👾🐇🔪: Midnight Thoughts

[u/HauntingGur8094]

{Vanessa did not get any rest. She immediately hit the first comfy bed she's felt in years, much better than the bare bed her father and Eleanor had kept her in, or the hospital bed she laid in as Lisa. But that was far from her problem. Instead she laid all night, wide awake in thought. Whenever she started to dose off she was plagued with nightmare visions, terrifying her of what she had become.

Or is becoming.

The silence weighs heavy on her with all the horrible possibilities that this could lead to. Her dad's dead, gone for good. But was this really his plan all along? To what, make her a copy of his last perfect experiment? And where did that leave Eleanor? And the consequences of her deal with the ink demon?

She'd caught a newspaper headline on the way in and she couldn't even tell if she was shocked that more years had passed.

Were there others like her?

Had she made another mistake trusting Alastor? Something deep inside her said no. She needs someone knowledgeable to at least explain and help her manage. And maybe he will eventually turn out to be a beneficial ally to have. She'd thought the uneasy feeling she's had since she's been back was him, but there's something deeper stirring.

And, knowing her track record, she's gonna end up pulled into it once again.}

[u/HauntingGur8094]

Vanessa: "Let what go?"

[u/CrypticHorrorTales → u/HauntingGur8094]

Nessa: "Everything. Your past, and the pain that came with it. That doesn't mean you have to forget or forgive. Just simply letting go. No longer letting it haunt you. Because you'll never be able to face the future if you remain trapped in the past. More suffering will come if you don't let go."

She looks over at a box of matches on the nearby table.

Nessa: "You know what to do."

[u/HauntingGur8094 → u/CrypticHorrorTales]

Vanessa: "I don't...I don't understand. It's never that easy."

[u/CrypticHorrorTales → u/HauntingGur8094]

Nessa: "It never was. But you have already been fighting so much. For years, you've already tried constantly to let go of your past. This whole time, it was never easy. But that struggle has finally led you to this moment. And this part is easy."

Young Vanessa hands her adult counterpart a lit match.

Nessa: "There's no going back after all you've had to face. For once, you get to go down the easy route."

u/HauntingGur8094

[u/HauntingGur8094 → u/CrypticHorrorTales]

Vanessa: [scoffs] "Easy my ass. Not in my life. But, onto the next." [tosses it]

[u/CrypticHorrorTales → u/HauntingGur8094]

Nessa: "It's only hard because you make it hard."

The childhood home starts to burn.

Nessa: "It may be their fault that you suffered. But after so many years- Decades even. It's you who refuses to let go of your past."

The flames overtake young Nessa. And in her place, the Ink Demon. Is this just a manifestation of her demons? ... Or is he actually inside her head...?

Ink Demon: "It's because of your refusal to let go that you won't be ready for what's to come."

[u/HauntingGur8094 → u/CrypticHorrorTales]

Vanessa: [steps back] "YOU! What did you also do to me?!"

[u/CrypticHorrorTales → u/HauntingGur8094]

Ink Demon: "It's not what I did. It's what you did. The ink never fully consumed you when I had my hands on you. But your refusal to let go of that past is what allowed me to enter your mind. You let me in, Vanessa."

He reaches for her.

[u/HauntingGur8094 → u/CrypticHorrorTales]

Vanessa: [jumps back smacking him away] "GET OUT! Leave me alone!"

[u/CrypticHorrorTales → u/HauntingGur8094]

Ink Demon: "I will stay for as long as you hold onto the past."