Work Text:
"Hey... Hey... Oh my god..."
On the floor of a room that wasn't hers, with a sharp pain in her neck and blood dripping down her chest, she felt the soft voice faintly calling her. The sound of police outside was making her head pound, and she could barely keep her eyes open.
She moved her hand the slightest bit. It didn't betray her. Nobody made her body move against her will. She was in control again, after 12 years. She took a deep, shuddering strangled breath, and felt warm hands on her shoulders as she coughed blood.
"Oh my God... You're alive..."
She slowly opened her eyes to find a blonde woman, more or less her age, with a bob and teary blue eyes that irradiated concern and care. Despite what she had done. Despite what Annabelle had made her do.
"Mia..."
The blonde nodded, relief visible on her face as she heard the other woman speak.
"Yes, yes, it's me."
Aver eyelids begun closing again but were quickly opened as she felt small slaps across her cheek.
"No no no, stay awake, stay with me. I'm going to call an ambulance-"
But Mia was cut off mid sentence by a cold, weak hand gripping her wrist.
"No! No doctors, no police- they'll come for me."
The blonde was about to protest, but the genuine fear in the other woman's eyes made her stutter and hesitate. On one hand, bleeding out was still a very close possibility. On the other one, Annabelle having a panic attack wouldn't exactly be any help.
So, as she stared at the other woman's terrified eyes, in a stark contrast to the horrifying expressions she had seen before, of pure craziness, she took the time to breathe and think about it.
"... Alright. But you have to at least let me bandage your neck. It's dangerous to leave it like that."
Trembling against the wooden floor, somehow in ecstasy as she took control of her own body, Janice nodded. She slowly felt the floor against her fingertips, moving them, flexing her fingers and experiencing the freedom she had longed for since she had been first possessed. A dream that for so long she had thought out of her reach.
There was still fear, though, a very strong and real one that vibrated inside her stomach as she watched Mia carefully get up to pick her emergency kit. All that kindness that she most definitely did not deserve, the soft looks, the soothing voice- this young, kind woman with a life ahead of her could have been killed by her own body if it hadn't been for fate pulling this strange trick.
And the fear of Annabelle coming back to attack Mia once again stopped Janice from getting all the closeness she would like. As Mia's careful hands reached out to touch her neck, she flinched, pressing her back against the wall behind her like it could ground her enough to keep her from losing control once more.
Aside from the constant paranoia inside her mind of becoming the ruthless killer once again against her will, there was a certain feeling of pleasure in being touched after so long. Before, she could feel the touch of other people, but always through a thick barrier set by the consciousness that had invaded her body, and therefore, wouldn't let her experience contact like any other person would.
But now, she could feel everything. It was, in a strange sense, orgasmic. She felt every texture, every temperature and every slight movement against her skin with exaggerated senses, like everything was highlighted now that she, and only she, could feel it.
She leaned her head back against the wall, the pain of her sliced neck sending shocks through her whole body and making her flinch in place as the wound was treated and eventually bandaged, leaving her a mess of heavy breaths and trembling limbs.
The near-death experience and the absolute bliss of rebirth had completely integrated themselves in her brain and transformed into a mass of unprocessable feelings that made her too joyful to be in pain yet too hurt to completely indulge in her happiness.
Yet thankfully Mia's touch and voice, which sometimes muttered a small "sorry" whenever she accidentally hurt her while cleaning her wound, grounded her just enough to allow her to be completely aware of her own presence, and of the absence of the demon that had tried to end her. After everything was done and her wound was protected by a clumsily attached bandage, Mia sat down in front of her and spoke, after licking her lips.
"Annabelle, what... What happened to you?"
The name immediately triggered her defense response, making her answer without meaning to.
"Janice. It's Janice."
Mia seemed to hesitate, processing the words at first, but eventually gave up without asking and respected the name that was asked of her to use.
"Janice... Are you alright?"
She touched her neck, feeling the bandages holding onto her skin. Her head was turning uncontrollably, probably due to the fact that she had just gained consciousness after being near death, and after being another person for twelve years. But otherwise, the racing pace of her heart wasn't a bad sensation. She nodded.
"... Did I do anything to you?"
Her mind was still barely able to make out some images of her recent hours as Annabelle, but she feared the spirit, demon, or whatever it had been, had actually managed to hurt her neighbour, who not had only not done anything wrong, but had also done everything right.
Mia's eyebrows raised at the sudden question by the wounded woman, shrugging a little bit, hesitant.
"No, you didn't. The man who was with you stabbed my stomach, but it's not too deep, so..."
Seeing the brunette's pupils contract in horror at the response like a cat's, it came to her that perhaps it was, indeed, a bigger deal than she was making it to be. Janice's eyebrows furrowed in concern and remorse, and her lower lip trembled slightly like it used to when she was still at the orphanage.
"I'm fine, really."
Mia lifted her blouse, showing the wound that was near her stomach. It wasn't too deep, but still, it was something. The exact thing Janice had prayed for not to happen, and yet it had. With gentle, trembling fingers, she reached out to touch around Mia's wound so she could get a good look at it.
The cold of her fingertips made the other woman tremble slightly, and Janice immediately felt like melting at the warmth of another person's body. After looking for a bit, with her hand lingering longer than necessary, she finally nodded and took her hand away, swallowing.
"I'm so sorry this happened. You shouldn't have gotten hurt."
"It's alright. I know cults work that way, you probably weren't... Feeling like yourself in the moment."
Janice let out a weak huff of laughter.
"I wasn't myself. More literally than you think."
Mia frowned at this, intrigued and confused. After helping Janice to have a cold shower and put on some fresh clothes, despite the other woman's obvious embarrassment, she asked to hear the story. And Janice, hesitant, still decided telling her was the least she could do. But telling someone you spent twelve years possessed by some little girl wasn't the best way to start meeting someone.
She snickered at Mia's faces by the time she was done speaking, hiding her own face in her hands and shaking her head.
"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"
Mia was snapped out of her thoughts by this, immediately shaking her head and sitting up straight.
"No, no! Of course not, I just..."
She stopped, trying to look for the words. She was obviously shocked, but couldn't exactly explain a reason why she did believe her.
"Look, it does sound crazy. But... This house, this doll... It's making me believe things. I've been hearing things, seeing them. I'm starting to believe things that seemed impossible before. And the difference between your face before and now..."
Without even realising, she extended her hand to touch the woman's face. It looked much softer, with eyes pleading in a way, gentle like a doe's, sad and adoring, the complete opposite of the craziness and lack of feelings she had seen while being attacked. Janice, while startled by the sudden touch, soon closed her eyes and leaned into it, needy like the warmth of Mia's touch was giving her life.
"Yes. I don't know why, but... I believe you. You look different and... Act different. I've been your neighbour for years and I had never..."
She interrupted herself when she realised how intimate she was being with the way she touched the other woman without meaning to, and quick took her hand away from Janice's face to avoid things getting uncomfortable.
"Sorry."
Surprised by the loss of contact, Janice tried to hide her disappointment and shook her head, scratching the back of her neck. The bandages were starting to itch, and she felt like a dog with a cone around its neck, but she knew taking them off wouldn't help at all, considering the pain that was already pulsing under them. She was lucky Annabelle had been careless enough to not cut all the way through.
She cleared her throat and out her hand down.
"It's fine. I... I definitely know what you mean. At least I'm glad you believe me."
She tried to get up, but just then, her leg somehow seemed to stop working altogether. Oh no. Not again. Before she could catch herself, she nearly fell and had to press her back against the wall to keep her balance.
Of course. Now that Annabelle was out of her body, her disability was present along with the rest of her old self. Her leg was once more completely useless due to having had polio as a child. It was strange, since, as annoying as it was, she was, in a way, glad it was back. At least it was another sign that she was completely herself once more.
Mia rushed over to her, her caring nature not stopping for a moment as she saw her slowly sit back on the floor against the wall.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
Janice gently shook her head in response, trying to ease her concern.
"I'm fine. Just... Polio."
"Oh."
Mia paused, a small frown crossing her soft features in thought.
"But you walked perfectly before, I saw you?"
She shrugged.
"When she was in control, the muscle thing was fixed, somehow. But only when she is. Not when I am. I guess being possessed somehow takes physical disability away, but now that I'm back..."
Mia nodded, relief clear across her face at the explanation.
"I get it. Must be hard getting used to your body once again as well."
Janice agreed quietly, once again moving her fingers to a hold of her own movements. It certainly did feel strange. She trembled as Mia's warm palm once more landed on her shoulder in a caress.
"Wait here, I think I have something you can use for now."
She got up, leaving Janice with a strange sensation of longing as she waited for her to come back. She was scared of being alone, feeling as though Annabelle might come back the second Mia left. But it just took a couple of minutes before the blonde came back with a couple of crutches, helping her get up.
"Here..."
She said softly, putting her own body behind Janice so she could guide her to take them and help her use them properly. Her hands wrapped around Janice's, which were holding the crutches as she felt the blond woman's chest press against her back, being patiently taught how to walk once more.
"There, now you move this one, just like that. You've got it."
Perhaps she was imagining things, but Janice swore she could feel Mia's faint heartbeat against her back. That, combined with the warmth of her body, gave her the nicest of sensations, a grounding that couldn't he compared, and that once again assured her: she was here. She was here, and she was herself, nobody else. She had control of her own body, she could touch and be touched.
And she could start again.