[ ! Trigger Warning: Descriptions of Gore ! ]
Step, step, step. Grumbling, you rolled over onto the opposite side of your bed, covers pulled over your head, encasing you in a warm cocoon as you remained asleep. Step, step, step. You began to slowly gain consciousness, were you dreaming, or actually hearing these noises? Not wanting to let your precious slumber slip away, you flipped onto your back blanket now resting below your waist. Only now did you begin to feel the cold, stale atmosphere of the room, goosebumps forming upon your arms and exposed stomach.
Eyes slowly opening, you stared up at the ceiling which was barely illuminated by the lava lamp upon your desk, a faint pink glow the only source of light within your windowless room. "Why the hell is it so cold all of a sudden? Did mom lower the thermostat before bed? Wait, do we even have one?", you aimlessly thought, eyelids beginning to become heavy once again, sleep beginning to creep back to you. One last time you decided to turn and adjust your sleeping position before drifting back off to sleep, but once you did so, your eyes caught something strange upon the floor besides your bed, "F-feet? Wait, what?-", was the last phrase you remembered thinking before you looked up from the set of feet.
There stood an entire person, or, at least the apparition of what used to be a living person. A woman, a horrendously brutalized woman. Blood dripped down from the gaping wounds onto the lilac dress she wore upon her body, the two most notable gashes being one upon her head, the other across her throat. Her eyes, oh god her eyes, they were drained of all life, what you could tell once were kind and lovely eyes, now were just empty, soulless orbs. Making eye contact with the ghostly figure is what caused you to lose all consciousness.
* * *
"Y/N? Hey kiddo, you listening?" Your mom asked from the drivers seat of the car, giving your shoulder a gentle nudge. "O-oh, sorry mom, I'm not super awake today, had a hard time sleeping last night.", you replied, voice clearly full of drowsiness. You placed a hand over your face, attempting to shield your eyes from the morning sun that hardly shone through several thick grey clouds, annoyed at having to wake up so early just to go buy groceries, school supplies, and register at the new school you'd be attending.
You loved your mom but man, her habit of doing errands so early in the morning really bugged you. While the car continued rolling down the road, you fondly remembered the previous day, thinking about your only two friends you had made so far. The feeling of Sal's hair came back to you, it was surprisingly soft and thick, smelling faintly of coconut, must be the scent of the shampoo he used. Getting to touch his hair was a very profound moment for you, it made you feel like he knew you could be trusted. You wouldn't hurt him. Larry's hair however was a whole other story, you swore you had to pull out at least a dozen tangles. Other than that though, Larry's hair was pretty nice too, you could tell his shampoo was mint scented.
These innocent hair related thoughts were unfortunately interrupted by your mother asking, "Did you really that much trouble sleeping last night, honey? You're like a zombie right now, I can barely get a peep out of you.". Your heart sunk and stomach turned. Last night, last night you had experienced the most terrifying event of your life so far. You attempted to convince yourself it was nothing but a grotesque nightmare, or a hallucination caused by your half awake mind, but you knew in your heart and gut that those options weren't the truth. They were just excuses you tried to make to avoid the unnerving truth, you had seen a ghost. The ghost of a woman who you knew had once been beautiful, but last night she appeared to you as a chilling, dreadful spirit.
Swallowing the lump in your throat, you casually replied with a, "Yeah, guess it's just me having a bit of trouble adjusting to the new place. Don't worry about it though mom, I really like it here, Larry and Sal have been really helpful.". Smiling, your mother let out a relived sigh, "I'm so glad that you made friends so quick, Y/N. They seem right up your alley too, I saw them outside the other day when I came back from work, a tall boy with long hair and um, a boy with blue hair who wears a...mask? Quite the interesting pair!", she exclaimed.
You remembered that you hadn't yet gotten the chance to explain Sal's situation to your mother, so you took the opportunity to do it now, "Oh, it's a prosthetic mom. He doesn't wear it for fun, I think he got into a pretty bad accident, so that's why he wears it, just so you don't make things awkward by asking which costume store he got it from or something.". Letting out a small gasp, your mother looked over towards you for a moment, obviously feeling bad that she confused his prosthetic for just a costume mask, "Y/N, you have got to tell me these things sooner! I had no clue. The poor boy, I wonder what happened to him." she finished with a sigh. "Yeah, I wonder that too.", you thought to yourself, rubbing your eyes as you made it to your first stop of the day, Nockfell High.
* * *
Back in your room, you sprawled out your brand new school supplies upon your bed, looking over them carefully. Brand new notebooks, brand new pencils, a binder to organize your stuff in, oh and, a new sketchbook and fancy new art pens you had bought yourself with some money you had saved up. These purchases made you especially happy, since you did love to draw, and you had gifted your old sketchbook to a friend back at your old city before you left.
You carefully placed all your school supplies and art materials inside your new black backpack adorned with worn band buttons you've had for ages. Placing it upon your back, you looked at your reflection in the mirror, wondering what your first day would be like. "Would Sal and Larry want to hang out together at school, or are we not good enough friends for that yet? Should I ask them about it? Wait, do they even go to the same school? Oh, of course they do dumbass, Nockfell is the only high school in town, you're all in the same grade."
Inching your face closer to the mirror, you noticed your eyes looking rather tired, but it couldn't be helped. At least your outfit was nice and cozy, oversized black knitted sweater, ripped blue jeans, and your signature bold black boots. Glancing over at the clock besides your bed, it read 3:45PM, the sun should still be shining pretty bright. You never thought you'd be thinking this but, after what happened in the cold, desolate darkness of your room last night, sunlight is exactly what you needed right now to ease the tension.
Walking over towards your book shelf you grabbed a thick book titled, "The Occult, Paranormal and Other Dark Subjects", and promptly left your room, then apartment, letting your mother know you'd be back soon and that you just wanted to read outside for a while. The trip down to the first floor felt lonely, if only you were being accompanied by your favorite pair of goofballs but you knew they probably had their own stuff going on, you can't just depend on them to always accompany you, even though you wished they would.
Being alone wasn't unusual for you though, back at your old city you were almost always alone besides the occasional hang out time with a few acquaintances, but those friendships weren't strong, it was all just surface value stuff. No one else shared your interests or style, so you couldn't truly bond with anyone besides talking about school and city events related subjects. Larry and Sal however, those guys really got you, I mean, who else could you ramble on about incredible guitar riffs in your favorite songs, or incredible special effects in your favorite horror flicks? No one! You'd never met people who had so much in common with you and who were so kind to you.
The sentence, "Y/N, for such a cute girl, you've got really morbid interests. I really like that about you.", replayed itself in your mind as you reached the first floor, walking out the front doors of the building. Cheeks instantly becoming hot and flushed, you hit the book you held in your hands against your head a couple times, embarrassed that you were thinking about Sal's endearing words so much, "Gahh, Jesus, get over it Y/N, he was just being nice! It wasn't flirting or anything...quit thinking about it...". With a sigh, you walked around the building towards the back, looking for a peaceful spot to sit down and read, the image of Sal's face never leaving your head. Sure he had his prosthetic on all the time, but you found yourself really enjoying every chance you got to look upon him, and look into his kind, yet intense blue eyes.
A gentle cool breeze interrupted your sappy thoughts, reminding you of the cold air within your room when last nights events took place. "I can't just try and forget what I saw, I mean, that's what I came outside for. To re-read this book and see what I should do about it. I've always wanted to experience creepy shit like what this book talks about but, now that I have, I don't know how to feel about it. Something feels...off. I gotta see what I can do.", once you finished that thought you saw something in the near distance, oh, a treehouse! That would've been the perfect place to read but it probably belonged to a kid in the building or something, so climbing up into it was out of the question.
Instead you settled for sitting on the pale grass, your body leaning against the back wall of the building, a metal door to the side of you, figuring it was an emergency exit for the building. "Chapter 4: Hauntings within your Home", you read in silence for about thirty minutes, attempting to see if the information the text offered could be applied to what you experienced, and if so, what to do. "Call a priest? I did see a church down the road, but I'm not religious so even if I did ask them for help it wouldn't ease any of my worries. Maybe, uh, attempting to make contact...let's see about-", SLAM!
Heart nearly bursting out of your chest and body instinctively jumping, you dropped your book onto the grass as your head jerked towards the loud sound, hand gripping onto the fabric of your sweater. The metal back door had been opened quite abruptly, and out walked Larry accompanied by Sallyface, both looking around for a second before their eyes found you, noticing you were clearly very startled. "Y/N, there you are! Sorry, didn't mean to scare you but we were looking for you, finally found you.", Larry explained as they walked towards you, Sal walking at a faster pace than his friend, wanting to see if you were alright after noticing the frightened expression across your face.
He stood before you a couple inches away, before uttering a, "We didn't mean to scare you that bad, are you okay? What are you doing here all by yourself?". The shock now beginning to wear off, you were about to explain yourself before Sal noticed the book on the ground, picking it up and dusting it off to hand it back to you, before noticing the front cover, his eyes widening as he turned back to look at Larry. Looking over the masked boys shoulder down at the book he was holding, Larry's eyes also began to widen, nervously running a hand through his messy hair.
"Sh-shit, are they weirded out? Here it comes, they're gonna make fun of me for-", suddenly, Sal hurriedly sat himself besides you, now on his knees as he placed his hands on your shoulders, grip gentle but still firm. You looked into Sal's eyes, unsure of what he was doing, feeling both a mixture of worry and bashfulness at the sudden physical contact, "S-sal? W-what-", he cut you off, firmly asking you, "Y/N, did you see her? Mrs.Sanderson, you saw her, didn't you?". Larry walked over behind Sal, giving his prosthetic a flick, "Dude, you're scaring her shitless, calm down."
His grip loosened, hands falling to his side, not realizing how blunt and abrupt he was being towards you just now, "S-sorry Y/N, I didn't mean to-,", suddenly, he noticed your eyes begin to well up, glimmering with tears, and soon they poured over, streaming down your cheeks. The mere mention of her name made you lose control of your emotions; Mrs.Sanderson. You just knew in your gut that was the name of the dead woman you had seen last night. Seeing your tears made Sallyface freeze in place, unsure of what to do or how to react.
Swooping in swiftly, Larry leaned down onto his knees and awkwardly wrapped his arms around you, your head against his chest, hands by your side, the hot tears leaving droplet marks upon his Sanitys Fall shirt, "Y/N, it's, um, it's okay! Whatever you saw can't hurt you or anything, they're just like, apparitions or some shit, they can't physically touch you. Sallyface and I have tried before and it doesn't work that way, they're not anything to worry about besides how fucking creepy they look...".
Sniffling, tears not yet done leaving your eyes, your hands moved onto Larry's back, gripping onto the fabric of his shirt as you continued to softly cry into your awkward yet warm embrace. He smelled like freshly washed laundry and deodorant, quite nice and not what you had expected, and his arms around you felt so welcoming, like a hug from someone you've known for ages.
"O-oh, I guess I should've done that, it looks like she feels better...hugging Larry made her feel better. I'm...glad..", Sal thought to himself as he awkwardly sat there, waiting for either of you to begin talking or see who would break away from the hug first. He was relived to see you pull away from the hug first, although he didn't know exactly why, but he just ignored the feeling. Wiping away at your eyes with the sleeve of your sweater, you smiled faintly at your two friends, eyes now puffy and slightly red.
"S-sorry guys. I didn't mean to act like such a wuss, it's just...I think I did see who Sal was talking about, what did you say her names was? Mrs.Sanderson...?", you asked, turning to look at Sal, who replied with a, "Yes, Mrs.Sanderson, Y/N, do you mind...describing what you saw to us? It's okay if you don't want to though, we know you must be pretty shaken up. I know I was, so was Larry the first time.". Larry nodded, and you gave them both a surprised look, "W-wait, you guys have seen...ghosts here before? W-why didn't you tell me about it? It would've been nice to know...", you spoke, looking down at the ground, hands placed on your thighs.
Letting out a sigh, Larry was the first to speak up about it, "Well, we didn't want to scare you, plus we didn't know if you'd even believe us, and uh, saying 'Oh hey, by the way, this place is mega haunted.' out of the blue isn't very casual, is it?", making you softly chuckle, a sniffle following after. Agreeing with what was said, Sallyface's gaze turned back to you, placing a hand upon his neck, "I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner, Y/N. It wasn't our intention to...make you cry."
Meeting his gaze you placed a hand on his leg, "You didn't make me cry, Sal, it's just...it was so terrible. She was fucking brutalized, head almost split open, the cut on her neck looked so deep that I thought her fucking head would fall off! I...I just passed out and woke up the next morning after I saw her. I thought it was a dream but, I've never been a skeptic. I'm a huge believer in this kind of stuff, you guys don't have to hide these things from me. Hell, even if you did tell me about this the first time we met I wouldn't have doubted you for a second."
The three of you sat in silence for about a minute, just taking in what was said, the gentle autumnal breeze making the hair upon all three of your heads sway softly. Breaking the silence, Sallyface held your book up once again, "H-hey, Y/N, do you mind if I borrow this? I don't have any books on these subjects so, this would be really helpful.", he asked, placing his hand upon yours which rested on his knee, his stomach beginning to feel funny, butterflies of course.
"Of course, I've read it before so you can keep it for as long as you need. I just wanted to give it a brief re-read after what happened last night. But after talking to you guys about it, I feel a lot better, safer even. Y-you said they aren't able to touch you, right? They can't hurt us...", you asked as you looked towards Larry with your puffy, but still lovely eyes, eyelashes still damp from crying. He quickly responded, "Not at all Y/N, and even if they try to, just come to me and I'll whoop their ghost asses.", making you giggle as you slowly laid down on the ground, looking up at the sky with a sigh.
The two boys joined you, Sal laying on your right and Larry on your left, joining you in gazing up at the fall sky, clouds slowly beginning to turn a bold orange color as the sun was getting ready to set. "Not to be cheesy or anything, but I'm really happy I have you guys as friends. Spending time with you guys makes me forget whatever's stressing me out, whether it be typical bull shit or ghost bull shit.", you said with a smile on your face, hands playing with the grass at your sides.
Your kind words made Sal feel warm inside, he knew what you said was genuine, your friendship was truly a treasure to him. Knowing your hands were close together, he felt so tempted to reach out and hold yours; wanting to express to you how much he loved spending time with you, the both of you had only met two days ago but he already felt so strongly towards you, it was confusing for him, but he just figured making female friends was more difficult for him, like when he met his friend Ashley. He felt the same butterflies the first day he met her as the ones he had when first meeting you, so he assumed these fuzzy feelings would be gone eventually. Man, he was dead wrong.