AnnouncementContent Warning for graphic self-harm in the process of conducting of magic in this chapter. Please don't read if that's upsetting or triggering for you at all.When Daily opened the door, she was greeted with a soft party popper. Alice was grinning happily at her, “Guess what?”
“You got the promo-”
“I got the promotion!!!” Alice hopping into Daily’s hands happily. Daily forced herself to hug Alice back, but her actions felt weak and numb. She had hoped Alice wouldn’t notice, but when she pulled away, she looked confused, “Is something wrong?”
“Hm?”
“You seem…” Alice gestured vaguely, seemingly unable to finish the sentence or formute an end for it.
“There was… a blockade on the way back.”
“Oh right. I saw it; they stopped me too!”
“Yeah, they-”
“So scary to think there might be wild mages near us, don’t you think?”
Daily blinked for a second before nodding slowly, “Y-Yeah. Definitely.”
“Yeah, the Guard is definitely rough around the edges, but I’m gd they’re around to help.”
Daily nodded again before hesitantly raising the small bag in their hand, “I… I got beer for us.”
“Ooooh, yes! I’mma mix mine up; you want a mix too?”
“Er… No, I’ll just have mine…”
“Oh, c’mon. You love it!”
“Oh, okay…” Daily quickly passed over a bottle from the bag and moved to sit down on the sofa, watching Alice casually prepare the drinks.
“…Congratutes on your promotion.”
“Aw, thanks.” Alice grinned with pride, “I was a little worried, but of course, they knew they would’ve been stupid to not consider me.”
Daily nodded softly, “When do you start the new role?”
“Next week. They’re gonna walk me through everything for the rest of this week.”
“Nice.” Daily nodded again, “Tell me more.”
She listened to Alice ramble on about her job for several minutes; about the new tasks she’d have to take on, about the pay raise she would be receiving. All of them were positive and good to hear. So many things in this town felt so static and frozen, so to hear about some positive change was heartwarming.
However, it seemed Alice didn’t feel the same way; after about 5 minutes, Alice’s expression twisted in frustration as she hopped over to Daily and plopped herself beside her, handing her drink at the same time, “I don’t wanna talk about work anymore!”
“But it’s your celebration…”
“Yeah, and I wanna celebrate! Let’s put on a movie or something; I’m gonna have to talk about work enough in the next few days anyway!”
Daily ughed lightly, “Alright, alright. Your pick then.”
Alice nodded flipping through the various sections on the TV screen, “Mmm… What’s in horror right now?”
“Oh… Oh, do we need to…?”
“Oh, come on. Man up! Are you still not used to horror?”
“I’ve never been used to it!”
“Even after all those movies we watched together?”
“You forced them on me!!”
“Oh, semantics.”
Ignoring Daily’s weak protests, Alice quickly clicked the remote several times, bringing up another horror title that she had never heard of. Daily sunk deep into her seat and weakly attempted to cover her eyes.
“Oh, come on. The horror never starts right away.”
“You said that about Scream.”
“Ah. Well, it usually doesn’t.”
“I’ll take my chances.” Daily quickly covered her eyes again.
“Ugh. I can’t believe I’m friends with you.”
Indeed, true to her words, the sounds emanating from the TV did not sound particurly graphic. Suspense tones, dialogue and sound effects but nothing truly horrifying yet. Daily felt the urge to put her hands down and look at the screen, but knew she would regret it. Her dreams were bad enough already; she didn’t need this to add to them.
“W-What’s the movie about?”
“You’d know if you watched it.”
“Please…”
“Not really sure? Some guys stuck in an artic station? And some of them were trying to shoot a dog or something? It’s kinda slow.”
“Mmm.”
The silence emerged between them again as Alice remained engrossed in the film, while Daily remained covered.
“…Why do you think the Guards were here?” Daily inquired softly.
“I heard some bodies were found.”
“Bodies?”
“Mm. Butchered by the sounds of it.”
More to it. More. Deeper. Deeper. Feel it.
“Did you… Did you see…?”
“Of course not.”
Daily swallowed, “Is that all?”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“I-it is! I… I just meant-”
“It’s alright. Nah, I didn’t hear about anything fshier, thank god for that. Let’s hope it’s just a regur psychopath and not one of those magic freaks.” Alice paused and thought for a moment, “God, that’s a weird thing to hope for.”
“M-Mm.”
Daily silently agreed with Alice; an odd thing to wish for indeed, yet one that was so true. The quicker they found no evidence of magic, the quicker they would be gone…
After several more minutes of listening, the sounds had become to get slightly more unpleasant; ugly monster-growls. Gross, mushy sounds. None of it sounded very pleasant. Daily quickly picked herself up, leaving her drink on the coffee table, “I think I’ll head inside… I can’t…”
“Aw, you sure?”
“Mm.”
“Alright then… We’ll pn something more your speed for the weekend, kay?”
“Thanks.”
“No worries. See you tomorrow then.”
“Night.”
Daily’s room was silent and calm; their apartment was not rge, but the walls were sturdy enough to keep sound from entering or escaping. She waited several minutes sitting on her bed, enjoying the quiet and peace if only for a moment.
She sighed softly and, carefully, began to undress herself carefully, hesitating for a moment as she removed her shirt, revealing her scarred stomach again.
Once again…
She ran her fingers over each scar, counting them silently. To the eye, it would’ve been hard to see. The scars ran over each other and crossed over so often, that the number seemed to blur. But she knew how many there were. Seven. A good number… If only it was enough.
Moving into the bathroom, she paused to take in her reflection once again and grimaced softly at the figure that stared back at her. To her eyes, it was a young man; not a particurly attractive person. But neither was he technically very ugly. He was just average. His body was somewhat slender, but that slenderness couldn’t hide the inherent masculinity that she saw in him. Shoulders that looked a little too wide. A box-like silhouette. Fingers that looked a little too thick. The ghost of a stubble on his chin and the echoes of body hair over his chest. His hair was long and rough; not exactly unmaintained but cared for without knowledge or experience; a recent endeavor as opposed to something he had been allowed to care for his whole life.
Daily swallowed and felt her jaw tighten and watched the young man’s throat bob and his jaw mimicked her own actions. She touched her chest gently and watched him do the same. Her face twisted in frustration and irritation, and the young man’s expression matched her own.
I wish I didn’t hate you so much… You don’t deserve it…
She wanted to punch the mirror. She wanted to feel the gss burrow itself into her hand and wipe away the reflection that felt like it was mocking her. But she could only force herself to sigh softly and close the bathroom door and return to her bedroom. She caressed the scars on her belly for several seconds more before she moved over to her closet and carefully extracted a small silver bde and a wide silver dish. She gnced towards the window in her room and stared at the full moon hanging over the dark sky.
Making sure her room was locked, she carefully knelt down in front of the window, pcing the dish between her legs and holding the bde firmly in her right hand. Everything felt still and cold. She waited several more seconds, silently praying to herself as her eyes remained fixed upon the moon. She could faintly hear the sounds of the movie, far from her room, and forced herself to tune them out until there was naught but silence.
Then she let out a soft sigh and carefully pced the bde to the edge of her belly. She hesitated. It was so cold. It was always cold. It always hurt.
And so, it would again.
Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, Daily pushed the bde as hard as she could into the side of her stomach and began to drag it across to the other side. Movies always made it look so easy; like knifes and bdes could cut through anything without any trouble. This bde didn’t want that. This bde hooked and snagged on her meat and fat, refusing a smooth path in favor of a jagged, uneven cut.
The bde slipped and she let out a pained groan. Not even half way… The blood made everything so slippery… She felt tears of pain running down her face as she readjusted the knife in her hand and pulled again. The warm blood rushing down her belly, spilled onto the silver dish below her, filling it quickly. It was eerily silent; her thick blood, viscous enough that it made little to no sound as it dribbled down her body.
Her body was already going cold and numb. She could feel her breathing quicken. Panic was setting in. She opened her eyes and clenched her jaw as she made the final cut, pulling the bde to the end and then dropping it with a soft ctter as blood oozed out of her body, and overflowed from the dish. She struggled to control her breathing as she focused on the moon once more before closing her eyes again and bowing her head.
Mother.
Please come.
She felt a familiar cold hand on her back, but she kept her eyes firmly shut. She felt the hand travel softly from her back over to her chest and then onto her belly, pcing itself firmly against the open wound. She could feel how rge the hand was; easily covering her entirely belly, staunching the blood flow with little effort.
“Daughter…” The voice that spoke was deep and breathy; like it wasn’t even sure how to speak properly in spite of its elegant tone, “To see you… once more…”
“I… I will… always…” Daily started but her tongue felt numb from the blood loss.
“Hush… You need… not… speak…”
Daily shook her head softly before struggling to move her mouth, “I will… always… be there… for you…”
“Oh, devoted… one…” Daily felt another hand touch her chin and tilt her head backwards. She could feel a coldness pressing against her back, supporting her, letting her body go limp, “…If only… You did… not… need to… suffer… this…”
Tears oozed out from Daily’s closed eyes, but she said nothing.
“You are… strong… daughter…”
Daily hesitated before shaking her head again, “I’m… I’m not… Not yet…”
“But you are… And you… have… always… been…”
Daily let out a soft pained gasp as the hand that had been caressing her wounded stomach suddenly moved, its rge fingers pushing in and probing the wound, slowly and carefully. Not out of some sadistic desire to cause pain, but with a tender care to incite change.
“Beneath… all this…” The hand pushed deeper; she could feel it pying with her organs, pushing them aside, adjusting their positions, “Beneath this… offal… the fluid… the mucus… deeper… and deeper…”
Daily let out soft moans as the hand moved deeper. She squirmed softly in discomfort as she felt the wound grow…. Louder. She could feel more hands. All carefully holding her, pulling at her in every direction with gentle force. She could feel many follow the first hand, filling her insides, taking the space her organs once held. She felt so… so full…
Everything was moving. She felt fingers tug at her mouth, desperately crawling inside her, as if the barest warmth her body had left was some mystic sanctuary. She couldn’t feel herself. She was just… loose skin, animated by the coldness within.
“Deeper… than bone… Deeper… than marrow… deeper… than… the soul… You were… always…”
“D-Divine… M-mother…”
“So… many… have… forgotten… me… But not… you…”
“N-Never…”
The Hands stopped moving; Daily could feel them under her chest, pushing up against her skin. Against the muscles and ribs. She felt like they wanted to burst out; bending her body beyond what it should’ve been able to.
“Once more… Bleed… Bleed for… me… I will… return… And you… We will all dance in the moonlight…”
“Y-Yes… Yes…”
There was silence for a moment and then Daily let out a heavy gasp, as she felt the hands pull out; it felt as though they were pulling her insides with them… She stumbled forward and pced her hands on the ground to brace herself. Her insides still felt cold as if some of the hands had been left inside.
“Once more… Sweet child… And we will… dance… together…”
Daily nodded quickly, “Thank you… Thank you…”
And then everything was silent.
She remained stationary for several minutes after; keeping her eyes closed. She knew better than to open them too early. Even when she knew it was safe, she still hesitated, only opening one eye the barest crack before opening the other. Her room was empty and quiet, as if nothing had happened.
She gnced down below her; the dish and ground around her was practically spotless. Her stomach looked fine, but her eyes could see the fresh scar tissue that had built up around the “fresh” cut. She touched it gently before blinking in confusion. She could feel her bicep nudging something on her chest…
She frowned moving her hand away from her stomach and towards her chest, touching it gently. It felt… softer… different… A little… sore…
Stumbling to her feet, she rushed into her bathroom again and flipped on the lights, staring at her reflection, touching her chest gently. Softer… more pronounced, if only slightly so… Daily stared in awe; not very well defined yet… but she could feel it; they were still changing. Growing. A body to match what she was… Deeper than her soul…
She let out a soft ugh as tears welled up in her eyes again. The reflection staring back at her, reflected that same smile; a young woman’s smile. She hugged herself and fell down to her knees, as tears continued to spill down her face and the soft ugh continued to emerge from her throat.
Almost… Almost there…
Just once more…
***
SevikaWrites
