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Noelle laid in bed, silent. She thought about the events that occurred that day. Holding her hand up, she inspected the thorn in her finger. All the memories flooded back to her, the cold emitting from her hands, freezing all those poor darkners.
It was all real, and everything Kris had done to her was also real. The words echoed in her head over and over, getting more and more chilling as they repeated it.
Proceed
Proceed
Proceed
She thought about Kris’ face on that couch, and how scared they looked. Maybe it was them who did all of this, but maybe it wasn’t? They weren’t the same, it wasn’t the same Kris Noelle had grown to know and love.
She rubbed the thorn on her finger. It flashed her with pain at any slight movement, but there was nothing else she could do about it. Throwing the sheets off her, she stood up and walked over to the window in her room. Looking out, she saw them.
Kris was standing in the woods, staring up in the window. Noelle felt her heart sink, and she quickly stepped back from the window. Catching her hoof on the rug, she tripped and fell backwards. Scrambling back up to her feet, she peered back out the window and they were gone.
She felt cold. More cold than she had felt ever since that day; which was scary considering she didn’t think there was a level of coldness she could get above that. She rubbed the thorn again, which shot another pulse of pain through her body.
Walking over to her door, she slowly cracked it open. She was home alone, Dess hadn’t lived here in years, and Carol was out somewhere else. But she saw a figure standing at the front door window.
Then a rock came smashing through it.
She slammed the door shut. Listening closely through the door, she could hear Kris fiddling with the lock on the door. The front door squeaked open, and she could hear steps coming up to her room. She tripped over herself and looked around the room. Quickly, she shot herself under the bed and held her breath.
Damning herself, she had forgotten to lock her own door, so when Kris finally reached the room, they opened the door with little effort. They paced to the middle of the room and looked around, looking for her.
Noelle tried controlling her breathing, when she couldn’t, she grabbed a random stuffed animal that was under her bed with her and buried her mouth in it. It was a plush Kris had gifted her years ago, a dragon blazers one.
This made her mind sprout with thoughts. Why is Kris doing this? Do they want to hurt me? What is going on? I’m scared.
Kris’ feet shuffled, and turned to the bed. They stepped closer to the bed, and laid on top of it. It creaked as they mounted themselves on top. Noelle closed her eyes and held her breath, and prayed silently to whoever was above them in this world to not let Kris hear her.
Opening her eyes, it was too late. Kris was leaning over the side of the bed and looking directly at her; their bangs hanging down and exposing their red eyes. She screamed and threw the plush at their head.
Kris dodged the throw, and at the same time grabbed her wrist. They pulled her out from under the bed, and she went sliding across the floor. Looking up, Kris was standing up on the bed, peering down at her laying on the floor.
They were smiling, a little too hard. Noelle pushed through all her fear and sprang to her feet, running for the door. Her body suddenly froze, hearing Kris’ command.
“Stop.”
It was that voice. The voice from her ‘dream’, and the voice from earlier that day. Hearing them speak that command made the thorn pulse more into her body, forcing her to listen to them.
“Turn around.” Noelle felt her feet twist, forcing her to face Kris. Her hands were locked to her sides, and her face was scrunched up, forcing her eyes closed.
“Please… w- why are you doing this to me.” Noelle said, finally opening her eyes to look at them. They were holding a knife in their hand, spinning it on their finger. They cracked a grin and started pacing back and forth on the rug.
“Come forward.” Noelle felt her feet step towards them. She stopped a couple feet from Kris, who looked up at her with a look of guilt. Their eyes were pouring tears, but they were acting as if nothing was happening.
“I really am sorry, Noelle.” They started to speak, carving the knife in their palm. They made a small cut along their thumb, letting some of the blood pour out. They took their thumb and pressed it against Noelle’s forehead, leaving a thumbprint in blood.
“I didn’t want to have to do this, it breaks me as much as it’s breaking Kris.” They spoke, slowly nodding their head.
“But sometimes, you have to take drastic measures to make sure someone stays in line. And Kris needs to stay in line.” They said, peering their blood red eyes into Noelle’s. They flipped the knife around in their hand a little.
“And, I have to teach Kris they are not in control, and you are unfortunately my example.” They said, finally fully gripping the knife. Their tears smacked against the hilt of the knife, and their eyes reflected off the blade and back at Noelle.
Then they turned the knife around and plunged it into Noelle’s chest.
Finally, the force holding on to Noelle let go. She hovered her hands around the knife, still sticking out of her chest. She looked up through tears at Kris, who had a look of small remorse. She looked between Kris and the knife a couple more times, then she dropped to the floor.
Kris felt their body heave, gaining control back. The first thing they did was rip the soul out and start slamming it into the ground. They kicked it over and over, smashing its red glow deep into the floorboards.
Each kick was responded with a small pulse, as if it was laughing at them. Kris beat it more and more. Eventually Kris stopped, the soul was glowing weakly, but it was still alive. As much as it pained them to keep it alive, it was the only thing keeping them alive.
Kris dropped to their knees and crawled over to Noelle. She was holding on to what little life was in her, blood leaking out of the puncture wound in her heart. Kris laid down perpendicular to her, sobbing. Kris grabbed one of her hands and held it in theirs.
“I’m… i’m s- so sorry…”
Noelle weakly lifted her hand, brushing some of Kris’ hair back. She laid her hand on their cheek, watching their eyes try to avoid hers.
Kris grabbed the wrist of the hand on their cheek, and they held on, sobbing into the rug below them. They felt their grip loosen on her wrist, being replaced by a grainy white powder.
Kris looked up in her eyes, she slowly dusted away, not letting her gaze leave theirs. Before she fully wilted away, she calmly mouthed out three words.
“I love you.”