It seems like I am still cranking out these little angst-filled, horror tinged one-shots. I hope to do one for Burn next. Hopefully, if I am well. I apologise if the writing is not usually the quality it is at as I have been ill. This story is not related to any other of my works.
Post Ex-Machina.
~XxX~
It was another day and another day meant another hurdle and, quite possibly, another fall. The courier had a feeling that it was dark outside, Sun waiting to pierce the blackness and to poison it with its orange and purple rays, dying the sky with the morning's colours.
Deets lay in bed, lethargic and weary. She had not been sick. She had not been injured. She hadn't even been eating any of Loogie's strange concoctions of what he called 'food'.
Instead, the persistent and paranoid thought of another person, animal, thing, had been on her mind and she was convinced it had been following her. It was familiar, no doubt about it. It was a slow, decaying stalker that lingered in hallways and waited patiently in rooms but it had to drag its dying self to follow her. It was unnerving and she often anticipated the thought, the thing, to exploit itself in an accident of some sort.
Sometimes, and only sometimes, did she catch her teammates staring at her, eyes filled to the brim with curiosity and concern. It bothered her. It was none of their business. Fortunately, her acting skills seemed to fool them well and she went about, stalking away, waiting for her pursuer to show up.
Deets was on edge and had recently begun to bite her nails, which were often well looked after and always painted. Her front teeth would peel the toxic, pastel nail polish off, the fragments sticking to her teeth as she pierced the flesh with her canine tooth, repeating to process until her nail had been carved and the tip of her finger bleeding. In a way, it seemed to appear that she had been eating herself as she would lap up the blood on her finger to remove the evidence.
Today, however, she felt as though her stalker would reveal itself soon and their little game would be over. She was exhausted and felt her skull close in on her brain painfully. Reflexively, her arm reached out in an aimless manner, her hand searching feebly for the clock. After a time too long she turned her head groggily, only to find the device to be missing from the bedside. Curious but tired, she shakily heaved herself up and hopped off of her bed, falling forward slightly but steading herself just in time.
The room was dark. She had anticipated her stalker to be somewhere in the room, or even just outside but its presence went undetected by her. Although her body was focused on finding her measly, lost clock, her mind was elsewhere. Her green eyes bright and lucid kept making their way to her door. She finally managed to tear her gaze away from the entry way and attempted to turn her attention to finding her time device. For a while it worked but she turned too far to her left and she felt her gaze fix itself once more upon the exit. It seemed different somehow; it appeared that there was a light leaking from outside and underneath the door. The courier's eyes were rimmed with anticipation as the thought pestered her to look at it. Suddenly, she returned to looking for the device, hair framing the edges of her face loosely. Deets's hand was pressed upon the carpet that furnished the floor of her room, dragging it along in hope to bump into something, the clock. However, her hand slid right off of the carpet and instead she found a flat, rounded object with a smooth, curved back. She picked it up gingerly and allowed her damaged fingers to assess the object.
Deets recognised it as her little hand mirror. The glassy underside gave it away to the senses. She had a myriad of the little vanities lying about. The girl could not remember why she purchased so many of them. The glass of the hand mirror reflected a glint of light from behind. Instinctively, Deets turned to observe the door, where the light from underneath was dying the dark carpet with strange pale yellow and purple rays of light. Deets temporarily returned her gaze to the petty hand mirror and tossed it aside before stalking towards the door. She stood just before it so that the light from underneath splashed her feet with the strange light. Her hand hovered over the button that would let the light in. Mesmerised by such the strange turn of events, Deets impulsively slammed the palm of her hand on the button. The door opened, but as it did, the light disappeared completely with it.
It was just the dark hallway on the other side.
She closed the sliding door again. The light didn't reappear from underneath it. Deets pressed the button to open it once more.
It was her little follower that caused this, she was sure of it. However, it never did start its pursuit of her at such a time. Curious, Deets walked out of her room, leaving the door open so that if the thing was there when she returned, she could catch it.
Sticking true to her old daily routine, which had been interrupted by her stalker's little game, she headed towards the bathroom. However, it seemed to be for no reason other than reliving something that seemed so far, far away from where she was then.
Deets's eyes looked about inconspicuously, stealthily trying to spot her pursuer whilst walking along. Her arms stayed close by her side and moved mechanically to the unsteady rhythm of her gait.
Her right hand searched for the button on the wall as she turned her head, watching. The door opened, and with it the lights turned on automatically. Deets walked slowly in, head still turned, waiting to spot it. The door closed smoothly as she walked to the sink, careful as to where she was walking.
She stopped. Her little follower was in there, with her.
She felt it but couldn't see it.
Her breathing quickened automatically as her damaged fingers clung to the sink.
Deets turned her head swiftly, pink hair strayed over her face and blurring her vision as she prepared herself for her stalker's piercing gaze.
Nothing.
She exhaled out of relief and slight disappointment, shaking her head and chuckling slightly as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. She faced the mirror.
It was there! The thing was there! It had taken over her. The foul thing showed itself in the form of black roots from the past, a little more than an inch growing from her head, infecting the lovely shade of pink with its dark look. It took over her bright, green eyes and turned them into the cold, automatic stare that used to possess her. All forms of cosmetics had been carefully removed, peeling the thin mask to reveal the sleek, robot-like face of the original.
Deets was long gone by this time.
Far, far away.
Sarah had returned.
She had been waiting for so long.
~XxX~
I hope you have enjoyed this story!
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Get Ed is copyright to Andy Knight.