SHIFT (Alastor x Reader)

Chapter 1. (Revised)

This hallway... Again. You almost sigh in disappointment as you make the trek down the long, dark, red hallway, adorned in oil paintings. You know what's at the end. It's there. It always is. Just a few more steps. It felt like a horror movie within a stupidly realistic dream. Suddenly, static starts to fill the air around you. Here it comes. You flinch when a deer with a stitched, strained, smile snaps right in front of your face from within the dark. Distorted elk caulks fills your ears. Blood drips from the stitches and the smell of decay and rot fills your nose. Fuck. You turn your head, forcing your eyes to tear away from the scene.

B̵̴҉̞̠̘̩͍̱́͊͗͜͠͠͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠T҉̘͙͖̠̓ͦ͑̄͜͜͟͞. օɦ...B̵̴҉̞̠̘̩͍̱́͊͗͜͠͠͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠T҉̘͙͖̠̓ͦ͑̄͜͜͟͞.ռօ...B̵̴҉̞̠̘̩͍̱́͊͗͜͠͠͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠T҉̘͙͖̠̓ͦ͑̄͜͜͟͞. ʏօʊ ɖօռ,ȶ.B̵̴҉̞̠̘̩͍̱́͊͗͜͠͠͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠z̷҉̲ͥ͆̿̆ͭ͞z̷҉̲ͥ͆̿̆ͭ͞Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠Z҉͆͢͠͠T҉̘͙͖̠̓ͦ͑̄͜͜͟͞.

You snap open your eyes to look at the one of the many tapestries hanging above your bed, your entire body tense and covered with a this sheen of sweat. You take a deep, shaky breath. The lingering sounds of static fills every nook and cranny of your brain, making you feel woozy. You have been trying to astral project into another universe for quite sometime, but was never successful due to a block. Specifically this one that had sent you back time and time again. You had named it Buzz Ball as a joke, but it is starting to really grind on your nerves.

Your hands come up to rub your temples to sooth away the dizziness, but it lingers longer than usual, making your brows furrow and a groan escape your dry, cracked lips. Your reach to grab your phone from the nightstand beside you, to check the time, but the device shocks you, and a red light blares onto the screen before fading into darkness.

"Hm... I really need a new phone." You huff to yourself, hitting the back of the phone a couple of times with your knuckle. You turn it in your hands before looking at the time, hoping you have enough time to go back to sleep for a moment. Drumroll please... dududududududududududup... Ugh. 9:47 No way in hell you'll be falling back asleep. You groan in annoyance, glaring at the screen and contemplating throwing the device half way across the room, but deciding against it, from how broken it is already. A long, tired sigh escapes your pouted lips as you slowly get up, trudging yourself to the bathroom to get ready for the day. The fluorescent lights in your bathroom flip on with a slight buzzing 'wrrrrr', amplifying the static filling every inch of your core. You cant help but to groan again. Attempting to drown out the overwhelming sensations, you begin playing music from your old, beat up phone, and to your surprise, it helps (although, the music crackles and pops every once and a while). You blame it on water in your speakers from how many times you've accidentally dropped your phone into a puddle... or pool... or maybe once or twice in your toilet... Anyways, yeah, you're pretty clumsy.

Striding to the shower, bobbing your head slightly to the song, you turn on the steady, but weak stream of water. Not bothering to let the water heat up, you jump in after taking a couple of breathes. The water quickly turns from freezing cold, to blistering hot, making you jump and wince, scrambling to turn the water down a couple degrees.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit." You whisper-yell, looking down at your feet turning bright scarlet as you jump from one foot to another. Your ears prick up as a quiet, dark chuckle could be heard, and you freeze, eyes going wide, adrenaline pumping through your veins immediately. With a burst of courage, you fling open your shower curtains, ready to... actually, you have no idea what you're going to do if someone is actually there. Thankfully, the bathroom appears to be empty, so you sprint to the door, locking it swiftly. You press your ear to the cool wood, straining your ears to listen for any signs of another person in your apartment.