[DRP] Every Breath You Take (Chel)

[chiickadee]

3:44 AM

Chel didn't sleep easy these days. She'd always been a pretty decent sleeper, but lately it felt like it would never come to her. Maybe some part of Shun's nightmares were contagious; she kept getting them lately. Not the kind that terrified you to screams, but the kind that would creep you out enough to wake up crying.

Now was one of those times. It took her a moment to gather her surroundings. Deep breath. Look around. It was dark; it would take her eyes a while to adjust.

She sat up as her breathing was hard, and for a dizzying moment it was like an isolation chamber. Dark and quiet and no inkling as to where she was.

Then her senses kicked in. It smelled inordinately clean. The sound of breathing beside her. The night comes together and it's dark blue blankets and long black hair.

Ah. This again. Why did she keep coming here? There were other people on her damn phone list.

She coughed and something wet dribbled down her cheek. Drool, gross. She brought up a hand to wipe it away and blinked a few times to clear the sleep from her face. She wanted to bury herself in the blankets and forget what she'd done.

Instead she got up, pulling his button up shirt off the ground and putting it on like a jacket, at least for the time being. It was going to keep her warmer than wandering the apartment naked. As she walked out of his room towards the bathroom, she couldn't escape the feeling that eyes were on her. The darkness of the hallway seemed incriminating, like they were hiding things.

Jumping into the bathroom and turning on the light was like a godsend. She still followed that childish adage that monsters couldn't touch you if you were in the light. Maybe it was silly, but she did feel relieved in the bathroom as nonsensical as it was.

She shut the door and moved to his sink, still coughing. Her brain was scrambled and the light had her squinting for a moment until her vision cleared. When it did, she was alarmed.

Her cheek had a deep red smear on it, stretching from the corner of her mouth to her ear.  

[chiickadee]

2:30pm

Work was slow. So ******** slow. It was a Tuesday afternoon at a seven-eleven so it made sense that it was slow, but it didn't make it any less unbearable. Her feet hurt. She was supposed to have nice, non-slip shoes but Chel couldn't afford them so she showed up in her black converse with black laces and had convinced the manager they were non-slip. The only problem was that they were shitty and being on her feet for so long really sucked.

It wasn't so bad when people came in. It meant people to talk to and mess with. Sometimes she even saw her friends; that was fun. Sometimes she had messes to clean up; less fun. Sometimes, like right now, her shift seemed to go on for hours and hours and she debated up and quitting.

She was restocking some of the candies at the moment. A boring job and one she wouldn't have even done had her boss not told her to. As stubborn and lazy as Chel was, she also didn't want to get fired.

The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up as she did so. A paranoia swept over her as she moved some of the candy from box to box. It felt like something was hiding in the shelves. Maybe-

She turned, as though someone was going to be right behind her. There was. It was her boss.

"Sorry, jus' thought I heard somethin'," she mumbled.

"Oh it's no problem, I was just wondering if you needed help with that."

"M'fine." She looked back at the boxes. What the hell was this feeling?  

[chiickadee]

11:00 pm

Shift finally over, Chel was happy to leave. She pulled a hoodie on over her hideous red polo and pulled the hood up. Headphones in, she intended to walk home to change, then go out with Diana, probably end up on her couch and call it a day. Even after working for so long, Chel never really stopped working.

She heard footsteps behind her and turned at the noise.

Nobody was there.

Chel's eyes darted to the keys in her pocket. She put them in one hand, between her middle knuckles. She really didn't want to deal with this today.

The sound happened again and Chel turned. Still nothing. It was a classic movie scenario, it could have been a comedy gag, had it not been really creepy at this time of night.

Her headphones came out of her ears and she sighed. The keys went back into her pocket too and out came her pocket knife. If someone was being really creepy, they were really going to get it. Chel wasn't someone you ******** with.

She dialed Chris on her phone and put it to her ear. "Hey. Nah- on my way home. Eh- oh. I called 'cause I think some dude's tailin' me. Nah, nah I got my knife on me. I just got the creeps an' wanted t'talk." She glanced behind her one more time. Nothing happened on the way home.

Her tattoo burned.