July 28th, 2030

Lyra had herself another shot at coming into Loanne Wardell's room and getting a killer-ass autograph. The woman was an actress before her time- time period- the world where she was dead as were the A-listers and John Travolta. Instead of barging into the hospital room like the first time, Lyra had used her zoom powers and phased through without anyone noticing. Godsend all around!

The Laude girl from the future had coughed to make her presence known and smiled damned silly when Loanne opened her eyes and looked up to see the strange teenager in a purple jacket and tight blue jeans look up at her. "G-good morning-"

"Oh-" Loanne had not yet prepared for this stage in her life. The blonde had seen better days and this morning in late July was not one of them. Her hair was messy and undone and she gave a rather generic smell from being here long enough. She supposed she was here because she loved being here but that was a lie. The Chester Flanagan ordeal had broken her left arm- broken or did they say dislocated? Shit, she didn't pay attention in transit. The uttering of his name had stunned her, put her back in that visionary hell. Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. Scary, gruesome edgefest that could maybe rival one of the Rambo movies, or maybe something from the foreign cinema. Come on, go toe-to-toe with the dark ones. Joker. Parasite. That new one, The Color Of Suicide- oh yeah, that one was a good one. "Uh, how- How did you get past my security?"

"Security?" Lyra formed the act and pointed her thumb and threw it over her shoulder. "Didn't see anyone there."

"Wow, I must be small-time for them to remotely care..." Loanne sighed, taking injury. "I'm not even gonna ask how you found me, I'm sure there are leaks or peepers out there-" Loanne eyed the window. "Yeah, they don't even bother closing it. Truth be told, I have a fear of scarecrow, they could jump in and take me away!" When she laughed, Lyra laughed back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude- Or to stalk, I wasn't stalking-"

Loanne waved a hand to hush Lyra. "You don't look like one, but since you're here, I suppose you want an autograph-" And she then noticed Lyra's purple diary and then cocked an eyebrow. "Then again..."

"Uh, okay so maybe I did know you'd be here-"

Loanne had ceased her laughing, not smiling at Lyra. "A diary? Really, miss?"

"Uh- It's Lyra, Lyra Laude-" The brunette with long hair and two bangs running down on either side of her face leaned closer to offer her hand. Loanne did wind up shaking but slowly. "I don't know, I was just so- I mean, I wanted a wider autograph-"

"Okay, okay," Loanne went, extending her hands out. "Gimme, and I'm sure you brought a PE"

"A pe-" Lyra froze and dripped sweat. I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING.

"Really?" Loanne found humor again. "All of that work you've put into just to tell me you forgot a pen?"

"Nobody's perfect, ugh!"

"You're funny, Lyra," Loanne giggled. "I'll give you that."

Lyra sighed, embarrssed heavily- and in front of one of her favorite actresses of old. Loanne took the diary regardless and peered at it. "Sorry-"

"No, don't do that, I can see that you really wanted an autograph, nothing else from me," Loanne smiled with her teeth in tow. "You're simple, Lyra, would do us both best if you stay that way. Just be prepared better next time, okay?"

"Yes, I will."

"I can give you something better than a signature." Loanne pointed to the counter. "Get my phone, just disconnect it from the charger. I'll cement your status as a good girl forever! Pose for the camera!"

Loanne snapped a selfie of herself and of Lyra, both of them smiling their best grins. Lyra was touching Loanne's face with hers- Warm! Lyra would not wash her face for a week or so, but she thanked Loanne and raced out the door- and the two guards were there when Lyra had lied. "SEEYASUCKERS!"

"Let her go!" Loanne ordered them. "She was harmless... Shut the door."

"Ma'am," they both said, one of them closing the door.

What a nice, but wild girl, she thought calmly, her phone resting face down on her chest. Good morning, world.

Act VI: Renaissance, Chapter IV: What She'll Be Missing

She wasn't planning to sleep again. Nap, later perhaps but not around now. To spare her from the faces of the death and the dead. For starters, Chester was still plaguing her mind, chasing after her, running into her dreams. Damned was his soul but what did that mean when he had left his bloody insignia in the discomfort of her mind? She twitched and turned and twisted in bed, trapped in those cycles of great horror. Chester stabbing Jen on repeat- It was not only in a loop, Chester stabbed her multiple times in those dreams- No, they weren't dreams, they were nightmares and she hated to even shut her eyes, see the dark and them again. It was for a second, less even, and yet.

Blink. Jen. Blink. Chester. Blink.

Someone screaming, always. Loanne brought her attention to the sun. It came again, another easier day. This day, where she wouldn't be bothered by her agents or the director of that new movie she was filming with the girlfriend. If she had the power to cancel it...

Knowing them, it was delayed, they thought of the money and not of the actors'/actress' well-being. Money, stupid, greedy company. Loanne laughed and then shielded her eyes after a minute or so of looking out the window. The dawn phase had already gone away, now the rest of the day was there. Just outside of this medium room, the world went on. Mroning traffic, pet owners walking their dogs, and other studios filling up with crew members galore- no telling which one of them was another Chester lying in wait. Maybe in reverse; a female one creeping up on a handsome actor. The thought had made her filthy, feel filthy.

And then, it made her feel goddamned angry. And that's where the shadow crept up ever so slowly... It first stretched out like a blanket over the wall at the opposite end. She had taken notice because it was simply too wide to ignore. She knew it was rather strange but at first glance, it might have been nothing. Could have been just that, if not for the raspy, chilly voice that then rocked her world. "Loooooooanne... My raaaaaaging daaarling..."

Not of a man's normal voice, but of some demonic entity, an unwanted presence of a place unfamiliar to humans. The shadow sank back over the ceiling, ceasing its expansion process. Loanne shot her eyes up- and the being's pair of eyes looked back at her, down on her. The shape of those eyes were not the round human eyes, but they took the shape of that of obtuse- no, rhombus- eyes. They were white and deadly already, before she got herself the spooks and became entranced in them. I'm going crazy, I'm hearing voices-

The head of the dark demon stretched out from the ceiling, mouth forming a dastardly, unsettling smile. Where there should have been teeth was replaced by rows of narrow sticks- they looked like rusty nails sticking out of some plank- looking rather sharp at the tip. Oh how she wished she would never come to feel those jaws or anything similar. She stood still in bed, never looking away from the descending head. She dare not move for it, even when it had opened its mouth wide, emitting an inhuman snarl. Why me? Why not... Someone else?

It touched her face with its cold hands, freezing, gray hands with black, long nails of death. It closed its mouth and sank back to the ceiling, disappearing. "Wiiiiiill you be my mooooother?"

Loanne blinked, and it was gone just like that. She blinked again. And it was back, this time it showed itself in full. A humanoid demon with all the right features. "Will you?"

Loanne gasped and spread her lips apart. "What are you?" was all she had to say in a staggering sentence. "Are you even real?" Then, she laughed. "Of course not, it's impossible."

"It is a pleeeeeasure to meeeeet you," the illusion said, opening its mouth once more and released its tongue, a long, wet snake of pink-red skin, squirming down to lick her left ear. For some cheap mind trick that played, Loanne could really feel the tongue lick at her. It made her head jerk away from the tongue, to the side. She squinted her eyes and hissed. "Stop!"

"Nyarghhhhhhh." It pulled its tongue back, and with it, a speck of ear wax with it. "Oh, mooooother, how troubled- How trawwwwwwbuld you areeee.."

"You aren't real... Are you?" Loanne's hands now trembled. "You are-"

"I'm real enough... For you!" the insidious demon hoarsely said. "Be not alarmed, I do not- I so nooooot want to kill you... I want you to kill-"

Her eyes winced with the demon's intentions.

"-for me."

God, I'm- I'm shaking! I'm too scared to move or scream! I've seen how it goes in movies, I make a run or cry for help, I'm dead already. Holy fuck Jesus- Dear Christ, what did I do to deserve this? I- I've only ever sinned you by coming out as bisexual-

Her mind raced to Chester's face again. That man, a sort of devil in human skin with a mission to cleanse the world of- Wait, girls like her? Was that all he had bedn doing before he met her? Loanne had not even once looked upon the entire camera crew like people- They were workers moving the technology this way and that, getting the right angles and being told what, where and how. Nothing more. But that was only true in the world of filmmaking. Loanne had never looked beyond that, there just was enough time-

Blink.

Why am I being punished again? I... I only want to live. I did no wrong, and neither did my...

Jen was still dead.

Why not me? Why you? Why did you-?

Loanne was now shaking completely, dreading the next few minutes. It stated it didn't want to kill her, but for her to do the killing?! What sort of monster would speak a request upon a human so easily? "Me, k-kill-?"

"I craaaaave for sin, Loaaaaanne! Feeeeed your anger, fuuuuel your raaaaage, aveeeenge her!"

Loanne tended to disagree. "I will not- I will not become the animal he was!"

Things turn a weirder turn of events for her; the cold hands grabbed her jaws and spread them apart. The demon, of a skull, gray face now that she had begun to notice when it was that close, peered into the darkness of her throat and then took a smoky, evaporate form. It went inside of her as if she had become a vacuum and sucked it all in. The hands had still kept on her jaws by force until there was nothing left but these icy hands. Then, they doubled back by flipping over into her mouth and turned into the gray smoke, following the procedure. Loanne clanked her teeth shut hard, hurting and stinging them a bit. She then tried to cough up the creature out of her in an act of desperation, but she had no such luck. Her body gave her no trouble, but she repeated the process and smacked a hand against her chest, sitting upright in pure discomfort. "Get out of me... Get out of me!"

And then, the burning inside of her stomach kicked in, flared up. It was the thing at work. This is your rage that you are trying to lock up. You need not chain your feelings. Deny your Terrethian nature not, my mother! You are to be angry! You are to seek some abominable retribution! You have seen the horrors of his way, the consequences of his actions! Be not a bystander again and walk away like it never happened! Get out, take initiative and rename yourself. Rebirth yourself. You will never be alone again.

It gave her an encouraging speech- A little on the edgier, darker side, but it talked to her like someone who needed to be pushed to make a move. Maybe it was right or maybe it was wrong, but in this state, what could Loanne Wardell have possibly done to get... Yeah, the creature was crying for justice but- "I don't get it..." Loanne grabbed her phone and stared at herself in the blank reflection of the screen. "He's dead, it's over. I can do nothing but move on with my life."

This is your anger, and you dare lie to me-

"Yes, I feel it but it is beneath me!" Loanne barked back, feeling awkward and embarrassed to have to answer to a voice to her head. "I'm allowed to be angry but I will not... Do anything regrettable, I'm better than that! I am..."

Silence. Blinked again.

"Back then, I couldn't actually do it, I could not hurt him that it was fatal. Could have done anything else but, when it came right down it, if it wasn't for my Jenny-" Loanne sighed and knew it. "I can't do it, I could never do it. Anyone should depend on me and I think I'd let them down, fail them when it comes to that. Right now, I just want to live-"

This is no way to live. You may never get another chance to redeem yourself, your cowardice-

"Cowardice?" Loanne ran a finger across her arm. "Is it cowardice to not want to take someone's life whent they're trying to kill you? No, I- My morality is intact, it's always been that way as long as I can remember."

You got lucky once, but will you be again?

"If I'm lucky, it will never happen again," Loanne reasoned. "If I'm lucky-"

This big ball of dirt is just a cesspit of conflict and violence, girl. I should know, I've...

"What even are you anyway?" Loanne looked into her palm. "You're like a shadowy demon... A shadow demon, that's what you are. That's what you look like to me."

The burning sensation in her system had subsided but her body didn't move much. The demon stayed around, possibly flowing through her good veins. Whatever it was really doing, she did not wish to ask. Shadow demon... I like that, I like that a looooooot.

"Of anyone you could have bothered, why-?"

You? Oh, the simple, reasonable answer to that it, I was drawn in by you. I smelled, and I smelled, and I smelled a nice odor coming from here, from youuuuu- And I liked it! I like it and I like youuuuuu...

"Smell-?" Loanne didn't take too long to realize the shadow demon referred to not an actual smell, but maybe her aura- or something she was radiating, some force that was not seen or detected by human senses. "Did- Did my anger draw you in? Was that it?"

The smell burns mine skull nostrils, but I love it- I love you.

"Creepy..."

There are of those out there similar to the man you have encountered. You are a survivor, but will telling the story suffice? Surely not when you have me, the ticket to greater power.

"You? Greater power?" Loanne was about to let out a dry snicker when her entire skin was engulfed with a cold liquid running under her clothes and the sheets over her. It coated her body in a layer of darkness- it was the thing at work, possessing her body for control. "S-stop!"

This is what I can offer youuuuuu... It moved, and she moved. It got up, she got up. It undid the covers and had her move up on her feet, disconnecting the wires on her. The monitor flatlined and filled the room with its irritable sound. Loanne's hands came up to her, but these hands were dark, longer and deadlier. It was the shadow demon's own hands on her. She understood it, she was wearing it while it was wearing her, controlling her.

Loanne wiggled her fingers as it willed for her. Claws for fingernails. Strong arms over her own. "I've seen the Venom movie, and this is exactly like it. Wait, are you some lab experiment? Or alien?"

Do you want to embark on this crusade?

Loanne lowered her hands- she didn't, but she thought she did. "You're asking me to partake on some-" She knew what it wanted. "No, I'm not a monster. Find someone else-"

Only you would understand it... Plenty of Chesters and only one Loanne Wardell. I chose you because I felt it, I felt a dark presence in you and nobody else.

Loanne looked back to her bed. "Dark, huh? I'm not troubled-"

I think you are...

Loanne paused.

You can make a difference... Leave the world you know and say goodbye to it.

"You just might have been right," she finally agreed. "Actually, you might be right even now... I'm an abomination, I didn't do my best to-" Her hand did a trick of its own and swung and ripped her pillow into pieces. Not half but shred it up messily. "I didn't do my best."

You'll live and you'll learn" yes! Yeeees you will! Yes you will, mother! I believe and love you!

"Maybe you might be in my head, and I am losing my marbles..." Loanne walked to the window. "It's a sunny day and I'm dead. I don't think I can stay... I don't wanna, not anymore."

Say it!

Blink. Jen again.

You and I have a date with destiny!

Blinked again. Chester and his devilish smile. He was guttin' for all of the bisexual girls, that one.

Kill them all! Feed your anger and kill all the monsters of human and inhuman flesh! In this world, there are more than one species, but... We all want thing! Don't we? We all want-

"To spill blood like the primitive animals we are..." And Loanne had never stopped staring at her reflection in the window. Still the same face of the same girl she saw every morning, only now there was a layer of gray skin over the normal orange tone. "Maybe, just maybe..."

She nodded to accept.

"I am one after all."

AN: Wow, this makes seventy chapters but I find no reason to celebrate this milestone just yet. Maybe when we get to the full hundred, and that's a certainty, I'll throw my hands into the air for one second. What a long journey this has been... But alas, I walk alone.