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Chapter Text

You have five people in your house: a man in several coats, a guy from a bar, a runaway teen, your neighbors daughter, and a widowed woman.

The sharp knock at your front door awoke you from your slumber. Your eyes shot up, heart racing after a nightmare. Nowadays, nightmares seem more common for you. At least they weren't always about your father. Your shotgun is tightly in your arms, even in the comfort of your room, you refuse to let it go.

Slowly, you stand up from your bed and stumble towards the bedroom door, leaning on a wall. Your head aches after a looongggg day of drinking. Ever since this mess started, drinking has been the only thing to calm you down... even if it's just for a little while.

You drag yourself from your room to the front door, peering out the peephole only to be met with a pale face with a shit eating grin. That pale thing had perfect white teeth and sagging skin that seemed too big. On top of it all, it was huge. It always hunched over at your door, just so you could see it's ugly mug.

"You feeeeeel that?" The intruder whispers, it's hands gripping onto the door frame to peer into the doors eyelet. It's gaze seems to peer into your soul. "Change is haunting you..." It pauses for a second for dramatic flare or some bullshit. "So am I." It giggles darkly, it's eyes almost roll to the back of it's head. " And now one of your ilk is deathless. All because of a word. One single word. ... But what a word it is! You know who I mean, yesss?"

You just stare at it, thankful for the door between you. Though even with the door, your heart is racing with fear and your body is pumping out adrenaline. Deep down, you know the pale visitor could bash your door in any time it wanted. You can never fully understand these odd speeches this thing gives you. They're almost like riddles.

"Strange things happen around you." It's grin slowly moves down to a calm smile, only showing off a few pearly white teeth.

"I don't feel anything... and I don't really care." You respond, controlling your voice so it won't shake and give away your fear... either way, you're sure it can sense it.

The intruder's smile turns into a thin line, almost like it's upset or something... not like you care. "Must be tough... being so... detached." It sighs and leans away from the door, hands once again held together infront of it's odd looking torso. "Let's fix that." It's grin grows once more, letting out another laugh that sends shivers through your spine. "If there are at least two of US inside your house... you'll be a good little human and open the door for me." It laughs more, excited by this new gamble.

Your mind spins, fuck... what if there's two right now? Dammit, now you have to be extra careful who you let live. You hated playing the part of 'God', deciding if a person can live or die.

"Fine." You mutter out. You know you can't say no to him.

"Great! Now... you alone?" It asks that same question every time, and every time you confidently say you're not... but now, you're not so sure.

"I-.... I'm not alone." Your voice trembled as you spoke, you close your eyes, preparing to hear the loud banging of that thing breaking your front door down.

That sound doesn't come.

You let out a sigh of relief, slowly opening your eyes to see the intruder with a blank look on his face.

"You're lucky... I hear breathing... but one of them isn't from a human." The intruder grumbles.

That line made your blood run cold. One of them is a visitor... you're about to speak, but you're quickly cut off.

"Well then... until will meet again?" The intruder smiles before turning around and walking away.

You watch as it's form slowly disappears down the path, though you know it won't go far. It always lingers around your house.

Your body wants to run, maybe go in your room and shoot yourself, take yourself away from this world... but then you remember all the guests in your house... your neighbors kid... the runaway teen... both of them make you WANT to live. You don't know why.

Maybe you've got some parental instincts. You're surprised... you usually hate people.

You wait impatiently by the door, leaning on a wall, facing the phone, tightly gripping your gun. Your thoughts wonder off to the conversations he's had with the people in his house, visitors he's had to kill... he's deep in his thoughts when he's brought back by a knock at his door. He jolts back to reality and checks the peephole, almost dropping his gun.

"Hey Hey! You on the on the other side of the door! I can hear your footsteps!" The man says, looking quite cheerful. "Mind if I crash here for the night?"

You roll your eyes, every time someone asks to stay the night, they stay much longer. "Why are you so cheerful? The world is ending and you've got a big smile?" You ask, your voice coming off as a bit harsh. After that pale man talks to you, you're usually on edge.

"There's enough anger out here already. Times are tough right now, but there's still so much to fight for. Art... the next generation... joy itself..." he rambles on, making you annoyed. But when thinking of the next generation, you think of your neighbors daughter and that teen. You wish they had an easier life. "If we keep telling ourselves it will be okay, maybe things will get easier."

You think for a moment before eventually grumbling to yourself and opening the door. "Fine, come in."

The man chuckles as he steps inside, you quickly slam the door shut behind him and lock it.

"I hope you remember what it was like to feel joy." He says as he walks by you, heading towards the office. "Maybe then...death won't be the only thing on your mind." He then disappears into the office.

You stare as he leaves, your eyes feel heavy. Damn, fuck anyone who comes to your door, you're going to bed. One of the guests can deal with this... maybe then they'll actually be useful.

You make your way back to your bedroom, slipping your blue turtleneck sweater off. You always wear a wife beater underneath it. It's far too hot to sleep in much so you take your pants off too. Your bed welcomes you as you crawl under the thin sheet with your back facing the window. You close your eyes, hugging your shotgun tightly.

Heavy breathing sounds can be heard from your bedroom window.

You know who it is.

Every night, it stalks outside your window, as if it want's to hear every single noise you make.

You choose to ignore it, not daring to look out that window. You don't look that way, not anymore. Slowly, your mind slips into one of your light rests, ready for just a few hours of sleep before morning.

Chapter Text

Your body aches as you slowly open your eyes. Your cheeks are stained with tears, yet another nightmare about your father. It's not uncommon, but you'd rather not think about it. Even when you wake up, you're still in a nightmare.

You drag your body out of bed, arms trembling from how tightly you held your shotgun that night.

You try to pick the shotgun up, but almost drop it. The gun was heavy and your arms were far too weak. Sitting back onto the bed, you stretch your arms and set the gun next to you.

"Fuck... I need a beer..." You grumble to yourself as you stand up to get dressed in the same dirty clothes as yesterday.

Once you're fully dressed and somewhat presentable, not like you care what your guests think, you go out into the hallway. Of course you bring your shotgun with you.

Last night, you only brought in one guest, that cheerful guy, and you need to test another suspicious guest since you have an itching feeling he's a visitor. You make the short walk to the office, where only the cheerful man was staying.

He looked like he was thinking deeply about something sitting in that armchair with his hat off. You swear you heard him mutter "Everything's gonna be okay." Once he noticed you, he put his hat back on and smiles, standin up from his seat.

"Hi! I really can't thank you enough for letting me stay here..." He says, his voice taking a much softer tone.

You sigh, leaning against the doorway. "Still feeling cheerful?"

"Not exactly cheerful... but I'm not falling apart either." He starts, ready to go on another speech. You hated when guests talked too much. It reminded you too much of that pale visitor. "We're still human. Still holding on... even if just by a little." The man chuckles. His smile falters as he looks to the ground. "And when it's all over... I think we'll able to forgive each other for the things we've done. As long as there's compassion, there's humanity."

He pauses for a moment before looking back up to meet your gaze. "You with me?"

He speaks far too much, but it's nice to have some happiness in this world. "Sure... anyway, I need to test you."

"Go on... if it helps you." After he says that, you step closer, gripping your gun.

"Teeth."

He leans over to you and uses his fingers to open his mouth. Perfect white teeth. You grip your gun impossibly tighter. You try to reason why he might not be a visitor.

"Hands."

He pulls his hands away from his mouth and shows them to you. They were fine, no rashes or dirt under his finger nails.

You sigh and step back. "You're fine." You mutter before quickly walking away. You didn't want to hear another speech about happiness right now.

You stood in the hallway, wondering who to check first. Everyone seemed fine... at least that's what you thought until that pale man said otherwise.

"What if that fucker was lying to me?" You thought aloud, leaning your hands onto the desk with your kombucha on it.

You decide to check the guy in the coats. You pitied him, so you let him live... even if he was suspicious. How could he be dressed in sp many layers and stopp be cold? It burning hot outside! But.. no one has died while that guy has stayed here... dammit, you really didn't want him to be a visitor. You need to stop growing attached to people.

You quickly walk into the living room, storming up to the coat guy. He flinched as he heard your heavy steps, hearing you before even seeing you. He looked up, teeth chattering. You've never check him.

"Teeth." You demand.

His shaking hands pull his mouth open. Perfect and white.

"Hands."

No nails. Weird.

"Eyes."

They were fine... God, you hated asking the next one.

"Armpits."

The shivering man hesitates, he didn't like taking his coats off, if was too cold. But the way you were cluching the gun scared him. He pulls his coats off, carefully lifting his shirt to not expose his stomach... how strange. He was shivering even more now.

You focus back onto his armpits, fungal growth. Dammit...

"Are you a fucking visitor?" You ask, clenching your teeth as he puts his coats back on.

His eyes widen a bit, cluching his knees to his chest. "N-no! I'm n..n...not." He whispers, teeth chattering even more.

"Listen, man, I understand you're worried, but no one's died and he's been here for days. He's been with me this entire time and hasn't hurt me." The tall man speaks up, taking a defensive tone.

You stare at him before letting out a heavy sigh. Deep down, you know the coat guy is a visitor... but you trust the bar guy's opinion far too much. "Fine." You mutter, turning your attention back to the coat guy. "You're safe... for now."

You quickly leave the two, going into the kitchen for a much needed beer.

"Hi, mister!" The little girl says as she looks up from coloring. You smile and walk up to her. You notice that the runaway teen isn't here. She's probably talking to the widow in the bathroom.

She holds up the paper for you, letting you see. It's a drawing of two poorly drawn stick figures, one is obviously her, but the other is tall and has scribbled black hair and a smile.

"Who's that one?" You ask, pointing to the taller one.

She giggles and sets her drawing down to continue working on it. "The man outside the window! He talks to me all the time."

Your heart sinks. A man outside who's tall with short hair... that's definitely the pale visitor.

"You shouldn't be talking to strangers." You scold her, making her frown.

"He's nice! And he's not a stranger. His name is-"

"I don't want to know that things name!" You shout, turning away and opening the fridge. You're running low on beer.

The cold hair hits you, calming you down. You're acting like your father. "I'm sorry for yelling." You whisper as you grab a beer from the fridge, quickly leaving the kitchen. You walk down the hall to your phone, dialing the number to call For Rest.

"You've reached For Rest." The person on the other line says, sounding rather tired and annoyed. Anyone would be annoyed working during the end of the world.

You sigh before answering, "I'd like to order some Bober Černý."

"And where will this be delivered to?"

You give your address, and the person quickly hangs up. You can't blame them for bad customer service. Well, at least that conversation distracted you from the fact that the pale guy is friends with the little girl... that distraction was short lived. You groan, cracking open your beer and walking to your room. You nurse the drink, tossing your shotgun onto the bed and sitting down next to it. Why the hell is that thing being friendly? Is it because it knows you have a soft spot for the little girl? Is it going to turn her against you or lead her outside and kill her? You'd rather not imagine the kid dying...

You down the rest of your beer quickly, aching for some sort of sleep. Beer always succeeded in making you tired. Carelessly, you toss the can to the side, curling up into bed. You didn't bother taking your clothes off... you'll deal with the sweat tonight.

Chapter Text

When you wake up, you regret not taking your clothes off. The fabric clings uncomfortably to your body, dammit, this sucked. You stand up and walk to you closet, leaving your gun behind.

The wet clothes leave your body and are replaced by shorts and a wife beater. No one's awake right now so you should be fine. It's not like you were walking around naked- you just... didn't like people seeing your body. You've got too many scars. It made you self conscious.

You grab the shotgun from your bed before heading out of your bedroom, going towards your front door to wait for knocking.

~~~~

After about a half an hour of waiting, you finally hear a knock. You were almost falling asleep, good thing that knock woke you up.

You peer into the peephole, seeing the usual For Rest delivery guy. You quickly open the door.

"Thanks." You mutter as the man hands you your order of beer; you should probably get more groceries next time. Anyway, what kind of monsters would make someone work during an apocalypse.

"Have a good night. Stay safe." You give a polite smile, looking up from the package.

Behind the delivery man, you see a tall figure in the distance. Fuck. You didn't want this guy dying trying to do his shitty job. As the delivery man walked down the dirt path to your house, your eyes stayed on the pale figure. Your body was trembling, knowing that at any moment... that thing could kill you or the delivery guy... maybe even both of you. The protection and little confidence the door gave you was gone.

Once the man was fully gone, you slip back into your house. You slam the door shut and lock it. Your heart feels like it's besting out of your chest. Every time that thing comes around, you feel paralyzed.

Several slow and painful minutes pass by, just when you think you're about to calm down, you hear a knock at your door. Your heart jumps out of your chest. You hope to God that it's not the pale visitor.

You hesitantly look through the peephole, relief washing over you. It's not the pale man... you sigh, your hands cluching the doorframe to steady yourself. It's a man in a lab coat. He stands there, not saying a word.

"Hey..?" You say, the other man looks a bit surprised.

"O-Oh... I thought no one was home. It's so quiet here at night!" The doctor chuckles to himself, smiling awkwardly. He looked old. "Good evening! May I come in?"

You stare at him, wondering if you should make small talk or something. You usually have conversations with the people outside your door.... but right now, you really couldn't care less.

"Yeah, whatever." You mutter as you open the door, letting him slip past.

"Ah, thank you. I hope I can help someone here." The man hums, walking towards the closet door and entering it. You have no clue why someone would want to stay there.

That guy's movements looked fluid, almost like he already knew the layout of the house.

You shiver and lean against the wall... just thinking. FEMA hasn't came around lately, not after they broke your door.

~flashback~

"I'm not letting you take anyone!" You yell, your jaw clenched. "Every single person you've taken hasn't came back..."

The FEMA agents curls his hand into a fist, turning around. He gestures to a few other agents. "Get over here, this guy thinks he's tough."

Fuck.

Two of them bang on the door, eventually breaking the lock on it. The third barges in and slams you against the floor. Your back screams in pain. One of the other agents walk into your house, taking the kindergarten teacher and the blind man.

You try to kick and punch, doing anything to break free. The FEMA agent ontop of you digs his knee into your stomach, making you yell. "Don't resist. We're here to help... don't try to stop us." His hand grips your short hair, pressing your head into the hard, dusty floor. Damn, you should sweep more.

Once the other two agents leave with the guests, the one ontop of you gets up and storms out of the house as well.

You gasp for air, tears forming in your eyes. Everything hurt like hell. You wrap your arms around your stomach as you cough, a bit of blood landing on the floor. All you could do was let out a soft cry before passing out.

When you woke up that morning, you were in bed and the door was fixed.

~~~~~~

You're glad FEMA doesn't come around anymore.

For a second, you fancy the idea that the pale man outside kills them for you-... but that's a dumb thought. Why would he do that? FEMA take the people in your house... that pale visitor would love for them to take everyone, leaving you alone and in his hands.

You shiver at the thought of being alone with that thing creeping outside. Fuck, you wanted to smoke right now. You miss smoking with that firefighter. He was funny as hell, even on his death bed.

You're lost in thought, this time, the knocking doesn't shock you out of it. In fact, you didn't even realize someone was knocking until you heard a voice.

"I guess no one's home..." It sounded like a woman.

You rush to the door.

Holy fuck... she was way too hot. "Oh... hey..." You whisper out nervously, you haven't been interested in a woman since-... your ex wife. Well, that ruined the mood.

"How's your new life treating you, baby?" The woman whispers, her voice taking a seductive tone. "Managed to adapt yet?" She pauses, letting out a soft giggle before continuing, "How silly of me to ask. You do live here, after all."

Having a sexy lady in your house wouldn't be good. "You should leave."

The lady sniffles, leaning her cheek into the palm of her hand. "Oh, you wound me!" She's got a hurt look on her face. She pouts her plump bottom lip. "Something got you down? Did your wife leave you recently?"

Yeah. You're not letting her in after that. "Don't talk about my wife. Get the fuck out of here." You grumble, walking away from the door. You didn't want to talk to her anymore. What a turn off.

You don't hear her leave until a few minutes pass by. The sound of her walking away relieves you... but you're also a little disappointed. She was your ticket into some pleasure. But you didn't want to risk getting a woman pregnant right now. You glance down at the photo of your ex wife next to your land-line. You stare at the image as you wait for anyone else to knock.

A full hour passes by.

You're way too tired to wait any longer. You need all the precious hours of sleep you can get. You drag yourself and your shotgun to your bedroom. This time, you make sure to strip down to your boxers.

The comfort of your bed welcomes you and like clockwork, you hear the faint sound of heavy breathing outside your window. What is it even doing out there?

《The pale visitor》

One of my hands press against the glass, the other grips the windows frame.

I wonder what he's wearing right now... From the sounds of fabric I always hear before he goes to bed, I doubt he's wearing much; especially with this heat. My breath fogs up the glass, wishing he would just open the curtains.

《Protagonist》

It's probably thinking of ways it can kill you. Whatever, you're not alone, so you'll hopefully be fine.

Sleep quickly takes hold of you, you beg for a peaceful dream...

Chapter Text

I desperately ache to rush towards him, but I know I can't, he's not alone.

"Not yet" I murmur to myself.

His eyes are on me! Oh, it's a glorious feeling to have his eyes on me and without that door between us is even better. I couldn't care less about that delivery guy the homeowner is so worried about.

Unfortunately, once that For Rest worker is out of sight, my scared little human rushes back inside. I wanted to stare at him more... how sad. Though, I'm not too upset, I can hear his heart racing... it's such a pleasant sound. It's even beating more than usual It's efinitely from the fright of being outside with me nearby.

I giggle to myself, slowly walking away so guests won't be frightened when walking to his house. It irks me how he let that cold visitor live... but either way, I hope he let's another visitor in so he'll lose our gamble. Then, he'll be forced to let me in. He'll finally be mine.

The man that walks up scares the homeowner, I can tell by the soft gasp he made. That surgeon is far from being a human... he's a visitor. I can feel it.

He barely spoke to the doctor, quickly letting him inside. He's too scared to make rash decisions. There's two visitors in the homeowners house. How lovely!

I was about to go over and knock on his door, but I swiftly hid again as I heard another person walking up. It was a human this time. She had a red tank top on and her bra was in plain sight. If she tries to seduce what's mine... she'll end up dead. I'll let her have him when fat pigs fly.

"I guess no one's home..." She was about to walk away, but that's the moment when the homeowner even realized she was there.

I could hear him race to the door. When he finally saw her, I knew he was interested. "Oh... hey." His voice slightly shook. A fully grown man becoming nervous when talking to a woman. Pathetic.

My mind seemed to blank after that. I feel annoyed. Maybe I'm feeling... jealous. Yes. That's it. He better reject her.

I only realize she's walking away when she's far down the path. Perfect. My little human knows who he belongs to! Me.

Quickly, I walk after her. My longs legs eat up the distance between us. I keep my footsteps silent, the only sound that can be heard is the hot wind flowing through the dying trees. That idiot woman doesn't know she's about to die, swaying her hips, twirling her ginger hair between her fingers.

"He's mine..." I whisper softly to make my presence known.

The woman's head turns to see who's behind her, the light from her eyes visibly fading as she looks up to see me. She looked frightened. Good.

"W...what? What the HELL are you?!" She screams. Even her voice annoys me.

I immediately cover her mouth with my hand. She's much shorter than I am so I have to lean down an uncomfortable amount.

"Your screaming may bother him." My other hand finds her neck, easily snapping it. Her head lays limps on her shoulder. The crack of her spine made my smile return. I happily watch as the life drains from her eyes. That whore is dead.

I can hear the homeowner walking to his bedroom. Dammit, I need to hurry.

I yank her dead corpse onto my shoulder, carrying her back to his house. I place her dead body outside one of his windows. I hope that she won't burn too much. I want him to recognize her.

After hearing him get into bed, I take my spot outside his window.

One of my hands press against the glass, the other grips the windows frame.

I wonder what he's wearing right now... From the sounds of fabric I always hear before he goes to bed, I doubt he's wearing much; especially with this heat. My breath fogs up the glass, wishing he would just open the curtains.

Drool drips from my mouth, I couldn't care less right now. I grip the tent forming in my pants. The denim of these loose jeans rub against my aching penis. No... not yet. I will not pleasure myself until I'm with him. That instantly turns me off.

I sigh and wait for him to fall asleep. It usually takes an hour for him to drift off, but this night it was quicker. I hear his breathing relax as well as the grip he had on his shotgun. Awh, my sweet boy.

While walking away, I giggle to myself. I tap on the glass of the window nearest to the kitchen. I hear a door open and I soon see a little pair of eyes peering at me through the blinds. I lean down so I would be eye level with her. This little girl seemed very dear to the homeowner... he'd like me more if I was friends with her. She had a very fitting name... Anfisa, 'flower'.

She gives a toothy smile and slightly cracks the window open, slipping out a piece of paper. "I drew you, Renat!" The young girl giggles.

I look down at the paper, it's a drawing of me with her. My hair is just scribbled lines, how cute. "Thank you, Anfisa. It's lovely."

Both of us are silent for a moment, usually she's the one talking. Right now, she seems to be thinking about something. "Leonid said I shouldn't talk to you..."

Leonid..? Oh, that must be the homeowners name. How fitting, a name meaning 'lion like'.

"It's just because he's scared of me..." I pause, my grin turning into a frown. Anfisa will be my ticket into Leonid's home. "Maybe you could tell him how nice I am..."

Her eyes light up and she nods her head. "Yes! Then you can come inside and draw with me!" She squeals and shuts the window, ending the conversation and hurrying back to the kitchen to sleep.

I chuckle and neatly fold the drawing, stuffing it into my pocket.

Chapter Text

You wake up and pull yourself out of bed. You don't smell anything... no one died. A soft yawn escapes your lips, you let your tense body relax. You grab your dirty clothes, maybe you should wash them... right now, you're too lazy to care. You slip your clothes on before leaving your room. Of course, you bring your trusty gun. You've got a new guest to inspect.

You walk down the hall, stopping infront of the kitchen. Eating breakfast would be a smart choice. You open the kitchen door, slowly, since you're not sure if the two girls are asleep or not.

Both of them are wide awake, drawing and giggling. You smile and walk inside, opening the fridge door and staring at the emptiness of it. Damn, you really need more food. You close the fridge and walk over to a pantry, picking out a box of old cereal. It's been in your pantry for a year now, before the Earth went to hell. You sigh and sit on the kitchen counter, awkwardly eating your stale cereal.

"Leonid..." The young girl whispers, now standing infront of you. "Renat isn't scary and mean... he's nice and he told me that if you let him in, he'd be your friend!" She says and looks down at the floor. By her tone of voice, you might hate this Renat person... whoever that is.

You think for a moment, staring at her until the realization hits.

Oh...

Oh.

"I told you to stop talking to him. He's tricking you- lying to you!" You growl, slamming the box onto the counter next to you. Anfisa flinches, scared of... you.

Fuck, you're ending up like your father.

You sigh, slipping down from the counter. "Listen, I'm sorry, sweetheart... he's not a good man. He doesn't have good intentions." You whisper in the most soothing voice you can muster. Anfisa stares up at you before running to the teenager, Ulyana, hugging her.

Ulyana looks at you before glancing at the door. You scoff and walk out. You were just kicked out of your own kitchen! Stupid kids. You close the door and walk over to the closet.

When you open the closet door, you see the doctor is standing there, looking around.

"So... what kind of doctor are you?" You ask, leaning onto the doorframe.

The man looks at you and smiles, he's a tad bit shorter than you are. Probably due to old age. "I'm a surgeon. I used to operate on the sick."

You stare at him for a bit, both of you not saying anything. This man makes you feel... unsafe and uncomfortable. "I need to test you."

"What do you wish to examine?" He asks, rolling up his sleeves to prepare for the inspection.

"Hands."

He has rashes. They look gross...

"Teeth."

White. Shit.

You cock your shotgun.

"Wait, hold on! You're making a mistake - I can save lives!" The man says, raising his voice so you can better hear his pleas. But when you aim your gun at his head, he knows it's over. "And now you're about to take one..."

"Don't shoot, please... I'm just a doctor..." Were his final words.

His brain splatters everywhere, his body already smells rotten. His blood is a deep shade of red. It's almost black. His skin twitches and squirms before eventually settling down as he dies. It was a visitor.

You let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding, relieved you made the right decision. The last time you killed a human, you couldn't sleep and kept vomiting.

You grab the black garbage bags in the same storage closet, stuffing it's dead body into the bag. It was a smaller visitor, so it's body fit in one bag. Your sweater is covered in blood... guess that's a good reason to finally wash your clothes.

You leave the bag there, to throw out once it's night, and walk back to your bedroom. You strip your bloodied clothes off and grab another long-sleeved shirt. This one is grey, but it's similar to your blue turtleneck. You decide to change your pants to, wearing a pair of black sweatpants. The outfit makes you sweat even more, but you'd rather not have your scars in plain sight.

You walk down the hall again, going into the bathroom. The widow is sat there, staring up at the ceiling. She doesn't say anything, you're glad she didn't like talking to others. You open your washer and shove your clothes in it, turning it on. After you're done, you walk out the bathroom to give the widow some privacy... even though she was in YOUR bathroom. Whatever.

You make the short walk back to the kitchen, damn, you're doing a lot more walking than usual. When you enter, Anfisa and Ulyana were still sitting there. This time, the teen was painting the younger ones nails.

"Woah, you're in new clothes!" Anfisa giggles, the first to point out your new attire.

Ulyana grins, "Finally, you don't smell."

You roll your eyes with a smile and go to the fridge to grab your nightly beer. As you lean down to reach the drinks, you hear a chair being pushed back and Ulyana is standing next to you.

"Next time you consider someone a visitor, warn us. It's hard to explain the sound of a gunshot to a little girl." Ulyana whispers, seeming a bit angry. Right... You've got a young kid in the house.

You sigh, grabbing a beer and closing the fridge. "Yeah... you're right. Sorry."

She nods her head and walks back to her seat to continue painting Anfisa's nails a bright pink.

You walk out of the kitchen and go straight towards your bedroom.

"At least this day was somewhat eventful... glad I caught a visitor before it was too late." You mutter to yourself, sitting onto your bed.

You set your beer to the side, working fast to remove your clothes so it doesn't get too warm. Hot beer is gross. You place your gun next to you and crack open your beer, slowly nursing it.

Having beer to make yourself tired reminds you babies drinking milk before a nap. You chuckle to yourself, looking up at the ceiling.

Your life is miserable and you know that. Everyone's life is miserable right now.

"If only I had some good rope... then I could be with you, mom." You whisper to yourself, low enough for no one to hear through your thin walls. You glance over at your shotgun and slowly reach for it. "Well... I do have a gun I could use-"

You hear a loud bang on your bedroom window, you grab your gun and point where the noise came from. Who the fuck...? It's burning hot outside, who could possibly be in this heat?

You're sat there for a few seconds in that same position, eventually, you set down your gun once you decide you're safe. That was weird.

It's probably Ren-... that pale visitor.

You nervously drink the rest of your beer, trying to forget about what just happened. You're window didn't break, so you're fine... is what you tell yourself...

The beer makes you sleepy despite the earlier adrenaline. You lay under the thin blanket and curl up against your gun. Today's events along with the beer tired you out.

Chapter Text

You're waken up by three taps on your bedroom window. Fuck, again? You're already annoyed by the banging from earlier and now, after a few hours of sleep, you've got to deal with even more bullshit at the same window. This time, you can actually open the curtains without burning up.

You slip out of your bed, holding your shotgun, and walk to the window. You haven't opened it since the last incident where you saw a not so pleasant sight... even thinking about it gives you goosebumps.

You slowly peel a curtain to the side, revealing what's behind the window.

It's that pale visitor.

"Oh my, you actually opened the window! I'm surprised... especially with what happened last time! You even wore your pajamas, I see..." The visitor giggles, it's dark eyes scanning over your almost naked body.

Only then do you realize what you're wearing. You're in your boxers and nothing else. You quickly close the curtain again and grab your clothes. You hear the thing on the other side of the glass let out a soft "awh..." at the lack of your shirtless presence. You scoff, pulling your sweater over your head and your legs into your sweatpants. You tie the string for your pants before opening the curtain again. This time, you're even more annoyed than before.

"Why the hell are you knocking at my window? What happened to knocking at my door?" You ask, trying to sound demanding and brave... though, now that you can fully see this creature, you're even more scared than usual.

It's tall. It's sickly pale. It's skin looks far too big in some places yet far too tight in others. It's pants barely hang on, sagging on it's hips. It's black hair is greasy. And worst of all, it's staring at you with lust in it's cold eyes. You choose to ignore that.

"I'm always at your window, so why not try knocking on it? And this way... I get a far better view of you." It chuckles to itself, leaning down to be eye level with you. It looks like it's inspecting every pore on your face, lingering on the slit on your eyebrow.

"They told me this would be our last little chat." It says after a few minutes, it's small smile now turned into a thin line. You hated that look. "Everything is coming to and end. Either by our hands or your own."

You stare at each other for a few minutes, but it seems like forever. You're heart is racing in your chest. This is the last time you'll see this thing...? Thank God.

"Now, say everything that you've been meaning." It begs softly, pressing it's large and thin hand against the glass.

"I want it to burn... this entire planet should." You spit back before closing the curtains. You storm out of your room and decide to look out the other windows, like you always do. It's a way to distract yourself.

The first window you look out has a view of your neighbors burnt house. It always makes you sad... especially since you've got Anfisa in your house. You sigh and move to the next window, nothing new. The final window you look at is the one near your front door. Outside it... you see a freshly dead corpse, probably killed yesterday night.

You stare at it for a moment. The body seems... familiar, despite being charred to a crisp.

Holy shit.

It's that seductive woman.

You gulp nervously, who the fuck killed her? And whoever or whatever did it put her dead body infront of your window. Why would something do that?

You close your curtains when you hear three knocks at your door. You know who... what... it is. Dammit, you just talked to it, why is it back?

You walk up to the door and look out into the peephole. You see it's ugly mug with that lopsided smile. "Wasn't our 'last chat' a minute ago?" You ask, your voice expressing how annoyed you truly are.

"Well... that's what they told me. But, I still want to stay with you. I like our chats." It giggles, tracing a finger down the side of your doorframe. "Did you like the gift I left?"

"What gift and why not just break the door down?"

"The dead woman." It stares at the door for a moment after speaking. That dead body was a gift...? Before you can ask more about that, it continues to speak.

"Because... I want you to invite me in... just think about it... me and you, Leonid,... as well as Ulyana, Sergei, Anfisa, Mariya, Luka, and Yesenin.. " It lists off the names of the guests in your house. Some of them you didn't even know... how did it know all of this? Was it all from spying on conversations while outside your home. "I even know all the secrets that you keep... the ones you share to yourself when you're drunk..." It pouts, losing it's signature grin.

So... it heard you talking about killing yourself this morning. Whatever. This thing would be happy if you died.

You hated talking to others about your feelings, so it's best to push the subject to the side. "How is that womans dead body a gift?" You nervously ask, looking away from the peephole.

"She made you uncomfortable, so I killed her." It still doesn't grin, it doesn't even crack a small smile. "I tried to stop you from killing yourself this morning... I'm glad it worked."

Oh, so that must have been the cause of the noise.

"Why...?" The question slips out from you before you can stop yourself. No, you don't care. You don't know why you're asking.

"Because... I love you." It says those three gut wrenching words.

Dammit... You're never ever gonna be able to get rid of this thing.

You clench your hands into tight fists around your gun. "Is this just a game to you? Torturing me with riddles, manipulating the ones I actually care about, spying on me, pretending like you care?" You snap, raising your voice. You know you shouldn't yell since you have guests.... but right now, you don't care. "I hate your mouth... I can't stand any single word that falls out. And with your soulless eyes... it feels like you're suffocating me."

You turn around and move away from the door. You refuse to talk to him any longer...

'Him'.... hah, you seriously called that thing 'him'. It's nothing more than a monster... Renat... is nothing more than a monster.

Learning that things name has really fucked you up.