#like I kinda like horror but I'm not that fond of gore

[uebermacht]

To celebrate Halloween this year, I’m thinking of exploring Heavenly Host Elementary School and finally playing Corpse Party. Is that a good idea?

[unpredictable-probabilities]

Azul Ashengrotto of Royal Sword Academy || Chapter 29: Song and Slumber

Summary:

After a long day touring the different Halloween booths and watching a movie with the Shrouds, Azul, Rielle, and Floyd go with Jamil to Scarabia to rest for the night.

Word Count:  4,015

Notes (more at the end):

For Day 7 of AshenViper Week 2024!

Prompt: Song

"The movie wasn't even THAT scary," Floyd says with a shrug as they continue to walk along the grounds of Ignihyde. "That innkeeper guy kinda reminds me of Jade, though. He'd totally let that Pumpkin Guy roam free, too. In fact, he'd prolly be the one to enchant it in the first place."

"I don't think I'm very fond of horror movies," Rielle says, looking a little queasy.

"Aww, it's okay, Flame Tetra! I'll protect ya!" Floyd wraps his arms around Rielle and snuggles his cheek against his red hair.

Rielle laughs as Floyd insists on continuing to hug him even as they walk. "Well, I'm happy you enjoyed the movie," he gives Floyd a quick kiss on the cheek.

"If anything like the Pumpkin Knight ever tries to get to ya, I'm killin' it first."

"Floyd is a whole horror monster of his own, to be perfectly honest." Jamil jokes. "So I can believe it. What about the movie unsettled you, though?" he asks the prince.

"They did all that hard work, and in the end it was for nothing," Rielle frowns. "What was the point? And I did not care for all that gore either."

"The royal palace is far removed from the dangerous areas underwater," Azul explains to Jamil. "I don't think Rielle has ever even seen a sea creature bigger than he is, so he's not as tough as the rest of us," he teases Rielle.

"Hey!" Rielle complains, but there isn't much bite to it.

"It's kind of a reflection of reality in some ways. Sometimes, things just turn out that way," Jamil attempts to explain. "These stories help us study different what-if scenarios and tap into our fears while we're in a safe environment, so… I'm sure for people like Azul and Floyd, it must've felt like a walk in the park since it's all happening behind a screen compared to their daily lives back at the Coral Sea."

"Our hometown's not THAT scary,” Floyd repeats the sentiment. “It's real boring most of the time," he adds, but he gives Rielle a reassuring squeeze.

"Easy for you to say..." Jamil rolls his eyes.

"Besides, what's so scary about a living plant?" The tall eel then pauses, thinking about something before he leans forward to curiously gaze into Rielle's eyes. "Hey, Flame Tetra... If I got turned into a lil' monster seed when I die, would you plant me?"

"I will," Rielle grins at him, and Floyd gasps happily. "Would you plant me?"

"Obviously!" Floyd looks offended that it’s even a question. "I'd plant you as many times as you want!"

Azul looks at the couple in fond amusement before turning to Jamil. "Are you sure it's alright for all of us to sleep in Scarabia?"

"Of course," Jamil nods. "I think the other dorm members are looking forward to seeing you again. Also, you've got as much access to the showers as you need, whether it's mine or the public ones."

"Oh, thank you," Azul says as they near the Hall of Mirrors. "Where would we be sleeping?"

"At the lounge, if you guys don't mind the open air. We've got carpets and pillows prepared." Jamil glances over at Azul. "How are you feeling? We had a pretty eventful day today. If you feel faint at any point, you can tell me, all right?"

This takes Rielle's attention, and he turns around to give his friend a once-over. "Oh yeah. You haven't been pushing yourself, have you?"

"No, don't worry," Azul shakes his head reassuringly. "How about you, though? Have you been alright?"

"Yes," Rielle smiles. "Floyd has been a good host."

"Heh-heh, of course," Floyd drapes an arm over Rielle. "I'm good at everythin'."

"I'm happy the two of you continue to get along well," Azul says fondly. Then he turns to Jamil. "I don't think I'd mind sleeping in the open air, though I'd never tried it before. Is it normal for Scarabia residents to sleep in the lounge?"

"Sometimes. We mostly do it whenever we're preparing for a big event or crunching up late hours for a test, and Halloween Week's definitely big enough to warrant lounge naps. Do you guys not do the same in your school? Your dorm?" Jamil glances at Floyd for the last one.

"Man, I wish!" Floyd huffs. "It'd be fun to see the guppies squirm if I suggested that. Don't think it's very likely to happen, though."

"We do that back at RSA," Azul nods. "Particularly during exam season or when there are events to prepare for. The committee a few years back had started it; there's a lounge area spacious enough to accommodate many students, and there are fresh pillows and sheets set aside specifically for those nights." He turns to Floyd. "Why do you think it's unlikely for your dorm?"

"They like to keep to themselves there, I dunno," Floyd wrinkles his nose.

"They like to keep to themselves away from the Leech twins as much as they can, more like," Jamil clarifies.

"Oh well…" Floyd shrugs, not bothered in the least. "They'd be boring sleepover buddies anyway, and who needs them when we already got the both of you!" He slings an arm over Azul and Rielle's shoulder. "By the way, we're not tucking in early, right? We should totally do something!”

"Our visitors need a break, Floyd," Jamil sighs. "And with another busy day ahead, you and I could use one, too.”

Floyd clicks his tongue in disappointment.

"We'll keep visiting here, don't worry," Rielle assures Floyd.

"Indeed," Azul adds. "For tonight I think we should all get some rest. You have Halloween duties tomorrow, and Rielle and I have to go back to RSA."

Jamil notices that Rielle falls silent at that and looks away.

After a moment's pause, Floyd rests his chin on top of Rielle's head, embracing him from behind. "Flame Tetra doesn't wanna go back, though. Does he really have to?"

"Yes, we don't have permission to stay here for longer, and we can't just keep calling Headmage Ambrose and telling him we'd postpone our return," Azul looks at Rielle pointedly. "Isn't that right, Rielle?"

"What's yer Headmage gonna do? Drag him back to RSA?" Floyd frowns.

That's when Rielle sighs and pats Floyd's arms. "Azul's right. Future visits wouldn't exactly go well if our Headmage grew upset with us. It's no big deal, and I'll be fine…"

"If you say so," the eel merman mutters. "But if anybody or anything needs squeezin', I'm your guy. Don't care if it's the Headmage or your dad."

Rielle manages a smile. “Thank you, Floyd.”

They exit Ignihyde’s portal and land in the Hall of Mirrors.

A few students are there getting back to their respective dorms; several glances are thrown their way, quick looks at the RSA uniforms before turning away again.

Jamil paid them no heed, knowing that getting seen with Azul would be more beneficial if it was to guarantee no one else was going to make any moves towards him.

They arrive at Scarabia, and after showering and changing into fresh clothes and gathering the beddings, they head to the lounge.

Several of the Scarabia students wave at Azul in greeting and gawk at Floyd and Rielle in shock.

At some point, they run into Orfeo—the one who threw a sandwich at Azul when he first visited—and he freezes at the sight of them.

"Ah! Prefect! And..." He stares at the rest of the group with wide eyes. "Oh, er, I'll get out of your way." He speedwalks away from them.

“Can I help with preparing anything?” Azul asks as the other residents set up their sleeping areas around the lounge.

"You can help place them out,”Jamil gestures over to the other students laying their blankets and pillows down. “In the meantime, I'll get us some extras. Be right back."

"Mister Azul!" Immediately, as soon as Jamil left the room, Gossipmonger and the others swarmed around Azul. "You're really here! Is it true you and the Prefect are dating now?"

"A-Are you friends with er… him as well?" Convo-Hopper nervously gestures at Floyd.

"Who's the redhead?"

“Oh, hello,” Azul greets them. “Floyd and Rielle are my former classmates from middle school, and yes we’re all friends. And, um…” he feels his face warm. He clears his throat. “Yes, Jamil and I are dating now,” he hopes his smile still looks dignified.

A few people from among the crowd squeal.

"About time!" Gossipmonger exclaims, crossing his arms. "Welcome to the Scarabia family, sir!"

"Wow, it looks like you've made quite a name for yourself here. I'm jealous," Rielle pleasantly remarks, before turning to them. "How was Halloween Week for you guys so far?"

"It's busy, but it's been going well," Quicksands replies. "The turnout for this year is massive compared to the last. Guess this is what having a cute cat posing for MagiCam gets you."

"It wasn't the cat, it was the ghosts!"

"But we've always had ghosts and they never attracted the crowd to us!"

As they start bickering and chatting amongst themselves, they resume work in setting their sleeping arrangements.

"Hey, Mister Azul," Quicksands pipe up, an enthusiastic sparkle in his eye. "I hope you know what's gonna happen to you if you ever do anything to hurt our Prefect!"

Azul smiles at the reminder of how protective Jamil’s residents are of him. “Oh, I do. I’ve seen your traps. And for what it’s worth, you have my word that I will never do anything to intentionally hurt Jamil. By the way, what’s your name? I feel a little bad that I’m going to be spending the night here and I still don’t know your names,” he says apologetically.

Quicksands shrugs. "Don't feel bad. The fact that you don't know our names is a conscious choice of ours. Can't be too careful, yanno? With that said... The people around here call me Jem."

“Thank you for trusting me with your name, Jem,” Azul says amiably. “And we appreciate you allowing us into your dorm.”

“Indeed,” Rielle adds. “Especially with how spontaneous our arrival is. Floyd has been telling me how much he’s been wanting to go here—” he turns and sees that the eel merman has walked off and is currently at one of the sleeping areas, poking the pillows and looking at the weaved patterns on the blankets. The resident who had set up the area is standing awkwardly to the side, looking unsure about what to do. “Ah, I better go there and make sure there won't be any trouble,” he smiles sheepishly and goes to Floyd.

Azul smiles in amusement before turning back to Jem. “I’m… admittedly surprised at how supportive you guys are of Jamil and I, considering I’m from RSA.”

"Maybe we would've had a problem but… the Autumn Dance helped smooth some things over," Jem explains. "Besides, you make our Prefect way happier. And nicer in these past few weeks. So who are we to complain? As a piece of friendly advice, keep an eye out on your visits here. We stopped setting them up so much, but there are still a few booby traps left over. Most of them are for intruders from the other dorms, but we've also been having a few wayward guests sneak in these days, too."

Azul frowns. Jamil hadn’t mentioned anything like that. “Wayward guests? For Halloween Week? They’ve been trespassing?”

Jem nods, frowning. "Yeah, some real daredevils who think all of NRC is open for exploration. We can't do much to 'em since they're regular civilians, but…" He shrugs, smiling. "Not our fault if they just happen to sink into some loose patches of sand here and there, no?"

Azul chuckles. “What do you do after those unfortunate accidents, then? How do the trespassers get free?”

"We save them out of the kindness of our hearts, of course!" Jem says with feigned sincerity, placing a hand on his chest. "Anyway, don't you worry about us. We got those kinds of visitors under control here. Now come help me spread out this sheet."

Eventually, the beddings get made, Jamil returns with more blankets and pillows and the night progresses as the boys drink some refreshments and get ready for bed. The Scarabia Prefect watches all of his members settle down and turns off all the lamps before he sits next to Azul, the twinkling night sky their only illumination now.

“Did you know that some of the guests had been trespassing here lately?” Azul quietly tells Jamil in concern, his eyebrows furrowed.

Jamil tenses up beside him in surprise. "This is the first I’m hearing about it. Guests from the Halloween event?"

Azul nods, still looking serious. “Jem told me earlier. I don’t think anyone got harmed, and there doesn’t seem to be any property damage.” His tone is reassuring, but the crease on his forehead tells Jamil that something’s bothering him.|

Jamil feels just as unsettled. "I should probably set a barrier up around Scarabia for the rest of the week if this keeps up. Who knows who could invade our privacy? Worse, who knows what my residents will do to those intruders?"

Azul nods, then lets out a breath. He turns away to look forward, running a hand through his hair. “I’d kept you for too long,” he says quietly so as to not bother the residents who are trying to sleep. “You’ve been away from your dorm for two days because of me. If I had gone back to RSA sooner, you could have known about the trespassers earlier, perhaps even prevented them from getting close in the first place.”

"Whoa, hey," Jamil says, alarmed at the direction the conversation has taken. "None of this is your fault, Azul. I… erm…" He glances around to see if anyone's eavesdropping. "I was the one who wanted you to stay, so if anyone is to blame here, it should be me."

Azul looks at him and gives a small smile. “How about we just blame those trespassers? They’re the real ones at fault here, anyway. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help in dealing with them.”

Relieved, Jamil nods. "We should bring this up to the Halloween Committee tomorrow when they're having their meeting. We'll be able to take real solid measures, then. But anyway, that's something we can deal with in the morning. You really okay with sleeping here? It's not exactly the same level of fancy as your room in RSA."

“Of course, the mats and pillows are comfortable,” Azul says. Then he leans a little closer and lowers his voice, a mischievous smile pulling at the corner of his lips. “Though I wouldn’t mind us sleeping in my room next time.”

Jamil shares his amusement. "Guess that'll make us even should that happen." He realizes then that they'll be sleeping as a couple together for the first time and he holds the other's gaze, suddenly feeling shy knowing that a part of him wants to hold him close while another doesn't want to be ogled at by the others so much.

Azul notices his change in expression and furrows his eyebrows. “Are you alright?” he asks in concern. “Was that too forward?”

"No, I'm fine," Jamil mumbles, untangling the braids in his hair. "I was just wondering... Are you okay with this? Sleeping here, in a room filled with strangers?" He notices that Azul’s eyes linger on his braids for a moment before looking away.

“Ah, well…” Azul adjusts his glasses. “You suggested it, and I’m alright with whatever sleeping accommodations you can provide for us, especially since this sleepover was spontaneous. I wouldn’t want to impose.”

Jamil squints at him. "But are you comfortable with it?"

“... Admittedly I think I’ll be more comfortable if there weren’t so many people who could watch us sleep,” Azul smiles sheepishly. “But if you’d prefer to sleep here then I’m alright with it.”

Jamil goes quiet.

Shouldn't their first night sleeping together with their feelings out in the open be special?

He takes a conspiratorial glance around the room, before he whispers: "We can always do this some other time. What say we wait for them all to sleep and then we can head back to my room for the evening?"

A smile curves Azul’s lips. “Sounds good to me. What if some residents of yours decide to pull all-nighters?”

Jamil sucked in a breath between his teeth. "I'll think of something." He didn’t grow up learning how to sneak around and be quiet for nothing.

He starts to lie down, waiting for Azul to do the same.

“Thank you for today,” Azul says softly as he lies down and turns to Jamil. “It was fun to see all the different booths, and be rewarded with candy afterwards,” he adds in amusement.

"I'm glad," Jamil mutters, heart fluttering at the close distance between them. Discreetly, under the covers, his hand takes Azul's. "Today was… nice. I'm happy you stayed, and that you're here now."

"I'm glad to be here," Azul strokes his thumb on the back of Jamil's hand. "I wasn't expecting any of this to happen when I decided to visit you. Needless to say, I'm happy with how things turned out." He smiles softly and holds Jamil's gaze.

"Here's to many more visits for the days to come," Jamil says.

An hour or so passes, time that felt like the blink of an eye as they lay there chatting and chuckling. When he feels certain that everyone around them has quieted down, Jamil slowly sits up and begins to sneakily lead Azul to his room.

"Do we wake up early and sneak back out there before they realize we left?" Azul asks as Jamil closes his bedroom door behind them.

"Let them wonder all they want. We can tell them we went out for an early morning stroll," Jamil shrugs, sitting on the bed before hugging Azul and resting his head on his shoulder, sighing in relief at the comfortable solace washing over them.

Azul's arms wrap around him, pulling him close.

"How are you?" Azul asks as he strokes Jamil's back. "Still feeling well after all the activity today? Your fever doesn't seem to have come back so that's good."

"Never better, though you might be catching it now that I think about it… considering our excursion last night." Jamil’s face warms a little at the memory of them making out in a closet in Octavinelle.

"Ah… Well, it was worth it. And we weren't exactly worried about such things last night."

Jamil chuckles. "No. No, we weren't. And if you get sick, I'll take care of you. I'll see to it that you'll get better again before you know it. More importantly, what about you? What with that whole Dark Mirror business.”

Azul is silent for a moment. "I'm alright. I'm still mostly confused about what the Dark Mirror said, but…" he hugs Jamil tighter. "For now I'm just happy to be with you."

"And you don't gotta worry. Whatever that artifact means, it changes nothing for me, okay?" He retracts away from the embrace and lightly tugs Azul to lie down with him onto the sheets, feeling significantly more relaxed in the privacy of his room. Subsequently, the fatigue easily finds its way into his bones and he yawns. "When do you have to go back again..?"

"Some time tomorrow," Azul says softly, tucking Jamil's hair behind his ear. "But I'll visit again within this week. I'll still be performing, after all."

Ah, right.

"Do I get special boyfriend privileges in knowing what you'll be performing?" Jamil asks. "What's got you keeping it as a secret?"

"I wanted to surprise you," Azul runs his thumb across Jamil's cheekbone before resting his hand on Jamil's waist. "But if you wish to know then I’d be happy to tell you," he says fondly and considers for a moment. "Hmm, are you familiar with the legend of the Opera Ghost?"

Jamil perks up from his drowsiness in interest. "The Opera Ghost? What's that about?"

"There's a legend from the Shaftlands about an opera house that was supposedly haunted," Azul begins. "But the 'ghost' was really just a genius architect and musician. He was able to create hidden doors that allowed him to seemingly disappear. I became interested in the story because it had a lot of musical aspects."

"And you're going to perform as him? Is he known for singing songs?" Jamil asks, trying to picture Azul in such a get-up.

Azul nods. "Despite his fearsome reputation, he was known for having a voice beautiful enough to earn him the nickname 'Angel of Music'. It's quite the high standard to live up to, so I need to catch up on practice. Not that I'm hoping to reach his level, of course. It's just fun to sing the songs from the musical adaptation that they made of it."

"You're going to do just fine," Jamil reassures him. "I already know it. And I'm definitely looking forward to the performance now. Thanks  for telling me. I'd like to see that musical someday. I don't know too many. Do you like them?"

"I do," Azul says with a smile. "Sound travels differently underwater and here on land, and I like listening to and creating music, both back at home and here. The music sounds different, but it's still pleasant. I'd love to watch a musical with you someday."

Jamil grins at Azul's enthusiasm. "Any recommendations for a musical newbie like me?"

Azul hums thoughtfully. "What genres of music do you prefer?"

"Hm… I don't have much of a preference, though I do tend to play hip-hop or indie rock whenever I put on some tunes to relax."

"There are several musicals with songs in those genres, usually those set in school or a residential neighborhood. They have upbeat dance numbers as well, which is always so impressive to me."

"That sounds worth looking into," Jamil nods, settling back down onto the pillow. "I'm gonna be holdin' you to that… Um… Would you mind if I fall asleep hugging you, or..?"

The faintest hint of a blush colors Azul's cheeks, and he smiles softly. "Of course I wouldn't mind, darling. I'd like to hug you as well, if that's alright."

Jamil feels himself flush at the endearment and he burrows close enough to Azul’s chest so Azul can't see his flustered look. "Yeah… I don't mind if it's you."

Azul wraps his arms around Jamil.

"Get as much rest as you need," he says softly. "Don't worry about anything else for tonight."

"You too…" Jamil mumbles. Then a thought occurs to him. “Um, is it okay if…” the words die in his throat. His drowsiness is making him more talkative, but apparently not brave enough to actually finish his sentences.

“What is it?” Azul asks softly.

“Can you… sing?” Jamil’s voice is a bit muffled from being so close to Azul. “It’s just that we talked about you performing and I remembered how it’s been a while since I heard you sing and… yeah.”

Azul’s embrace tightens around him affectionately. “Of course.”

Azul hums a few notes before starting, his voice soft and soothing.

Let me see the world with clouds Take me to the world Out where I can push through crowds Take me to the world A world of skies That’s bursting with surprise To open up my eyes for joy Take me to the world that's real Show me how it's done Teach me how to laugh, to feel Move me to the sun Just hold my hand whenever we arrive Take me to a world where I can be alive

Before Jamil could fall asleep entirely from the comfort brought on by Azul’s singing and the warmth of his body against him, he angles his head upwards to press a chaste kiss on Azul's chin, then he snuggles back into position as he feels himself slipping into deep slumber.

Notes:

The song that Azul sings to Jamil is "Take Me to the World" from the musical Evening Primrose~

<- Chapter 28

(AshenViper Week 2024 Masterpost)

(Masterlist)

[zombiepuke]

monochrome

there isn't enough love for Art on here so I'm changing that a bit! I love my clown boy so here's a little think piece about what a realistic relationship with him would be like; I jotted it down in the days following me seeing Terrifier 2 (also--GO WATCH IT it's amazing and we need more horror like this!)

--it's Art so. TW gore guts galore, Art doing his thing. Reader is kinda fucked up too

It was difficult to find words that fit your situation, words that made sense and could explain the feelings in your chest but, alas, there were none that you knew of, anyways. Maybe it was for the best, as some things just weren’t meant to be explained, and the lack of explanation absolved you of any responsibility or inner reflection of what the actual FUCK am I doing? 

It wasn’t like you had been planning to fuck a murdering, demented clown as your future dreams and goals. It had just happened, you swore.

You used to be afraid of him, just like all the others. Just like any normal human being with working eyes but, now, you were more afraid of him leaving you behind, becoming disinterested in you. Absolutely not even afraid of what would happen to you if he decided he was bored of you, no, you weren’t scared to die–you were terrified of the clown not giving you his spare attention, of him abandoning you to go play with some other pet. That’s what you craved. Art was your lifeblood, after all, but flashes of the words Stockholm syndrome Stockholm syndrome Stockholm syndrome would dart across your inner monologue every time the clown had you bent over his work-table, clutching at the wood as you silently screamed his name with every movement, every touch he allotted for you, but you always shooed those words away as quickly as they came. If you knew anything, you knew you loved him; besides, the clown had never kidnapped you or forced you—you were pliant and willing all the way down, self-awareness visibly apparent in how desperately you begged for him.

Art was as deliberate, intelligent, calculated as he was goofy–he knew he had you in his clutches the first time you had accepted his gift, the smoothness of the small prettily-colored rock he had placed in your palm was now a distant memory of a time where you could have passed for normal. The genuine smile plastered across his face tugged at your heartstrings–he had to have been harmless, right?--and you let him in at that moment, not knowing the turmoil and distress he would bring with him, but also the feeling of safety, of the security of being his and his alone, the pure pleasure he would provide physical and mental. You were utterly and entirely wrapped around his little finger, mind, body, and soul; as if your life before the clown never existed. There came a stripping of your identity that had occurred as soon as you had followed him into the bowels of the old warehouse he called home.

There was a type of security in clutching your fingers into black and white cloth, the softness of the fabric replicating his own softness he showed only to you. Art was surprisingly gentle when it came to you, the only time the clown ever seemed to slow, ever seemed to take his surroundings a bit more serious was when he had you underneath him (or on top of him–he liked to watch you more than you knew). There was much less of his playful silent banter, eyes shining and hands motioning quickly, and more of his genuine smiles, hands slow and relaxed as they ran across areas of your body most would not be too fond of letting him touch. Those hands that had done so much damage, countless wounds and had brought so much pain, splayed across your naked body and tethered you to him and you were useless beneath him, a moaning, drooling mess of a person.

Art had never treated you too roughly, even when you had wanted it, had wanted what he gave his victims, he had still held himself back for your sake, for his own—at first, because he didn’t want to break you too quickly–your body was not meant to be broken or ripped apart but it was meant for him to worship as his own. With you, suddenly, Art could reimagine the human body in a way he never thought of before, after seeing your pretty eyes shine for him, how you reached out for him, actually sought out his touch. He could slip his hands between your thighs and not imagine how the flesh would tear with a scalpel but rather, how beautifully they opened so willingly for him. He could taste you without biting through skin and vessels and tendons, only tongue and light pressure of his teeth. He could imagine your cries but not in fear, or pain, or distress, but in bliss, in ecstasy as you bucked against his fingers, eyes closed tight and brow furrowed in a perfect state, for him. For once in his long existence did Art look upon someone and not become overwhelmed with the chase, those moments of stalking and goofing around with his prey until he finally closed in and slammed them to the floor, slowly draining them of life and of blood–but instead overwhelmed with the desire to touch and to feel and to bring something other than pain, but the opposite. You learned very quickly it was difficult to say no to the clown, especially when he figured out how to make you come so sweetly as many times as he wanted you to, and when you had come a third, fourth, fifth time, there was still more to be drawn out–fuck it if you had a work shift that day. Even in pleasure, it was his game, and Art was in control.

That isn’t to say he never thought about killing you. At the beginning, you were nothing more than his next unlucky victim, so innocent and insecure in your halloween costume that night—he knew there would be little struggle. But when your pretty hand slipped against his to willingly take his gift he offered, how your eyes crinkled as you grinned enthusiastically at the clown, it was a different tune to dance to this time for Art. You had come sideways, crashing into his world and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with the softer feelings you gave him. However, a clown is a clown, and it’s not like his instincts switched on and off like the drop of a curtain. No, he still could see you—splayed, bleeding under his knife, eyes glistening with tears not of pleasure but of pure agony. He continued to daydream about how your spinal cord would flex and bend as he slashed through the flesh across your shoulders, how beautifully red and pinkish the skin would look tearing away from your back and how dutifully you would squirm away, not wanting to leave your clown but your body trying to escape the hell he was putting it through. He could imagine your belly, so soft and supple and he loved it in real time, loved pressing his face there to feel your breaths moving up and down, especially your heavier breathing after making you finish for the sixth time, but he could also envision how your internal organs would cascade down your frontside with a purposeful gash to your middle, essentially spilling your guts, slipping his hands inside of the break of your ribcage and he had always loved being inside of you—in more ways than one. How your liver and lungs would feel in his calloused palms, all texture and slippery and wet with plasma and blood. Oh, how bloody it would be, he would make sure of it. How he would be honored to bathe himself in you, drench it across your old bedroom, feel its warmth splatter against him, the taste of you—his teeth gnawing into your still-beating heart, pulling apart arteries and slurping it down until you were truly a part of him. But in his detailed fantasy of your butchering you were always a willing participant, never running from him or pushing his shoulders away, always weakly grasping your fingers around his grip on your throat, stroking his own knuckles as if to beg him to continue his merciless pursuit, sobbing in pain but consent. Blood bubbling into a gurgling thank you, Art, thank you as you attempted to speak to him in your final gasps. The thrill of the chase wasn’t what attracted him to you, it was the opposite, you falling into his arms rather than being roughly pulled. Art had never been wanted before and now that he had a taste of it, he wasn’t willing to let it go, ever, even if that meant suppression of every murderous instinct in the clown’s body. Being with Art was quite literally like being with a land mine, seemingly ready to explode in violence at any time but, you enjoyed it, and you wanted him more than you cared about being thoroughly ripped to shreds.

And besides, there was a throbbing arousal in the knowledge that the clown you had taken to bed could just as easily turn on you and murder you so sweetly, grind your bones into dust, tie bowties into your intestines, laughing all the while.

Art liked to dance around his cruel nature with you, just in small increments—the blade of a knife to your throat or the light scrape of a hacksaw against your thigh, pressing just deep enough to get your heart racing, a tiny bead of blood bubbling up, vision blurry only for him to replace the sharpness with a kiss here or there. He enjoyed taunting, playing with you, and you can’t deny having a sliver of metal so close to your jugular while he was fucking you didn’t make you come harder than anyone had made you come before. Seeing the violent flicker in his dark eyes when he saw your blood, how your body jolted and shook from his actions always sent a flutter of fear through your spinal column and outward into your fingertips, but it was a welcome fear—something different than your previous life, something you could actually feel and experience and it was one of the many fucked up things you loved about him.

How terrifying he actually was, when you really thought hard about it. It was terrible, horrific, beautiful and disturbing all in one fell swoop, and you wanted to change absolutely nothing about it. Art had given your otherwise worthless life meaning, even if it had a body count now.

The difference in how Art treated you and how he treated his victims made you feel sickly fuzzy inside, the deep dark contrast of how he slaughtered and killed throughout the nights but came home to you, his partner, dare you say his lover, even, drenched to the bone in oxidized blood and bits of gore and guts sticking to his costume—and pulled you close, damp, reddened palms coming to rest on either side of your face, coaxing your gaze upwards into his as he towered over you. You could smell the sickness of death soaked into him when he arrived back to you, could almost hear the final screams of the people he had preyed on but, it was all soon forgotten when he would playfully poke your nose, kiss your forehead, make you laugh at some dumb clownish posture he put on, offer you a sweet gift that he had stolen off of some unsuspecting victim. Any and all guilt you may or may not feel would dissipate as soon as it materialized when he would kneel to you, strong arms wrapped around your torso, press his face into your middle, inhale your scent and clutch onto your sweater as if you’d disappear into nothingness if he didn’t hold you to him. It was obvious in how he held onto you that he was possibly just as afraid of losing you as you were of losing him—your warmth, your kindness and willingness to understand the clown was not something Art wanted to let go of, ever. He had never felt comfort and never cared to feel it, until, of course, you’d hugged him to your chest for the first time, arms wrapping him in a tender embrace and then, he was addicted to being close to you.

You could see what you meant to the clown whenever he looked at you, whether it was from across the room or hovering over top of you, his eyes shifted into something a little less terror and evil and more cottony and soft. Sometimes it was truly hard to imagine the vile things he did and would continue to do when he was on top of you, his weight pressing you into the mattress (or couch or wall or wherever you both would end up in a passionate haze), hands grabbing and stroking every inch of you he could reach, large, gloved palms on top of your own, the smell of greasepaint and iron and carnivals against your nostrils, the bridge of his nose tickling your neck, even the silky fabric of his costume swooning against your skin had you reeling your head back in bliss just for him to reach forward and gently cradle your hair in his fingers so your head wouldn’t hit the floor so hard. You liked to clutch onto the poof-balls stitched into the frontside of his suit and he seemed to revel in the fact that you involuntarily hung onto him for dear life as he took you; so overwhelmed with the pleasure blooming inside of your gut and Art had this knack of making you feel so adored, so looked after, you felt it necessary to grab onto him, trail your fingers up his arm, squeeze his shoulders gently, and explain via touch how good he made you feel, that you wanted this, that you loved him. You didn’t know if Art loved you back, or even was capable of such a thing but the way he fucked you so sweetly meant at least something.

Maybe it was your own sick, twisted fantasy, but you swore you could feel something akin to love radiating from the clown’s body whenever you were together. Despite his disgusting nature, you didn’t think you could ever love another the way you loved him. He was disgusting, yes, but he was yours, and you sincerely didn’t want to change a thing about him—you couldn’t, wouldn’t fix him, and he was perfect to you all the same. Maybe in some other life you would give a damn about the atrocities he committed but it sure wasn’t the one you were currently living. There was a power that came with fucking Art and you had gotten quite used to it—no one bothered you anymore, there were no snide comments from coworkers or laughter by salty teenagers (on the flip side, you had no family anymore, no friends, no coworkers turned pals outside of work). There was only Art, this embodiment of evil, your clown and when people looked, they no longer saw you—it was only Art. It was as if your identity and the clown’s had merged, intermingled together forever in a dance that would eventually end in disaster for you, more than likely, but you enjoyed the tune all the same and welcomed your bloody end with open arms.

You just hoped to a God you didn’t believe in every day that Art would continue to see your value and want to keep you alive for now.

You knew what he did. You knew the clown left a literal trail of bodies wherever he went. You also knew that certain people would seemingly disappear after interacting with you in a sour way—as Art had a violently protective streak—if a manager at work got too snobby, a customer at the coffee shop you frequented cut you in line, that kid you had accidentally gotten into a small fender bender with a few months ago. You would see their faces plastered on missing posters and flashing across the news screen, all folks you’d bumped into or had spats with, and try as you might to make up some half-wit lie about what had happened to them all, you knew what their fate entailed. Ripped into pieces, sawed in half, gouged and mauled. It was their gore you brushed off of your clown’s suit when he came home to you at night, wiping away the stains splattered across his white face with a washcloth whenever Art popped up at your apartment, bloody smile on his lips as if he were an excited guard dog—look! I took care of it for you! Now you’ll never have to see them again!—despite them merely tapping into your grocery cart at the store. Gulping down a frightened sob you managed to keep your human morals under control as you helped to clean him up, this is just what he does, don’t let it get to you, don’t let him see you’re afraid but sometimes it was too much, and you would break down into tears and flustered fits when the clown bounced off to god knows where to do god knows what again, and in that moment it was your fault. You could stop him. But you never did, you never do, and over time you eventually gave in altogether, and were able to justify every single wicked, shocking act of violence he committed. The nightmares of all of Art’s victims would cease, Art himself coming to your side to comfort you in a sick, ironic fashion, his dirtied fingers stroking your hair. You stopped caring about people steering clear of you (they had no idea the Miles County Clown was fucking you but always had a strange feeling about you, your lifeless expression, the flash of black and white following your footsteps, the faint smell of blood wafting from your hair, the small trinkets of Art’s you carried with you like protection amulets), stopped caring about people panicking about missing persons or sightings of ferocious clowns in the alleyways. You stopped caring about everything altogether because, in the end, you were a victim of Art just as the rest—but it was different for you, as you had purpose, a meaning, and you pursued him as hard as he pursued you and you had made peace with it all. It had gotten to the point where even when you caught him red-handed, figuratively and literally, painted in blood over top of some probably innocent store clerk, slashing and scoring his shaking body with a rusty scalpel, you just shrugged. You were more concerned about getting the stains out of your carpet than the literal dead person splayed across your living room—Art, really? You really have to do that here? In my house? 

It was a stark contrast to the fear and anxiety you felt upon the clown’s first entrance into your life. At this point no therapy could save you, so you decided to just let it all happen, let everything fall apart because in your mind, Art could always put you back together again, and he always did—you’d never been so important, so protected.

And that is how it would be, forever. Art could not be killed, you knew that for fact—and whenever anyone would get the upper hand on the clown, even if it didn’t last long, pure murderous anger and hatred for the individual who took your Art from you wouldn’t last much longer, not with you defending him with every cell in your body. You were happy in this life, happy with Art, happy with how everything had turned out—you never desired anything other than him, never wanting, needing. Art had made one hundred percent sure of that.

[alliumbunny]

Headcanon time I guess(TMNT 2012)

BECAUSE I'M TERRIBLY MISSING TMNT BUT I'M BURNT OUT OF WATCHING NETFLIX HEADCANONS FOR TMNT 2012

If any of these end of very very very canon you can blame netflix for not having 4/5 seasons so I don't know everything oopsie :3

I'll start with my favorite character since obviously I'm gonna have alot to say about him :)

Oh girlie this is gonna be long(I TYPE ALOT LOL)

Michelangelo, Mikey, The best boy!! :3 sunshine boy idk

He's very very VERY fond of bugs, He picks them up and smiles at them :) and sometimes eats but only when his brothers aren't around because they 100% yell at him everytime they see him eat the bugs because B U G S!! Listen what else are they gonna eat that technically has meat? There's not gonna be any chicken in the sewers... maybe... who knows... chickens are weird like that <3

AS SOON!!! As they got internet and stuff in the lair he learned EVERY SINGLE CUSS WORD ✨✨✨ He also learns very quickly how and when to use them etc etc because he finds them so funny, Also He ONLY uses them with villains and only when his brothers/family/friends aren't around!! He comes up with the weirdest crazy fuckin Insults and thinks they are SO funny <3 lol (... Projection maybe :3 )

He's PanRomanic Asexual, because He deserves to be alittle(ALOT) Fruity 💖 (Kinda projection but not really, I'm Pansexual so sorta close LOL)

Tends to learn how to use weapons REALLY fast, He finds it really fun and interesting to learn how to use his brothers weapons!!! :D

Reads ao3 fanfics, Doesn't write any but found out Leo writes them and loves reading his, Mikey's just so glad his Oldest Brother has something fun he likes to do that isn't really serious!!! :D

Doesn't like Horror Movies(To much gore for him normally) but fucking loves Psychological Horror. I was about the say he liked The Magnus archives, but it didn't start until 2016 lol. So Umm :3 He likes reading horror stories alot. (This is projection probably but hey, I think he would hehehe)

Forgets his own birthday almost every single year(Oops going angsty now beware >:3 ) He doesn't see his birthday as important as his brothers or even his fathers so his brain just forgets about it, He always remembers his brothers tho(this is paired with the headcanon that they choose different days in the same month so that they didn't have to have 4 different birthdays on the same day lol)

April gave them a notebook and Mikey sketches in it, he runs out of space and starts to draw in between every other drawing because he doesn't want to ask for another one... :')

HE PUTS STICKERS ON THAT NOTEBOOK!!!! they're not very good stickers but like, He's collected them for years, every time he found one that wasn't destroyed then he takes it >:3 His brothers know about his little stickers and leave any stickers they find in his room <3 :'D

believes in luckiness/unluckiness and that sorta, luck theory(I might be the only person who's thought of this So I'll explain it oops) Basically Mikey believes that if Something good happens to him the same amount of bad will also happen later on, and vise versa :3 He doesn't let it bother him but it's always in the back of his mind.

The last thing also plays a part in this one. Mikey doesn't like when something REALLY good happens to him. He 100% believes that something REALLY bad will happen to him sometime after, Normally it does tho so he's kinda valid for it :')

Loves Animals, All kinds, He doesn't technically have a favorite(Until ICK comes into his life and it becomes cats) He loves cows and dogs and bunnies(PROJECTION LOL) and fish and Frogs and birds and dinosaurs and erhjdkjgbhdfkjbndfkjnjdfns ALL OF THEM, He doesn't really have a least favorite tho :)

He finds soda really weird, He likes diet soda tho, for some Weird reason, If he were to ever go to a fast food place he'd do that thing where to put some of every drink choice in one cup >:) (That's projection kinda, I used to do that so much omg, not anymore tho sadge)

Likes legos and stuff like it :D he likes building things that have instructions, He likes looking at the finished product and smiling and holding it and just OvO

LOVES COLORS!!! His favorite color isn't orange surprisingly tho, Instead it's the colors of the sky(in the day and night!!)

Likes sunsets/sunrises alot

He likes sitting on building roofs and just looks at the sky... It's when he cries the most LOL

DEPRESSION ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (PROJECTION TO THE MAX) His room is messy and he can never get to cleaning it and it makes him sad and like, numb sorta lol

Has sleep issues lol <3 Insomnia but nobody knows <3 I'm lovin it but Mikey ain't ✨

Gets Auditory hallucinations every now and again. They spook him alot since they're normally of stuff breaking loudly

Can't stop moving ever and it's very endearing to me!!! Stims constantly when happy and it's really endearing to his brothers because that's how they now he's actually really happy to be there and hang out with them, He just loves them so much(in a sibling way of course, I swear it anyone thinks differently I will hit them with a chainsaw and eat their flesh!!!!) aka they also know when he's not happy because of it aswell tho.

He bites people when he wants to >:)

. . . Raph and Leo are tied for favorite brother...

Okay I should probably stop with the Mikey ones oopsie daisy :3

So Um!! Next lol!!

Leo... Leonardo <3 <3 LEO!!! :D

He is such a mother hen(Honestly that's canon oops) He has the second most Medical knowledge and uses it all the time (The first is Donnie)

He squints his eyes when he's confused or upset lol

He doesn't like crime but keeps accidentally doing it without thinking

Quotes space hero's and Raph and Donnie are sick of it, Mikey quotes it with him but isn't as good at remembering the quotes lol

Likes the stars and star gazes whenever he can :D

watches videos about space!!!!!! He rambles to His brothers(Mostly mikey) about space facts til he runs out and gets new ones and goes through the same thing!!! It makes him so happy!!!!!!!!!

Likes gum, like minty gum!!!! He finds it fun to chew lol

cries in his room alone, silently at night....

Okie doki Leo is hard to think of :( Umm so NEXT :D Raph!! Raphael!! Yippeeee

When He's confused his eyes go all wide and shit >:3

Surprisingly likes calmer music that's softer and shit y'know? :)

Hates the velvet texture...

Has a calendar in his room that's been on February(20XX idk) for years probably

God raph is also hard to do...

Okay okay next!!

Donnie, donatello....

I wish I could headcanon him out of liking april. /hj

STARES AT PEOPLE for ALONG time, without realizing

Collects blankets that are textures that he likes. He just... has a pile of blankets :)

Donatello isn't my favorite if you can't tell ._.'

OKAY I KNOW IT WAS MOSTLY MIKEY!! BUT HE'S MY FAVORITE OKAY JFBKJDSBKJSDGNJKDFNGJLNDFJL

I tried my best with the others :3

I only did the brothers cause... Idk I didn't wanna do the others, k :3

I hope there's no spelling mistakes but know me there is oopsie ;3 lol

I guess... bye then? Idk

[itz-scira55]

[ welcome, please read before following!!! ]

☆ hey hiya, my name is of course Scira but you can call me Sci, Ira, or Leni! (which ever's the easiest for ya :D) she/they, indigenous and gemini with a special fondness for space aesthetics (mainly stars and galaxies but also things like astronomy as well), meaningful storytelling in art, and post-punk darkwave.

this here's my first tumblr blog since 2015 and currently home to my shenanigans, mainly my art and fanfictions but also a few of my other interests as well.

i s'pose you could say i'm a 'lil old-fashioned, having grown up right alongside tumblr in the dinosaur days of the internet (2010-2018). ^^; i'm neurodivergent, a little more on the private side, and my social skills aren't the best, but do know that i try my absolute hardest and that i appreciate all of y'all for being patient with me!

in terms of fandoms, i'm multi, with some of my major ones being kinda old and/or obscure:

~ Titanfall/Apex Legends

~ Overwatch

~ Red Dead Revolver/Redemption

~ Avatar (yes the blue people lol)

~ Transformers

~ Outlast

~ Sailor Moon

~ Gojira/Godzilla

~ Steven Universe

~ Naruto (...it's complicated ok?)

~ Pokémon

~ My Hero Academia

~ She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power

~ Horror (mostly games and movies)

i will take the opportunity real quick to warn you guys that i plan on posting mostly OC and OC/Canon stuff, so if that's not your tea than this might not be the place for you and that's alright! i don't personally believe in cringe culture and at the end of the day, i come here to relax with my blorbos and have fun, hopefully you understand.

another warning, while i'm at it;

i tend to delve into alot of edgier and more profound themes with my work, whether that be my art, my characters, my writing, or my media analyses. as such, i like to explore various AU's and come up with a bajillion headcanons for my favorite characters. sometimes, these concepts may involve gore or body horror to tell certain stories. i don't shy away from those things but i do try my best to respect them as plot devices or symbolism when possible.

i'm currently trying my best to be active on most social media platforms but i am kinda rusty and am mainly just trying to get into the business of actually sharing my art for the first time since highschool haha feel free to offer me any kind of feedback on how i can improve or just pop in to say hello! if you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read through everything! it's nice to meet you, hopefully you enjoy your stay~! ☆

Xbox Gamertag: itz sciraaa (active on most days)

Linktree:

[zoeykallus]

The Bad Batch x Reader – The Movies HC's

Going to the movies with the Bad Batch guys!

Hunter: He'll prefer you watch a holo at home, but if you do go out, it's best to do it on days when it's less crowded, perhaps to a smaller holo theater in a small town. The more crowded the theater, the less he can relax and focus on you and the movie, unfortunately his senses will throw a wrench in the works.

The choice of the movie, that he leaves mostly to you, but if you ask him for his honest opinion, he will tell you that he likes adventure movies, also action movies. He also likes to watch deeper movies, as long as they are not too cheesy or dry.

Hunter likes to play with your hair, so he likes to have your head in his lap, at least when you watch movies at home. At the holo-cinema he always has an arm around you and pulls you close to him. He makes sure you get couples seats so there is no barrier between you, because he doesn't like that at all.

His favorites would include: I'm looking at actually existing movies cause' it's easier to explain their taste for me this way.

The Green Mile Welcome To The Jungle Man On Fire (with Denzel Washington and Dakota Fenning, it kinda has a tiny bit of -protecting Omega- feel to it, that's probably why he likes it so much) -actually one of my absolute favorites too, love that movie and the NIN Soundtrack

House Of Flying Daggers (The only movie with a romance he likes) Rambo 1 / 2 / 3 and all the others ( Hunter,"I like his style") Any other movie with Stallone.

Echo: He's otherwise a pretty sober fellow. But he actually loves fantasy movies, the more outlandish the better. He likes modern fairy tales and has a surprisingly vivid imagination. Echo is super happy if you show interest in that as well.

At the holo-cinema, he doesn't care where you sit as long as he can be near you and you're not too close to the projection. He will buy snacks and drinks and then annoyingly have to go pee every few minutes.

He likes to cuddle with you while watching and also likes to watch your reaction when he shows you a movie, because some of his favorite movies he watches multiple times, over and over again.

His movies:

Lord Of The Rings (all of them)

Harry Potter (all of them)

Brothers Grimm

Neverending Story (The first only)

Edward Scissorhands

Pretty much every Tim Burton Movie

Wrecker: loves comedies and adventure movies. Basically everything that is exciting but also fun. Brutal and gore films are not his thing. He prefers something that creates a good atmosphere.

In the cinema he belongs to those who loudly express their opinion, laugh out loud and comment on the movie, but with his stature no one but you dares to complain.

"Sorry Mesh'la" he says meekly and grins at you when you ask him to be quiet.

He likes having you on his lap, he's a cuddle bear, and he likes it when you feed each other Mantell Mix at the movies.

His movies:

Jumanji (all of them)

The night at the museum (all of them)

National Treassure (all of them)

A lot of Adam Sandler movies (be nice about it)

Toy Story (all of them)

Up (he cries sometimes)

Tech: Oh dear. You'll only get him to the movies if there's a good documentary on, something offbeat, something he doesn't know yet or already knows but still finds fascinating, like Dark Matter.

Or you can find a good horror movie. Yes Tech likes horror movies, he is especially fond of those that play with the viewer's mind or have particularly gimmicky, good practical effects. That's why he likes The Walking Dead series, among others.

If you're not into either of those, you're out of luck, Tech's time is too precious for anything else, even if he likes to spend it with you, but not with some nonsense he can't do anything with. He' d rather talk to you, or spoil you physically, or cook something with you.

His movies

I exclude documentaries here...

The Thing (1982) -he loves the effects.

Room 1408

Alien 1 & 2

Omen

Get Out

Life

Shining

Crosshair: likes to go to the movies, at least when something is on that interests him. Just don't go with him to watch a romantic comedy or a drama, as soon as the movie is on and he realizes what is playing, he will get up, leave you sitting there and leave the cinema. He will wait for you outside if you really stay seated, but he will resent you for a long time for trying to lure him into such a "trash movie".

What he loves to watch are dystopian movies and disaster movies, the darker or more elaborate the better. He is fascinated by the concept of chaos in these movies.

His hand will always be on your knee or thigh, depending on how he's feeling at the moment, it could also be that he caresses you a bit more intimately, he generally has a hard time keeping his hands off you for any length of time.

His movies:

2012

The Road

Mad Max (all movies)

Book Of Eli

The day the earth stood still

How It Ends

World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles

The Wave

Annihilation

Cloverfield

28 Days later

@chxpsi

@andyoufollowyourheart @clone-whore-99

@brynhildrmimi @kaliel2310

@misogirl828 @tech-deck

@pink-peachie-pie @nahoney22

[darkestcorners]

graveyard shift | yandere!jungkook au

pairing: vampire!jungkook x reader {f}

genre: yandere, horror

warnings: 18+,  supernatural themes, stalking, tormenting, obsessive behavior, slight gore, mentions of blood, mature themes, graphic language, minor character death

word count: 8.3k 

summary: When you take the graveyard shift at your new job, you expect things to go rather boringly but the quiet night soon turns deadly when you realize you aren’t alone…

A/N: this was low-key inspired by that one spongebob episode with the hash slinging slasher lol. I'm not sure if I'm doing second part to this yet since it was kinda meant to be a one shot but if anyone would like another part please let me know:). Thank you so much for feedback I got on my polarity au! I will be posting the second part to that soon!:)

--

“Alright, so just make sure they show you their ID if they come to buy alcohol. ” Your coworker explained in a bored tone as he tapped away at the register. He looked tired already and you both had just arrived for your shift. You figured he must of worked a second job during the day due to the prominent bags under his eyes and his half lidded gaze. He was rather grumpy too.

You would admit anyone would be in a sour mood if they had to go to work at midnight but you had taken advantage of your few amount of classes this semester to take a good nap throughout the day. Of course this wasn’t an ideal job by any means but you counted yourself lucky considering the lack of job experience you had. It was a quick solution to earn some extra money to help your aunt with the rent. You didn’t need more of a reason for her to be on your neck, it was clear she already considered you a burden.

Besides the job didn’t seem that bad despite having to be stuck in a shabby 24 hour convenience store until 7 am. If anything, it was starting to make sense why they hired you, it seemed like it would be a slow night. It wasn’t as if the job required much labor and since it was the night shift, you wondered if there would be much customers to begin with at such unholy hours. The shop was located in a rather isolated part of town near the outskirts. It was clear it was geared towards tourists coming by to stop for a few snacks or drinks to continue their road trip. It served as a rest stop more than anything.

You stood there like a lost puppy as your coworker finished explaining to you the basics. You eyed his stoic expression, the dark hair rested over his pale forehead in a messy manner. You came to the conclusion that he would be cute if you weren’t so intimidated by him. Well, he was really cute but you were quick to shove the the observation away. He didn’t seem the least bit interested in even holding a conversation with you. If a friendly relationship was what you were hoping for at your first day here then it seemed like you were headed for disappointment.

“Got it?” His voice brought you back to reality as he raised an eyebrow at you. A few seconds of silence passed before you nodded your head eagerly knowing damn well you didn’t catch the last bit of what he said at all. He sighed as he stepped away from the register and walked around you, heading straight towards his seat next to you.

“Do you usually get customers at these hours?” You asked, your voice timid. Your gaze was glued on your co worker’s name tag that hung on the left side of his red uniform shirt. Yoongi.

He didn’t respond right away, his eyes shifted towards you slowly and he gave you slight shrug.

“I wouldn’t know, this is my first time working this shift. I usually work in the mornings.” He replied, his clear disinterest was evident but your curiosity spiked up.

“Really? Did they only switch you to train me?” If that was the case it would make sense why he looked so tired now, they must’ve of announced it last minute considering they had just called you yesterday informing you that you had gotten the job. No wonder he didn’t seem fond of you, it must have been an annoyance having to train a new employee for the graveyard shift. You instantly felt guilt wash over you.

“Yeah,” He muttered, confirming your thoughts. “ The old employee kinda quit last minute so we needed a quick replacement.”

“Oh.” You whispered, turning your head back the register in front of you. “ Sorry about that.”

Yoongi looked confused by your apology but he didn’t bother saying anything else as he plugged in his ear phones and laid back into his chair. You as he crossed his arms over his chest, his foot lazily tapping against the tile floor.

This would indeed be a slow night.

You decided to take advantage of the chair in front of the register and let yourself fall back against the seat, eyes slowly drifting down to stare at the beat up converse you wore. Your legs had already started to get a little sore despite only being here for a couple of minutes. You brought your gaze back up to look at the different aisles in the store, your mind was already memorizing where everything seemed to be located. You supposed the one advantage of working here would be the endless snacks you could indulge in and not to mention the delicious ramen. Your mouth watered at the sight of the ramen cups on the opposite side of the small store. According to Yoongi, your lunch break was at 3 so you figured that would kill some time.

12:37 a.m

You glanced at the clock that hung from the bright white walls behind you before turning your head back around and letting out a sigh.

You focused your attention ahead of you, the glass windows giving you a clear view of the lonely parking lot outside. The two dimly lit street lights that stood at each corner of the side walk flickered slightly and that’s when you noticed how the tree branches rustled roughly back and forth. It was mid September and the weather was already getting too cold for your liking, rainfall was common in this wooded area. However, this caused a worry to seep through you. The windy weather often caused outages and you could only hope that wouldn’t be the case today. As boring as it was, you preferred the rest of the night to go smoothly. Needless to say you weren’t the most reliable person when it came to stressful situations.

As your gaze continued to travel across the empty parking lot you felt your eyelids grow heavy. You rested your chip on the palm of your hand and felt your head tilt involuntary. Your eyes stayed focused outside but they lazily started to shut, only to flutter open again when you caught yourself drifting off. You didn’t know how much time had passed of you just being on the brink of falling asleep but something in the corner had caught your attention enough for your eyes to stay open for a few more seconds. Your vision caught sight of something near the tall trees that stood off the side of the pavement. Something seemed to be moving behind the bushes.

You didn’t think much of it at first, figuring it must be some animal like a raccoon or a squirrel roaming around but the more you stared at it the more you realized the figure didn’t seem to resemble any sort of animal. You lifted your head up slightly, your drowsy state making it suddenly hard to decipher what exactly you were looking at. You watched as the figure shifted and that’s when you realized it was in fact not an animal. It was far too big. It looked like a person was crouching behind the bushes. You knitted your eyebrows, wondering what type of weirdo would be doing that. You wondered if it was just some random crackhead who had decided to sleep there for the night but that’s when you noticed the figure lift up it’s arm. It’s hand was now sticking out of the bush and you felt your entire body freeze up when you realized the claws sticking out from its fingers.

You watched in horror as the hand waved at you slowly as if it was taunting you.

The sight caused you to jolt back in your seat , pulling away from the register. You turned towards your coworker that seemed to be fully drifting off to sleep. No matter how much you despised the idea of bothering him you couldn’t bring yourself to care at this moment. Your fear had taken over completely and you tapped his shoulder frantically.

“Yoongi!” You called out in a panic and he groaned before his eyelids fluttered open. His eyes scanned his surroundings before landing on your distressed expression. He furrowed his eyebrows and ripped the ear buds off in a hurried manner, body instantly tensing up.

“What’s wrong?”He demanded, a mixture of annoyance and worry coated his tone.

“T-there’s something outside!” You pointed towards the windows refusing to turn your head towards the spine chilling scene again. Yoongi sent a perplexed look your way before getting up and walking past you. Your heart still felt like it was beating far too fast and your palms felt sweaty. You heard Yoongi let out a sigh from behind you and you turned your head in his direction.

“There’s nothing out there.” He simply stated as he stared out the windows. You didn’t believe him for a second so you forced your legs to move and came to stand next to him. Your eyes searched for the clawed hand you had just seen a few seconds ago but you were met with nothing but an empty parking lot. There was nothing near the bushes, no figure crouching down and certainly no hand waving at you.

Not a single thing in sight.

“I swear it was just there!” You tried to explain but Yoongi only glared at you, not even trying to seem like he believed a word you were saying.

“What exactly was there?”

“A hand! There was a clawed hand waving from that bush!” You exclaimed in pure panic not even realizing how utterly insane you sounded. Yoongi stared at you in silence, his eyes darting to the window and back at you in disbelief.

“Y/n,” He started with a low chuckle, hands coming to rub his temples. “ Do you hear yourself?”

You felt a wave of embarrassment wash over you when you realized how hard he was holding in a full laugh. Your mouth hung open, words threatened to spill out but you kept quiet. Your eyes traveled back to the same area and you wondered if you had imagined it all. You had been on the verge of falling asleep when you saw it. Your mind raced with possibilities of what you could of seen but none of them made any sense. You were describing something straight out of some cheesy horror film and you expected your coworker to somehow think you were okay in the head? You felt nothing but pure humiliation now.

“Just get back to work, we still have a long shift ahead of us.” Yoongi’s shoulder brushed yours as he walked back to his chair and you let your head drop as you sighed. You rubbed your eyes in an attempt to fully wake up and rid yourself of all possible delusions that your own head could be making up. What were you thinking? First day on the job and you were already making a fool of yourself, not to mention proving how unfit you were for such a simple job. You hesitantly made your way back over to your seat, not even sparing a glance at your coworker. You still felt far too embarrassed to face him again.

It was sure going to be a long night.

—

Thunder boomed throughout the sky, the loud sound practically rattled the entire space. It had started to pour about an hour ago and now there was a full on thunderstorm taking place. By some miracle no outages had occurred and you were thanking your lucky stars for that. Being stuck here with your hostile coworker was already awkward enough and you didn’t need to add to the unpleasant experience by all the lights going out. You were terribly afraid of the dark and you had already embarrassed yourself enough in front of him.

You were currently restocking some items in the chip aisle, you had decided to make yourself a little useful and roam the store for a few minutes to stretch your legs out a bit. That chair turned out to be extremely uncomfortable after a couple of hours and the numbness in your thighs had been tricky to walk off. You set the final bag of chips along with the rest and turned the corner before stopping to grab two iced coffees out of the refrigerators. You shut the door and headed back behind the counter, you glanced at Yoongi nibbling on what looked to be a granola bar.

“Coffee?” You asked holding up the drink and he nodded. You set it down next to him and opened yours , taking a long sip. The caffeine was doing its job so far in keeping you awake, you had not dozed off again but the same couldn’t be said for the guy next to you. You were sure he had been asleep more than he had been awake throughout this whole night. You couldn’t blame him, there not much else to do and not one customer had come in. You figured you would at least get some truck drivers in here at these hours but Yoongi had mentioned they probably wouldn’t start coming in until 4 or 5 am. You took a swift look at your phone.

3:16 a.m

“Thanks.” Yoongi said beside you as he took a sip of his coffee, his eyes glued to his own phone. He seemed to have just woken up, a look of misery painted on his face.

Time seemed to be passing at such an excruciatingly slow speed that you truly did pity him. And yourself. You figured you would have to get used to it, this was your job now and after today , Yoongi wouldn’t be here to keep you any company. Not that he served much company but at least he was some good eye candy to stare at. Besides, you were still a bit shaken up from what you had seen, or from what you thought you had seen earlier. You didn’t even want to imagine the scene you would of made if you had been alone.

The sound of a engine in the distance ripped you away from your thoughts. You turned your head towards the windows and squinted your eyes expecting a truck or motorcycle but there seemed to be a large bus passing by the street ahead. The red back lights flickered but the harsh rain was making it hard for you fully catch a glimpse of it.

“Do buses run at this time?” You wondered out loud. This town was relatively small and you were sure you had never seen buses run at these hours. The latest you have seen them operate was 7 p.m and that was pushing it. Your question seemed to shock your coworker as well, you heard him shift behind but there was a long pause before he spoke.

“I don’t think so.” He replied and you turned to him raising an eyebrow. He gave you a shrug before returning his attention back to his phone. Perhaps it had been a travel bus from out of town. It disappeared in the distance as it seemed to drive down another empty street. You took another sip of your coffee before sitting back down on the hard chair that you were sure was going to give you some type of back pain eventually.

You spent the next couple of minutes playing on your phone. Boredom had officially taken over and you reluctantly decided to open up your gaming apps in an attempted to distract yourself. You didn’t exactly know if you were even allowed to be on your phone but Yoongi didn’t seem to have an issue with it and if he was allowed to go on his that must have meant you were too. Your fingers tapped against your phone rapidly, letting out a groan or sigh here and there when you didn’t manage to win a round of the game.

The sudden bell of the door that rang throughout the small shop startled you, making you instantly drop your phone. You lifted up your head to meet the customer that had just walked in and you couldn’t say you weren’t taken aback. Your eyes scanned over the tall man in all black attire, the leather jacket hung slightly loosely on his lean figure. His ink black hair was dripping wet due to the unfortunate weather. It was parted to the side displaying an undercut. Different piercings covered both sides of his ears as well as one of his eyebrows. As your eyes traveled further down you noticed the tattoos peaking out from his right hand.

He was undeniably attractive but one thing that stood out to you was his paper white complexion. It almost looked sickly. He nodded his head towards in acknowledgment, dark orbs staring right through you. The intensely of his gaze nearly made you squirm and you instantly broke it, lowering your head down and focusing it on the register instead. You heard his boots pad against the floor as he walked further into the store, turning towards one of the aisles. You kept your head down but your eyes peaked up at the convex mirror that reflected the aisles allowing you to keep an eye on whoever was in the store.

To your surprise however you didn’t catch a single glimpse of him in the mirror. How strange. You craned your neck further to get a better view of the mirror again but it seemed the reflection only held the sight of the empty aisles. His face had been unfamiliar, you were positive had never seen him around here. You would of remembered such a striking face. You heard his footsteps again, he seemed to be walking in a oddly slow manner.

Your coworker was shockingly not dead asleep this time, it seemed like the bell had also startled him awake. He did look like he was seconds away from falling back into his slumber though, his expressionless face giving away nothing as he bopped his head to whatever music was blasting through his ear buds.

The store lights flickered causing Yoongi to let out a low curse. You glanced up at the ceiling , you had been dreading this would happen all night. They continued to flicker more rapidly and the sight of it made you dizzy. Another roaring sound of thunder was heard causing your body to flinch involuntary.

The sound of something being set on the counter in front of you forced your attention back in front of you. The man towered over you and your seated state made him seem a lot more intimidating than he probably should of been. You eyed the small bottle of vodka he had set on the counter as you silently rang it up despite the feeling of his stare burning into you. Thankfully the lights had finally stopped flickering.

You slid the bottle back over to him as you told him the total. He wordlessly reached over to his back pocket, pulling out his card and handing it over to you. Your fingers brushed his skin and you couldn’t help but notice how ice cold his hands were. He raised an eyebrow in question which made you believe you were doing a poor job at keeping a poker face, his sharp gaze didn’t waver from you for a second. His presence was unsettling you in a way you couldn’t explain.

You gave him back his card, your hand slightly shaking and you mentally cursed at your clumsy actions. You saw the side of lip tug at the sight , a full smirk forming. You averted your gaze once again but it only seemed to amuse him more, eyes attempting to catch your stare.

“Oh wait!” You suddenly remembered what Yoongi had said to you before you had started your shift. You had just dumbly realized your mistake. “ May I see your ID?”

His lips quirked up at your question, displaying his upper white teeth. He seemed to be holding in a laugh as his eyes scanned over your entire figure. You shifted a bit under his stare, not understanding what he was finding so amusing.

“You’re all good, man.” You heard your coworker say from beside you, waving him off. You glanced over at him with a questioning gaze and he gave you an exasperated look in return before rolling his eyes.

The man in front of you didn’t even seem to acknowledge Yoongi, his attention was solely focused on you. You hesitated a bit before printing out his receipt and handing it over.

“Have a nice night.” You forced out , sending him a small smile.

“Thank you, doll.” He replied, his voice velvety. It was a tone you hadn’t expected from his rough appearance, it sounded almost musical to the ears. It caused something inside of you stir, your heart rate suddenly picking up. His hands grasped the bottle and turned towards the door. He took a few steps forward before pausing, his head tilting upwards.

“You should fix these lights.” He commented as he seemed to stare up at them in speculation. Right as the words left his lips the lights suddenly flickered once again in a rapid manner. It disoriented you for a second , your eyes squinting so hard that they nearly shut.

“The hell,” Yoongi whispered beside you.

In that same moment they stopped and your eyes finally relaxed.

“Must be the bad weather.” The stranger mused as he flashed you a smile, this time showcasing his full set of perfect teeth. The expression gave him a more youthful look, softening his sharp features. You let out an awkward giggle in return, not entirely sure how to respond.

Something flickered in his eyes at the sound of your laugh but it disappeared before you could make out what it had been.

“You know, you’re far too pretty to be working here all alone at these hours, doll.” He said as he tilted his head to the side, picking you apart. “ Lots of creeps, someone could just snatch you right up.”

Something about his words left you uncomfortable. His tone was playful but you caught the seriousness layering underneath. It didn’t help that he was staring at you like he wanted to devour you. His eyes almost seemed hungry.

“Well,” You swallowed, a nervous small taking over your trembling lips. “ I’m not really alone.”

You were obviously referring to your coworker sitting beside you but the man in front of seemed to have barely taken a notice in his presence. His eyes slowly shifted over to Yoongi, gaze darkening for a mere moment before it returned back to you.

“Right.” He drawled out, amusement still clear in his tone. “I’ll see you around, Y/n.”

He gave you one last long look before he slipped out the door, the bell rang again signaling his departure. You let out a breath, your body relaxing now at his absence. But that didn’t last long when your mind played over his last words. Y/n. Had he said your name? You tensed up again before you shook your head in disbelief of your own stupidity. Your eyes caught sight of the name tag that hung on your shirt.

You’re too paranoid, you scolded yourself.

“That guy was weird.” You mumbled , turning to face Yoongi. “ and why didn’t you let me see his ID?”

Yoongi gave you a dumbfounded look.

“I meant ask for an ID when they look like minors,” He clarified in a condescending tone. “That guy was obviously of age.”

You didn’t even know what to say to that because he had a point.

“And how oblivious are you?” Your coworker questioned, raising a single eyebrow at you. His agitated face was rather endearing.

“What do you mean?” You asked not knowing what he was referring to.

“The guy was obviously hitting on you.” He scoffed, shaking his head at your wide eyed expression. His expression said enough, Yoongi clearly thought you were a bit of an air head and at this point you didn’t know if you could argue against it.

Had he been flirting? You would admit you weren’t the most experienced person in that department but the man definitely had a strange way of showing interest. His presence was far too strong and something about him had just seemed off no matter how good looking he was.

--

You watched as the rain padded against the windows, it didn’t seem like the weather was going to get any better anytime soon. You had turned down the AC despite Yoongi pestering you to leave it be. It wasn’t your fault that the store manager had decided to put it at such a ridiculously low temperature. As the night progressed , the more you began to dissociate from your surroundings. While you had promised yourself not to doze off, you had eventually gave into your lethargic state and had a quick nap. Well, at least you thought it had been quick because you had woken up in a fright thinking you had slept until daylight only to realize 20 minutes had gone by.

The time 4:06 a.m had practically been mocking you.

What you hadn’t mention to your coworker was what had woken you up. Your slumber had been interrupted by the insufferable sound of something sharp scratching against glass. The irritating sound resembled that of nails on a chalkboard, it had seemed as if someone had taken a razor and just ran it against the window beside you creating such an unpleasant sound to the ears. You had inspected the window beside you, looking for any type of damage but you had failed to find any. You figured some cat must have been having a field day.

You avoided mentioning it to Yoongi who had been in a coma like state beside you. You figured it was useless to even try, you knew he was either going not believe you at all or simply brush it off. It wasn’t like you needed a repeat of what had happened earlier so you decided to just keep your mouth shut, convincing yourself it wasn’t a big deal.

You were on your third coffee of the night and you were starting to think you were resembling a corpse at this point. You almost felt bad for judging Yoongi on his tired state because you knew that was going to be you from now on. It was almost ironic how this job required you to do so little yet drained your energy completely. The delirious feeling was started to creep back up as you struggled to maintain your eyes open again.

“We should play a game.” You suddenly announced as you came back from your fifth trip to the bathroom. Your small bladder did a really poor job at handling all the coffee you had drank tonight. You saw your coworker lift his head up at your suggestion but his gaze remained on the floor, his hands that were crossed over his chest unmoving.

“A game?” He didn’t sound the slightest bit intrigued by your suggestion and you wouldn’t either if you were in his position. You knew the last thing he wanted was for the newbie to keep bothering him when he had already sacrificed his sleep schedule in order to train you tonight.

“You know, to help us kill time?” Your comment sounded more like a question, clearly sounding unsure of your own idea as you took a seat next to him again. The empty ramen cups still stood on the counter in front of you, you two had taken a second break, courtesy of Yoongi, and had ate another cup of noodles in silence as you watched a YouTube video on his phone. Well, more like you had eavesdropped while Yoongi kept sending dirty looks your way, obviously trying to tell you to mind your own business.

“You mean to help you not pass out during your shift?” His foot tapped against the bottom of counter.

“Well, yeah.” You sighed in defeat not even bothering to defend yourself. It was very much in order for you to stay awake and not completely leave the counter unattended. You figured you were already on thin ice, there was cameras installed at each corner of the shop and if your manager happened to watch them back you knew it was over. You silently prayed they weren’t the type to be that observant. The establishment didn’t seem to be that strict so far.

 Yoongi was a prime example of that.

“And who are you going to play games with when I’m gone?” Yoongi asked with a blank expression on his face. “ Your imaginary friend?”

“Well, actually-“

A blood curling scream cut you off as you jumped in your seat. You whipped your head around, staring straight out the window. The scream didn’t sound that far at all, only seeming to come from a few feet away but you saw nothing outside. You turned to face your coworker and for the first time in the entire night you saw a look of concern cross him. His eyes scanned over the parking lot attempting to find the source of the sound.

“What was that?” You whispered, you felt your heart drop as the screaming continued only to come to a sudden stop. You knitted your eyebrows in confusion as silence met you both. Only the sound of the rain and howling wind  could be heard now.

“I don’t know..” Yoongi’s eyes stayed glued outside, his expression still remaining as confused as yours. You almost thought you were seeing things when the your vision caught sight of someone emerging from the left side of the side walk , it looked like a woman. Your eyes struggled to keep up with her frantic state, her figure moving far too quickly and that’s when you realized she was headed towards you.

The entrance door burst open, the annoying ringing signaling the woman’s sudden arrival. You stumbled back from your spot behind the counter, your body hitting the wall behind you. Your coworker was just as taken aback as you, his body jolting to the side.

It was an older woman and she looked absolutely in shambles. Her hair was a crazed mess, the expression she wore was petrifying. Her eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets and she was drenching. She wore a long dark coat that covered her entire frame. Her makeup was completely smeared, black mascara all over cheeks as her red lipstick stretched down to her chin.

Your eyes landed on her knees, she must of have fallen somewhere because they were covered in mud and visible scrapes. Some blood was still tickling down her leg.

“Please! H-help me!” She cried out and that’s when you noticed she was barefoot. She looked completely unstable, her arms reaching out towards you both and you didn’t know how but you managed to back up even further against the wall.

“What’s going on?” You heard Yoongi ask her as he came to stand right in front of you. He held up his hand, motioning at her to calm down but she only cried out more.

“Help me! He’s coming!” She screeched looking back towards the door. She gripped her hair harshly as she paced back and forth.

“Ma’am? Who’s coming?” Yoongi demanded, his arms still gesturing at her but she ignored him.

“He’s coming, he’s going to get me.” She mumbled frantically, hands still in her hair as she stared down at the floor, she let out another loud cry before she lifted her head to meet both your gazes again.

“You have to run! He’s going to get you too!” She yelled, slamming her fist on the counter causing you to flinch. You saw Yoongi back away cautiously at her actions.

“We need call the police!” You shouted in a low whisper to your coworker but as you reached over to grab your phone the woman let out another yell.

“It’s no use! He’s already here!” A look of pure anguish took over her face as she bolted towards the door again. “I have to go! He’s coming!”

Yoongi rushed over towards the door and attempted to call after her but she was long gone. You watched as she ran across the street, your eyes widening as she seemed to take off into the wooded area. Her figure instantly disappearing behind the tall forest trees in the distance.

You stood there frozen not believing what had just occurred. This night was starting to feel like a fever dream. Your hands shook as you lifted up your phone, dialing the police but you were met with nothing. The line went dead.

“Why is there no signal?” You groaned as you typed away again but were met with the same luck.

“Crazy bitch.” Yoongi huffed as he slammed shut the door and slid his hands over his face before letting out a long sigh.

“Try your phone.” You insisted and he picked up his own phone and pressed it against his cheek. The flash of annoyance in his eyes was enough for you to realize his line had was also went dead.

“What the hell was that?” You whispered mostly to yourself. You were too shaken up to even fully process it. The petrified look the woman had wore kept playing in your head repeatedly, you could practically still hear the desperation in her voice.

“She was probably on something.” Your coworker shook his head as he seemed to try and fix whatever was wrong with his phone. His eyebrows stayed glued together.

“What if she wasn’t? She looked genuinely afraid of something.” Who had she been running from? Your body chilled at the words she kept repeating.

He’s coming

You felt fidgety again, the ball of anxiety in your stomach prevented you from standing still. Your hands trembled as you bit your lip.

“There’s a lot of weirdos out here, it’s not like we are in the best part of town.” Yoongi reasoned as he let his phone slam back down on the counter. “ This damn weather is fucking up the signal.”

“What do we do?” That woman definitely needed help whether she was on drugs or not. She had run straight into the forest for gods sake and she looked like she was injured. She could be in danger right now. Your mind was racing as her face remained glued in your memory.

“We can’t do much right now.” Your coworker stated in defeat and while you knew he was probably right, it didn’t sit well with you. You felt so useless not being able to call for any help for that woman. She had look terrified. Why had she taken off towards that direction? Why hadn’t she headed towards roads leading up towards the town? Someone else must have heard her scream and you only prayed they had called for help by now but you knew that was wishful thinking. There wasn’t much of anything around this location and any houses near by were still a reasonable distance away from here. You doubted they were close enough to have hear her.

“I’m going for a smoke.” Yoongi muttered as he slid the hoodie that had been laying on the side of chair over his shoulders, putting the hood over head. He looked anxious but he was trying his best to hide it. It was clear the scene had left him startled. You watched as he stepped outside the shop, the cigarette instantly meeting his lips as he leaned his body up against the window.

You felt sick to your stomach all of a sudden. You stepped to the side and made your way towards the restroom. Closing the small door behind you, you came to stand in front of the sink. You ran your hands under the water, lowering your head to splash some of it over your face. The cold water felt refreshing on you, giving you a single moment of peace. You stared back at your reflection in the mirror. You look drained, your eyes were bloodshot. This night seem to be eating away at your sanity. You blinked rapidly as you tried your hardest to not let tears spill over. You couldn’t wait for this night to end, you were starting to seriously second guess your choice in accepting this job. So much had already happened and it was just your first day.

As if on cue, your few moments of peace were rudely interrupted when you room went pitch dark. Your reflection was barely visible now and your hands went over to turn off the faucet that was still running.

Looks like your luck with no outages had come to an end.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” You whined as you dug into your back pocket in search for your phone. You lifted it up, your fingers sliding up the screen to turn on the flashlight.

It was uncomfortably too silent for your liking. You opened the door, practically jogging back over to the counter. You slowed down as you realized your coworker had not come back in yet. You turned your phone towards the windows and frowned when you didn’t see his figure pressed up against it anymore. You poked your head out the entrance door, looking both ways but you didn’t see him anywhere in sight. Raindrops fell harshly on top of your hair as your eyes continued to search for him.

Where had he gone?

You poked your head back inside and let your eyes roam around the small store.

“Yoongi?” You called out as you walked through each of the aisles, part of you expected him to be standing in some corner attempting to fix the lights but you were only met with empty aisles.You felt yourself starting to get nervous as there seem to be no sight of him. It didn’t make any sense, where could he had possibly gone? You turned the corner, heading over the storage room in the back. You peaked your head in, flashing the light to every corner before heading back towards the front counter.

As you stared back at the aisles , you saw something outside run past from the corner of your eye. You turned your neck so fast you were sure you heard it crack. Your eyes were met again with nothing but the empty parking lot but you were sure you had just seen something. It had been too fast for you to keep up with. Were your eyes playing tricks on you? You found it hard to swallow as your mouth dried up with the thought of something being out there but you forced the thought to go away momentarily. You had to look for Yoongi.

You forced your legs to move forward as you gripped the door handle again, this time you let your whole body step outside. The wind blew harshly against your face and the pouring rain quickly had your work shirt soaking. You came to cup your hand over your forehead as you squinted through the harsh shower.

“Yoongi!” You called out, your voice cracking towards the end. Your shoes felt heavy against the pavement as you stalked forwards, you heard a loud swoosh behind you and you nearly fell over at the sound. You turned your body around , expecting to be met with someone in front of you but once again there was nothing.

As if anything else couldn’t go wrong, the battery flashed on your phone letting you know it was soon about to die on you.

You felt like you were seconds away from breaking down.

“Yoongi! Where are you!?” You yelled out , your teeth were chattering uncontrollably now as you shivered. The cold wind felt painful on your cheeks . Thunder continued to rumble the dark sky and each bang of it sent a new wave of anxiety through you. You felt like you were in an actual horror film.

You turned back around and started making your way behind the building. You didn’t know where your coworker could of possibly went but it couldn’t have been far, you had only been in the restroom for a few minutes. But before you even got close to to turning the corner towards the back, you heard something drop behind you. You halted in your steps, legs feeling like actual jelly as you felt your heart beat rapidly against your rib cage.

You slowly turned your head, your eyes scanning the pavement beneath you. Your flashlight displayed a horrifying scene. A body lay just a few feet away from you. You let out a gasp, your blood running cold at the sight.

“Oh my god,” You whimpered. Your legs felt chained to the ground despite everything inside of you telling you to run. You didn’t want to face the gut wrenching reality in front of you but your body seemed to be moving on its own as you came up next to the body. You instantly regretted it , your mouth hung open in pure disbelief. You were about to empty your stomach right in that moment. The shock caused your phone fall to from your fingers with a loud clank.

You let out the most bone chilling scream at the sight of your coworker’s lifeless body in front of you. He lay in a pool of blood, ugly wounds covered the side of his neck. The blood seeped through his shirt and his empty eyes stared up ahead. His skin was devoid of any color, the once pale boy now looked practically grey in complexion. The rain caused the blood to wash off his neck, only giving you a better view of the pungent holes on each side of his neck.

“No!” You shook your head back and forth, refusing to believe your eyes. This all had to be some sick nightmare. None of this could be happening. Your hands came to cup your cheeks as you trembled, stepping back from the body.

“No! No!” You repeated as you sobbed, you covered your eyes as you shut them tightly as you continued to wail. You were completely drenched now, the salty taste of your tears mixed in with the raindrops that continued to fall against your face.

“Tsk, Tsk.” You heard a voice taunt from behind you. Complete dread washed over you as you refused to turn your head. You kept your eyes shut, somehow hoping you would wake up from this nightmare at any minute. “ It’s a shame I had to do that to your little friend but what can I say? I don’t like sharing.”

You continued to whimper pathetically as you heard the loud footsteps get closer and closer by the second.

“He was quite tasty, doll.”

That nickname.

A sickening realization coming over to you as you took note of the familiar voice. No. It couldn’t be. Your whole body continued to shake relentlessly as the footsteps continued.

“But I bet you’re tastier.” You felt his hot breath on your ear and you practically threw yourself forward, almost stumbling to the ground before you ran towards the door of the convience store. You didn’t dare look behind you as slammed the door shut, your shaky hands struggling to twist the key in the lock but you somehow managed to do it. Your mind was too panicked to even think straight and the first place you thought to hide was behind the counter. You bumped your head against it as you squatted beneath it.

You forced yourself to slow down your breathing, your hand coming to slap your mouth shut. You didn’t know what that thing was but whatever it was , you sure you were his next victim. You felt like you were about to pass out when you heard the door handle rattle followed by a loud bang. The damn jingle of the bell hit your ears and you practically felt your vision grow hazy .Your heart truly felt like it was about to stop any second.

A deep chuckle was heard as the slow paced footsteps began once again.

“How cute,” He practically cooed, genuine amusement clear in his tone. “ If you wanted to play hide and seek, you could of just said so.”

You heard his footsteps echo in the opposite direction. You let your eyes close again, trying your hardest not to let a single sound slip from your lips. The thing had broken the door. You didn’t even want to imagine the utter strength he possessed, the thought alone was close to sending you into a full panic attack.

You heard the steps halt suddenly and you held your breath. He sounded like he was near the refrigerators. You let your hand drop from your face as you moved your body over slightly, your knees met the floor and you adjusted your body into a crawling position. You needed to get out of here before he saw you.

“Boo.”

His face was right above you as he stared down at you from the other side of the counter, his body leaning over it. You screeched as you tumbled back, your backside hitting the floor. Your feet shifted as you slid your entire body back against the wall, attempting to put as much distance possible between you and him. But much to your horror, that didn’t seem to much because you saw his face perfectly even in the darkness. The familiar striking features stared back at you but now they were more terrifying than ever.

The once normal looking man now wore a deadly look on his face. Prominent purple veins covered his under eyes, stretching out to his lower cheeks. His eyes were full black orbs with no sclera. Just endless pits of darkness staring back at you. Sharp large fangs stuck out both sides of his mouth, and you saw the slightest bit of blood still coating the tips of them.

“Forgive me, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

That velvety voice certainly didn’t match the terrifying creature in front of you anymore. Another whimper left your mouth as the creature jumped over the counter with such ease, his body practically floating over it. His long legs allowed him to quick access to you. His face was right next to yours, so close that it was just a few inches from touching you. The smell of rust hit your nostrils and you squirmed in disgust but his fingers gripped your chin, forcing you to look at him.

You let out another choked sob when you took sight of the claws that dug into your skin. Another spine chilling realization hit you as the memory of what you had seen earlier in those bushes came flooding back.

It had been him.

Your face must have given away exactly what you were thinking because the creature suddenly grinned, tapping his clawed thumb against the side of your cheek in confirmation. You flinched as tears continued to coat your cheeks.

“He didn’t believe you, did he?”

A weep of agony left your mouth at his words.

“P-please, let me go.” You pleaded, your hands coming to tug on his own but his grip was like steel.

“Shh, don’t cry.” He hushed, tongue clicking in disapproval but all you could stare at was those fangs in front of you that threatened to attack your neck at any moment. “I forget how fragile you little humans are.”

You felt his lips brush the skin of your neck and you swore your heart was about to burst from your chest. You shut your eyes again cowardly, twisting your face away from him. It was no use, his mouth pressed against your neck fully now and your body tensed up, waiting for him to rip open your skin.

You were going to die.

Yet nothing came. No pain followed, just a wet kiss being left on your neck. You felt him let out a breathy laugh against you, your eyes fluttering open just in time to see his shoulders shake slightly.

“Relax, you’re too pretty to drain.” His claw dug into your cheek again causing you to turn your head back to him, those soulless eyes staring through you again. “And far too weak.”

His words left you stunned. His face becoming blurry due to the full tears that pooled over your eyes.

Did that mean he was going to let you go?

But he was quick to crush that small flash of hope that you assumed had crossed your eyes for even just a split second. He pouted as he shook his head, lifting your chin up higher.

“I’m afraid I like you too much to let you go, doll.” He tilted his head to the side, his eyebrow piercing managed to shine amongst the dimness, the only bit of light shining through the window coming from the flashes of lightening from the clouded sky.

“Besides,” He licked his lips, swallowing the last of the blood that must of coated his inner mouth. You were almost sure he was about to connect your lips to his but he paused and you watch his eyes gradually morph back. The whiteness returning around his dark pupil until they finally resembled those of the man who had entered the shop just a while ago.

His thumb brushed over your lips as he smirked down at you.

“Pretty little humans are useful for other things too.”

[robotlesbianjavert]

Can you rec some good horror on Netflix?

VERY good question that would be a challenge for me. now for reference i haven't used netflix often for my horror fix - i have shudder now, and my mom's prime account if i wanna watch some fun dumb shit (escape from cannibal farm is NOT dumb shit that's straight up unrecognized art it's on youtube!!), so i'm really rusty on netflix recs.

also taking a look at the horror offerings on netflix, i feel like some of the movies i enjoyed before aren’t there anymore? boo. anyways a lot of this is based off old memories rather than something diligently curated, and certainly not overly thorough.

additional caveat that like yeah i offer additional content warnings as needed, i'm not exactly fussed about violence and gore and don't consider it a necessary warning for horror but rather part and parcel. also, not really sure what your taste in horror, if you like something cerebral or campy or whatever. so it's a hodgepodge in here.

lastly, i'm gonna split this between general horror movies that were probably released in theater or something, and netflix originals (which tend to be nicely produced but struggle a bit more with quality, but they may be enjoyable nonetheless). also gonna try and avoid the obvious available horror classics like the thing. also i'm using canadian netflix which tends to have a shitty library but what can ye do.

general

apostle has some great cinematography, religious horror, blood :) one of the good omens guys is in it if that’s a selling point.

polaroid, i actually literally don't remember anything about it but i watched it cuz it reminded me of the goosebumps books that i summarily plagiarized in elementary school. so there's a fondness there.

roger corman presents splatter. this one's really short, and it's not GOOD but it's some nice schlocky c-movie throwback and that's what matters. it was originally some video series were watchers got to vote on who dies next, i think? anyways tony todd is in it.

creep and creep 2 are also probably well known but they're soooo good i love them. cw for discussions of sexual assault, and also a significant point of these movies is to make you feel as uncomfortable as hard as possible.

i remember enjoying the possession of hannah grace? can’t remember why though.

hope a tv show is okay. FIRST THREE SEASONS OF SLASHER BABY. i'm the only person who loves slasher. we got violence, gore, clumsy attempts at social commentary, and the fact that like 90% of all the characters at anytime are fucking unbearable. it was made for me. there’s a fourth season that was done by shudder, but isn’t on canadian shudder despite it being a fuckin canadian show, fuckin disgraceful. 

is terrifier still on netflix. don't watch terrifier i'd feel bad if you do. i watched it and liked it, but i would feel really bad if you watched it.

netflix originals

the ritual is actually pretty popular i think, plot’s about things like grief and guilt, but the most important thing is that the monster when it gets revealed looks real good. difficult for movies for accomplish!

also if you loved fucked up religious horror. saint maud. that last half second? gorgeous.

i should probably give a shout out to the fear street trilogy, those were solid. not particularly scary overall but they had some good sequences (the church in the last one) and the slasher designs/concepts were good. i do have some overall criticisms - i think we should have seen some more of the slashers, i got frustrated with its tendency to infodump despite the movies coming out within a week of each other, and this may be slightly controversial but i wasn’t completely sold on the central relationship. BUT they are fun.

i am the pretty thing that lives in your house - slow paced and kinda pretentious, and kinda makes you think it would be better as a short story, but it was good nonetheless.

okay so i’m gonna put in the perfection, with a content warning for sexual abuse, but i wanna put a major caveat here. this one is stylistic and twisty and cool and features a f/f relationship, but while it’s a nice romp i remember being really uncomfortable with how the Black female lead was treated in the story.

i remember liking rattlesnake - might be my soft spot for women having to do desperate things though.

his house is ACTUALLY good very good, story of refugee couple trying to settle in england, their current struggles, and the fears / regrets / trauma that continue to haunt them.

i actually recently watched choose or die. that was fun!

hope that at least gives you a good start! if you’re looking for something more specific, lmk and i’ll see if i can hook you up.