𝐖𝐞𝐛𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩. 𝟖: 𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐬...

Song of the morning: I Don't Smoke by: Mitski

"If you need to be mean, be mean to me."

TW: Swearing, manipulation/gaslighting

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Joi POV:

My phone vibrates on my nightstand as my alarm goes off. I slide the X button to the side of my screen, dismissing the alarm. I get out of bed. I stumbled to my wardrobe and grabbed a pair of cargo pants and a tank top. I glance outside, and I see it is raining. I can feel the corner of my mouth tilt up into a small smile. I get changed, and I brush my teeth. While I was brushing my teeth, I felt my skin crawl at the back of my neck. I touched my neck, gently rubbing it as I shivered. I look at my neck in the mirror, I lift my hair to see the back of my neck, there wasn't anything. Weird. I spat out the toothpaste into my sink and rinsed my mouth out with the cold water. I spat it back out, and I hiss from the mint and the cold water combo. I walk back into my room to grab my back and shove my feet into a black pair of socks and into my black Adidas. I grabbed an old sweater, and I put it on. Once I did, I felt that shiver again. I look at myself in my body mirror. It was his sweater. I nearly felt my breath caught in my throat before I heard my phone ring. I look at my nightstand before snatching my phone off of it. I look at the screen to see Koko calling. I smiled, and I answered.
"Hey." I greet.
"Good morning," she greets, sounding kinder than usual. I rummage through my closet for a different sweater.
"Hi, what's up?" I ask, I hear her hum a response as she's walking, hearing the drops of the rain hitting the ground, giving the pavement freckles. I roll my eyes as I hear her hum.
"You're nearly outside the door, aren't you," I ask softly. She giggles, and I hear a knock at my door. I hang up. I shove my phone in my pocket as I run for the door, I answer. She waves. I see everybody else behind her. I wave them inside. I walk back to my room to find a different sweater. I then find another black sweater with the ink on the back spelling:

ΛRCTIC MOПҠΣYS

I knew it was meant to spell "Arctic Monkeys," but the ink started peeling off to spell something else. I took off the sweater I was wearing. Before I could slip my other one back on, I heard Chris speak up.
"What's that?" He points. I look back at him. I see him pointing at my shoulder or my neck. I raise an eyebrow.
"What's wh..." I say before I look at my neck in the mirror. Huh. At the base of my neck, my veins were more visible and going down to my shoulder.
"That." he clarifys as he took his headphones off of his ears and hanging them around his neck, hearing his music playing loudly. I touch the side of my neck, feeling a slight stinging.
"I have... I have no idea." I say as I look back at them. They all seemed worried, Sam looked the most worried, though. I put my sweater on. "Come on, we're gonna be late." I say as I walk past them out to the front door.

We were walking down the pavement peppered with raindrops. Koko and I shared my earbuds as we walked, singing along to the words as everybody stayed behind us.

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We've all made it to the building just in time. I gently bump into somebody, accidently shoulder checking them. I turn around to apologize.
"Oh, sor-" I say before I see who I bump into. I look to see Audrey. She glares at me, I just stare back in confusion and give her an are-you-actually-kidding-me look.
"Watch where you're walking." She growls as she shoves past me. I see Kokos eyebrows knit together as she tries to go after her and beat the shit out of her. But Ally holds her arm and drags her to the lockers.

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"Not a lot happened today, huh." I ask everyone as we walk lazily home. They all nod. I hear Levi yawn, and I hear Koko nearly tripping over her own feet. Damn. They look terrible, I think to myself as I glanced at all of them. We make it to my house after a good fifteen minutes of walking and yapping. I wave them goodbye, and I walk into my house.
"Mom, I'm -" I greeted before I raised my head. I felt my blood run cold as I dropped my bag to the ground with a loud thump. I see him and my mom sitting in the living room. He smirks at me.
"Hey, sis."

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The four of us sat at the table. Sophie is watching YouTube on her phone as she stuffs her face with mashed potatoes. I glare at my older brother across the table. He stares me down, and he smirks. My eyebrows pull together. I hear mom clear her throat.
"Joi, why don't you talk to your brother about how you've been?" she considers. "He wouldn't bother listening." I mumble as I stab my steak. He laughs.
"Dear sister, why wouldn't I? We haven't seen each other in nearly 5 years. Why the long face?" He says as he gestures to his mouth and frowning mockingly at me. I felt a vein pop on my forehead as I felt my grip tighten on my fork. I bite the piece of steak, not bothering to answer. I hear him blabbering his mouth off to mom. No. My mom. I finish my plate. I stand up to put my plate in the dishwasher. I grab my bag off of the floor as I then go to the wall back to my room. I hear my mom call after me.
"Joi Hays. That is no way for you to treat your brother." She scolds. I let out a breath I never knew I was holding. I come back into the kitchen. Before I'd be able to react, I felt him wrap his arms around me. I smell the Marijuana on his letter jacket. I feel his breath by my ear, I hear him whisper, "How are you and your new 'out of the world' friends?" He asks me. I knew he meant Sam and Koko and everyone else. And I knew he meant it literally. The way he stared me down was how I knew he knew, also. I shove him away. How did he know? I never mentioned where they were from to anybody. Nobody at all. He smirks at me. That'd be the last straw. I stomp towards him, my hands going to the collar of his shirt.
"What the fuck are you trying to get out here, huh!?" I yelled. I see his facial expression change from mischievous and knowing to clueless and innocent.
"W-What?- Joi, I am not doing anything..." he says softly.
"Shut the hell up!" I yelled again, my teeth gritting together.
"Joi Hays!" my mom yells. I shoved him, litting him go.
"What is the matter with you. Apologize. Now." she insists. I scoff. I walk off to my room. I hear my "brother" mumbling.
"She's just so young and lost. She doesn't know better." he whispers innocently. I slammed my door. My breathing is heavy yet shaky. I dropped to my knees in front of my bed, and I croaked come out from my throat.

Fuck. I hate him.

Or I should, but I couldn't. Why can't I hate him? He's such a shitty person. He has his place in life for doing what he did all those years ago.

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1,298 words

HIIII CHHHATTTTTT, IM BACCCCKKKKK. I felt a little angsty rn, so LOLLLL more to come. I love u guys 😘⚰️

-prxtti