PERVERSE - Apply Fic

21

Kaylee doesn't blink. Este stares at her, waiting for something to happen. Her heart is banging into her chest. She worries it will break her ribs. Kaylee isn't blinking and her outstretched hand is reaching for Este still and aloft in the air above her. Este thinks she might die. She might die all over again.

Her mouth tastes of metal, of copper. She'd rather it be blood, but it's dirt. The dirt she died buried inside. Este coughs once. Her hand reaches her mouth, digging her fingers into the flesh of her cheek, expecting to find a worm inside her too, or some other sign that she is dead and done. She sticks her hands so far back into her mouth that she gags.

Kaylee, perfectly blonde Kaylee whose lipstick is stained brown from the mud she puked and whose eyes used to be blue but are now black all the way through, begins to decompose.

Fallon is sobbing into the collar of Ambrose's jacket. She doesn't even like him all that much. He's kind of unsettling, but he's holding her up and her legs might give out. That woman, the one Este saw that night, is dead now too.

Dead in a way that Audrey can't even begin to explain.

"We need to get going," Audrey manages.

Este glares at her, burning with whatever burned Kaylee.

Ambrose doesn't watch her but instead watches the body. Kaylee's skin erupts in blisters that pop quickly. Her previously blemish-free skin, smooth and silky, becomes rough terrain. Already, she's starting to swell. Her cheeks and chest and wrists expand around her bones. Ambrose knows what it means to decay. The earth shouldn't be taking her this fast.

"Now!" Audrey raises their arms above their head.

The mud is sinking into their shoes. Audrey feels for the notebook in their pocket. They should write this down. They should bury the body they were going to bring here. Nothing is aligning in their mind. It's a dead body. It's more dead than Audrey, because it is. All reason suggests that Audrey isn't anymore. The body they dragged across town, that was Audrey. This life is not.

Este stands up and shoves Audrey. The woman goes spinning backwards, slamming into the ground unable to stop with a hand wrapped around the notebook. Audrey scurries on their hands away from Este, who towers above them burning and dying.

"You don't have to worry about whatever is coming for us," Este spits. "I'm coming for you first."

A proper woman doesn't get her hands dirt. She cleans. Este cleaned after her slob of a husband, she cleaned up his dirty dishes and his messy affairs and the tears on her face after he made her cry again and again. A proper woman takes care of herself. She never has a blemish on her skin, never wears an unironed shirt, and certainly never shows that she is angry. Este is not a proper woman. She's dead. And maybe now is the time to be angry.

"Don't be stupid," Audrey rolls their eyes.

Este shakes their head, "I'm being pragmatic. If there is a way to kill you again, I'm going to find it."

Then, Audrey's pale face seems to lose more colour. Like they are translucent. Like they have crossed the townline and are going to fade into nothing.

Fallon starts to cry harder. Ambrose scoops her in closer to his chest. He muffles his sobs, reaching over and taking Este's hand. She accepts it, and together, the three of them walk out of the forest.

~~~

Barry and Lydia stand in the bus, holding onto the same pole. There is enough room for them to sit down, even sit down on opposite ends of the bus. Lydia didn't fancy the idea of sitting. She was worried her legs might fall asleep, that they'd disappear beneath her if she wasn't making them move. Instead, they stand holding on to the same pole, bodies jolting and vibrating.