Empty Shells (reader insert)

Chapter 8

You climb the stairs feeling the hairs on your neck stick up as you realize Marel is following you up. "Can I help you?" You ask, hoping the old women who slightly scares you might get bored and leave. Marel just smirks and keeps following you. At the door to Mimi's room Marel steps in front and blocks you.

"Well, kid. How do you like the ride so far? Having fun?" She mocks you giving you a cocky smile. You roll your eyes having had enough of the women tormenting you for enjoyment. "I see that you're sticking around Mimi a lot. I hope you can really handle her true self."

You push past her and open Mimi's door and freeze at what you see. Michael's in the room with Mimi, but there's someone else. There's a little boy kneeling on the floor in front of Mimi. But that's not the worst part. Mimi's holding the boys hand without wearing gloves.

You can see that the boy's already gasping for breath. His eyes are pale and you can see a black spiderweb pattern spreading from where Mimi's touching him. You can see the fear spreading across his face and the pleading. He knows he's dying, he's scared. He doesn't want to die. The fear is the same as the man's you saw die the first night was. The boys stops shaking and falls over, and Mimi gives a satisfied hum. Your eyes cloud over and you see the man's face again pleading you to help. The fear and guilt drowning you.

The sound of something hitting the floor jolts you back to the present. The tray with the snacks you had made is spilled all over the floor. The boys body is lying on the ground beside a kneeling Mimi. As you look at Mimi's curious face you can't control yourself. You back up, your hand trying to find the door to get out. The words struggle to get out of your mouth. "G-get a-aw- away."

"(Fn)? What's wrong?" Mimi asks with an innocent look in her face that terrifies you. She's killed a boy and feels nothing. How can she feel nothing? She reaches a hand out to grab your gloved hand but you slap it away finally getting your voice back.

"Don't touch me!" You almost scream and tears fall from your wide eyes. You can't think of anything but the two deaths you've seen at the hands of these wraith. They're monsters with no morals for what they're doing.

Mimi stands looking up at you broken, the hand that was slapped away still in the air. "Did Mimi do something wrong?" She whispers quietly and her eyes begin to water. "What did Mimi do wrong?" She sobs as tears form in her face.

You just pant for breath, staring at Mimi like prey fearing a predator. What were you thinking? How could you forget? Mimi's not human, she's not a little girl. She's a wraith. She can kill just like Marel and Michael or the others and has no remorse at all. How could you forget something as simple as that? This is a house full of monsters and you're the one alone.

You shake as you back up still in shock and run out of the room away from the three wraiths. You run in and close the door to your own room. No, they have a key so locking it is out of the question. You grab the night table and pushing manage to brace it against the door. You back up two small steps and looking at your hands to see the gloves. These things were a gift, a gift from Tom. A gift from a wraith. You pull them off and throw them on the ground in front of door.

You are nothing more than a pet to them. They keep you fed and cloth, happy, but why? They can kill you whenever they want. You're probably just a snack that their taking along. As the thoughts run through your head you keep backing up until you get to the center of the room. You fall to the ground and sit with your legs pressing against your chest and with your arms wrapped around your knees. You rest your head on your knees and cry into your pants.

You really are all alone. You always hated being alone even as a kid. You would always chicken out and call for Vulpes to stay with you. But you can't do that this time. You have to keep Vulpes safe from these wraith. You can't let them kill her. But how much longer can you last? These wraith will most likely kill you eventually and learn about Vulpes. Your only hope now is that when the wraith do get your memories, Vulpes will be far enough away to escape.