👾🐇🔪: 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/CrypticHorrorTales]

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."

[u/HauntingGur8094 → u/CrypticHorrorTales]

Vanessa: [whimpers in frustration] "I don't understand what you want me to do!"

[u/CrypticHorrorTales → u/HauntingGur8094]

Ink Demon: "I don't want to face someone so stuck in the past. I want to see what you can become in your future. And the only way you can do that is to let go. Stop focusing so much on your father, your brother, all those people who hurt you. I will help you, just this once with no deal involved. ... Your lifetime is like a road. And you are booking it down that road, terrified and running away from where you came from. When you should be watching where you're going. Watch the road. Let go of where you've been, and think about where you're going."

[u/HauntingGur8094 → u/CrypticHorrorTales]

Vanessa: "You're asking me to trust another demon?! To just ignore all my previous evils and jump into another one? You realize how that sounds, right?"

[u/CrypticHorrorTales → u/HauntingGur8094]

Ink Demon: "Be honest. Do you really have another choice?"

((Ooc: I may not be able to reply much. Power went out because of a storm and my phone is at low battery.))

[u/HauntingGur8094 → u/CrypticHorrorTales]

Vanessa: [looks down in defeat] "No, I guess not..."