Nekro-Narcissistic

Chapter 3 - Stairs

"Just- stop. That's enough. I'm not going to go blind by some cleaning detergent in my eyes..I'll just leave."

"Good, now I won't need to 'cover my coigh', right Soap??"

Soap gathered her cleaning supplies and stormed off, angered by Tissue's insolence.

"Jeez..what's her proublem?"

Trophy didn't care to answer him as he just continued to sort through his pictures.

Salt shook Pepper to wake after having waited for about 30 minutes. Yes, she had wanted her to sleep for a bit longer, but she grew lonely and impatient of waiting for her other half to wake up and start the day.

"Ohh Pepper...it's morning! And also like, 11 AM! Time to get up!"

Pepper stretched out her arms to the sky and sat up in bed. Salt beamed at her.

"Good morning sleepyhead! How did you sleep?"

Salt asked in a strangely kind voice. Pepper assumed she must be thinking of OJ or something of that sort. She smiled back at her.

"Oh I slept great! Thanks for asking..wait, what time did you get up??"

Pepper asked. Salt shrugged.

"Oh, I woke up at like..9-ish. I was gonna wake you up before but you just looked so sweet sleeping there..well, you did scare me a bit this morning! Looks like we forgot to move to our own beds, hm? Haha.."

Pepper suddenly remembered their sleeping arrangements last night, making her face flush a dark red. She hid herself back under the covers.

"Pepper? Pepper, what are you doing?"

"Nothing-!! Nothing, I'm just..still tired..?"

"Oh, hush. No more sleeping. I need you to start my day!"

The thought of Pepper being an essential part of Salt's morning routine made her smile. It made her feel cared for. Though, something else was on her mind.

"Well..uh, if you woke up so early, were you just waiting in here for me?"

"Oh! No, I went downstairs, but I came back up because Trophy called me a bitch!"

Salt answered, twisting the truth slightly in her favor.
Pepper's soft expression turned to one of instant hatred.
Trophy? Who the hell was Trophy to say that to Salt!? She could feel the heat inside her rising, and coming to a boil.

"Trophy!?? That fucking stupid..son of a  bitch!! I'll kill him!"

"What-? Hey no, it's like- whatever.."

No, it wasn't like- whatever. It made Pepper want to physically harm him. She felt herself moving all on her own, jumping down from the bed and going out the door, almost as if she was on auto-pilot. A very pissed off pilot is what she was.
Salt raced after her in the hallway, trying to stop her. While she was delighted Pepper was willing to fight Trophy on her behalf, she also knew Pepper would end up cracking her pretty little face if she ever got in a fight with Trophy, of all people.

"Pepper- Pepper!! Wait!!"

Pepper paid Salt no mind as she made her way to the top of the steps. Trophy was just making his way up the first step as he saw Pepper.

"HEY!! You stupid bastard! You think you're so tough!??"

"Uh..what the fuck?"

Was all he said to that. Salt skittered behind Pepper, holding her from running down the stairs. By now, many of the hotel's residents had gathered by the top of the stairs or the bottom, depending on where they were.

"Oh-! Is this about what I said to Salt? Hey Salt! What's wrong, you're too much of a pussy to fight me yourself?"

Some small giggles passed through the small crowd. Pepper broke away from Salt's grasp, making her way down the first set of stairs.

"Why don't you say that to my fucking face!??"

"Pepper! Stop it!"

Trophy made his way up to her, intending to meet her halfway up the stairs and give Pepper a piece of his mind.
Salt followed behind Pepper, one step after another. Almost at the middle of the staircase, Pepper could see her own angry expression in the reflection of Trophy's good exterior, and vice versa. Just as they reached the midpoint, about to throw hands at each other, Salt, in one last attempt to stop them and spare Pepper the pain, dove in front of them to intervene.
However, she missed her footing and slipped just at the edge of the stair.

The entire scene played out in slow motion to those who witnessed it, though in actuality, it only took a few seconds. Salt slipped between the two angry objects and smashed her face into the steps. In shock, Trophy skittered backwards down the stairs, landing on his back at the end of the steps.
Pepper, not able to comprehend what was happening at this speed, fell over on Salt and bumped her head on the rail of the stairs, falling the rest of the way down relatively painlessly, too focused on her head injury to pay attention to anything else, wailing in pain.
Salt had somehow managed to hit each and every stair, a sickening crack noise playing after each collision. First in the face, then on her back, her side, finally landing with a smash at the bottom. Trophy and Pepper took a minute to take in their surroundings and soon became aware of what became of Salt.
Her side, visible to those at the bottom of the stairs, was spilling out the white contents in her glass. Broken shards scattered over the floor. Trophy looked down at his legs, realizing some shards became stuck in his legs.
The crowd collectively screamed as her insides, hidden before by the white exposed her spine, now unprotected by her glass exterior.
Her face, horribly twisted into a cacophony of pain displayed cracks all over, having broken several of her teeth, her empty mouth also leaked bits of salt. Some also took notice of the fact that, when her face broke, one of her eyes became separate from the rest of her body in the fall, being found at the fourth to last step.
Every part of her looked like it was broken, even the parts that weren't glass, such as her arms and legs, twisted under and over themselves at impossible angles. With one last twitch, salt, as well as the hotel stood still and quiet.

It was always clear to the onlookers that death wasn't something to be afraid of. With the technological advances in recent years, recovery would permit them to be brought back. Therefore, death wasn't something that anyone really worried themselves with. Even after what happened to Bow, which was really the only wake up call they had that death was serious, they didn't care to pay attention to it, or simply tried to block it out.
However, the sight that befell the bottom of the stairs sent the residents of hotel OJ into a chorus of horrified and blood-curdling screams. At least when Bow died, nobody saw what happened to her. Everyone had seen every part of Salt's demise, and it was sickening. What was it exactly? How quick it had all happened, or the aftermath? She didn't look like Salt, she looked like a monster.

Trophy scrambled backwards, stopped only when he hit the back on a chair, to scream and feel at his cut legs. He didn't want to look at what was in front of him..but there wasn't much else to look at. What was better, the sight in front of him, or the fear in everyone else's eyes? He settled for Salt and wailed in despair at the sight.
Pepper didn't scream. At first. Which was odd. She looked down at her sides, seeing the floor was covered in white. The little bits of salt trickled down the steps with a plink and flooded the floor. She looked in front of her. Her other half, laying down face up to the sky.
In that moment, Pepper forgot the existence of recovery, and unknowingly opened her mouth, her screams the loudest in this chorus of misery.