Chapter Text
3 MONTHS AFTER THE ?????????
Laura’s head shot up from the thin mattress. Her breathing was heavy, as if her lungs were about to give out any second. She had woken up from a horrible nightmare, but she didn’t want to think about it. This has been an ongoing nightly routine for months now, Laura is unsure why she’s even still bothered by it.
Shouldn’t she be desensitized to these violent dreams now? These dreams of massacre, blood, outbursts, all centered around him especially? She loved him, didn’t she? After all, he IS her dad. At least, she thought he was still her dad. So why is she still so disturbed by him, always waking up in a cold sweat every single time? The thought of it frustrated Laura as she tightened her grip on her soft gray blanket. She threw herself back down on the pillow, her head slightly touching the ground beneath the mattress. It was like sleeping on a sheet of paper. But, of course, she had to deal with it. It was better than nothing, and she was lucky someone, SOMETHING, had taken her in. And she had the oh-so fluffy blanket, too! Not all comfort in sleeping was lost when she arrived here!
Laura’s train of thought was interrupted by something small climbing up next to her. Her gaze crept down to her legs, and she saw her teddy bear. A soft brown color and very fuzzy, despite being tossed around so much, he was a great source of emotional support to Laura. They’re always together, as if the two of them came in a pair. She’s not sure what she would possibly do without him around, even if it doesn’t look that way sometimes.
The teddy was resting on her lap, like a kitty longing for the warmth of its owner. She wanted to smile, to do something, anything. But she couldn’t bring herself to even move the muscles in her stoic face. Instead, the girl blinked in response to her stuffed bear sleeping on top of the blanket. She felt like moving, getting more comfortable on what was meant to be a comfortable mattress for sleeping on, but moving comes with the risk of waking her bear up. She couldn’t bring herself to possibly risk that. Unlike her, he’s probably having pleasant dreams someone would never want to wake up from. Laura could just barely imagine what those dreams could possibly be like.
Right now, she felt as if there was no light in her world. No sunlight shining over her aching, dead heart. Just clouds. Stormy clouds, filled with negative thoughts and lightning, taunting and shaking her around. Those clouds laughed, and they laughed loud. The cackles boomed like thunder, the giggles like pattering rain in the middle of a dark night. There’d be a lot of room for those clouds, she figured.
Tons and tons of room. Would there even be organs inside her body? Bones? Flesh? Blood? Is there a need for such things when you’re dead? Well, she had already come to the conclusion that there wasn’t actual proper blood in her body, but something else. Because now, whenever she’d accidentally cut herself or hurt herself, instead of seeing that nauseating deep crimson color, she’d see black instead. A black substance like tar would ooze out of the wounds, and it freaked her out every single time.
She could never get used to this, she figured. How could anyone?! Getting used to this sudden change to a new life — if she could even call it a life — has been one of the most difficult things these past few months. You’ll never get used to this, you’ll never be able to adapt to such changes, echoed the Mind. Laura’s eyes remained wide open as all these thoughts rushed inside her head, ringing and ringing and yearning to be thought about just once more, a million times over.
She tossed her head around in quick movements to the left and right and up and down, trying to rattle all the words out and chase the clouds away. But Laura was unsuccessful, only getting nauseous and a worse headache. Now her neck felt stiff, too. Just great. She wasn’t sure what to do anymore. Her left eye shed more tears than it usually does, the black liquid slowly inching down her face and getting in her messy, gray locks of hair. But she didn’t care anymore, she didn’t want to care so much anymore.
Her train of thought was once again disturbed as the wooden door creeeeaked open. Laura’s bear quickly scrambled into her arms in the blink of an eye, and she reacted accordingly, hugging him tight. The sharp blade next to her mattress called her name. Laura glanced towards it. It shined in the light of the candle, a soft orange glow that still haunted her.
But instead of reaching out for it, she shook her head. She’s okay here, she doesn’t need to worry so much now. Or so she hoped. Her gaze nervously turned towards the door once more.
Her hunch turned out to be correct as the head of a donkey peered in the room. The head had a worried look on her face as Laura slowly lifted herself up, keeping her teddy bear safe in her arms.
“Laura? Are you awake?” asked the donkey in a hushed voice.
“..Mmmh. Mmmhm.” Laura barely managed to get a response out.
“Oh, good. How are you feeling? Did you hopefully sleep better than the night before?” Daisy walked into the room. She wore a stained white uniform with a bear pin on the black, sturdy vest. Her hat was damaged and scratched, and part of her ear was also chipped. But her hair always managed to look good somehow, and that made Laura feel slightly jealous deep down. So silky, so smooth. She missed when her hair could at least look half as good. He always did a wonderful job styling it.
“...Yeahh. I guess.”
“Would you like to talk to me about it?” Daisy took a step towards her, but Laura scooted away. And when she did so, the donkey didn’t dare move again.
“..No. Not really…” Laura hesitantly replied.
The teddy bear glanced back and forth, wondering if it should do something. Was Laura not comfortable with Daisy in the room? Should he get rid of her for Laura? Would that make Laura feel better? But when he tried to make a move, Laura’s grip on the teddy bear tightened. It was a sign to stay still, she could handle it herself. She had to build herself back up somehow, and talking to Daisy helped her. Most of the time, at least.
“Oh, okay then. That’s fine.” Daisy seemed unsure of what to do next as a tense atmosphere began to flood the room.
“Well… We’re all just setting up to eat breakfast so, would you like to join us..?”
“..I am not able to eat, Daisy.”
…Seriously?
“...RIIGHT!!” An embarrassed tint of red covered Daisy’s face once she finally realized Laura isn’t able to eat anymore. She’s dead, for goodness sake. Laura’s expression turned from blank to slightly confused. Did she say something wrong? How did Daisy constantly keep forgetting this? Laura said the right thing this time, didn’t she?? Her long bangs covered the sweat starting to form on her forehead.
“..WELL… If you would like to, uhmm… do anything at all, then you could come to me, okay? I’ll just be outside for a bit! You’re okay with being around the others, right?”
Laura stared blankly once again, not being able to muster the energy to give Daisy any sort of response, not even a nonverbal one.
“...Right, okay,” Daisy awkwardly mumbled, glancing away nodding frantically like a bobblehead with a loose spring. She was fidgeting with her fingers nervously. Her face was still bright red, it reminded Laura of a tomato.
“I’ll… see you later, hopefully?” She clapped her hands together in a please say yes so I don’t feel any more awkward about this than I already do kind of way.
Laura was capable of nodding in response now. Daisy let out a sigh of relief, waving goodbye and turning out of the room. She gently shut the door behind her as it let out another creeeeeak.
Laura looked up at the dark wooden ceiling for a few moments. After processing the whole disaster of an interaction, she slowly stood up. Fumbled again, didn’t she. Of course she did, she always did. Daisy tries so hard to make her feel welcomed here, yet Laura feels as if she’s pushing her away. She didn’t MEAN to, it just happened. She couldn’t help saying the things she’s said and thinking the things she’s thought. It just happens.
Laura wiped sweat off of her forehead with her grey pajama shirt, spreading her long tangled hair out from her face and letting it rest on her shoulders. She felt like there was a bush stuck to her head. Maybe she wants to cut it. She thought about it for a bit. The candle still illuminated the room with its warm oranges and yellows, the wax ever so slowly melting. As Laura stood still in thought, her bear sat down on the paper mattress, wondering what she wanted to do next.
Suddenly, she slowly wandered towards her closet, steadily opening its doors as if it was made out of the most delicate glass out there. Her black, gloomy dress welcomed her with open arms. Adorned in soft brown bears and every shade of gray out there, she took the big dress out and stared at it. She wondered, why did she have to look so good, so grand, if all she was doing was trying to survive? She wasn’t really complaining, because for the record, she loved her dress. Wearing clothes she felt comfortable in really brought a lot more peace to the Mind than she thought it would.
Never-mind that, though. Now marks the start of another day of either doing absolutely nothing or running for your undead life away from a cult that’s taken over the world. She reluctantly changed into the dress, taking all the time in the world to get herself ready. She hoped that if she took long enough, then everything would have already happened by now. Then she wouldn’t need to worry so much about anything anymore.
But, of course, only a mere ten minutes went by when she checked. Only ten minutes!? Hell, even the wax on the candle seemed to have waited for her to get all ready before unwillingly melting again. But it felt so much longer! How could time go by so slowly in such miserable circumstances?! Why must life be so unfair, always bringing her down?! She couldn’t TAKE it anymore! She just couldn’t bear it! How much more must she hold?!
Wake up, Laura. Wake up.