Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cynthia always sneaks out whenever her parents aren’t around.

It’s not like it happens all the time - her parents go on yearly business trips, and when that time comes around, everyone in the Elliott household wants their time to themselves, from Tessa working day and night in her room on whatever project she comes up with next, to Neil going out to see his friends. Cynthia’s time to herself just happens to be going out, exploring just outside of the neighborhood.

She was never a very social child, always doing things by herself, examining bugs within the grass, even calling them her friends instead of other children. Today, her searching for bugs lead her beyond the end of the road, where the trees grow thick, a hill of rocks - the perfect place for a bug to hide. Cynthia turns over every rock she touches as she climbs, higher and higher, until she set her foot on the wrong rock. The rock slips out from under her, causing her to fall all the way down, stumbling with a loud crunch at the bottom of the hill.

Cynthia didn’t even register that she fell and possibly broke something - one second she’s climbing, the next she’s laying on the grass, sobbing. A pain in her leg burns through her entire body, drowning out her own cries.

Fortunately, the pain didn’t last long - but Cynthia doesn’t notice for another good half hour. All she does is cry, and cry - nobody is going to help her, she’s too far away from the neighborhood to do anything. Gathering strength, she wipes her tears with a sleeve, and sits up - only to find her leg to be perfectly normal.

Confused, Cynthia touches her leg where the pain was, and… Nothing. It feels normal. Hesitantly, shaking, she moves her leg a little bit - nothing. No pain, no sign of injury. It’s like she never even fell.

Taking a shaky breath, Cynthia stands up - there isn’t any pain when she leans on it, either. Walking cautiously out of fear she’d fall again, Cynthia slowly makes her way back home to tell her siblings about her pain.

Stumbling her way back inside, the shoes by the door and voices from upstairs tell her that Neil came home while she was outside, and that he and Tessa are talking about something that Cynthia doesn’t care about in the slightest. The only reason she listens in is to figure out where they are.

“I bet it’ll be more stoked if you text it,” Tessa teases Neil. He blushes, mildly embarrassed. “You really think so?...”

“Yah, dummy! Especially for a sleepover. I bet Uzi’s gonna drop everything to come see you.”

Neil laughs awkwardly, pulling out his phone. “I- I guess… I should do that now, then?-”

Before Tessa responds, there’s a shy, quiet knock on her door - a sure sign that Cynthia needs something. Tessa grins at Neil while getting up to open the door. “Good luck, N!”

Tessa’s attitude changes quickly as she sees Cynthia, her eyes red from crying, leaning against the door frame.

“Cyn?? Are you okay, what happened?” Tessa exclaims, kneeling down to her level.

“I- I- I fell… my- my leg really hurt…”

Neil has abandoned his phone, now standing over his sisters, concerned over Cynthia’s pain. “Cyn, did you walk all the way here with a leg injury??” he asks, moving past Tessa to pick up his little sister. “C’mon, no more walking for a little bit til we figure out what’s wrong.”

Cynthia hugs her brother as he picks her up. “But- but that’s the thing! It went away, and I don’t know why!”

“Isn’t that a good thing, though?” Neil glances at Tessa, who is equally as confused by Cynthia’s response. “Here, let’s sit you down,” Neil says, moving to put Cynthia on Tessa’s bed. “Can you show me where it hurt?”

Cynthia gestures to her right calf, of which there really is no evidence of injury. “Okay, is it okay if I touch it?”

She nods, and Neil begins to press on Cynthia’s leg. “Does it hurt when I do this?”

Cynthia shakes her head, and Neil moves on to a different spot. “How about here?”

Still nothing. Neil backs off, giving another confused glance at Tessa.

“Well, if it doesn’t hurt, then what’s wrong, Cyn?” Tessa asks.

“I- I don’t know!!” Cynthia sobs. She’s just as confused as her siblings are, maybe even more so. “But it hurt so much earlier, I don’t- I don't know what happened.”

“Cyn…” Tessa sits on her bed next to her little sister, gently placing a hand on her back, trying her best to comfort her. “Maybe you should get some rest. If there really was an injury there, you wouldn’t want to stress it so much - do you want me to take you back to your room?”

She nods, hugging Tessa tightly - although she only feels more upset. Tessa picks her up, looking at Neil, shrugging. He looks sympathetic at Cynthia as his two sisters leave the room, and once they’ve left, he goes for his phone again to text his friend about coming over.

Chapter Text

Uzi stands at the doorstep of its best friends’ house, knocking on the door, wearing a backpack full of its things to spend the night there. When the door opens on a smiling Tessa, Uzi greets her with a grin. “I brought candy.”

“Hell yes!! You’re the best, Zi. C’mon in, N’s searching for movies.”

Uzi takes its shoes off at the door, and heads straight into the living room where Neil sits on the couch, fiddling with the remote of the TV. He doesn’t seem to be aware of his surroundings whatsoever. Sitting next to him, Uzi taps his shoulder, startling him and making him nearly drop the remote. He blushes in embarrassment while Tessa and Uzi laugh at him.

“Damn, I only just walked in, and you already forgot about me. That hurts, y’know,” Uzi jokes, bumping Neil with its elbow. “What're we watching?”

“Uhh, I dunno yet! I was just looking through our options. You got something in mind, Zi?”

“We should so watch a horror movie-”

“No.”

Tessa finally takes a seat on the couch, on the other side of her brother. “Neil, you’re a little baby, you know that?” she laughs. Neil, however, looks shocked. “I am not!!”

“Just accept it, N, you’re a little baby man,” Uzi teases, taking a large bag of sour candy out of its backpack and placing it on the table in front of the couch. Its backpack gets basically dropped on the ground in front of it.

“You can’t talk to me about being a little baby! You’re literally short!”

Uzi’s jaw drops, and it lightly smacks Neil on the arm. “Shut your face, N! You don’t get any candy!”

“Aw, that’s cruel, Uzi…” Tessa smiles, reaching for the candy Uzi brought and popping a piece in her mouth.

“Fine, then, I guess we’re watching horror,” Neil says, navigating to the ‘Horror’ section on the TV. “You guys are so mean.” Despite his tone, his grin is just as radiant as Tessa’s.

“There’s this new movie that came out recently, about a girl getting possessed. We should watch that.”

“Of course you wanna watch the possession movie. Why not some, I don’t know, body horror, or something else, for once?” Tessa shakes her head.

“No way. I draw the line at body horror. Not a chance.”

“It was just an example! Chill.”

Uzi rolls its eyes, considering Tessa’s request for a different subgenre. “But, consider: I can reference my books to see if it's accurate. You can’t get that with any movie except the supernatural ones.”

“Don’t tell me you actually brought your notes, Zi,” Tessa says, wide-eyed with disbelief.

“No. I’m insane, but not that insane,” Uzi jokes. “Besides, your house isn’t even haunted. Boring as fuck, if you ask me.”

“Oh, come on. I know you love it here!” Tessa glances at Neil, her smile turning sly. “And I know N loves it when you come by, huh? Right?”

Blushing, Neil buries his face in his hands. “I- I mean, obviously, yeah, I like it when my friends come over…”

“Right, your ‘friend’.”

“Tess,” Uzi glares, its face just as red as Neil’s. “Please. Please shut the fuck up.”

Tessa laughs as she teases the two, standing up off the couch. “Y’know what, yeah, I will do that. In fact, I’ll shut up so hard, I’ll just leave you two alone. Hey, how ‘bout I order us some dinner for later while you two bicker like a married couple over whatever we're watching, yeah?”

“Ugh, bite me!” Uzi barks, crossing its arms and looking away. It dares not make eye contact with anyone in the room; looking at Tessa would make it even more annoyed, and looking at Neil would make it blush harder. With this, Tessa leaves the room with a huge grin on her face.

“Uh… Uzi?” Neil starts.

“You can choose a movie. We don’t need to watch horror. I know you don’t like it, anyways.”

“No- no, it’s fine! I’ll have fun either way. Hey, what was that movie you mentioned called? It, uh, sounds interesting.”

Uzi snorts, finally looking Neil in the eye with a small smile. “Man, you don’t need to pretend to be interested in that stuff.”

“I’m not pretending! I promise.”

Uzi brushes its hair out of its face, leaning back on its hands. “Really?... Well… it’s called ‘Unwilling Disdain’, it’s about a girl who gets possessed by an old spirit, and that spirit forces her to go on a killing rampage. The thing is, though, no one really knows she’s possessed - everyone just thinks she snapped. I haven’t seen it yet, but I really want to.”

“That, uh, certainly does sound like something you’d like!” Neil chuckles awkwardly, turning to the TV so he can search for the movie.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean, huh?” Uzi taunts, grinning at its friend.

“Uzi,” Neil huffed, glancing back at it with an equally silly grin. He selects the movie Uzi described, waiting for his sister to get back before he actually starts it. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

Finally, Tessa re-enters the room, falling back on her spot on the couch. “You folks choose something yet, or what?”

“Yep!” Neil nods at the TV.

“Awh, ghost movie again? Neil, if Uzi’s forcing you to do this, blink twice,” Tessa teases, knowing how annoying she’s being to her brother.

“Do you have anything better in mind?” Neil says, playfully exasperated. “I mean, I am completely open to whatever you guys want.”

Tessa groans, rolling her eyes. “Ugh… no. Dammit.”

“Hey, if you’re genuinely sick of it, we can watch something else. It’s fine, I don’t care,” Uzi leans forward to look at Tessa with a concerned expression.

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m just teasing,” Tessa grins. “N, start the movie already!”

“I am, I am, jeez!” Neil chuckles, pressing ‘play’ and leaning back.

About thirty minutes into the movie, Neil is already curled up on the couch, eyes wide with fear. The bag of candy Uzi brought is already halfway gone, the trio eating through it as the movie goes on, Neil more so using the candy as a form of grounding comfort to distract him from the horrors on the screen.

A knock on the door makes him jump, nearly choking on the candy, and, in turn, startling both Tessa and Uzi. “I’m- okay-” he stutters out, getting up. “Water,” he stammers, moving to leave the room.

Meanwhile, Tessa goes for the door, retrieving the food she ordered before setting it back down on the table next to the half-empty bag of candy, as well as three sodas. “Pizza’s here! I’m gonna grab Cyn and see if she wants any, could you pause the movie, Zi?”

“Oh, sure,” Uzi says, grabbing the remote.

Making her way upstairs, Tessa starts thinking about her little sister. She hasn’t come out of her room that much since her supposed injury yesterday, only ever making her presence known if she needs something.

Tessa knocks on Cyn’s door, calling out for her. “Hey, Cyn, dinner’s downstairs if you want any, we got pizza. Uzi’s here, too, if you wanna say hi!”

The door opens on Cyn staring blankly at Tessa. From what Tessa can see, the room behind her is a mess.

“Are you okay, by the way? Uh… Has your leg started hurting again?”

“I’m hungry,” Cyn says, ignoring the question. She pushes past her sister, carefully heading downstairs. Tessa feels a knot forming in her stomach, and a strange feeling in her throat she can’t explain. Tepidly figuring it’s just hunger, she follows Cyn back to the living room.

Uzi smiles brightly as it sees her enter the room. Neil is also on the couch, having come back from getting water while Tessa was getting Cyn. “Hi, Cylly! How’s it going, I haven’t seen you in a while,” Uzi chirps.

She doesn’t respond. All she does is stand there, staring at the pizza, blocking Uzi’s view of the TV.

“Uh, hey, Cyn! Do you want some pizza? We’re probably not gonna finish this tonight, so,” Neil says awkwardly. He can feel something cold about his little sister, something that wasn’t there the day before.

Almost hesitantly, Cyn finally takes a slice for herself, then moves to the kitchen to go eat. Uzi and Neil exchange a worried glance.

“Is Cyn doing okay? She seems a bit, ah. Different.”

“She said she got hurt yesterday, and now she’s acting like this. I don’t know what happened,” Neil frowns.

“I seriously hope she didn’t run into anyone unsavory.” Tessa crosses her arms. “I mean, there really aren't many other reasons for the way she’s acting.”

Uzi hums, furrowing its brows. “Do you mind if I talk to her a bit?”

“She’s not possessed, Zi.” Tessa rolls her eyes.

“Ugh, I wasn’t trying to say that,” Uzi growls, “I just wanna see if I can cheer her up a bit.”

Tessa shrugs, sitting down on the couch. “Whatever,” she sighs.

Uzi leaves for the kitchen. It knows where it is - it’s been here so often, it has a whole mental map of the house in its head.

Cyn is sitting at the kitchen table, staring at her pizza. There’s only the smallest bite taken out of it, without any other signs of being touched. Uzi takes a seat next to her, careful not to touch her in case she doesn’t want that right now. “Hey, Cylly, what’s up? Are you doing alright?”

“I don’t like the pizza,” she mumbles. “It makes me feel sick.”

“You don’t have to eat it,” Uzi tries to comfort, “you can find something else, or me or your siblings could make something for you. Would you like that?”

Cyn makes a strange face, reaching her hand up to bite at her nails. She doesn’t respond.

“...Or, uh, I guess it’d have to be one of your siblings, and not me. I think you know how I am with cooking by now - I manage to burn water,” Uzi chuckles, keeping its tone light, gently touching Cyn’s arm.

She pauses, quietly looking at Uzi’s hand.

“Uh, no touch?” Its hand recoils slightly, just in case.

Cyn grabs Uzi’s hand, turning to face it, and-

Uzi exclaims, fully jerking its hand back after finding Cyn biting down on it. “Cynthia! Hey, don’t do that!!”

Cyn’s breathing turns heavy, tears welling in her eyes. She runs off, out of the room, out of the house before anyone can stop her. Uzi tries following, but it only gets as far as the living room before seeing her leave through the front door. Tessa is standing, panicked, and Neil is storming out the door after Cyn.

“Hey, uh, Uzi? What the hell happened, what did you do?”

“I don’t fucking know!! She said her food made her sick, and when I tried offering something else, she bit me!!” As it talks, Uzi checks its hand to see if it's bleeding - fortunately, there’s only teeth marks indented into its skin, and no blood to be found.

“Urgh, whatever! Let’s go find her before something bad happens.” Tessa follows her brother, and Uzi trails along behind her.

Chapter Text

Shoving two sodas in her tote bag, Vee steps out of the little corner store to start walking home. Blue hour hangs heavy in the air, and though Vee doesn’t live far away, she still dreads the walk back home. If the sun were out, maybe she’d dread it a little less - but, alas, here the gloaming stays.

Her thoughtless stroll is soon interrupted by the sounds of crying - ahead of her, running at full speed, is what looks to be her friend’s little sister. Not being up for trying to talk to a child, Vee steps out of the way for Cyn to run past - only for her to be nearly tackled down, the kid jumping on her and biting down hard on her shoulder.

She screams, yanking the kid off of her and throwing her down. “What the fuck is your deal??”

Following behind, fortunately, is Neil, his other sister, and Uzi. Vee spots them as Cyn lunges at her once again, this time knocking her over. “Neil, get your fucking demon sister off my damn ass!!”

“She is not a demon!!” Neil shouts, grabbing Cyn’s arm to take her away - but Cyn has already managed to bite off a whole chunk of Vee’s shoulder, all while her eyes remain puffy and tears stream endlessly down her face, mixing with the blood on the corners of her mouth.

“YES SHE IS! Shit-...” Breathing heavily, Vee clutches her wound, the pain awful and searing. Tessa reaches her arm out to help her, but she swats her hand away.

Cyn jerks her arm away from Neil, then rolls over off of Vee to start running away again. Watching her, Vee stumbles to her feet, swearing under her breath. “I swear to god, I’ll kill that kid.”

“No, no you fucking aren’t,” Uzi growls. “She isn’t acting like herself, we’re trying to figure out what’s wrong.”

Annoyed, Vee huffs, turning her head and moving her hand to look at her injury - to her surprise, it doesn’t look as bad as it first was. In fact, it looks like it’s already healing, the pain slowly, slowly dissolving. Vee furrows her brows at it, sucks in air through her teeth, then looks back to the group, sighing and covering her injury once more with her hand. “You idiots owe me for this.”

“Okay, sure, whatever, we need to go now, Cyn is getting away,” Tessa furiously gestures in the direction Cyn ran off. Unfortunately, she’s nowhere to be seen.

“Actually, hang on,” Uzi says, looking at Vee’s shoulder. “We should go back, I want to test something.”

“Now is not the time, Zi! This isn’t a supernatural thing!!”

“You don’t know that!!”

“GUYS,” Neil shouts, annoyed by the fighting, getting between the two. He grits his teeth as he looks between them, before then staring directly at Tessa. “Let’s see what Uzi has in mind.”

“Your bias is showing,” Tessa huffs, making her brother frown.

“So am I just gonna become an experiment for you, now?” Vee complains.

“We’re trying to help you, you diva, isn’t that what you wanted?” Uzi rolls its eyes. “Anyways, just trust me on this. N, Tess, you take her back to your place, I’ll meet you there.”

Neil nods in confirmation, then stepping a little bit closer to Vee. “Hey, uh, do you need any help getting there, by the way? Like, I know Cyn hurt you where you can still walk, but-”

“-I can move just fine, stupid. Besides…” Vee glances at her injury, squinting at it, moving her hand off of it. “It, uh, seems to be healing up pretty quick.”

“Wait, what the fuck?” Tessa stares at the bite. At this point, it looks like it’s nearly healed itself, already. Tessa’s jaw drops in confusion as she looks back and forth between Vee and Uzi. Could it really be right about this whole situation?

Could this be why Cyn said she was hurt the other day, despite no clear injury?

Tessa doesn’t want to think about it, but so far, Uzi’s gut feeling seems to be the most likely thing happening - something beyond her own knowledge, something she would never understand. She never even believed in that sort of thing until now - it’s hard for her to process.

“It’s getting dark. I’ll see you guys soon,” Uzi says, saluting as it turns to leave to get its books.

“See you,” Neil waves.

The walk back to the siblings’ house is quiet and awkward. By the time Vee got inside, her injury fully healed. Uncomfortable with how quick it was, she rubs a hand over where the bite used to be - completely smooth, as if nothing ever happened, save for some bite marks visible on her skin. The only way someone else might be able to guess she was attacked is by the blood still staining her shirt.

“Here, let’s get you up to the guest room. You need somewhere proper to rest,” Tessa offers, leading Vee upstairs, Neil following right behind her. As they enter the guest room, Vee sits on the soft bed, still feeling at where the wound used to be in disbelief, as if the moment she stopped, it’d reappear. “God, what the hell even happened?”

“Did you already repress it?” Tessa half-jokes.

“Not what I meant. I mean, that was weird, right? Tell me you think it was weird.”

“Which part?” Neil says, exasperated.

“Ugh. Everything.” Vee takes one of the sodas out of her tote, opening it slowly so it won’t explode on the clean, white sheets. “I had a whole chunk taken out of me. You saw that. Uzi saw it.” She pauses to take a swig of her drink. “Cyn fucking caused it, so obvi she saw it…”

Neil and Tessa exchange a worried glance. “Y’know,” Neil starts, “Cyn, uh, came to us the other day, saying she hurt herself, but… But there wasn’t anything there. I wonder if she went through a similar thing? Uh, with the healing?”

“Maybe,” Tessa agrees.

Vee tenses. She doesn’t want to know what this could mean for her. “So it’s your fault she’s like this. Is that what I’m hearing?”

Neil looks to the ground, ashamed. He hates the idea that he failed his little sister.

“Don’t blame us!! We didn’t know this would happen, okay??” Tessa snaps. “We’re sorry she hurt you, but that doesn’t make it our fault.”

“Then what am I supposed to do, huh? Blame the little kid for having failures of older siblings?”

“You fucking ass-”

“-Tessa,” Neil interrupts. The room is quiet as the girls look at him, one glaring, one concerned. He turns to Vee, glowering at her. “Vee, no blame games. Please. It’s been a long night already, we don’t need this.”

She scoffs. “I didn’t need to lose a chunk out of my shoulder, but here we are.”

“Oh, shut up, it healed.” Tessa rolls her eyes.

“Too quick to be normal!! Ugh, whatever, it doesn’t matter.” Vee takes a sip of her drink, not making eye contact with either sibling. “Do you guys at least have anything to eat? I don’t wanna miss dinner.”

“Uh, we have some leftover pizza, if you want it,” Neil says, remembering the few slices left downstairs.

“Sure. Why not,” Vee sighs, leaning her head back.

Nodding, Neil wordlessly leaves the guest room to get Vee a slice of pizza.

“Ugh. Jay’s so gonna kill me for not coming back,” Vee smiles coldly.

“Do you want to head home after this? Believe me, I think everyone would be perfectly fine with that.”

“Shut up. No, I don’t.” Vee stares Tessa down in the eye, glaring. “I mean, I got her a soda and all, but, like, also, fuck her. She kinda sucks.”

“More than you?” Tessa smiles, finally lighthearted. Her response makes Vee chuckle. “Yeah. At least I’m not a control freak.”

In a short amount of time, Neil is already back at the guest room with a plate of kinda-warm pizza for Vee. “Here. I hope it’ll make you feel better.”

“Thanks,” she responds, taking the plate. But she doesn’t eat immediately - instead, she stares at it, unaware of the strange look on her face.

“Hey, are you okay, Vee?” Neil worries.

“Huh-? Oh, yeah, just spaced out. I’m starving,” she says, finally taking a bite of her food. She wants so badly to spit it out, but she doesn’t know why - she’s telling the truth about being starving, but her own body rejects what’s supposed to feed her.

“Vee,” Neil says, not fully believing her. “You can tell us if something’s wrong, it’s okay.”

She swallows the bite deliberately, wanting to gag as it slides down her throat. Forcing a smile, she sets the pizza back down on the plate. “Yeah, it’s fine. This, uh, just isn’t very good pizza,” she lies.

“Really?” Neil pouts, furrowing his brows.

“Well, I’m never ordering from that place again, then,” Tessa jokes. “I mean, look at what it did to Cyn!”

“Too soon,” Neil shakes his head, closing his eyes. “Way, way too soon.”

Vee sets the plate down on the bedside table, unhappy with her food. “No pizza for me, I guess.”

“Do you want anything else?” Neil asks, not wanting to leave a guest hungry.

Vee hums as she looks between Neil and Tessa, fidgeting with her hands. She can feel her mouth watering as she stares at them, a sudden feeling of dread looming over her, creeping down her spine. Her shoulders feel heavy and tight, as though she had to carry the weight of the sky upon them.

“Uh… pork?” she eventually stammers out, “I guess?”

“I’m not even sure if we have pork,” Neil wonders, looking at Tessa, who shrugs at him.

“That’s fine,” Vee interjects, tearing her eyes from the siblings to her own hands. Her head feels light, her body shaky and clammy. Something doesn't feel right to her.

“Seriously, are you okay?” Neil asks, giving her a concerned look. “You seem anxious, I just wanna know if I can make things better.”

Thinking, she pauses. There’s a strange sense of familiarity that washes over her as she reflects on how she feels in the moment.

“I’m… hungry,” she finally demands, her voice low and intense.

Tessa touches Neil on the shoulder, wordlessly urging him to move back. He can feel his stomach knotting up in a way he can’t really place. “I- I know that,” he stutters, his voice cracking.

Vee can feel herself losing control of her hunger. Body shaking, she suddenly grabs Neil’s arm, making him gasp and jerk himself away. “What are you doing?!”

“I need food, dammit!”

“Shit- Neil, run!!” Tessa yells, opening up the door. He follows his sister’s order, and though Vee tries running after him, she instead gets the door slammed in her face. “Find a chair, I’ll hold her off,” Tessa commands. Terrified, Neil does as he’s told, running into his room next door to grab a chair and block the door as Vee slams on it, hungrily trying to get out.

Knowing this won’t hold forever, Tessa grabs her brother’s wrist, taking him downstairs so Vee won’t be able to harm them immediately.

“Fuck, when’s Uzi gonna get here?”
“I- I don’t know. It can’t be too long now, I think, it doesn’t live very far…”

As if on cue, a knock on the front door sounds, making both siblings jump before Neil rushes to answer the door. Surely enough, it’s Uzi, holding its books in its arms - and before it can get a word in, Neil drags it inside. “Get in, get in, oh my god, get in,” he panics.

“Huh-? N, what’s going on? Is Vee okay??”

“No way. No fucking way she’s okay,” Tessa answers for Neil, shaking her head.

“I think she just tried to eat me?? We- we, uh, blocked her in the guest room. Please tell me you know how to fix this.”

Uzi’s eyes widen as it hears what happened, panic creeping down its spine as it glances at its books. It hopes it has something that can help.

“I can try. I just need some time - how long do you think you can hold her off?”

“No clue.”

“That’s fine. I probably don’t need too much time, anyways, just make sure she doesn’t get through the door.”

The siblings exchange a worried glance at each other before running off to do as Uzi says, and it heads into the kitchen to lay out its books on the island counter - it’s a slightly bigger surface than the living room’s smaller table, and it’ll need that space to do what it needs to.

It scans each page of its books, trying its best to hurry for the sake of its friends. For most of the time, it bookmarks each page that it deems close enough to what’s going on - until it comes to a page labeled ‘Entity of the Absolute Fabric’.

The entry describes an infection through injury, losing control of themselves to consume the flesh of the infected’s fellow persons - starting with whoever the entity deems a proper host. *That must be Cyn*, Uzi thinks to itself.

The size of the infected’s wound will always correlate to the amount of time it takes to feel the effects - someone with one or more body parts removed will likely feel the effects immediately, while someone with the equivalent of a small scratch may not feel the effects until days later. A host, on the other hand, will vary depending on how strong their will may be. The wound will always heal abnormally fast.

Vee had a chunk of her shoulder taken out of her - so, of course she’d be infected the night of being attacked.

On the page next to the entry of how it works, there’s a ritual listed on how to exorcize the entity and heal the infected; it lists a symbol - a hexagonal shape with three arrows pointing out of it - drawn on where the wound was, salt soaked in water washed over said symbol, and a crucifix of any kind stabbed into the center. Quickly, Uzi stands to look around the kitchen for possible tools to make a crucifix - of which it finds two salad spoons and a roll of masking tape that looks as though it hasn’t been touched in a very long while. Settling for these, Uzi makes a makeshift crucifix, poorly held together though sturdy enough for what it needs in the moment.

Next, for the salt. Uzi grabs a salt box from next to the stove, pouring nearly the entire contents into a random large cup from the shelves, before then filling it up with water from the sink. As it waits for it to fill, it taps its foot impatiently - and once it’s ready, it looks in the same drawer it found the tape in to find a marker to draw with, taking it and the other supplies up to the guest room. It’s hard to carry everything - some of the salt water spills on the stairs, nearly making Uzi slip down - but it’s entirely worth it in its mind.

“I found something that’ll help,” it tells the two siblings, holding the chair in place as Vee continues pounding on the door, shouting vaguely about hunger and desperation.

“Finally,” Tessa groans, tired from keeping Vee shut in. Though she wonders about the supplies Uzi is holding, she’s far too exasperated to ask.

Uzi approaches the door, where Neil holds the chair up close. “Hey, can you hold some of this? I need to let Vee know what I’m doing.”

“Uh- sure, but you’re gonna have to hold the door shut, instead,” he responds, taking the makeshift crucifix and salt water from Uzi. He tries taking the book, as well, but Uzi shakes its head as he tries, its hand holding the marker moving to hold the chair in place as it tries to shout over Vee.

“Hey, Vee? It’s- it’s Uzi! I’m here to help you!”

“Uzi~! Hey, you’ll let me out, right? Please, I’m so fucking hungry, these two assholes are starving me!! I feel like I’ll die in here!”

“What? No, Vee, you’re infected - I know how to help you, just listen to me!”

“Infected with hunger, maybe!” Vee laughs. “LET ME OUT.”

“I’m serious!! Once you’re cured, you won’t feel as hungry anymore, okay? I promise!”

For a moment, there’s silence on the other side - and then a smaller voice than the one that’s been shouting. “...Okay. I’ll- I’ll try to control myself. Please, please just help.”

Before Uzi opens the door, it gestures for Tessa to come closer, stage whispering to her so Vee won’t hear - “You don’t mind holding her back, yeah?”

“As long as you know what you’re doing.”

“I promise. I’m opening the door now, be prepared to grab her if she tries anything.”

Tessa nods as Uzi hesitantly removes the chair from the door, placing it in a spot that’s out of the way for the others to get through - although it’s a bit hard, given the space of the hallway. Hesitantly, Uzi opens the door, finding Vee sitting on the bed, clutching the sheets as hard as she can. Tessa follows, going to sit behind Vee - “Stay still,” she says gently, holding Vee’s wrists together with both hands. She can feel her wanting to struggle against her.

“Okay, so - you were bitten on your shoulder, yeah?”

“You saw it. You know what happened.”

“Just making sure. It happened so fast,” Uzi shakes its head, scanning once more through its book. “Please don’t bite me, okay? This is gonna feel really weird.”

Vee’s mouth twitches in anticipation as she shifts where she sits, anxious and so, so hungry. “Be quick. I don’t exactly have so much patience right now.”

Uzi takes hesitant steps forward, sitting next to Vee to start working on the ritual. Neil stands right by it, prepared to offer whatever’s needed.

“First, I need to draw this symbol on wherever your bite was.” Uzi points at the symbol in its book with the marker, letting Vee see it. “You ready?”

“Just get it over with!!”

With her confirmation, Uzi starts drawing - fortunately, it’s a simple symbol to draw, and it’s done in no time at all, if a little bit uneven due to Vee’s restlessness and Uzi’s shaking hands.

Uzi turns its head to Neil, holding its hand out to him. “I need that salt water,” it says, to which Neil immediately hands it over. Vee cocks a brow as she watches this, feeling strange about what’s going to happen next.

Uzi dips a hand into the salt water, scooping up some of the salt and rubbing it into the drawing on Vee’s shoulder, making her shiver, a chill running down her entire body. The sensation of wet salt feels uncomfortable on her skin.

“Okay, this next part’s gonna hurt a bit. I want you to trust me on this. Do you trust me?”

“Not really.”

“I’ll take it. Hey, N, can you hand me the spoons?” Uzi once again turns to face Neil, and they trade out the water and makeshift crucifix.

“Vee, can you tilt your head a little?”

“Tell me what you’re gonna do,” she insists, glaring hard at Uzi.

“You’re not gonna let me do it if I tell you, just trust me.”

Vee groans, turning her head away, tilting her head a little bit so her shoulder is fully exposed.

Suddenly, she feels something stab into her, making her scream out in pain, jerking herself away from Uzi, though not very far due to Tessa’s grip. “What the hell!? Why the fuck did you do that??” she shouts.

“The book said stab, not gently prod or something!!” Uzi yells back. “Ugh… Are you still hungry?”

Vee takes a deep breath, relaxing her body slightly as she realizes that, no, she isn’t hungry anymore. Slowly, she shakes her head, and upon this action, Tessa releases her from her grasp.

“Uh… Thank you, Uzi,” she mumbles, only barely audible.

“Yeah,” it nods back.

“Right, well, now that that’s over with, Cyn’s still missing and we need to find her. Like, immediately.” Tessa stands, marching over to the door.

“We should probably put the salt water in something more portable, then. Zi, will this, uh… ritual… thing… help Cyn, too?” Neil asks, still mildly in shock. This isn’t nearly how he expected the night to go.

“So says the book,” it confirms, standing as well.

“Hey, Vee, you should come, too,” Tessa offers. “Said you didn’t wanna go home, yeah? This is your excuse to stay out.”

“Huh?” Vee questions in mild disbelief. “Yeah, but- doing something like this? That might actually put my life at stake? I…”

She hesitates, looking away for a moment.

“...Ugh, know what? Fuck it, I’m coming with you. I can help you cover more ground.”

“Good,” Uzi grins. “I’ll put the stuff in my backpack. N, you wouldn’t mind grabbing a water bottle for the salt, would you?”

“Not at all, I’ll do that right now,” Neil confirms, heading downstairs upon Uzi’s request.

“Cool.”

From here, the group prepares to look for Cyn once more, each hoping she hasn’t caused too much damage.

Chapter Text

The night looms endlessly over the neighborhood as Cyn takes unwilling steps forward to her next victim. Her body is bigger, heavier, unfamiliar to her as she loses what little control she has left; strong, spindly appendages sharp enough to cut the toughest metal protruding from her sides and back, blood and tears staining her torn clothes and bruised skin, her body distorted from the changes and transformations the entity within her made.

She can feel the trembling, quiet whimpers of the next person whatever’s controlling her wishes to kill - cradling the body of her friend, Lizzy, the duo having come back from someplace Cyn will hopefully never see while she’s like this.

Doll, a classmate of Uzi’s, sits behind the side wall of Lizzy’s house, covering her mouth as she holds her. She can’t be dead - Doll won’t accept it. Feeling for her pulse despite the wounds and bites that cover her body, Doll can feel tears starting to well in her eyes.

Her hiding is all in vain - an appendage from the monster hunting her reaches around the corner as the head stares directly at her. Deciding to leave her friend behind, Doll whispers a quiet apology before running into the backyard - there’s a shed there that she knows may have something to help defend her from Cyn. Sprinting inside, she slams the door shut, searching in the pitch black for something that might help her, feeling around the walls until her hands feel something stiff enough to be used as a blunt weapon, what seems to be the handle of a broom or something similar.

The moment she touches the handle, she can hear the wood of the door start to break, moonlight shining in, illuminating the monster before her. She gasps, whipping around to face the door, frozen in place with the broom in her hands, her thoughts running at a million miles per second. Cyn’s face smiles a reluctant, sharp-toothed grin at her, her eyes holding no joy or cheer whatsoever.

An arm lunges out towards Doll, stabbing her in her right eye, making her scream out in pain and whack the arm back with the handle of the broom, breaking against the tough skin of the monster. Horrified, blinded with pain, Doll covers her eye with a hand before then jabbing the broken side of the broom handle into Cyn’s writhing, heavy body, forcing her away from the shed which Doll takes cover in. Cyn pops Doll’s eye into her mouth, her wound healing nearly instantaneously, though with prey that fights back, the thing controlling Cyn doesn’t have much interest in killing her anymore. The body stumbles through the backyard, going back out onto the street, leaving Doll alone and breathing heavily, without much time to process what had just happened.

Thinking quickly, Doll tears the sleeve of her top to make a quick eyepatch, unaware of her wound already healing. She quietly curses to herself as she drops down in the dark shed, clutching her chest, trying to calm her heart that beats so heavily she feels it may escape her if she doesn’t hold on tight.

For a moment, she considers going inside - telling Lizzy’s brother that his sister is dead, killed by a monster she doesn’t understand, that she was attacked, herself. But, he’s probably asleep, unable to answer the door - and Doll doesn’t want to just hide away with that monster lurking around each street corner, anyways. She knows exactly what she has to do.

Fortunately, she knows who the monster used to be, or at least she thinks she does - the little sister of a boy a year older than her, always seen throughout the neighborhood, a social extrovert similar to her now-dead best friend. Everyone knows him. He would understand, maybe he even knows what happened to his sister.

Find Neil, kill Cyn. Doll recounts her plan over in her head as she slowly stands, looking over the shed once more to see a better weapon to kill the monster with now that she can just barely see, the light of the moon streaming itself in from the broken parts of the door. A saw rests in the corner of the room - Doll grabs it before making her way out, stepping over shards of the broom handle and broken pieces of the door.

Slowly, she walks out through the side of the house, careful in case the monster is stalking nearby - but the only person she sees is the body of her friend.

Something feels different about Lizzy’s corpse, limp in the dirt. Doll doesn’t feel afraid when she sees her - instead, a deep, intense hunger flows through her, her mouth watering incessantly at the sight of her dead friend. Unable to stop this temptation, Doll creeps forward, gently touching one of Lizzy’s many wounds and licking the blood from it off her fingers.

It tastes divine.

Horrified by this new discovery, Doll shakes her head and rushes off in search of Neil.

– – – – –

With the amount of time it took to cure Vee, the group has no idea how far away Cyn could be at this point - traveling by foot would be pointless. Neil drives his parents’ car slowly through the neighborhood, Uzi sitting next to him with its eyes focused on the window, Vee on her phone in the backseat, and Tessa sitting next to her, nervously sitting on her hands and keeping watch out her own window for her little sister.

Glancing over, Uzi notices how tense Neil is, shoulders up to his ears and hands gripping the wheel with force. He looks like he’s shaking.

It carefully reaches its hand over to touch him gently, only to jump at a sudden burst from Tessa.

“Are you seriously going to sit there on your phone the whole time, Vee?! I thought you said you were gonna help!!”

“Shut up, I’m trying to look at a map.”

“How the fuck is a map gonna help??”

“I dunno!! Maybe for ideas on where the little monster is???”

“Oh my god, stop calling her a monster!”

“Maybe you should both consider shutting the fuck up?” Uzi interjects, glaring at the two. “Seriously. Both of you are making everything worse.”

“How the hell am I making things worse??” Tessa scoffs, not realizing how tense her brother is.

Suddenly, Neil slams hard on the breaks, making everyone jerk forward, Vee nearly dropping her phone. “SSShhhhh….shoot,” he mumbles.

Ahead of the car, holding her hands out in front of her, is Doll, her clothes torn and bloodied, and a piece of cloth over her eye. Everyone looks out in shock at her disheveled appearance, Uzi being the first to unbuckle its seat belt and step out of the car.

“...Doll?? What the hell are you doing? Are- are you okay?”

“I was attacked,” she breathes, her voice quiet and rough. “Are you looking for anyone?”

Neil leans his head out of the window, observing the interaction with squinted eyes. Uzi glances back to him, giving Doll a concerned look.

“Were you attacked by, uh… a little girl, with platinum blonde hair and a black headband?”

Doll frowns, visibly tensing up. Pursing her lips, she looks at the car, only to see Neil watching her and Uzi. She moves forward, leaning her hand against the roof of the car, making direct eye contact with him.

“I can help you if you help me,” she says. “You’re her brother, yes?”

Neil nods, looking off to the side for a brief moment. “You know where she is?”

“I know where she went. But she isn’t herself anymore.”

“I know that already, that’s why we’re trying to find her.”

“Do you know the extent of it?”

“What?” Neil pauses, looking oddly at Doll. “What are you talking about?”

“She’s… transformed. Into a beast. Killed Lizzy. Did something to me. I don’t know what she did.” Doll looks down, remembering how the blood of her friend tasted. “I’m sorry. We need to kill her before she hurts anyone else.”

Neil’s eyes widen, his brows furrowing in frustration. “No. No, Uzi has supplies that can help her. She doesn’t need to die.”

“She does. That is not your sister anymore. I don’t know what that… thing… is.”

“She isn’t. A thing.” His voice shakes in anger. “She’s a kid who’s just as scared as all of us are.”

“You don’t know what I saw,” Doll hisses. “She’s changed, Neil. Her body is different and her mind is gone.”

Uzi holds itself as it listens in on the conversation, frowning and turning over Doll’s words in its head. Vee stays in the car, rolling her eyes, and Tessa stands outside the door, glaring at Doll.

“I don’t know what the hell you think we’re doing, but we aren’t killing Cyn,” Tessa barks, aggressively stepping closer to Doll. “We know how to help her, so that’s what we’re going to do. Get it through your head.”

Doll returns Tessa’s glare, huffing reluctantly at her. “If you want more people dead, so be it.”

“Wait,” Uzi finally speaks up, “Can we help you with your injuries, at least?” it offers, reaching its hand out to her. However, she grabs Uzi’s wrist, staring it down with a hungry gaze. “No.”

“I don’t think you understand-”

“You don’t want to help me kill Cyn, you don’t help me with anything else.” Hesitantly, she lets go of Uzi, shaking.

“Doll, listen to me-”

“Did I stutter?” Doll raises her voice, becoming annoyed with Uzi’s desperate pleas. “I don’t want help with anything unless it’s killing that monster. You might end up dead, too, if you try helping her. You realize this, right?”

Knowing trying to explain isn’t going to do anything, Uzi pulls itself away from Doll, worriedly looking at Neil.

“It’s still worth trying!” he yells. “I’d rather die trying to help her than kill her trying to save myself.”

“Then you’re an idiot,” Doll sighs, “and it’s not saving just yourself. You’d be saving everyone you care about, too. Like the rest of your family, or your best friends.” She taps her foot.

“He’s not an idiot, he’s compassionate. You should try it sometime,” Tessa growls.

“This is getting nowhere,” Doll says, turning on her heel. “You’ll see in time that I’m right. If you die, that’s on you.”

Uzi fidgets with its hands. In some ways, she’s right - they’ll all die if they screw this up in any way, and Uzi’s been aware of that fact ever since it helped cure Vee. And with Doll’s description of Cyn turning into some kind of monster, it might be much, much harder than any of them realize.

It briefly checks its phone - it’s around 10 PM by now. Not so late into the night, not yet - but late enough for Uzi’s tiredness to start affecting how it thinks. Maybe this is why Doll’s words have this much of an effect on it.

Doll leaves the group as Uzi thinks, Tessa entering back into the car and slamming the door, startling Uzi out of its thoughts enough for it to enter the car, as well.

“Jeez, what a bitch,” Vee comments, finally speaking up after only sitting through the encounter.

“Okay, now, don’t get me wrong, I agree with you and all, but you barely did a single fucking thing.” Tessa crosses her arms after buckling her seat belt back in place.

Uzi, meanwhile, gently touches Neil’s arm. “Hey, are you okay?” it whispers to him.

He touches its hand with his, forcing a smile he hopes is reassuring enough. “I think. It’s- it’s okay. Everyone’s so stressed out, I just…” He shakes his head, his voice trailing off.

“I get it,” Uzi assures. “We’ll… we’ll save Cyn.”

Hearing its own words, Uzi doesn’t fully believe what it’s saying - but it has to say these words, anyways. It can’t have Neil thinking it has doubts about the plan after what Doll said.

Despite this, Neil senses something in its words, something that makes him unhappy - though he can’t exactly place what he feels. Maybe it’s something in Uzi’s tone giving him an unsettled feeling that sinks in his chest, the hesitance in its voice that makes him frown.

“Are you okay, Uzi?” Neil asks, figuring something may be on its mind.

“Huh? Of course. I mean, as okay as I can be, with… everything going on, that is.”

Neil pauses, staring into Uzi’s worried eyes. He can tell it’s lying, but if Uzi isn’t going to open up, itself, then he won’t push it.

“...If you say so.” He turns back to face the girls in the backseat. “You two ready to get going, or what?”

“We’ve been ready. What’re you two talking so quietly about? You flirting up there or something?” Vee teases, sneering.

“Ugh, bite me!” Uzi groans, rolling its eyes as Neil’s face turns red.

Turning back around, Neil starts driving once again, without a word.

After a few minutes of silence, Tessa speaks up once more. “...Y’know, Doll did have that cloth over her face. You think she was infected, too?”

“Definitely,” Uzi confirms. “I still wish I could’ve helped her, but what am I supposed to do if she refuses each time?”

“Talk about a one-track mind, right?” Vee says. “Though I get where she’s coming from.”

“Vee,” Neil growls, briefly shooting her a glare before turning his eyes back to the road.

“What? It’s not like I’m fully on her side or anything, c’mon.”

Uzi’s leg bounces as it listens to Vee talk. “...Actually, I kind of see her point, too…”

“Uzi!! You’re the one who said you could exorcize her in the first place!!” Tessa yells, enraged.

“No, no, I mean like- the book never said anything about if a host can transform into something else, and Doll described a transformation. What am I supposed to think??”

“WE AREN’T KILLING CYN,” Neil explodes, making Uzi flinch.

“I- I never said that! I just…” It purses its lips, tapping its foot. “What if she’s right, okay?”

Neil pulls over at the side of the road. “Cyn’s still in there. You gave us that hope that she’s still in there. Don’t you dare pull it away now.”

“I know, I know.” Uzi looks down at its hands. “I just- I just can’t get Doll’s words out of my head. I don’t know, maybe I was wrong-”

“Are you kidding me?” Neil shouts, wide-eyed. “Cyn HAS to be in there, I can’t lose her. I can’t! You have no idea how much I need this to work, how much she has to be okay, I genuinely don’t think I could live without her.”

Uncomfortable with the interaction playing out, Tessa shifts in her seat. Of course Neil would be so protective over his little sister - it’s easy for her to forget, but the trio weren’t always siblings to each other. There was a point in time when Neil only had Cyn.

“How much you need this to work, huh? And not how much she needs it?” Vee scolds. “Are you seriously only doing this for yourself?”

“Get out,” Neil says bluntly.

“Huh-”

“GET OUT. Both of you. Now.”

Uzi feels its heart break as it sees him tear up, and after a moment’s hesitation, it exits the car, backpack in hand.

“Hey, I get Uzi, but what the hell am I getting out for?” Vee tries arguing.

“Just do it,” Tessa groans, glaring at Vee. “You’re an asshole, Vee.”

Huffing in frustration, Vee leaves the car, slamming the door behind her and walking off. Uzi doesn’t follow - instead, it starts walking aimlessly away from the car, pulling out its phone.

Neil collapses on the wheel of the car, quietly sobbing to himself, overwhelmed. Tessa leaves the backseat, sitting down in the front passenger seat of the car where Uzi was, putting an arm around her brother to comfort him.

Chapter Text

[U up?]

Uzi texts a friend of its on its phone, wandering aimlessly on the sidewalk. It feels a horrible, sinking feeling in its stomach after doubting its own plan, after making Neil upset. The lump in its throat makes it choke as it walks, awaiting a response from its friend.

[Yah, u need smthn? its late]

[need some comfort, can i come over? N’s mad @ me /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~]

[Sure, im here 4 u]
[Liz’s not home so dont b afraid 2 just knock :)]

With the confirmation of its friend, it takes a deep breath and starts moving with more conviction, heading towards his house and trying to form a script in its mind for everything that happened tonight.

The sleepover. Cyn. Vee. The ritual. Possession. Doll.

It turns over the events of the night in its mind, its head starting to hurt from it all. It doesn’t feel real. Actual people got hurt from everything going on - and Uzi feels as though it’s losing its head from it all, losing its senses. Why else would it find itself agreeing with Doll, anyways?

There’s a wrongness of it all that Uzi doesn’t want to think about.

Instead, it looks up to the stars in the deep sky, clearing its mind so it can calm itself down. Maybe if it can do that, it can think clearer about what it needs from its friend.

Finally walking up to the door of its friend’s house, Uzi knocks on the door, hesitant and nervous despite knowing he’s the last person to judge it.

The second the door opens, Uzi reaches out for a hug. “Thanks for letting me come over for a bit. You’re the best, Thad.”

“Hey, it’s no problem, Zi. I’m always here for you,” Thad says, hugging Uzi back. “C’mon in, you wanna snack?”

It suddenly hits Uzi how hungry it’s been. It had dinner - why is it suddenly this starving?

Uzi doesn’t think about it. “Absolutely. I’m so hungry, ugh,” it smiles.

Uzi follows Thad into the kitchen, sitting at the small table in the corner and resting its head on its hand, visibly exhausted from the night. Thad sits next to it, handing it a bag of chips.

“So, what’s up?”

“It’s… a long story,” Uzi says, opening the chips. “And it’s gonna feel really, really unreal. Like, something straight out of a horror movie levels of unreal. Promise you’ll believe me?”

Thad shifts where he sits, fixing his posture and nodding. “‘Course, Zi. I promise.”

Uzi takes a deep breath, looking down to its shaking hands. “Okay, so… I was heading over to N and Tess’s place for a sleepover, and their little sister was acting weird, and, like, cold? She ran out and started, uh… attacking people, starting with one of N’s friends. And, like, it turned out that Cyn was, uh, possessed? And that possession started making her infect other people, and, uh… wait, hang on,” Uzi pauses, shifting its backpack around to start rummaging through it for the book. Once it finds it, it flips through the pages to look for the Entity of the Absolute Fabric entry, setting it down on the table for Thad to see. “She seems to be possessed by this… thing. But, then Doll came by, nearly got hit by N’s car, told us that Cyn turned into a sort of monster or something, and now I just- I don’t know what to do! She’s dead set on killing her, while me and the others wanted to help exorcize her, but Doll’s words just got stuck in my head, and N blew up at me-”

“Woah, wait, slow down.” Thad takes a moment to process Uzi’s distressed ramblings, furrowing his brows and leaning forward in concern. “That’s… a lot, jeez. Doll was there?”

“Yeah. She looked injured, there was a cloth over her eye, and she was all covered in blood.”

“Was Liz with her? They were supposed to be out together, and she never came home, so…”

Uzi goes quiet. That’s right - Doll mentioned that Cyn killed Lizzy, Thad’s sister.

“Uzi? Lizzy’s okay, right?”

“I don’t know,” Uzi lies, “Doll never said anything about her. I’m sorry.”

Thad hums, looking away for a moment. “Right… Well, we don’t need to think about that right now. You’ve had a long night.”

He can tell it isn’t being fully honest with him, but with everything it described, he doesn’t want to stress it out further - even if it does make him worry about his sister.

“Uh, yeah…” Uzi takes out a single chip from the bag. “I’m just worried Doll might be right. What if killing Cyn is the only way to help her?” It pauses for a moment to take a bite. “I don’t want to upset Neil and Tessa. I mean, you- you know how I feel about Neil, and even so, they’re both some of my closest friends.”

Uzi makes an unpleasant face as it tastes the chip, looking at what flavor it says on the bag. It’s just the original flavor. Maybe the night is making it hard to eat, or so it thinks to itself.

“No worries, I get it. It, uh, definitely sounds stressful - and you’re fine thinking about what Doll said. You just wanna help, yeah?”

Deciding to twist the bag closed for later, Uzi nods. “Of course. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“I think you should try… uh, exorcizing her, first. I mean, if it does work, then killing her’d be unnecessary, right?” He smiles, hoping he’s comforting.

Uzi fidgets with the bag in its hands, nervous, thinking about Cyn. “Yeah, actually. You’re right.”

“Yeah! Um, also,” Thad leans on his elbows, “you not feeling the chips? I can get you something else.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine! I dunno, I feel kinda sick to my stomach. I- I know I said I was hungry, but, it’s whatever. I’ll save these for later, I guess,” it stammers, putting the bag in its backpack. “I already had dinner earlier. I don’t know why I said I was hungry. Things are weird,” Uzi chuckles darkly, remembering how Vee and Cyn acted before anything was obvious about their conditions. “Let’s just hope I don’t get a craving for flesh later, right?” it jokes.

“Zi, c’mon,” Thad frowns, putting a hand on its shoulder. “If you’re sick, you shouldn’t be stressing yourself out like that, man.”

It shrugs, a hopeless feeling filling its chest. “I don’t exactly have a choice. Cyn’s out there still killing people, I’m the one with the knowledge to stop her. I feel like an idiot.”

“No, no, hey, don’t call yourself that. Nobody’s dealt with something like this before, including you, even if you’ve done your research. It’s okay to not know.”

Uzi’s head drops in its hands, a gentle sob escaping from it as it thinks about everything that happened. Immediately, Thad goes for a full hug, comforting his friend.

“You think it’d be a good idea to get some rest before going out again? I get the stuff going on, but you won’t be able to help if you don’t have the energy for it.”

“No- I can’t,” Uzi whimpers, tears dropping on Thad’s arm. “As long as Cyn’s still possessed, I can’t sit by.”

Thad pulls away, his hands on Uzi’s shoulders. “Then, let’s get ready to head out. I’ll help you look for her.”

Uzi smiles, tears still rolling down its cheeks. “Thanks. You’re the best, Thad.”

“You know I’m always here for you, man!” He pats Uzi on the back as he pulls it in for another hug, then turns to leave the room. “I’ll be ready in 5. You text Neil that we’re coming.”

Uzi gives Thad a thumbs up, already taking out its phone.

The moment Thad leaves the room, Uzi frowns as it tries thinking of a text to send Neil.

[heyy n, im sorry about everything] Delete.
[n? U ok?] Delete.

It hesitates, its thumb circling around the keys on screen.

[I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. Are you okay?]

[Don’t worry about it]

[I’m serious, I don’t want you to be upset]

[You didn’t really mean it, did you?]

[No. Doll got in my head] Delete.
[I didn’t. I know Cynthia means a lot to you. Nothing feels real about everything going on and I guess Doll just got in my head because of it]
[Talked to Thad also, he’s gonna help us out]

[Oh]
[It’s ok]
[Let’s meet up back @ my place]
[Im sorry for yelling at you]

[You dont have anything to say sorry for, I know I fucked up]
[See u then]

[👍]

Thad reenters the room before Uzi’s even aware of how much time passed. “You think I should grab something from the shed to protect myself with?”

“Absolutely, if Doll’s words were anything to go by.”

“Cool,” he nods, heading for the backdoor - but he pauses in the doorway. “Woahh, what the hell?”

“Huh? What happened?” Uzi stands, walking next to Thad to see a destroyed shed in his backyard. “Oh, shit…”

He nearly sprints out, pulling out his phone to use as a flashlight - splintering wood and shattered plastic cover the ground, the end of a broom lying on the floor of the shed, a missing spot on a rack of tools where a saw once was telling Thad that it might have been stolen. “When the fuck did this happen?? What the hell??”

Uzi rushes out to join him, noting an awful scent that fills the air. “Did you not notice this when it happened???”

“No, I was in my room playing a game! What the hell?!”

Uzi bites at its nails, thinking to itself, looking at the ground for footprints. It sees two pairs of shoe prints - one of which being much smaller than the other, as if a child were here.

“Uh, hey, Thad? Do you think this is related to what I was talking about?...”

“What.” He whips around, trying to make sense of what Uzi’s saying.

“I mean - do you think, maybe, Doll and Lizzy did return, but you weren’t aware because they were running from Cyn?”

“Why didn’t they just come inside, then??”

“I don’t know! I’m just throwing out ideas!”

Uzi huffs, before then slowly following the shoe prints backwards, off to the side of the house - the scent of rotting growing stronger with each step, while Thad stays around the shed to look for a possible weapon despite the destruction.

With the darkness of the night, it’s hard to see exactly what’s out there - Uzi takes out its phone for a flashlight, illuminating the area around it.

Lizzy’s body lays in the dirt, her eyes cloudy and wide, blood drying on her clothes and in the ground.

Uzi takes shaky steps back from the corpse before it, turning and walking briskly back to the shed. “Thad,” it calls out, “I was right, I was right, I was fucking right, holy shit!”

Thad looks up, a shovel in hand, eyes wide and brows furrowed in confusion. “What?? No way. What’d you find??”

“Um,” Uzi hesitates, “it’s, uh… more like who. I’m sorry.”

“Zi, you’re scaring me.” Thad’s voice is low and serious, if trembling from his fear. “Tell me what you saw.”

“It’s… Lizzy,” it finally breathes. “I’m sorry-”

“No.” He shakes his head, taking a step closer. “No, you didn’t. Because if you really found her, she’d be following you, she’d be here, she’d be with us. She’s not with you. Don’t play with me.”

“I’m- I’m serious! I don’t know what to tell you. She’s…” Uzi looks down. It can’t bear to look Thad in the eye. “She’s dead, Thad.”

“No!!” he shouts, bolting to where Uzi was investigating, not bothering to open up the flashlight on his phone. It follows, providing that light with its own phone, reluctantly shining it onto Lizzy’s shocked, bloodied face.

Thad drops to the ground in front of his sister, sobbing. “Holy shit, Liz,” he cries, dropping his shovel and reaching out to touch her face.

Uzi watches Thad mourn his sister from behind him, its stomach churning in some form of grief or sympathy. It feels sick from the misery it shares with Thad, although not from the body mourned. When Uzi looks at Lizzy, it doesn’t feel hopeless, or disgusted, or even upset - it can’t place exactly what it feels.

No, that feeling of hopelessness, disgust, and upset is from watching Thad hug Lizzy’s body, his clothes getting bloodied from her wounds, his voice shaky and quiet as he mumbles out apologies and denials over and over again.

Thad curses as he finally stands, Uzi realizing it’s been spaced out at the scene. “We’ve gotta find Cyn, now,” he demands quietly, picking up his shovel from the ground.

“Um, we’re supposed to meet up with Neil and Tess first, remember?” Uzi stammers, “The more people, the better, right? I mean, I don’t know what Cyn’s like right now, but if she did something like this,” it gestures to Lizzy’s body, “then it’d be a good idea to regroup.”

“Or,” Thad interjects, “I could go start looking for Cyn, while you get the guys. No way am I gonna stall this out, dude.”

“It’s not stalling, it’s ensuring our survival-“

Before Uzi can finish, Thad is already running off, his mind made up out of fear and grief. Uzi furrows its brows, annoyed and grumbling to itself, though it understands completely why he’d act like that. It doesn’t follow - instead, it gives Lizzy’s body one last glance before heading back inside to grab its things, then starting the walk back to Neil and Tessa’s house.

Though the night is warm, it still gives Uzi a chill down its spine - it doesn’t want to be alone, especially now. It focuses on the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze, the stars overhead looking down upon it, the sound of its own footsteps on the concrete sidewalk as it moves forward, not exactly running, but certainly not taking its time, either.

Uzi’s thoughts are muddled with both what it’ll say when it gets to Neil and the sight of Lizzy’s body. It remembers the blood from each wound and bite shining in the light of its phone, the cloudy eyes that now know only shock, the dirt and grime caught in her long hair and clothes.

It never did like Lizzy when she was alive. Maybe that’s why it has such mixed feelings about her death.

Uzi’s stomach growls as it mildly loses its balance, catching itself before it can faceplant into the concrete.

Soon, it arrives once again at the door of its best friends’ house, knocking hesitantly on the door. After some time of waiting, Neil is the one to answer the door. “Uzi, uh, hey-“

His words are interrupted by a sudden hug, Uzi’s arms wrapped around him tightly.

“Hey- it’s okay,” he comforts. “It’s going to be okay, Zi.”

“Not really,” it says softly. “Not- not until Cyn’s okay.”

“Right, we’ll look for her. Where’s Thad?”

“He… uh, he decided to leave without us.”

Neil hums, ushering Uzi inside as he closes the door. “Maybe it’s best if he looks for us a bit? Are you okay?”

It looks up at him, tired. “Does that matter? This is your sister we’re talking about. You should be the one who’s upset.”

“Believe me, I am, Uzi,” he says, growing tense. “Cyn’s… the most important person in my life, y’know?”

“That’s why we need to find her.”

“But you’re also important to me, Zi.” Neil pets Uzi’s hair, forcing a smile for it. “Why don’t you go lay down for a bit?”

Uzi shakes its head, enjoying the warmth from Neil’s hug, never wanting to let him go. He’s okay with this - he squeezes it tighter, knowing that if it were possible to get closer, he would.

“Neil, who’s at the door?” a familiar voice calls out. Flustered, Neil lets go of Uzi and turns around to see Tessa walking through the living room doorway.

“Uh, Uzi’s here,” he stammers, face red as a poppy flower. Tessa lifts a brow, hesitating before doing her usual teasing.

“Hey, did I walk in on you guys making out or something? What’s with the blushing?”

“TESSA, SHUT THE FUCK UP,” Uzi shouts, its flustered emotions taking over the underlying physical horribleness in its stomach and mind.

Tessa snickers, just happy that her best friend and brother are in the same room. “Seriously, though, are both of you okay? Like… I don’t know, I’ve never seen you blow up like that, N.”

“No- no, it’s fine. Uzi was trying to help, I overreacted. It’s okay.”

“I’d hardly call that an overreaction,” Tessa says, crossing her arms. “You haven’t already forgotten that we were literally talking about Cyn dying or not, right? You’re the one who’s been there her entire life. ‘Course you’d be mad.”

Neil looks down, mildly ashamed. “S- still, though…”

“Hey, N? What does she mean?” Uzi asks, tempted to reach out to touch him - though it’d never with even the closest set of eyes on it.

“Oh, we- we never told you, huh?” Neil dares not make eye contact with Uzi, though his body faces towards it. “Me and Cyn, uh… we were adopted into Tessa’s family. Our, uh… other… parents… died when Cyn was born, and it’s a whole thing that I don’t really like thinking about, but it’s okay now, and I don’t have to get into it right now, or ever again, because it’s over.”

Uzi frowns, shifting where it stands. Though it knows Neil and Cyn have very different features from Tessa - their platinum blonde and her noirette, their eyes the color of a lightly overcast sky and hers as dark as jet - Uzi still never thought about them not actually being related, at least biologically.

“You don’t, uh, need to talk about that if you don’t want to,” it tries to comfort. “I mean, if it makes you feel any better, I couldn’t tell.” It sincerely hopes it’s making things lighter, despite how upset Neil is.

He chuckles, smiling sadly. “You don’t need to lie about that, c’mon,”

“I’m not! I’m not. I’ve never even thought about that sort of thing.” Uzi grins, happy to see Neil’s smile, even if it comes from a sad place.

Uzi feels its phone buzz in its pocket, interrupting the conversation. Taking it out, it sees it’s a message from Thad - immediately, its happy grin turns into a panicked stare as it opens the message.

Thad sent his location without any other context.

“Shit, already??”

“What happened?” Tessa tenses, ready to run out.

“Thad found Cyn. We’ve gotta go, now,” Uzi demands, already moving towards the door. Tessa and Neil exchange a worried glance before following Uzi out the door, preparing themselves for whatever will happen - even if it’s the worst outcome.