An Itsy Bitsy Strawberry

Pacing

The game had stopped hours ago, and now Astral was out for an "errand." Damien was tying his blanket into several knots as Rocco scribbled a pencil onto paper. Strawberry had since been staring up at the bottom of Rocco's bunk, trying not to cry over her empty corkboard.

Finally, she broke the silence. "I miss the pictures."

Rocco scribbled harder, trying to silence Strawberry. "They meant a lot...why did they have to disappear?"

Damien tossed the blanket onto his pillow. "I can tell you miss the photos dearly," he mumbled, looking at Strawberry pitifully. "Maybe they'll show up somewhere?" He sounded rather apathetic and mechanical, as if he were made to crank out words of comfort.

"How do you think that would happen?" she managed to croak out, biting onto her pillow for comfort.

"Time, Berry. Give it time," he answered, his tone far more sincere than before. "Everything will fall into place delicately, you just have to give it time. I know it took time for a lot of things in my life, but here I am now." Strawberry peeled her eyes from the corkboard to face him. "That doesn't mean you can't try to make it go faster. Hell, that'll help! You gotta give it time because it won't turn up right away." 

"You speak funky," she mumbled, "but I kinda get it. Thanks. I'll keep looking." She smiled softly at Damien, brushing away the tears from her watery eyes.

Time continued passing as Rocco shoved sticky notes onto the wall loudly. He'd scribble a bunch, and then the slam of the note would ring through the room.

After a few more slaps to the wall, Astral burst in, breathing heavily and shakily. Both Damien and Strawberry jumped up to see her in her weary state. Her body was miserably bruised and tear marks dried up slowly around her cheeks. She barely kept herself up using the door frame, stumbling into the room. Damien instantly rushed over to help her, dropping everything he had been doing before.

"ASTRAL!!" he cried out, clutching onto her. He escorted her to his bed, continuously spending time checking on her. His cry caught the attention of Rocco, who had finally put his pencil down and crawled out from his bunk. Before he could make his way to Astral, though, Strawberry hurried to her side.

Strawberry inspected Astral's limbs, noting how many markings were on her arms and wrists. 27. She hurried to the closet for a first aid kit, only to find none. Her gaze darted around the closet for alternatives, before giving up and checking random drawers. Running back with a couple of Neosporin tubes, she basically tore the cap off and started coating the scratches across her arms. Rocco followed suit, locating extra gauze for Astral's bruises. As everybody treated Astral's injuries, she teared up, appreciating their kindness.

"Was it Starry?" Damien finally deadpanned, his eyes watering and his voice cracking. Astral looked off to the side, but Damien already knew. No one else would dare hurt his Astral like that. Rocco blotted a cold towel against the bruises before taping the gauze on. Strawberry had already finished covering Astral's arms in Neosporin and was now walking in circles.

"It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair...," she kept mumbling, tugging at her hair. "How come Starry gets away with this!?"

"He's just too intimidating for most," Rocco sighed.

"Great excuse, you fucking pebble-brain. And a dead person shouldn't eat an apple because they won't like the taste, huh?" Strawberry paced around the room, deep in thought.

A nearly sinister look was peeled up into her lips, as she smiled unusually brightly. "Maybe there's something that can be done...," she teased out, her voice wildly different.

"W-What?" Rocco had been caught off guard. "What are you talking about?"

"Give it time, Rocco!" she cooed back, her grin still eerily lighting the room. "Give it time..." With that, she hurried off for the tubes. A plan had entered her mind and now was the worst time to let go of it. Maybe she could help Astral! Maybe she could do something good. Maybe she could be of worth to her new friends.

"That wasn't just me, right? She fuckin went weird!" Rocco spat out to the other two. "She got this whole creepy, shitty act up! Might be goddamn terrifying..."

"Maybe she kicked into overdrive, heh," Astral suggested, before whining over a sting in her face. Damien hurried over to help her relieve the pain. It was at that moment that Rocco's eyes landed on the corkboard and made him recall the entirety of the previous night.

Uh oh. He had to hope that he'd put away the photos right so Strawberry wouldn't find them. Not yet. He still needed the grasp of hope that those photos gave him.

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author note: pacing is so fun! i love pacing my stories while a mini-me is pacing around my mind to make the pacing of the plot work so i rewrite as little as possible, proving my pacing to be great i'm gonna fukin lose it FUCK