Okay so, not the worst start to my day.
I think to myself as I look down at my watch to check the time.
It's been about an hour since I clocked in at work and I've had barely any customers come in today. It's usually actually quite busy this early in the morning, and since it's a relatively small store we only have one checkout counter for people to come to. In other words, it can actually be kind of hectic when it's busy. So today's absence of people means I can relax a little
...Or so I thought. I shouldn't really jinx myself like this.
I squint my eyes to see better and notice a girl that looks a bit fishlike, with blue skin, and fins for ears... So I've established that she is a monster... I could hide...
I quickly shake my head at my thought. No, I have to face my fears. It's just like Sans said. If I don't face my fears I'll never get over them, and I do want to get over them... I just need to try my hardest to not look afraid, and be polite... And I should probably try not to pass out again.
I notice the fish woman enter the shop and try my best to form a smile. I give her a small "Hello."
She waves over at me and begins to speak. "Hey, can you show me where the paper towels are?" she asks... though it almost sounds more like a command. I nod at her, and walk out from behind the counter.
"F-follow me." I say to her with a shy voice, and start to lead the way. She immediately starts to follow me.
Once we reach the aisle with the paper towels I point down it.
"There on this aisle."
She mutters a "Thanks." And makes her way down the aisle. Then I head straight back to my work counter.
That... wasn't that hard.
I see her start to approach me and she drops the paper towels, along with some paper plates, and napkins on the counter.
I start to ring up her things and notice her saying something to me.
"You're awfully quiet, huh?"
Oh... guess I'm acting kind of strange...
"Uh, yeah a little. That's j-just how I am. Oh, umm, I forgot to ask, did you find everything you need today?" I add in the question to distract her from the other sentence, and she smiles. showing her sharp looking teeth.
"Yep. This will probably be my main grocery store I'll come to from now on, so expect to see me again."
Oh, so I guess I may see her pretty often. Well, I may as well ask her name then.
"Oh, well if you'll be here often, m-may I ask your name?" I ask a bit nervously.
"It's Undyne, don't forget it! and yours?"
That's actually a pretty cool name.
"Shilo" I say with a smile.
I finish ringing up the last of her things, and bag them. Then I hand them over to her. She eagerly takes them and begins to walk off.
"I'll be seeing you again!" She yells to me as she walks out of the store.
I let out a deep breath it felt like I had been holding forever, and check my phone. Thirty minutes have passed... It feels like it's been an hour.
The next few hours are spent with me tending to customers and cleaning up the messes they inevitably make.
I check my watch again and notice that it's 4 o'clock. With all the customers gone, I grab my phone and head oit the door, turning the open sign to closed before walking away. Time to head home.
Along my way I look around at all the people walking by me, and the many many cars that pass. It's strange to see all of them looking so happy and calm when I always feel so nervous going out, but I guess those people aren't me. It's hard not to be a bit jealous of them. But I really shouldn't let them bother me. They're just passer-bys. I look back ahead of me and keep my focus straight for the next few minutes before noticing something out of the corner of my eye. I quickly whip my head in that direction and my eyes widen. I stop walking and stand completely still.
I'd recognize that face anywhere... He looks older now, and his hairs a little longer, but still curly and dark. That's definitely him... How did he even know where I was? What the hell? I've gotta get out of here.
I look away from the guy standing on the street corner and feel my legs kick into overdrive. I pick up my pace until I'm running as fast as I can. and immediately feel my breath become heavy. Yeah, I'm a bit out of shape. I haven't had to run like this in a long time.
I spit out the long black strands of hair that inevitably fly into my mouth as I run.
Maybe Joey didn't see me. Yeah, he was standing there, but he wasn't really looking in my direction, so if I just keep running... As if to deplete my source of hope I hear my name being yelled out from behind me.
"Shiloh!"
I look behind me and don't see anyone, but I know that voice is Joey's. He must be following me... This makes me start to run even faster. At this point I start to think about the threat he made me, and start to feel sick. I see a place I can turn, so once I reach it I turn left and head into a dark alley, and crouch down, hoping he'll just pass me without looking over here.
I start to try and catch my breath, and feel my heart racing fast.
Please, pleasue don't see me...
My hopes were not answered as I see a figure stop at the entrance to the alley, and start to head towards me... It's him... I start to shake and feel my mouth open begging to scream... Only I'm too. afraid too. It's like I can't do anything... I will nyself to start crawling backwards, but he keeps walking towards me. I quickly feel a gate pushing up against my back and realize this is as far as I can go... As Joey approaches me I finally let myself scream... Only it doesn't matter, because within a few seconds my mouth is covered by his hand, and he's smirking down at me. He uses his other hand to pull me up by my shirt collar and pushes me back against the gate roughly.
I feel tears start to well up in my eyes, and Joey starts to speak.
"This didn't have to happen if you just did what I told you. But instead you just deleted your Facebook. That wasn't very smart. You know it tells me where you work right? I was waiting for you to come out so I could 'talk' to you, but you had to run away. Look where that got ya'. Now I'll give you one more chance to listen to me."
I feel tears pouring from my eyes at this point and do all I know to do at this point and try to kick at Joey. My attempts prove to be pathetic as they don't even make Joey flinch.
"Won't work hun, now as I was saying will you listen to me?" Joey says almost sounding amused by my fear. I shake my head no at him and keep trying to kick him.
I won't do what he says, I don't care if he beats me up. I'm not letting him control me.
"Bad choice babe." is all he says before he lets go of my mouth and punches me in the face. I'm immediately knocked to the ground and I curl myself up in the fetal position. He kicks me in the back, and I gasp in pain.
Why... why can't I do anything? This hurts, but I can't fight back... I'm too scared.
Suddenly I realize that... nothings happening, and will myself to look up, fully expecting to see that twisted grin on Joeys face as he kicks me again... but instead I see something else entirely. Something much less terrifying... or maybe more depending on who you are in this situation.
Above me I see Undyne holding Joey up in the air with one hand as she glares at him. She throws him aside and looks down at me. Hey, are you okay? Oh, wait... it's you! She yells and bends down to get a better look at me.
I look at her in surprise... "But, why are y-you here?" I say looking up at her.
"How about 'thanks'?" She says with a small smile, but then immediately looks concerned again. "I was heading to Muffets cafe, and I sort of saw you getting beat up when I passed by here on my way there. Who is that guy? Why was he beating you up?" She looks back at where she threw Joey, but notices he's not there. "That punk ran off!" She yells angrily.
"It's okay. He's just someone who's... always hated me, and used to mess with me any chance he got. He must of saw me and figured it w-was a good idea to pick a fight with me." I lie through my teeth. Though some of that was true.
"Well, if I see him again, I'll beat him up for you. Don't worry. He's not going to mess with you again after that. I probably scared him pretty good."
"Yeah... I hope so." is all I say doubting that she's right. He'll probabprobably come back... I'll have to try and avoid him the best I can. He beat me up, so he really meant what he said in those messages before.
"Don't worry! Hey, let me help you up!" Undyne says, as she grabs my arm and forcefully yanks me up.
That hurts.
"Oww." I mutter and she gives me a guilty look.
"Oops sorry! Shouldn't have yanked you so hard like that. Hey, you look a little worse for wear. You need me to walk you home?" She asks kindly, but I don't like making people go out of their way, so I shake my head no.
"It's alright. I'm mostly fine. So don't worry about it. Thank you for helping me... I don't know what would of happened if you hadn't showed up."
I thank her sincerely, and smile at her.
She looks me over to make sure I'm okay enough to walk and then smiles. "If you're sure, then alright. I won't push you. And yeah, well, I couldn't really ignore it in good conscience so don't sweat it. Next time... just try to defend yourself. You won't get anywhere by lying down and taking the hits... I'll see you around." Undyne waves at me as she walks away, before I can say anything else to her. I slowly exit the alley and look around.
Great... I don't see him. I guess he really did just run off... I start to walk again, a bit faster than usual, trying to make my way home as quickly as I can.
A monster just saved me from the person who made me fear them in the first place... What am I supposed to think now? I can't fear someone who just well, saved me... I don't know what I'm supposed to feel.
I continue to walk until I reach my house and make my way inside. As soon as I make it in I see Sans staring at me... Uhh, what?
"What happened to your eye... and leg?" He asks me looking very worried.
Oh... How do I explain this? I look down at my leg and notice a big scratch.
"I... fell."
"Uh-huh, now what actually happened?" He asks sounding a little more upset.
Okay, so that didn't work...
"Well... I sort of got beat up." I say a little nervously, waiting for a response.
"By who?" Sans asks, his voice taking on a darker tone...
He... looks mad...
"...Nobody I know." I say, not wanting to push the situation any more then I already have.
"Who?" he asks again, sounding more like a command now...
"...Joey." is all I say, again, nervously waiting for him to say something.
"... I see. We'll deal with that later. You need to go clean out that scratch. It looks deep." He says pushing me towards the bathroom.
What does he mean... deal with it later? And damn it I can walk myself, and that hurts!
"Stop pushing me, it hurts..." I say wincing a bit, and Sans immediately stops.
"Sorry." He says apologetically to me.
"It's okay." is all I say before heading off to the bathroom.
Once I'm in there I look at myself in the mirror.
"Wow, he really did a number on my face." I say out loud as I take notice of my black eye, which really stands out on my somewhat lighter, but not quite pale skin. There's also a bruise already forming on my cheek, and my lip has a little dried blood on it, which I quickly wash off. I start to wash out the scratch on my leg with hydrogen peroxide and water, and after I'm done I put a bandage over it.
I soon walk out of the bathroom and head back to the living room, noticing how bad my back hurts on the way.
I sit down on the couch and tilt my head back, closing my eyes, and sigh.
"Hey." I hear Sans say all of the sudden, and immediately open my eyes and lean back up to look at him, and give him a short "hello" back.
"I think it may be best if I come to work with you. You never know if that guy will show up again." he says like it's the best idea in the world.
I look at him a bit surprised.
"No, that's okay. I'll be fine." I say, not wanting to make Sans do that for me. I can deal with my problem on my own.
"Really, it's fine. It would be bad if you got hurt again. It's safer. Actually, I could always just teleport you to work-.
I immediately remember the sick feeling I got after we did that the first time and interject.
"Heck no! I mean... umm... no, you can walk me okay.. It's fine... Thanks." is all I say, not wanting to have to be teleported to work... I know he's not gonna let up on this, so I might as well just let him win.
"Okay, good. I can always just teleport to leave, and to come pick you up, so it's not a big deal to me."
That honestly makes me feel a bit better, now that it sounds like a little less of a hassle. I feel less like I'm burdening him too much.
As soon as I finally relax I see my dad come through the door. He immediately looks at me.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" He yells with worry in his voice.
"Some dude on his bike beat me up. I'm fine though don't worry." The yelling causes Papyrus to come out of his room and well, cue more yelling.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU HUMAN?! ARE YOU OKAY?"
Oww, my head.
"I'm fine." is all I say before my dad starts yelling again.
"I WILL FIND HIM."
"It was a random guy. You won't be able to." I say lying to him. I really don't nedd this getting out of hand now.
"Then, he's lucky... I'd tear him a new one... Ugh, just try and relax now. I won't let anything like that happen again, so just rest. I didn't mean to yell." Dad says trying to reassure me.
"Yeah, I will." I say smiling.
He walks out of the room visibly upset, and I stare at my leg.
"You're gonna be fine, don't worry about it. I can tell you're worrying." Sans says trying to cheer me up.
"Yeah. I know." is all I say.
Only I don't know if I will be... I don't know what to believe about what happened today... All I know is I feel like things are changing for good and bad reasons.
