Delirium (Creepypasta x reader)

•11•

The air in the morning had a hint of sweetness to it.

You noticed this despite the damp mood that had settled in you like a heavy fog. The weather had been finicky as of late, so a day of clear skies was greatly appreciated by you and the plants, who were spreading their leaves as much as they could to soak up the previously missing sunlight. While you waited for the bus, you breathed the sweetness in deeply and considered your current situation.

Cathy hadn't texted you at all in two days. In fact, she hadn't even approached you at all in the class you shared together. You hadn't seen her in the halls after class or browsing the aisles at work. It was like she had all but packed up and left.

You know she hadn't though. You did see her in class - she arrived late, sat in the front, and was the first one to leave when class ended. What she was doing was giving you the cold shoulder, and that hurt.

Being ignored by her hurt more than the welts she left on your arm, which were mostly gone, but kept stubbornly to your skin in slightly raised, pink lines. It was like they were deliberately left there by her to remind you of your mistake.

On the evening of the second day you texted her.

I'm sorry.

You watched as "delivered" popped up, followed by "read." Nothing happened for the next minute - no text bubble popping up or anything - and so you knew she was pointedly not responding.

With that olive branch extended and left untaken, all you could do was wait for her to choose to approach you.

-

You ended up splurging on a sugary snack from the closest convenience store at lunch, after eating what you brought from home at work that day. Your shift hadn't been the best; you were assigned the children's section and had to deal with bratty kids and their even brattier parents.

There were only so many times you could endure cleaning up a spilled toy shelf before your patience ran thin and your will to live even thinner. Clocking out at the end was the best part of the whole ordeal.

Class was to start in ten minutes, so you maintained a brisk walk up the sidewalk and onto campus, keeping your eyes trained on the door to the building where class was to take place. You were so concentrated on making it that there was no attention paid to your surroundings.

Smack!

With great force your shoulder harshly collided with someone else's, who had their head down reading a sheet of paper and had been paying their surroundings even less attention than you had. Both of you reeled back from the blow.

"Ah!" you exclaimed, stumbling. One hand flashed down to grip onto your messanger bag while the other stretched out to catch your fall. After a few steps, however, you recovered without landing on your knees.

The other person wasn't so lucky.

They had fallen, and the binder that had been held in their arms was spilled across the ground, papers strewn every which way. You immediately felt horrible and bent down beside them.

"I'm so sorry, I should have been watching where I was going. Here, let me help you pick everything up."

The person nodded.

"Thank you."

With a combined effort all the papers were definitely not reorganized but still neatly tucked back into the binder. The person thanked you again, and you waved them away distractedly.

Now you were definitely going to be last, and you needed to book it to class. Hoisting your bag into your armpit, you jogged the rest of the distance to the double doors and yanked one open, dashing inside before it had even opened halfway. When you entered the building, you slowed to a brisk and stressed walk, mindful of the professors stalking the halls waiting for the chance to reprimand a late and rushing student.