Darkside (a Jeff the killer romance)

chapter 13

Bright lights, lots of people, the distant sound of terrible radio music. Supermarkets aren't exactly up there as one of Adrian's favourite places to be. Still though, he smiles and cheerfully goes about his shopping trip, humming along whenever a song he vaguely recognises comes on. He's just about finished grabbing everything he wanted to get and is about to head over to pay when he notices someone he knows.

"Rita? hey!" He calls, turning into the liquor aisle, where his friend is standing looking at the shelves.

"Hm? Oh, hey." The girl turns to him with a friendly smile.

"Fun plans?" Adrian glances down at the crate of ciders in her arms.

"Yeah just going down to the woods, hanging out, you know."

Adrian is just about to try to worm his way into an invite, when a voice comes from behind him. "Yo, Rita, they got anything good in here or what?" Adrian's blood runs cold and his whole body freezes. That voice. Please no, please no.

"Oh. Hi." The guy approaches him and Rita, sounding entirely unenthusiastic as he greets Adrian, who takes a moment to even bring himself to turn and look at him. He's a lanky goth guy with lots of piercings and greasy blue hair.

"Aha, Hey." Despite feeling on the verge of tears and every cell in his body screaming at him to run away, Adrian keeps a smile plastered on his face and greets the boy with as close to his usual friendly energy as he can.

"Yeah so they don't have the brand they wanted, but-" Rita talks to her friend about gin brands, but Adrian is far too panicked to register or care about what she's saying. Every part of his mind just wants to sob, or scream, or both. He's not aware of it, but he's starting to shake. It's not like he doesn't know that all of his friends hang out with him, but being reminded of that never feels nice. And having to see him, hearing his voice, having to smile at him like he's okay, it's horrible. He zones back into reality when he again hears that voice, the one that fills him with dread and panic.

"Yeah I'm sure whatever is fine. Let's just get it."

I'm going to cry. Get away. Get away, right now.

"So uh, yeah, nice seeing you both. I should go and pay now too. Bye, guys!" He grins and waves, walking away from the two without waiting for them to respond. Once he's rounded a corner, he starts to breathe heavier, unable to stop the panic attack that's starting. The basket of items he was going to buy is placed on the ground, abandoned as he makes his way to the bathroom as quickly as he can. He goes into the disabled toilets and locks the door behind him. The second that lock clicks, the flood gates break. Tears roll down Adrians face, he slides down the door and collapses onto the ground, burying his face in his knees. He sobs, uncontrollably. The sound of his crying and pathetic little pained noises echo around the bathroom.

As Adrian sits there crying on the floor in a public bathroom, images start to flash into his mind. Memories of that voice, that face. Memories of confusion, pain , and humiliation.

God I'm fucking pathetic. He gets to his feet and leans over the sink to stare at himself in the mirror, all blotchy red faced and covered in tears. He mutters swear words to himself as he splashes his face with water and attempts to get his emotions under control. He just needs to get out of here and get home so he can safely curl up in a ball and suffer for a while.

So that's what he does. After waiting long enough to be sure he won't still be around, Adrian takes a few deep breaths and leaves the bathroom. Though his goal is to get home as fast as possible, he takes the time to skillfully shoplift a bottle of cheap vodka on the way out.