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amethystpath-writes · 2 years

Text

Excuses

NOT A PR0MPT

******

“You are not welcome here.” The words were punctual. Strict. Demanding. Maybe they would have been intimidating if Hero hadn’t been shaking beneath her covers.

“Trying to cast me away like a spirit? It won’t work.” A glowing smile emerged from the darkness, one so bright that it was nearly blinding, but so direct that it was far from illuminating the room. The smile was all Hero could see.

“You are not welcome here.”

“Did saying it again satisfy your fear?” The smile grew. “I’m no spirit, Hero. Only a shadow in the dark and a smile to haunt your dreams.”

Why? the hero wondered. Why did her brain punish her like this when she only killed one man? Villain killed tens of people every day- for information, for revenge…for fun. Hero only took out a threat.

“Did they haunt you?” she asked, voice so quiet that Villain would not have been able to hear it- even if he were human laying beside Hero in bed. “The people you killed, did they haunt you?”

His response held no callous, no maliciousness. It was calm, matter-of-fact. “No.”

Hero shook her head. Of course not. Villain had no remorse, no nagging part of his brain which told him ‘You’re better than this.’ Villain, she thought, was evil. Maybe he hadn’t always been that way, but he sure as hell was now, even now that he was a dead, opaque shadow of a man.

“What was there to feel guilty about? I had my own means, and they were all expendable.”

Knowing Villain, Hero imagined that slow blink he used to give. Arrogant, careless. She used to admire that; his ability to ignore everyone else, to do things for himself- and himself only. Not many people knew how to take care of themselves, but Villain sure did. It only became too much when Hero realized she was as regular as everyone else to Villain. She was just as replaceable.

***

“You are taking this too far. How many people have to die for you to make a point!”

Villain’s hands were bloody, and they had been for as long as Hero could remember anymore. Red, always red.

“As many as it takes.”

Hero wasn’t even sure what the point was. Villain was- he was a murderer, and the explanations he was giving were starting to become dull. Did he ever have a true purpose?

“Someone does you wrong and you have to destroy everyone for it?” Hero questioned, voice uncontrollably raised. It was a simple and unfortunate situation that Villain was so worked up about, that he killed multiple undeserving people for.

“It was hardly everyone. You’re still alive, aren’t you?” He walked to the sink and Hero shuddered when his red hand touched the handle. She would disinfect it when he was done.

“You might as well have. So what if she got the promotion and you didn’t? Do you really think she had it out for you or anyone else who applied for it?” Hero swallowed. “What if it had been me instead of her?”

“It wasn’t.”

She argued, “But it could have been. Answer me.”

He turned the handle back, stopping the water flow, and not able to find a rag, shook the excess water onto the stovetop. The water hissed against the burner as Hero had had soup there just before Villain arrived.

“What if it had been me instead of her?”

How was it that Hero had been putting up with this for so long? Why did she let any excuse to kill another human become an excuse? There were none for what Villain was doing. He was killing. He was killing for the sake of killing.

“I would do whatever I felt like doing, just like I’ve always done. And if you had a problem with it”- he shrugged, then didn’t finish.

So, he would kill her, if the time arose- if he felt like it, if he felt angered enough, if something happened which wasn’t her fault, if he felt like something was her fault. He would kill Hero.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” His voice was neutral, with no trace of harm like there had been last he’d spoken.

“You don’t mean it. You’re saying it because it suits you in this moment- because you know I would leave right this moment if you didn’t say it.” But what did it matter? Hero didn’t mean anything to him anyway if he was willing to kill her for nothing. “I’m your coverup,” she said. “You’re using me to avoid suspicion.”

His response was as chilling as winter’s first breeze. “You think so?” he asked, and it would have seemed so innocent if not for his straight, unchanging face. Hero suddenly felt nervous being in the kitchen- so many sharp knives and scissors and meat mallets and...and he was grabbing a glass cup. Glass was breakable, harmful, weaponizable.

***

That night, it was Hero’s hands covered in blood, and that blood belonged to Villain.

***

"Am I as entertaining to you now as before- asking questions you’ve been waiting for me to ask?” Hero wouldn’t let Villain’s ghost bother her. She would suffer her own guilt in her own time.

“It’s all I’ve looked forward to.”

Hero’s chest tightened. After declaring she wouldn’t be affected, she still was. Villain was a ghost, a paranormal being she used to make fun of at the mention of it. “Then I’ll stop asking.” She pulled her blanket up to her lips. “What will it take to get rid of you?”

“Maybe a kiss goodnight would do,” Villain said. “You can blow it to me if it makes you feel safer, more comfortable.”

Sinister. Villain was sinister, and evil, and every negative adjective in the dictionary.

“You’re powerless right now- a white sheet with eyes and a voice. You’re nothing else.” Hero said this more to herself than Villain. “When I close my eyes, it will be like you were never here. Your voice will be a nightmare that I’ll forget in the morning.”

She did close her eyes, and when Villain persisted that he be her waking nightmare- not only her sleeping one- Hero ignored him. She was already dreaming, she told herself in the confines of her own mind. Villain was practically see-through; he couldn’t hurt her. He would taunt her and make her feel intimidated, but he couldn’t truly do anything. He had no power.

Hero wouldn’t say goodnight, but she would say the guilt she felt was fading. The fact she killed someone no longer mattered.

She had an excuse.

But didn’t Villain have excuses as well?

#not a pr0mpt #on this episode of Dee Is Really Bad at Giving Titles to Stories:#Excuses #hero x villain #hero x villain story #hero x villain snippet #hero x villain drabble #hero #villain #heroes and villains #hero/villain #villain/hero #evil villain #I have multiple requests I’m working on but I woke up with this draft open on my phone #Hello to all my new followers and old followers alike. Thank you to those who have stuck around even in my absent periods. you are the best.#pat yourselves on the back. give yourself a Cooke and milk (or almond milk or you’re like me)#we love when tags autocorrect to make no sense. good luck to those who read them 🙃#I didn't get to edit this one due to the inability to focus but I did read it through a couple times and it read through fine to me.#Hopefully that's true for everyone else 😬#Hero did in fact clean the sink

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