We'll Get There {AntiAverage} (ABANDONED)

11: T B

1292 words

Dad had gone off to find measuring cups, which for some reason weren't in the kitchen, and Greyson and I were left alone with Anti. The glitchy ego was sitting on the counter like a teenager, quite literally twiddling his thumbs. It all felt so... unnatural; like both he and I had something we wanted to say, but refused to say it. It resulted in an awkward silence, and judging by the way he avoided eye contact, the hatred that bubbled in my chest was noticeable.

Grey was barely old enough to remember what had happened, but the memory had refused to leave my head for the last five years. The demon, if that's what he was, had broken into our house when Mom wasn't letting us see Dad.

He'd appeared before I could process what was happening, like he was carried in with the wind, and pinned her to the wall. He slit her throat with a clawed hand, held her by the neck as she choked on her own blood, and snarled 'An eye for an eye' into her ear. Just as quickly as he'd come, he was gone.

At age nine, I was pinning a phone between my shoulder and my ear, listening to the 911 operator's instructions. I hadn't washed the blood off of my hands until an hour after, when I finally felt I could move in the waiting room. Me and Grey had been alone until she'd gotten out of surgery, and I still didn't know why no-one was there.

But when I looked at Anti now he seemed... different; timid, almost. The look in his eyes when he'd open the door was the farthest thing from a killer's. He was covered in scars, and some looked... I couldn't manage to think of what caused them. I mean, he was missing a finger for christ's sake! It was like he'd done a complete 180.

As bad as it sounds... I was glad for whatever changed. It was difficult not to be when you'd watched the life start to drain from your mother's eyes, thought about just where you'd go if she died, silently cried in a hospital room while her vitals beeped beside you.

Apparently I'd been lost in thought, because Greyson had already forgotten about being scared of Anti. He was starting to 'play the drums' on a pot with two wooden spoons, creating an awful racket. Anti seemed to cringe at the noise, but to my surprise he didn't say anything.

I didn't particularly care about it, being Grey's older brother I'd gotten used to this. So, I just continued to scroll through Tumblr.

"Um, Gre-Greyson? Could you-", Anti actually flinched as another 'beat' was played, "Could you please stop?" Please? Something was seriously off. The glitchy man would've done anything short of kicking someone to put an end to minor inconveniences, what was this?

Grey tilted his head, "Why?" This kid.

The demon's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, before he settled on an answer. "Uh... m-my ears are really sensitive." That was good to know. I wonder if my screams had caused him discomfort that night.

Grey made a face of realization, before hastily nodding and putting the spoons back on the counter. He left the pot on the ground, though, flipped upside down to collect dust. I was about to say something to him when I heard a heavy knock at the door.

Before I got a chance to look out the window, Grey was already rushing to answer it.

"Grey, st-", I was cut off by sunlight streaming into the house. I sighed, locking my phone and hurrying to my brother's side to deal with whatever possible murderer he'd just let in. Fortunately, it was only Seán in the doorway, eyes widened upon seeing us.

"Trey? Greyson? Christ, it's been ages since I've seen you two!", he stepped in without an invitation, a smile on his face. It was... very strange interacting with him. At least the others had defining characteristics, but he was... so similar to Chase.

"Yeah. It's good to see you.", I smiled politely, closing the door behind him before returning to the kitchen. I'd been eleven the last time I'd spoken to him.

"Hey, Anti. Doing okay?", he asked, following me in. He sat himself on the counter similarly to the the demon, and it occurred to me that all of the Septic's probably absorbed a few of his habits.

Anti nodded, fiddling with the hem of his sleeve, "Yeah."

I quirked my eyebrows. Since when did Seán care about Anti? Hadn't he been another one of the creature's victims?

Finally, dad returned. "Oh, hey Jack, what's up? We're making cupcakes.", he greeted, a cheery smile on his face. In his hand, he held an array of measuring devices attached to a ring.

"Ooh, mind if I join you?"

"Not at all bro.", he set the utensils on the counter, and grabbed the cupcake box. "So, we need... an egg, 3/4s cup of water, and 3/4s cup of oil.", he read aloud, holding the box in front of him.

"Let's get to it then.", I said, turning the sink on to wash my hands. I wouldn't admit it, but I loved cupcakes with a passion.

___

Dad had the brilliant idea to have everyone frost a cupcake, as there was ten of them.

I had attempted to draw Pepe the frog on mine, but it looked more like Sam had exploded. Greyson's looked like a rainbow had thrown up on it, with multicolored frosting covering his hands and the tablecloth around them. The colors had morphed together in some spots to create an ugly brown, but he seemed very proud of it.

Jameson had done what could only be described as a smiley emoji, while helping Robbie messily cover his in purple frosting. A simple yellow base coat with three black lines on top of it.

Marvin had created what was possibly the nicest looking cupcake I'd ever seen, with perfectly blended colors and edible pearls spiraling on the sides. Seán had covered his in black frosting and written 'PMA' in white. (I'd asked him what it meant, and the whole table- save for Greyson- had nearly gone into shock.)

Jackie has drawn a red infinity symbol on his and insisted he liked them mostly plain, but I had a sneaking suspicion that he just didn't want to put a lot of effort in.

Schneep simply covered his in white frosting, but was very precise on it being even and smooth. A pile of spoons and knives sat in front of him, all with flecks of white on their otherwise clean surfaces.

Dad had tried to do a fancy stripe pattern, but had ended up with something akin to a quilt, and Anti had covered his completely, sides and all, in black frosting. Though, he'd asked if it was okay first, which I thought strange. A single, acid green dot sat in the center of his cake.

I was going to figure out what had happened to him, even if I regretted it.

A/N: I'm super sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I've been really unmotivated lately, but I'll try to keep updates more frequent for now on.