NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

I woke up this morning, again before Jessica… It was December first, her birthday. I wasn’t sure what to do, do I wake her up and say happy birthday or wait for her to get up…? I decided to wait, her door opens out so I hid in the direction it opens towards. I waited for about half an hour, that’s usually how much earlier I get up than her. I heard a small thump and that meant she had gotten up, she opened the door and yawned.

I jumped in front of her. “Happy Birthday!”

Her immediate reaction was. “WHAT THE FUCK!” and she slammed me on the floor.

It hurt, a lot. “OWWWWWW!”

She was still on top of me and she had me in some sort of neck hold. It took her a good eight seconds of strangling me to realize what was going on.

She let go and I started coughing. “Oh, shit I’m so sorry Red.”

I was trying to catch my breath, now my neck hurt. “Please d-don’t do that again.”

She helped me up. “Don’t sneak up on me on like that.”

I decided to say it again. “Happy Birthday! Please don’t strangle me this time!”

She stared at me blank faced. “Funny, but thank you. Just don’t do that again.”

I didn’t think doing it again would be safe anyways. “Ok, I’d rather not have my neck broke.” I rolled my head around and I felt three pops, then the pain went away. “So, what are you going to do today?”

She had a grin. “Well, Elizabeth is out of the hospital, Keith has the day off, and so do we. Let’s get some cake and beer… Elizabeth is going to be there… “You look nervous, don’t worry she won’t pull any stunts with me around. We can all have some fun.” That was reassuring, I bet she really wanted to see Keith though.

Maybe I could tease her, it might not end badly. I leaned in close. “So, do you want to see Keith?” The glare she gave me sent fear down my spine. I shut up about it immediately. “S-s-sorry!”

She smiled at me. “Why don’t you go get a shower I’m going to get some stuff together.” I didn’t argue, I ran into my room and grabbed some clothes. A long white t-shirt… and blue jeans… While Jessica was busy I went and took a shower. After I got out she was waiting by the door. She went in after I walked out. I decided to open the door that goes outside. Upon doing so I was smacked in the face with something.

I heard someone apologize. “Oh shit, that was meant for Jessica!” It sounded like Keith. He picked me and moved me to the side. “Good thing I have extras.” I was tossed a towel and cleaned up whatever it was, after I wiped it off I found out it was whip cream.

My hair was a mess. “Keith, I just got out of the shower. Why’d you do that!?” He shushed me… I did the best I could to get the stuff out.

I almost had all of it out when I heard a smack, a scream, and then lumbering footsteps into the distance along with joyous laughter. “Keith! WHAT THE HELL!”

She huffed, I think she was angry. I should probably say something. “He got me to…” I handed her the towel, she wiped off her hair and went inside to clean it. I had gotten all of it out of mine at least… It was chilly out.

I stood outside for a bit, then Jessica came out. She looked at me intently. “Red, I need you to protect me today.” What!

Why did she need me to protect?! “W-what could I possibly protect you from?!”

She got closer and looked me right in the eyes. “They’re going to try and prank me all day! I need you to protect me from that!”

I felt something well up inside me. “I-I’ll do my best!” She gave me a smile and she had me walk ahead of her. I started to feel more like a shield then a protector… We got to the one of the buildings, I recognized this one. It was the store. Upon walking in the door, I was smacked by a fly swatter. “OW!”

Jessica peaked around me. “Is that all of them?!”

That was mildly irritating “I don’t know?!” I looked to see where it came from and saw a shocked Elizabeth, she vanished a second or two after I saw her. So that’s what the doctor was referring to. We walked around the store, Jessica clung behind me rather closely and we got what we came for. Cake… I didn’t have to guard her in an open area so that was nice, but once we got indoors it was like that all over again. Throughout the day I was smacked with some flyswatters, had pies thrown at me, chased with some string that sprayed out of a can, and at one point was hit with a frying pan. I was out for a few minutes because of the frying pan and woke up being carried by Jessica.

She looked down at me. “I’m sorry Red, I didn’t know they were going to use things like that.”

My face hurt. “Owwwwwwwwwww.” She smiled at me and let me down. “Are we done now? I don’t think I can handle this much longer.”

She nodded. “Yes, were done, we can go eat that cake now.” I’ve never had cake before. She still had me walking ahead of her until we got back to the building though.

When we got there Keith and Elizabeth were waiting by the door, they both looked disappointed.

Keith in particular. “Awe come on Red, why’d you have to protect her. You ruined the fun.”

Elizabeth was laughing. “I don’t know, it was rather fun watching how panicked Red was when that string sprayed on her.”

Jessica interrupted them. “You’re done for the day, right?! The frying pan took it to far!” They both apologized. “Don’t say sorry to me, she’s the one who got hit.” Keith apologized to me, Elizabeth just smiled.

Jessica unlocked the door and walked in. A bucket filled with water fell on her. She was fuming, it was almost as if the water was steaming off of her. Elizabeth vanished and Keith took off in the other direction. She pushed me to the side and chased after him… the door was locked, how did they do that; oh right, Elizabeth. I decided to walk inside, there’s no way I was catching up to them.

I heard a voice behind me and it made me jump. “So how was your day Red?” It was Elizabeth.

I turned around to see her, she was in the doorway. “Y-you know how it went.”

She smiled. “So, I do. I’ll say it was kind of fun, I’ve never seen Jessica cower behind someone before. It was cute, to say the least.” She walked inside. “So, I thought you didn’t want to be my pet? Why do you still have the collar one?”

She didn’t need to know why. “I-I thought it was cute. So, I kept it on.” She doesn’t need to know that I was too scared to take it off.

She stepped closer to me. “I think your lying.” She had a smirk on her face.

I looked to the side. “Well I’m not.”

Her smirk grew mischievous. “Then take it off for me. I’d like to have it back.”

What?! “F-Fine!” I went to take off the collar… That feeling of dread washed over me again, my hands were shaking. I tried pushing the clip but I couldn’t get my fingers to do it.

My hands kept shaking, I didn’t understand why. Elizabeth stepped closer and put her hands on my cheeks. “I think you’re afraid to take it off, like something bad will happen… You don’t need to take it off then, you do actually look cute with it on.” She smiled at me and then vanished. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

I went and shut the door, I figured Jessica would be cold when she got back so I grabbed a towel for her and waited... I waited for a while but she didn’t come back. I peeked outside and something jerked me out, I feel down and got sprayed with something freezing.

I screamed. “AH STOP PLEASE IT’S COLD!” It stopped and I heard Jessica laughing, she was dry but shivering. I guess she wanted me to suffer as.

She must have been really cold. “s-s-sorry R-Red, I h-h-had to get you t-t-to! L-l-l-let’s go inside, it’s c-c-cold.”

Now I was shivering. “You didn’t need to do that.” She stole the towel I laid out and now I had to go get one.

I walked into the bathroom, I had dripped water across the carpet so I took my clothes off and wrapped myself in the towel. I stepped outside and was greeted by Elizabeth, Jessica, and Keith; all staring at me. Jessica was wrapped in her towel but her clothes were mostly dry by then. I froze…

Keith spun around. “Nope, I’m not going to look, that’s rude.”

They were between me and my bedroom. I walked backwards back into the bathroom, I shut the door and sat down on the floor. That was terrifying…

Someone knocked on the door a few minutes later. “Hey Red, I got you some clothes. Open the door. “I cracked it open and Jessica handed me some shorts and a white t-shirt. I put them on waited a few minutes then stepped out.

They were staring at me again. Keith looked nervous, I don’t blame him, Jessica was eyeballing him pretty intensely. Elizabeth just had a grin.

Jessica looked over at me when I walked over and sat down. “Now that we have that over let’s eat.” She cut the cake and handed a piece to everyone… It was sweet.

Elizabeth butted in. “I think Red is enjoying the cake.” Why did she care? “Oh right, I have a surprise for everyone.” She pulled out a bottle with a brownish liquid and two clear bottles. “Whiskey and Vodka.” The grin on Jessica’s face scared me, Keith didn’t seem to care that much.

Jessica seemed happy. “Well, I won’t be drinking whiskey but I’ll take the vodka.” I guess the vodka was the clear liquid those bottles were far larger than the whiskey one.

Jessica walked over to a cabinet and pulled out shot glasses, she put one in front of each of us and Elizabeth poured that clear stuff into it. Jessica and Keith drank it, I didn’t want to touch it and I noticed Elizabeth didn’t drink hers either.

Jessica looked at us. “Aren’t you two going to have some?”

I shook my head and pushed it away, Keith took it. Elizabeth did the same and Jessica took hers. Those two drank every once in a while. I didn’t and Elizabeth wasn’t either… It was odd. Elizabeth was resting her head on her hands and watching me, it was; uncomfortable. Eventually I noticed Jessica’s cheeks getting rosy, I guess she was finally drunk. She wasn’t slurring but I’m sure she was drunk now.

I saw Elizabeth lean into Jessica’s ear, but I didn’t hear what she said. Jessica looked to her and nodded. She stood up and walked over to me.

She gave me a smile. “Hey Red, can you stand up?”

Why? “Um… sure.” I got up from the chair and she grabbed me. She put one hand on my forehead and her other arm around my stomach. “W-What are you doing!?” She pulled my head backwards, it hurt. Then I felt something get shoved in my mouth.

I started choking and heard Elizabeth say something. “Drink it up or you’ll choke on it.” It was disgusting. I don’t know what it was, but it tasted awful. She wasn’t pulling it out and I couldn’t breathe, I had to drink it or I’d drown. Why was Jessica helping her do this? Eventually he pulled it out and acted shocked. “Dam, you drank it all.” Jessica let go and I fell down, I was coughing. Some of it went in my nose and it burned.

I looked up and saw that the whiskey bottle was empty. They just forced me to drink it, I felt sick.

Elizabeth was laughing and Jessica and Keith were distracting each other again. “Dam girl, I didn’t know you could drink like that! I guess you really are Jessica’s sister!”

She forced me to drink that, it wasn’t by choice. “You forced me to do that! Why!? It was disgusting!”

She smiled at me. “Give it about twenty minutes and you’ll find out.”

I sat back in the chair and kept my eye on her. I didn’t trust what she was doing. I don’t know how long I was watching her but I started to feel woozy after a while.

I looked over at Jessica. “I’m going to my room, I don’t feel good.” She smiled at me and I headed back, I was stumbling all the way there.

I got to my room and tripped halfway to the bed. I had to crawl my way to it, I didn’t like this feeling. I climbed on the bed and laid there for a minute. I heard snickering and looked over, I forgot to lock my door. Elizabeth was standing right there.

She was grinning. “Looks like you can’t hold your liquor. It’s cute though, I’ll give it that…”

She was mocking me. “You’re mean.”

She smiled. “I can’t understand anything your saying.” How couldn’t she. I said it clear as day.

She walked over to me. I didn’t want her in here. “Go away!”

She snickered. “I still can’t understand you, your slurring horribly.” Slurring, is this how Jessica feels when she’s drunk? “You’re blushing like Jessica does, it’s cute.” She rolled me over. “Let me see those rosy cheeks of yours.” She touched my face, her hands were cold. “Your rather hot now.” She had an evil grin.

Why was she doing this. “Leave me alone!” She didn’t register it, I guess she only heard slurring. Unless she was lying about it. She rubbed her hands on my face. It, didn’t feel bad, her hands were cold and it was hot in here. I pointed at the window.

She looked over. “Do you want it open?” I nodded. She smiled and walked over to open the window, I felt a cold breeze come it. It was nice. More red flags went off when she shut my bedroom door. “Do you want to have a good time Red?” No, I didn’t. I didn’t even know what she wanted. I shook my head no. She seemed disappointed.

She picked me up and held me like someone holds a baby. It was demoralizing. My bed was moved up against the wall now since I had an issue of rolling off, she climbed on the bed and scooted back up against the wall. She moved me so that I was sitting next to her, she had me leaning on her shoulder. She kept running her fingers through my hair.

She smiled while she was doing it. “Your hairs very soft Red.” Why is she doing this? “I’m surprised you were able to drink it all, I was going to pull it out but you drank it before I decided to…” That’s her excuse? I tried moving, I managed to get on my knees and crawled towards the edge of bed. “Wait, don’t go, you’re in no condition to walk around.” She grabbed my ankle and pulled me back towards her. I was clawing at the sheets but I wasn’t coordinated enough to actually grab anything. “Red, the amount of effort your putting into getting away hurts me a little. I know I’ve been a jerk but do you hate me that much…?” I guess I don’t hate her… But I didn’t like this… We sat there for a while, she was holding me next to her. I guess it wasn’t so bad, just leaning on her shoulder.

There was a knock at the door and Jessica wobbled in. “Hey guys, I’m going to bed.” She was slurring. I saw Keith help her to her room and then he left.

At least he’s more respectful then Elizabeth. Elizabeth got up and shut the door again. She walked back to the bed, she moved me so that I was laying on across the bed.

She pushed down on my arms and got on top of me. “You probably won’t remember this but I will, it’s enough for me.” She kissed me, then she pulled away and smiled. “I can’t believe it. When I found your broken body, I took you to them. They had far better medical technology then us so I thought they’d save you… I guess they did, but at the same time they didn’t… The little girl died, but you were given life… I want to hate them for letting her die, but I want to thank them for putting you here… I don’t know why I’m saying this to you; your probably too drunk to understand, if you would at all.” She took her hand and put her thumb on my bottom lip. “You’re beautiful Red. I don’t know if anyone’s bothered to tell you, but I will. I can’t understand it myself, but; you feel different. Being around you, looking at you, touching you. It doesn’t feel the same as Jessica. I get this knot in my stomach when I’m around you, when I look at you I feel joy, when I touch you it’s like touching an angel.”

Why was she complimenting me like this…? I could feel my face turning red, if it wasn’t already. I don’t think I’d received praise like this… I liked it… She stopped pressing on my arms, she pulled on my shoulders and had me sit up. She hugged me, it was a genuine hug. Not the grabby kind… Why did I want to cry, I felt my eyes watering up? She noticed it and wiped my eyes then kissed me again, I don’t remember what happen after…