Tumgik
#tumblr authors
threewordusername · 2 days
Text
recently, i've been comforted by the inspired lyrics
of people struggling to cope.
these people try, desperately,
to be understood through music.
many artists use drugs as a silver bullet
to eviscerate the pain they feel.
like them, i could've easily ended up without
any obvious means of escape,
stuck in the loop of being abandoned,
waiting and wishing for someone
to save me from myself.
"poems with a melody."
d.b.a
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strangenscary · 9 months
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AUTHORS AND WRITERS OF TUMBLR
! this font is not accessible !
i’ve seen a lot of fics posted on this site using this tiny font.
within settings on your phone and tumblr you can change the font size in the app, which makes it more accessible for disabled folks who have a hard time reading (like myself) however, the settings do not work on mobile for this tiny font
i sincerely BEG of you please do not post your ENTIRE fic in this font. you are alienating readers and actively making your art inaccessible.
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brynwrites · 11 months
Video
Celebrating the chaos couple from my slow-burn gay vampire romance in the most book-accurate way possible.
Should I eat a lemon for book two? (Huge thank you to @cwritesfiction, @byjillianmaria, and @eggletine for suffering with me.)
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spookykuroneko · 3 months
Text
Hi, I'm spooky, and I'm also known as Luna Elizabeth when I self publish ebooks. In this post I am going to share the first three chapters of the newest story I'm working on: Cold Lights ✨
It's a horror/mystery that deals with loneliness, loss, and hopelessness, but it's also about finding hope through it all. The first three chapters will continue after the description, and if you're interested, please check them out!
Warnings: Bullying in these first three chapters. The full story will contain violence, blood and gore, death, and descriptions of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
Other: (yes the main characters will be lesbians 🤫)
Description: Emilie Akabane is a quiet, lonely, and bullied sixteen year old girl who very suddenly finds a friend in the troublemaker Aileen O’Byrne. They share a common interest in all things horror, and unsolved mysteries that might involve the supernatural. This leads them to explore the supposedly haunted woods that surround their town in hopes of finding a ghost, but instead they find their missing classmate, who has dying words to share with Emilie: Aileen did it.
Emilie repeats the accusation, but there’s no evidence to support it, and Emilie is informed of another disturbing detail when she’s told that it would have been impossible for her classmate to speak to her, because she’d already been dead for days.
Sixteen years later, the death of her father brings Emilie back to her old hometown, where things fall apart instantly as her boyfriend goes missing and she begins having strange dreams about the woods. To make things worse, she meets her old friend Aileen, who has held a hateful grudge against Emilie for accusing her of murder and destroying her life sixteen years ago.
But as things get worse, Emilie and Aileen decide to work together to figure out what really happened in those woods back then, realizing they found something much more than a ghost.
Note: This story is still in early stages and I'm still working on it, and will release it as an ebook sometime in 2024. So some things in these chapters might change. Just wanted to share some chapters because I'm excited about this one :)
Chapter One: The Fear Of A Lonely Heart
Emilie Akabane was trying not to look at the time while Mrs. Kettlewell was going on and on about how some students in particular might be on the road to failure in this class. Emilie heard her monotonous, grating voice, but not the words, because Mrs. Kettlewell liked to take a long road on explaining things, especially when she was complaining, and Emilie’s mind already liked to wander when she wasn’t this bored.
She winced when her bouncing knee hit against the desk again. She couldn’t keep it still today, and that was like the fourth time that happened already. She rubbed her knee with a shaky sigh, immediately noticing that the nails were no longer scratching the chalkboard. Instead, to her horror, Mrs. Kettlewell was looking right at her, those dark brown eyes narrowed to snakelike slits.
“Ms. Akabane,” her name was spoken like a needle being jammed into her ear, “is there a problem? Might there be a reason you continue slamming your desk and interrupting the lecture? I’ve counted four times now.”
“Uh—” Emilie felt heat rush to her cheeks, feeling all eyes on her, “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t the answer to my question,” Mrs. Kettlewell said, which was followed by a snort, which was followed by a giggle, which was then followed by a sigh that trembled out of Emilie. She squeezed her fingers around her skirt when Mrs. Kettlewell opened her mouth to go on and scold her for the disturbance, but her words never came when someone else caught the teacher’s attention.
Emilie watched Mrs. Kettlewell’s head turn so fast she expected it to twist right off her body, her tone absolutely aghast when she asked, “did you in fact just roll your eyes at me, Ms. O’Byrne?”
“Yeah,” Aileen O’Byrne responded so carelessly it got a snort out of Emilie, and she slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the giggle that slipped out. She was nearly terrified for a mere second that it would bring Mrs. Kettlewell’s attention back to her, but she didn’t look away from Aileen, who was seated in the front of the class, her desk the furthest one to the left, by the window. Emilie could see the back of her head, long, straight dark brown hair reaching almost to her elbows.
There was a tiny gasp from one of the classmates, and a hushed whisper of anticipation for the oncoming drama. Mrs. Kettlewell made her disdain for Aileen O’Byrne very obvious ever since that day a few months ago when the teacher scolded Joshua Garcia for writing her name as Ms. Kettlewell, telling him, “you know very well that I have a husband and am to be referred to as Mrs, Joshua.” And then Aileen turned to Owen Becker, who was in the desk next to hers, and said without whispering, “can you believe someone actually married this nightmare?” And before Mrs. Kettlewell could even react, Aileen had gone on to say, “do you think the poor guy’s blind and deaf or something?”
Owen Becker had laughed so hard that he cried, and then Mrs. Kettlewell demanded he always sit in the back of her class, and there he was, seated in the desk to the left of Emilie’s in the back of the classroom, smirking at the exchange and watching Mrs. Kettlewell turn livid.
“And what,” Mrs. Kettlewell threw her hands up in the air, “would possess you to do that?”
“Just eagerly waiting for you to finish your lecture,” Aileen replied. “Hopefully while we’re all still young.”
The room broke out in giggles, and Mrs. Kettlewell looked upon her class with wide eyes and lips pressed together in a thin line, but she couldn’t punish them all, so she unleashed her fury on Aileen.
“I do hope that my lecture has not gone over your head in particular, Ms. O’Byrne,” the teacher ended with a huff, and Emilie watched her cheeks turning a tomato shade of red. “Because you are on the road to failure in my class,” she pointed a long, thin finger at Aileen. “As you have failed our most recent test simply due to the fact that I could not read a word you wrote on your paper, again, despite the fact that I have informed you how sloppy your work is all year long. I take it you don’t remember the last talk we had?”
“Wait, give me a second,” Aileen held one of her hands up. “You live in a right handed world, you know, and your left-handedness is going to hold you back all your life,” Aileen quoted with an impression of Mrs. Kettlewell that was pretty on point despite the clear lack of effort, and then the bell rang over the laughter that broke out.
“Everyone is free to leave,” Mrs. Kettlewell shrilly informed the class even though everyone was already standing and hurriedly collecting their things, “except you, Ms. O’Byrne,” she added.
“Fuck me,” Aileen muttered, folding her arms across her chest, bringing about another storm of laughter from everyone except Mrs. Kettlewell, who was so red in the face that Emilie thought her head might just pop.
Emilie had the urge to charge through the crowd and push everyone out of the way, but she waited impatiently for them to put on their coats, collect their things, and move. Everyone crowded in front of her on the way out of the room, and she was the last one out, Mrs. Kettlewell furiously slamming the door right behind her. Emilie followed in the back of the line down the crowded hallway.
When Emilie stepped out the doors, it felt like she could breathe again. Everyone around her broke out in chatter, and she walked at a slow pace as they made their way away from the high school like it was a prison they were desperate to be far away from.
But now that she was out and on her way home, she suddenly wasn’t in such a rush. Her heart was suddenly pounding and her chest was tightening with each trembling breath she took.
Because she was on her way home, where she’d been anxious to get back to all day. But now she was scared of what news would be waiting for her when she stepped inside…
She barely realized that she was falling forward until she nearly met the dirt face first, holding her hands out in front of her at the last second, snapping out of her dread with an oof.
“Sorry!” whoever had stumbled into her called, immediately followed by a very stern, “Joshua Garcia!”
Emilie let out a shaky breath and sat there on her knees, looking at her palms, stained with dirt. Footsteps crunched in front of her, along with an offered pair of hands. Emilie looked at the grinning face of Joshua Garcia, his dark brown eyes blinking softly. “Sorry,” he said as if correcting himself, looking at someone as another set of footsteps stopped beside Emilie.
Emilie looked up at the girl with straight, light blonde hair that hung past her elbows, folding her hands in front of her and tilting her head in a half nod at Joshua as if saying good enough.
If Emilie didn’t know that Kate Cowell was Joshua’s girlfriend, she would have thought she was his older sister. Or his mother.
Emilie didn’t really want to take Joshua’s offered hands, but she did it to be nice, and his hands closed tightly around hers, practically pulling her off the ground and back to her feet.
“Sorry, Emilie,” he said again, more genuine this time.
“It’s okay,” she told him, wiping her hands on her black school skirt. She’d have to wash it tonight.
He flashed her another grin, and then walked away. There was a heavy sigh, and then Kate stepped in front of her. “He’s lucky he’s cute,” she said, smiling.
“Oh. Yeah,” Emilie agreed. Joshua was cute, in a goofy sort of way.
“Are you okay?” Kate asked, and before Emilie could respond, she froze up, taken aback as Kate dusted off her skirt for her.
“Y-Yeah,” she stuttered, “thank you.”
Kate smiled again, and Emilie returned the smile, enchanted by her pretty, bright green eyes.
“Hi, Joshua!” the voice of Laura Thomas gave Emilie’s pounding heart a little flutter.
Kate looked back, and Emilie heard her sharp intake of breath when Joshua jogged toward Laura and her friends. When Laura greeted him by running her fingers through his dark brown curls, Kate scoffed, and Emilie noticed her shudder.
Emilie almost asked if she was okay, but quickly thought better of it, because of course she wasn’t. Laura Thomas was the typical most popular girl in school, and everyone except for Joshua was aware that she’d never be interested in a dork like him, and was only leading him on because she for some reason didn’t like Kate Cowell.
Laura eyed Kate, and Emilie watched her glossy lips curve into a smirk as her hands traveled down from Joshua’s hair to his shoulders.
“Do you wanna go out with us, Josh?” Holly Wallace asked him. Holly looked a lot like Laura these days, only because she clearly tried her hardest to mirror her. Especially because, only a couple months ago, Holly Wallace wasn’t any different than Kate Cowell or Emilie herself, which meant that she was pretty much a nobody.
Or less than a nobody, actually, because she’d been best friends with Aileen O’Byrne, who was considered lower than low around here.
Until when one day at lunch, Laura went up to the table in the back of the cafeteria, where Holly was sitting with her now former best friend, and asked in her sickly sweet voice, “wanna come sit with me and Breanna, Holly?”
And after that day, Holly had formed a horrible little trio with Laura Thomas and her best friend, Breanna Stevens.
At the invitation, Joshua looked back at Kate. “Oh, I can’t,” he didn’t even disguise the disappointment in his voice, “me and Kate—”
“Forget it,” Kate harshly rejected her boyfriend, pulling her backpack up her shoulder, “I have to help my dad at the restaurant today.”
She stormed away, but not before Laura loudly declared, “oh! We were actually going to go to Tracy’s! We’ll see you there!”
That made Kate stop in her tracks, and she looked like she was about to say something to that, but she just started walking again, looking like she couldn’t get away quickly enough. With a sigh, Joshua ran after her, probably preparing himself to give another sorry.
Emilie tensed up when someone else stormed past her, and she got a glimpse of Aileen’s annoyed face as she walked by, adjusting a pair of headphones around her neck. Laura looked her way, letting out a loud gasp as she threw her arms around Holly, making Holly jump in surprise.
“Steer clear, Holly, your creepy stalker comes our way,” Laura announced loudly, getting everyone’s attention when all heads looked from her to Aileen.
Aileen carelessly ignored her, and Laura was not one to be ignored, calling even louder, “Holly told me about everything you tried to pressure her into! She’s not a lesbian, Aileen! Stop making her uncomfortable!”
Gasps exploded all around, and Emilie watched Holly exhale slowly, looking a little petrified as Aileen spun around with a snort. “Don’t be so sure. I got a lot of stories I can tell you about that.”
“I am not!” Holly said shrilly over the chatter that erupted, flushing, her reaction giving away that she wasn’t exactly being truthful as she added, “you’re such a liar, Aileen!”
“You shouldn’t say things you’ll regret, Aileen,” Laura’s voice was light, but there was a hint of a threat beneath.
“Make me regret them then, bitch,” Aileen turned around, holding up her middle finger as she walked away.
“That girl is a loaded gun,” commented Breanna Stevens, a tall black girl with long black hair hanging past her shoulders, looking at her sparkly pink fingernails.
“Don’t worry,” Laura ran her fingers through Holly’s hair, “we know how to take care of that trash, don’t we?”
Holly nodded slightly, but seemed uncomfortable about whatever Laura meant.
Exhaling shakily, Emilie pulled her backpack up her shoulder and started walking again. But she didn’t get very far when she fell under their radar next, and Laura called, “hey, Emilie! How’s your mom?”
The question made a chill run down Emilie’s spine. She stopped walking and looked at the three of them, a faint smile on Laura’s lips as she tossed her long, golden blonde waves over her shoulder. Holly pathetically imitated the act with her own blonde hair. Breanna Stevens wasn’t paying attention to them as she stared into her pink pocket mirror, applying lip gloss to her lips.
“My dad says she wound up in the hospital after fainting because of an awful headache,” Laura went on, “he was saying that’s a terrible sign of things to come. I can’t wait to hear the results from him later.”
“Shut up,” Emilie barely recognized her own harsh voice in the trembling whisper.
Either Laura didn’t hear her, or she didn’t care, because she kept talking. “He thinks it’s so sad that your dad doesn’t seem to care. Says he’s completely cold-hearted, and barely came to visit her in the past few days.”
Laura took a few steps until she was in front of Emilie, and leaned closer to her. “You should have mercy on her before it gets bad, Emilie,” she said with a twitch of her lips. “All it takes is a pillow, and a good minute or two…”
Emilie’s breath sharply caught in her throat, a rough gasp lost under the sound of Holly and Breanna’s high pitched laughter. She watched them in disbelief.
Emilie noticed others were standing around, their mouths hanging open, having overheard. Emilie’s thoughts were a mess while she wondered how anyone could possibly say a thing like that to another person, while at the same time thinking that of course Laura was shameless enough to say such a thing.
And then Emilie had no thoughts at all, seeing red, a ringing sound in her ears drowning out their laughter.
Then a voice silenced the three of them: “You’re fucking sick.”
Emilie turned her head to the person who stopped next to her. Despite being seated next to him in Mrs. Kettlewell’s class, Emilie had never spoken to Owen Becker before. She didn’t know much about him besides the fact that he had a horror movie obsession, judging by the t-shirts she saw him wearing outside of school, but they did have something in common: being tormented by Laura’s group.
“All three of you,” Owen added, shaking his head slowly, his pale fingers clutching one of the handles of his backpack around his shoulder.
“You’re really not one to call someone sick, you creepy weirdo,” Laura sneered. “Hey, Emilie… maybe you could get Owen to do it.” She chuckled, a smirk staying on her lips. “Get him started a little early on that bright future ahead of him.”
“As a psycho killer,” Holly added, looking at her long red fingernails. Breanna giggled.
Owen scoffed. “I’d start with one of you bitches.”
There were soft gasps all around, turning to hushed, excited whispers. A tingle ran down Emilie’s spine at his voice as he spoke those words, a glare in his dark brown eyes, his chin length dark brown hair partly obscuring his face when the chilly wind blew.
Emilie jumped at the smack, Laura’s hand a blur right before Owen’s head snapped to the side. Over the gasps from the crowd, Emilie heard Owen exhale sharply, slowly, his dark hair covering his face.
“Don’t you ever speak to us like that again, you creep,” Laura slowly drew her hand back, touching the tips of her fingers to her lips, slightly covering her smirk.
Owen looked at her, blood dribbling down his bottom lip. Emilie froze up at the look in his eyes.
Laura took a step closer to him. “What are you gonna do about it?”
“I’d like to know that, too.”
Emilie looked back. A tall guy with light brown hair was coming toward them. Derek Simmons, Laura’s boyfriend. In the corner of her eye, Emilie noticed Owen tense up.
“Owen here threatened to kill us!” Breanna cried dramatically, and Emilie rolled her eyes.
Derek took quick steps toward Owen, who tried to step back, but was grabbed by his shoulders. “You really never learn, do you?”
“Let me go!” Owen struggled, but Derek gripped him tighter.
The three girls excitedly gathered closer, and hushed gossip broke out through the crowd as they closed in.
And Emilie took the chance to walk away while they weren’t paying her any attention. She felt guilty leaving Owen like that, because he’d come to her defense, but she’d been kept long enough and this was going to get a teacher’s attention and she had to get home already, because mom should be home from the hospital and Emilie needed to see her.
She hurried down the street, turning the corner to the first block of houses. Hers was the fourth down the line, a little yellow house with a white fence. She hurried up the steps. She dropped the key while trying to unlock the door, picking it up and trying again with a shaky breath. Her heart was fluttering wildly when she stepped inside, closing the door softly behind her.
“Emilie?” mom called from the kitchen, and Emilie let out a trembling breath of relief.
Emilie went to the kitchen, where mom was sitting at the table with her hands around a mug. “You’re out of bed,” Emilie did not disguise her surprise. She’d barely gotten out of bed since last week, complaining that her head hurt too much. And when she did get out of bed a couple days ago, the pain had caused her to faint. “Are you feeling better, then?”
“I had enough energy to make tea,” mom smiled softly.
Emilie dropped her backpack to the floor and took a seat at the table. “Are you okay, though? How did the tests go?”
“The hospital will call me with the results when they have them,” she said, and Emilie was confused. She thought they would have told her while she was still in the hospital, because they’d done them right away.
“Emilie,” dad’s voice called from the living room.
“Coming,” she called, standing from her chair.
“I’ll start dinner,” mom said, also standing.
Emilie went back to the living room, where dad was taking his coat from the rack. When he turned around, Emilie stared at his white button shirt and black tie. “You’re going to the office,” she said in disbelief.
“There’s a lot of work to do,” he pulled his gray, button down coat on. “I missed out on a lot of hours today.”
“Because you brought mom home from the hospital,” she told him, her voice unsteady. “You’re really leaving when she fainted a few days ago?” she lowered her voice, not wanting mom to hear.
Sighing at the question, dad brushed one of his hands through his short black hair, and Emilie noticed all the shiny gray coming in. “Why are you making me sound cruel, Emilie?” he asked. “We’re not wealthy as is, and with your mother not working for the past two weeks—”
“She’s sick!” Emilie cut him off with a furious whisper.
“And she has a sixteen year old daughter to take care of her when I’m unable to,” he said, wrapping his scarf around his neck. Emilie almost wanted to tighten it until he choked.
“Emi? Hiro?” mom called their names from the kitchen. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, Delilah, everything is fine,” dad called back. “Go to her,” he then told Emilie. “Call my office if anything happens.”
That said, he walked out, closing the door softly behind him. Emilie exhaled long and slow, and then a loud crash in the kitchen made her jump.
She ran in there, “mom?!”
“I’m okay!” mom said quickly. “My head hurt when I bent down, and I dropped the soup pot.”
She forced a light chuckle, holding her hand over her forehead, but Emilie could only stare at her. “I-I’ll make dinner,” Emilie said breathlessly. “Sit down and rest, okay?”
Mom nodded in agreement, and went to the living room, sitting down on the couch, and clicking on the tv. “Hey, Emi?”
“Yeah?”
Mom looked back at her. “Forget the soup,” she waved her hand. “Do you know what I really want?”
“What?”
“Pizzabro,” she whispered.
“You just got out of the hospital, and you wanna send your husband there next, is that it?”
“Emilie, I ate nothing but hospital food for three days. I want a pizza.”
“Fine,” Emilie agreed with a giggle. “I’ll order your favorite.”
When the pizza came, they watched a movie while they ate. When it was over, mom went straight to bed after taking the medication they gave her for her headaches.
Emilie washed the dishes and put away the leftovers, and then made dad his lunch for tomorrow. Tired, she put off doing the laundry, and went to her room instead.
She fell onto her bed with a sigh, covering her face with her hands. In the darkness, she pictured Laura and her cruel smile.
She opened her eyes, wanting Laura’s stupid face out of her head.
But her words stayed.
Emilie grabbed the teddy bear that sat next to her pillow and squeezed it to her chest. Mom had made this bear for her before she was even born. A light pink bear with black button eyes. One of the buttons had fallen off when Emilie was four years old, but she didn’t want mom to sew on another because she liked it better this way, her four year old self finally giving a name to her first and favorite toy: Mr. Button.
Tears suddenly welled in her eyes. That memory always used to make her smile, but right now it just made her sad.
Because what if Laura was right?
Why was this happening? Mom had been perfectly fine two weeks ago.
Why couldn’t it have been him instead?
The horrible thought made Emilie’s chest tighten with guilt. Dad didn’t deserve that. She turned over just as the tears spilled, and buried her face in her pillow so mom wouldn’t hear the sob that choked out in the other room.
She wished there was someone to tell her everything would be okay. She wished that she had someone to talk to, to take her mind away from this.
But she lay here alone, always alone, and tonight the loneliness cut deeper into her heart than it usually did.
Chapter Two: That Day On The School Roof
Emilie rubbed one of her tired eyes with a sigh, her other hand dunking a teabag up and down in mom’s favorite yellow flower shaped mug. She’d barely slept last night, anxiously dreaming up the worst case scenarios about mom’s headaches.
Dad came into the kitchen, adjusting his black tie. “Your lunch is in the fridge,” Emilie told him.
“Thank you,” he said. He opened the fridge, and she cringed at his heavy sigh. “Pizza?”
“That’s my lunch,” she told him.
“Was this dinner last night?”
“Yep.”
“Emilie, you should be making proper meals,” he took out his lunch container of chicken and salad that she’d made for him last night before bed, closing the fridge. “Your mother shouldn’t be eating takeout.”
“She wanted to order it,” Emilie told him sharply. “It’s her favorite. It’s not the end of the world to order a pizza sometimes.”
“Do not take that tone with me,” he said, but even when he scolded her, he was careless about it, as if he didn’t actually care and speaking to her was a chore either way.
“Sure,” she looked away, already drained, because speaking to him was a chore for her, too.
“Good morning,” mom’s cheerful greeting broke the tension as she strolled into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table.
“Good morning,” Emilie smiled, pulling the cup of sugar across the counter top. While she added a spoonful, she heard dad and mom whispering to each other, and couldn’t make out their words.
“Here you go,” she set the mug of herbal tea down in front of mom, and dad pulled away from her.
“I’ll see you tonight,” dad kissed the top of mom’s head, and then left the kitchen.
“Thank you, Emi,” mom said before taking a sip of tea.
“I’ll make you some breakfast before I go,” Emilie said. “Scrambled eggs?”
“That sounds wonderful.”
Emilie started on that, glancing at mom occasionally, reading the morning paper while she sipped her tea. “You’ll take it very easy today, right?” Emilie asked. She hated leaving her alone, and couldn’t believe dad was so careless to leave her alone after all this. She mentioned taking some days off school to stay with her, but both of them were completely against that idea.
“Yes,” mom sighed. “I’ll be bored on the couch all day.”
“Good,” Emilie set the plate in front of her.
She then rushed to get ready for school. She quickly dressed into her uniform, a white button down shirt, knee length black skirt, and black tights. She ran the brush through her long reddish brown hair while she slipped her black shoes on, and then pulled on her soft pink coat.
Nearly forgetting, she grabbed the book she’d been reading from her bedside table and slid it into her backpack.
In the kitchen, mom was just finishing her breakfast. Emilie grabbed the container of leftover pizza and shoved it into her backpack, zipping it. Then she gave mom a gentle hug. “I’ll see you later,” she said, kissing her cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” mom said. “Have a good day.”
A cold wind greeted Emilie when she walked out the door, blowing her hair in front of her face. She locked the door, and then went on her way. Coldwell High was only a block away from her house, so she walked to school everyday.
She walked down her block, Hazelnut Rd, and turned the corner. The high school was across the street, down the dirt road lined with cobblestones, the tall pine trees of the woods surrounding it in the far off distance.
Emilie arrived at school just as everyone else did, a crowd goofing off outside before they had to go in. She gazed at Derek Simmons, with his arm around the shoulders of Laura Thomas while he was talking to some other guys on the football team. Sitting on a bench behind them was Holly Wallace, talking to Breanna Stevens.
Emilie was tense as she walked by, a knot twisting in her stomach as she anticipated Laura’s voice.
Instead, she heard Laura’s whisper. Even worse.
Daring to glance at them, Emilie was startled to see Laura and Derek looking at her, along with every single one of Derek’s football friends. And also Holly and Breanna, until Breanna poked Holly’s shoulder, and whispered something into her ear.
Emilie looked away, and quickly walked into the school, shivering with cold and anxiety, making her way to the girl’s bathroom so she could fix her hair.
Kate Cowell was standing outside the bathroom with Joshua Garcia. “That isn’t what I meant!” Kate huffed, putting her hands on her hips.
Joshua sighed, running his hand through his dark curls. “Look, can we just talk about it later?”
Emilie awkwardly went into the bathroom, the door closing on Kate’s annoyed voice: “you want to talk about everything later, Joshua!”
With a sigh, Emilie looked at herself in the mirror, brushing her fingers through her messy hair. Her brown eyes looked tired today due to not getting any sleep last night.
The bathroom door opened, and through the mirror, Emilie watched Kate walk in, looking frustrated until she noticed Emilie, and she smiled.
“Good morning, Emilie.”
“Hi.”
Kate stopped in front of the sink next to Emilie’s, also fixing her hair. “Sorry for that,” she said.
“For what?” Emilie asked.
“That little argument I was having.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Emilie shook her head. “Is everything okay, though?”
“Things with Joshua have been a little rough lately,” she admitted, tucking her hair behind her ears. “He actually has it in his head that Derek is interested in being his friend. I don’t understand how he can’t realize what they’re like.”
“Yeah.”
She turned to Emilie, smiling. She took a step closer, giving Emilie chills when she ran her fingers through Emilie’s hair. “Your hair is so pretty,” she commented, brushing the tips of her fingers through the bangs across Emilie’s forehead, brushing them a little to the left side.
“Thank you,” Emilie felt heat running up the back of her neck. “Yours is, too.”
Kate was about to say something, but they both jumped when the bathroom door flew open violently, Holly Wallace whispering furiously as she pulled someone into the bathroom with her, her hand squeezing theirs so hard that her fingers were bone white.
Aileen O’Byrne followed her inside. “Careful, Holly,” Aileen swung their hands at her side, “this is kinda gay.”
Holly paused, noticing Kate and Emilie. Then she tore her hand away from Aileen’s, wiping it on her skirt as if in disgust. “Get out,” she demanded, pointing to the open doorway where Aileen was standing.
“Excuse me?” Kate asked, looking astonished.
“You two, get out of here,” Holly huffed.
“Uh oh, you want me in private, huh?” Aileen folded her arms across her chest, leaning with her shoulder against the doorway.
“You are not funny!” Holly fumed, her cheeks flushing.
“Ms. O’Byrne?” Mrs. Kettlewell’s voice carried from the hallway. “Is that you?”
“Oh, fuck me, I don’t need all this shit today,” Aileen closed her eyes, sighing deeply. Mrs. Kettlewell stopped in the doorway behind Aileen.
“I was just informed of something, Ms. O’Byrne,” the teacher’s voice was a pitch higher than usual.
“What’s that?” Aileen asked, her eyes still closed.
“Ms. Thomas just showed me a damaged table in the library, where the message Beware Mrs. Kettlehell has been carved in.”
Holly slapped her hand over her mouth, pathetically trying to disguise the snort laugh that slipped out with a fake sneeze.
“What careless destruction of school property,” said Aileen, quoting that day last week when Mrs. Kettlewell scolded Joshua when she caught him discarding a piece of chewed gum by sticking it underneath his desk.
“Ms. Thomas informed me that she witnessed you carving the message, Aileen,” the teacher’s face had become that particular shade of red it did whenever she was dealing with Aileen. “So I do indeed have you to thank for that name.”
“I’m sad you don’t have me to thank, ‘cause that’s funny,” Aileen said, “but I can’t take the credit.”
“Why would Ms. Thomas lie?”
“’Cause she’s a manipulative, fake, evil, lying little whore?” Aileen shrugged, and it was Kate’s turn to disguise the giggle that slipped out with a cough, covering her mouth with her hand.
“Come with me, Aileen,” Mrs. Kettlewell ordered. “It’s time for another talk with Mr. Zhang, I see.”
Rolling her eyes, Aileen pushed her shoulder off the doorway, following Mrs. Kettlewell down the hallway. Holly watched them like she wanted to follow, sighing shakily before she stormed away.
“Well,” Kate sighed softly, catching the door before it closed, “I hope you have a nice day, Emilie. I know that’s difficult to do here.”
“Thank you,” Emilie smiled, stepping out of the bathroom. “Same to you.”
But the school day just went on in the slow, miserable way that it always did. When the bell finally rang for lunch, Emilie grabbed her backpack and made her way to her new favorite spot…
The roof.
She’d always hated the cafeteria. Pretty much everyone had a table full of friends to sit with, and the only option for her was the table in the back where the friendless sat. No one talked to each other, but someone was usually uncomfortably staring at her.
For the past few months, she’d been eating lunch in the school library because it was completely empty at that time. But two weeks ago when mom’s headaches began, she hadn’t been feeling good and had no appetite, so she wandered the quiet hallways while everyone else was at lunch.
And she’d found the door to the roof was unlocked. It wasn’t supposed to be, so she’d been careful to make sure that no one was around to see her go up there each time she did.
She quickly went up and shut the door behind her, and when she turned around, her heart jumped in surprise.
Someone else was up here today. She was standing with her back to Emilie. Long, straight dark brown hair that Emilie recognized immediately. She was standing so close to the edge of the roof that Emilie’s heart gave another jolt.
She must have heard the door close, because she looked back. Far too nervous to get a word out to Aileen O’Byrne, Emilie just lifted her hand up in a wave.
It looked like Aileen tilted her head a little in a nod before she turned her head, staring down at the world below again.
Sitting down in her usual spot, Emilie kept watching Aileen, and thought about how she could never stand so close to the edge like that. It would make her so dizzy she’d probably fall. She kept her eyes on Aileen as she took her lunch out of her backpack. Aileen lit up a cigarette and walked slowly, still so near the edge, one foot hovering off for a second. Seeing that made Emilie hold her breath with a flutter of panic, about ready to yell at her to be careful over there.
Emilie had never spoken to Aileen before. She only knew her from Mrs. Kettlewell’s class, and she had sat with her during lunch sometimes at the friendless table in the cafeteria, where Aileen used to sit with Holly until their friendship ended and Holly earned a place at Laura’s table instead.
Besides that, Aileen had a reputation for her bad attitude, which Emilie had seen plenty of. And besides Holly at one point in time, everyone and everything seemed to annoy Aileen, so she wasn’t a person Emilie would otherwise bother to try and talk to, anyway.
Emilie opened her lunch container filled with slices of leftover pizza from last night. Then she pulled out the book she’d been reading, opening it to the bookmarked page.
After flicking the butt of her cigarette off the roof, Aileen stood there for a moment longer, and then she turned around, and sat down a little away from Emilie.
Emilie tensed up. She’d kinda been expecting her to just leave. Now it was just like being in the cafeteria, awkwardly sitting with someone and not speaking. At least Aileen didn’t stare at her, too busy staring at the edge of the roof, the headphones around her neck playing a faint, heavy pounding beat.
Aileen wasn’t eating anything for lunch. Emilie wondered if she was hungry. She built up the courage to get the words out.
“Do you want some pizza?” she offered, holding the container out.
Aileen looked at her, but she didn’t say anything. “Um, if you don’t mind cold pizza,” Emilie shrugged. “It’s mushroom. I won’t eat all these slices.”
Okay, she totally would, but maybe saying she wouldn’t would get Aileen to take one because now she needed to take one or this would be really awkward.
“Thanks,” Aileen shrugged before she took a slice. She was wearing a thin black hoodie over her white uniform shirt, and rolled up the long sleeves a little, one which had a little hole ripped through it.
Emilie exhaled a tiny breath of relief and set the container down between them. Okay. That wasn’t so bad. Kinda easy, actually. Emilie tried to think of something else to say, because the worst that could happen was Aileen would tell her to shut up, she would, and that was that. But Aileen didn’t seem annoyed yet, so…
“Thanks for getting Mrs. Kettlewell’s attention off me yesterday,” she said, and Aileen looked at her. “I know you didn’t mean to, but I’m grateful anyway.”
Emilie forced a tiny smile, and Aileen stared at her for a moment as if she didn’t remember, but then she snorted. “That was you?”
“Yep. I am the monster that disturbed her lecture. I hope you didn’t get in too much trouble after that.”
Aileen shrugged. “I’m used to her bullshit.”
“Was it actually you that carved Kettlehell into that table?”
“Nope,” she smiled faintly. “But I got the blame for it anyway.”
“It does seem like something you would do,” Emilie told her, earning an amused little smirk at that while she finished the pizza.
“So, do you always come up here, or something?” Aileen asked after a moment, picking at the chipping black polish on her fingernails.
Emilie shook her head. “Only for the past two weeks. I hate the cafeteria, so I usually go to the library.”
Aileen looked at her, staring for a moment before she said, “it is you.”
“It is?” Emilie asked in confusion. “What’s me?”
“I always go to the library, too,” Aileen commented, instantly making Emilie’s stomach flutter. “I guess you’ve never noticed me, but I noticed you.”
She kept looking at Emilie, a crooked smirk on her pale lips before she confirmed Emilie’s horror: “you’re always fucking crying.”
In the silence of the library where she thought she was alone, Emilie had allowed herself a few breakdowns. There were days when dad would make her so angry, or life would just make her so stressed, that she didn’t bother holding it back.
Embarrassment washed over her like scalding water on her skin, her cheeks flushing. She cleared her throat and attempted to play it off: “and you’re there listening to me spill out my grief, and don’t even come to ask if I’m okay, huh? Cold.”
Aileen snorted. “It ain’t my business. I just turn my headphones up. I hate when people cry.”
“You’re so tough you never cry, then?” Emilie asked.
“’Course I do,” she shrugged. “Just not in the middle of the library. I lock myself in the bathroom and break down in private. Like a normal person.”
Emilie burst into giggles at that, watching Aileen take another slice of pizza. “How have I never heard you in the library before?” she asked, calming down.
“I’m real quiet,” Aileen said before taking a bite of pizza.
“Do you like to read?” Emilie asked curiously.
“Not really,” she shrugged. “I loved Spineshivers books when I was a kid. Well, I still do.”
“Oh, I love those!” Emilie said excitedly.
“I always thought it’d be cool to write a book someday.”
“What kind of book would you write?” Emilie asked.
“Don’t know yet. When I write it, I’ll show you first.”
Emilie chuckled, feeling herself flush again.
They fell into silence. But it wasn’t awkward anymore, so Emilie didn’t mind it. She looked down at her book.
“What are you reading?” Aileen asked before taking a bite of pizza.
Emilie glanced down at the book on her lap. “Oh, it’s about a ghost trying to solve the mystery of her murder!” she barely felt embarrassed that her voice trembled, eager to explain because she wanted to talk to someone about this book so bad: “she doesn’t remember how she died, and she’s trapped haunting her family and friends and realizes they’re all suspects!”
Chewing her pizza, Aileen’s eyes followed the hand motions Emilie wasn’t even aware that she was doing, and she lowered her hands to her lap, embarrassed.
“Sounds like a cool book,” Aileen said after a moment.
“It is!” Emilie threw her hands up again. “I love ghost stories! My favorite thing is to go on the computer and find stories about haunted places or unsolved murders and read about them. One day I wanna explore a haunted place. I wanna find a ghost.”
Aileen shoved the final bite of pizza into her mouth and wiped her hands on her skirt. “What if they’re not real?”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Emilie grinned.
Aileen’s blue gray eyes stared at her, her lips curved in a tiny crooked smile again. “You ever gone to the woods?”
Everyone said the Coldwell Woods were haunted, ‘cause people had a habit of dying in them. Lots of people from Lavendel, mostly kids. They built a long fence around them two years ago, but that still didn’t stop reckless teenagers from getting inside.
“Um, no…” Emilie admitted.
“Why not, ghost girl?” Aileen’s smile had taken a mischievous turn.
Emilie tangled her fingers together on her lap. “Um, I’m afraid to go there alone… I wanna find ghosts, but I’m not ready to become one yet, you know?”
“Then bring someone with you,” Aileen shrugged. “The ghosts will go after them instead, you can escape, and then you’ll be able to say you lived your life’s dream of finding a ghost.”
“Of course I had that idea before, but I haven’t got a single friend to sacrifice,” Emilie sighed loudly, throwing her hands up. “But… hey,” she looked at Aileen, tilting her head a little to the side, “maybe I can bring you.”
She expected Aileen to chuckle at the joke, and then they’d go back to sitting here in silence, go their separate ways when lunch break was over, and never speak to each other again, because why would they? They were complete opposites of each other, and the only thing they had in common was that they both had no friends. But Aileen was friendless by choice and hated everyone and everything, and why would she wanna hang out with an awkward loser like Emilie?
But something else happened instead, and Aileen’s response surprised her: “I was hoping you’d ask.”
Chapter Three: Death, But Weird
Emilie watched Aileen as she took another slice of pizza from the container. “You…” she said quietly, “you really want to?”
“Sure,” Aileen shrugged, “why not?”
Emilie stared at her, watching her shove the last bit of pizza into her mouth. “Thought you wanted to?” Aileen wiped her hands on her skirt. “Or was that all talk? You too scared?”
That little smile was back, and Emilie’s cheeks burned. “No,” she scoffed, the most obvious lie ever that Aileen snorted at, “I just… well, didn’t think you’d really care.”
“It is stupid,” Aileen rubbed at one of her eyes, and Emilie noticed the puffy dark lines underneath, like she hadn’t gotten much sleep… like, ever. “But I ain’t got anything better to do these days.”
“Me neither,” Emilie’s heart beat faster in excitement, her lips twitching to a grin. She grabbed a slice of pizza from the container. “Hey, so, how come you’re up here today?” Emilie asked.
“What?”
“Up here,” Emilie chewed her pizza, waving her other hand to gesture at the roof in general. “On the roof?”
Aileen blinked, turning her head away. “I don’t know. Just noticed it was unlocked.”
The bell rang. Emilie quickly shoved her book back into her backpack, looking at Aileen when she stood. “Thanks for the pizza,” she said, walking away. “I’ll pay you back for it, okay?”
“Um, sure,” Emilie called, watching her go. She quickly finished the last slice of pizza, shoving the container into her backpack and zipping it up.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Aileen for the rest of the day, sometimes wondering if she’d really actually talked to her or if she just imagined the whole thing, especially when Aileen was absent from Mrs. Kettlewell’s class.
Owen Becker wasn’t, though, and Emilie’s heart sank when she saw his black eye. When Mrs. Kettlewell’s back was turned, she leaned closer to him. “Hey, thank you for the help yesterday,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry you got hurt.”
He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Don’t listen to any of the shit those bitches say to you, okay?”
Emilie nodded, giving him a tiny smile.
When the bell rang for freedom, she looked around for Aileen on the way out, hoping to talk to her again because they hadn’t actually made a plan to explore the woods together even though Aileen seemed sure she wanted to do it. But Emilie didn’t see her down the halls, or outside.
Emilie noticed Owen walking a little off to the side of her. His eyes were glaring daggers at Derek and his group, and his hand was balled into a fist at his side, like it was ready to strike Derek in return. But he passed them by, and kept walking, his shoulders relaxing as he did. Emilie let out a breath of relief herself when she passed them by undetected, too. Laura was too busy making a show of talking to Joshua, rubbing her hands up and down his shoulders while Holly and Breanna played with his curly hair. Emilie wondered if poor Kate was around anywhere to see.
She kept looking around on her way home, hoping to spot Aileen somewhere, feeling a sting of disappointment when she didn’t.
The next day, the sting of disappointment turned into a stab when Emilie went to the roof during lunch break and Aileen wasn’t there. She stood there for a few minutes with her arms wrapped around herself, hoping she’d show up. It was pretty cold today. Maybe that was why Aileen wasn’t here.
But where else would she go?
Her mood dropped to sadness when it was too cold to keep waiting, so she just gave up and went to the library. After quickly eating a sandwich, she sat down in front of a computer, looking at recent news going on in Lavendel. Nothing. She searched for anything going on in other places.
The town of Twilight Falls just had what was described as a birthday massacre when a kid at a birthday party decided to try and kill their classmates. The investigation was ongoing. There was also a twelve year old boy missing from there.
A chair was pulled out beside her, and Emilie’s heart jolted to see Aileen. “Hey,” Aileen greeted, sitting down. “You weren’t on the roof.”
Emilie held her hand over her chest. It suddenly felt like her heart was about to explode. “Oh, I checked up there for you!” she was so excited that she couldn’t keep away a grin. “I guess I was too early. I thought you weren’t going up there today because it’s too cold.”
Aileen looked at the computer screen. “What are you up to?”
“Oh,” Emilie was suddenly kinda horrified. She glanced at the news story, and then back at Aileen, watching her blue gray eyes follow the text, squinting before she leaned forward, like she couldn’t see that far.
“That’s fucked up,” she commented.
“Um, yeah,” Emilie agreed. “So… it’s a grim hobby,” she began slowly, wiping her sweaty palms on her skirt. “But I like to read about this stuff. I mean, I don’t like it,” she blurted, “like, I totally don’t like that it happens, I just mean, sometimes I find stories that are so… weird, you know? So weird that it makes me wonder if supernatural things are involved. That’s why I’m interested in ghosts so much.”
She exhaled shakily, terrified that now Aileen was gonna think she was the creepiest weirdo ever.
But Aileen just snorted like that was the most amusing thing she’d ever heard. “Well, find one,” she waved her hand at the computer, the long sleeve of her thin black hoodie almost covering her hand. “’Cause the birthday massacre here just sounds like one very fucked up kid, not a ghost.”
“Y-Yeah!” Emilie squeaked, her hand trembling as she moved the mouse to find another story.
There was a murder in the town of WillowWood. Some woman was killed while visiting her parents, and the killer hadn’t been found yet.
“Doesn’t sound like there’s any ghosts involved there,” Aileen sat back in her chair like she was already bored. “Just a regular ol’ murder.”
Emilie kept looking. Meanwhile, in a town called Mooncrest, a teenage girl fell out her window and was impaled by a fence, a teenage boy had his face smashed in with a rock, a middle aged librarian had cut out his own tongue and tried to shove it back down his throat, dying in the middle of doing so.
“Here!” Emilie nearly gasped.
Aileen leaned forward with her elbows on the desk. Emilie watched her eyes following the stories while she read. “These are supposedly suicides,” Emilie’s voice gave a little tremble, “murder was suspected at first, but now they’re saying no one actually killed these people. You really think they could do these things to themselves?”
Aileen sat back in her chair again, folding her arms across her chest. “Okay, you got me,” she shrugged, a tiny smile curving on her lips. “That’s some weird, creepy shit.”
Emilie felt a surge of satisfaction. “See?”
The bell rang, and Emilie’s excitement died in an instant. She really, really didn’t wanna stop talking to Aileen.
Aileen pushed her chair out, standing, and Emilie closed the website with a little sigh.
“See ya,” Aileen started away, almost like she was in a hurry.
“Yeah,” Emilie whispered, watching her go. “See ya.”
For the rest of the day, Emilie couldn’t focus during classes because she kept thinking about Aileen again. She wondered when they’d talk more, and if Aileen remembered about exploring the woods. She’d ask her the next time they did talk, which she hoped would be soon.
When school let out, Emilie walked in the back of the crowd rushing out the door to the outside. “So,” the voice made Emilie jump, and she was surprised to see Aileen fall into step beside her, “was there a weird story in particular you read that got you into your obsession with ghosts? What weird ass, unexplained tragedy that befell a small town made you like, yeah, ghosts are totally real?”
Emilie was so taken aback by her that she mumbled something incoherent that even she didn’t understand. But then excitement practically burst out of her, and she grinned. “Eden,” she said. “There used to be a town called Eden, but five years ago, almost everyone died in impossible ways, and everyone that didn’t left.”
“You look like you’re gonna die if you don’t tell me exactly how,” Aileen raised her eyebrows, a tiny smile curving on her lips.
Emilie took a deep breath before she burst into explanation of how the people of Eden reportedly died. She walked at a slow pace because she couldn’t focus on walking and talking at the same time, and Aileen slowed with her, watching her with that tiny smile.
Then the voice of Laura Thomas made Emilie pause. “Do you have a new girlfriend, Aileen?” her voice was high with amusement, and got everyone’s attention. Emilie stumbled a little when every eye was suddenly on her.
“To pretty Holly here to that,” Laura smirked, brushing her hands through Holly’s long blonde hair. “Well, I guess you can’t be choosy,” she shrugged. “There’s not many options for someone like you here in little old Coldwell.”
Emilie looked down at the giggling that broke out among the crowd. “What do you think of your replacement, Holl?” Laura nudged Holly with her elbow.
Emilie glanced at Holly, startled by her glare before Holly quickly blinked it away, shrugging like she didn’t care.
Aileen kept staring ahead, ignoring them, and Emilie just did as she did, wanting to get away. But then she was pulled back by her wrist, flinching at Laura’s grip.
“Hey, Emilie,” she squeezed a little tighter, “if Aileen here gets a little too touchy, just come to me. You won’t be the first I’ve saved.”
Laura barely had a second to give her usual smirk when Aileen roughly grabbed her by the wrist, causing her to let go of Emilie. “Don’t fucking touch her,” Aileen warned, releasing her hand so roughly that Laura stumbled back.
Emilie watched Laura’s open mouthed surprise quickly be replaced with a flash of anger in her eyes, raising a clenched fist that flew out and struck Aileen in the face.
Emilie jumped, letting out a startled gasp like the rest of the crowd, hushed voices drawing in closer.
“Don’t you fucking touch me,” Laura said, “you fucking trash.”
Aileen responded with a fist to Laura’s face, causing Laura to cry out and fall backwards, hitting the ground with another cry.
Aileen was on top of her, and Laura’s scream was drowned out by Holly’s and Breanna’s shrieks as Aileen punched her again, and again.
Joshua Garcia pushed through the crowd, hurrying toward them, but Owen Becker pulled him back by his shoulder, not looking away from the fight, a smile on his cut lip from when Laura slapped him yesterday. “Hey, man, let Aileen do what she needs to.”
Joshua opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when Kate patted him on his arm. “Don’t get involved, Joshua,” she said, also not taking her eyes off the fight, looking like she was anticipating every single punch, a smile twitching on her lips.
And then Holly grabbed a handful of Aileen’s hair from behind, pulling so hard that Aileen got off of Laura, smacking Holly’s hand away.
Breanna helped Laura get shakily to her feet, her and Aileen panting, staring each other down. Laura’s lip was swollen and covered in blood, while Aileen’s nose was gushing blood that trailed down her chin. But if Aileen was in pain, she wasn’t showing it.
“You psycho!” Holly yelled shrilly, tears shining in her green eyes. “You could have killed her!”
That made Owen snort. Looking livid, Holly shoved Aileen backward by her shoulders, getting in her face. “You think acting like that is gonna win me back?!” Holly shoved her again.
“You really fucking think…” Aileen began softly, “that I’d go that far for you?” her voice trembled as the soft words fell from her blood covered lips. “You don’t mean shit to me anymore, and you killed everything I ever felt for you. Trust me when I say I don’t want you back.”
Everyone in the crowd was looking around at each other, and Emilie heard someone say: “were they really a couple?”
Another girl giggled at the question. “Gross.”
It looked like Holly was the one that had been struck, her mouth hanging open as tears rolled down her flushed cheeks.
“What in the world is going on over here?” the voice of a teacher, Mrs. Kettlewell of all people, called.
Laura, Breanna, and Holly were the first ones to rush away. Emilie grabbed Aileen by her hand, pulling her away toward the dirt road, not in the mood to be caught and lectured by Mrs. Kettlewell.
When they were far enough away, Emilie slowed her pace down the block. She looked at Aileen, still holding her hand, frowning at Aileen wiping the blood from her nose with her other hand. Her hand was practically covered in blood, and her nose kept bleeding.
“Let’s go to my house,” Emilie told her. “We’ll clean that up.”
Emilie hurriedly unlocked the door, pulling Aileen along to the bathroom. She closed the door and let go of her hand, grabbing a washcloth and holding it under cold water for a moment. Then she turned to Aileen, frowning at all the blood on her lips and chin.
“Here…” Emilie carefully held the cloth to her nose.
Aileen’s eyes shifted around while she did, looking around the tiny bathroom from where she stood. Emilie went on to wipe the blood from her lips and chin. “There’s so much…” she frowned.
“Some of it’s Laura’s,” Aileen shrugged, her voice muffled against the washcloth.
Emilie burst into giggles. “Well, that makes everything better, doesn’t it?”
Emilie lowered the washcloth. “There,” she smiled, “it stopped bleeding.”
Aileen went to the sink and washed the blood from her hands. Then she looked at her reflection in the mirror, touching her fingers to where she’d been hit.
“Are you okay?” Emilie asked.
“Yeah,” Aileen shrugged, turning to face her. “I’m-I’m fine. Hey, um, thanks,” she mumbled.
“Emi? Are you home?”
Mom. Emilie froze up, struck with the realization…
She’d brought Aileen home.
Her mouth opened, but she had no idea what to say, stunned. She quickly tried to explain. “Um, my mom… she’s sick right now. She gets bad headaches.”
“Oh,” Aileen said softly.
“Emilie?” mom called again, concern in her voice. “Is that you?”
“Yeah, sorry,” Emilie called before she opened the bathroom door.
Mom was standing partly in the living room from the kitchen. “Are you alright?” she asked. Emilie nodded. “I was wondering if you wanted to order dinner again?” she suggested cheerily. “I was craving…” her voice trailed off, and Emilie followed her gaze.
Aileen was standing in the bathroom doorway. “Uh, hi,” she greeted softly, and Emilie was momentarily stunned by her shyness.
“This is Aileen,” Emilie quickly introduced her. “A friend from school.”
“A friend?” mom whispered, not disguising her surprise, to Emilie’s greatest embarrassment. With a glance at Aileen, Emilie saw that she was looking at her curiously, probably just as surprised to be referred to as a friend.
“It’s wonderful to meet you, Aileen!” mom smiled at her, beaming. “I wanted to ask Emilie if she wanted to watch a movie and order dinner, and you’re absolutely free to join us!”
“Uh—” Aileen was apparently shocked at the invitation, staring at Emilie like she had no idea what to say.
“Please?” Emilie asked, her heart suddenly racing in excitement at the thought of having Aileen over for dinner. “If you aren’t busy?”
“I’m not,” Aileen said quickly. “Busy, I mean. I can stay. If you’re really sure it’s okay, I can…”
“What kind of food do you like, Aileen?” mom asked.
“Um…” Aileen tucked her hair behind her ears, “anything’s fine with me.”
“Come on,” mom waved for her to follow, “I’ll show you some menus for our favorite places.”
“Are you really sure?” Aileen whispered again, as if inviting her to stay was a crime.
“Of course,” Emilie nodded. “It’ll be fun.”
“Do you like noodles and beef, Aileen?” mom asked from the kitchen. “I have been dying for this all day, what do you think?”
Aileen just stared into the kitchen, seemingly stunned, and then she collected herself and went in there. Emilie watched mom showing her the menu, a little stunned herself that she actually had someone over.
While mom ordered dinner, Aileen followed Emilie to her room. Emilie stood by her bed, watching Aileen look around, suddenly embarrassed by the pale pink walls and the army of stuffed animals that lined the shelves and covered her bed.
“Your room’s cute,” Aileen commented.
“I had an obsession with collecting cute stuff when I was a kid,” Emilie chuckled nervously, tangling her fingers in front of her. “Now I’ve got so much, it’ll be hard to clear out.”
“Why would you do that?” Aileen asked, stopping at the side of the bed. “It suits you.”
Emilie felt heat run up the back of her neck. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She didn’t know if she wanted Aileen to think she was cute. She knew that she didn’t want Aileen to think she was childish, she wanted her to think… well, she didn’t know.
She thought about earlier, about Holly, and wondered if it was true. She nearly blurted out: Was Holly really your girlfriend? But very quickly stopped herself.
Instead, she asked: “hey, s-so, why did you and Holly stop being friends?”
Emilie’s heart jumped when Aileen picked up the tattered old teddy bear that had a special place on Emilie’s pillow. “She found a better friend,” Aileen said, looking at the bear.
“I-I think you’re a good friend,” Emilie quickly stammered. “Way better than Laura.”
Aileen chuckled, looking at her for a moment before her eyes shifted back to the bear in her hands. “I don’t know about that,” she said softly. “Holly was the only friend I ever had, and she walked away without looking back.”
“Well, I’d love to be your friend,” Emilie’s stomach fluttered with butterflies. “I-If you want to…”
Emilie drew a shaky breath, gazing at Aileen, her heart fluttering wildly at her faint smile. “Hey,” Aileen said after a moment, “why’s this one got one eye?”
“I liked him better that way,” Emilie replied. “His name is Mr. Button. My mom made him for me before I was born, so he’s really special.”
“Mr. Button, huh?” Aileen asked, then gave a little snort.
“I named him when I was four,” Emilie huffed, watching her chuckle, still hardly believing that Aileen O’Byrne was standing here in her room, holding Mr. Button.
Aileen set the bear back in its spot beside the pillow. “Hey, I’m sorry she said that stuff to you. I know it’s embarrassing and I probably made shit worse,” she looked at her knuckles, looking red and swollen.
“I’m not embarrassed,” Emilie said quickly, and Aileen looked at her. “I mean, I don’t care if they say that… stuff.”
Aileen broke eye contact, seemingly not knowing how to respond to that. Mom’s voice broke the now awkward silence, to Emilie’s relief.
“Girls! Dinner’s here!”
The three of them watched a movie in the living room while they ate dinner. By the time it was over, it was dark outside.
“Um, thanks for having me over,” Aileen said. “I should get home. My mom’s probably wondering where I am.”
“Come over again, okay?” mom told her. “I’d love for us to do this again. I know it would make Emi very happy.”
“Yeah,” Aileen said. “I will.”
Emilie followed Aileen to the front door, where she grabbed her backpack from the floor. “I really had a lot of fun,” Emilie told her.
“Yeah,” Aileen looked at her. “So did I.”
“S-So, would you wanna do it again sometime?”
“How’s tomorrow sound?” Aileen swung her backpack over her shoulder.
Emilie’s heart fluttered. She hadn’t expected that. It left her speechless for a moment, and when Aileen raised her eyebrows like she was confused, Emilie blurted out: “yes!”
Aileen chuckled. “See ya, Emilie.”
Emilie watched her leave, turning down the block, and then she closed and locked the door.
After telling mom good night, she went to her room, falling backwards onto her bed with a sigh. Staring up at the ceiling, holding her hands over her heart. It was pounding fast, and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. It was almost like being nervous, but it was different. It felt nice, and her cheeks were starting to hurt because she couldn’t stop smiling.
And she wanted to feel like this forever.
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aelfhild-astraedottir · 4 months
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Musical notes are falling from the sky
Shooshing like lullabies through the leaves
Plinking staccato on my chimney
Crescendoing in sync with the wind section
Winding winter melodies
Into my soul.
© Ælfhild Astrædottir 2023
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hebrewbyinbal · 9 months
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My Hebrew print, cursive, & vowel workbooks will have you reading & writing it.
My Jewish Traditions & Hebrew Words Coloring Book will have you creating and celebrating it.
My notebooks will help you practice learning to love it!
Head to hebrewbyinbal.com/order and scroll to your country (or nearest one) to order yours.
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gwen-tolios · 1 year
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Support Your Tumblr Lore Artists!
I love the tumblr lore post in all its reblog chains and have followed so, so many links. And some of those artists and writers have things you can buy! Here's a list of things you can get from users who have enriched the Tumblr community. Please add more links if you find them!
Valor Anthology - featuring work from @mishacakes who created Bride of the Rose Beast
Other Ever Afters - a collection of works from @melgillman including Ranger in the King's Forest and HSTHETE
While the fabulous @dycefic/@elidyce doesn't have a book that I could find, they do have a Patreon.
Fae Deals & Other Tales - a collection of works from @gwen-tolios who wrote the tooth fairy story
A Caffeinated Collection of Curious Accounts - a collection of works from @caffeinewitchcraft who wrote 100-point child and Narrative Town
Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging - a cryptid anthology with a story by @laurasimonsdaughter who wrote about the haunted house helping a pair of siblings and @thefishermansfavour
Spellbound - While @linkedsoul is better known for the fae-focused Stories of Qelt, they also have a witch romance!
We Don't Have A Compass - a poem collection by @ridinkedskin, who wrote top 10 superhero
CUTTINGS - art book with comics, featuring @aidosaur Girl With The Skeleton Hand
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b-a-pigeon · 4 months
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I'm not making concrete plans for merch yet (that poll in the prev post might make or break that idea, so go vote if you have feelings about it!) buuut I do have a question about commissions...
In general - are artists who do (like, character art) commissions willing to give their clients the right to sell prints, etc? How much more do artists usually charge for those rights? I did Google it so I have a vague idea of the legal stuff but couldn't find specific numbers or anything & it seems like at least some artists are understandably hesitant to give up rights...
(Also! I have no idea if/when this is happening, but artists, hmu if you're taking commissions atm & want to make some cool merch for one of our books! Likely HotU or WFTWR, but if you're excited about another one of our projects, we can discuss it :))
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1indigoisles · 3 months
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Chapter 2 - Excerpt 2
Knightville, I had come to realise, would not be Knightville if it did not rain on a near-constant basis.
It was after school, and the town was grey.
Let me rephrase that. The town was greyer than it normally was, and that was because it was raining heavily.
It was a fact of life that riding a bike in the rain looked cool as long as it was on a screen. In reality, you feel the cold wetness like needles digging into your skin, you feel supremely miserable after said ordeal, and you will most likely become a victim of the wrath of the common cold.
Curse Bleak House for being so far away from school.
Curse me for overlooking the need of my umbrella, which was also irritatingly grey.
Curse the color grey.
By the time I got home, I was sure I was going to be sick. I was wet down to the inside of my skin, my clothes felt so plastered to my body I was I afraid they would never come off, the heat and humidity of the inside of the house made the water feel like sweat, and I was pretty sure my sneakers would perpetually smell like rain.
Lila, who was standing next to the staircase as I dumped my helmet onto a small table next to the door, was also wet, but that was just a pleasant consequence of taking a nice shower. Her hair was lost in a white towel, her cheeks were pink from steam, and she was wearing a blue robe that could only be described as ‘fluffy.’
Her mood, therefore, was also ‘fluffy.’
“Hey there, Ken-doll,” she called, a grin forever plastered on her face,“did the rain give you a hard time?”
“Firstly,” I began, pushing my bag off my shoulders, “you are aware of my opinions on the nickname ‘Ken-doll’. Secondly,” I straightened, and gestured to myself, “what do you think?”
Lila grinned wider.
“Also,” I inquired, “isn’t it a bit too early to take an evening shower?”
“I went out of town today,” she informed me, walking up the stairs, “wanted to go check out a nice bookstore for you. But then it rained, and I just felt really sticky, hence the shower.”
I had to stop myself from frowning. Somehow, that first part had struck me as odd, thinking of going anywhere outside of Knightville. Not like it wasn’t possible, but more like it was improbable for anyone to voluntarily leave.
And like many things in Knightville, it was strange.
But if I were to catalog all the strange things in Knightville, I’d have a lot to think about.
Scarlett Raynott, for example, and the weird behaviour of her shadow that day. It was much too dark, for one thing, the shape was too in proportion with her real size and girth, and the whites contrasted too much to have not been there. She had looked sick and pale, and the expression on her face almost seemed... dangerous?
This was just the perspective of the tiniest part of my brain warring with the larger, more reasonable part that kept shouting, You need a therapist!
And then there was Jolene and Rowan Frost, who had no sense whatsoever as to when taking time off school would be a good idea.
Not to mention that I currently live in a house where fourteen people were once murdered.
Even that crack on the floor outside the chemistry lab nagged at me a little.
And I didn’t even know why all of this bothered me so much. Was there something wrong with me?
Or was there something wrong with Knightville?
I know, I know, it's really short, and it took me took me too long, and nothing really happens, I know that. But there was a reason it took this long. Remember this one and sit tight, it'll be important later.
Taglist: @jeahreading, @mayaheronthorn, @damn-this-transgirl-hella-gay
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rotten-whispers · 5 months
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Give me introspection, I'll give you a new reflection
Something beautiful that you can put all of your dreams in
Carve your flesh and make you feel like a whole new man
(From the horror novel "Boxes", see p1nned post to read!)
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stupidiry · 9 months
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Watercolour (Part One)
(A short drabble for my babies aka Kawi and Pisaeng)
He was eleven when it started; those alienated feelings, the otherness, the void but it was now long gone. He has learned to control them. It was only thing to do because he knew he was not like the others. It's been hard but not insufferable.
However, on the first day of his university, he only wanted to get along with everyone but the otherness- that feeling will just not leave him alone.
“They are what I pretend to be.” he mumbled, quoting his favorite book.
“What?” He heard someone from behind ask. Pisaeng turned around, flustered that he was talking aloud, even more so because someone heard him.
“Uh- nothing.” he replied, his ears going a little red.
“I'm Nott, by the way.” the boy said, waving his hand.
Pisaeng smiled, finally a friend.
“I'm Pisaeng,” he replied.
“So we have a homo in our class.” Nott said, quite nonchalantly, leaving Pisaeng speechless.
“how did you...thats not...I’m not-” He proceeds only to find a lump growing in his chest, making him unable to speak.
Nott looks at him, eyes big behind the round glasses he's wearing. He gives him a look that Pisaeng couldn't comprehend.
“What? Look over there,” He points towards the door, “They are definitely homos.”
Pisaeng looks at the door. There are two boys standing there, one has got pink streaks on his head, the other one, however, is looking down. By his demeanor, Pisaeng could guess that he was nervous. The taller guy, one with pink streaks, puts a hand on the shorter one’s shoulder and mutters something while giving him a pat on the shoulder and going away. The shorter one remains on the door, hands clutching tightly at the straps of his tote bag, before he turns around.
Its almost as if a switch turns on for Pisaeng, as if his weird feelings are taking a direction but he has no say in it neither can he control it. He keeps staring and staring as the guy makes his way to the back of the class, hiding himself from the spotlight but no matter which dark corner he chooses, his light was strikingly at contrast, making him the most visible in Pisaeng’s brown eyes.
*Three years later*
“He's such a heartthrob. I can't believe he's still single.” Kawi says, looking at Pisaeng from afar while resting his elbow on the table with face on his palm.
Eyes away from his book, Max gives him a knowing stare which clearly indicates how done he is.
“If you were interested in boys, you should've just said so.”
“Huh! I'm not!” Kawi says, weighing his words from before and how easily they could be misunderstood, “I was just saying that because Pear is in love with him and he won't fucking make a move. If he doesn't want her, he should just move aside.”
Max smirks, moving his finger to turn to the next page.
“He's being my competition for no reason.” Kawi mumbles, taking a bite from his food.
“Is he though?” Max replies, finally putting his book down.
Kawi gulps down the food before replying, “why else would he always lead Pear on?”
The other shrugs, “Maybe it's Pear making a move on him.”
“Impossible.” Kawi defends, feeling the urge to win this argument, “she’s not the one to hit on others and…and if she was- if she really was, why would anyone reject her? Why would he keep rejecting her? it doesn’t make sense. She’s everyone’s dream.”
Max raises a brow.
“Well not you but you know what I mean.”
He laughs, stroking his pink hair out of his face. “If it’s really what you say, then Pisaeng has no reason to reject Pearmai -except maybe for the fact that he likes someone else?”
“Someone else?” Kawi jolts up, “Who’s that idiot?”
Max shrugs, taking a bite of his well-ignored food. “You seem curious.”
“Of course I am,” Kawi replies, “I want them to be together so he can stop being my competition and I can finally hit on Pear.”
“BodKawi?” They hear a voice. A male voice. The voice. Kawi already has a look of disgust (or was it anger?) on his face.
Pisaeng’s face is radiant as ever. His voice, now gotten rid of the insecurity and void, is more appealing.
“The coach wants to introduce to new members to the basketball club. Are you interested?” He asks, with a glint of hope.
“No.” Kawi replies, with a straight face.
Kawi might be an idiot, Max thought, but he was not.
“How many names have you gotten yet?” Max asked, looking at the way Pisaeng’s eyes were drawn to Kawi. It’s almost as if there was something in them, something that he couldn’t comprehend. He wasn’t sure if Pisaeng himself knew what it was.
“Oh. Not much. I’ve only started collecting now.”
“And Kawi was the first person you came to?” He asks, watching the way Pisaeng fumbles with the pen he’s holding.
Pisaeng almost looks shocked by the question. He looks at Max for a good few seconds before drifting his gaze to Kawi (who’s mindlessly zoning out) and finally looks down at the ground mumbling, “I’m sorry to disturb you two.”
Kawi’s aimless focus is back at his words but he doesn’t say anything.
“Apology accepted. You can go now. Kawi doesn’t like playing basketball. He’s not really an athletic person.”
Pisaeng nods, lips tied.
Almost deviously, Max hands out his plate to Kawi, “I’m full. Would you like to eat some?”
And that drives Pisaeng to go away. Max eyes him the whole time and sees how he angrily waddles out to the other end of the cafeteria where his friends are. He also notices how Pisaeng practically tosses the pen and the clipboard to the table. There’s some conversation going on but it’s out of reach.
“Well. That’s news.” He says, smirking.
“What news?” Kawi asks, now finishing off Max’s food.
“Oh nothing,” Max continues smirking, “Just global warming,”
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it's as they say - you know you've
fallen in love with someone when
they become the first thing
you want to see in the morning.
i still wake up every day hoping,
once more, we can abandon the world
and spend the whole day in bed.
"a first for everything."
d.b.a
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binarybitex · 7 months
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New Heart Hollow update today!
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I'm extremely ecstatic to announce that Heart Hollow Chapter V "Elevator Stuck" is now up on AO3 and Wattpad! 🏩💕 Chapter Summary: After an argument, Zeke and Lewis are forced into having a heart-to-heart as they manage to get themselves stuck in the only functional elevator at the Hotel.
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zooeywrites · 8 months
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Hi everyone!
Hot onto my sideblog it's my first short romance novel (just under 50,000 words) available on Amazon (http://bit.ly/beatingthebounty) for $2.99 with other platforms on the way. I hope you'll give it a look - it's a queer romantic thriller about a cis woman and trans man, and the rest...well hey, I'll let the cover and description speak for themselves.
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Andrea Gall has been living a quiet life in a quiet city in a comfortable retirement from her old career In her late thirties — a con artist with a penchant for targeting the rich and slimy. When her old identity makes an unexpected comeback with the accusation of a murder, her world is upended and she finds herself on the run as the police show up at her door. Alone and outnumbered she’s returned to the world of crime in a race to clear her name before the rest of her life ends up behind bars, but will work turn to play as the thrill of the chase comes back? Hot on her tail is Garreth Scates, an alluring bounty hunter with mysteries of his own. Devoted to his sense of justice, he must face the conflict between his duty to bring her in and his desire to uncover the truth. What will happen when this experienced woman of wiles and powerful trans man collide? Find out in Beating the Bounty, the debut adults only queer romance from T.E. Zooey of criminal chills, sexual thrills, and deadly secrets featuring enemies to lovers, dangerous situations, power differences, and an open ending for more adventures to come.
Guess who just learned tumblr changed the quote font in this process? Me! Guess we're using indented now.
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spookykuroneko · 8 months
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Red eyed rabbits in the dark… 🐇
A little peek at the cover of my horror/mystery book Twelve Candles 🔪
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aelfhild-astraedottir · 3 months
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Thora and Sleipnir's Sleigh: Part 12
by Ælfhild Astrædottir
Part 1 conveniently linked: here!
New Year's Eve in the Yule Father's Village
At the end of the calendar
When the dark polar night reigns yet
The Yule Father's Village bustles
And hustles with their second wind
It is New Year's Eve at last
Let the partying now commence!
Effervescent mead bubbling
Nuts popping around the campfires.
Garlands of cranberries crimson
Ribbons twined through hair and rack
Reindeer line dance patterns in snow
Elves cartwheel over furry backs
Foxes caper holding sparklers
Fireworks invite the sky to play
Thora is festooned with lights
Before streaking through the crisp air.
And that's a wrap for my Yuletide story this year: I hope you all enjoyed this festive poetry experiment of mine!
© Ælfhild Astrædottir 2023
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