DEVILS ? C. G. 〖 #wattys2018 〗

I REALLY LIKE THIS NEW USERNAME (I might keep it this time, woah)

PLUS it's a pun with my name and puns are always good

SOTC: This Side of Paradise — Hayley Kiyoko
• I'm not here, nor anywhere •

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April pressed her back against the wall. Let the breaths peal through her, like a claw through meat. She scrunched up her toes, repressing the plummeting feeling in her skull. All she wanted to do was get away, get to a dark room. The pounding in her head lessened as she dug her fingernails into her palms and knocked twice on the door.

She slapped on a smile. "Carl-y, I'm back!" She called, startled when her voice swelled to fill the room. The whole atmosphere felt a flavor of cold, all sharp, thin shards of purple.

Carl sat up groggily, dazed for a minute before recalling where he was. A tight groan passed his lips. "Hey," he said coldly.

April turned to face him. "What do you—"

She gave a quiet intake of breath. She had grown so used to seeing Carl with his bandage; it seemed like a part of his face was peeled off. Inside what used to be his eye was a mass of knotted strings and reddened flesh.

April's breath faltered. She took a staggered breath, and Carl looked at her, eyebrows knit.

"Does it hurt?" She asked, surprising herself. Her mind was still halfway bleeding into her words. Tightening her frown, she straightened. April didn't like this feeling. It felt unsafe.

Carl turned towards the floor, his face cast in a grim glow. A sense of pity clouded around April's features. She stepped closer, crouching down to his height.

"I..." Carl started, looking back at her. "Sometimes. Not now. Is there any way to get a bandage?"

April cocked her head. She could feel the space between them, charged with pulses of hate pouring towards her.

She realized something, with a start. It was the way she saw Carl's face yesterday, the way he was, kneeled down in front of her last night. She had seen the loathing in his gaze, but found it laughable. But as she stared in puzzlement at the way he looked so desolate, with his wound exposed, she couldn't help but feel how raw his revulsion was. And how that was pointed squarely at her.

"Yeah," April finally answered. "Yeah, there are bandages downstairs."

When she retreated back into the hallways, locking the door with a numb hand, she wasn't sure if she was doing this for him. Maybe she was doing this to somehow prevent this permeable visage, to keep her head on straight.

Not even twenty-four hours earlier, and April was as she always was. Indestructible. Badass, and polished from her knives to her guns.

But now, it felt like the world's colors were bleeding out around her, the walls peeling away to open sky. Between Elle and Carl, she was being pulled in a direction in which she didn't want to go. Being tugged from her ideals. Her center of mass slowly drifting from her body. All her orbits were out of whack.

She flinched, stopping in her tracks. No, she couldn't deal with this any longer.

Fist clenched, April turned on her heel, eyes wide, racing down the hallway towards her father's room.

Yes, a visit to her father would make everything feel better again.

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A/N: Exactly a year ago, at about 11:00 in the morning, Bite Me hit 5k. And I was flabbergasted. Absolutely blown away. So far blasted off to space.

And here we are. Bite Me is going to hit 250k soon. And this book, it's official predecessor, is almost at 5k as well.

Wot in extreme appreciation ?? I love u guys

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Word Count: 672
Created 3-17-17
Edited 4-23-17
Edited 6-28-17
Edited 8-17-17