((Hello everyone! This is my very first fanfic so please bear with me when it comes to grammar and possible spelling. This fanfic does include some characters from the game Sally Face, which belongs to Portable Moose. This story follows very loosely from the events in the game and does not include any of the horror or cult stuff. All characters in this AU is 22 years or older and this story does include mature elements, so please only read if you are 18+. Strong language and drug/alcohol use is in this.

Poppy Lee is my OC.

Trigger warnings:

Mentions of Attempted Assault (Past trauma )

Mental health

Smut

Possible Violence

Possible Self-Harm Behavior (Past trauma)

Mentions of stalking (Past trauma )

Body Issues

Mention of death (Past trauma )

Mentions of attempted suicide (Past trauma )))

Chapter 1

Who would have thought that moving to a place called NockFell in Oregon would be such a huge task? Granted, my mother and I were pretty much coming from sunny all the time, California. But that was 8 months ago and my mother had gotten our new home settled. However, I only got to enjoy it for a small while, before it was time for students to prepare for the new school year. Now I was standing in front of a huge apartment building, made specifically for college students. Sure, it was a bit more expensive than living in the dorms or staying home with my mom. But hey, that's where scholarships came into play and thankfully I had enough to get through my degree. A lot less stress on my mother to worry about, she does that enough with me being here on my own. Can't say I can blame her, considering everything that happened back in California. Sheesh, I can still hear my mother's words in my head, the sound of concern and worry lacing her voice. She begged for me to stay home and take online classes, at least for a year. But I was and still am determined to take control of my life again. For 3 years, I've had the events of the past dictate my actions and I was tired of it. This was my new beginning and I was going to make the best of it, no more fear. I then felt a tap on my shoulder and I flinched out of my daydreaming. I turned my head to see a group of girls staring at me with annoyed expressions and carrying boxes. "Um, think you could move out of the way so we can get past you? People are still moving in you know?" One of the girls said while rolling her eyes, I quickly pressed my back against the wall and felt my face heat up with embarrassment and slight panic. "S-so sorry!" The girls moved passed me without another word down the hall.

I sighed heavily and rubbed my hand frustratingly against my face. Being completely lost in thought, I somehow blocked out the commotion of other students moving into their respected "apartment" units. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out the keys to my new living space for the school year and used them to open the door. Upon entry, the window blinds in the living room were already open, letting the sunlight illuminate the small space. I pushed my box of belongings and two trash bags of clothing into what I could only assume was the kitchen area. Closing the door behind me, I removed my mini backpack and set it on top of my things, taking a moment to explore the space. The kitchen was small with a sink, four electric burner stoves, a microwave above it with cabinets surrounding it, and of course a fridge. Turning around there was a round table with four chairs, which I assumed would be the "dining room". Walking from the tiny kitchen, the living room was surprisingly kind of spacious, fully rugged floor, already furnished with a decent-looking black futon, tan coffee table, and matching TV stand with three door cabinets underneath. From there, there were two bedrooms, one located on one side of the living room, and the other on the other side, where the bathroom was located. "Whelp it looks like I will be sharing a bathroom with my roommate. Speaking of which...my roommate should be here soon." I walked back over to my things and took out a folder that was filled with orientation documents as well as rules and information for the apartment. "Let's see...Ashley Campbell?... Huh, so that's my roommate's name", as if on cue, there was a loud thud against the front door, causing me to jump and let out a straddled gasp.

I turned around and quickly went over to the door, slowly opening it and being greeted by a big box. "Hey there! Maybe you could let me in? This box is pretty heavy!" I heard a straining voice coming from behind the box and I quickly opened the door wider and helped the mystery girl. Once we got the box on the floor, I looked up to be greeted by a rather tall woman, maybe around 5'8, but wow was she gorgeous! She had on a purple hoodie, black tights underneath, with black combat boots. Her hair was a warm chocolate brown that reached down to her lower back and her eyes were a beautiful emerald green, which popped even more thanks to her black eyeliner. "Ugghh thanks for the help. I probably should have asked one of the mover guys downstairs to help out, but geez who was gonna wait that long!" She stretched her arms up into the air and leaned back, shaking out any stiffness from her mission of moving. "Oh um, it was no problem at all. I'm assuming you are my roommate?" I asked curiously. As if snapping back into reality, the girl looked down at me and had a big smile on her face, "Oh my god! I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself! But yeah, my name is Ashley! How about you?" She held out her hand with a big grin. I gave a somewhat shy smile and took her hand into mine, "Nice to meet you, my name is Poppy Lee."

"I hope you don't mind me saying, but your name is so cute! Actually, now that I get a good look at you, everything about you is cute! I mean get a load at those eyes. I've never met someone with two different eye colors and you're so short! God, I thought my friend Sal was short, you've got him beat in that" Ashley giggled as she released my hand. I felt my cheeks heat up from the brief moment she was holding onto my hand and so close to my face. Something, I thought I would be used to considering people have always taken a fascination to my eyes. One a hazel brown and the other a deep blue. In contrast to my long wavy black locks, it really brought more attention to my face, which always made me a little uncomfortable. Especially in more recent years. Ashley took notice of my pink cheeks and silence, probably sensing my uneasiness. "Oh sorry was that rude?!" She asked worried, to which I quickly put my hands in front of me and shook my head quickly. "N-no, no not at all! I'm sorry, guess it's just been a while since I've gotten a reaction like that from someone. You're fine!" I gave her a reassuring smile, which seemed to ease any awkwardness from before. She gave me a dramatic sigh and wiped her brow "Oh thank goodness! I would hate for it to be awkward since we are going to be roommates and everything. But hey, looks like you haven't done any unpacking yet."

"Oh no, I haven't gotten a chance too. I actually haven't been here for that long before you showed up." She nodded to that and put her hands on her hips. "Well, how about we go ahead and start unpacking? Maybe, once we are done we could get a ride to the store and stock up on some essentials for our place?" I smiled at the plan and gave her a thumbs up. She clapped her hands together excitedly and reached into her backpack. I watched as she took out a small Bluetooth speaker and turned it on, placing it on the dining room table. A small tone played on the speaker signaling that it had connected to Ashley's phone and she turned to me. "Did you have any suggestions?" I shrugged my shoulders and gave a small smile "Not really, I like a little bit of everything, so feel free to put anything on." She smiled back and put something along the lines of pop and punk, filling the unit with fun energy.

-Time Skip-

By the time 8 pm rolled around, Ashley and I had finished unpacking our things and even doing our run to the store, thanks to the help of Uber. During that time, I was quickly coming to realize my roommate was something of a social butterfly, which honestly worked out for someone like me. I absolutely sucked at small talk, if not, always felt like I was dying if I needed to engage in it. But Ashley seemed to always have something to talk about and knew how to keep it going, even with the small feedback I would provide. Honestly, I kind of envied that from her considering the career choice I chose to study here. As she put away the last bit of groceries, I took a seat on the futon and leaned back, resting my head on the back of the futon. My hand rubbed along the right side of my hip and I groaned softly feeling the familiar tingling pain starting to arise. "Hey Poppy, you alright?" My eyes snapped open as I stared up at my concerned roommate. I quickly gave her a small smile and nodded "Yeah, sorry I'm alright. I get frequent hip pains when I'm on my feet for too long." I let out a breathy giggle. "What's up though?" I ask quickly getting the attention off my pain. Ashley tilted her head to the side slightly like she wanted to follow up on what I said before, but took the hint and gave me a silly smirk. "Would you possibly be interested in going out and hanging with my friends? I mean classes start in a week, may as well enjoy the last week of summer before we fall victim to the school system" She giggled from her dramatic point. I sat up slowly with a surprised expression on my face "Um, you sure it's ok? I wouldn't want to impose or anything".

"Pfft, please you aren't imposing! I'm inviting you to come hang out with us. Besides it's only gonna be you, me, and my friends Larry, and Sal. Not to mention, we are more than likely just hanging at Larry's place. So we won't be doing a lot of moving around, just chilling" Ashley gave me a wink and I couldn't help but smile at her. It was super sweet of her to take into consideration the problem I was having with my hip and just in general including me in social events. Well, this is exactly what I wanted. To take back my life and face the unknown. "Heh, ok you've convinced me. Let's do this!"