Vriska Serket does everything in sets of eight. Locks the door eight times. Turns on the light eight times. Checks the closet eight times. Washes her hair eight times in the shower. Ties her shoes eight times. Enters a room eight times. She drops her pencil one day in class and she has to pick it up eight times but the girl in the seat next to her grabs it before she can and she's only picked it up seven times so she has a panic attack.

She stops leaving the house. Her parents have given up trying to make her go to school so she takes her classes online now. Her friends come visit her. She starts dating Eridan. She celebrates their anniversary every eight days. He hits her for the first time and she cries until he hits her seven more times. A perfect eight. She thinks this must be some sort of love.

Everytime she gets upset he hits her eight times. It begins to calm her down. Everytime he hits her he apologizes eight times. She falls in love with him eight times. He breaks up with her on their seven month anniversary and she begs him to stay one more month. He leaves anyways so she takes a knife and slashes eight perfect lines on her thigh.

She continues to hurt herself. Eight cuts per day. She stops leaving her room. Her parents bring her food but she only eats eight bites per meal. She drinks her water eight sips at a time. She gets sick. She throws up five times but it's not right so she makes herself throw up three more times. She can't take it anymore so she slits her wrists. Eight times on each arm. In the hospital they don't let her do things in eights. The light only turns off once. She fights with the doctors and hits them eight times each. They sedate her.

The meds they put her on help. Her therapist is an older man with a kind smile and grey hair. He doesn't mind that she sits down eight times, or shakes his hand eight times. He is patient with her. She smiles eight times.