Chapter Text
When you wake up, it's to sunshine forcing its way inside through your window; bright and unwanted.
You groan, rolling over to face away from it. You can hear birds chirping as they too, wake up for the day, and the buzzing of your phones' alarm from under one of your many pillows. Your hand clambers around for it, finally grabbing onto the loudly buzzing object and turning it on only to be blinded by your lock screen; a bright picture you had taken on one of your many walks in the woods you used to take years ago now of you and your parents. Back before everything had come to the surface, and your parents began to focus more on themselves than on you; their only child who still needed them.
You blinked rapidly, hissing and trying to look and see what time it was.
Six o'clock was the perfect time to wake up if you wanted to be on time and not have to rush to get ready for school. However, lately you were the type of person to oversleep and not care about being late anymore.
Depression and anxiety could change a person a lot it seemed.
You forced yourself up, scratching your scalp vigorously like you did every morning, and drawing your hands back down to see all the grease piled up underneath your jagged, barely-cared-for nails. The plush rug at the side of your bed met with your feet as you turned to stand, and you stretched as high as you could, cracking your sore joints before meandering over to get clean clothes out for the day; a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and your famous leather jacket you never went anywhere without.
The hot shower was greatly appreciated after a weekend of laying in bed, bingeing on some Gotham and barely eating due to the major case of anxiety you had gone through on-and-off throughout the past forty-eight hours alone in the house. Though, you found it ironic you still got anxious being alone despite always being that way.
You scrubbed all the grime off of you, washing twice and brushing your teeth while you waited to dry wrapped in your towel. You got dressed, now padding around on the wooden flooring in your mismatched socks down the hall and back into your bedroom. You sat down on your bed once again, stuffing your phone into your pocket and shoving your feet into your boots.
The sunlight streaming into your room had now changed from the dull grey of early morning, to a light pink and orange, accented by black shadows from the trees off in the woods just beyond your window that were tall enough to block the sun this early in the morning.
A few, wispy clouds painted the sky as you make your way outside, heading off down the practically empty street towards the only school in the small town you had grown up in all your life.
You wandered down the road, scrolling through social media on your phone just for something to do. Music played in your headphones, one of the latest Post Malone songs that had just been released just a few hours ago on YouTube.
While walking past the woods however, something caught your attention out of the corner of your eye - some kind of quick movement that was out of the ordinary seeing as the wildlife stayed away from even the back-roads of the town; a flash of something dark ducking back down behind a tree, just out of sight.
You stopped in your tracks, pulling out one of your headphones and taking a curious step closer. Your eyes narrowed as you did so, caution and a bit of anger worming its way up into you. It didn't make any sense and that made you upset, made you angry. You didn't like things that were acting strange, especially when you were in the vicinity. Too many terrible pranks had been played on you by your peers for you to not be annoyed and angry at things such as this.
You entered the tree line slowly, looking around in the shadows of early morning.
"If you think you're going to scare me, I already saw you!" You shouted just loud enough to be heard from a little ways away. "You've overplayed this kind of prank guys. I'm not stupid and I'm not blind to your little tricks. If you really wanted to scare people, maybe try not getting spotted."
You continued to slowly and cautiously move forward deeper into the woods, being careful not to step on anything to give you away. A breeze blew through the trees, brushing your face and bringing the scent of something putrid to your nose. You gagged, bringing your arm up to your nose to block it. You looked up at the sky between the trees briefly and turned around a large bush of underbrush.
There, on the leaf ridden ground was a rotting body.
Buzzards flapped around, pecking at the maggot filled muscles left exposed from deep gashes. The buzz emanating from all the flies drowned your music out and a ringing filled your ears. The stomach was gouged open and organs were all around the area; some even hanging from the branches up above. The head, blonde hair hanging low and limp in the cold air, was stabbed onto a broken branch at eye level, the mouth cut open to expose fingers shoved in where the teeth should be.
You stood there, staring numbly as acid and bile forced itself up your throat. You bent over, forcing what little food that was in your stomach out. The two scents combined, gagging you further as you struggled to breath through it.
It was awful.
The whole scene was absolutely terrible.
Horrific, only something a mental patient could think up to create.
You stumbled back once you were done, wiping your mouth and kicking dirt and leaves over your own mess.
"God damn, Jessica, baby I gotta tell ya'. That new diet of yours is working wonders on your body." You laughed, bent over your knees as you stared at the body in fear and astonishment.
What else could you do but joke as your mind tried to comprehend what you had just stumbled upon not even twenty feet away from the side-road? You were already known as the crazy kid at your school; no doubt to the rest of the town too by default. That's why your mom stayed away from home so much. After your dad left she wanted nothing to do with you and what you brought home with you. You were the one to stumble upon all this.
The police system here was corrupt - anyone could tell you that. Evidence was planted, they used fake warrants, arrested people just for looking at them funny. They'd definitely make it look like you had done this if anyone got word you had even been so much as in the area when they came upon this themselves.
What other conclusion was there other than that you did it if you were to report it?
You were the town crazy after all… at least the only crazy not in the local asylum that everyone knew of.
You scanned over the area, making sure nothing that could possibly lead this to you was left.
Besides the pile of puke, there was nothing. You backtracked, rushing out of there as fast as you could without drawing attention to yourself. You stopped just outside of the tree line, leaning against a tree and taking deep breaths as everything caught up to you.
That scene would stick with your mind forever. Everything was crashing in around you. Your throat was closing, you gasped for breath and you felt like you couldn't speak. The ringing in your ears intensified until that was all you could hear. The world was spinning and your vision was fading out until only dimly-lit pin points was all you could see.
You reared back up, spinning around and coughing like there was heavy smoke in the air and you were an asthmatic. Blood came up and landed on your sleeve and you ripped your headphones out. You sat down and grabbed the sides of your head gently and shakily; legs spread out in front of you, you closed your eyes and focused on breathing. You focused on the fact you weren't about to die. Your heart wasn't about to beat out of your chest. In and out. In and out. Everything was okay. There was no reason to cry.
There was no reason to panic.
Except there were many reasons to panic at that moment.
You reached into your pocket for your phone to look up some calming music as you laid back in the dirt and leaves. As your breathing slowly lowered back down to normal, you came to realize that despite how gruesome the way you had found the body had been, it was still.. interesting.
The way it had been laid out on display, the limbs chopped off into more than one piece. Almost like a doll separated at all its joints, set up to look like it was in prayer on the ground. As if doing so would have saved whoever they once were from whatever psychotic force had killed them.
You stood once again, not caring to dust yourself off as you went back to investigate. You wanted one more glance at it; one more memory before it was swarmed and ruined by police. You would get up close to it this time, just for a look at all the cuts that had been made. But upon returning there was nothing there. Almost like it had never been there in the first place.
There were no limbs scattered around, no organs hanging from the trees. No buzzards or flies buzzing in your ears. Not a single drop of blood could be found. Nothing was there except for the small pile you had made to cover up the vomit.
"Another-” You breathed hysterically, clutching your shirt. “Another anxiety attack and over what?" You asked yourself. "A dead body that isn't- wasn't even there in the first place. Maybe they're all right and I do need to admit myself."
~~~
When you wake up, it's to sunshine forcing its way inside through your window; bright and unwanted.
You groan, rolling over to face away from it. You can hear birds chirping as they too, wake up for the day, and the buzzing of your phones' alarm from under one of your many pillows. Your hand clambers around for it, finally grabbing onto the loudly buzzing object and turning it on only to be blinded by your lock screen; a bright picture you had taken on one of your many walks in the woods you used to take years ago now of you and your parents - back before everything had come to the surface and your parents began to focus more on themselves than on you; their only child still at home and who needed them the most.
You blinked rapidly, hissing and trying to look and see what time it was. Six o'clock was the perfect time to wake up if you wanted to be on time and not have to rush to get ready for school. However, lately you were the type of person to oversleep and not care about being late anymore.
Depression and anxiety could change a person a lot it seemed.
You forced yourself up, scratching your scalp vigorously like you did every morning and drawing your hands back down to see all the grease piled up underneath your jagged, barely-cared-for nails. The plush rug at the side of your bed met with your feet as you turned to stand, and you stretched as high as you could and cracking your sore joints before meandering over to get clean clothes out for the day; a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and your famous leather jacket you never went anywhere without.
The hot shower was greatly appreciated after a weekend of laying in bed, bingeing on some Gotham and barely eating due to the major case of anxiety you had gone through on-and-off throughout the past forty-eight hours alone in the house. Though, you found it ironic you still got anxious being alone despite always being that way.
You scrubbed all the grime off of you, washing twice and brushing your teeth while you waited to dry wrapped in your towel. You got dressed, now padding around on the wooden flooring in your mismatched socks down the hall and back into your bedroom. You sat down on your bed once again, stuffing your phone into your pocket and shoving your feet into your boots.
The sunlight streaming into your room had now changed from the dull grey of early morning, to a light pink and orange, accented by black shadows from the trees off in the woods just beyond your window that were tall enough to block the sun this early in the morning.
A few, wispy clouds painted the sky as you make your way outside, heading off down the practically empty street towards the only school in the small town you had grown up in all your life.
You wandered down the road, scrolling through social media on your phone just for something to do. Music played in your headphones, one of the latest Post Malone songs that had just been released just a few hours ago on YouTube.
While walking past the woods however, something caught your attention out of the corner of your eye - some kind of quick movement that was out of the ordinary seeing as the wildlife stayed away from even the back-roads of the town; a flash of something dark ducking back down behind a tree, just out of sight.
You stopped in your tracks, pulling out one of your headphones and taking a curious step closer. Your eyes narrowed as you did so, caution and a bit of anger worming its way up into you. It didn't make any sense and that made you upset, made you angry. You didn't like things that were acting strange, especially when you were in the vicinity. Too many terrible pranks had been played on you by your peers for you to not be annoyed and angry at things such as this.
You entered the tree line slowly, looking around in the shadows of early morning.
"If you think you're going to scare me, I already saw you!" You shouted just loud enough to be heard from a little ways away. "You've overplayed this kind of prank guys. I'm not stupid and I'm not blind to your little tricks. If you really wanted to scare people, maybe try not getting spotted."
You continued to slowly and cautiously move forward deeper into the woods, being careful not to step on anything to give you away. A breeze blew through the trees, brushing your face and bringing the scent of something putrid to your nose. You gagged, bringing your arm up to your nose to block it. You looked up at the sky between the trees briefly and turned around a large bush of underbrush.
There, on the leaf ridden ground was a rotting body; sprawled out with a deer forcing its muzzle deep into the hole in its stomach.
You watch in both awe and fear as the deer slowly raises its head, antlers covered in intestines and foliage stained red by all of the blood. A skull shrouds its empty eyes in shadow and its maw is nothing but bone, glistening in the bright light of the moon. As it looked up at you, you became unable to keep yourself from walking forward, your hand reaching out on its own as if your body was no longer yours to control.
The deer panted through its open mouth, and the rancid breath felt wrong on the bare skin of your hand. It walked forward enough to meet your extended hand until it met with the middle of the beasts chest cavity that ripped open upon contact.
Your fingers met bone and your eyes widened upon seeing an empty cavity, a single grey heart in the dead center.
"Take it..."
The wind whispered into your ears, tempting you with its soft tone and underlying promise of comfort.
"It will be easy... Take it... Eat... Strengthen yourself... So that you may return... Return home... My... Flicker..." it dragged in breaths between words, as if whoever was speaking to you was struggling to breath through steadily rising water.
You gripped the already dead heart.
The beast screamed in rage, charging forward and going through you, deeper into the frost and snow covered forest. The heart gave a single, weak beat and you brought it up to your lips, carefully biting into it like an apple. Blood exploded forth and drenched the front of the shirt you wore and down your pants.
The crimson fluid covered you from head to toe. You could smell the crimson and metallic sweetness of blood and your ears began to ring. You forced yourself to look up and away from your lower half to what lay ahead of you.
Mixed in with the trees beyond the clearing on the other side of the creek you stood beside was a creature; a tall being in all black and tentacles slithering around the thick trunks of trees.
There was no face on the man and you found yourself awake in bed with a gasp.
It was the day after you had found the body in the woods, late at night with your bedroom TV turned on to the local news. Or at least you thought it was the next day. The date at the bottom of the screen indicated it was almost a week after, not a day.
When had the week gone by?
When had you fallen asleep? When had you even gotten to your school building? Had you even gone to school?
How the hell had you missed all of that?
It didn't make any sense.
You could possibly call your mother and ask her what was going on; but she'd think you were crazy, not care, or better yet - be busy with another guy in some hotel and just ignore you like she always did.
You turn to look out your window. It normally would have given you a view of where you had seen the body, but instead of dark woods it was flashing lights of police cars and snow piled up onto the outside sill. Policemen and a small crowd of your neighbors silhouettes could be seen gathered around the area.
Someone must have found and reported the body like you should have but couldn't.
You pushed the thin curtains away just a fraction more, curiosity getting the better of you. There was police tape wrapped around almost a hundred yards worth of trees blowing in the harsh wind that was no doubt trying to rip it away. The long shadows being cast by the flashing reds and blue of the various police vehicles wavered as neighbors moved closer together or tried to peer over said police cars.
Then you finally saw it as your eyes continued to drift over the scene. The creature that had woken you from your dream; it was out there, standing in front of all those people and holding the head of the body up in the air for you to plainly see. waving it around as if calling out for you specifically. Despite not having a face to express emotion with, it still got this fondness across to you. A feeling of paternal protectiveness and ownership from it that you didn't understand.
A shiver ran down your spine and you curled your hands around the sleeves of your over-sized sweater in anxiety.
You typically only saw… things… as your mother had called it, for a day or two and then it would be gone. You'd only seen the tall, thin thing twice now, but you felt like you had known it forever. Like some thought that plagued the back of your mind for months - maybe even years.
Did it think it was your father? Was your mind so messed up over how your real father had left you, that it came up with this to try and cope with the suddenness of the whole situation?
You let go of the curtain, turning back to face the TV screen that flickered in the corners with static. They were talking about the weather for tomorrow. It was supposed to be sunny and reach into the fifties by noon before lowering down once again to be in the thirties. Snowfall expected by sundown.
You watched every news program for that station until sunrise.
Not once did they mention the creature you had seen.