Chapter Text
Prologue
Have you ever thought of how monotonous and boring your life is after your high school years? When you’ve lost all of the only friends you’ve ever had just because your shitty dad told you to “cut off every one of your connections, or else”? Natsuki had thought of this many times, even as she trudged through the thin layer of rain beneath her feet, shielding her face with an umbrella. The memory of how that happened still made her sick to her stomach to this day. One recurring thought- wait, that’s not right… Nightmare was the memory of that incident; it still sends chills through her body just thinking about it, which is exactly why she won't.
Turning her attention to the ‘great cold,’ she noticed that the light rain that was just beginning had turned to a complete downpour. She picked up her pace, not because she’s scared of the dark, but because of the totally not obvious, very heavy rain threatening to soak her right then and there.
Of course, she knows it’s gonna be a long way until she’s at her apartment, so she returns to sifting through her mind for a while because why not? So… Ever since she was forced to drop out of high school, she had been kicked out and forced–again– to move into some shelter while she saved up money working at a cheap restaurant. And when she finally moved into an apartment, she still couldn’t get a new job. Her internal voice interrupted her thoughts, maybe because you kept cussing them out, idiot, and she mentally told herself to shut the fuck up.
Actually… If she’s really gonna dive that far into memory lane… One particular club comes to mind: the literature club. Although most of the memories there were pretty good, there’s one person in particular that still hurts to think about, and she’d rather not; so that’s what she’s gonna do!
She was yanked out of her thoughts as something caught her eye, and she abruptly stopped. That’s weird… What the actual fuck is that? She eyed it curiously, then approached, then crouched down to it. Was that an eye? Suddenly, a sharp ringing pierced her ears, straight through her skull. Her vision blurred into static, and after just a blink, it was gone. It seemed to be a glitch of some sort. Wait, what the fuck? A glitch? Those don’t exist in real life… M-must’ve seen it wrong… Suddenly, an eye opened in another patch of glitchy black, its gaze landing on her. She yelped, stumbling to her feet and dropping her umbrella in the process,
“W-what the fuck is that!?” She couldn’t tear her eyes from it, it was like they were glued to that thing… It took all of her power to look away. That was when she booked it, running far away from that thing with everything she had until she could no longer see that area, even in the distance. It was then that she realized she forgot her umbrella, earning a great sigh, but it’s not like she’ll use it ever again, anyway…
The rest of the walk was full of paranoia and caution. A few times she jumped at a sudden noise and broke out into a run whenever she saw something strange. She constantly looked over her shoulder, the rain now fully soaking through her thin, cheap clothes and chilling her to the bone. She shivered several times, Ugh! This is what I get for picking the long route instead of paying three fucking dollars and just riding the stupid fucking bus, She thought bitterly.
As she arrived at the door of her apartment, she felt something… off. She couldn’t put a finger on it, so she just ignored it and reached into her pocket to unlock her door. Dizziness washed—no, crashed into her. Was she gonna pass out? Her hands shook as the door was pushed open. She felt light-headed. Was this always what her room looked like? The room was barren and dark. She thought, certainly this isn’t my room… The world around her darkened, her limbs weakened, and she fell.
…
…
‘She can’t remember much from that day other than the incident. That she could vividly remember. She remembers the bang that followed after the trigger was pulled and the sensation of Papa’s throat against her hands after he shot. She remembers how quickly she pinned him against the wall and strangled him; how quickly she grabbed the gun and shot straight through his head. The sound of her body hitting the floor, and the metallic smell following the blood that filled the room. She suddenly felt sick. Everything around her crumbled, her heart felt like it held a million copies of the same 3 emotions, rebounding against the walls and going all over the place.
A strange voice says, “You’re not there anymore, wake up.” But she wasn’t listening. Wake up from what? Where even is she? The barely visible clouds in the night zoomed out. Was she falling? No, she was certain the ground had supported her, but then why was it opening up and letting her fall? She hadn’t felt the wind when she fell, but she felt the sensation. The world fell apart around her, everything being consumed by a void. Is someone watching her? Eyes were staring her down all around her.
“Hello?” Her voice came out glitchy; she couldn’t even recognize it. “Wake up.” The voice hadn’t really had a voice, but then… How did she hear it? It was a little robotic, maybe…
“Wake… Up? From what!?” She called out, but she received the same answer, which was just repeated over and over again. As the ‘voice’ grew louder, she winced and covered her ears, “Alright, alright, I hear you! Just stop it!” It didn’t stop. It kept going on and on. WAKE UP. WAKE UP. WAKE UP.’
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Natsuki jumped awake, her eyes darting around the room hurriedly. She couldn’t see anything; it was dark and… cold. Really cold, a direct contrast to the sweat soaking her back, palms, and face. Where was she? She ran her hands around the floor, feeling around for… something… Sadly, she felt nothing but a hard, dusty, concrete floor. She really should've noticed before, but this was when it really set in. This wasn't her apartment.