Reddit Stories 2019

Confessions

"So, I have something to tell you."

Rylie stared at me with her baby blue eyes from over the top of her knees, clad in her fluffy unicorn pajamas. Biting her lip, she wrapped her arms around her legs, doing her best to look at innocent as possible. It was the same as when she told me she loved me for the first time. Same as when she told me about her parents. Same as any serious conversation.

I smiled the best reassuring smile I could. "Yes, Missus Thelpty?"

"Thelpty-Grey. Future Thelpty-Grey," Rylie corrected with a grin. She played with her wavy brown hair, not so subtly flashing her tattoo. She always lied about the heptagram on her wrist and I never pushed. Despite how much she pretended, Rylie never liked talking about herself. She would let me know when she was ready. Probably curled up on the couch in unicorn pajamas, staring at me with innocent blue eyes.

"Yes, Missus Future Thelpty-Grey?"

"Kay, so, you know how I, like, love those weirdass horror-scifi books?"

"Which ones?" I teased. I knew which ones. I first met her in the bookstore when she was buried in them. The local shop received a collection of the old ones, and she bought all of them. Every copy, even multiple versions of the same ones. 'In case there was a misprint,' she later told me. The author was prolific. For a normal person, it would have been an extraordinary purchase.

But that was Rylie. She won the lottery twice and was set for life.

The horror-scifi clashed with the fluffy unicorn pajamas, but that was Rylie. Half magical horse, half spooky space thing, entirely lovable. I guess that was part of why I liked her so much. She knew what it was like to live with a split life.

"The ones by Crofte." Rylie's smile didn't slip, but her tone shifted. She looked past me, taking a deep breath. This was way more intense than the first 'I love you.'

Not as intense as her proposal.

"Ah, yes. The spooky ones."

"The spooky ones," Rylie agreed. "Well, I'm part of a group. The Val Crofte Literature Club."

I was well aware of the VCLC. Rylie received a box filled with new books from them every month, marked by seven circles. She told me they represented the seven classical planets in Crofte's work. Rylie talked about them a lot. For Crofte-heads, a name Rylie used to refer to the group once, which I would never let her forget, the classical planets were the key to understanding the meta-story.

It also had something to do with alchemy. I had a hard time getting into them. They hurt my brain. I had no clue how one man wrote so much.

"Yeah, your nerd group."

"They're not nerds! Well, not all of them." Rylie stretched, again flashing the heptagram. "It's not just about the books. It's about the meta-story. We, uh... we..."

Rylie struggled to get the words out. A nervous blush spread across her face.

I took her hand, careful to avoid the tattoo on her wrist. I never told her, since it was impossible to explain, but the design was unpleasant. Every time I touched it, even the slightest brush, it burned. Like a hot stove, but through my whole body and prickly. "It's okay, Rylie. You can just admit to being a nerd. We're engaged. I know this now."

"There's more to it, Aaron." Rylie bit her lip, still uncertain. Then, a serious expression suddenly took her face. Not the way the faceless steal faces in the Crofte books. She simply decided to be straightforward. "The VCLC believes that the books aren't just stories."

"They're damn good ones!"

Rylie didn't laugh. That hurt a little. "They - we believe that Val Crofte is trying to warn us about creatures. Monsters. Eldritch beings."