Darvin didn't come back that night.
After managing to calm myself down enough to force the demon away, I rushed for the comfort of the blanket in the webs like a scared child trying to outrun the monsters of the dark whose claws scraped the concrete after me.
I kept the lights on too, just to make sure I was still here and not being hunted by the screeching echoing outside the room from 'Cosmo'.
I waited for Darvin to return, and even contemplated sleeping under the webs where the rest of the room was concealed, just to be safe.
But with the thought of Darvin coming to chase away the fears, I laid there with the bedroom door, waiting.
He didn't come. I spent the night on the blanket alone.
The sound of him in his Skin returning was what startled me awake though.
I didn't even know what time it was when I heard him pull across the couch and quickly glance in my direction.
I shut my eyes, pretending to be asleep, before watching him leave and return with a towel he rolled up for a pillow and another for a blanket.
The cupboards for the linen were in this room behind the webbing. Obviously, he wasn't going to risk that.
Why not? I thought we were having fun outside? Was he mad at me? Is that why he had taken off the way he had?
But what had I done wrong?
Darvin turned his back to me and let out a sigh. He looked so defeated and exhausted from his adventure to wherever he had gone to.
The souls of his feet were black with dirt. They poked out of the blue towel he huddled under for comfort.
What do I do? Go to him? Let him lay there?
I didn't want to move from the blanket. My body warmth leeched into the comforting bumps caressing my sore ribs and aching chest.
I was content, but I was scared.
He would blow up at me for watching him instead of doing something.
He'd snap and snarl over what had happened outside; how I just didn't get what he was teaching him and how painfully slow I was being.
Would he.... rape me too?
He wanted me. And by not acting on it myself, he was going to let that frustration build and build until he let out his anger and pinned me down.
Maybe that what he was doing? Guarding the way so I couldn't slip out past him?
Fuck.
I curled up on the blanket, letting my eyes search the body on the couch shifting uncomfortably.
He was fast, and I knew what he held under that Skin. Getting to the stairs was going to be insane. He'd catch up and get me before I could reach the door.
What about the bathroom?
I couldn't see it from here, but I could try and hold the door closed and give myself some space away from him when he stopped trying to knock it down.
Maybe I could even dart around him for the kitchen and defend myself that way? A knife would do nothing, but it would keep him away for long enough. It worked with Solanine.
I was surrounded by the sticky webs around me in this room. Staying beneath them would only leave me to his mercy.
I shuddered, wiping my eyes.
"Philly, you awake?" he whispered out.
My heart hammered and I froze up.
Did I say something? Did I keep quiet?
Maybe I could fake being asleep again? That worked the first time.
He sighed again and started to roll over. I fell limp, squeezing my eyes shut and tucking my head.
Please don't come over. Don't leave the couch.
How long could I pretend? I couldn't see anything to know if he was still watching me or not.
Then, there was a slow, creaking noise. It came from the other side of the wall, more towards the floor.
I peered through my eyelashes as Darvin's head lifted at it. He waited, listening for it to happen again.
When it did, he carefully lifted himself from the couch to creep towards the kitchen and slowly open the utensil drawer. With a steak knife gripped tight, his bare feet tiptoed over the boards towards me.
My hands grabbed for the blanket beneath me as I cowered there. There was no use pretending now; I was too scared to blind myself to what was happening.
Darvin kept his head turned towards the noise as his other hand slowly pushed the bedroom door closed. He didn't close it fully, leaving the side unlatched so it didn't alert the creator of the noise in the staircase as to what was happening.
The shadow of his feet passed the gap under the door to head towards the stairs. The creaking stopped suddenly, pausing once more.
I could feel my heart in my throat as I laid there uselessly. I watched that crack of the door gleem with the light I desperately wished I had turned off.
I could hear my panting breaths and the whimpers edging them. My heart slammed into the floorboards themselves, thumping for freedom from my tense body ready to recoil at the slightest sound.
The creak came, slow and groaning, before Darvin struck.
I bolted upright in panic when I heard his body slam into the wall. It sounded like a predator that was catching its prey and trying to strangle it.
I heard the scrabbling of bare feet alongside the rubber of shoes that slipped on the wood. The walls shook and banged from bodies being slammed into them as the sounds battled for dominance.
I scrambled for the edge of the webs when the grunting and groaning tumbled downwards, closer to me.
It was right below me, smashing into wood and gargling in bubbling pain.
I bolted for the door and threw it open to escape the frenzy below.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxzN5AymUq
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The door smashed against the wall before I bolted for the bathroom to slam that one shut.
The noise heard my escape. It clawed its way up the stairs that choked it and dragged it back down.
I heard Darvin cry out in pain just as the thundering feet entered the room and stopped.
It knew where I was. I held onto the door knob desperately with my sweaty palms refusing to grip the surface. I felt like I was going to yank it from the door itself from the amount of force I was using to hold it shut.
"Philly!" I heard Darvin's voice crack out desperately along with the tumbling of skin on wood.
The feet picked up again, running for the door I whimpered behind and cried at. The knob twisted under my hands to make the panic tearing through me lunge for it and pull it when the door bucked open briefly.
I screamed out when the door belted and banged from something being slammed into it. I heard Darvin grunting again alongside the intruder who sounded like he was trying to strangle him. His voice battled for breath that beat against his lips in a warbling rhythm that could only remind me of a drain being flooded.
When I felt my own chest restricting from inside me; squeezing and prying into my lungs, I let go of the slippery door knob and retreated for the bathtub.
The shower curtain here was a flimsy shield, but I drew it around the pole it scraped along and huddled down by the taps poking into my back.
My knees came up to my head I lowered between them to try and block out the noise. My arms shielded my head, trembling and losing strength as the tightness in my chest squeezed it's way into my ribs and down to my shivering legs.
It had to be Solanine. It had to be him. He was here to take me back. He found me.
He knew I was here. There was no use anymore in trying to conceal my heaving sobs I still tried to muffle behind my fingers.
I wanted Darvin to rescue me. I didn't want to go back!
The door slammed open, shaking the mirror when it hit the wall with such force it made the rings of the shower curtain above me shake.
I cowered in the tub, listening and crying at the footsteps crunching along the ground towards me.
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"
The mirror smashed when the force hurled straight into it. I heard the porclean tumble to the ground beneath the scrabbling feet belting into flesh. 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwirussklPb
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The shower curtains danced from the shock of the anger tearing through the room only a breath away.
The cold taps digging into my back suddenly felt freezing. The whole ceramic bowl of the tub was super cooled, like it was filling with chilled air.
I checked to make sure the taps hadn't started to leak from the force of the fight still screaming out but found nothing.
Then, I saw it.
The plastic peeling from the light flitting over to glue itself to it. The shower curtain dripped white glue as the embers that latched onto it started to melt thier way up to the rings beginning to distort.
"Get out of there, Philly!" Darvin called out fearfully while I leant away from the spiraling melted plastic hanging over the tub "MOVE!"
I couldn't. I was trapped by the melting sheet of plastic beside me and Solanine beyond that. He was there, ready to catch me and drag me away when I went to run past him.
No.
I stood up, pressing myself to the wall to try and avoid the liquid plastic dripping into the tub around me. The rings started to collapse as the embers bore holes through them that caught alight.
Smoke danced across the roof from beyond the melting white wall collapsing into the tub. It was thick and grey with a harsh coating to it that dried out my lungs and throttled my throat restricting from it.
I didn't need to breathe but I could still feel myself choking.
"MOVE, YOU FUCKING IDIOT, OR YOU'RE GOING TO DIE AGAIN!"
I could hear the tears in Darvin's voice. He screamed out when I did, another part of the curtain collapsing over me when I tried to slip out around it.
The liquid fire hardened on my skin that it tore through. I felt my skin tightening at each pool of plastic encasing me.
I didn't have time to try and peel it from me. All I could do was twist myself from the curtain straining to trap me inside it until I clawed my way straight into carnage.
Darvin had Solanine pinned where the sink should have been. Half of it laid at their feet while the other half barely hung on from the water spilling onto the floor. The sharp edge cut into Solanine's pitch black skin but didn't draw blood. Darvin, however, was blazing with fire that sizzled the blood on his body like crimson oil.
The fire licked the roof and spread to the other side of the bathroom. Smoke billowed from the old wood paneling the fire devoured, crawling across the roof to fill the air out in the loungeroom.
An alarm squealed when I tore my eyes from Darvin and slid along the wall behind him to squeeze out the engulfing door.
The shrill, thumping squeal pounded my eardrums with each blaring pulse. I rushed for the staircase before pausing at the TV where my game console was still hooked up and ready.
I ran for it to yank out the power cord and reach for the other before Solanine's hands wrapped around the doorframe to yank his body out of the flaming bathroom.
I didn't have the time for this.
Our eyes met only briefly before I abandoned everything to bolt down the stairs.
I saw the knife Darvin had wielded was plunged into the wall here. The wall itself had holes punched into it from where both men had slammed each other's bodies in an attempt to daze the other.
The door was already open when I rushed out of it and deliberately drew in deep lungfuls of the fresh air to dilute the fire scraping in my lungs.
There was no-one here. The Base was still silent from the unsuspecting Souls still sleeping behind thier doors.
The alarm was warbled and the smoke was starting to creep downstairs towards the front door.
I had to warn someone. The rooms next door would be alight in no time if this wasn't contained now!
The noise would attract Cosmo for sure, but it was a risk I had to take. I couldn't just let innocent people die because of Darvin fighting to protect me.
"FIRE!" I bellowed into the darkness with all of my might "FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE!"
I had never screamed like this before. I felt the power fill me and come screaming out in desperate warnings into the silent void.
"FIRE!" I banged on the door to my left then to my right "FIRE! GET OUT!"
"Philly!" I heard Darvin gasp out when I went hammering on the door beside mine.
His body was no longer blazing. The sizzled blood was burnt onto his skin that ran charcoal lines down to his dripping fingertips.
Darvin's hand grabbed mine so we could run. The fresh blood made our grip slippery as Darvin raced towards Eagle's office and hammered on the door before barging in.
He wasn't gone for long before Eagle came bursting out in nothing but blue and white striped shorts. They came to his knees and made him look like just another concerned Soul rather than the leader.
His first course of action was to head for the door opposite him and barge inside to head up the stairs.
We stood there, unsure of what to do, until Eagle returned with a tired young man yawning behind him.
He looked similar to the leader. Thier black hair matched and was spiked in a similar fashion. This man had a slight curl to his locks that Eagle didn't though.
His eyes were just black voids, and his flannelette dark blue pyjamas were adorned with comical birds on the bottoms.
"What's going on?" he tried to wake himself up by wiping the sleep from his eyes "are we being attacked?"
I knew that voice. It was the same one of the man Solanine had refused me to look at.
This plain guy was the Second in Command.
"You head that way and clear the Souls around the burning room" Eagle demanded and pointed out the blaze to the Second who leant over the railing to squint at it.
He snapped into action and was rushing towards the danger without hesitation.
"Talow" Eagle spoke softly.
"I'm here" he replied with a stretch as he appeared beside us, taking out earbuds as he went "where am I going?"
Eagle pointed out the room that now had Souls pouring out around it. The flames were flicking out the front door.
"Got it" he almost sighed, disappearing again.
Eagle's eyes trained on me and he went to say something before they flicked upwards for the staircase behind us.
Solanine stood there with his hands on his knees, groaning when one pressed into his streaming side soaking his grey shirt. His skin was no longer black, but it's usual shade beneath all the blood.
I immediently slid towards the back of Darvin to try and hide myself from the murderous red eyes locked onto me as Solanine straightened for Eagle.
"Solanine, you can start relocating Souls back to their rooms" he ordered casually "use force if you must."
"If I must" he grumbled back and winced his way back to the stairs that glimmered under his trail of blood dropping along the ground.
Darvin stabbed him. He actually stabbed him!
I felt awe swell inside me for the man standing proudly beside me. Of course, I couldn't show my gratitude in front of Eagle, but I could silently swim in it.
Darvin went to grab my hand but I pulled it away quickly.
"What should we do, Sir?" I spoke up and put distance between me and Darvin.
"Head back to your rooms" he waved us aside as he headed for his door.
We both stood there, confused.
There was no room left to go to. Solanine had made sure of that.
"But, Sir...."
He turned to look at me blankly.
He really did look irritated with the whole situation. I didn't need to make it worse.
"Nothing" I mumbled back and lowered my head.
Eagle left without another word.
What did we do now?
I scanned the darkness for some sort of clue. 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8jef1JbhP
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The fire of the room had spread to the ones beside it, like I had expected. 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qTxFpG1nV
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Souls gathered around the blaze to watch or brave the flames and smoke to loot the agitated occupants standing outside.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPhe8XheHQ
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I saw the light flickering over the prowling body of Cosmo sticking to the edge of the darkness in the hopes of an easy meal from the gathering.
I didn't want to be anywhere near that thing. Just seeing a glimmer of the thing had me nervous all over again.
All three of the higher ranking Souls were dispatched. Cosmo was occupied. Eagle was back in his office.
Should we head back? Brave it out until tommorow when we could hunt for another room? 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMATn6x5jn
95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8x8pFJW17
Surely, Solanine wouldn't return to where Darvin was lurking after he stabbed him.
He stabbed him. I couldn't get the thrill of it out of my mind. He did what I couldn't, and with such ease too.
"You really should get this checked out" Darvin fretted and plucked the shirt on my back that was sealed tight "it looks like it's melted right in there."
"It's OK, I've got it" I moved from him and started for the stairs.
I didnt need him to be fussing over me right in front of Eagle's office. He was making it way too obvious as it was that he cared for me.
Screaming for me to run and holding Solanine back like that only proved it to Solanine as well. If he didn't know about my name change, he sure did now.
Why did he have to do that?
"Are you mad at me for the fire?" Darvin spoke up when I wound around the stairs to head towards Scalpel's office "you haven't been able to look at me since then. Philly..."
He reached for my hand and I pulled from him, turning around to check the area and lower my voice.
"You can't go doing shit like that in here!" I hissed, jabbing a finger to him while scanning the darkness nervously "if they see you, you'll be hanging from the railings too!"
He looked up and scoffed.
"For holding your hand?"
"Especially that!" I groaned out "and stop with the cutesy nickname too! I'm Phillius out here! In the room, sure, call me what you want; but out here you have to stick to what is normal. This isn't normal!"
Darvin tensed up and dropped his eyes elsewhere.
Oh, no, did he take that the wrong way? I didn't mean it like that!
This was normal. It was just all the Stealer shit that wasn't.
Darvin narrowed his eyes at me and walked past me to stand outside the glass wall of the hospital.
"Well then, here you are, Phillius."
I heard the bitterness in his voice and saw how tense he was now. I wanted to try and save myself and make amends, but that would only be contradicting my own words.
I shuffle past Darvin who stayed by the door while I looked around for Scalpel who wasn't behind the desk.
"Aren't you coming in?"
Darvin folded his arms.
"I don't know. Am I allowed to?" he bit back.
Yeah, he had misinterpreted my words. Plus the fact that I had blown up at him over something so innocent wasn't helping the situation.
He looked so scary when he was mad. The scars didn't help either. They only made him look more intimidating.
He could stay there then.
I found Scalpel curled up on the closest bed, fast asleep. Apart from the bed with a curtain drawn around it at the end of the room, Scalpel was the only other occupant. 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2WaOuUmkq
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He had stripped the bed beside him of its pillow that he rested his head on and hugged in his sleep.
I didn't want to wake him. I peered back to Darvin who only huffed and remained by the door.
"Hey" I jabbed Scalpel's shoulder a few times "I need help."
He grumbled and complained through noise as he stirred and let go of his comforter to drag himself upwards to sit on the bed.
"What do you need?" he rubbed his eyes that refused to open "I've got beds, take one."
I looked back to Darvin again and climbed into the bed opposite Scalpel's.
Scalpel slid from his own, stubbing his toe on the leg and hissing under his breath at the pain. It seemed to wake him up a little so he could blink down at me, trying to focus.
"You again?" he breathed.
"Me again" I shrugged back with a small smile.
Scalpel took a moment to pull himself from his tiredness, slapping his face and standing up beside my head to look me over.
"I've got melted plastic on my back" I leant forwards so he could see it "I need it taken off."
"You've got the whole damn curtain here" he scoffed as he pulled at the section hanging there "I don't have the right tools for something like this. I can try and make do by cutting the rest of the plastic and the shirt first, then figuring out the rest around that."
That was a start.
I laid down on my stomach with my head at the end of the bed. Darvin peeked in to watch but didn't move from the door.
"Do you need help too?" Scalpel asked from his desk where he fished out a pair of scissors to point them in my direction "you with him?"
Darvin shook his head quickly.
"You don't need to be all prim and proper here" Scalpel called and returned to my bedside to pinch my collar and snap the scissors around it "come in, or make yourself scarce. I can't have people blocking up my enterance."
Darvin hesitated, and I felt my stomach drop as he considered leaving. When he turned back to me, he sighed and finally walked over to sit on the edge of the bed at my feet.
"This isn't some wierd sex thing, is it?" Scalpel smirked, the scissors tearing along my arm "I've seen my fair share."
"Hell no!" Darvin spoke before I could "he just didn't move in time."
"I was scared!" I snapped back now, unable to even move to look at him "I didn't know you were going to burn the place down!"
"What, you'd rather I didn't? Next time, I'll keep that in mind when some guy comes sneaking up my staircase and tries to choke me" he grumbled back "unbelievable."
"You two bicker like an old married couple" Scalpel joked as he peeled my shirt from my back and assessed the damage "damn, we've got some work ahead of us."
I felt Darvin's leg tense beside mine. That wasn't a good sign.
"I'll start on the curtain, then work on trying to pull up some of this plastic. Worst-case scenario, you'll have to leave it on until it comes off on its own."
Fuck no. I wasn't going to be reminded of Solanine every time I felt the melted plastic on my back. He was always lingering in some way or another.
"Just take it off" I clenched my teeth "I can deal with it."
"But, you...." Darvin started.
"I can deal with it" I repeated firmly and gripped the end of the bed.
"Why don't we give you something to ease the pain?" Scalpel suggested to my face I kept turned from him "it's going to drill; I'm not going to lie about that. I'd rather you be out of it than waking everyone up."
I shrugged, defeated.
What else could I do in this situation?
"I'll grab the Cap" Scalpel said with a soft pat on my back "then we can get to it."
I really was going to be out of it. I had seen what that shit had done to Solanine, and now I was going to be the same.
Was I going to be hanging off Darvin like a home-sick leech? Would I say things I would regret later?
I needed to clear the air before I was knocked out.
"I didn't mean to yell at you like I did back there" I mumbled out "but I just don't want anything to happen to you."
Silence.
"Are you still there?" I worried.
"I'm listening" he replied shortly.
"I like what we have" I burned against the bedsheets at my confession "and I wasn't saying we weren't normal, I was just trying to tell you that the Base doesn't see emotions as normal. They do horrible things to people who show them out in the open like you do."
"But I can't just get rid of them or hide them" Darvin complained "that's just stupid."
I snorted in agreement.
"It's the way things are around here. People keep it behind closed doors. I want us to be like that too."
Jeez, I was throwing my all into making it right between us. I wanted no regrets when my body and tongue was turned against me.
No regrets. Scalpel was already coming back from the back room with the Cap.
Get it out there. Don't miss a thing.
"Tonight, did you want to hurt me?" I blurted out as Scalpel neared "you didn't come back and when you did, you slept on the couch. It felt like you were blocking the way."
"Well, I wanted to make sure you were OK" Darvin mumbled back "and I didn't want you to think I was coming on too strong. I.... have these thoughts and feelings that are wrong. I didn't want to do something I'd regret, so I took a walk until they were gone."
"Where did you end up?" I chuckled in genuine curiosity now.
"Uh, somewhere. To be honest, I had no idea" he replied in embarrassment "it was a long walk. I... just....I r..."
Scalpel was almost here. We were running out of time.
"I just really wanted to do things with you, alright?" Darvin blurted.
"Woah, there; steady on" Scalpel laughed as he reached the bedside again with a sandwich bag of cut mushroom "at least wait until I'm out of the room first."
I felt the heat of Darvin's body burn brighter with his discomfort. It made me smile at his desperate need to express himself before I had no control over myself.
Oh, I was going to be in trouble. I was already starting to see how his actions made me feel.
"Now, you know how this goes" Scalpel placed a hand on my shoulder "I'll give Darvin the run down as soon as you start eating it."
Fishing into the bag, I grabbed a sliver of the shriveled, fleshy Cap and bit into it.
It didn't taste any different to an ordinary mushroom. Rubbery; maybe a bit like those 'natural' lollies I use to think were amazing before I actually tried them.
It could have been worse. The fact I had risked my life, and one of us had actually died, over something so bland was a bit insulting.
"Keep going" Scalpel urged when I went for more.
"How long until it kicks in?"
My mouth felt tingly around the sides, but that was about it.
Was I having an allergic reaction to it?
"There we go" Scalpel's voice lightened.
Out of nowhere, my fingers refused to grip the bag, and everything blurred over.
I turned, trying to see anything through the white fog that had snapped across my vision so suddenly. I saw colours melted together into piles that moved when I tried to focus on them.
Had I gone blind too?
"Phils, ho ae y lin?"
The sound was distant and distorted. I couldnt pick up on the speech. I couldn't even tell if it was coming from my right or left.
Or was it above me?
"Phillius."
The voice was right beside me. A warm hand cupped my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. I could feel the bones flex with each movement and smell the dirty aroma of cheap musk that had expired years ago.
"Mum?"
She was here, smiling at me. I turned around to face her, pulling away when I saw how close her hand was to my neck.
"I'm infected, Mum" I babbled out "you're infected too. I didn't know. I should have don.."
"I know" she nodded with a smile "come, sit."
She patted the area next to her that revealed the dirty brown couch that had one of her quilts thrown over it. This one had been worn out years ago, but here it was before we had to abandon it on the roadside.
It had the duct-taped corner I had made for Mum after she knocked her leg on the exposed wood one too many times. She had bled so bad that day.
It even smelled dirty when I sat on it and the waft of air spilled out. It made me chuckle at how much the stench made my insides recoil.
She held my hands in hers, rubbing her thumbs over mine. She always did the same thing whenever I was upset as a kid. Her fingers were cold as they swiped the same path into my skin.
"You aren't scared of it?" I peered down to the Band there she worked around.
She shook her head.
"I was trying to protect you" she almost whispered "I've been waiting for you to come back so I can properly appolagise for how I acted. I was scared and wasn't thinking straight."
Tears pricked my eyes, blinding me again.
"You don't have to be sorry, Mum" I sniffled and leant over to hug her tightly "I should be the one who is sorry for leaving you the way I did. Dinner was really nice by the way."
She giggled before I did. I wiped my eyes and felt her fingers trying to stop the tears for me. She held my head in both her hands and used her thumbs to comfort me.
It made me bubble inside to have this soothing moment again. No-one in the Base made me feel like this, except, maybe....
"I met someone" I smiled to Mum "I don't know if you'd like him. He's the rugged, scar type. The ones you usually see on TV."
"Not in a gang?" she frowned "doesn't ride a motorbike? Does he have tattoos?"
"He's none of those things" I laughed back to her pressing questions "although he does love his fire" I added to her flustered look.
"You know I always worry about you and these people" she pointed out "you never know what sort of things they are into. People are sickos nowadays, Phillius."
"I know" I groaned back through a smile to her "but he's really nice. He likes the outdoors and actually tried to make your stew that we took, until we burnt it. He's a bit of a jokester, but he's super nice. He makes me feel good about myself again."
"Well, you should always feel that" she agreed.
I tucked up my legs and leant against Mum who placed her arm around me. 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNm2dYLJ4E1
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We both stared out at the white fog swirling around and under us.
I felt like I was suspended in the air. There was still floor under me from what my feet could feel, which squashed the fear of floating unsupported.
"Mum?"
"What is it?" she looked down to me.
"I died while I was gone" I grimaced up at her and felt the sadness prickle my eyes again "this guy I like; he killed me."
"Phillius" she scolded me "why would y...."
"He's a spider demon" I butted over her "I helped him raise a family and he helped me figure out what I was. I'm just like him now. It's... creepy.... but I'm getting the hang of it."
There was a brief silence.
"Being a spider?" she questioned and scrunched up her face "do you eat bugs and shoot webs out your butt now?"
"Mum!" I laughed and leant away from her to see her giggling face "I'm not some gross daddy-long-legs!"
"You never know!" she scoffed playfully "you could just get the craving one day!"
She held up two fingers to her mouth and pretended to bite me with her makeshift fangs.
Oh, i hadn't felt like this in a while. Everything just felt so right here with no worries and my own mum being her playful self.
She should have been like this all the time. The stress of money and living handout to handout made her lose her way. I liked this part of Mum.
"I've got some more of that stew cooking" she jerked a thumb to the fog that dissolved into the small kitchen I knew so well "do you want to help me with it?"
I grinned and let her lead my hesitant self over the emptiness to the next stage.
It was set up exactly as it was when I had left. The stew was boiling on the stovetop already, and the table in the corner was still stacked with Mum's pile of rescued junk she was clearing off onto the chair jammed against the unseen wall.
It was a small area, but the lack of walls or floor made it so much bigger than it was.
"Oh" Mum groaned in delight as she placed the old magazines onto the chair "this is the song! I used to sing this to you all the time as a baby."
I couldn't hear anything but I knew the one she meant. Whenever she got drunk, she'd blast the song throughout the house on a nostalgia trip. I learned to love and hate it.
We had danced to it too when Mum had caught her apron on fire...
She loved that old tune.
"Come on" she motioned for me to grab her hands "dance with me, my baby."
"Mum" I groaned and rolled my eyes.
I didn't deny her. I wanted it as much as she did, even though I didn't want to show it.
"You've gotten so tall" she scruffed up my hair when I was held in her arms and we rocked side to side "must be those long spider legs."
"Must be" I grinned and rested my head on her shoulder as we rocked back and forth.
It was more like a swaying hug than a dance now. I just wanted to be held again somewhere safe and comforting.
She smelled just like I remembered. Her clothes had the slight stain of cigarette smoke that was trying to be masked by the perfumed wooden cedar balls the op-shop used on all thier donations. 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3h9RBaNHS
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I could smell the threads of her favourite jacket she wrapped around herself. It was far too big, but she was smitten by the white and grey stripes that concealed deep pockets she often stashed bundles of wool in to make her knitting easier. 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hXpnRTkqB
95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDtdgONtvX
That jacket became a part of her until it frayed from repetitive patch jobs and restitched arms.
How come I could still smell that jacket?
"The stew is going to boil over" I reminded her as she pressed my head to her chest and patted my hair.
"It's fine" she soothed "let's just enjoy this for now."
Her fingers stroked my head to stop just at the nape of my neck. We stopped moving to the dance to just stand there in a warm embrace.
The smell of her jacket shifted to another scent of familiarity. This one was like a distant crackling bushfire woven through the clothing. 95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXlEJUfGS2
95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBRMfKNlrP
Cutting through it was the smell of burning plastic. The fumes grew stronger and more demanding until it was smothering me.
"The stove!" I whimpered and pulled against Mum who held me against her "it's burning!"
"Baby" she shushed as she stroked "it's fine."
It wasn't fine. I could smell the house starting to burn away around us. The plastic was already melting. Mum's containers and plastic bowls had to be pooling on the floor from the smell alone.
She held me down while I tried to break free. Her chest grew softer until it smothered my head. I wanted to sink into it, but everything inside me was screaming to free myself so I could save my unaware mother.
"Phillius" she gripped onto me now when I cried out and shoved against her "hey! It's me!"
"Let me go!" I begged to her as my fearful tears clouded my vision like the fog eating away the stove and table around me "we need to get out!"
"It's fine! There's nothing here!" she urged more desperately now to my jerking body searching blindly for an exit "it's all in your head!"
No! NO!
"GET OFF ME!" I screamed out and slammed my hands into her chest to tear us apart.
My mother was gone in an instant to be replaced with Darvin. He sat there in shock on the bed while Scalpel stood behind me.
I was on the bed. I wasn't in my house. My mum wasn't here.
Instantly, I burst into tears at the shock of it all. How I had let myself fall into such a comfortable place and been welcomed like nothing had happened.
I wanted that back.
I wanted to smell that stupid jacket and mum's bad musk again. I wanted to sit at the table she had cleared for me and eat her stew. I wanted to dance with her, properly; like she deserved.
I wanted it all back.
"Hey, shh" Darvin soothed as he slid down the bed to hold me against him again "it's all over. You're here now."
I wanted to be there. Back on that couch; in that kitchen....
"You did amazingly" he spoke while cradling the back of my head "you're already patched up and ready to go."
I could hear the crinkling of plastic when I moved. There was no pain, but there was a disturbingly gooey, wet layer slathered onto my skin beneath the plastic trapping it.
"We had to use puppy pads; don't ask" Scalpel quickly explained to my bewilderment "the cotton on it is the same as a big bit of the proper medical stuff. Just don't peel it too hard or get the skin wet for a few days. It's a bit raw under there."
"He taped it on with duct tape" Darvin whispered to me when I tried to reach back and feel what he had done.
"You will be sleeping here tonight" Scalpel continued, picking up a plastic bag from the ground that had my shirt and all the melted plastic inside "but you have to be out tommorow."
I wouldn't have been able to move anyway. My limbs felt like they were still hugging my smothering mother; dead and numb from desperately fighting against her.
I felt like I had been drained by Solanine himself. I was a husk of what I had been; dead all over again.
"I'll stay with you" Darvin coaxed me around to the head of the bed so he could lay me down and pull the thin sheet over me "I'll just be over here."
He nestled into the bed next to me so we were facing each other.
I couldn't even lift my head. It was sinking straight through the pillow threatening to block Darvin from view.
"Thank you" I whispered to him as the memories I had just lived rushed back up once more to plunge me into the familiar fog surrounding the tiny kitchen now tinkling with music and soft humming.
I was back for that dance, Mum.
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