Episode 1-7: To Be Understood

Yuta- “Oh shit. Hey, do you mind if I grab something from here?”

Looking up at the sign above the door, I see it’s a bookstore, and immediately groan.

Riley- “You would pick a day I don’t have cash, huh?”

Yuta- “Not my fault. Besides, I’ve been waiting for this book to come out for months. I’ll just be a minute.”

Riley- “Yeah yeah, I’m staying out here. Avoiding torturing myself.”

Yuta- “Alright, suit yourself.”

He steps through the door, leaving me alone. With a sigh I lean against the building, turning my gaze up to the sky.

Tomorrow…

My mind is racing. Filled with too many thoughts to really coherently sort through, but I’m sure of the first thing I’ll do tomorrow.

Riley- “I’ll explain to them. As best I can.”

I can’t see myself…admitting that. But, I can explain around it. I’ll find a way how. At least well enough that they’ll be willing to forgive me for being…how I was.

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes.

The wind really does feel nice today.

??? - “Hey~.”

Opening my eyes, I titled my head to the right.

Peeking from around the building’s corner, a man is looking at me. He’s smiling. Calling it friendly would be impossible. It feels as though his lips contain the malice of the whole world and then some.

Riley - “...”

I stay quiet. The vibes on this guy are all fucking wrong, and I want nothing to do with it.

Creepy Guy- “What’s wrong baby? Don’t wanna talk~?”

Hell no. I start to move closer to, and in front of, the store’s window, so Yuta or whoever’s in front of it can see me. That doesn’t seem to dissuade the man. Actually, it seems to please him.

His lips curl up, beyond what feels should be reasonably possible. It sends a chill through me. Inside, I should head inside.

I turn my head, but don’t see anybody facing my direction.

Fuck are you serious?!

I begin backing up further when…

When…

His jaw makes a violent cracking sound, and it breaks.

It moves even further apart as…a head…a baby’s head starts to push out, its face forming from a spiral of skin and muscle.

Oh god…

Oh god I’m going to die.

Yuta- “Riley!”

I feel myself get shoved back before something lashes out.

Yuta- “Ngh! Shit!”

Riley- “Y-Yuta?!”

Getting ahold of myself after landing on my ass, I can see what's happened.

Some strange, vein-looking whip coming from the man’s neck is hanging in the air. It must have slashed Yuta’s sleeve, the dregs of it falling to the ground, revealing only…

…bone…

…an arm of only bone, shaded a pure blood red, seems unphased.

Riley - “W-w-wha-Yu-Yuta what the fuck-”

My words refused to fully form together into a coherent message. Looking at that thing was just…impossible. Nothing like that should be possible. Am I dreaming? No, I can’t be, this feels too real.

So…then…what am I looking at?

Yuta- “Riley, take my phone and call Sarah. I don’t have a lock on it.”

His usually nervous or sassy voice is gone, now so serious it feels straining.

Riley - “I-I-I-”

Yuta - “Riley, hurry!”

Seeing his phone poking out of his back pocket, my brain gives out, letting instinct take over. I move fast, grabbing it when out of the corner of my eye I see that whip striking once again. Yuta grabs it, wrapping it around his gloved hand and pulling.

The act only seems to lengthen it.

Yuta- “Riley, go!”

I don’t bother even acknowledging his words before turning away and running off.

With his phone open I scramble to his contacts page and scroll until I see Sarah and smack the screen with my thumb.

The agonizing seconds it takes for her to answer feel like needles poking at my spine. Answer god damnit, hurry!

Sarah- “Yutaaaaaa! Hey, we’re just finishing up with the kid here-”

Riley- “SARAH THING! EVIL BAD THING, AND YUTA’S ARM IS A BONE AND-AND-HELP! RIVEREND ST IN FRONT OF THE BOOKSTORE!”

Sarah- “W-Riley?! What’s happening?!”

Riley- “JUST HURRY, PLEASE!”

Sarah- “Okay okay! Riley, we’ll be there soon, so just go home if you can! Yuta will be fine!”

She hangs up right after. I keep running, turning the phone off, when-

Yuta- “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

I stop, turning around. His scream echoes through the streets.

Riley - “...”

I can feel my heart racing.

That thing…

I don’t wanna see it again.

That vile twisted face.

It’s disgustingly smooth and venomous tone, but…

Yuta…

Riley - “She said he can handle on his own.”

But…he’s in pain.

He’s in pain.

Riley- “Nnnngh…fuck!”

I start running, back the way I came. Scanning around as I do, I desperately grab onto the top of a trash can, stealing it off as I go.

The sound of his screaming gets closer and closer, only making me move faster.

I don’t want you…to hurt.

The thought of it makes my heart shiver.

It doesn’t make sense. I don’t even know you.

But, I can’t let you hurt, because…

because…

Because…

Riley- “AHHHHH!!!”

You…

were nice to me!

I push Yuta to the side, a tough action as is with so many of those veiny whips around his body, but it’s enough to give me a clean shot.

With all the momentum it's possible to transfer in just a second, I use both hands to slam the trash can cover across the thing’s face. The nose on the creature seems to break, sending blood pouring from its nostrils.

My hand rubs against one of those disgusting veins, and the texture makes me want to vomit.

It seems to weaken its grip on Yuta who kicks the thing back. The whips seem to retreat, shivering. Taking the opportunity, he rushes forward, grabs my arm, and sprints ahead.

Yuta- “Are you stupid?!”

Riley- “Yes!”

Yuta- “Augh, damnit!”

He leads me onto another street and keeps going. Looking behind I don’t see the thing but I refuse to slow us down.

Yuta - “If we get far enough away, we may get out of its effective range and it’ll have to let us go!”

Riley- “H-how is no one else noticing this?!”

Yuta- “Things like that can choose what sees them, unless you’re already perceptive enough to pick them up. There’s more to it but-FUCK!”

Our feet seem to pick up off the ground, and don’t come back down. Rather, we keep going up, as the sky above us starts to turn a dark purple, and stretch on and on for infinity.

Riley - “A-W-what the-WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Far in the distance, I can see something massive. A body, humanoid and strong, reaching out to grasp tight onto the hilt of a sword. Wherever the end of that sword is, it’s obscured by the black clouds.

Yuta - “A hell pocket. This thing is serious.”

I don’t bother asking what’s happening. No answer I receive could possibly make me understand. Not when I’m already so frazzled.

But I scream.

I scream really, really fucking loudly.

Yuta - “It’s fine, I promise it’ll be fine!”

Riley - “IT’S NOT FINE THIS IS NOT FINE WHERE THE FUCK EVEN ARE WE IS THIS EVEN REAL WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK-”

I can feel myself hyperventilating through my screams.

Yuta- “Riley, I need to-”

Riley - “I DON’T FUCKING CARE JUST DO IT!”

Yuta - “R-right! Petal!”

He points to the sky and a bright light resounds from us to the clouds. For a moment, that’s all it is, before what looks like a crack forms. After another moment, a shard, almost like glass, falls from above, and we both begin to fall.

Holding out his bone arm, we crash into the pavement…or rather, just his hand does, sending pieces of road flying up.

Yuta - “Nice. Not a particularly strong one.”

Letting us finish the remainder of our fall, he lets me go while starting to pant.

Yuta - “S-scratch it. Wewh, I feel like shit.”

Riley - “W-we’re still here.”

Yuta - “Stay calm. We’ll be out in a minute. I just gotta…kill that…oh fuck.”

Riley - “W-why-why are we still here? I wanna go home I wanna go home-”

I feel his arms wrap around me.

Yuta - “Hey. It’s gonna be okay. I know this is a lot. Trust me, I thought it was a lot, but if we’re gonna leave, I need you to relax. I promise, I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you.”

I try to listen. Gritting my teeth, I shut my eyes tight, focusing on my breathing as I desperately try to get it back into a rhythm. All the while, I can hear Yuta whispering, reassuring, promising, doing everything he can to get me to relax.

Riley - “O-okay…okay…okay…”

I feel myself starting to de-tense, just enough to get a hold of myself. Looking up, I can see him staring back, and I force myself to focus on him.

Riley - “I’m…okay.”

He sighs.

Yuta - “Good. Then let’s-”

He freezes, his head turning.

His eyes focus somewhere behind us. Following his gaze, I find exactly what he’s freaked out about.

Forming between two buildings, a net of veins hold up a massive head, a baby’s head inside it, staring back at us.

Riley - “A-ahaha…ahahaha! AHHHHHHHH!”

Yuta - “Uhm…run. Yeah, run. FUCKING RUN!”

He grabs my arm and pulls me into the alley between two buildings. Just in time it would seem, as a mass of red zooms through the road we were just on.

Yuta - “Up. We gotta get higher. You know how to climb?”

Riley - “D-do you think I can climb?!”

Yuta - “Now's the time to try!”

Pointing to the windows at the building’s side, his urgency gives no room for questioning. I place my hand on the first windowsill and, with a pull up, I manage to get my first foot up, followed by the next.

Yuta- “Hurry!”

He starts climbing on the opposite set when that red starts rushing through our alley, and climbing in length. With my heart racing, I force myself to speed up, praying I won’t slip. The feeling of death being just a few inches away is a powerful motivating factor. Thankfully the gaps between each window are far from unmanageable, and I somehow get it into a rhythm as I pull myself up and up.

Reaching the final window, I grab onto the roof’s edge, when I feel Yuta grab me and pull me up with ease. Looking down, the red seemed to stop about halfway up the last window. It looks solid, and…coagulated. Like a mass of veins all connected together with clots and knots.

Riley - “J-jesus…”

My gaze overlooks the whole town. Every street and alley within my sight is filled with the red mass.

Yuta - “This…yeah, if they don’t show, then this is bad.”

Riley - “I called them! They’ll show up, right!?”

Yuta - “Yeah. If you called then they definitely should. So, until then…”

Yuta turns back to where we’d seen the face. It seems to have risen up out of the mass, its gaze fixed on us.

Yuta - “How do we survive until then…”

I swallow back my panic, trying to think.

Riley - “It’s…veins…stopped rising. I imagine if they could keep going they would. So unless it had any other tricks up its sleeves, we should be ok.”

Yuta - “That’s…not a very likely if.”

Riley - “Y-you could let me keep comfy in my ignorance a little longer prick. Do you want me to keep freaking out?”

My hands start to turn to fists.

Riley - “They said something about handling a kid. Does that ring any bells?”

Yuta - “Y-yeah. They were handling a job today without me. Not far, I think it was a poltergeist in an RV home near the edge of the woods. Where they would have entered is pretty close to where we started. It’s been…five minutes? At worst, we gotta hold out another two.”

Riley - “Two minutes…”

It feels impossible. Looking at this disgusting thing it just…doesn’t feel possible. Even then…

Riley - “I have to see tomorrow.”

Yuta - “Relax.”

Riley - “Right, right, you wouldn’t let anything happen to me, I get it Mr. Hero.”

He chuckles awkwardly.

Yuta - “I’m nothing like that. Don’t raise me that high doofus.”

I chuckle back, turning my gaze back to that face-

Riley - “OH FU-”

-and feel a ball meaty wet and warm slam against my chest, sending me flying off the roof.

Yuta - “Riley!”

I hear his voice, if only faintly, before I feel myself being pulled into the mass of veins.

Deep, deep, I can feel myself descending far from the surface. I can’t even move a muscle, too busy with them being pulled at to the point of feeling close to tearing.

Nnnnngh, fuck, it hurts it hurts! Even thinking just sends the pain of every one of my quivering muscles directly through my pain receptors. My teeth grit tight, at least keeping them from entering through my mouth, but I can feel them pushing and prodding at my nasal cavities, trying to fit through and tear my insides to pieces.

Through that overwhelming sensation, I can hear a voice.

Thing - “I don’t understand. Even now, you still have it in you to think.”

W-what?

Thing - “Don’t you realize you’re going to die? What reason do you have to resist, even if it’s just to let your mind wander. Ah, I guess you can’t answer. I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but man it bothers the hell out of me.”

Why do you think asshole?

Riley - “Ee…geet…tee…”

Thing - “You can’t be…serious.”

Riley - “Leeve…eet…leet…teel…teereew.”

Thing - “You’re trying to talk. I…I’m befuddled. No, I’m impressed! Really! You’re much more interesting than I ever could have imagined.”

It laughs.

Thing - “Tell me all about yourself after I’ve dragged your mangled pieces down to hell.”

And then

A crash.

I can feel its disgusting veins letting go and dispersing, so fast I can hardly perceive it. As I fall, I can see the purple sky disappearing, turning blue once more, as I fall towards the ground below.

As I do, I can see…someone…falling toward me. A face that feels familiar, even if it’s still obscured by the light of the early evening sun in my eyes.

Riley - “Of course…”

I smiled to myself.

Of course, even if I scared you, even if I’m monster,

Of course you’d still try to save me.

You really are a good person.

Riley - “Mari-”

Pain.

And then nothing.