The Freaks | Sally Face

Chapter 16: Normality

River's POV:-

The last two weeks since the incident some things have changed. Sal, Larry and I haven't once mentioned what happened that night in Apartment 403, the thought of it made me feel sick to my stomach. My sleeping has been so bad that it's got to the point that I'm having to miss school due to not sleeping or my nightmares being so intense that it fucks with my head for the rest of the day. Sal and Larry will always pop by to give me my work from school but I could see they were growing more concerned about me. You see the thing is, I felt fine in myself, surprisingly chilled about the whole situation which was very unlike me. If I think about how terrified I was about seeing the body of a dead man with its throat slit to now, my emotions are no where near on the same scale.

Dad will often question what has brought on these flares in my nightmares, I try and shrug it off as stress but he doesn't believe me. I do my best to reassure him that it's moving and meeting new people but whenever I'm with Larry and Sal I feel happy and show that to him. But he's still not convinced.

The whole police coming over after what happened was actually kept very quiet. No one seemed to know or speak about what happened. It wasn't on the news, in the local paper, anything... the three of us would often wonder why there was no reports regarding a potential murdering walking around Nockfell, something more had to be happening in this small and crazy town. Larry even asked his Mom if she knew what happened that night as he claimed he woke up to flashing lights and police being outside Addison Apartments but not even Lisa has any recollection of the event. As the apartment maintenance woman, someone might have thought she would've been questioned regarding the room but she had no idea police were even in the building in the first place. It lead to me to wonder, were we dreaming or was the whole thing becoming a cover up? Does someone know who murdered the man in room 403?

With that, my alarm rings at the right time I was supposed to wake up. Unfortunately for me, I woke up 3 hours ago and couldn't go back to sleep. I yank myself out of bed and make my way to the bathroom. I tasked myself with heading back to school today as Dad asked the Principal to set up a meeting between the school councillor and I. Apparently if I cannot speak to him, hopefully I can speak to a professional surrounding this matter...
I mean, I don't know how qualified a school councillor will be but to please my Dad, I would do anything to make sure his wishes were followed.

It felt like a repeat of what happened in Michigan after my own personal traumas. After Stacey and... oh god no. Stop thinking about that River, stop right now. You cannot have another attack, Dad will really send you away... stop thinking about her... stop thinking about them... what they said... what they did...

I took in a deep breath and tried my best to relax myself. I reached for my make up and began to apply it over the thick black bags I now had forming under my eyes. My face looked gaunt, like I was becoming a living skeleton due to the pale skin and deep cheek bones. I was always fortunate to have prominent cheekbones and facial features but they seemed to have grown deeper over the past two weeks. I completely lost my appetite and this was another concerning factor. I just didn't want to eat, part of me wanted to chow down on some of Dad's homemade macaroni but as soon as I go to dig in, I feel an overwhelming feeling of nausea and then it ends up putting me off. I honestly don't remember the last time I ate a full meal, let alone a snack even during the day.

I looked at myself in the mirror, my once glowing pale skin looking a dull shade of grey, my freckles turning into one large blob and even my bright violet eyes growing darker like an eggplant. I almost didn't recognise myself anymore. What the hell was happening to me? Ugh, and what is the fucking itch on my side...?

I lift up my baggy t-shirt, revealing my waist which was now beginning to grow smaller, my ribs becoming more noticeable but also... what the fuck is that!?