☆Darling☆ (Veneer x Reader)

1: Personal

The van's engine spluttered as it came to a halt, and Y/N winced as they heard the boxes moving about in the back. They were certain that they had put enough packing peanuts in the ones marked 'fragile', but it was unpleasant hearing them potentially get damaged nonetheless. They hoped nothing was broken... They took the keys out the ignition and hopped out the vehicle, walking around the front and pulling the sliding door open. It was hot and sticky inside the van, the air conditioning having packed up halfway through the journey and feeling the cool air hit their skin was refreshing. They had arrived in front of their new apartment - this was the first time they'd be living independently and the excitement of it was overpowering the tiredness from the drive.

Y/N pulled the door fully open and was greeted by their belongings. The contents of their room at their mother's place. A room which had been their safe haven since they were a kid, a place to keep their secrets, their toys and their friends. Now their entire life was being shoved into the back of a van, and it felt like a fresh start.

A fresh start to a new life.

The thought of this brought a smile to their face, and they turned around and made their way into the entrance of their new apartment block. They'd been lucky enough to get the place for a good price, the landlord had said that he'd give them a discount so long as they took care of the place. He'd even been kind enough to let them move in early so they could sort the place out and get settled before classes started. Y/N had never felt so excited. 

The day was still young, so Y/N decided they would make the most of the light outside and begin the arduous task of moving all their stuff into their new home. They returned to the van, closing the sliding door behind them and unlocking the main entrance of the apartment. They then made several trips in and out the building, each time bringing a few boxes or suitcases into the lobby. Eventually they had gotten everything in from the van, and they sighed with relief as they looked at the pile of their belongings, wiping the sweat off their forehead.

'Hey... what's this box? I've never seen this one before...' Y/N wondered to themselves as they looked at one of the boxes they'd just brought in. It was a large cardboard box, a little larger than the rest, and on the side it had a handwritten label which read 'PERSONAL'. Y/N cocked their head in curiosity. Did they even bring this one in? They didn't remember doing so.

It didn't matter. Whatever was inside was clearly personal and was probably full of clothes and knickknacks and things like that. Y/N picked up the box and took it into the apartment.

The building was rather quiet. They'd only caught a few glimpses of their neighbours in the stairwells and halls on their trips in and out the building. It was a pretty old apartment complex, the walls were bare and the paint was beginning to chip. There was a musty smell which lingered in the air, which reminded them of the van journey. Still, they were glad that they'd moved here, the price was low and the area was quiet.

Y/N entered their apartment and placed the box in their living room, looking at it with a frown. They had no recollection of packing this box, what on earth could be inside? They walked up to the box, pulling open the top flaps and peeking inside. Their eyes widened.

'Huh... an old busted TV?' Y/N mused to themselves as they looked at the contents of the box. They pulled the small TV out the box, holding it by its handle. The TV was a very old CRT type, one which their parents would have used when they were younger.

'Damn, what a relic...' they thought to themselves. They placed the TV on the floor and reached into the box, pulling out a small remote which lay at the bottom. 'Aww, a VCR player!'

Y/N had no idea where this box had come from. They definitely hadn't packed it themselves. They felt like plugging it in and seeing if it would work. Maybe they could have some fun with it!

'Let's see if this thing works...' Y/N said to themselves. They carried the TV into the spare room of the apartment and plugged it into the wall. 'Ahh... now the remote... let's see if it works, shall we?'

Y/N turned the TV on, pressing the red power button on the remote. Nothing. It was dead. They groaned in frustration and tried pressing the button again. Again, nothing. 'What the fuck...' they growled.

Y/N threw the remote down and came closer to the screen, fiddling with the old-school antennas on top of it. It wasn't picking up any signal, so they tried turning it off and turning it back on again. This time the screen turned on, the static filling the screen.

'Oh, it's working!' Their face lit up, but not for long as the screen quickly went black. Y/N cursed under their breath and scrambled to the socket.

They plugged the television back in, the static appearing on the screen again.

'Okay... so maybe the TV's fine, but the remote isn't.' they concluded, reaching into the box again. Maybe they should put a cassette in the VCR? Maybe then it would start working.

'Wait, but what the hell is this?' Y/N muttered to themselves as they rummaged around the box. At the bottom, they had found a tape, labelled 'PERSONAL'.

They took the tape out the box, inspecting the label. It seemed to have been written with a felt-tip pen. 'I wonder what's on this...' they wondered aloud, opening the slot on the side of the VCR.

They popped the cassette in the slot and pressed the eject button. The screen changed, and the words 'PLAY' and 'REC' appeared on the screen.

Before Y/N could pick, the VCR spit the tape out. Angrily, they shoved it back in.

'God damnit!' Y/N cursed as the screen once again read 'PLAY' and 'REC' to them, before turning to static. The VCR tried spitting the cassette out again, but it was jammed. Sparks began to flicker around the mouth of the player.

Y/N yelped and jumped back, as the electricity arced across the TV. The static was increasing, and the whole room was starting to shake.

'What the fuck is going on?!' Y/N said, stepping back but bumping into the bare bedframe in the process and tripping. They fell backwards, the bedframe cracking in half and falling apart.

The VCR was still spitting out sparks and static. It was starting to get brighter, almost blinding. Y/N shielded their eyes with their arm. They looked back up to see the cassette player smoking. The sparks were shooting the floor, hitting the ground all around them. One of them actually hit, and it burned.

The sparks spread to the TV somehow, loud electrical noises flooding the apartment before horror swept though Y/N's veins as the sparks consumed them. A scream tore through their throat as their arms guarded their face, a horrible burning sensation all over their body.

Then the world went dark.

Word count: 1218 words