This is my heavily edited, T-audience friendly version of my story 'Cheshire.' I love the gore fest that is the first couple chapters of 'Cheshire', but the M side of the fandom is a lonely place. (Though of course I appreciate everyone that does read the original.) Well, there are other factors other than a simple lack of readers, of course... Anyway. Since I wanted a title to differentiate it from 'Cheshire' without doing something corny like 'Cheshire V.2' or whatever, I decided its current title would be fitting, even if it is cliched and overused. Since they were short originally (and even shorter after editing), I just combined the first two chapters. I'll be keeping up with both versions of this story in case anyone's wondering. But now that I've done this, this story might really branch into it's own thing. 'Ashes to Ashes' is more fitting to develop into a more metaphorical story than 'Cheshire's madness-oriented gory glory. I guess we'll just have to see. Sorry for rambling!
Erica gripped her phone tightly in her hand as she desperately choked down the urge to puke. Mere inches from her face, Erica's would-be mugger gurgled and twitched as he quickly disintegrated at the throat. She could only watch in horror as his skin cracked and peeled, a sickening dead gray color quickly spreading under his collar and onto his face.
But the most painful thing were his eyes. Those bloodshot brown eyes were staring at Erica, begging her to save him. They had locked onto her, suffocating her for what had to be the longest instant she had ever experienced. After what seemed like an eternity, those pitiful eyes glazed over and his body collapsed in a heap of unrecognizable ash.
Bile rose in the back of Erica's throat, but she forced it down when she saw the cause of her attacker's demise. Toxic green eyes glowed in the lowlight of the alley, the little light available revealing a display of alarmingly numerous sharp teeth.
A strange high-pitched chuckle broke the silence. Erica flinched, her stomach rolling unpleasantly at the sound. "It's so pitiful, isn't it? They all turn crumble into ash and scatter to the wind, just like she did." Another high chuckle led to a full-on laughing fit, impossibly exposing even more teeth than before. It was somehow more terrifying than watching a man literally fall apart in front of her. Erica didn't even register her phone slipping free of her numb fingers and cracking sharply against the dusty ground. Leaning heavily against the wall behind her was all she could to keep from collapsing straight to the ground.
Eventually the laughing faded back into disturbed giggles as those sickeningly toxic colored eyes turned back on her. "Good night~!"
That was the last thing she heard before her head collided with the rough brick wall and everything snapped to black.
Something sharp was poking Erica in the cheek, irritating her into wakefulness. A throbbing pain bloomed in the back of her skull as she became conscious. There was something clinging to her face and her pillow was way too hard for some reason. She pushed herself upwards onto her elbows, groaning as light touched her eyelids. Despite her reluctance to face the light, she opened her eyes.
All of a sudden, the events of last night came rushing back to her as she took in the lingering ash pile in front of her. Erica heaved herself violently to the side of the body, eyes stinging with anxious tears. A trembling hand subconsciously rose to her cheek, feeling the ash that was stuck there. Her shivering intensified. It began to sink in. She had been laying on someone's dead body. The thought of it just made her choke as she twisted to the side and finally emptied her stomach onto the ground.
After a few shuddering breaths, she shakily tried to climb to her feet. She had to get away from this place, from what happened. Her weak knees couldn't support her weight and she dropped right back to the ground. She whimpered through thick tears, black hazing in at the rim of her vision, threatening to knock her unconscious at this unholy place again.
Erica forced herself to slow down her breathing and attempted to calm down. It wasn't working quite as well as Erica would have normally liked, but it kept the black haze at bay. Gulping air down through her mouth, she tried to grasp the next step. What should she do? Police, right, she should call the police.
Her quaking hands took a couple of attempts to search her coat pockets. Empty. Pants pockets, then. Nope, not there either. Erica whimpered again, casting a desperate glance around her in hopes that her phone had fallen out of her pocket when she backed away from the remains. No such luck.
She glanced back toward the ashes, dreading the answer she already knew. If it was possible, Erica never wanted to get within 100 miles of that ever again. But it wasn't possible, so she unsteadily stood again, using the nearby building as a crutch. Step by trembling step, she edged closer.
And there it was, laying right next to the remains. She sharply sucked in a deep breath before slowly bend down to pick it up. Her hand missed on the first try and she struggled to get a grip on it. But she eventually got her fingers fitted around it. Without even taking a second to even breathe, she spun and limped several feet away.
Only when she was a good distance away did Erica gasp for air. She hastily swiped away the dust on her phone the best she could onto her jeans and inspected it for damage. Her stomach sank when she saw that the screen was spiderwebbed with cracks. Hoping against hope that it was still functioning, she pressed down the power button.
When the screen came to life, Erica was so relieved that she almost dropped it again. She attempted to quickly type in those three little numbers that everyone knew. Frustrated after a few failed tries, she finally got the combination right and put the phone on speaker.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"H-hi, yes, this is Erica Marienkafer, and I was attacked last night. I-I'm still here at the scene."
"Okay, just keep calm. What's your position?"
Erica screwed her eyes shut as she tried to recall the path that she took home last night. "I'm in an alleyway off of Wilson Ave. It was near the intersection with Georgia St, I think," she replied uncertainly.
"I'm sending someone your way now. Just stay where you are and don't move, okay? It's really important that you don't remove yourself from the scene."
"Okay," she whispered before hanging up. She slowly dragged her body back to the ground to wait for the police to arrive.
That pounding headache that Erica somehow managed to forget about returned twice as urgently now that she was calming down. Groaning, Erica lowered her head onto her knees and closed her eyes.