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(Concept of Scarlett in her police uniform)
Alex Winter
4:00 pm, Sunday, July 9th, 2023
It was a long and painfully silent drive. Scarlett hummed to herself as she drove like it was the best field trip in the world while her bull headed man stared daggers into the back of Alex's head. Even without the AC turned on, it was freezing. He tried his hardest not to shiver, but it was impossible. "What... What the hell do you want from me?" he asked, looking at her.
She blew a bubble, chewing her gum as she replied, "I dunno, Alex. Can't we just take a nice little drive? Is that too much to ask for?"
"After last night you call this a nice little drive? And what's the deal with the walking death machine behind me?"
"Walking death- Bahahahaha. It's just Asmodeus. Asmo for short," she replied, smiling wildly to herself as she turned them up the hill to the field of flowers.
If he couldn't feel the pain in his leg, hand, and back, he'd have presumed he was dreaming. Having a casual drive on the hill with his attacker dressed as a police officer and a bull skull man just chilling in the back seat. She stopped the car abruptly short of the forest. "Ride's over! Let's walk." Without another word, she swung her side open and kicked her legs out.
Alex did the same, every second he avoided looking at Asmo giving him chills. She strolled toward the flowers, stopping to look at him. "Oh, come now, Alex! Where did all the bravado from last night go?~ Don't tell me you've turned into a chicken!" When she actually bent her arms and started making the sounds, he couldn't help but scream, "SHUT UP!"
"There he is!~ You see Asmo? This is the dear Alex I've always been fond of!" she squealed, pointing at him like a little school girl looking at her crush.
He shook his head wildly. "Are you ever going to start explaining anything? Just what are we doing? A reunion?"
She paused at those words. "Of sorts. I have been waiting for you..."
"Waiting to kill me you mean? Or maybe you wanted a pet to heel into obedience? Would explain why I'm alive. Are you even a real cop? Where's your partner?"
Scarlett gasped and pulled out her badge. "Read it sucker! Of course I'm real! Diaedem cops don't all have partners as we're understaffed I'll have you know. And as you're already aware, I already have a fluffy little pet. Her name is Squirrelclaw!"
"I already know tha-" Alex stopped himself before he could lose it. He facepalmed. It's like I'm arguing with a kid. A kid that can kill me with her pet demon boy... Can't believe I let this woman put me in this state. It's so carefree I almost don't even care if she does go nuts and comes after me.
When he slid his hand off of his eyes, he flinched when he realized how closely she was looking at him. They were practically nose to nose. Scarlett didn't smell unpleasant, but it was strange. There was a malice in her eyes that made him tremble. He couldn't understand what she was thinking. "How's the back doing? Nice and wrapped like I left it?" she whispered.
"You didn't wrap shit! I woke up bloody and naked. For that matter, why did you bother cleaning me at all?" he retorted, stepping back. He bumped into a hard wall. One glance up and the eternal darkness of Asmo's eyeless skull looked down. When did he even get out of-
"And get your dirty mud all over my couch? I might be crazy, but I'm not... insane~"
"Could've fooled me. Guess you don't mind the leather being stained red. You still haven't answered my question."
Scarlett let out an exaggerated groan, doing a circle as she grabbed collar and shook him back and forth. Every time he bumped into Asmo, it felt like a river of ice cold water repeatedly shocked his veins. "Oh. My. God. Which one? You asked like ten of 'em!"
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The fact she was actually answering most of them was throwing his head in circles. Is this Stockholm syndrome? Why do I feel like I'm growing comfortable with this crazy woman?
"You brought me along for a reason. Was it seriously just to talk?" Alex asked, watching her sigh and walk back toward the flowers.
She scratched her head. "That lady who came earlier. What is she to you?" Her voice was calmer, the energy from before almost gone in an instant. Alex straightened up.
He'd expected that question. "Just a woman I met yesterday. She's pretty friendly."
"That's it? You were holding hands in the Cafe. You even carried her into the Admin Building."
Alex groaned. "Of course you were watching us. Where were you?"
"I don't have to. Asmo follows you. I don't remember telling him to either... so that's strange."
Alex glanced at the bull man, who let out a snort. "He talks? All I've ever heard was weird pig squealing noises."
"It's more of weird visions and crap. It matters little. Can we trust her?" There was a finality in that question. She glanced back at him, waiting for an answer.
The better question is if I can trust you. The fact he was breathing already told him what he wanted to know. Only partially. It was a strange intuition. As scary as she felt, Alex felt honesty would keep him on Scarlett's good side. Of course it was merely blind faith. What else did he have?
"We can. Rinoa's not a talker, if that's what you mean," Alex said. Of course, he had no real way of knowing that. He just met her.
It felt like she was threatening him, but at the same time it almost felt like a lover's quarrel. I don't owe her any answers, so why am I so willing to respond? Is it because I'm afraid of dying... or is it because I genuinely want to talk to her? There couldn't have been a stranger confliction.
Alex walked up to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. He half expected her to twist around and stab his hand. Instead, she leaned into it. "I waited here so long for you...~ How could you leave me here all alone?" The desperation in her voice sounded genuine.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Just who are you to me?" I'm consoling someone who tried to kill me last night... What is wrong with me? His mind felt like it was contorting in ways. Twisting. Like anything that made common sense didn't.
She turned to look at him, and behind those gray stormy eyes, he saw desire. It shocked him enough to let go. That made her smile... and for once it wasn't creepy. "There's no fun if I tell you everything. You have to figure that out for yourself."
He sighed. "You still haven't told me why you attacked me last night."
"Petty little thieves and stowaways are a bit of a problem in that house... I wasn't sure who you were until I saw you in the moonlight. Now it's my turn, my sweet. Do you intend to run away with that girl? Are you going to leave me again?~"
"You won't tell me what you are to me, and you ask me that? I don't even know where I'd run if I wanted to, and I'm not leaving with someone I just met. I'm not going anywhere."
At that moment, Scarlett let out a dramatic sigh of relief. "Oh good. These flowers are growing out of control with all of the fertilizer I've had to give them in past weeks."
"...What are you talking about?"
Scarlett crouched over a patch of roses, digging her fingers into the dirt. Alex walked over to see what she was digging when she pulled something out. His arms flailed up to catch it. He dropped it. It was a severed hand. "Jeezly cro- What the fuck!"
He dropped it in the dirt and for just a moment, it was like the entire world changed. The blue skies and the ocean were a sea of crimson red. The dirt was littered with bodies that were torn. Ripped. Scattered. Nothing but fuel for a blood soaked field. He could hear screams. Voices of people he never knew and it almost brought him to his knees.
Alex stepped back, he saw Scarlett for what she was. Blood soaked every inch of her, a smile that never left her lips. She was a monster. When he blinked, everything was normal once more except for the dropped hand.
She looked at him like he was overreacting. "Cat got your tongue, dear? I don't expect everyone to appreciate beauty, but even you can be that sensitive. These little so and so's put a real strain on my back carrying them here..."
Shaking his head repeatedly, he turned his back on her and started storming off to town. "Alex, where are you going?" she asked, her voice sounded so concerned he almost turned around.
"Away from here!"
"But why?"
"Not explaining it to you!"
Scarlett looked from Alex to Asmo to her car, her eyebrows furrowing. "You'd think he'd never seen a dead body before..." Her lips curved into a wild smile, but she wasn't laughing. "I could give you a ride! You don't have to walk!"
"Fuck this shit! Keep the damn house! I'm out of this place!" he snapped, not bothering to turn around.
He half expected to get stabbed in the back, tackled, any number of things. The fact they were in broad daylight and he may as well have been standing in the dark. He didn't care. He was over it. He almost wanted her to. But they didn't move to stop him. By the time she was shouting to avoid leaving town, he was already out of earshot.
5:00 pm, Sunday, July 9th, 2023
Thirty minutes later, he arrived at the train station. A long black gate stood between him and his freedom. He walked underneath the green tent leading into the building. Amber stone covered most of the station, little ATM machines in the corner. Past the customer service booth was a set of ticket dispensers.
Alex stormed into the bathroom first. He furiously washed his hands, as if all that blood had been real. He looked in the mirror. Nothing but a dull gray tiled bathroom surrounded him. It was surprisingly clean, no ill smells about the place or anything. No graffiti.
How many things in this town looked clean and yet had bodies piled underneath their feet. He hadn't even asked if any of the people she'd killed deserved it. Somehow he didn't imagine she asked their personal story before she tore them apart. Is running away the right answer? I don't owe anything to this town... He thought of Rinoa. He worried what leaving might cause Scarlett to do. Yet he was powerless to stop her even if he wanted to. To stay was nothing short of a curse.
He walked out of the bathroom and turned toward the ticket stations. He stopped.
A man stood beside it, watching him. He nearly bolted on the spot at the sight of him. Asmo turned in his direction, as still as a statue. A sign was held in his hands.
Turn back. We won't ask twice.
"Or else what? You'll kill me in front of the whole world? Fuck off you Slender man reject," Alex snapped, storming up to the dispensers.
His head snapped in his direction. Distorted and angry breathing was all Alex heard as he interacted with the machine. He blinked once. The dispenser was gone. The entire room had changed.