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carrionxcamille · 4 years

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Bucket Full of Eyes | Camille & Kaden

TIMING: Beginning of Ever Leering Sea (https://wickedsrest-rp.tumblr.com/post/619562038709141504/the-residents-of-white-crest-have-long-since) LOCATION: Traveler’s Rest PARTIES: @carrionxcamille and @chasseurdeloup SUMMARY: Camille takes it upon herself to call animal control when there’s a ‘rat’ problem at the motel. Things don’t quite go as expected.

There were days Kaden was pretty sure people confused Animal Control with a pest control service. But the call about the very very large rat at the Traveler’s Rest sounded to him like a monster case if he ever heard one. A rat the size of a small dog? Last seen nibbling on a severed finger? Could be an agropelter. Or something worse that he’d never heard of. Cage in hand, net and a knife or two with him and ready to go, he started wandering the grounds, looking for any signs or tracks. It was hard to find rat shit in this shit hole, it was pretty much nothing but shit. He was inspecting the ground for anything remotely helpful when the door nearby swung open, revealing a woman with a bucket in her hands. “Sorry, just animal control. Not a--” A what? A murder? A creepy guy? Right. Kaden let the sentence fall flat and stood up. And took a closer look at the bucket in question. “Uh, are those eyeballs? In a bucket?”

When Camille had rocked up to the motel she knew it was cheap as chips for a reason. Minimal services, thin mattresses, poor water pressure. She could cope with that. It wasn’t pleasant, but she could deal. What she wasn’t going to ignore was a giant rat eating a finger. As if she needed more vivid horrors to keep her up at night. The murderous husband and vampire neighbors were plenty, so she found a number and called animal control. Once that was taken care of she turned to task number two of the day- honestly calling animal control first was just a way to put it off- pulling on a pair of rubber gloves and scooping eyeballs out of her sink into a waiting bucket.

A seriously grim task. God, she hated this town. Now she didn’t know if the police or plumbers or whoever were going to come up with some proper disposal method for these things, but Camille really couldn’t cope with them in her room, so she was just going to take the bucket outside. Where the animal control guy happened to be with perfect timing, because her life wasn’t bad enough. “Oh, great. That was fast. Uh- yeah…” Okay okay think fast, how could she explain this? “They... came out of the tap.” Perfect.

Kaden narrowed his eyes at her, keeping them fixed on the bucket. That was a lot of eyeballs. Granted, one singular severed eyeball was too many fucking severeed eyeballs. “The tap? You’re really telling me a bucket full of eyeballs came out of the tap? That’s not--” Alright, there were a lot of things that happened in this town that weren’t possible, even by supernatural standards. Something about this still seemed off. “You’re the one who called in the rat? A Ms…” He paused to look at the notes he’d scribbled from the report to bring with him. “Hawkins, right? That you?” he asked, giving her a good look up and down. “I heard something about a really big rat. Where was the last place you saw it?”

Camille was really going to have to get her identity all straightened out as soon as possible. Telling the animal control guy her real name wasn’t such a big deal- it had slipped out, she was panicking and staring at a sink full of eyeballs- but she’d need proper ID for a flat, and she was really getting sick of being referred to as Hawkins. “Well- okay I know it’s a lot but when I saw it I freaked out and forgot to turn the tap back off.” She nodded, hoping to dismiss the topic. “Yup. Huge rat.” She grabbed at the bottom of a rubber glove to start peeling it off, but then she remembered the strange mark on her hand and also the finger eating rat- “y’know, I’m gonna keep these on for a moment. I’ll take you to where I spotted it.”

She grabbed her room key and locked the door behind her, starting off down the pathway, “it was eating a finger. Like I know rats are scavengers, but that’s really creepy.” Camille rounded the corner into the courtyard, pointing to a dark corner by the bins, “it was over there.”

So she was really sticking to the tap bit, huh? Kaden was about to believe her, because really, who made that sort of thing up? Then he watched as she decided to leave her rubber gloves on and the doubt came flooding back. “What, afraid to touch something around here?” Granted, alright, maybe that was valid, looking around the place. Still, he’d have to keep an eye on her. For what, he wasn’t sure. Yet. He followed behind her, looking for any more traces of the animal he could find. “Eating a finger, huh?” Didn’t sound much like a rat. There were a number of monsters that could easily fit the description. It could even be some White Crest special he’d never seen yet. Like mime spiders. “It wasn’t black and white was it?” That was stupid. He pulled out his flashlight to get a better look in the corner, see what might be there. “Uh, never mind. I meant what color was it? Anything else you can tell me?”

Look, there was a list a mile long of things Camille had to worry about. Frankly the animal control guy thinking she was a little weird was not going to rank high on that list, despite how often other peoples’ perceptions had been her biggest problem in the past. “I am afraid to touch everything. There’s a reason I called animal control instead of waiting for any of the staff to do it.” She pointed out, gesturing vaguely to the general disarray of the place. Seriously. She’d gone from a beautiful, clean, well decorated home- to this. It was cruel. “Black and white? Wha-” you know what, she didn’t even want to get into it. “No. Like-- grey, mostly. Kinda- almost looked greenish, but I think that was the light. Or it rolled in grass or something. It had really big eyes.”

“Right. Sure. So how’d you end up here of all places?” Kaden’s mouth pulled into a thin line as he shined the light over to the bins and what not. There were some droppings. Huge ones for a rodent. Which could have been a good sign if the potential size of this rat wasn't completely alarming. He set down the gear he’d been carrying and pulled out a net before slowly walking over towards the spot in question. “Greenish? A fucking greenish rat? Okay.” Sounded more and more like a monster problem than an animal one to him. “Are you sure it was a rat and not anything… else?” It was always hard to know who knew about the supernatural. It was never something he wanted to assume or say first, but it was so much easier when he could speak freely.

Camille sighed, folding her arms. “How does anyone end up here? Didn’t have anywhere else to go.” She wondered if it made her more impressive that she was determined to build her life back up from rock bottom, or just a bit pitiful. This motel seemed like the kind of place that swallowed people whole. It was difficult to admit she had nothing- Camille had long prided herself on her ability to appear more put together than she was- but it wasn’t like he’d believe anything else, considering where they were. “I don’t know, maybe it rolled in freshly dyed grass. Stranger things have happened.” Though she wasn’t sure if this was the kind of place where people dyed their grass.

“Anything else?” Camille repeated, rubbing at the hand with the covered sigil on it- did he mean..? “Well I-” It was eating a finger, and it was pretty big. “I’m not… An expert. Maybe? I- it was freaky big. And the eyes were like, really not like any rat eyes I’ve seen. Not that I’ve seen a lot. Do you mean like-” She looked around, as if anyone else would be hanging out in this scabby courtyard. “Like not a normal animal, right? Like a- uh.. Creature. It could have been, yeah.”

“Fair enough. You didn’t seem the type is all.” Kaden gave her a quick glance and saw her rubbing at her one hand. “Save for the bucket full of eyeballs that I’m still not entirely convinced came out of the sink.” Not that it mattered how sketchy she was or wasn’t. The call was about any animal, not her. At her insistence of the green dye, he took a quick look around the grounds behind them. Not a whole lot of fresh anything, let alone grass or plant life. The whole place was pretty pitifully drab. “Doubtful,” he said as he walked closer to the bins in question, net in one hand, flashlight in the other. So far, it seemed pretty clear. No sounds or signs of movement. The more she spoke, the more he was sure he was dealing with a monster. Fingers could mean agropelters, but that still seemed too small. Maybe a really really big agropelter. “Yeah if I had to guess, this isn’t your standard rat. There’s a whole lot of weird animals that show up in this town. If you think it wasn’t a rat, you can say so. I’m not going to think you’re crazy.”

Kaden bent down to examine the area and shoved one or two of the bins aside. Nothing. Odd. He was about to stand up and ask her if there was anywhere else it could be when he heard a rumble in the distance. There was a vibration under his feet, getting louder. Tilting his head, he looked closer into the corner where the buildings met, shining the flash light that way. For a moment, there was nothing. Then a flash of reflection against sharp teeth and beady eyes as a rat the size of a small dog burst through the hole in the wall. Kaden scrambled to get the net, to back away, anything, but the greenish grey rodent leapt at him and knocked him off balance to the ground as a swarm of more giant rats came tumbling out of the corner. Putain.

Was she the type? No. But it raised an interesting question; should she be? There weren’t going to be many people who believed or understood her experience. Regan was proof of that, the woman had wings and she still refused to even entertain the possibility that Camille was telling the truth. Evidently there were more sorts out there than you could shake a stick at, maybe if she jumped down the rabbit hole she would find people she could actually relate to in some way. There was also the distinct possibility that jumping down the rabbit hole would destroy any chance she had at a normal life, which is what she really wanted. Right?

Right. This stuff was interesting, but she wasn’t going to be consumed by it. “The eyeballs came out of the tap.” Camille repeated hotly, frowning. She was so sick of people not believing her. “You live in White Crest! You’d believe I saw some monster that wasn’t a rat but eyeballs out of the tap is too far?” It was baffling to her, the arbitrary lines people here seemed to draw. She watched him work quietly for a moment more and was honestly debating just leaving him to it- she’d had quite enough of being invalidated, thank you- but then a swarm of damn rats- or whatever the hell they were- came rushing out.

Camille screamed- and again considered just leaving him to it- and flapped about uselessly only for a moment before reaching for the net that the guy had dropped in his scuffle, using the stick end of it to try and keep the bastards away from them both. “Ew oh my god! oh my god ew ew!” She grappled with the one of the animal control guy, which tried to cling on to the net but she managed to eventually fling it away. “Okay, I don’t think you brought enough cages.”

Kaden braced his face with the back of his arm and felt a tear as sharp teeth dug into his flesh and pulled away. Fuck, that hurt. He tried to get a closer look at what the fuck this was as he wrestled with the rat, pushing it off of him. The fucker was strong and coming at his face with those fucking long, flat, big ass teeth. He managed to throw it off and started to scramble back but a stampede was headed his way. Fuck, he wass done for. She’d probably turned and ran by now. To his surprise, he saw the net fly in and push the rat closest to him from crawling on top of him. Kaden pushed himself up and ran back over to her away from the rats. “Not enough nets either!” he yelled, grabbing her arm briefly to pull her along as he kept running back towards her place.

When Kaden reached her door, all he could do was hope that she’d let him the fuck in for a minute or two so they had a fucking safe place to sort this out. Granted, it was locked. Also hers. He could be completely fucked. Either way, they had to buy time. But how? “And it’s because I live in White Crest that I know there are a whole lot of reasons why someone might be collecting buckets full of eyeballs, alright. For the record.” Wait. Bucket of eyeballs. Right. He reached over and took the handle, dozens of severed eyes looking back up at him as a dozen more pairs of angry, beady rodent eyes stare down the hall towards them. Putian, this better work. No time to waste, Kaden took the bucket and threw the eyeballs back towards where they’d come from, onto the swarm of unusually sized rodents. Maybe if they liked fingers and skin enough, this would satisfy them for a second or two. Just long enough to come up with a better plan.

Mimes, eyeballs, and now fucking rats. Camille knew there was going to be a lot to process in regards to her own life, but she hadn’t imagined she’d have to do it in a setting this chaotic. When would there ever be time to figure out her own problems if simply calling the animal control guy resulted in fending off a rat swarm?! She stumbled after him back to her door, whipping the key from her back pocket to shove it open- honestly it was more about force than the lock itself- “I’m not collecting them!” She snapped back, getting the door open just as he managed to distract the rats with the eyeballs- wow, and she hadn’t thought they’d come in handy.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, pushing the door shut behind her and leaning up against it to catch her breath. “Oh my- oh.” Camille had been about to spiral into panic, but the blood dripping down his arm managed to catch her focus and she rushed to the bathroom for her first aid kit, wasted maternal instincts kicking in. The box itself was easy enough to open but the packet for the disinfectant wipe was impossible with the gloves on, and Camille tugged them off without thinking about the mark- someone was hurt, that took over every other thought- taking Kaden’s wrist gently to wipe down the wound. “Sorry, I know it stings.” She murmured, unwrapping a gauzy self adhering bandage to wrap over the top, “Right. One crisis dealt with.”

For a moment, Kaden wondered if there was another reason why she was eyeing the blood on his arm. Vampire? No, they were just out in the fucking daylight. He really had to stop assuming that. First Regan, then Nell, now Camille. Three out of three wrong, maybe he should leave that shit to Alain. He was ready to just wipe the blood off, maybe smear some dirt in it but she’d fun back with the first aid kit so he held out his arm and let her patch it up as the thumping against the door carried on. He assumed it was a few of the rats trying to push their way in. “Don’t worry, not the first time I've been injured on the job. And this isn’t even bad.” It was probably a good idea to get it cleaned up before going for round two, hard to argue with that. “Also a bucket full of eyeballs is by fucking definition a colletion.”

Kaden went to the window and peaked out of it to see an ugle mug of nose and whiskers slam into the glass. What the fuck? Were these flesh eating giant rats? Where the fuck did those even come from? “Right. Doesn’t look like the coast is clear. Some of them seem to have scurried away but a few of these fuckers are determined.” His lips pulled into a thin line and his brow creased as he tried to formulate a plan. No way to fight them all off with weapons, there were too damn many. And his net was outside but even then. “Only thing coming to mind is fire. Molotov. Hairspray flame gun. I don’t know. Any better fucking ideas? Beyond climbing out the back window and making a break for it? You didn’t like any of your shit, right?”

It was the most useful she’d felt in months, patching up his arm. Camille used to teach kids to read and now she didn’t do anything. The rest of the world shrank back and she felt like herself again rather than some freakish re-animated corpse version. “You don’t want them to get at it again, and make it bad.” She pointed out in a very teacher-tone, almost laughing at the absurdity of it. “Sorry I don’t have a sticker for you.” She quipped, crashing back to reality with the next thud against the door. Right, the rats.

Camille shuddered as one of them crashed up against the window, hoping the glass would be thick enough to hold. “Fire? Woah woah, and what am I supposed to tell the front desk when half my room is burnt to a crisp? I don’t think a fiery solution to a rat swarm will be covered by their insurance, and I sure as hell couldn’t pay for the damages. I mean, can’t we just- I don’t know- shit.” She sighed, collapsing into the chair against the wall and running a hand through her hair. “And I thought things couldn’t get worse.”

Kaden raised a brow at her remarks. Her tone was almost as if he had been a child and she was patting him on the head. Interesting. He couldn’t figure out if that was some sort of mom thing or a teacher thing. It was a weird level of comforting he didn’t see a whole lot of nor did he expect while out on an assignment. “I think I’ll be okay without.” If she really was a zombie or some other kind of undead, he wondered what sort of life she’d left behind to end up here in White Crest. In this dump. Not that now was the time for pondering.

“Tell them it was me,” Kaden answered, rolling his eyes. “Plus, do you really think this is the type of place to give a shit? Look at it.” A quick gesture around the room and the sad rundown state proved his point. At least he sure thought so. “Plus I can’t fucking stab them all and there’s no nets big enough for that.” The pounding by the door grew louder. He went into her bathroom and found an aerosol can of hairspray or something or other and pulled out his lighter. “Alright. I’m going to need you to open the door a crack and then I’ll take down what I can with the fire. Ready? On the count of three.”

It wasn’t like Camille had much anyway. It was a bare walled motel room. The meager wardrobe space wasn’t full, the kettle in the kitchenette wasn’t even hers. It just felt absurdly unfair that despite how she’d obviously already fallen all the way to rock bottom the universe was still trying to destroy the things she was clinging onto. She gave a defeated sigh, resting her elbows on her knees. “I know it’s shitty but it’s where I live.” She hissed.

This guy had no idea how it felt to finally have a home that felt peaceful, even if it was a crappy motel room. For so long that house with Jace had been full of shouting and hatred. This place wasn’t much but it was the hub from which she was trying to rebuild her life. Setting it on fire seemed like a bad omen. It wasn’t like she had a choice though. “Fine.” She groaned, pushing up from her seat and crossing the space to set her hand on the door handle. She sucked in a shaky breath, “one… Two…” She tightened her grip on the handle and turned it down, “three!” Camille pulled the door open just a little, enough for the swarm to start squeezing through.

As soon as the door was cracked open, Kaden pushed the trigger on the can and hair spray filled the air. He brought the lighter up underneath and fire flew right at the rats. The stench was awful, burning hairspray and burning flesh and fur, the squealing was bad before but now the few rats in the front were wailing. The first few were trying to wriggle back and away from the flames, but the rest were pushing them forward.

Kaden kicked the one coming closest to coming in. Then another. He could feel the heat from the flames by his feet and the smells were almost damn near enough to choke him. At least two were on fire and the others trying to pile on weren’t looking so good either. Fuck, he couldn’t take it anymore, he was about to start choking on the air around them so he stopped spraying and let go of the lighter. “Close it!” he said with one last punt to rat writhing in front of them. The flames were no comparison to Bea’s fireballs, but one peek out the window and they sure got the job done. Three or four out there were on fire. “See. Only minimal scorch marks.” So far.

It smelt like hell. Like, Camille was going to wipe every surface down with bleach after the ordeal is over to get rid of the stench. She was going to go shopping and buy every incense burner she could get her hands on. There was that witch store on Amnity Road, they’d probably have stuff. The sound made her scrunch her shoulders up around her ears and she had to work really hard not to scream herself, just owing to the viscerality of it all. This was it. This was her life. Giant fucking rats and an improvized flame thrower. She should’ve just stayed with Jace, could that really have been worse than all this? Well, maybe.

At Kaden’s command Camille wasted no time slamming the door shut, pressing the sleeve of her top against her nose and mouth to try and filter out some of the smell. “This is really-” She coughed a couple of times, pulling in a shaky breath, “not how I was expecting my day to go.” Cam collapsed back into the chair by the door, pulling her knees up to her chest. “I mean, thankyou- obviously. But this is- it’s nuts. Every time I think this town can’t get any weirder it pulls out another surprise.”

Kaden kept watch out the window and a few of the rats writhed until they stopped wriggling, presumably dead. The rest scurried away. To where he didn’t fucking know. “Welcome to White Crest,” was about all he could manage. He had to admit though, this was a lot for one town. He thought he knew what he was walking into when he came to the small Maine town. This was a supernatural hot spot and he heard all kinds of crazy stories coming from hunter bars as far up as Canada about it. “Sorry this was a little more than you bargained for but I think they’re mostly dead. Or about to fuck off. I’ll put out some traps.” He looked back out at the size of those things. “Uh, more like I’ll set out some big ass cages.”

Putain, she looked really distraught by this whole thing. Kaden coughed at the stench again and well, alright, fair enough. He came here about a rat and ended up having to use a make-shift blowtorch out of her apartment. “Are you going to be alright?” he asked. “I’m Kaden Langley. By the way.” Officer Langely sounded stupid no wawy he was going with that. “Let me know if you have any more trouble with them and I’ll make sure it’s taken care of.”

Could Camille really stay here? Maybe it would be better to save up and get the hell out of town. Okay maybe this was probably the only place she’d get more answers about what had happened to her, but there was the question of whether she’d stay sane enough for that to be worth it. Giant rats taken down with makeshift flame throwers? Eyeballs out of taps? Women with wings? It was a lot. Too much. “I mean the good thing is they probably won’t be coming anywhere near my room.” Maybe it would be better to just ignore all strange things in the future.

She shifted to set her feet back on the ground and sit up straighter, heaving one final sigh before fixing a smile on her face. Camille had been incredibly good at pretending problems with Jace didn’t exist, she could do it again now with all this weird shit. “Kaden.” She nodded, committing the name to memory in case she needed to call again. “I’ll be alright.” Cam twists her hands together, stands up to head to the door. “Thank You for your help today. I appreciate that this wasn’t exactly what you were expecting, either.” No matter what he might be used to dealing with this had only been a call about a rat, afterall. “I hope the rest of your day goes a little more as planned.” She even managed a breezy little laugh, “I’ll be sure to call if they start causing problems again.” She pulled open the door just a crack, heaving a sigh of relief when they weren’t immediately swarmed again. “Thank you, again.”

#kaden #kaden chatzy #chatzy

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septic-dr-schneep · 6 years

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JSE Fanfiction - In Time of Need (Part 17: Interim)

Summary: Unaware of what’s continuing at home, Chase becomes increasingly restless as he recovers from his surgery. Soon enough he receives a visit that will hopefully serve well to distract him.

Chase had always considered himself a good patient. He wasn’t like Schneep, who would grumble at his caretaker that they weren’t doing it right and he could take care of himself, and he wasn’t like Marvin, who was constantly looking at the clock to see when he could make a break for it. He wasn’t like Jameson, who felt guilty for causing a fuss, or like Jackieboy, who—

Well, at this point Jackie’s a better patient than I am…He’s somewhere in this hospital, just…lying there.

It went against everything in Jackieboy’s nature. As soon as he was patched up, he would try to leap off the exam table and go on patrol as if nothing had ever happened. He’d never been able to sit still when it came to healing. Perhaps that was still the case; he wasn’t healing right now. He was in tandem.

The point was that Chase had always been well aware of his limits. He knew what would stress him enough to hurt and what he could take. There had been a time when he didn’t care, when he had wanted the pain just to break through the numbness, but this wasn’t that time. Therefore Chase had stayed prostrate in his hospital bed for the past several hours. He’d hardly moved enough to wrinkle the blankets and yet he still found himself exhausted, as if he’d just finished a twelve-hour day of filming stunts.

Even if he’d been up and about, he wouldn’t have been filming; he’d put up a notice on the Bro Average channel almost five months ago that he was going on hiatus because of a serious family emergency.

“I…honestly don’t know when I’ll be back,” he’d admitted, scrubbing at his sore, tender, sleep-deprived eyes. “Hopefully by the end of this…I don’t know, maybe by the end of this year. Thanks, all of you, for understanding. Family comes first, y’know?”

Given his history with family, given what his viewers had watched him do for family, they were more than willing to let him have a reprieve. The stream of concerned comments had eased up as the weeks grew longer but there was always that sense of anticipation there. He knew they would be there waiting for him, no matter how long it took, and for that he was grateful. Hopefully he wouldn’t get too out of practice and lose his touch.

These thoughts were among the many he used to occupy himself as he whiled away hours upon hours of nothingness, resignedly drifting between sleep and a periodic staring contest with the ceiling. The ceiling always won.

Sometimes he would do his best to make conversation with Dr. Iplier and the Host, but he wasn’t close or knowledgeable about either of them so he eventually ran out of topics they might have in common. Neither of them were naturally talkative anyway, which only made it harder. The only entertainment Chase got during the day was when the nurses would come to check on him and even that was short-lived.

As the last nurse eased the door shut behind her, Chase leaned his head carefully back against the pillows and sighed deeply.

“Dude, can you grab my phone and see if any of the others have—?”

“They haven’t, Chase,” Dr. Iplier assured him, shuffling through the papers on the clipboard he was engrossed in. “I just checked twenty minutes ago.”

“Well, it’s on vibrate! Maybe we didn’t hear it! I just wanna know if they’re—”

“As impatience mounts within the Septic Ego, he recalls that he hasn’t taken a nap in almost an hour,” the Host cut in pointedly. “As much as he wishes he could continue to fidget and inquire, he finds that it will do him no good and that he should rest if he wants to leave the hospital sooner. The less time he spends awake, the less he will be aware of the time passing.”

Pouting, Chase hunkered down a little lower in his bed and mumbled, “You’re cheap.”

Before he could take the suggestion and close his eyes, however, the phone near Dr. Iplier’s elbow did vibrate. Perking up, he glanced at it in vague surprise and a haughty grin spread across Chase’s face.

“Well, would you look at that? Somebody’s calling! What’s the ID? ‘My Drug Dealer?’ ‘I’m A Kitty Cat?’ ‘Brainy Bub?’”

“None of them,” Dr. Iplier replied, raising an eyebrow at Chase’s phone screen. “It just says ‘Her’.”

At that Chase’s smile faltered, eyes widening as slow realization trickled into his brain. “Oh, no…Oh, no, I was supposed to…Give me that, doc, let me see—”

As soon as the doctor handed him the phone, Chase felt as if it weighed three pounds heavier than usual underneath the tangible frustration and anger conveyed through the text glaring back at him.

>The kids and I are at your house. Where are you? I’ve been ringing for five straight minutes. Don’t tell me you went out and forgot about them.

Cursing under his breath, Chase hurriedly swiped at the keys, wincing as he was forced to pull against the IV lead in his arm.

<Had an emergency, I’m at the hospital. Needed surgery.

>What? What kind of emergency? What kind of surgery?

<Doesn’t matter. Could you bring them here? I still want to see them!

>Are you sure the doctors will allow that?

<YOU’RE MY FAMILY.

As soon as he clicked “send” on that one, Chase knew he had made a mistake. He could almost sense Stacy on the other end, staring at those three words with skepticism and mistrust. His eyes lingered on them just as long, filled with longing, desperation, pleading. At long last, he could see her typing.

>Elvery Heights West General, right? What’s your room number?

Falling back against the pillows, he exhaled slowly and mouthed a silent thank-you, sending the proper information and then glancing back and forth between his companions.

“Okay, sorry to spring this on you, but I was supposed to have the kids today. They’re on their way here instead.”

“Oh.” Flipping the papers on his clipboard shut, Dr. Iplier promptly rose from his seat, brushing down his coat. “In that case, I’ll be excusing myself now. I’m not good with kids; they always end up crying when I’m around. Host?”

“The Host isn’t particularly adept with them either, but he would like to remind the doctor that they are meant to be protecting Chase Brody should anything arise.”

“Then you’re staying?” At the Host’s brusque nod, the doctor waved a hand dismissively. “Alright, then, do what you want. Just don’t let them start pulling on your bandages or anything; you almost ruptured a blood vessel when you took them off during the fight and I don’t think it’d make for good times if they ended up covered in blood.”

Chase visibly flinched at the thought and for half a second the doctor looked as if he may regret saying it, but he didn’t apologize. As the door slid shut behind him, the Host apologized on his behalf.

“The doctor has always maintained a noticeable lack of a bedside manner.”

“Yeah, no kidding…” Picking at some loose string on his sheets, Chase squirmed, discomfort striking a more prominent ache in his head. “Host…uh, my family’s kinda…well, I just don’t want you to be weirded out if my wife—my ex-wife and I are—”

“Chase need not worry; the Host is well aware of his marital status.”

“You are? How?”

At that the Host simply tilted his head, folding his hands primly in his lap. “There is very little that escapes him.”

Then did it escape him how unsettling he was being or was he doing it to toy with him? Chase wondered uneasily. He didn’t bother to ask; he had a feeling that whatever the Host might say in response would only compound the issue.

As soon as he heard their voices outside the door, the vlogger pushed himself up in his bed as far as he could, trying to plaster a smile on his face. His kids didn’t need to know what had happened. They didn’t need to know everything that was weighing on his mind or causing him pain; they just needed to see their daddy smiling. The Host straightened in his chair in the corner and while he didn’t smile—did he ever?—he did seem much more attentive, even expectant.

“Here we are,” Stacy announced as she eased the door open, letting Connor and Brianna shuffle into the room.

“Hey there! Come give me a hug, would you?” Chase urged cheerfully, extending the arm that wasn’t hindered by the IV.

As soon as they saw their dad was upright and alert, in contrast to whatever they may have imagined, the kids lit up, rushing over to latch onto him. Their warmth, their familiar smell, their little hands entwining with his…It never stopped being precious.

“We missed you, Dad!” Brianna exclaimed, wrapping herself tightly around his forearm and rocking back and forth with it.

“Mama wanted to give up, she wanted to take us back to her house but I told her to keep ringing the doorbell, no matter how long it took!” Connor piped up eagerly, tugging on his fingers. “I knew you’d want to see us!”

“Oh, I always want to see you, little man…I’m sorry I wasn’t at the house,” Chase murmured kindly, casting a fleeting glance up at Stacy, who stood at the foot of the bed and hadn’t said a word of greeting.

There hadn’t been an actual face-to-face greeting between them for about nine months—no, nine months exactly. She had known something was seriously wrong with him and the others after Schneep had been abducted, so whenever they had to see each other, she opted to skip pleasantries and get right down to business. The same rang true here. Even as her eyes asked, What happened to you? her mind purposely glossed over the explanation.

“How are you feeling?” she asked evenly, loosely folding her arms against her chest—closing herself off from him. He forced his smile to remain despite it.

“Better than I was. It’s been a long week,” he confessed honestly. “I should be out of here tomorrow, if there aren’t any complications.”

“What happened?” Brianna asked at the same time Connor happened to glance into the corner and notice the other man in the room, holding Chase’s hand protectively in front of him as he demanded, “Who’s that?”

“Oh, that’s a—friend of mine.” Hopefully no one noticed Chase’s hesitation. “He’s called the Host. He’s been keeping me company, making sure I’m okay.”

“The Host is happy to inform them that their father has been very well cared for,” the Iplier Ego assured them, his tone strictly neutral but a shade lighter than its usual monotone. Brianna wrinkled her nose unsurely at that, peeking up at her dad.

“Why does he talk like that?” she whispered.

“Don’t be rude,” Chase scolded lightly, ruffling her silky blond hair. “That’s just how he likes to talk.” Come to think of it, he didn’t know if the Host could talk in first person.

Now that he had been reassured that this was a friend, Connor had broken away from Chase and was peering with wide eyes up at the Host, fiddling with his hands. “Do you—Do you wanna see a magic trick, Mr. Host?” he ventured hopefully. “I’ve been practicing one and I wanted to show Daddy when we came so can I show you too?”

“You don’t have to say yes, it’s just a silly trick he does with a calculator,” Stacy cut in, a little embarrassed.

“On the contrary, the Host is quite interested,” he countered, to which she stifled a sigh as Connor scurried to her side and pulled on the clasp to her purse until she fished the calculator out for him.

“See, see, I can make the calculator talk to you when you turn it upside down!” he exclaimed, hurriedly punching in numbers and then thrusting it out for the Host to see. He shrank back only a little as the Host rose from his chair and he noticed how large the man was, but the hand the Host extended to hold the device was kind. As he read it, he chuckled lightly.

“The Host bids the calculator hello in return,” he offered.

Pleased that he was playing along, Connor beamed, snatching the calculator back and typing a second time as he bragged, “I can get it to say your name too! It’s really easy!”

At that the Host raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical, but as he watched him wait patiently as Connor fiddled with it, Chase couldn’t help but feel a warm surge of gratitude. He said he wasn’t good with kids…Or maybe he doesn’t need to be if kids are good with him.

“Here!”

After a pause, the Host cleared his throat, announcing in a tone that was measured to be somewhat gentle, “The Host is sorry to break it to the master magician, but that combination of numbers spells ‘HOSE.’”

“What?!” Scandalized, Connor took a second look and glowered, pouting, “Well, maybe you’ve been spelling your name wrong all this time.” The Host bit his lower lip at that, clearly trying to hide a smile, and the little boy took his toy back, returning his attention to Chase as the Host returned to his chair. “Daddy, this one’s for you!”

“It’s a really good one,” Brianna promised. “He showed me earlier.”

“Well, then I’m looking forward to it,” Chase mused, scanning the numbers for a few moments before turning it around. He promptly burst out laughing, the sound causing a ringing pain in his own ears that he completely ignored. “You figured out how to say ‘BOSS’ with numbers?”

“Isn’t it the best?!” Connor burst out, nearly hopping up and down in his excitement. “I did it all on my own and I knew you’d like it! I knew you would! I wanna show your friend Mr. Jack. Do you think he’d like it?”

At that Chase’s laughter waned, his attention falling back to the calculator screen. He could already picture the smile Jack would give if he could see it, the one that always lit the entire room and filled everyone around him with warmth.

“Well, Jack is…He’s been really, really busy lately,” he managed at length. “I’ll see when we can get together and you can show him, okay? Hopefully we can do that soon.”

As Connor nodded and took the calculator back, chattering with his sister about how much he would practice until then, Chase found his thoughts straying. Now that he’d been reminded of what lay waiting for him at home, he felt even more trapped in this bed than before.

#youtube #jacksepticeye #fanfiction #youtube fanfiction #chase brody #chase brody's family #stacy brody #the host #dr iplier #hurt comfort #family life #in which this is filler before the juicy chapters to come #in time of need #i'd love some feedback

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flowerpotfanfics · 7 years

Text

Updated AU List

This is a list of the recent AUs I’ve been reblogging…we’re only going to write each one once! Pay attention to this list when asking for an AU :)

I need new glasses and you’re the optometrist running my vision tests, but your good looks are really freaking distracting

You’re allergic to cats but my cat really likes you my bad

I adopted a kid and you help me take care of them all the time since we’re neighbors, but you came over and got so involved in the kid’s life so much they think that we’re both their parents instead of just me

I got caught in the rain without an umbrella and an attractive stranger is sharing theirs with me

We’re playing Monopoly in the local library and the game just got serious, I think the librarians are about to kick us out

You caught me having a Barbie movie marathon and now I’m trying to keep you from telling anyone about this!

My pet ran away, I got fired from my job, it started raining out of nowhere and I fell in the mud, and you’re just a random stranger at my bus stop but I really need someone to talk to

Alternatively, I’ve always wanted to tell a stranger my life story and I’m choosing you

We got put in the same group for the senior trip

This is a big ass mall and I just got lost, please help me

My rival and I are determined for us and our respective partners to be the ultimate power couple, but you and the other person in our rival couple really don’t care

You keep coming in to get your laptop fixed but I’m pretty sure your breaking it on purpose but you’re cute so I’ll let it slide

I met you at a convention and you’re cosplaying Person B to my OTP and I’m cosplaying Person A

You got me addicted to playing Love Live and I’m ruining my life

I’m an artist who was at shit creek until I met you, so please be my muse, no, I’m not asking you out

I just showed you all the Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life videos and I think I just scarred you for life

I just crashed this wedding and one of the guests just asked me to dance and I’m pretty sure that they know I’m not a guest from either the bride or groom(brides, grooms) fml

Dude check it out this pair of jeans fits us! Shut up, they aren’t sweatpants they’re jeans

I’m donating blood today and I’m afraid of needles

Pack up man; we’re going on a road trip

Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but can you go on the bungee jumping thing with me? Cuz I’m too scared to go by myself

I’ve never had a proper conversation with you, but I always see you at this cafe folding paper cranes and I you’re really peaking my interest

I’m forcing you to watch my favorite show and you’re more into it than I am now

We’re having our first argument as a married couple: do we explore this island, or do we stay in bed all day

“I’m trying to make macaroni but I’ve burnt 3 pans and set off the fire alarm and I heard the lady above us say you were a chef please help” AU

“I know we just met yesterday but the landlord is coming over and I have 2 cats please hang out with them for a few hours” AU

“I bought too many popsicles at the store do you want some?” AU“We both got kicked out because our roommates are having sex so now we’re playing poker and talking about gardening” AU

“I locked myself out of my apartment so I have to climb out your window and onto my balcony” AU

“I made too much food wanna come in and help me out oh who set up a table with candles and wine thats weird” AU

“I’m at work and my son needs to be picked up from school do you mind?” AU

“Okay well it turns out you’re really good with kids and my son has started calling you daddy and insists we move in so ‘we can be a real family’” AU

“Your laundry got mixed up with mine somehow and now we’re sitting in silence sorting underwear” AU

“I barely know you but my boyfriend just broke up with me and you heard me crying so you brought over ice cream and movies” AU

“Our dogs whine whenever they’re apart so we spend pretty much every day together” AU

“I walked in on your ex yelling at you so you grabbed me and kissed me so she’d go away and I’m kind of freaked out I literally just met you last week” AU

“your country’s trying to take over/annex my country and you��re making it difficult to hate you because you’re so nice and attractive stop it” au

“i’m a prince/ss and you’re a servant and we’re not supposed to hang out but we’re gonna fall in love anyways” au

“i’m a prince/ss and you’re my bodyguard and we’re so not supposed to bang but we kind of did anyways” au (bonus: limo sex is great sex)

princess diaries style “i grew up not knowing i was royal and suddenly my royal grandparent showed up out of nowhere and told me i was so now i guess i’m the heir to the throne and you’re my crush from my pre-royal days but i still have a crush on you” au

“i’m a prince/ss from a small country nobody’s heard of and i’m in college pretending not to be royal and you’re another student who’s always calling me out on my bs” au

“my country’s going through some issues so i’m here in hiding and you’re a civilian who lives in the same apartment complex as me” au

“waiting in line at registration because for some reason, the computer system wouldn’t just let us sign up for classes there” AU

“I don’t mind that my roommate’s boyfriend stays over constantly; I mind that he walks around our apartment-style housing naked” AU

“excuse me, I know we don’t have assigned seats in college, but I’ve been sitting in this one for eight weeks and it seems you’re in my spot” AU

“I’m exhausted, feverish, and hacking up a lung, and the student health center’s first suggestion was pregnancy, can you help me get to the ER in town” AU

“hey, I left my student ID in my room and you’re the first person who’s walked by my building for hours now, I hate to be such a bother but can you pretty please swipe me in, it’s freezing” AU

“bless the spring semester stage combat class for practicing on the North Lawn, because watching my crush get sweaty and worked up while pretending to fight people really Does Things to me, okay” AU

“oh, jesus, that annoying group of LARPers is playing D&D on the lawn underneath my window again and I’m trying to fucking sleep, I have a fucking midterm tomorrow” AU

"there’s a cute punk who I keep chatting up at the bike racks outside the library and one of the lecture halls, and I kinda have a crush, but there’s no way they’d ever think of me like that, right?” AU

“I know that this probably isn’t a good idea but it’s included in the meal plan and I’m stressed out, so I keep hitting the ice cream sundae bar in the buffet style dining hall at least a couple times a week” AU

“fuck shit fuck please help me, I’m supposed to be in chemistry for non-science majors but somehow, my little humanities major ass got registered into the really hardcore chem class” AU

“if I pretend to be interested in your student social activism oriented club and help you hand out flyers and run your bake sale and shit, is there a chance that you’ll go with me to the spring Sleaze Ball dance” AU

“somehow, we always end up sitting next to each other during the weekly gatherings to watch [Game of Thrones, SVU, Rupaul’s Drag Race, pick a show] in our dorm’s really good TV room” AU

“I was abroad last semester and forgot to fill out the housing form, but your old roommate dropped out so hi, hey, how’s it going, I guess we live together now” AU

“wait, you’re not the roommate i requested”

“i wouldn’t have offered you a blunt if i’d known you were the RA”

we both got the same disgusting food at the diner and have no one else to complain to about it

free STI testing at the health clinic… meeting when their hands touch as they reach for a free condom from the giant bowl on the counter

“we’re the only ones that signed up for this club, where the fuck is everyone else”

walking in on hot roommate masturbating oh my god

got caught having an orgy in a classroom in the middle of the night (this has happened at my school. multiple times.)

“we heard meningitis is going around and we’re both terrified and buying hand sanitizer in bulk”

the only ones in the dorm that go out for thirsty thursday

the only competent ones in the group project

“are you asleep on that bench because of midterms, you’re homeless, or you’re dead?”

“omg did you see me pet that squirrel???”

turns out that random hookup from the club sits right next to you in your favorite class

skipping class to get high

“i really need to pass this midterm and rumor has it you have the best study guide”

I’m a barista and you’re the obnoxious customer who comes through and orders a venti macchiato while talking on the phone the whole time so I misspell your name in increasingly creative ways every day AU

I’m a busy businessperson and my barista keeps misspelling my name in increasingly disrespectful ways, honestly, who does this person think they are AU

We were both playing wingman for our friends who have now decided to go home together, and after five minutes of conversation we fucking hate each other, let’s bang it out AU

I saw you trying to hit the “door close” button in the elevator but I made it in and then I pushed every single button to make you later for work, but now we’re stuck in this fucking elevator as it stops at every single floor and I don’t know what to say other than “you started it” AU

I asked for your help getting a book off the top shelf and and you laughed at my taste and called me a nerd so I shoved you into a table of nonfiction best-sellers and that’s how we both got banned from the quirky community bookstore AU

I take my grades very seriously and you’re the lazy asshole who asks a ton of off-topic questions to distract the professor and I might be a foot shorter than you but I swear to god I’ll fight you AU

You tried to barge into a private conversation so I said something devastatingly witty and dismissive but you came back with something even meaner and more clever AU

Shouting match over the last Thanksgiving turkey at the grocery store AU

#au list #important

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actual-flying-grayson · 7 years

Text

Hello friends! This is one of my first short stories, it’s a topic I’m very passionate about. Please enjoy!

BROKEN

“I hate therapy,” I thought to myself, not for the first time that day, as I loaded myself into the car. The thought continued to swirl around in my head as I continued the short drive to Doctor Zimmer’s office. She insisted I call her Diane, even though I persistently made it clear I didn’t want anything to do with having a closer working relationship with her. Her infectious optimism was always somewhat off-putting, which is probably why my family wanted me to see her.

I folded the arms of my hoodie around my chest as I fought to keep the chill at bay as I slid out of my car. I braced myself mentally for the next grueling hour of tedious questions.

‘Just one last session, just one last session.’

The thought repeated in my mind over and over again, like a toddler practicing a newfound rhyme. Today was the last day I would have to see Doctor Zimmer, excuse me, Diane, and I honestly couldn’t be more relieved.

I didn’t have to sit in the waiting room for terribly long, thank God. The secretary brought me back and I flopped down into the squishy orange armchair I’d become so well acquainted with in the past ten weeks. Doctor Zimmer greeted me in her usual way.

“How are you this morning, Levi?” All shiny white teeth and just a little too much mascara. I mumbled something resembling a response as I kept my eyes on my dirty tennis shoes. We then proceeded to slog through about forty-five minutes of the same garbage as the past three months. The continuous picking apart and unpacking of my neuroses, my trust issues, my emotional distancing, blah, blah, blah. Towards the end, she folded one leg over the other and fixed a look on me from over her clipboard.

“Levi, what is it that you think is wrong with you?” She took off her glasses and looked at me more intently. Is she trying to be maternal? Comforting? I had no idea, but God did I wish she would look somewhere else, she was making me uncomfortable.

“Honestly ‘Diane’ for a hundred and fifty bucks an hour, I’d kinda like to know what the hell you think.”

She pursed her lips into a thin red line and was silent for several seconds. “Well Levi, I think you’re dysfunctional.”

“Meaning what, exactly?”

“Meaning, frankly, that you’re just a little bit broken. That’s ok though, everybody is, to some degree or another.” She said the last sentence with her token optimism and tried to reach for my hand, which I deftly withdrew into the pockets of my jacket. She awkwardly withdrew her hand back to her own lap and tried for another confident smile, which died on red lips almost as soon as it started. She settled for a look resembling that of pity, and looked at the clock above the door. “Well Levi, it seems we’re out of time for today, I’m sorry. Now, I know this is your last session and all, but if you ever need anything don’t hesitate to call and set up another appointment. Have a Merry Christmas!”

I gave her a polite smile as I rose from the chair and walked decisively back out into the cold to my car.

BROKEN

What the hell was that supposed to mean, ‘everyone is a little bit broken’? What a load of shit. I unlocked the front door of my apartment to hear the sound of my roommate watching a movie in the living room. I shook the snow off my shoes and stepped in to see him and his girlfriend cuddled on the couch, just as absolutely adorable as could be. Lovely.

DYSFUNCTIONAL

“Hey man, how was your doctor’s appointment?” I heard from the couch as I set my car keys down on the kitchen table.

“It was fine. Hopefully I won’t have to go back. Finger’s crossed, right? If you need me I’ll be in my room doing some stuff for work.”

“Aw come on, why don’t you take a break? Come and finish the movie with us,” my roommate’s girlfriend said in a chipper voice as she made some space on the couch for me. I shot her a small smile but didn’t respond as I ducked into my room. I clicked on my computer and sat down to write. I’ve been attempting to become a writer, in the pursuit of a long awaited dream. I was well aware that my writing skills were absolute garbage, and I was strangely comfortable with that. I’d had a couple short stories published in some local magazines, but nothing very popular. My brother had gotten all the writing talent in the family, having written and published several novels already.

I should have listened to my mother and become an English teacher instead.

LONELY

I blinked my eyes several times as the word faded from my mind, and shook my head softly to clear out the cobwebs. I had been writing for several hours when I decided that I should probably take a break and get something to eat. It had been a long day and I figured that I had earned a bit of a treat, so I grabbed my wallet and coat from off of my bed. I opened my bedroom door and stepped into the living room, very pointedly making quite a lot of noise. If I didn’t interrupt them every so often with my presence I’d have to have the couch steam cleaned again, and that tended to get expensive.

I grabbed my keys off of the table and closed the door behind me as I left. I started off at a steady pace, shoulders bunched beneath the cold. I had my hands in the pockets of my hoodie, curled into fists around my cell phone and keys. I felt the short, pulsating buzz of my phone vibrating, and pulled it out to answer. I looked at the photo ID before answering and wilted ever so slightly as my brother’s name lit up the screen.

“Hello?”

“Hey! Levi, how are you? How was your appointment?”

“Hiya Daniel, it went well thanks. I’m doing fine I guess, yourself? I saw online that you just got another book out, that’s got to be exciting”

He gave a short laugh, “Yeah I suppose so. I don’t suppose you’ve gotten the opportunity to read it yet, have you?”

He knew damn well that I hadn’t, same with the last four books. For the sake of our relationship though it was easier to tell him what he wanted to hear. “I actually picked up a copy yesterday, I was just going out to grab some dinner and get started on it.”

“Hey, that’s awesome. You gotta let me know what you think, alright. Hey, have you heard from Kaitlyn lately?”

Ex-girlfriend. “No, not in months, why?”

“Funny enough I bumped into her not that long ago.” There was a soft giggle from the background, I rolled my eyes and tried to conceal my disgust.

“That’s great. Hey, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later, alright?”

“Sure thing brother. Call Mom, she worries. Merry Christmas, Levi.”

“We’re Jewish, Dan. We don’t celebrate-“

More giggling. “That’s great man, talk to you later!”

BROKEN

The line clicked off and I put my phone away as I pushed open the door to my destination: a small diner down the street from my apartment. It was clean, friendly, and most importantly, cheap. I picked one of the red vinyl booths along the wall and placed my order. While I waited for it to come out, I continued to think about my doctor’s appointment that day, as well as everything else that had been going on lately.

BROKEN

I am thirteen years old. I am home by myself. I am watching the snow come down outside, hoping school is cancelled tomorrow. I see a familiar car pull up outside. One of my older brother’s friends. She is much cooler than me, because she is in high school. Her name is Brandy, and she is easily the nicest of all of my brother’s friends. Most of them ignore me because I’m still pretty young, but Brandy is always nice to me. I think she is very pretty. She comes out of her car and walks up to the house and rings the doorbell, but I’m already at the door. Daniel and my parents are out of the house right now, and I am by myself. I am not allowed to have people in the house when I’m alone, but Brandy is different. I open the door.

“Hey, buddy, wake up. You’re freaking out the other diners.” I snap out of my reverie to look at the source of the voice. It’s my waiter, who appears to have brought my food. I mumble my apology and set about eating quickly so I can go home. Suddenly I’m very nervous, and I have no reasonable justification for it. I haven’t thought about her in, God how long ago was that? I thought I’d forgotten everything about her. She used to be pretty cool until her and my brother lost touch after graduation. I wonder what she’s up to now?

Hot breath on my neck. My voice is catching in my throat. I am crying, even though Dan said that men aren’t supposed to cry.

I blink again, and give my food one last look before I get up to pay. I hurriedly leave the diner and start the walk home. I should have driven instead, even though it’s such a short distance, the snow is beginning to fall even harder. I jam my hands in my pockets and pull my hood up to cover my ears. I need to get home quickly, but I don’t know why, I just fell so strange tonight. Stupid damn therapist, I never should’ve gone in the first place.

BROKEN

I can fix you Levi. Sad little Levi.

I shake my head again as I almost bump into a middle-aged woman walking briskly with her young son. She takes one look at me before pulling her son closer and hurrying away. How odd, I’ve never had that happen to me before. People are probably on edge because of the storm. I know that I am. Tonight has been weirdly reminiscent for me, I don’t normally get like this. I just need to get home and warm up before I freeze out here.

I make the rest of the journey back to my apartment quickly and quietly, avoiding other people on the sidewalk as much as possible. For some reason I scared that woman, and I don’t want to do that to anybody else tonight. I unlock the door to my apartment and all of the lights are off as I step into the living room and drop my keys onto the table. I click on a light and sit down at the table to look at the small stack of mail on the table as I warm up slowly but surely. I hear a small muffled noise come from my roommate’s room and I stop to try and identify it. Again, I hear a faint, feminine sigh, followed by the creaking of a slightly too old mattress.

DYSFUNCTIONAL

I whimper softly. I am very scared, and I don’t know what to do, and I just wish that my family would come home. “Shhh, be quiet. You don’t want someone to hear us, do you?” I try to quiet myself. Her hands are everywhere, as her mouth presses to mine. I am still crying and I cannot stop. I want to stop. I want everything to stop. I can’t stop though, I can’t stop the crying. I can’t stop anything. I am too weak.

I’ve been out too long and my hands are stiff, so I decide to warm them up by trying to write some more. I walk into my room and sit down at my laptop.

“You’re not exactly you’re brother but I guess you’ll do. Hold still.”

I open up my latest story and give it a quick scan before placing my cursor at the beginning and hammering the delete button over and over again until the page is blank. Then I open up another one of my stories and give it the same treatment. Then again, and again. Over and over until my finger is numb. The calm, rational part of my brain speaks to me, telling me that I’ll be alright. For the first time in my life however, I am able to easily silence that little voice. The only bit of rationality I am able to summon at the moment is the inability to cry. Thank God, I won’t do that again.

I stand up from my desk and grab my keys off the table. I need to get out for a bit, get some fresh air. The cold air stings my arms as I realize that I’ve forgotten my jacket. It doesn’t matter, I won’t be out for very long anyway. Just long enough to clear my head, to sort out what the hell is going on. Where are these thought’s coming from? Are these memories even mine? I haven’t thought about Brandy in so long. I haven’t remembered in even longer.

I don’t know what happened next.

I woke up in a hospital, with soft leather cuffs holding my hands to the edge of a white bedframe that reeked of sterility. My whole body was numb, and I assumed that it was from the cold. I tried to lift my left arm, only to feel the dense weight of so many white cotton gauze bandages pulling against the cuff on the bed. ‘Oh’, I think to myself, ‘I see’. I’ve been here before, but not in a very long time. Not since I was a teenager at least. The memories of the night before hammer into my chest with the force of a runaway train. A nurse bustles into the room once they see that I’m awake.

The next several days passed in a relative haze, although I never did seem to get much of a moment’s peace. Several doctors at a time would come in to speak with me about what had happened. Once everyone got all of the information they wanted, I was allowed visitors. At first it was only my parents, but slowly others came to visit as well. My roommate, my brother, some of the other friends I had grown close to in my life.

After I recovered physically, the doctor’s wanted me moved to a separate facility to sort out what happened. It took some time, but eventually I got everything out that needed to get out. Things that I had forgotten, things that I had put away even from myself. One of the psychiatrist’s asked me if I wanted to tell my parents, or if I wanted someone else to do it. I figured that it should come from me, in order to help with the healing process. Either my healing process or theirs, I’m not sure. My parents were angry, and confused, and hurt that I hadn’t said anything. I think Daniel blames himself. A small part of me thinks that maybe he should.

I have since been released from the hospital. I suppose I should say hospitals, plural. While there I was able to get help, which is probably what I needed. I am still broken. Very, very broken. I’m repairing myself though, slowly. so slowly it hurts sometimes, but I can look myself in the eyes now without fear, and that’s progress. Damn it if still don’t hate therapy though.

If you’ve made it this far through my story, then thank you! I appreciate the time and attention. If you enjoyed it, please let me know! If you have any constructive criticism, please do the same, I’m constantly trying to improve. I hope this can help some of you out there, have a good night.

#short story #my experience #broken #warning #therapy #mental health

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