“Kenna?” Maya sat up, looking around the strange room. It reminded her of where Jack had brought her after saving her from Dark. Except this time, instead of Tyde and Ocie standing over her, there was only Anti.
“Finally woken up Stray?” She nodded, still hazy from the long sleep.”I guess it’s time for some home truths since they are adamant I’m not going to take you.” He grinned, and Maya shrunk back into her covers, suddenly afraid of her friend.
“Do you remember all those years ago? When your mummy dearest was taken? How your daddy” she flinched subconsciously at the word, “was so distraught he forgot you existed?” Maya nodded, letting the tears well in her eyes as she thought of all the firsts her mum had missed out on. She hadn’t even been there on her first day of school. Neither of them were there, just Rowan. Rowan was all she’d ever had as a parent.
“Stray, back with me.” Anti clicked his fingers in front of her face. “Seeing the pain in Freakshow’s head everyday as they looked after you, resenting you because you never got the chance to miss her. You never lost your parents according the them, you never had any.” The tears were heavier now, rolling down her cheeks in fat drops, and Maya struggled to follow what he meant.
“Ro-Rowan would never think anything like that. They love me, they said that they love me, just like Kenna does.”
He chuckled. “And you think she means it either? You’re useless, even more so now that you’re in a coma. She’s not alone anymore, she’s met someone new.” He cast an image of Kenna and another girl in front of Maya, before she could reject what he was saying. Kenna looked so happy, so free.
“N-no. No, she loved me. She loves me!” Maya cried out.
“She did Stray, but she got bored of waiting for you. You weren’t strong enough to save yourself.” Now curled into herself, Maya was sobbing; she had lost everything, everyone.
“Oh Stray, you still have me.” A broad smile, menacing and cruel erupted from his smirk.
“I don’t want you, not anymore. This is all your fault, you caused all of this!” Her screams were louder than anything she had ever heard, they deafened her. But above her screams, she still heard his no-longer-calm voice laced with static and poison.
“We’ll see if you’re saying that in a few days.” Grabbing her shoulder, she screamed and disappeared.
As she laid in the hospital bed, Kenna felt Maya twitch in her sleep.
A/N I’m not sure if you can tell, but I’m really getting into creating some OCs!
Tagging: @honestlyitsjustkenna, @nekob00, @nerdy-sam, @3dchocolate, @i-am-parsec, @lifeofthesepticeye, @inked-septic, @misstakebunny, @eternally-internaly-screaming, @iwritesinsnotqualityposts, @maybalator. Let me know if you want to be tagged/untagged.
Summary: Jackie has to face his one weakness, upset girls. Rowan and Maya have a heartfelt conversation.
Maya was laying face down on the floor when Jackie entered. "Wow, dude, that bad?"
"Mmmhmmm." Her arm twitched slightly as he approached, but still, her face was smooshed into the carpet.
"What is it, cramps or head?" Jackie knew the drill by now, there were only two reasons Maya would be found on the floor; the floor was her place of refuge when period cramps struck and when her mental health took a plummet.
"Mmmmmmhhhhm." She lifted her head slightly, bouncing it on the carpet to signal the answer.
"Shit, that bad, huh?" Despite having dealt with Chase for many years, Jackie was unusually inept at dealing with Maya's crises. After inspecting the scene one final time, he spoke again. "Is there anything you want?"
She shook her head to the side.
"Should I get Rowan? Or Chase?" His normal confidence gone, Jackie stumbled to find something to do which might help the young addition to the family get off the floor.
And she nodded, at least a little. "Okay, I'll go and get Rowan. Let me know if there's anything else you want, kay?"
Halfway up the stairs, he met Rowan. "Hey Row," he stopped and pointed at them, "Maya, floor," he pointed behind him, down the stairs, "Help?" Rowan chuckled at the helpless hero.
"Sure thing, Jayboy, I need to pee, but I'll be down in a sec."
"A: tmi, B: thank you so so so so much, I owe you one dude!" He moved to the wall, letting Rowan past.
"No probs, Jay. But yeah, get me chocolate. I'll need chocolate." They continued descending the stairs, turning into the toilet on the left as Jackie followed.
"May, I'm going to the shop, do you want anything?" After a few seconds with no reply or movement, he continued. "Rowan'll be through in a sec, I'll be back soon." He grabbed his coat from the hook and glanced back at Maya before he shut the door.
Rowan entered the living room to find Maya laying on the floor in front of the sofa. "Hey May," they sat down on the floor next to her, leaning on the sofa. "You wanna talk?"
At first, there was no reply, which wasn't unusual. There had been other times when Maya had only wanted reassurance when she couldn't talk. But she moved her head, looking at Rowan. Slowly she sat up, crossing her legs underneath her once she was sat next to Rowan.
"So, mum and dad?" It was a sore subject, but Rowan approached it without caution, as usual.
"Yeah, a bit. No, a bit, I don't know, it's just, everything feels like it's just got on top of me. You know?"
"Maybe, I can't say I had it as hard as you have. At least I got to finish school before... You, you've had to move to the other end of the city, start a new school, all while making a new family. I never had to worry about any of that. But you've handled it so well, you've just got on with it. I am so proud of you, May, you know that? I am so, unbelievably proud of you, and honestly, you are so amazing."
"No, I'm not. I've gone through the last five years of school without making a single friend, getting detention every day, screaming at teachers. I've acted like a brat, I've made your life a living hell, and now I annoy everyone in the house by acting like a stroppy teenager."
Hearing their sister talk so belittlingly of herself made Rowan realize how much their parents had fucked her up.
"I don't know how you tolerate me, any of you. Hell, half the time, I can barely tolerate myself, so props to you, I guess." Rowan didn't know how to respond, so silence sat in the air once again.
"I think about them a lot, mum and dad. I think about what they would do if I just went home. Sometimes I wonder if they would open their arms and let me back into the family; whether we would be happier if we tried again. But sometimes I think they would just kill me straight up." She wiped a few tears from her cheeks with the sleeve of her hoodie. "Sometimes I think I should just take my chances and- and find out. Just go home and see, cos, I mean, nothing could be any worse than what's already going on in my head, so I might as well just take my chances."
Maya was sobbing, and tears were welling in Rowan's eyes. They wrapped their arm around Maya's shoulder, pulling them into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, May. You're my little sister, it's killing me to see you like this. I want to help you, please, tell me something, anything that I can do to make this go away, to make you happy again. I love you May, if you go, I don't know what I'd do, you're my rock."
The door opened, and Jackie walked in. Walking in to see two kids crying in the living room was not something he was used to, and he was even more lost than before. "Hi, I'm home. You guys okay?"
Rowan looked at Maya, they couldn't respond for her. In the end, she did it herself, "Yeah, I think we are — we will be. I think."
Tagging: @nekob00, @honestlyitsjustkenna, @nerdy-sam, @3dchocolate, @i-am-parsec, @lifeofthesepticeye, @inked-septic, @misstakebunny, @eternally-internaly-screaming, @iwritesinsnotqualityposts, @maybalator sorry if you don’t want to be tagged, let me know.
Summary: The usually bustling house is empty bar Rowan for the day, and bad memories spawn from some unpleasant surprises.
Trigger warnings: implied torture, angst?, anti let me know anything else that you want tagged
Wow, it had been one weird day. Everyone had been so busy. Rowan had never seen the house so lively; they had never seen the house so empty.
It was the first time they had been alone for as long as they could remember. It wasn’t the guys’ fault, they had their jobs and lives: Jackie had his patrols, Henrik was called into an emergency surgery, Marvin was away on business for a few days, Jem was taking the day volunteering at the library, and Chase was... Well he planned to spend the day with them.
But when Stacey called him to pick up the kids, Rowan saw the confliction as he assured them he would stay with them. They saw the gratitude in his eyes when they implored him to go and spend time with his kids; they saw the worry dissipate as they assured him they would be okay.
But even though they told him they would be fine, when the door shut for the fourth time that day, their heart sank just that little bit more at the implications of their selflessness.
An empty house isn’t a home anymore, it is a prison and a dreamscape rolled together to form some nightmarish hell of almost indescribable strength. It pulls the mind down dark loopholes, what ifs and memories much rather forgotten.
Their father had written this long ago, in one of his multitudinous journals that were now under Rowan’s possession. His words rang true, now more than ever. Their mind flicked back to the last time they saw any of their family.
Their brothers, sister, mother, father. They still didn’t know what had happened, not completely.
That night, they had gone out for a walk. It was late, and everyone was in bed. It was normal, it happened a lot. Nothing had ever happened; nothing ever would. They left in the small hours of the morning, when the moon was still high, and the stars were uninterrupted by the sleeping town nearby.
When they returned, the door stood ajar. Dread filled almost every fibre of their being, except those consumed by doubt and optimistic trust.
They broke the train of thought, realising the rabbit hole they were heading for. From where they stood, a chill ran through their spine. They checked the door, bolted it and locked it. In the kitchen, the radio was playing soft static.
Inside the house, nothing was right. The dread was so strong they felt nauseous, and everything was a mess. There was a broken lamp on the hallway floor, shoes scattered by the door, coats flung from their hooks. Further into the house, the cutlery drawer in the kitchen was on the floor, the contents surrounding it, the cupboards flung open and shut haphazardly. The note they left on the table was gone.
The house seemed cold without the warm smiles of their friends, so they set to lighting a fire in the hearth. The wood was rough and gave them splinters in the tips of their fingers and pinpricks of blood started to bead on the surface.
The television had been thrown across the room, and the sofa seemed charred and burnt. Black footsteps were burned into the carpet up the stairs and on the landing, and in the dark they appeared to twitch.
The match lit and the wood started to blacken. Rowan decided to get a book from their room to fill the time. Wiping their hands on their jeans, they ran them through their hair as they headed towards their bedroom.
In their bedroom, nothing was touched, but their sister was not in bed where she should be. The bathroom was ransacked, and the chemicals had been rifled through. The house smelt off.
Their brothers’ room was the same, empty, but otherwise untouched. The only room left was that of their parents. It too, was empty, but it was a mess. Blood coated the pillow on their mama’s side. They noted that despite the circumstances, this was not unnormal in itself, mama often had bad nosebleeds.
They turned to leave the room, to leave the house. But the air felt thick. They thought back through everything they had seen. Why was this happening? Why was the air getting heavier? Why was breathing so hard?
Why was a radio playing?
Curled by the fire, Rowan tried to read their book. Silence was the best way to read in their opinion—it allowed complete immersion into the fictional world. But today, the silence felt unfriendly, and try as they might, the grasp of fiction was not tight enough to stop her from floating back into the realm of thought.
Their body felt tight, what had happened? They tried to push the cover back to climb out of bed, but their arm would not move. They pulled again, and again, but it still would not budge. They tried to open their eyes, maybe this was a night terror. Black surrounded them, even with open eyes.
They tried to feel their hands, but nothing was there. They tried to feel the ground, a chair, anything. Nothing existed except the penetrating darkness. And humming? No, static, a radio, a giggle... a cackle.
The static of the radio broke Rowan’s concentration; for a split second they swore they saw a green flash in the kitchen, but they returned to their book.
An old picture of them and their twin flashed through their mind. They had once been identical, two peas in a pod, but after they came out, they cut their hair and dyed it from its natural blonde tone to rainbows. Their faces were still as similar, and they had never grown apart through any of it. Where was she? Where were they?
Of course they did, and the demon knew it. He detailed a deal for them to make, and in the haze of desperation and fear and grief, they agreed.
Rowan thought of the photo on the mantle above the hearth of her sister and themself. They brought it down and stared at it.
“I’m so sorry, Dee. I’m so frickin sorry, it’s my fault. I love you so much, I just, I just hope you’re happy. I hope you’re okay Dee, you deserve to be, more than anyone on this earth. Please, be happy. Please. I hope you’ve forgotten me, you don’t deserve the shit I brought you. None of you did. Just please, be okay. And know that I’ll never forget you.”
“Get the fuck out.” The glitching demon materialised in the chair, a proud smirk on his face.
T̷͚̅h̵͎͝à̸̬t̷̗͊'̴̖̑s̶̤͠ ̶͖̈ṅ̵̤o̷͕͝t̷̡̊ ̵̠̋v̷̺̓ẽ̶̲r̴͉̎y̴̡͠ ̶͔̂p̶̱̐ö̸̞́l̶͉̕i̵̠̓ṫ̷̻e̶͙̒,̴̦͌ ̴̖̄ḣ̵͇a̷͔͐ṿ̸͑ḙ̴͝ ̴̨͗y̶͚͛ǫ̷͑ụ̴͛ ̵̯̀f̴͉͠ọ̷̋r̴̪̋g̸͖̈o̸̊͜ṱ̵͝t̷̗́ẽ̷̫n̵̰̋ ̴̧̐e̵͓̚v̷̙̂ẽ̸̩r̴͚̓y̵͎̐t̵̨̒h̷̜̔i̴͍͘n̷͙̍g̶̳͗ ̷͔̕Ị̷͒ ̶̦̔ẗ̴̟́a̶͉͐u̶̠̔g̶͇̒h̷̼͆t̸̅ͅ ̴̼̃ȳ̷̗o̴͕̒u̵̜͘?̵͔͊ Rowan glanced down to their sister one last time before placing the frame face down on the floor. They didn’t want her to see this—to see them like this.
“No... I...” Their mouth stumbled for words fitting for the demon. “You-you let me go. I’m not, I am not yours anymore.” They tried to act confident, unafraid. It wasn’t working. They hadn’t stuttered since childhood, for which they had received years speech therapy to correct.
“No, your end of the d- of the deal was 3 months, and then le- then letting me go home, which you... you got out of. You don’t get to take me back there, our deal is done.” They couldn’t believe this. He couldn’t take her back, their deal was done when he let their family go.
“Nononononono, you can’t do this, please. Please, not them, just leave them out of this. They don’t deserve this. Hell, I don’t deserve this.” This planted an idea. “I’ll make a deal. You do something for me, and I go back with you.”
The demon’s interest peaked. Ǧ̸̦o̶̩̕ ̸͓͗o̸̺̍ń̵̢.̵̐͜
“You leave my family alone. Forever. And I’ll come with you.”
I̷̫̊t̷̯͊ ̷͕̒t̵̻̂h̶͚̅a̵̯̅t̷̥̎ ̸͇͘i̶̬͊t̷̜̊?̵̓͜
“No. You also have to answer one question.”
D̷̫̙͊͋͘ḛ̷̡͌̒ḁ̷̹̪̏l̵̬̭͙̃̕.̶͓̳͙͒
Pressure crushed Rowan’s body like a fist. They felt the static begin to pulse through their head from the splinters in their fingers. The fire glowed green as Anti prepared to take them once again.
Everything disappeared into a hazy red outline. Jackie stood over them, shouting and shaking their shoulders. Jem sat in the chair opposite them, worry etched into his young face.
“Rowan, Rowan, you’re okay. It was a nightmare. It wasn’t real, it was all in your head.”
Their eyes broke open, tears immediately pouring out of them into Jackie’s chest. “I- it was-” Jackie shushed them and stroked their hair.
“It’s okay. You’re okay. We’re here, you’re safe.” He gently started to stand them up. “Come on, let’s get you somewhere a bit comfier, shall we?” They walked together to the chair, where Jackie knelt at eye level with them. “Row, where’s Chase? I thought he was spending the day with you?” They nodded.
“Stacey- his kids.” Jackie understood, but they continued. “I told him to-” The words broke off into snivels and Jackie tried his best to comfort them. Jem brought them a cup of tea, but their hands were shaking too much to hold it.
After a few minutes of silence, they stopped crying. Jackie was good at comforting, he was still stroking their hair and holding them close to his chest. Sensing the change, Jackie moved back a little so they were facing him. “Do you want to talk about it?”
So this is an assignment I was given to practice for my english language GCSE. The prompt was “write about a time when you went to a new place”
This isn’t a universe thing, just so y’all know. Let me know if you want to be tagged in this!
The first thing Anna noticed dragging her back to consciousness was the dull ache radiating through her body. Slowly it grew, until the noises of her surroundings started to fade in, muffled and distorted.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
It was constant. Buzzing started almost alongside it, but she couldn't think of where it was coming from. She couldn't even bring herself to open her eyes, but she knew she was somewhere new and strange.
Consciousness' grip on her became slowly firmer, allowing more and more feelings and sounds to fade in from the nothing. Sheets under her back, covers tight over her body, tucked under each arm, the fluffy pillows sat behind the throbbing in her head.
Still laying with her eyes closed, she curled her hands up, feeling the cold plastic clip on her finger for the first time. She panicked.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Much more awake now, she tried to call out, completely afraid of what was happening. The sound caught in her throat, something blocking it from coming out.
The noise quickened. Everything became overwhelming. Everything became deafening, crushing, terrifying, real.
She ripped her eyes open, the fluorescent white lights burning before she had a chance to close them again. Once the light had become less blinding, she started to look around. Everything was strange, static... foreign.
The walls were white, clean, bright, cold white. A window lined one of the walls to her left, and she saw people standing at it behind the glaring reflection of the light and the slatted blue blinds. She continued looking, a creamy-coloured cabinet next to her, a board hovering next to bed as if ready to be pulled round, covered in cards. At the angle, she couldn’t read them, instead reaching to pick one up. “Get well soon!” it read, a garish picture of some animal, possibly a mutilated puppy, on the front. She placed it back down next to the other cards of similar style. Around the room more were scattered, along with colourful flowers and what looked like boxes of chocolates and other gifts.
“That’s strange,” she thought, “I wonder what’s wrong.” She stayed still for a few minutes, pondering the possibilities, maybe it was someone’s birthday, or a wedding. Weddings were lovely, bright and happy.
A door she hadn’t noticed opened, the man walking in was wearing a white coat. Cautious, she watched him approach her, and pick up a file from the end of her bed, by her feet. In her mind she was considering closing her eyes and pretending to be asleep again, because maybe that was what he wanted to see.
That was definitely what he was expecting to see; as he walked up to the head of the bead to see her, he almost jumped as her saw her open eyes following him. But instead of over-reacting, he simply checked the monitor that was on her other side and wrote a few things in the file before leaving the room again.
She had missed many things: the monitor, the door, but she didn’t miss the tube that they pulled out of her throat, letting her breathe again on her own. Neither did she much miss the throbbing that disappeared mere minutes after they changed something hanging on a bag above her.
And she couldn’t have missed the crowd of people that came into the room soon after. There was a tired-looking woman and a tired-looking man, and a tired-looking girl. The woman’s brown hair was messy, her clothes crumpled, and she had lines on her face as if she had just been woken up.
The man’s dark beard was untamed and his glasses sat askew on his face. The girl was maybe sixteen; she looked a combination of two, maybe she was their daughter.
They all sat in chairs near the bed and started muttering amongst themselves. Still completely unaware as to who they were, Anna remained still and silent. She wasn’t even sure if her voice would still work, she couldn’t remember speaking, as if she hadn’t even learnt.
***
Caitlin walked in behind her parents, but Anna didn’t acknowledge them. The relief she had felt when the doctor told them that she was awake, it was unreal, as if all of the problems in her world had just dissolved.
When they sat in the room, Anna still never spoke to them. Caitlin knew that Anna knew they were there, she had even smiled at her when she entered.
“Mum, what’s going on, why is she ignoring us?” Anna had never been the quiet twin, even when they were young enough to still be completely identical, their teachers had always known who was who by how much they spoke.
“I don’t know baby, they’re probably just tired, she’s been through a lot these past weeks. But you can go and get a nurse if you want, ask them what’s wrong.” Caitlin’s dad gave her shoulder a squeeze before she left.
