"Now Melissa..." the phrase was repeated.

Over and over and over and over.

And despite the different dialogue, from different people, formed by different mouths and tongues.

All of it. It basically lead to the same conclusion.

"...You can't mess this up right now. I understand--I understand, you're a delicate flower--my flower. But if you're going to make life work, you're gonna have to get out of..."

"--You've scored the highest of your year--I know that you possess knowledge: but you still lack that grit. If you want to make it further in this industry, then you're going to have to..."

"Nurse Harker... Your performance has always been. Wavering, but this week alone, we're noticing little mistakes that could've been easily fixed. You're great with rapport--and we value that. But that's half the battle. If you continue this trajectory, you'll have no choice but to find another career path--"

Melissa was fetal, haggardly trying to catch her breath. Covering her ears in vain, squirming as these shadow puppets surrounded her. Taking the visage of the various people that haunted her enough already.

She didn't need a reminder of how much she sucked as a person.

But was she anymore?

The "fingers" that dug into her bloodstained hair were claws, made out of veins. Disgusting veins that twitched and spread across the surface of her skin, across the back of the hand up to her shoulders. She had fur that had grown uncontrollably--prominently a pelt that covered the chest. One ear refused to change back to normal, still a pointed bat ear--if not human sized.

Her neck, covered in a thick layer of scabs. Her horrific gash, still trying to heal.

And of course, the massive fangs still took up most of her jaw. Very visible as she huffed out in pain.

All of this was just too much.

"--SHUT UP!" Melissa roared.

Abruptly rose up, swinging and slashing at the puppets. No strategy, no thought. Just panicked, pained attacks.

"SHUT THE HELL UP, PLEeeeEASE!" Melissa roared, her throat raw and shrill.

The effort caused her to fall right back down on her side again. Her aching, twisted arms barely hoisted her up. Now even more out of breath.

And once again, she was reset. Back to zero. The chorus returned unharmed, and somehow just as loud.

Melissa laid there, officially emotionally overwhelmed. The point where, say, one has gotten so angry that the brain cannot produce anymore chemicals that achieves the mood.

The stupid girl bashed her head against the stage. Scolding herself, due to the "wonderful" scientific explanation that she should know by name and accurately describe. It's not like she's going to some medical school or had been going for some odd years at this point.

"Hey hey hey, Meli-Leli--it hurts me--us when we see you hurt yourself~!"

Speaking of having a fucked up head.

Melissa's tired eyes gazed at the woman before her.

She still wasn't sure if Cassie was actually there or not. Spirit? Hallucination? A better construction made by the stage-thingy? Either way, there she stood above her. Black longcoat with the red scarf, leather boots with the shortest heels, the blonde curls that crested a pale face. A face with a smug, shit-eating grin with the same long fangs.

"go to hell," Melissa responded.

"Man, you really like 'Hell', huh?" Cassie laughed. "I'm--we're trying not to bully you into action, but I'm starting to feel like that--Iunno--is that the heaviest curse you got? You pour all that energy into saying 'Hell'--like it's a slam dunk? If so, jeez, I've corrupted such a precious lil' bean!"

"i hate you"

"Eh, everyone does. But let's get all that crying out of the way and be a big girl now--we got things to kill~!"

Melissa felt a sudden, wet splash on her head. Thankfully she was naturally a nervous rat in her normal life, so she quickly snapped herself upwards to see what happened--before Cassie could posture and distract from it.

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The mousy girl's eyes widened. Well. There was no way Cassie could hide any of what was happening to her.

Her form, so proud and nonchalant... It was breaking apart. They weren't cracks but serrated segments of body, falling apart. She tried to keep her smile, but her fact began to fall into pieces.

The pain was too great--and Cassie wailed out. She couldn't even have the luxury of holding herself as she screamed out, slamming into the ground with very wet thuds.

While Melissa had the reaction--what should be the typical reaction--of looking away, but more things kept happening.

As Cassie's severed body fell onto the ground, it created such an impact, each piece bored a crater. As if each one was suddenly a bowling ball.

It was almost interesting. Y'know, if Melissa had the capacity to care at the moment.

"GOD--FUCKING DAMN IT, FUCK!" Cassie tried to roar. Ended up just as pathetic as Melissa's.

"See, that's why I don't bother," Melissa waved her index finger with snark. "You end up sounding pretty stupid when you use nothing but them--"

"FUCKING BITE ME, YOU WIMPY LITTLE BITCH"

Melissa laughed. Genuinely, for what felt like decades.

"Y'know," Melissa cocked her head a tad. "I liked 'lil' bean' or whatever you tried to call me. At least that was cute..."

Cassie, as her pieces writhed individually, she tried to stare down the person that was now looking down at her.

"I coul... I could hurt you, Harker..."

"Do it."

Cassie's blue eyes widened at the boldness at display. Searching--for anything--at this mousy girl's now unreadable face.

"You'll be doing both of us a favor at this point. So go ahead. I'm only your... What was it? 'Fucked up sidepiece'? Never actually heard of that before, but knowing you, I'm sure it was dirty in some way."

Melissa waited for the immediate shit flinging. She was ready to keep denying this repulsive bitch until she literally used the last of her breath.

So the fact that it didn't come caused Melissa to dart her eyes directly at Cassie.

The monster was fading, and it was gradual. The writhing became squirms. The breathing was getting heavier, yet slower. It made Melissa wonder... Whatever these shadow demons were... It's so odd that they were compatible with humanity. Hell, humanity isn't compatible with humanity--if so, organ donations or simply blood transfusions would be less of a stressful game of waiting, and can easily turn into a losing game of inevitability.

And yet here Cassie was. Truly dying before Melissa.

She clutched her fists. Claws? Whatever. This... Thing killed her. She used her body--in ways she doesn't fully understand yet. Turned her into a fucked up version of a vampire--not a cool one like in the movies she barely saw as a kid because of how scary they were. Melissa had every right to not only spit in her face, but kill her with her own two hand-claws.

But Melissa sighed. She maybe a choker and ill-fitted to be one, but she's a medical professional in training. She had to at least be present, if not from a distance.

So she sat there. A lengths away from Cassie's body, but she sat cross-legged. Had her claw-hands catch her head and cup her cheeks as she watched.

What felt like a few minutes passed, and finally silence was broken.

"H-holy shit..." Cassie gasped out. "M... lessia, are you there still...? Pleas... Please..."

"I am, yeah. Try not to talk. It's going to be okay."

"N-no...! It's not... I can't... I just... I can't just die here, man..."

"There's really nothing I can do. And if I could, I don't feel like helping the bitch that fucked me over. Sorry. You have my 'empy', but not my 'sympy'."

Melissa heard pained grunts, choking sounds that indicated held back tears.

"I came so far... Did too much to just have this end..."

It was weird... Melissa still heard Cassie's words, but they became... Layered. To the point where she was talking, but the sentence itself said two different things.

"I can't die a loser... I can't die when everyone and everything gets to go scott-free, acting like shit's great... The things we do to each other... Terrible, dumb shit and they get to have normal lives... But not me..." / "I can't die while they continue to regress... Kings of nothing as they laugh at the decay... Not caring about such decay that ruined the lives of the few... The life that I was promised yet denied..."

Melissa huffed out of her nose, once she gathered what was actually said. Both lines ended with a singular point:

"The world... It's still wrong... Still... Wrong... I have to change it... All I wanted was for it to be actually fair..."

"And yet you did fucked up things!" Melissa angrily rose to her feet, her claw-hands balled into fists again. "Two wrongs don't make a fucking right, lady!"

"I... I know... We knew...?" Cassie sounded confused. It was possibly the brain beginning to fail her. "It wasn't... Meant to be heroic... THAT would've been... The slap in the face... There's no 'bettering' this... Bettering leads to big heads... People getting away... I wanted things to be honest, to make them face the facts... All of us are terrible and terrible is the only way to survive here..."

Melissa was about to shout, a surge of righteous fury fueling her... Before she simply sighed.

"Whatever, man. Sure, whatever--everything sucks and we are kidding ourselves on some level. Closing our eyes and plugging our ears--but you don't blind people with a knive and scoop their eyes out--then scoop YOUR eyes out and say, 'I guess we're all blind forever! We never actually used them, so fuck it!' You made the world worse. Innocent people--like you were, victims--you fucking got them killed. And they didn't become epic cool shadow monsters for it. Face it, Cassie. You. Fucked. Up. End of story."

Cassie simply looked at her, gazed with dimming blue eyes that were losing color.

But it wasn't figurative. Not only Cassie was turning into a husk before Melissa's eyes, but she was turning grayscale.

"Heh..." Cassie looked up at the "ceiling", basically nothing. "Guess... You have my powers now to do whatever you want with them. Like you said. I fucked up my chance... Prove me... And everyone else wrong..."

The serrated, dried body of Cassie Morgan closed her eyes. Peaceful in her rest.

"... Even people like you deserve your sleep," Melissa bitterly concluded.

The mousey girl sat there, now alone. Alone with her conflicted, angry... Empty thoughts.

Now she was a vampire. Trapped in some magical book. Constantly being reminded how much of an other she is, how many times she's choked.

But Cassie's final line wormed herself into Melissa's depression.

"Prove me... And everyone else wrong..."

It donned on her. She felt slightly ashamed at how long it took for her to realize.

"...I can finally do whatever I want."

Melissa sported a crooked, yet never been wider smile. Her huge fangs glistened almost.

She couldn't help but let loose a goofy chuckle. Now she had what she needed to be free, in every sense of the word.