Strawberry Stone

Effing Rain.

TW: Self-harm (?)

Rain is all fun and games until you're stuck inside.

It hit the tree next to Wisteria's window, making a steady - and annoyingly taunting - beat on the leaves. The petrichor was spreading all around the small town of Ark Creek, but the rain was what a wet rag was to fire.

The house was empty. Its azure radiance blue walls and white trim were chipped, needing a fresh coat of paint. Its two floors were empty of all life, except for one room on the second floor.

It was a somewhat bland one in comparison to the aesthetic rooms you could see on Pinterest: a large closet embedded in the wall with chantilly pink curtains hiding the clothes, a bed tucked into a corner, the bright paint-splatter patterned sheets balled up at the end of it, a wooden desk, a few shelves. The shelves were covered in small clay figurines of characters: an axolot-human hybrid wearing green and purple, a mushroom and frog duo, a blonde haired teenager who swore too much in a white and red shirt. A few frames with drawings and pictures were hanging on the walls, notably a strip of photo-booth pictures showing three girls laughing.

The hanging lights were switched off, and the light of Wisteria's laptop filled the space. Dialogue filled the silence, the recognizable voices of Kristen Schaal and Jason Ritter in Gravity Falls coming out of the speakers. It was a childhood classic, a delicious nostalgia trip for a lot of people. But this time, it was white noise. Somehow, not even the masterpiece that it was was enough to keep Wisteria occupied.

A glance at the clock on the wall revealed that it was just eleven in the morning. Her dad had left for his job at 7. She could embroider or make something out of clay, but inspiration loss and art block had once again hit, along with the disinterest in walking through her garden to the old greenhouse where she practiced. Frustration bubbled inside her with no outlet: it was the third time that week it had rained, and it was the day after the last day of school. Yeah, rain was nice, but it was her first day out of high school, the first day out of her childhood. She was supposed to be having fun with friends, going on adventures, day dreaming about her future. All her life, she was told that the bridge between teenagehood and adulthood was this big, wonderful thing that melted away all troubles. But here she was, still with the same urges as before, still with the intrusive thoughts mugging her. Sure, she could go out and forage for stuff, but she didn't feel like it. The tree that had fallen across the creek separating her house from the real forest would be slippery, and the water beneath cold. Not even her skill in crossing it would be enough to protect her from the rock-bottomed depths.

TW start!

An urge overcame Wisteria. It was like strings were guiding her movements, and she was merely an observer within a puppet's body. She lowered her left arm's shirt sleeve. The skin was in a state she didn't deserve: it was fine, it was healthy. She brought the arm up to her mouth, and opened her mouth. She closed her teeth around the skin, and bit down, before letting go and doing it again, trying to find a suitable spot. Her teeth went around the first bone, fitting into the dip in the center. The pressure of her bottom teeth came. It felt like her vein was being moved around ever so slightly. Her canine dug into her wrist. She let go, and looked at it once more. Indents in the shape of her teeth were bunched up together from her multiple attempts at finding the suitable spot. But there was no blood.

TW end!

A sigh left Wisteria's lips as she let her arm go limp. She paused the episode of Gravity Falls, and opened another tab. She typed in 'd', and the links to all of the Discord servers she was part of popped up. She clicked on the one she wished to open, and the server opened. Immediately, the text chat titled 'Text 1' flooded with messages, each one accompagnied by its own ding. It was nice, but Wisteria felt odd. She shrugged, and quickly got into talking.