The day ground along slowly after Scarlet left. Coraline was hardly a conversationalist, and I didn't have anything to do but sit around and wait on her. It wasn't like I could go anywhere either, because if I left her alone, a monster might easily just swoop in and abduct her, and that would be it. Game over. End of the world, probably. There was a sense of absurd anxiety at that. It was like something out of a cartoon. The fate of the world hanging in the balance of a bunch of clueless teenagers. I suppose we were a little older than the usual demographic, but the sentiment was there. But this wasn't some storybook adventure. This was real. We were probably all in real danger. That 'probably' bothered me. We didn't actually know what was at stake, but the idea that some alien influence could swoop in and swallow up the world felt way more real than it had any right to. Coraline was right, the whole thing was absurd.

And I hated just sitting around and waiting while it felt like I was rotting inside. I could feel whatever it was that was inside me. It was moving. Growing. Going deeper inside of my leg and into the rest of my body. I could feel it. But there wasn't anything I could do about it. It wasn't even a matter of not wanting to explain what happened if I was questioned, there just wasn't anyone around that I could possibly get help from. It didn't even look like I was hurt, and the hospital would just think I'm begging for pain pills. And we didn't know anyone else versed in magic because the very idea that magic is a thing is still so absurd that I have to wonder if I'm dreaming. So I was just sitting here, staring at my cursed ankle.

I let out a loud sigh and laid back on the couch, staring up at the popcorn texture on the white ceiling above me. Was I... going to die? Did I have some kind of magic cancer growing inside of me? Would it crawl all the way up my leg, into my spine, and slowly crush my heart? Was it too late to do anything already? Was I already doomed?

I closed my eyes.

I was scared. I was tired. I was frustrated. Last night, the whole world and reality alongside it stopped making sense. Would things ever be able to go back to normal? What even was normal? Had I just been living through some kind magical masquerade my whole life, just on the other side of happening to know a witch? What else was a lie? Was that portal an opening to some kind of truth about the universe too? I had to wonder what it was like in there. I hadn't had a good chance to look down into it for very long before things went to hell. I wanted another glimpse at it. Maybe I could have gleaned something useful from deep in that pit. Could I have found something we could use if I'd just gotten a little bit closer? But now I was floundering with nothing to do at all. I was starting to get the feeling that neither Coraline nor Scarlet respected me. Maybe they didn't even like me. All I wanted was to make some real friends for once. People that I could actually relate to instead of just meeting associates for obligations, then never speaking again. Was that too much to ask for?

I'd had a plan. My parents had walked me through it so many times, but now it didn't matter. Nothing I'd ever done had ever mattered. Nothing mattered. Nothing. The world had seemed so simple before, and the moment I stepped off the path, the moment I tried to do something for me, to try something that made me feel real, like I was more than a means to an end, I ended up here. I just wanted to know what to do. I needed to know what to do!

I turned my head to look at Coraline. She looked so far away, even though the couch was fairly close to her table, now scattered with a few books, notepads, and scattered papers she'd asked me to get for her. She was so focused on that damned book that she could barely take care of her fragile self. I wouldn't be surprised if she keeled over working one day. I wondered if her parents were proud of her.

I swung my legs over and sat at a wide stance, letting out another sigh. She didn't even look up before she venomously spat out, "What?"

I was caught off guard, glancing to the book for a second to see if maybe she was angry at it instead of me, but she pointedly slammed her pen down on the table and glared up at me, so I averted my eyes and muttered, "What? I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking it." She hissed. "You're judging me. It's easy enough to see through that thick skull of yours. You've got some nerve about it too, when you're just lounging around doing nothing. I bet you're always like this, aren't you? Just coasting along on whatever meager talents you happen to find, exploiting whatever you can to pull yourself along. You're not putting in any actual relevant work or anything. You're not making the world a better place. You're just looking for whatever shortcut you can manage to find toward some nebulous definition of success, and it's still not getting you anywhere. That's how it is with people like you. Everyone just carrying you along so you can look like you're good enough to exploit your useless skills. With your fucking... sports scholarship." She gave a condescending scoff.

I was stunned. Where had this come from? I knew she'd been irritated, but why was she suddenly attacking me like this? I tried to keep myself from getting angry back at her, but she wasn't making that easy. "Coraline, what the fuck?" I started. "Where did this come from all of a sudden? Is this... because I have a strong body? Is that what it is? I worked just as hard to be here as you must have. Just because I went a different route about it than you did doesn't mean I didn't earn it. I-I worked hard, I did. I'm not even a slacker on my studies. I was... well, not a straight A student, but I'm not stupid, okay? Everyone always treats me like I'm some kind of idiot, but I'm not! I have not just been scraping by in life!"

Coraline scoffed. "I bet you don't have any idea what you want to do with a degree, do you? It's just something you know you need so you can be happy. So you can finally pretend you've made it and you're living a fulfilling life. Because that's what they told you to do. It's what they told you you needed. Because you have no idea what you're doing without someone holding your hand and pointing the answers out to you. Maybe you're just too stupid to see how stupid you are. Because you're certainly not doing anything useful now, when you really need to be! When it really matters, you're just a dumb, helpless baby." She looked back down at her pen, breaking eye contact with me and going back to her mad scribbling "Why don't you just fuck off. I don't need you, anyway. This whole mess is all your fault, and now Scarlet and I need to clean it up. You're just in the way."

My head buzzed with so many thoughts at once, I couldn't make sense of it. What was happening here? I couldn't understand. Everything felt more distant than before. Unreal. Was she right? Was I just getting in the way here? There was nothing I could actually do to help, was there? I was useless. I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. I was nothing. Nothing.

I rose slowly from my seat, and Coraline didn't react. She had already immersed herself back into her work. She was so small. I towered over her and she was oblivious to me. The world around us dissolved into black until it was just us two surrounding her table of magical nonsense. Just me and her. And nothing.

Calm overcame me. I knew what to do. I could hear the whisper in my head clearly. I invited the rot. I wasn't good enough to do anything else. But now I knew what to do. Just give in like I always do. Follow its creed. I stepped up directly over her head, the clueless thing oblivious to my newfound conviction. I couldn't help but smile as I let go.

Both of my pitch-black claws reached down across her sternum, and with a single vicious swipe, the very air surrounding us was painted crimson.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

L I F E.

I opened my eyes.

I felt moisture in the corners of my eyes and a dampness across my whole body, the beginnings of a cold sweat forming over my whole skin. I let out a quiet, shivering pant as I sat up on the couch and frantically took stock of my surroundings. Coraline's house. No darkness. No nothing. It was still day time. She was still sitting there, immersed in her book and unharmed, though she did glance up at me as I came to, watching my panicked confusion unfold. I shook harder as I slowly rose my hands up to look and let out a shaky sigh of relief. Human hands. No black claws.

"Thomas...?" Coraline called, deep concern in her tone as she calmly set her pen down. "You alright? You look like you saw a ghost. Which... is a phrase that seems far less hyperbolic than it did twenty-four hours ago."

I nodded slowly, but I doubted entirely that I was okay. "Bad... Bad dream, that's all." I swallowed. Was it a dream? It felt so real. It felt like an idea had been planted deep inside of me. Foreign vitriol that I didn't dare nurse.

Coraline sighed, and I stared at her wide-eyed, expecting to hear a torrent of venom spill from her tongue. Instead, she lowered her voice, sounding extremely tired herself. "Look, it's been... a long night, and I know I'm not the best at... people. Fucking social bullshit, you know? But thanks for not bailing on me when I acted like an asshole. I... absolutely cannot do this alone. I can't. I'm... not strong enough. Maybe once I can figure out this... witch shit, I can defend myself. Maybe I'll be able to launch fireballs at the vice or something. I don't know. But until then, I need you and Scarlet. And Virtue too, I guess, if that thing keeps behaving."

I stared at her, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. The dream had been wrong. Coraline was acerbic, blunt, and tactless, but she wasn't a monster. She wasn't going to randomly assault me with my deepest flaws for no reason. That dream... it's like it had been using her image as a vessel to play on my deepest insecurities. Manipulating me into doing something terrible. Something that wasn't me. A command from somewhere else. My eyes drifted to my ankle, still wrapped in my pants, but aching deeply under my clothes, worse than before, like it was being pulled somewhere.

What was happening to me?

She gave a small smile, oblivious to the horror of what was going on inside my mind and body. "But we both need sleep. Believe it or not, being knocked unconscious isn't very restful, and I only managed to catch a couple hours after that. This book is a bitch and I'm not going to solve it fast. So we should get some real rest and get back to work once we've got our energy back."

"B-But I haven't actually... y'know, done anything." I admitted, still feeling the sting of dream Coraline's words.

"Idiot." She reached up and gave my forehead a light flick, which made me flinch. I blinked myself out of my existential stupor and gave her a look of surprise at the sudden light-hearted insult. "What do you think you've been doing. You're my bodyguard." The end of my dream replayed over and over again in my head. I certainly didn't feel like I deserved to be trusted with that label. "But that's all you are. Before you get any stupid ideas, I'm just gonna give it to you up front. I'm a lesbian."

Oh. That made sense. She did seem like she was way more interested in spending time with Scarlet than with me, when I thought about it. But the thought of being involved with Coraline in that way had never even crossed my mind. "That's fine by me." I tried to smile, but the image of her eviscerated corpse and the sheer unbridled ecstasy I experienced as my deformed body tore her to pieces outside of my control forced it down into a worried frown. "But I was just hoping we could be friends."

She looked a little surprised by that. She shrugged her shoulders. "I mean... with what we're going through... yeah. Friends sound nice." She admitted. "Friends."

I needed that little win right then. It felt like some kind of assurance that I wasn't hated could help me stay myself. I had to fight this thing inside me, and knowing she was on my side helped me assert my control over myself. "Thanks, Cora." I started, but then saw her smile turn to an unimpressed scowl. "... line." I awkwardly finished her name, and she rolled her eyes and returned to her usual dour resting expression. I wondered what she had against the nickname.

The room grew silent. I pursed my lips. She had to know. I had to tell her. I couldn't be her friend and not tell her that I'd just had a dream, clearly caused by the alien influence inside of me, where I had torn her to pieces in violent glee while I turned into a literal monster. She trusted me to guard her life, but there was something inside of me that wanted to rip her apart. She had to know. I opened my mouth, hesitating to say anything at all, the words I needed escaping me.

And that's when the entrance hall's door clicked open. We both turned our heads and were relieved when Scarlet closed it behind her and stepped inside, wheeling a large suitcase behind her with a gray jacket and a thick black coat draped over it. She glanced to both of us in turn as she approached "What's wrong? You look terrified, and you look way too relaxed." She gestured to me and then Coraline. "Something happened."

"I'm getting ready for a nap, and he's still waking up from a nightmare he had." Coraline explained before I could defend myself. She stared down at the suitcase. "I said you could stay for a few nights, not move in." She scoffed.

"Be realistic, Coraline." Scarlet sighed. "This isn't going to happen fast. We need to move in. Virtue, you're clear."

Like a liquid, the midnight black ooze that was Virtue poured out from the sleeve of Scarlet's sweater and coalesced into a ball on the floor, the shapeless void creature we'd seen crawling out from the emptiness just last night reasserting its terrifying multi-eyed pseudopod form in miniature.

Coraline grumbled quietly, but admitted "Yeah... I guess," before she became hopelessly distracted by the thing vaguely reshaping itself in front of us.

"Virtue had its fill. It snuck off once to get a few more targets after I settled into class, but I don't think anyone saw it." Scarlet explained, shaking out her shoulders with an obvious sense of relief having Virtue out of her outfit. "My roommate knows I'm acting suspicious. That was unavoidable. I think she's satisfied with an 'I'll tell you later', but she can be hard to read. The natural curiosity of an enthusiastic journalism major might be a problem."

"Great, more complications." I muttered, staring down at Virtue, who watched me with one side of its many rows of creepy glowing yellow eyes. It almost seemed accusatory. Did it know what was inside of me? Was it wary of me because of it? Or was I becoming like it? "I guess feeding it strangers worked, though." I mumbled as I looked over Virtue's much more compact complete form.

"Still not as large as before." Scarlet said, kneeling down to the creature, which immediately got its full affectionate attention. "Or are you keeping yourself small on purpose?"

The creature's approximation of a head nodded, and it let out an enthusiastic squawk. "Smarter, too." Coraline noted. "What do you think's going through its head?"

I shuddered as I wondered if it saw things like I had dreamed of. If it was poised to tear us apart if we upset it. Was it experiencing the same internal struggle? "How do we know it's not just operating on instinct?" I asked.

"That'd be some complicated-ass instinct." Coraline huffed and knelt down to the creature next to Scarlet. "Hey, can you understand my words?" It deliberately bobbed its head up and down again. Coraline narrowed her eyes and asked "What's two plus three?" It hitched its head to the side for a second, then blinked each of its sets of eyes in sequence. It let out a quiet chirp and all but two sets of eyes and a single lingering fifth one dissolved back into its black flesh. "Haha, holy shit, that's... creepy. But correct." She held her hand up, hesitated for just a moment, then patted its 'head' while it reformed its numerous eyes and leaned into her, purring loudly again.

Scarlet stood back up while Virtue was distracted, and approached me. "Alright. Your turn." She nodded at me.

"Huh?" I gave a few confused blinks, still somewhat lost in my own thoughts.

Scarlet pointed back over her shoulder with her thumb. "Your stuff. Get your clothes and whatever belongings you're going to need from your dorm. I'm sure you won't want to wear that same pair of jeans and that shirt for however long it's going to take to save the world."

"Do you have to say it like that?" I muttered, walking past her. "I guess I should grab a few things, though." And I needed a walk to get my mind off of my nightmare, even if it did mean spending more time on my aching foot. I didn't have the nerve to talk about it right then and there anymore. I told myself that it could wait until I got back. I could hold myself together, so it didn't matter. I wouldn't let it influence me. I refused to become that thing.