SUMMARY: Perhaps Lydia and BJ pushed the natural order further than they ever should have the last time. Now, each must come to terms with what happened in their own way and decide where to go from there.
I've been lucky enough to commission great artists recently on a few illustrations for my fics, with more to come.
Thanks to the amazing @hesitant-killjoy for this delightful piece!
This is a fun scene from Chapter 9, Progress, of "A Haunted Amazon" where teenage Donny (twin yet totally opposite brother of Betelgeuse) crashes Astrid's prom. Here's the moment:
Donny’s grin grows and he enthusiastically takes Astrid's hand, pulling her to the dance floor. He finds a gap in the crowd and smoothly guides her arms into basic frame. When he starts dancing to this high energy song, with stylish spins and choreographed steps, Astrid’s feet follow perfectly even though she has no idea what she’s doing. Gaping at Donny, Astrid realizes how impossible this is and he can see the question on her face before she even asks it.
Grinning, he says in her mind, “Yes, I’m possessing your feet. Just a little.”
Lydia was finishing going through the old, thick roll of photographs under the dim light of the old tavern.
Once she reached the end, she let out a sigh and slid the roll into the ancient camera she had pulled out from who-knows-where. Carefully, she set it down on the seat beside her. She touched it gently, as if saying goodbye, and then left it behind.
She walked toward the exit with her head down, her steps halted by a voice behind her:
“-Where you going, sweetheart?”
She turned, and upon seeing her date, her eyes lit up. “-Took you long enough.”
“-Sorry, I had to take care of a couple of things first…” -He said, moving toward her with a smile. Once in front of her, he tenderly brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, wanting to see her face better. “-Thirty-one years, and you seriously couldn’t wait five more minutes?”
She smiled shyly. “-I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
“-And miss our date? Never, my dear.” -He replied, offering his hand.
Touched, Lydia took it, resting her other hand on his shoulder. He placed his free hand around her waist, not taking his eyes off her for even a second.
To the rhythm of a slow, steady dance, they returned to the center of the tavern, which at that moment was completely empty; just the two of them and a low, warm light that stopped time right there for them.
Only for a few seconds, their reflection in the bar’s mirror caught the boy’s eye, and he saw himself in Bet’s skin; cheeks flushed, as was typical of someone alive and in love, dancing with the woman he adored.
Having confirmed the perfection of the scene, he looked back at Lydia and vowed never to look away from her again.
***
There was no way to know how long he had been wandering through the sand; that was impossible to measure in the Timeless Dimension.
He walked and walked, possessed by the film running in his mind, ignoring everything around him.
It wasn’t until he reached a rocky slope that he stopped, taking a moment to look ahead.
There wasn’t much more than what he already expected: sand everywhere, a greenish-blue sky, and rock formations scattered all around.
Every so often, a gentle gust of wind would move sand from place to place, and once it settled, the distant roar of the creatures inhabiting those lands could be heard.
Indifferent to the sounds and the desolate environment, BJ let himself collapse onto his knees, then onto a stone column beside him. His gaze lost in the void. He drifted in and out of dissociation.
He knew perfectly well what would happen sooner or later. And that certainty, far from saddening him, brought him peace, one he hadn’t felt in a very long time.
“This time I get to choose, and this is how I want to go.”
He thought, letting his mind replay that perfect scene on loop, for as long as fate allowed.
Something strange is happening
My bones do ache and my ears, they do ring
I could pull and tear my skin
I hear and smell and I want to scream
The whispering and a scratching to be let in
From outside and from within
By the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes...
SUMMARY
Adam and Barbara Maitland had been married for just under half a year. Although their lives hadn't gotten off to an easy start, they were determined to get by with the tools they had. Unfortunately, their efforts to get ahead were thwarted by a series of bad decisions.
WARNING: This chapter contains topics related to drug use and addiction, self-harm and suicide, and some depictions that may seem grotesque.
theartofmadeline
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
stormborns
gamechangershow
vaporwave
