"𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕔𝕜 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪."

Supplanted

( Content warnings for this chapter: Body horror, stalking, character death, graphic depictions of violence. Reader discretion is advised. )

Cesar wasn't special, unique. There was nothing about him that particularly stuck out for the alternate. He wasn't a symbol of goodness, a martyr. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, as most of its victims were.

He and his mother moved to the house 3 took as its haunt six years before anything unusual happened, six blissfully uneventful years in which it watched him grow, studied each little thing he did. The way in which the human laughed, the slight shifts of his tone when he was mad, uncomfortable, happy. It needed to know all of these things about Cesar for what it had planned.

The day in which it struck wasn't different from the usual, either. It was just another day in which Cesar's mom would come home late from work, a slow Friday night. It could hear the TV from Cesar's room playing, as well as the soft noise of granite moving against paper. It hadn't been too long since Cesar started college, but already the human was tired, and 3 could tell. He spent a lot more time than usual staring up silently at the ceiling, counting the seconds until sleep would take him.

It'd feel bad were it not for the fact that it gave 3 the perfect opportunity to strike. Sleep deprived humans were less aware of their surroundings, more... susceptible to its kind. Easy to hunt and replace. Their brains were slower to respond to threats, so if all went well it should be able to do this without getting stabbed.

It quietly strode into the human's room, using the shadows as cover. Thankfully, Cesar had the habit of leaving his door open when he was alone. Humans and their habits, left them completely vulnerable. Foolish little things.

It'd be so easy to kill him now, get it over with. But... It'd been six years. The least it could to was make its prey truly afraid before it slaughtered him. The mere thought of it make 3 smile, the near perfect whiteness of them a stark, unsettling contrast to the rest of it. Yes, this night, Cesar would die, but not before being subjected to as much fear as it could possibly inflict.

To the human's credit, he didn't flinch at the sudden drop of temperature, didn't make any truly noticeable motions except for the sudden still of his writing hand. Cesar put the thick blanket over himself, looking around the room. That's weird, he didn't remember leaving any windows open. Why was it so cold? Did the heater break again?

"Puta madre, I was about to finish this..."

He groaned softly, putting his pencil down none too gently on the sheet of paper in front of him. Of course it had to happen now. Thankfully, mamá had taught him what to do in this situation, just in case it happened while she was not around. The house was nice, just... Things happened in old houses. Cesar threw the blanket off of himself, getting up and off the bed. Even though he knew it had to be the heater malfunctioning (what else could it be?), there was something that just felt... Wrong. Something that he quite couldn't place. He shrugged off the odd feeling, pulling the sweater down more into himself before stepping out the door.

He didn't notice the eyes following him from the corner of the room.

The creaky floorboards had always unsettled him, but now that he was on his own, and it was cold, they made him more creeped out. It just felt weird, and the young adult really didn't like it. It was nobody's business if he started to speed up, if he went down the stairs a bit quicker than he usually would. Was there something moving in the corner, or were his eyes playing tricks on him?

"Stop it, Cesar. No hay nadie ahi. Nobody."

It felt a bit more convincing, saying it aloud. Certainly not convincing enough for him to believe, but it did serve to make him feel a bit more comfortable. Besides, he was almost at the basement, where he knew he'd find the malfunctioning heater, and he could just go back to finishing his work.

Soon enough, he'd reached the final step, feeling the wooden floor beneath him give way to badly carpeted ground. He felt around the wall for the switch, his fingers brushing against the soft plastic for a second before flicking it on. He blinked once, then twice, his eyes quickly getting used to the light. Nothing was out of place, as it should be. 'See? Just overthinking.'

Cesar let himself just breathe for a while, shoulders slowly relaxing the more he simply existed in the room. After a minute of it, he decided to actually do what he came here to do, walking over to the heater. That's... Odd. It was at the temperature it should be, 68°. Then why was it so cold? A sudden slam got him out of his thoughts, head turning to look at the stairs so fast he could hear his neck crack. Was... Was mamá home? She didn't usually get home early, but he really didn't like the alternative, that there was someone in the house with him.

He didn't want to stay in the basement anymore. Cesar turned around, near sprinting up the stairs. The door was closed. He knew he hadn't closed the door when he was going down, he'd have remembered it. Shaking hands went to grip the doorknob, rattling it without success. Locked. Why was it locked? Doors don't do that on their own. And the worst part?

The locking mechanism was on his side of the door.

He fumbled twice with the knob before managing to get it to unlock, prying it open with so much force that it collided with the wall. He was sweating even with the cold, his clothes sticking uncomfortably to his frame. Wild, open eyes looked around the living room, looking for what was off. Because there was something wrong, something was watching him, Cesar was sure of it.

"W- Who's there?! I have a weapon. I... I'll call the police!"

He didn't have a weapon, and the landline was in the kitchen, but there was no way for the stranger to know that. The man screamed as he heard the loud sound of glass breaking, taking a step back. Shit, there was actually someone here. He had to call someone, call his mamá, or the police. Hell, even Mark. The boy ran off to the kitchen, wincing when the glass prodded and sunk into the soles of his feet. There was no time for him to worry about that, he had to get to the landline.

He didn't make it. Cesar was powerless as a hand wrapped around his ankle, his fingers barely having the chance to brush against the phone before he was suddenly pulled back, his balance taken completely. He fell on his chest, gasping as the fall took all his air out of his chest. He tried to scramble to his feet before his mystery assailant could do anything else, hand going to the floor, but he was grabbed and turned so his back was against the floor instead.

Cesar couldn't believe what he saw. It wasn't human, its limbs were too long, like a cheap children's replica, its eyes too wide. There was nothing right about it. He didn't even get the chance to scream before it grabbed on to his mouth, prying it open uncomfortably.

Now it was time to go in for the kill, 3 had its fun. It pulled the human's lower jaw downwards, slowly but firmly, relishing the groans and whimpers of pain from its victim. It was always nice to see the fear in their eyes as it took their life. With a final tug, Cesar's lower jaw finally gave way, the sickening crack of bone making 3 giggle. He was dead.

The alternate took one of its hands off of the corpse's mouth, shoving it down Cesar's throat. It needed to make room for itself, and all these organs were in the way.

First went his heart, then his lungs. His intestines followed soon after, his kidneys the last thing to go. Perfect. The alternate took its place inside its victim painstakingly slowly, feeling the soft skin stretch under the strain, the red coating it all over.

And then it was fully inside. Slowly, the human's skin merged with its own, as if nothing was wrong. As if the man this body truly belonged to wasn't dead and gone.

It had been too busy relishing in its hunt to realized that Cesar's mom had arrived. That is, until it heard the scream, and the thud. Well, she could've ran. This just made the cleanup that much easier.

Now, there was someone else it'd had its eye on for a bit now. It walked over to the landline, quickly dialing a number that the original owner of this body called every day. The phone rang two times, before it heard the telltale click of it being answered. Wonderful.

"Hey, it's Cesar. I hope it's not too late."