The Monsters Inside and Out (Scott Howl x Depressed Reader)

41. The Rest of the Week

Day 2

You've survived your first day of the trip, now you just have to to survive the next two weeks. Great. You remove the wrist band and put it away to sleep with the next night, and then you check your phone to see a new message from basically all your friends. It was the usual, Polly drunk texted you a picture of her boobs, Zoe sent you a screenshot of Garfield and Naruto doing it doggy style, Cal sent you a wholesome meme about cats, and Polly sober texted you another picture of her boobs. But what caught your attention the most was Vera's text. It was actually more of a questionnaire, but regardless. It was a lot of questions about where your aunt lived, what the daily schedule is, what the nightly schedule is, and if these jeans make her look fat (there is actually no picture, but you answer 'no' because that's the obvious answer here). You send her the answers and go the bathroom to get ready for the day. As you approach the bathroom door, your young cousins all run out of the room, having brushed their teeth. Upon entering, you see a bunch of toothpaste everywhere. It's on the floor, in the sink, on the toilet, and even the bathtub. You end up slipping in it, and you hear your aunt say, "What the.. (Y/N), what are you doing? You better clean up this mess." "What? I didn't even make it! It was the younger ones, they-" "I don't wanna hear your excuses. This bathroom better be spotless." She walks away, but comes back to say, "And if you had just waken up a little earlier, you could have been watching them, so it's really your fault." You spend half the day cleaning the bathroom, because everytime you finished, it "wasn't good enough". You were denied food the whole time too, which was fine, you don't need to eat anyway.

Day 3

Vera messaged you again, this time asking more questions in further detail, such as if there are security cameras that you know of, is there anything that could distract your aunt, and if this skirt made her butt look big (there was again no picture, but the answer was still obvious). You go through your other messages, replying to them all. After a minute, your aunt walks right into the room, without even knocking first. "(Y/N), I need you to clean the gutters today." This disappoints you, seeing that you spent most of the day before cleaning the bathroom. "Why do I need to do it?" She rolls her eyes and answers, "I have to meet with a client, your uncle is on vacation, and your mother is out shopping." "I'm on vacation too." "You? Oh please. All you do is go to school, that's not even hard. You are really too spoiled, you know that? Your mom does everything for you, where as here, the entire family needs to pitch in." "Then can the cousins help me?" "Oh goodness no! Where is your head? They could fall off and get seriously hurt! They're just kids!" You grumble to yourself and go to do it. Your gunshot wound still hasn't healed all the way, so it takes you most of the day to do it. You make sure that you move slowly and carefully, because falling would hurt enough on it's own. When it's finally dinnertime, you start serving yourself, and your mom tells you to let the others serve themselves first. After dinner, you are forced to help do the dishes too.

Day 4

You check your messages, and there's nothing from Vera. You assume it's because she actually likes her family and she's spending time with them. In fact, you've only been messaged by Liam, who sent you a picture of a pine tree, with the caption "Christmas". You tell him how deep he is, because lying to people via text is super easy. One thing about no one else texting you makes you realize something. Scott hasn't texted you at all since the first day. You worry. It's not the first time he hasn't messaged you, but the fact that it's been 3 days since he has is unlike him. However, instead of texting him, you ask Liam if he's okay. You don't want to ask Scott himself, because you're afraid you'll seem too desperate. Besides, even if you did, he doesn't like worrying you, so he may come up with a fake response anyway. After Liam tells you he doesn't know anything, you end up asking everybody else, looking for a possible answer. Everyone either doesn't know, or they say he's been really busy with something. You decide to leave it at that, because you'll be seeing him soon. You get ready for the day and everything passes by relatively easy, except for later at night. By then your cousins have gone to bed, so it was now up to you, your mom, and your aunt to wrap their Christmas gifts. After rewrapping a gift a few times because of an inch difference, your aunt asks, "So, (Y/N). What did you get your cousins this year?" You reply with, "I got them each a $25 gift card for their favorite stores." She looks at you as if you had done something wrong. You give her a confused look in return, and she answers, "Why didn't you just get them something from the stores?" "Well what's wrong with a gift card? This way they can get whatever they want." "Yeah, in a few weeks!" "My mom said it was a good idea." Your aunt looks at your mom with a threatening look. Your mom, visibly nervous, says, "(Y/N). I thought you were also getting them some candy or something." Your aunt adds, "(Y/N), I just remembered I have some other cute wrapping paper in the attic, will you help me find it?" You get up and follow her into the attic. Once you get up there, she gives you a lecture. "You know, (Y/N), they don't understand the concept of money. They're going to see what you got them, and they'll be disappointed that all they got was some card." "Well, if you just explain it to them, they'll understand." "Regardless, you could have gotten them something along with it." "I spent $75 between the three of them! I don't have all the money in the world!" "Yeah, and you know why? Because you have no job! You are just a lazy kid who takes advantage of their mom's kindness! I like to raise my children properly and with respect." "Well then it's not working! They made a big mess in that bathroom the other day, and you didn't make them clean up at all! You can't just let them make a mess and teach them that someone else will clean it up for them." "Raising kids is harder than it looks, so don't you dare start criticizing me. Now go back downstairs." You start going down and she adds, "And I expect you to get them something better in a week to make up for this." "No. They'll be fine." "Okay. You asked for this." Before you have a chance to say anything else, your aunt pushes you, causing you to fall down the hardwood stairs. All you can process is pain until you pass out.

Day 5

You wake up with a headache. You look yourself over and see scratches and bandages all over your body. There's a huge part of you saying that you don't want to even get out of bed, but you know you have to. You'll get in trouble if you don't. You check your phone again and each one of your friends have told you Merry Christmas. Everyone.. Except for Scott. You thought it was weird before, but now you're afraid something has actually happened. That he's mad at you for one reason or another. You gather all the courage you can, and dial his number. It rings for a few, and goes to voicemail. You don't bother leaving a message, there's no point. If he won't talk to you, then what's the point? You curl up into a ball. You're about to cry, when your phone starts vibrating. It's Scott. You answer, "Hello?" Instead of hearing his happy, booming voice, you are greated with a dainty, quiet voice. "Yes, hello? Is this (Y/N)?" "Yes." "Ah! Good! This is his grandma. I'm just calling to tell you that Scott cannot answer the phone right now, he is very busy." "He's not mad at me, is he?" "Ha! My Scott? Mad at you? Don't be ridiculous! Why on earth would you think that?" "He hasn't texted me for a few days." "Well, like I said, he's very busy. But you'll see him tonight, won't you?" "I'm sure of it." You continue to talk to eachother for a few more minutes. You've never had an extended conversation with her, so it's really nice. After you wish eachother a Merry Christmas, you hang up and go downstairs. Everyone is sitting around the tree, and they all look at you. Your aunt says, "Okay kids, (Y/N) is finally down here, you can open your presents now." It's kind of cute to see them opening gifts and getting excited about what's inside. However, they eventually got to a present that was for you. One of your cousins grabs it and says, "Here (Y/N), this one is yours." You're about to grab it when it's suddenly pushed away. Your aunt says, "No, no. It's supposed to say it's for the three of you, FROM (Y/N)." "Oh!" You watch as your cousins open the present together and slowly. They jump for joy when they see that "you" got them the newest gaming console. The one YOU wanted. The ONE and ONLY thing you asked your mom to get you. Your aunt adds, "Don't worry (Y/N). You don't need to get them anything after all." You reach into your pocket and grab the stress ball that Damien's dads gave you. You squeeze it. All day. The whole time. During breakfast, lunch, and dinner. While playing games with the family, while watching a movie. You feel like the ball is going to burst. Like your teeth are going to shatter from grinding them so hard. At 9 o'clock, you go to bed, still holding the ball. An hour passes, and you hear a rock hit your window. You look outside to see Vera and Polly, waiting in your aunt's backyard. You're finally able to let go of the ball.