Watching from the dark, knives and lies spinning endlessly… into the void. The world was ash, the skies red, the air acrid. They stood around her, cloaked in black. Beady red orbs stared from under their hoods, all wordlessly calling him. They took a step forward in the grey hell and the woman in their center smiled slightly, her feline smirk holding confidence unknown to her months prior. From her orange t-shirt a spark of fire filled the dark world around her.
"You are gone," she said, softly. "And the god of the forest protects me…"
As the fire burning in her gained strength the world faded to white.
She always forgot the dreams before she woke, but not how they felt. This time… she felt, surprisingly, content. Light fell upon her smooth fur as the sun peaked over the horizon. That fogged glass that hid the rest of the world from her bedroom blazed with the heat of that star.
"Fine…" The feline grumbled to no one in particular, pushing the down blanket away from her and stretching. Slowly, Mea removed her clothes from their pile on the floor and got prepared for the day. Dressed and prepped, the woman stepped in front of the mirror, ignoring the stickers she had stuck upon it in her childhood to the mystery she saw in the glass. Thin and muscular with fur as smooth as silk, the woman looked into her eyes and smiled, her pearly teeth shimmering with the light that streamed into the window. "You look cute Nightmare Eyes," she said to herself. That thing that glimmered in the back of her sanguine orbs still shocked her to her core. That speck of hope once again made itself known but still there was hardly anything she could do to make work really 'fun'.
Once again she looked over the Taco Buck uniform and smoothed the creases out of it. Without the fear and loathing that came from the years before she had eaten better and exercised more. The day would be good.
The bell above the door to the Ol' Pickaxe rang as the smiling woman walked in, her orange uniform covered in grease stains. Her arm fur was similarly greasy and matted but her head remained as cute and brushed as it was that morning. Above, the same soft music filled the air, humming from a speaker hidden somewhere in the ceiling. With a face unparalleled by anyone else in her small town, the feline jumped on top of the counter before the other woman had a chance to look. "Boo!" she shot, her sardonic tone betraying how oddly happy she was that day.
"Wha-! God dammit Mea!" Bea growled jerking her head up from the paperwork she had been completing. Her dark scales and darker clothing stood out against the backdrop of sky blue that layered every surface of the small home supply store. Her tone softened immediately though, still not used to seeing her in uniform. "Don't do that."
"Not happening," she shot back, leaving the other woman to sigh and push away the paperwork.
"So how is being a functioning member of society?" Bea said after a time, giving up on what she was doing.
The feline smiled,"Better than expected." Once again Mae felt a weight in the back of her mind, a nagging itch that had bugged her ever since she had helped the other woman bury her father. "So, how's business?"
That same glimmer which she had seen in her own eyes fell over Bea. It was the first time she had seen that look since her father had died. "Booming actually."
As the two caught up, running their minds over the newest goings on and the intricacies of the business, they started locking up. It had been about half a year since Bea's father died and Mea got a job at the Taco Buck but they had easily fallen into the routine. Go to work, eat the leftover taco's for dinner on Fridays, hang out, and keep smiling. It was nice, comfortable.
The soft autumn wind fell behind them as they entered the apartment building. The wallpaper was flaking, the elevator buttons were falling apart and might electrocute you, and if you didn't leave your window open at nights you could just hear the faint scampering of rats in the walls but still, it was a home, for now. Pushing past the other woman Mea rushed into the empty apartment, she didn't want to miss it.
With a jump, Mae ended up on scraggly black couch and flipped on the tv, A greasy brown bag of semi-fresh tacos landing next to her on the floor. As the feline adjusted her head to allow herself to see the familiar faces of Garbo and Malloy on the old flat screen. Just starting. Already entranced, she ignored the sigh that came from the doorway.
"You going to move or do I have to sit on you?" Bea asked a few seconds later, now standing above her. She blocked the the view with her arms crossed and a look of subdued annoyance on her face. Giving her own exasperated sigh, Mae sat up and let the other woman sit down.
The smell of tacos, the sound of tv, and the feeling of her friend sitting next to her. The rush of life came flooding back. Eventually though, the show began drawing to a close and the joy between the two of them and the tv began to fade, replaced by something else. Her mind slipped back to Gregg and her joy droppe. He had left like everyone else. So many names, so many faces.
Of course not all of them had the choice that Gregg and Angus had, to leave. Some were forcibly ripped from her life, from her world. Still, she wondered how many they killed before the sacrifices stopped. It wasn't just Casey, there could have been dozens… hundreds... Yelling! Clawing! Screaming from just below the crust of this word, trapped in that endless darkness of that cosmic horror! Their souls would never rest, they would be in that hell forever, scrambling up that damnable hole for eternity. Casey's screaming panged against her, calling her, tempting her. "Why couldn't you save us Mae?" he screamed, twisting her glassed eyes to the brink of tears. Their deaths were her fault. If she had only come back before, stumbled upon them earlier, noticed prior, that Thing would have claimed fewer souls. But it didn't matter. It was still out there, twisting in that horrid blackness, culling the souls it wanted without care. It was still there studying her, just as if-
"What's wrong Mae?"
Suddenly, Mae recoiled, being painfully ripped back to reality and almost launching herself from the tattered couch. She was once again in the taco sented room, with her back against the back fearfully pinned against the back of the seat, her claws almost digging into the woman who had grabbed her hand. With horror in her eyes, Mae pulled away. She had almost hurt someone again, this time someone she cared about.
"Nothing," she lied, her mind trying to reason what had just happened and where she had been.
"The cult again?," Bea asked, cutting through her lie as she wrapped her hand around the slightly shaking feline. Her warm fur of silk and greece relaxed under her touch and Mae slowly leaned against her.
"I… Yeah…" She whispered. Only then did she realize what her body had been doing while her mind was racing. Not only did she almost hurt Bea but also her heart was pounding and her breath was short, panicked.
Mae glanced up to meet her gaze, her crimson eyes still full of fear. "Thanks," she said after a few seconds. her shaking hand locked with the other woman's once again, squeezing back. Eventually, the awkward silence returned, both women blankly staring at the commercials that came over the television as their night ended. Still though, Mae's voice was strained and the fear only started to fade. Normally, Mea would get up from the tattered couch, crack a few jokes and start the walk home, but she didn't really want to do that tonight. Right now all she could think about was the presence of the warm scales she lent against, the intimacy of their wordless embrace, and the flash of darkness that just roared through her mind. After a few more minutes of blankly listening to the white noise that the tv created, her heart calmed enough for her to form sentences..
"Mind if I stay here tonight?" she half-whispered, snaking her neck up to look Bea's dark eyes.
The response came with an awkward smile from the confused woman, "uh... sure."
She did not remember the rest of that night.