Amber fiddled her thumbs in the backseat, trying not to make eye contact with Vinny, who she was pretty sure was giving her another one of his death glares. She looked to Habit, who was now staring out the window, fiddling with a stick he found on the ground when he got launched over the car.
The events after car surfing were surely interesting. Habit had warranted a few people to call 911 on the fact she had somehow got half of his face scraped off onto the pavement. It was a miracle she managed to get Larisa looking okay in only an hour and whip the memories of the passersby who witnessed it.
Since then Amber and Habit were alone with Vinny in the car while the guys located around a nearby Walmart of food to stock up on food and pepper spray for the rest of the trip(better to be safe than sorry with all the creeps running around). Vinny had decided to go get some food since the guys hadn't eaten a good meal that wasn't protein bars in at least two days.
"Okay, I can see why you took Habit." She gestured to Habit, who raised a brow to this but said nothing. Amber then gestured to herself. "But why me?
"Because I don't trust you to be together," Vinny explained, not looking at her. "Habit manipulated you back there."
"She did not!" Amber defended. Habit looked up and lifted his Death Proof cap slightly to observe what was going on.
"I did," Habit muttered, not seeming to care. Amber glared back as Vinny let out an "I knew it" sigh.
"Look, for now on you two cannot be trusted to be alone,'' Vinny stated to which Habit pouted and lifted down his hat again. The silence was persistent for a few minutes until Vinny let out another sigh pushing up his glasses. "Okay, let's lighten the mood a little. I don't want Habit ripping anyone's head off when he returns to the others." Viny said, reaching one hand to turn the dial on the radio to some obscure pop station. Habit adjusted her hat with a "hm '' and looked at Vinny then the radio. She proceeded to lift his hand and flick his wrist up. The radio went static briefly before switching to I Got You Under My Skin by Frank Sinatra. Habit smiled and began to bop her head to the song. Amber recognized the song from her study playlist that she used to listen to back in her sophomore year.
"What the" Vinny questioned as he changed it back to the pop station. Habit leaned forward and flicked her hand again back to the Frank Sinatra song. "Habit, stop it!" Vinny quickly switched it back to the pop station.
Habit growled low and deep, it scared Amber and she tried to wiggle herself into the corner. Habit was now reaching into his pocket to grab something when Amber shouted "Stop!" Vinny and Habit both turned to look at her. Amber cleared her throat and spoke more quietly, "Keep this song on."
"Why? Anything by this man-" Vinny pauses, seeming to try and think of the words but shakes his head. "I just don't like it. It brings up some bad memories."
"But Larisa does," Amber explained. "I remember her studying for her vet exams to similar music. This was one song she had on constantly."
"How come I never heard her playing it?"
"Because she felt embarrassed to listen to it in front of you guys. Said it made her feel older than she was." Amber gave her biggest pleading eyes and asked. "Can you keep it on for her? She may not be here, but Habit is still in Larisa's body. She would appreciate this."
Vinny sat and thought for a moment and groaned. "Fine, we will play this song. But no more Frank Sinatra after this okay?" Habit just nodded and Vinny moved his hand away from the dial to let the song play out. Habit hummed along briefly before looking over to Amber.
"You know Larisa hates this guy, right?" Habit whispered to which Amber nodded.
"Yeah, I- wait how did you know that?" Amber replied.
"I am possessing her. I have access to every little point of her human mind. Nothing is out of reach for me. Now it is my turn to ask a question." Habit leaned close."If you knew Larisa hated that song, why did you lie?" Amber looked at him and chuckled.
"Because you liked that song a lot. I haven't seen you smile since car surfing that wasn't malicious. You look better when you are happy," Amber replied and went back to gazing out the window at someone walking their Goldendoodle.
"Huh," Habit contemplated as the rest of the ride to get food was met in silence.
—
After an eventful time getting the food and guys from Walmart, they drove to a park nearby. It was everything they wanted. It was spacious, covered in lush green grass with occasional trees, and most importantly, not crowded with people. As the afternoon sun began to set, only a few children, some adults, and occasional dog walkers remained in the park. Not a lot of people for Habit to screw with, which Vinny said was a good thing. She tended to cause chaos wherever they went - or at least that is what Vinny said- and the group just wanted to eat in peace without the white cloak guy getting in the way.
They sat under a nearby willow tree and began to eat their food.
"So why do you always taunt the guys?" Amber asked Habit as she took a bite of her Lo mein. Habit paused from picking the broccoli from her Gauze Chicken and shrugged.
"None of your business," Habit mutters before continuing to eat his general gau chicken, plucking out the broccoli and throwing it in the grass behind him.
Evan just shrugged. "I have asked him the same thing. Never got an answer," Evan said as he mixed some rice with his general gau chicken, then looked to Habit who was now eating the chicken with his hands like an animal. Habit paused from eating to see the guys staring at him.
"What are you looking at?" Habit asked, mouth covered in the sauce from the chicken. She seemed to notice and wipe off his mouth with a napkin. She thankfully went back to using a napkin.
"Nothing, I am just not used to seeing you… as you…Most of the time…you are just a voice in my head or all cap text on social media. Not a person I can look at, hear or touch." Evan paused, taking a bite of his lo mein. "It is surreal in a sense." Habit shrugged.
"Is Larisa still, ya know?" Amber asked without asking. Habit nodded.
"Oh yeah, I can hear her all the time. She never stops talking or scolding me for random shit. Ha, she is worse than Evan." Habit pauses seeming to listen to something before slamming his hands on the table. "Shut up! You don't get a say here." Amber continued to eat as Habit argued with Larisa for the whole table to hear.
—
It had been a while and almost everyone had finished eating their food. Vinny came back from throwing away their trash. Habit was fiddling with a plastic knife he stowed away in his pocket. It was quickly yanked away by Vinny, to which Habit whined. Amber decided to ask a question that had been on her mind for a while.
"So, did you guys see anyone else at the crash site?" Amber question led to a lot of confused hms. "I saw two people watching us before we pulled away in the ambulance."
"No, I don't remember seeing anyone," Jeff replied.
"Me neither. Could be Slendy stalking us," Vinny stated while he finished putting away the trash in the trash can beside him. Amber laughed for a while.
"Oh, nice joke guys. Slenderman is not real. Evan told me Habit calls him Stick In the Mud. That was a joke, right?" Amber said, still chuckling. She looked around the table to see no one else was laughing. Amber stopped laughing and her smile dropped. "Wait, so you guys are saying an internet meme is real? Habit was being serious?"
"If I am real, then that would be the next natural conclusion, right?" Habit asked, still twirling the plastic knife in her hand.
"I…Um, okay, that makes sense. Just wow," Amber stuttered, forcing herself to nod. She tried to grasp the fact that monsters were real. "Next you're going to tell me The Rake is real. Ya know that hairless thing that runs on all fours, big ass claws?" Amber laughed but Jeff shrugged.
"Well," Jeff sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Amber slammed her fists against the table and stood up.
"Are you kidding me?!" Amber groaned. The guys were about to try and comfort her but were looking to Habit. Amber looked to see Habit staring behind them. He was standing and tense, his voice in a low growl. Amber glanced back to try to see what he was looking at.
At first, she didn't see anything. The park was only illuminated by stray street lamps and the quarter of a moon that was behind the clouds. She at first thought Habit might have seen the guy again.
But then she saw it.
In the distance, was something the size of an adult human. She almost mistook it as one if it wasn't for its fingers being too long.
And sharp. Also, the fact its eyes glowed a dim yellow might have given it away.
"What is that?" Amber asked, to which she already knew the answer.
"Shit!" Habit yelled and gestured to the tree. "Get up there now! Fucker can't climb shit!" The guys wasted no time getting into the tree. Habit was unusually fast at getting into the tree. Everyone was up there within minutes with help from Habit, except for Amber who didn't hear anything and was frozen in place almost hypnotized. She couldn't look away. The Rake paused and began to much on the broccoli Habit threw onto the grass.
"Amber!" Jeff yelled and tried to jump down but was blocked by Habit. Jeff groaned. "Why didn't you get her?"
"Do you want to become shredded Jeff? It is a big downgrade from Jeff kebab!" The guys looked with condescending looks. "What? It's true," Habit blocked the view. "Don't look at it. won't be pretty." Habit looks away as well. The Rake looked up from the broccoli and noticed Amber was there. It let out a loud screech again but Amber couldn't notice. She only looked at its eyes. The creature was now only two feet away and its running had slowed into more of a stalking motion, like a lion hunting its prey. It cocked its head and continued to come closer.
Now that the creature was closer, it didn't resemble a human in the slightest. The Rakes' skin was gray, resembling the skin of a corpse. It was missing ears or a nose, which was replaced by two slit nostrils but no ears. It was slightly bigger than Amber meeting her slightly above eye level. Its hands were long black claws that were tied with a red substance that could have been blood.
Amber was now back to reality and was looking the creature right in the face. She could hear the muffled cries of her friends, arguing that they should get her, with Habit yelling at them to keep it down. She slowly began to back away until she was up against the tree. Her heart was beating fast and she felt blood drip down her nose, but she didn't care.
She was about to die at the hands of The Rake.
The Rake, however, didn't. It got closer to her and soon its growling was replaced with an odd cooing noise, similar to a cat. At least that is what Ambe thought it was. The creature got closer, forcing Amber to tilt her head away to make sure it didn't try to eat her whole. But it accidentally revealed her neck, which it licked. Amber flinched, but the creature didn't pull away. Amber looked at the creature to see it was still staring at her.
"What's going on?" Habit asked, to which there were muffled sounds of confusion. "I don't hear any mauling."
"I wish I knew," Amber whispered, fearing she might break whatever spell was keeping her alive right now. The creature continued to smell her. The creature raised its clawed hand, looking like it was about to touch her. But then there was a loud screeching noise of a car which caused The Rake to flinch and run off into the darkness of the park. Amber took a deep breath and tried to slow her still-pounding heart.
She just had an encounter with the Rake and survived. The group all climbed down from the tree while Habit leaped down onto the table- almost breaking it- and walked over to Amber.
"Are you okay?" Vinny asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. That and vomiting what smelt like burnt bleach on the ground were the last things she remembered before passing out onto the cold damp grass.