𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃 | 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 ON HOLD

[𝟎𝟓] 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥

SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

IT WAS JUST past midnight, and Laiken sat silently, strumming her guitar, trying to find the right tune for her newest song. This is what she tended to do at night when she couldn’t sleep. Maddox was in his room with his headphones, doing his homework, and Grayson went to their girlfriend’s for the night. It was usually nights like this when she felt the most in tune with her actual emotions. Laiken debated since the stream ended when she should call her new friend - she didn’t want to be too clingy. Little did she know that Corpse was getting more and more anxious when she didn’t call.

Laiken breathed, pausing as she leaned against the wooden instrument. She reached over to her phone, hovering her finger over the new contact. She could feel her finger tremble as she pressed it and then the speaker button - after a few dial tones, the butterflies swarmed her. What if he was annoyed by me? I’m being annoying. I need to hang up. Just as she hung her finger over the end call button, a deep raspy voice answered the phone, “Hello?”

A bubble hitched in her throat. “H-hi,” she responded, tapping her fingers against the guitar. A faint smile crossed Corpse’s face at the unparalleled delicacy that reigned through his speaker. “How are you?”

He let out a soft breath, shifting in his chair at his desk. “I was kinda worried you wouldn’t call.” Laiken strummed a cord as she glanced back over to her phone.

“Sorry.” Laiken cracked her knuckles. “I didn’t want to bother you so soon after we streamed.” Her fingers picked at the strings.

Corpse cleared his throat. “You would never bother me, Baby.” Laiken scoffed playfully before reaching over to her notepad and scribbling down a few notes. “How are you holding up?”

Laiken sighed. “I - uh -” she cleared her throat from the nervousness building in her throat. “I’ve been really anxious the past few days.”

“Is everything okay?” He inquired.

Laiken awed softly. “You do care!” Her voice was so obviously joking, but she did appreciate that he bothered enough to ask.

“Of course I care,” he rasped. Laiken smiled, brushing her hair behind her ear. “We’re friends.”

Laiken let out a broken breath. “We are, aren’t we?” Corpse didn’t answer, settling in on the comfortable silence between them. Other than her roommates and Ohm, she never truly felt like she had genuine friends. No matter how much she told herself that Sean and Mark and Felix and Delirious, and the other people she often played with, told her that they were friends she constantly felt like they would hate her if they knew the girl behind the idea of GraveBaby. GraveBaby was nothing more than an external mask she wore to hide the fragile glass behind it. Sometimes she felt that way about the people who knew her in real life… most of the time she felt that way about herself too. She preferred her online presence over the mess she saw in the mirror every morning. Corpse shuffled on the other end, bringing her back from her wallowed pit. “There’s just an anniversary coming up that I-” her voice cracked softly. “I don’t really enjoy this time of year.”

“Do you - uh -” Corpse’s voice waved in nervousness. He didn’t want to pry into her personal life. “Do you want to talk about it or…?” There was a silence that filled between them. Corpse began to worry that he possibly stepped over the thin invisible line of privacy and intrusion.

“My sister died almost 11 years ago.” A sensitive whisper crept through the speakers. “It usually really difficult for me to remember her until it gets close to this time of year.”