Short Stories 2022

The love doctor - S.H

Emily pressed herself against the wall at hearing a noise, she was in the house all by herself. Nobody should be there, she had grabbed a kitchen knife. The floorboards creaked under the person, It couldn't be Vecna. He was injured, and she highly doubted he'd downgrade to breaking and entering.

    Her breathing halted when she saw the tip of someone's shoe right next to where she was standing. Then before they could take another step she rushed out and pressed the knife to their neck pressing them against the wall. "Emily! It's just us!" her attention snapped to next to her at Max shining a light in her face.

    She had to squint, then she looked to see who exactly she just threatened. Pulling it away when it was Steve, "what the hell! Who fucking does that." she hit him in the chest with her unarmed hand, he let out an oof. "Ever heard of, I don't know, calling out?"

    She set the knife back in the block, resting against the counter to try and calm her breathing. She flinched when a hand rested on her shoulder, "sorry Em. We tried phoning but you didn't pick up, we were worried."

Her shoulders sagged, turning to face Steve properly. "My mom probably forgot to pay the phone bill." her chest tightened at him rubbing her arm, did he have any idea what he did to her? Giving her such a sweet look, trying to calm her down after giving her a scare.

"Did she also forget to pay the electric?" he was closer, a teasing smile playing on his lips. He was of course referring to all the lights being off in the house. She couldn't blame them for being worried, flashlights in hand.

"Is it dark in here?" They both chuckled softly, at her giving him a question look. As if she hadn't just been trying to navigate the space in near pitch black. She had been using the setting sun as a guide for anything as her eyes got used to it. "No, I think that's another thing to blame Vecna for."

He frowned, running a hand through her hair. She gave him a halfhearted smile, her eyes dropping to his neck. "Sorry about adding to it." She gingerly touched his neck, wiping at the new cut from when she nicked him. Just above the red circled from the bats, he'd already been through so much. 

"Don't worry about it, I like when you do it." He whispered the last part, she covered her mouth to hide her dorky smile. He couldn't just do that, sneak in those kinds of comments. It made her heart rate pick up, images of just that crossing her mind.

He gave her a wink, luckily it was too dark for him to see her blush. "Keep it in your pants, Harrington." Now it was his turn to smile, he looked down at his shoes. "The whole street's power is knocked out, but I'm fine. You guys didn't need to come."

She'd gotten home, and after rushing into said darkness. Hoping to god her mom was okay, she found everything tipped over. Which had only made her more terrified her mom got hurt, but after searching the entire house she was nowhere to be found.

"Can you two stop flirting? Em, have you been sitting in this for three days?" They both shared an awkward look, had they been flirting? No, no this was Steve. They were friends, they didn't like each other like that. They couldn't.

"More or less, it's not too bad. I didn't want to leave in case my mom came back." She hadn't wanted to disturb any of them, it was silly. Her house was fine, she was fine. She had tried to phone, but her whole block was without power.

She was just glad she had a home to return to, "have you found her yet?" She shook her head at Max's question, rubbing her arms. "I'm sure she's around, people are still just showing up." Emily gave a smile as she nodded.

She wanted to be reassuring for them, they've already all been through so much. And they were right, her mom could be anywhere. Still she let Steve put his hand on her back and guide her to lean on him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, he rested his head against hers.