of flesh and decay

i.

"fuck, i never should've married her!" he hissed, limping further into the dark corridor.

he had just married lucie venetia d'avarie, daughter of a wealthy businessman, hours ago, with nothing but affection in his fragile heart. the sight of her delicate face, softened further by the sunlight, made his heart flutter. black eyes, reflective and watery, twinkled like bright stars. her hair, an enchanting crismon red, brushed against her lovely cheeks in the light coastal breeze. she looked like an ocean angel, a gift from the heavens below.

but all that was forgotten the moment he set foot onto her seaside mansion late at night. he still felt fuzzy inside from the excitement of getting married to a gorgeous, gorgeous woman with a good heart, his best friend since his college days- to be by her side for eternity was a blessing he would never forget. his cheeks were rosy from the mere thought itself, but when he turned around, the soft smile on his face slowly dropped.

shrouded in darkness, his wife stood, a good few feet behind him. but even the darkness could not conceal the eeriness of her standing completely still, watching him. dark eyes lost their spark in the moonlight and her mouth was set firmly in a frown. her eyes scared him the most, they seemed to hold no recognizable emotion.

he shuddered. the memories he tried to repress came back to him at once. every time she appeared a little off, would stare at him a little blankly, the corners of her mouth twitched upwards at seemingly nothing, odd remarks that made him feel deeply unsettled— every ounce of her behavior he pushed aside to preserve his happiness and continue to have his delusions override reality.

he mirrored her stillness, though he was frozen in a sickly sense of fear he hadn't felt in a while. she stalked him with a now raptorial glint in her eyes. slowly, she dragged herself forward, her dainty heels clacking unpleasantly against the ground. it seemed to him as though crickets stopped chirping, the gentle sound of the breeze faltered- as though her steps stifled any and every sound of life.

she stopped inches away from him and searched his face. for what, he didn't know, but the dread caused his hands to tremble. he parted his mouth, tried to speak to her casually, bring her back from whatever realm of reality she was stuck in, but no sound came out. instead, a shaky smile graced his lips and he prayed silently to whatever was out there. for what, he did not know, but whatever was eyeing him now did not seem to be the beautiful, beautiful woman he chose to marry.

he kept praying still, hiding in a cramped closet and trying to calm down. it was not helping that his knee was wounded and a gash across his face started to sting as tears streamed down his face. he quickly covered his mouth at the rhythmic clicking of heels approaching him. squeezing his eyes shut, he waited for her to pass.

the footsteps stopped directly in front of the closet for what seemed like forever, but miraculously they receded in another direction after a moment too long.

he waited a bit. when the silence began to comfort him again, he made sure to carefully get out of the uncomfortable closet and began heading elsewhere, opposite of where he thought she went.

he stumbled into a dark room, dazed, disturbed, and drained. he could not remember the last moment he ate, or where he had put his phone, and even which part of her estate he was in. at this point, he was too tired to care. he slumped against a wall and shut his eyes. he did not want to die, but he also did not have the strength to think of a way out. all his efforts to forget the traumatizing parts of his reality crumbled instantly and he began to wonder whether he was really as naive as his friends made him out to be. young, dumb, and struck by affection for nearly every piece of the world he encountered, he'd never been one to think much about his actions, or at all for that matter. until now, in a state of despair, confronted with yet another unfortunate situation he ultimately put himself in.

thump.

the sound startled him out of his brooding thoughts and he opened one eye to glare in the direction of the noise. but, unsurprisingly, he could not make out anything in the dark and was too afraid to turn on the light so he shut his eye again, slouching further against the wall.

but the noise persisted.

now he was a little worried.

"do you want to be my friend?" a voice chirped from the loud corner, accompanied by a green flicker of light.

he recognized that voice as a ghost hunting tool used back in his college days when he and his buddies went on little ghost exploration trips– a cute stuffed bear called the "boo buddy". he eventually gave it to lucie because he noticed how much she loved it. she had claimed to be affected by spirits (a claim he took rather lightly at the time, but now seemed to fill him with a deep dread) and wanted to see if any (now that he thinks about it, the fact that she implied there was more than one spirit she was "affected" by was very much so concerning) would communicate with her through it.

he held his breath, fearing it would keep talking. he was more scared of lucie finding him than the weird activity that was currently taking place in the godawful room.

silence.

he exhaled in relief.

"hehehe. that tickles," said the bear.

he could not believe his luck.

"for the love of god, please fucking shut up you useless fucking bear!" he angrily whispered at the stuffed animal.

but it did not shut up. it kept chirping away. he decided he could not sit still with this insane bear (or maybe he was going a teeny bit insane for getting increasingly enraged at a stuffed animal) and crawled towards it in a futile attempt to get it to shut up.

suddenly, he felt a burning sensation in his back. it was sharp, intense, unpleasant. he barely registered the initial feeling before he felt the sensation intensify and he dropped to the floor unceremoniously.

in his final moments, he saw the heels of the deceitful angel he tried so hard to avoid.

ahh this is the worst thing i've ever written bc lately my mind's jus been head emptee so no thoughts and i haven't written anything in sooo long but i randomly got inspired last night an d i wrote this hope u like pookie hehehe idk what im doing and i'm lowkey projecting but u best believe i have plans in motion . LUV LUV U XOXO UR WRITING INSPIRED ME SM TOO<3 i did not edit this cuz lazee n so sleepee but i wanted 2 get smth out there for u pookie <3