Chapter Text
There was something haunting this town.
Susie had seen her fair share of random small towns scattered across the surface in her day— different schools, different people, different environments. So when she came to Hometown— (stupid ass name, by the way,) she didn’t expect it to be any different.
But it felt as if the very walls of the town were haunted with something.. disturbing. Something that everyone knew about but wouldn’t acknowledge— wouldn’t look at. Her classmates knew something they weren’t letting her in on, and it was pissing her off. Whatever it was, whatever darkness that lingered in the corners of every street in Hometown, everyone seemed complicit to ignore it and keep moving on with their lives.
Everyone except them.
Susie noticed them immediately— a mop of rowdy, mousy brown hair that tumbled over their eyes, drowning in a sweater of green and yellow. Everything about them felt like giving up, like they just couldn’t be bothered to keep up the facade anymore. They slept through every single class— sitting inches in front of her, still like a corpse. Maybe at one point they had friends, maybe at one point they talked to people— but that wasn’t true anymore.
Kris was unsettling, to say the least. She couldn’t fucking.. figure them out. They came from a nice home, white picket fence and bedtimes and never not enough money to go around. Susie had heard from some townsfolk that their brother was some college hotshot with a bright future in front of him— so what the hell happened to this one?
The only interaction they’d had was one Susie sought out herself. Around a month ago, back when she was still getting her bearings at this school, letting everyone know just exactly who she was. Kris annoyed her— (and honestly, they still fucking do), their apple scented shampoo taunting her every single weekday. She had stayed long after class, after Alphys and everyone else packed up to leave. Of course, there sat Kris, crumpled over their desk. Just one more thing that pissed her off. She tried to intimidate them— got right up in their face too, teeth and all. Made a big show of curling her maw into an apple grotesquely in an attempt to scare them. With a lock of their hair in her fist, lifting their head up off the desk to finally fucking look at her, she saw..
Those eyes.
Scarlet and bloodshot, they stared at her with such intensity it looked like a glare. She would’ve thought they were pissed, too, if it wasn’t for the creepy smile they had on as well. Like they were enjoying this. God, it freaked her out so bad she threw them back down onto the desk and ran off. She hasn’t tried to interact with the freak since.
Susie went right back to just staring at the back of their head in silent anger, waiting for the day they tried something so she had an excuse to finally see what apple shampoo really tasted like. This… human, it was like they existed just to piss her off with their obscurity. Whatever, right? None of it really mattered. Who cared if Alphys decided to pair the two of them together for some stupid group project, she’d just make the twerp do the whole thing and skip talking to them at all. After all, she was just biding time until she had to pack up and leave this dumb town and its haunted nature as well. Hometown was just another stupid—
“S-Susie—!”
Alphys’ voice cut through her internal brooding sharply, bringing Susie back to the classroom. Although she was her teacher, her voice was just so.. annoying and high pitched.
”What?” She snapped back.
”U-Um.. Since you came in late, why don’t you go get the extra box of chalk for me from the supply closet so we can start class?”
Alphys was clearly framing this as some sort of minor punishment for being late, but all Susie heard was an excuse to get out of this god awful seat behind Kris’s shampoo and get a snack. “Whatever.” She grumbled, pushing her chair back with a sharp hiss and leaving the classroom without much fanfare.
As she strolled through the empty hallways towards the back of the school, Susie began to abandon the idea of heading back to class after all. What was the point? Not like she’d learn anything anyway. Might as well scarf down the rest of the chalk among the dusty shelves of the supply closet and then head home. Just as she flicked on the lights to the old closet and started scouring for the box, she.. heard something.
Susie turned back towards the closet door, trying to locate the sound when—
SLAM.
The door shut tight behind her. She froze for a moment, processing, before muttering a quick ‘what the hell?’ under her breath and heading over. She tugged. Nothing. She pressed her body weight against it— nothing. What the fuck was going on?
The ghost, she thought immediately, before cursing herself for conjuring up such a stupid little fairytale. There was no ghost haunting Hometown, and it most certainly hadn’t locked her in a grimy old supply closet. Just as she was about to slam her shoulder into the wooden door to hopefully bust it open, a noise from the other side caught her attention.
It was quiet— quiet enough that she had to strain to hear it. It almost sounded like..
”Hey— Who the hell is laughing out there?!” She yelled suddenly, banging her fists on the door. A fiery hot rage started building and burning in her throat at the sound. “You think you’re funny, prick?! I’ll tear your face off with my teeth when I catch you!”
BANG BANG, she pounded again. “OPEN THIS, COWARD!”
Susie raised her fists again, but when she brought them down, the door swung open, and she stumbled to regain her balance. Fuming, she looked down at the person who had the balls to lock her in the closet and then laugh.
Of course, who else would it be?
They just stood there, one of their freakishly red eyes poking out from behind their shaggy hair. They didn’t look guilty, they didn’t look scared, they didn’t even look like someone who just got caught pulling a childish little prank on Hometowns biggest baddest bully. Mischievous, Susie thinks in passing, mischievous is probably the best word to describe to expression they’re looking up at her with.
”Ha-ha, you little shit—“ She cusses under her breath, snatching the collar of Kris’s shirt and lifting their thin frame easily off the ground, baring her teeth at them. Her voice lowers to a truly monstrous growl. “You’re really asking for an ass beating, aren’t you?”
She just didn’t get it, how could one person be so incredibly idiotic? They had no sense of fear, any sensible teenager would steer clear of a monster of this caliber with a temper like Susie’s. But they just.. didn’t seem to care. About anything. They were infuriating, confusing, impossible to read, strange, out of place, they were—
They were smiling.
”That’s it..” She grumbled, turning back towards the closet with Kris still in her hand. She’d show them— teach them a lesson they wouldn’t forget. If they kept pushing her buttons after this, they were just insane. Susie slammed Kris’s back into the metal shelving unit inside the closet, hard, maybe harder than she should’ve. She wasn’t planning on doing any real harm, just.. enough. As she pressed, she felt the metal bend and dent underneath them. “Smirk about this, you piece of—“
The sound was more haunting the second time.
SLAM.
Susie whipped around, but her brain had already processed what her body was struggling to keep up with. In her rage she’d pulled Kris into the closet with her like an idiot, all without thinking to grab a book— a rock, just something to prop the door open so it didn’t swing shut behind the two of them, locking them in together.
”Shit shit shit—“ she fumbled, dropping Kris onto the floor and rushing back over to the door, jiggling the knob a couple of times. Susie didn’t wait this time, and focused immediately on shoving her shoulder into the door as hard as she could until it started sliding at the hinges. Frustratingly yet predictably, it wouldn’t budge. “Shit.” She dropped her forehead against the door with a grumble. This was the worst way this day could’ve played out. This crappy old storage closet barely got any use out of it— and if anyone noticed she was missing from class there’s no chance they’d be dumb enough to go looking for her. Not to mention how embarrassing it would be to have to be saved like some damsel in distress— no fucking way. Susie just had to think, find some way out of here that involved as little people as possible, saving her dignity and pride.
She turned her head over her shoulder to glance at the one responsible for this mess. Strangely, all the pent up rage in her seemed to have dissolved at the sight of them sitting on the floor with their knees drawn loosely to their chest, one hand brought up to cover their mouth. Kris was.. breathing a bit heavy? Were they hurt?
Hah. You cracked. Susie thought smugly as she approached them, crouching down to their level. Finally scared you, huh bastard?
Kris lifted their head to meet her eyes once she approached, lowering their hand. Their layered bangs were parted slightly to allow her a glimpse of their expression beneath the curtain of hair, and their eyebrows were curved together in an almost frustrated way, but not quite. Their big crimson eyes gazed up at her, mouth slightly parted— they were flushed. It was then Susie realized their form was slightly trembling, and a shiver ran down her spine.
“Jesus..” She breathed out, brows furrowing together and leaning back a bit. Her own face started feeling a bit hot. “What the hell is up with you? You’re not—“ Susie sucked in a breath, a little nervous for the answer to her question. “You’re not scared? In the slightest?”
Kris continued looking at her with that expression— that weird expression— enough to make her look away just to stop the heat from creeping down her own neck. When they finally spoke she had to do a double take, making sure it was actually them the words were coming from. They’d managed to keep their silence so long that the melodic voice sounded wrong coming from their lips.
”..I don’t think you’re scary.”
A huff escaped her without trying. “Yeah right, asshole.” It was a foreign notion, so much so she took it as a facade. She’d been feared since she was old enough to speak. Kids on the playground avoided her, teachers assumed things about her that weren’t true, the people around her told her exactly who she was from day one. No matter how different or odd this human was— they had to be scared of her. “What’s this all about? You bored, or just stupid?”
She was waiting for a proper reply, now that she knew the damn kid could speak— but of course, she didn’t get that. Kris reached up a hand wordlessly, placing it on the side of her jaw. She didn’t exactly know what she was expecting, she’d met humans before, but never had one touch her face. But their fingers were long and a bit bony, soft, a little calloused at the pads. Nothing like she’d expected.
A shiver ran through her. “What are you—“ Kris took her jaw in both hands and gently guided her mouth open like she was a doll, unveiling her large maw of gnarled and yellowed teeth, making it a little difficult to speak. Her hands flew up as well, grasping both of their forearms to stop them from wandering further. They were thin between her fists.
“You’re not scary.” They repeated, and before Susie could get pissed about that, they ran their fingertips across the tips of her bottom row of teeth, no doubtedly sharp. She drew the line there.
”S-Stop! fuck— you—“ She pushed them back swiftly by the arms, pressing their wrists into their own chest as if to chastise them into keeping to themselves. “you’re going to hurt yourself.”
Kris tilted their head ever so slightly, causing a weft of hair to slip onto their angular nose, revealing a single eye. She was starting to get used to those red eyes, the sight less off putting each time. A small smirk played on their lips, one they were clearly trying to repress. “You’re going to hurt me.” they countered.
Susie doesn’t know why, honestly. She doesn’t know why that stupid little glint of mischief in their eye doesn’t ignite her with rage, and instead forces a huffing chuckle out of her nose. “You’re so weird.” There’s no malice in her tone now, just plain observation, like Kris is a puzzle she’s working out in her head. She can’t tear her eyes off them, can’t stop searching quizzically like maybe the answer to their strange ass behavior is written in the gap of their teeth or the slope of their nose. Who acts like that?
Kris just shrugs a little, smile slipping further and further onto their expression. As they do, the neck of their sweater slips a bit, revealing the long blossoming of a red cut just above the collarbone. Susie drops their hands as if they were electrocuted, eyes landing on the mark. “Did— I do that—?” It must’ve happened when she grabbed them, or was it when she pushed them into the shelf..? Fuck, the thought plagued her mind, there must be an awful bruise on their back.
She doesn’t know why the thought makes her gut twist so much, but it does. She’d let her emotions drive her again, and it’s not like in the moment she hadn’t known it would hurt, but seeing the physical manifestation of that was.. jarring. Consequential. Kris tracks her eyes, pushing their chin into their chest a bit to try and make out the mark. They run a finger across it, and it’s here Susie sees that their nails are polished a swimming black. “No biggie, dude.” They mutter, and the casualty of that statement makes Susie think, ‘god, you’re weird’ all over again. “You have long nails.”
Susie glances down at her own hands, turning her palm over to examine the deep purple claws extending from the tips of her fingers. They’re nothing like the square, tidy little stamps of black on Kris’s hands, and that’s proven by how easily and accidentally she’d cut them. “Claws,” She corrects with a bit of smugness, like she was offended at the notion she had dainty little nails. “I’m a monster.”
Kris stares at her deadpan for a moment, and she glances back up at them when they actually snort a little, bringing a hand up to their mouth to hide the accidental slip in stoicism. “No way,” they snicker, and Susie feels herself getting pissed again. “I thought you were human.”
”You sarcastic bastard—!” She barks, face heating up a bit as she gestures her hand at them. “You know what I meant— hey, shut up!”
Their eyes disappear from sight just as quickly as they came into it, and Kris doubles over to muffle their laughter as best as possible, obscuring their face. Susie grins a little, realizing her upper hand. “Hey, where’s your nonchalant act at, asshole? You can laugh? Who would’ve guessed?” She poked at Kris’s head, trying to get them to look at her, and every time they moved away she’d follow. This only seemed to make them giggle harder.
She hadn’t realized she was snickering a bit too. “Come on, weirdo, what’re you hiding?” Kris snorted again, gasping for air between laughter as Susie playfully pulled at their arms. “Is that funny?”
Shes so preoccupied poking and prodding at the giggly human in front of her that she doesn’t hear the shuffling on the other side of the closet door. In fact, Susie’s kind of forgotten that they were trapped in here together in the first place. It had only been a couple of minutes after all, (or least, it felt like that.) so when the door creaked open to announce the end of their little escape and Kris had stopped laughing and instead turned to look at the door—
“Oh! Um..”
Susie pushed herself off of Kris immediately, not realizing that she was practically on top of them in their play-fighting. Her head snapped towards the closet entrance, where the little deer girl from their class stood awkwardly. Noelle, Susie remembered, her name is Noelle.
“S-Sorry, fahah—! Miss Alphys asked me to look for you guys since um— you know, she kinda needs that chalk for class, so..” Noelle nervously brushed a lock of blonde hair from her face, avoiding eye contact and instead staring at the packs of paper and pens in the closet like they were the most interesting thing in the world. Susie stood, suddenly remembering where the hell she was. “Uhm.. did you.. find it?”
She glanced at Kris, who stands from the closet floor and brushes their pant legs off quickly, before snatching a box of chalk from off the shelf next to them as if they knew it was there the entire time. At first, she thinks they’re about to throw it at Noelle and tell her to go away, but Kris isn’t like that. They glance at Susie for a moment, catching her staring, before wordlessly walking past Noelle out the door and presumably back to class.
”W-wait, Kris!” Noelle grabs their wrist, glancing awkwardly at Susie before whispering some hushed questions. A feeling of unease drips down her throat as she imagines what must be running through the deer girls head right now. What were you doing paling around with this brute? Did she hurt you? It’s not a new kind of thought, or a new kind of reality, and Susie honestly can’t blame her. It’s all true. Kris was in a dangerous place. It’s not until she catches the look of.. distress on Kris’s face that she thinks she ought to butt in, though. She's never seen them look so expressive before, never seen them so utterly disturbed, their eyes blown out and brows furrowed together like Noelle grabbing them was the catalyst to something awful.
“Hey— Why don’t you just bring the chalk back for us? Class’s like, almost over anyway, and I gotta talk to this freak.” Susie steps between them, clapping Kris on the shoulder and snatching the box from their hand. “Thanks for letting us out.” She tosses the box to Noelle, who stutters out some apologies and thanks that fall on deaf ears as Susie forcibly drags Kris out of the closet and down the hall with her.
As soon as they’re out of earshot, Susie lets go of Kris and glances awkwardly at them. “Err.. Sorry, I get she’s like your friend and she’s just worried about you but you looked—“
”She’s not my friend.” Kris interrupts, voice clear. Susie stops in her tracks at the schools front entrance, a little shocked.
”Er.. right..” She should’ve probably guessed that by the fact that Kris doesn’t really talk to anybody, not even Noelle who seems to be kind to them and about everyone else in Hometown. It’s probably just a small town thing— they're all the same age, all grew up together. It makes sense that they’d all look out for each other, even if they’re.. Kris. “Uh.. what was that all about, then? Why did you seem so..?”
She didn’t want to use the word scared, because if fucking Noelle somehow scared Kris before Susie could the whole world would seem upside down, but she didn’t really know how else to describe that look. It was like they saw something terrifying on her face, something Susie didn’t.
The ghost, probably, her brain supplies unhelpfully, before she stomps that stupid thought out again. She really had to stop playing so many crappy video games.
Kris thinks a moment, and it’s this second of hesitation and the vague answer they give that clues Susie in to the fact that they’re lying. “She doesn’t like me.” They shrug.
“Yeah right, Noelle likes everyone.” She punches their arm lightly. “Why don’t you like her?”
They grumble a bit, annoyed at the prying. “Go away.” Kris starts walking out the front doors, which no less than appalls Susie.
”Hey—! You’re the one who followed me, asshole, you don’t get to run from me now. Answer the question!” She steps in front of them as they walk onto the sidewalk outside, the evening in Hometown reaching mid day and the air smelling like dew.
Kris seems even more annoyed by this, and she could swear they rolled their eyes underneath their hair just then. “Guess.” They mutter finally, crossing their arms before tacking on a little: “..If you guess right, I’ll do all of our group project myself.”
Susie frowns, that not at all sounding like a fair trade until she remembers that until she can successfully intimidate, bribe, or threaten Kris into doing it all for her, the project was still technically a collaborative effort. And considering their luck with freaking out the freak so far, she wasn’t too sure of her chances. “Fine. Are you exes?”
Kris sputters out a laugh at that one, the snort ripping through them immediately as they shake their head violently. Susie feels herself smiling just a bit. “What?! It was a good guess! What, are you like secret enemies or something? Give me a hint, at least.”
”Fuck off,” They get out through sniggering laughter, pushing past Susie to continue walking long the path.
”Oh, big bad Krissy actually swears, look at you.” She hits them in the shoulder again— before mentally deciding to stop doing that in case it actually hurts. She follows alongside them. “Do you have something against blondes? Or like, Christmas? Come on, it’s in your name, you can’t hate Christmas.”
”Christmas sucks.” Kris shrugs, shoving their hands inside their trouser pockets and craning their neck to look at Susie while she talks. “But no.”
”Christmas su..” Susie sputters, furrowing her brows and dropping her jaw. “You have a full house, don’t you? How could a holiday all about getting free shit from people suck?”
Kris just shudders and gives her a grimace, to which she flabbergasts at even more. “Dude!” She insists.
”It’s just a lot, okay?” They groan, continuing to walk along the path past the school and up towards the neighborhood area. Susie doesn’t exactly know where they’re going, but she was nosy enough to follow Kris into the deep end of the lake if it got any answers out of them. “So bright and loud.. The mayor goes all out.”
Susie’s face crumples a bit as she tries to recall if this shoebox town even has a mayor, and lights up a bit when she remembers the sour face of the old woman. “Oh, that’s Noelle’s mom, right? Let me guess, you have beef with the whole family and so Noelle’s just a casualty?”
She watches as Kris cringes a little, turning away from her and hiking their shoulders up to their ears like she hit the nail on the coffin. “I’m right, aren’t I?” Susie exclaims as they turn onto a gravel pathway, looking up to see that it’s actually a driveway. Unintentionally, it seems she’s just walked Kris home.
The house is just like she pictured it: save for the white fence, swing set and kids toys outside she’d pictured for some reason. Maybe when Kris was younger it looked something like that. Hydrangeas and tulips blossomed in the front flowerbeds, and warm orange lighting peeked out from the lace curtains on the other side of the windows. In the driveway parked a red SUV, a family car. Four doors, big enough for two rowdy kids and two tired parents. Susie stared at the fantasy for just a moment too long, trying to place the unfitting puzzle piece that was Kris into it. Predictably, she failed.
”No, you’re wrong.” They grumbled as they made their way to the front door, hopping up the steps and glancing back at her. “Just drop it, you’re never gonna get it anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow for the project.”
Susie snapped out of her daydreaming and groaned at that— it wasn’t just about wanting to know anymore, she hadn’t actually planned on doing any school work to pass this semester until now. If she had been paired with literally anyone else, that still would’ve been a solid plan. “Yeah yeah, whatever dork. See you tomorrow.” She put a hand up in a half wave as turned as Kris entered their house, pausing at the end of the driveway as they thought about what they just said.
See you tomorrow.
Since when had Susie ever said something like that before? Since when did Susie playfully punch rather than punch with the intent to hurt— since when did she walk people home after school? She glanced up at the street ahead of her as around a dozen kids walked the small streets of Hometown on their way home. Some alone, some in pairs, others in groups. Kris wasn’t.. like any of these kids, hell, Kris wasn’t even like Susie. Still, they skipped class together and walked home. How did that happen? When did that happen?
She made her way down the street towards her apartment sluggishly, and as she did she watched as some people she didn’t recognize crossed the road to walk on the opposite side of her. Once again, it wasn’t anything new, but for some reason this time it plagued her mind with a very loud and clear thought in the form of a quiet, monotone voice belonging to a stoic teenager with red eyes.
I don’t think you’re scary.
”Pfft..” Susie almost laughs at the absurdity of the thought as she turns her key in the lock, shaking her head a little.
What a weirdo.