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It was nice to stay at Polly's place. The horrific realm of despair that ate away at the sanity of anyone who dared ponder its mere existence was nice and all, but it was always so messy, plus Zoe was running low on snacks. Polly's home was surprisingly tidy. You'd think for such a stereotypical party ghoul who was obsessed with doing drugs, it would be a lot messier, and probably smell like shit. But aside from some nondescript papers lying around on the tables and a couple of stray socks lying around, it wasn't bad at all.
Probably because this was technically Polly's mom's house. She wasn't home, though, so it didn't make much of a difference.
"Why do you still live with your mom?" Zoe asked as they sat on the couch watching mildly interesting anime. "I mean, like...you're a ghost. I don't think it'd cost too much to move out. And it'd be easier to get away with all the partying and stuff, wouldn't it?"
"What? Nah, my mom's chill!" Polly grinned without looking away from the screen. "She doesn't care if I go to rad parties and get wasted. I mean, like, what's it gonna do? Kill me?"
"Yeah, good point. I guess your mom would get that, 'cause she's a ghost too."
"Totes!"
They were quiet for a bit to watch the screen and read the English subtitles. It was a decent watch, but the plot didn't seem super innovative. A generic apocalypse plot that relied a bit too much on shock value, but only enough to be mildly annoying. One of the characters, whose name Zoe didn't remember, fell onto his knees, weakened by something, and started writing a message in the dirt. He fell onto his stomach, growing visibly weaker as he wrote. It looked just like
fell onto his knees, weakened by something, and started writing a message in the dirt. He fell onto his stomach, growing visibly weaker as he wrote. It looked just like
fell onto his knees, weakened by the radiation, and started writing a message in the dirt. He fell onto his stomach, growing visibly weaker as he wrote. It looked just like
fell onto his knees, weakened by the radiation, and started writing a message in the dirt with his callused hand. He fell onto his stomach, growing visibly weaker as he wrote. It looked just like
fell onto his knees, weakened by the radiation, and started writing a message in the dirt with his callused hand. He didn't have much time left. He fell onto his stomach, growing visibly weaker as he wrote his final message, that no one would see. It looked just like
Liam fell onto his knees, weakened by the radiation, and started writing a message in the dirt with his callused hand. He didn't have much time left. He fell onto his stomach, growing visibly weaker as he wrote his final message, that no one would see, as everyone was already dead. It looked just like
Liam fell onto his knees, weakened by the radiation, and started writing a message in the dirt with his callused hand. He didn't have much time left. He was already in so much pain, his bones growing hollow and his final scrap of life seeping from his cracking skin. He fell onto his stomach, growing visibly weaker as he wrote his final message, that no one would see, as everyone was already dead. It looked just like--
"Polly!" She forced it out, a lot more dramatic than it needed to be. But that broke the cycle, at least. She could see clearly again, and while her body had gotten a little deformed, she was able to stabilize herself enough to fix it. Unfortunately, she'd already stained the couch with sulfuric acid, and there was no saving a piece of furniture from sulfuric acid. "Polly, shit, I'm sorry! I, uh, I don't know--"
"What the fuck was that?" When Zoe actually looked back at her, Polly's eyes were wide with terror. "Are you, like, okay? I've never seen you do that."
Zoe tensed up. That wasn't the best of signs. "Do, uh...never seen me do what, exactly?"
"Uh, the whole turning your eyes on your face into totally blank voids and writhing around and leaking literal acid from your other eyes on your body while they're glowing and all your mouths are really heavily breathing thing?" Polly cautiously reached to touch Zoe's shoulder, but pulled away quickly. "I mean, if I was high, yeah, whatever, but I'm not? I mean, I don't think so? Did you see me take any drugs before we got here?"
"N-no..." Zoe wrapped her tentacle arm loosely around herself and lowered her gaze, watching the leather slowly be eaten away by the acid. "Uh, sorry, I guess seeing something on TV, like...triggered something, or...sorry..."
"It's cool, it's cool, I already turned off the TV." Polly pulled up her legs so her knees were tucked under her chest. "Like, not to be lame and serious, but being triggered is, like...pretty lame and pretty serious. Need to talk?"
Zoe blinked at her. She honestly hadn't really expected a reaction like this. Polly was nice and she cared about her friends when she needed to--DID SHE?--but she wasn't exactly known for calming people down.
"What was it?" Polly continued to question. "Was it the guy that just died? In the show, I mean. Does dying freak you out? 'Cause I don't think dying's ever freaked you out, so..."
"Uh, it's kinda complicated...I don't really wanna try to explain. Maybe it's apocalypse stuff."
"Huh? Why? Didn't you used to make apocalypses?"
"Well, yeah, I used to, but usually in different timelines--"
THIS IS THE DARKEST TIMELINE
"--so I think those have been erased, anyway...so I guess it doesn't really matter."
"But you remember them, don't you?" Polly shrugged. "So, like, they happened, but only for you?"
"It's complicated. Like I said. I don't like remembering all of it anyway. I mean, some of them are kinda funny, yeah, actually, most of them are pretty funny...but some of them were kinda...problematic, and those timelines are erased, anyway."
"Hm." Polly nodded, clearly not understanding. "I mean, it's not like you were really, y'know, yourself, right? So it's not like it's all your fault
it's all your fault
it's all your fault
it's all your fault
"It's all your fault!" Vera screamed, her left eye spilling with tears, the right covered by her dying snakes as it continued to bleed over the corpse she cradled in her arms. "It's all your fault! What the fuck is wrong with you? Why is this some sort of fucking joke to you?"
"Sorry, Vera!" Polly giggled, clinking a glass of some drink with Scott. "No mercy! No one's safe from the PRANK MASTERZ!"
"With a Z!" Scott dutifully added with enthusiasm.
"Shut the fuck up! You bastards killed my fucking sister! I thought you had some basic fucking scrap of compassion, I thought, I thought..."
"Hey, what was--"
"It's all your fault!"
By the time Zoe could see again, she'd already shoved an extremely bewildered Polly off the couch. Zoe immediately felt the fire dwelling within her rise to her face and seep through her pores, which actually just looked like blushing. Not only did she just black out and shove her friend off the couch, she'd also gotten sulfuric acid on her shirt. "Oh, fuck, Polly, I'm so sorry, I totally ruined your shirt--"
"No, whatever, I burn my shirts off with acid all the time anyway." Being a ghost, Polly could get back to her feet very quickly and effortlessly. "Seriously, girl, what's goin' on with you? It's like you're just having a million flashbacks all of a sudden."
"Well, it's...it's like I said...I don't like remembering this one. We hurt a lot of our friends."
"We?"
Zoe quickly averted her eyes. This Polly wasn't the same Polly who had been drawn in and used by that book, so she wouldn't have that complete lack of compassion here, right?
"Polly..." Zoe carefully spoke. "How far would you say you'd go just for a prank?"
"Uhh...what does that have to do with--"
"Just answer. Please."
"Uh, okay, um...probably pretty far, why?"
"You've killed people before, right?"
"Probably? Nobody important."
"Would you kill your friends for a prank?"
"Uh, no? What the fuck?" Polly scoffed. "That's not a prank, that's just killing my friends. I mean, it'd be cool to start a whole apocalypse like you said you did, but I like my friends too much to just let them die in it...I dunno." Polly crossed her arms. "Why're we talking about this, again?"
"Because..." Zoe took a deep breath. "In one of those timelines, there was a book you and Scott read, and it was...my book, basically, and it...sort of had a lot of dark magic that eventually mesmerized you enough to bring me into your realm and cause complete anarchy and lead everyone to their doom until us three were the only ones left."
Polly blinked, only reacting with, "Whoa..."
"And, so, like, Liam, Vera, Miranda, Damien...all those people were killed. I watched them all die."
"Liam? Really? But he's already dead."
"The radiation killed his body and rapidly disintegrated him until he was just a skeleton." Zoe wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "That happened to Damien after he died, too. But he wasn't killed from the radiation. He sacrificed himself for Miranda."
"Miranda?"
The army had been defeated. Most of their bodies had been consumed, but some remained. Bellanda had immediately spotted Miranda among the corpses. Her pink scales were barely visible from underneath all the dried blood. Her dress was ripped apart with acid still dripping from the deteriorating fabric. Her body was opened up and seemed to have been hollowed out. Her bones in her torso had been eaten away at by something, it seemed. Her heart appeared to be missing too, probably also ripped out of her. And her face...
Her eyes were still open with the horror of her final moments.
"Miranda...Miranda, this isn't..." Bellanda fell to her knees, held to Miranda's lifeless gaze. "This can't be happening, I...I..."
She was paralyzed, and a perfect new target. A tentacle plunged through her torso, quickly soaking in blood, pulling some of her intestines out through the puncture. The crimson splattered from her mouth as she let out a scream that was cut short by the blood pooling in her own throat. Miranda's remains were picked up as well, and the sisters were promptly taken to the fire of a newly destroyed building to be cooked.
Zoe tightened her grip on herself, trying to rid her head of the buzzing. "Yes. Miranda. They led an army together and they were all killed."
Polly wasn't looking at her anymore. "What about...what about me and Scott? What did we do?"
"You had a lot of fun. For a while. I don't remember how long it took for Scott to realize what happened to everyone. But he did. And, I don't remember how and when, but...I think Scott killed himself."
Her voice was so low and unfamiliar to herself. Like she'd had to detach it from her soul just to recount all this. She thought again, how somehow Scott ended up killing himself...it was so hard to imagine Scott even thinking of the concept of suicide, let alone committing it.
"Is this a joke?" Polly responded, genuinely incredulous.
"It was funny at the time, I think. At least, to us it was. I think when we were the only ones left, you realized it, too. And..."
"I couldn't kill myself. Because I already died."
Zoe didn't like the way Polly said that. It sounded like she knew something like that, that she'd experienced something like that.
It really wasn't any of her business, but she had to ask. "Have you ever thought about that? Killing yourself?"
"I mean..." Polly twirled wisps of hair around her fingers. "It's not like I ever actually considered it. 'Cause it doesn't take a genius to figure out a ghost can't kill herself. I mean, I guess there might be a way I could just, like, stop existing and erase everyone's memories of me...? But, no, I never thought about doing it. But sometimes..."
She lowered her fingers to her chest, where her pendant rested.
"Sometimes I wish I didn't have to be here. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to think about how I'll never be able to really die for good. Sometimes I wish..."
Zoe couldn't be certain, but she thought she saw a tear on Polly's cheek.
"Have I ever told you about my death? The real story?"
"No." Zoe tentatively reached for Polly's hand. "Do you...want to?"
"It was...it was a car accident. My mom and I died. Because my dad...my dad was driving drunk."
They sat in silence again. Zoe just gazed at Polly, still looking away from her, quiet luminescent teardrops lining her cheeks. It was an unbelievable sight, and an unbelievable realization. The idea that Polly was willing to tell Zoe the truth of how she died, the idea that it was related to substance abuse, the mere fact that Polly was actually crying...
All Zoe could do was pathetically utter, "I'm sorry."
"It's--" Polly wiped her eyes. "I've been thinking about it a lot. The Coven told me a little while ago...I should be more aware of how my substance use affects other people. And they said if I don't, I'll end up making the same mistakes my dad made. And...they're right."
"But you're already dead," Zoe said softly. "It doesn't really hurt you."
"But I'm trying to be more considerate. I'm..." Polly fidgeted with her pendant. "I've just been thinking about that. I try to just be happy about living forever, but...thinking about it too much makes me wish I didn't have to. You know?"
Zoe didn't know how else to react. She inched closer and pulled Polly into a hug. Polly's shirt was still tainted with acid, but neither of them paid any mind to it. Polly was very cold to the touch, and her teardrops fell onto Zoe's tentacles like snowflakes. They stayed like that for a while longer, until Polly took a deep breath and said, "Thanks. Thanks for...being here."
"It's..." Zoe pulled away cautiously and wrapped her tentacle arm around herself again. "It's the least I could do if I'm gonna tell you about the alternate timeline where I killed all our friends in horrible ways."
That got a soft chuckle out of Polly. She wiped her eyes again and finally looked back at Zoe. "How did you end it? I mean, our friends are still alive, so obviously it, like...that timeline was erased, right? Is that what you said?"
"Yeah, yeah. I think I erased it after I got bored." Zoe shrugged. "I mean, the whole thing was supposed to be a really fucked up prank. So, if there's no one left to prank...there's really no point."
Polly hummed in agreement, but didn't respond otherwise.
"But, you know...I feel like a real person now. I have feelings, I care about my friends. So we can laugh about all the other things I did back then, but thinking about what I did to our friends...thinking about all their bodies all broken and ruined and bloody and mutilated, how it was all because of me, and I could do it all over again if I really, really just lost it...it's hard." Zoe tried to smile, though the other mouths on her body were all gritting their teeth. "You get it, right?"
Polly nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that's...it's fucked up. It's fucked up. But I know you wouldn't wanna hurt our friends like that." She bit her lip and averted her eyes. "Sorry, I'm...I'm kinda new to being emotionally vulnerable."
"Me too. Don't worry 'bout it."
Polly grinned and giggled. It was a very sweet and pleasant sound, and Zoe couldn't help but laugh a little with her.
"For what it's worth," Zoe added, "I'm happy you're here. Like...I'm happy you're able to live even after, uh...not living."
She almost cringed at herself immediately after saying something so insensitive, but Polly just patted her head affectionately. "And I'm glad you're living in a way that makes you happy and doesn't involve plummeting the world into eternal despair!"
Zoe nodded with a soft giggle, before stretching her arms and getting to her feet. "Uh...we should probably fix this acid situation, huh?"
Polly dismissively waved a hand. "Nah, don't worry about it. We spill acid all the time in this house."
Zoe hadn't really noticed until now, but at this point the acid had totally destroyed Polly's shirt, and now her tits were out. "Uh, then, uh..." She rubbed her tentacle arm sheepishly against her other arm. "Sorry. You can go put a new shirt on, if you want."
"Nah, I take my shirt off all the time in this house." Polly hopped to her feet and stretched her arms as well. "Anyway, wanna fuck?"
At the very least, that made Zoe smile. "Maybe later. If you'll still be up for it. I wanna at least get some water first."
"Oh yeah, good call!" Polly gleefully made her way toward the kitchen. "Good news is we always keep food and water around for our alive guests! And booze, but that's mine."
Zoe still was a little confused about why Polly could drink alcohol and holy water but not anything else, but she remembered ghost physics weren't supposed to make sense, so she just accepted that and got some unholy water from the fridge. Polly poured herself a glass of holy water while Zoe shoved an arm into the water pitcher and let the mouth on it drink up. This would probably poison the water, but Zoe couldn't think of anyone Polly would have visit that was unable to handle it, so she didn't worry too much.
Yeah...our friends are fine. We're gonna be fine. Zoe smiled at Polly with her regular mouth. Everything's fine, and I'm happy we're here.
And she knew Polly was happy, too. Even despite times like that where she felt so vulnerable and heartbroken. They at least had each other, and they were fortunate for that. At the end of the day, they had a life to enjoy, and they could only become better people from here.
Also, the sex they had later was killer.