouldn’t be fair on Noelle to keep toying with her emotions like that, giving her false hope, only to swing the pendulum back to horror and crush that hope even harder, over and over again…
No, even doing damage control, they had to acknowledge that she knew it was all real now. For good.
They gulped down their nausea and went and sat beside her. “Noelle, listen… I have to tell you something important…”
Her blank look shifted ever so slightly, tinged with surprise and confusion. Perhaps she hadn’t expected to hear Kris’s normal voice right now. After all, the last time they had spoken, it hadn’t been Kris’s voice she was hearing…
For a moment her hand was twitching, as if she was contemplating moving it. The same hand that had the thorn currently stuck in it.
Oh, the urge to take that stupid thorn out of her finger again, like they had done yesterday! Was she thinking the same thing? Did she want them to remove it?
There was no point. The soul would just put it right back in later, and Kris would rather die than have to go through THAT again. Their hands were tied.
Well, it didn’t matter what happened to them anymore. They needed to keep Noelle out of danger, no matter the cost.
“You have to promise to do something tomorrow,” they said to her. “I mean, later today… Whatever. At the festival.”
Her face had fallen blank again. “Of course, Kris, anything…”
No, why was she looking at them like that…? Speaking in that tranced out, monotone way? They couldn’t stand it! Couldn’t stand seeing her so hollow and empty, almost as if she herself was being controlled, perhaps by the tremendous amounts of fear and pressure she had been put through in the past few days. They didn’t want her obeying them out of that fear alone.
“No, it’s not like… it’s not an order or anything. I’m just asking. Promise you’ll do this for me. It’s to protect you.”
“Um… okay…”
Kris took a deep breath. How much to say? “Look… I can talk to you like this because it’s dormant right now. But when we’re at the festival, if you hear my voice and it’s… like the one from your dream...”
Her eyes widened at the mere mention of the ‘dream’. It was clear she had been thinking about it a lot.
“…if my voice is like that, and I try to make you do anything… then do this.”
They steeled themself for a moment. Then they plunged their hand into their chest and ripped the soul out of their body.
Noelle finally showed a substantial reaction, jumping back in shock. “KRIS, WHAT THE – that’s…!! You’re bleeding, Kris! Put that back in!”
Huh, this felt vaguely familiar… they remembered pranking her like this when they both were way younger. Chasing her around with a heart pillow as she ran away screaming. Of course, right now this was the furthest thing from a prank from the old days, as much as they wished it could have been one.
They kept the soul gripped tightly in their hand. God, how they hated it, its slimy, squidgy texture, its garish red colour crying out for attention. And yanking it out was always so painful! Sure, it would subside in a bit, but it hurt like hell. They were still breathing hard, wincing, hoping Noelle wouldn’t notice too much.
“I-It’s not doing anything right now,” they continued, their voice much shakier, “but if you have to pull it out tomorrow, it’ll try and move on its own… You have to hold on, don’t let it go. Find somewhere to trap it. Put it in a box and don’t let it out until it stops moving. Don’t let it escape no matter what…”
Noelle was still in shock. “Kris, what are you talking about? What’s going on?! W-What does this have to do with the… the dream…?”
They didn’t answer her. Instead they simply thrust the soul back in, looked back up at Noelle and said, “Okay. Now you do it.”
“What? Kris, no, that’s…” She was trembling. “…that’s yours, I can’t take it! And that looked painful. It looked like… it was hurting you…”
Almost instinctively, Kris glanced at the thorn on her finger. This didn’t even compare. “Please, just do it… I need to know you can.”
“But I can’t do that to you! A-And… at the festival too? No, I… Kris, can’t you just tell me what’s going on? It’s like you keep changing! You’ve been so different recently…”
If only they could explain everything to her! Reward her bravery for still resisting, still questioning them, despite her traumatised state! They wanted to, more than anything!
But they had made their own promises. There was so much more at stake here, things they couldn’t talk about, things they didn’t even want to think about. And they hated themself for it. But what could they do? There was a level of control on them beyond just that of the soul.
In response they just took her hand and held it up to the crevice in their chest. “Please Noelle, just do it… just promise…”
For the tiniest, most fleeting moment, the idea occurred to them. Intruded into their brain completely unwilling, unasked for, unwanted.
The idea of getting her to do what they told her, by using… that word.
The word that made her do things. The word she couldn’t say no to, the one that had made her freeze Berdly, the one responsible for the Thorn Ring being back on her finger.
That word… they dreaded the mere thought of it. Panic was already descending on them. Before, whenever it had showed up in their head, the soul had pounced on it and forced them to actually do it, like a punishment for even thinking it in the first place.
But how could they ever control their thoughts? They had tried and tried, stuffing everything down deep inside, yet they could never get rid of it all! There were always traces. What if it was some kind of divine retribution? Why did this have to happen to them, with Noelle as collateral damage? Were they that bad?
They couldn’t do it. They would NEVER do it. Never use that word of their own accord, never force her into it. Even if it was to protect her. They simply refused to do that to her, no matter what.
Instead they just stared into her eyes, hoping she could somehow sense how desperate they were. They truly wouldn’t be doing this if there were any other way. All they wanted was for the both of them to stop having to suffer… they just wanted their friend back, even if everything between them was practically ruined now…
There were several moments of silence. It stretched out into minutes. Perhaps longer.
Then, very slowly, Noelle reached forward. She slid her shaking fingers into the gap and carefully pried out the soul.
She was being gentle, but her hands were cold, and the thorn on her finger scraped across the innards. Kris quickly looked down, their hair covering their face so that she wouldn’t be able to see them grimacing in pain.
Soul in hand, Noelle sat there facing them, unmoving, staring at it as if mesmerised. It was surreal seeing someone else holding it for a change.
Kris gritted their teeth and spoke through the pain. “Y-You remember what you have to do with it?”
She continued staring at it. “Trap it in a box… don’t let it out until it’s stopped moving…”
“Yeah. You can hold it tighter. Squeeze it. Dig your nails into it.” Throw it with all your force. Kick it mercilessly. Repeatedly. Make it suffer…
She tightened her grip on it slightly, finally managing to tear her eyes away from it and look at Kris again. “What will happen to you? I mean, if this is outside your body… will you be okay…?”
“It’s fine. And YOU’ll be okay. So don’t worry about it.”
“Okay…”
Did she even know what it was? This was a monster town, after all, and not everyone was up to date with the specifics of human souls. Kris couldn’t remember if they had ever talked to her about it before. Maybe, a long time ago…? She might have forgotten all about it. Poor thing… being kept in the dark about so much.
She gave them a more resolute look. “Um… I still don’t really understand, but… I’ll do it. I promise, Kris.”
With that, she placed the soul back into their chest with care.
She had promised… oh, thank goodness. The relief hit them like a truck. She had promised! Now, at last, maybe they could… they could…
…It took only a moment for that relief to vanish. Noelle hadn’t lifted her hand from their chest. Instead, just like yesterday here in this very room, she inched closer to them.
The terror returned instantly. They were thrown right back into that moment, the moment she had leaned in so close to them, the moment the soul had taken control back and forced them to act on those fleeting, morbid thoughts flying through their head that they hated so much…!
It wasn’t going to happen right now, they knew that, they still had time, it was still dormant…
Even so, being in such close proximity to Noelle was really just freaking them out!
They had already suspected from yesterday that she had developed some kind of macabre interest in them due to… well, everything, and even more after they had taken matters into their own hands and tried to protect her.
Now it seemed their fears were founded. Especially after just now… they couldn’t deny the weird, somewhat off-putting but very much present intimacy of what they had just got her to do. In a way, she had literally been holding their heart in her hand… the same hand that was now clasping at the front of their sweater, softly pulling them in towards her…
It was why she was looking forward to seeing them at the festival. Why she kept getting in their personal space. Why she made this promise to them. Why she… thanked them, yesterday, after they had been made to take that thorn, and–!
Kris scrambled back from her, lightheaded, terrified out of their wits. Their face was growing hot.
To their alarm, and no small level of horror and guilt, they were realising that part of them didn’t WANT to back away from her. Part of them just… wanted to let her.
But they sure as hell were not letting that part of them have any kind of control.
They hurriedly got up and made for the window. “Sorry, I have to go… Guess I’m seeing you later… Get some sleep…”
“Kris, wait!”
They turned half-heartedly.
“Listen… I know you’re trying to protect me from something. But whatever’s happening, I’ll…” She managed to get a smile onto her face. “I’ll protect you too, okay? I’ll help you, whatever it is.”
To Kris’s surprise, they found themself holding back genuine tears. Noelle had never said something like that to them before. “…Thanks…”
“I mean, I’m… um… stronger now, right…?”
Stronger?!
The warm fuzzies were immediately crushed under the weight of new fear, fear so dark and heavy it made their head spin.
They did want her to help them, they did want her to protect them… but they never wanted to hear about her ‘getting stronger’! Last time it had led to Berdly in the hospital. Who knew where it could go in the future?
As afraid as they were, it must have been triple for Noelle. Unlike Kris, she didn’t even have a clue what was really going on. Though that being said, she was smart, she had probably figured out a good chunk of it.
Maybe the only way she could handle that confusion and fear was the reminder that she was ‘stronger’ now… how could they take that away from her?
Dammit… they just wanted to turn back and hug her tight.
It would only make things worse.
Without another word, they climbed back out of the window.
-
Back in their own room, they hurled the soul into the birdcage with as much force as they could muster. It wasn’t lucid right now, it wouldn’t feel a thing. A pity, almost.
They had plans. There were things to be set into motion. But they were DONE letting that stupid soul hurt them and Noelle. This time, the two of them could work as a team against it. This time they were better prepared.
Maybe… just maybe… the festival wouldn’t be too bad like this.