Chapter Text
Working till twelve usually works well for you. You start at a somewhat decent time, work, go home, take a shower, and then head to bed.
Not today sadly.
Times are hard, especially since you were kicked out of your apartment about a week ago. Stupid no pets rule. With no place to stay, almost zero money, and no food, you were at your all-time low.
And to top it off you were working all day and all night. From part-time jobs during the day to your night job at 8-12. If you went to bed as soon as you got home you would be getting at least 3, maybe 4 hours of sleep. Too bad it takes you about an hour to eat and get ready for bed.
“Y/N!”
You startle from your trance with a hideous shout and jam your hip into the counter.
“Ouch, god.”
“That’s what you get for sleeping at the counter hun”
“For the record, I wasn't sleeping, I was resting my eyes”
“Yeah “resting your eyes” sure, anyways we’re done for the night, get your stuff and let's go.”
“Alright give me a minute.”
Though Caroline was an old grump who smoked way too much, you owed her one. She's been letting you stay in her dump which she called home. Caroline was a hoarder, not quite enough of one to go on that one TV show. But pretty close, close enough for you to want to nag her so bad. But you kept quiet because Caroline had let you stay and you wanted to return the kind favor by shutting up.
You head to the break room and grab your bag when you’re about to leave you see a cup of unfinished coffee.
“Eh, might as well.” You shrug
You take a swig and then instantly spit it out into the sing
“Oh god that’s disgusting and cold”
You are once again interrupted by a car horn. At the sound, you dash out of the store and wave to one of your employees as you run outside.
“Took you long enough” Caroline grumbles
“Yeah I know, sorry”
You wanted to be sarcastic but Caroline would probably make you walk home if you were. You didn't like walking home, the alleys always smelled of rotten flesh and you didn’t want to check and see if there were any dead bodies back there. There was also the feeling of being watched, it made you scared. But by now you’ve learned how to keep on a brave face no matter what.
“Your lookin’ tired sweetie, maybe you should head straight to bed tonight”
“I know I know, you say that all the time”
“Well its jus’ cause ya’ look like shit all the time. You need a break, a big long break.”
“I plan on taking one this summer if that makes you feel any better.”
“Good you need it.”
After this, there was no more conversation. Just the peaceful hum of the moving car and the sound of rain hitting the car window. You almost fall asleep, almost.
“Alright hun, were here.”
You open your eyes, not startled this time and grab your bag. You hustle on your jacket and step outside onto wet concrete. Caroline lives on the third floor of her dinky apartment building, which sucks because the elevator is never working. Caroline is already in the building, giving up on waiting for you, making her way up the stairs. You grip your bag a little tighter and try to catch up to Caroline.
As you enter the glass doors you send a hand motion to the girl at the front desk. It would have been a wave if you weren't trying to bolt up the stairs at the same time but oh well. Ignoring the hand motion you try to catch up to Caroline, running as fast as you can up the stairs
You catch her jangling with her keys, finding the right one just as you appear.
“Just in time, you must have some legs to get up here that fast.”
“You walked up 3 flights of stairs faster than me.”
“Good point.”
Caroline twisted the key and opened the door to her messy apartment. Well, your shared messy apartment. You walked in and low and behold it is a living hell for any mom who wants a clean house. There's piles of clothes and trash everywhere, along with a random stain in the carpet or wall every now and then. It makes you gag, thank god Caroline didn't notice your disgusted face.
“I'm gonna go lay down for a little.” you say as Caroline is making her way through the trash maze to her little stained chair
“Alright Hun.”
Luckily the hallway leading to the bedrooms and bathrooms doesn't have a bunch of trash laying on the floor so you can make your way to the bedroom pretty easily. You enter into your somewhat neat looking room. It isn't too clean but compared to the rest of the house this looks like heaven. You set your bag down on the floor, close your bedroom door and flop onto your comfy bed.
“I missed you so much.” you murmur into your pillow.
You reach into your pocket for your phone but are disappointed, only finding a ketchup packet. You switch to your other pocket. Nothing. Back pockets? Also nothing.
“Dammit.” you mutter getting up off of your bed
You exit your room and head back into the living room.
“Caroline I left my phone at work, I'll be right back” you remark as you open the front door
“You want t’ take my car?” she says holding her keys up and jingling them.
“That's alright, I can walk, thanks anyways.”
Shutting the door you head downstairs and exit the building. It's still raining but not too much, just a slight drizzle. You embark on your journey back to work into the cold black night. This was always a hated experience for you because 80% of the time you walked on this path at night you either got harassed or pushed around. This pathway was popular for crooks and homeless people because of how many allies there were. There were also a lot of monsters on this pathway. Because humans treated them so poorly they were forced into shitty areas with shitty jobs. Only a few monsters lived in the nice parts of the city. This meant that there was always the presence of dust in the alleyways. It made you sick, thinking about the poor monster that was killed in a dirty alleyway, and will never have a proper funeral. They just become dust in the wind, literally.
You were so focused in your thoughts you didn't see the huge skeleton monster coming your way. He was obviously expecting you to move over because you definitely would have if you were paying attention to where you were going. But because your head was in the clouds you bumped straight into him, which resulted in you bumping off of him and flopping onto the ground.
“Hey, watch where your..” you trailed off your sentence when you looked up to his face. His eyes were glowing a dark red and he was smoking a cigar, its smoke also had the same deep dark red color. He had sharp teeth, one of them golden. He looked like he was snarling at you. The only thing you can think is.
Oh god