Cthulhu's Vessel

An Island Far Away From Home

When I was born, my parents thought I was cursed. I had this strange birthmark on my back that grew into an even stranger mark. They abandoned me at an orphanage hoping to break our bond. Sadly, they died in a car wreck not two hours later. My name is Coral, I love being near water and have a strange craving for tuna. I was adopted into a new family and we moved to Seattle. They never minded the mark I had, they thought I was special.

"Coral, wake up or you're going to be late to work." My adoptive mother, Erin, said. I quickly sat up, looking at my phone, oh shit. I was going to be late!

I jumped out of my bed, running around dressing as I went. I grabbed my phone, wallet, and keys, then I ran out of the house.

"Hey, little bug, catch!" My brother, James, shouted. He threw something towards me, which I caught effortlessly.

I looked to see that it was, in fact, a shiny red apple. I smiled and waved at him then quickly drove down to where I worked. My boss, who was talking with my co-worker, noticed me sneaking behind the counter to check-in.

"Coral! There you are, I was worried you weren't going to show." He said, coming over to me.

"Ah, Emmet... yeah. I was taking a nap and forgot to set an alarm." I stated, nervously smiling at him. He just smiled at me and nodded, I checked in and began to face the shelves. 

After a while, I noticed a couple of men come into our store. At first, I didn't think anything of it, until I saw the symbol on the back of their jackets. It was the same as the mark on my back, so maybe they know something about this. I kept a close eye on them as they wandered the store, not really doing anything. Then they passed by me, my heart started hammering against my chest. One of them was staring at me, it looked like one of his eyes was glowing yellow.

"Hello... how, how may I help you?" I stuttered, turning to the two grown men. One of the men had his face hidden by the hood he was wearing and the other was letting his face out plain as day. He had a weird tattoo crawling up from under his shirt to his neck. It looked like a tentacle resting around his neck.

"Yes, we were wondering if you knew anybody that had this mark? The person we are looking for is very important to our Master and we need to find them as soon as possible." He said, hinting at the symbol on his jacket.

I froze a bit, what does his master want with me? Do I even know him? I stared at the other man's glowing yellow eye for a while, trying to see if I could see his face. When I didn't answer, the other one started to get agitated.

"Answer the question, girl." He ordered, his voice reverberated off of my bones.

"I uh... don't know... it's the first time I've ever seen a symbol like that so..." I led off, looking away from them. The two of them stared at me a while longer, then stalked off, leaving the store. I collapsed to the ground, worrying a passerby. I have never felt so tense and scared in my life, who were those men, and what did they want with me?

I stood up and returned to work, my body shaking whenever I felt like I was constantly under watch. I was starting to get paranoid, looking over my shoulders and jumping whenever someone asks me a question. It wasn't until after closing when I was really afraid, it was dark and stormy out.

"Do you need to stay at my place tonight? It's supposed to get even worse as you drive home." Hugo asked, pulling his hood over his head.

I looked out the window, jumping at the sound of the thunder. I just gave him a reassuring smile as he ran out to his car. I began walking over to my car, the sound of Hugo's car was getting further away. As I was walking, I was texting Erin to let her know I was on my way home. But as I was doing it I could hear two sets of footsteps following me to the parking lot. But because of my recent obsession with crime shows, I know it's not good to look over my shoulder. If I do, it may provoke them to do something worse. Instead, I avoided my car and went towards a convenience store, but it wasn't very busy.