Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/6886822. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage Category: Multi Fandom: Undertale_(Video_Game) Relationship: Asgore_Dreemurr_&_Toriel, Chara/Asriel_Dreemurr_(Brother_and_Sister) Character: Chara_(Undertale), Asriel_Dreemurr, Asgore_Dreemurr, Toriel_(Undertale), Chara's_Parents Additional Tags: Post-Divorce, Alcohol_Abuse/Alcoholism, Child_Abuse, Childhood_Sexual Abuse, Animal_Abuse, Drug_Use Stats: Published: 2016-05-17 Updated: 2016-09-05 Chapters: 10/? Words: 9454 ****** Humanity or a Hole. ****** by orphan_account Summary A neglected, abused child, and a lust for violence. What could go wrong? Notes This is a story I'm working on about Chara's life on the surface in my spare time, sorry for the short first chapter, more to come! ***** A Regular Morning. *****      God my neck hurts. I guess that’s what happens when you sleep in a closet. I try and ignore the pain as I brush my long auburn hair out of my eyes. The reflection in the mirror stares back at me, unblinking, Hell, it looks half dead. “My name is Chara.” I say to the mirror, hoping maybe one day my name isn’t Chara, or that the reflection in the mirror isn’t the pale, starved teenager that is me, but someone different. Wishful thinking. The only feature I’ve ever loved about me is my rosy pink cheeks, always warm to the touch, always taunting me about the fact that I’m still alive. I try and walk out of the bathroom into the kitchen as quietly as I can, hoping “Dad”, what a disgusting word, won’t hear me coming. But no luck, his fat, bald head shot up in my direction the instant my feet meet the kitchen floor, “Look who's awake, you don’t need as much sleep as you’re getting darling.” His cracked lips formed what can only be described as a shit eating grin before he attempted to take a swig of whiskey from one of the seven empty bottles next to him. Hopefully if I wait it out the amount of alcohol he drinks will kill him. “You only let me sleep five hours a night asshole.” I mumble to myself, at least I thought I did. “What was that?” He asks, trying to get into a standing position instead of being slumped over in one of the kitchens moldy corners. “N-Nothing sir.” “Wanna try that again sweetheart?” My knees began to slightly cave in on themselves, and I place my arms behind my back, this asshole knows how much I hate calling him this, especially after those time's, “I didn't say a- anything…D-Daddy.”. Disgusting. ***** Laughter *****      My arm only got halfway into the fridge before a whiskey bottle was thrown in my direction, smashing against the cabinet door right next to me, glass shards fly in every direction. "Just what are you trying to do there little girl? " Dad questions, arm still raised from throwing the bottle. "I'm trying  to feed my self." "Is that right?  Tell me, did you buy any of the food you see in the fridge?" This shit again,  because I can totally get a job when I'm thirteen in this town.  "What food?  Oh,  you mean the stale loaf of bread, and the expired cheese in there? Well shit, I feel full just looking at that  buffet."  I respond, avoiding his obvious bullshit question, "You better watch it with that sarcasm, you little shit." .  "Well now I definitely know why  she  wanted the divorce, you spend all your money on alcohol, and, well, she was a cheating  whore who didn't love  either of us in the first place, she abused both of us, physically and mentally." His eyes filled with anger, and he clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. Oh shit, shit shit shit I should not have brought up mom.   Run. Run!   MOVE YOUR FUCKING LEGS!      A wicked grin appears on my face, and I start laughing like a mad man as he chases me down the hall. Its not like I enjoy this. The smile is more like a nervous one, and the laughter is more like a nervous tick, just happens when I'm nervous or scared. Its not genuine. (Stop telling yourself that, you know you loved it when his eyes started watering at the mention of his own abuser, you LOVE the suffering of others.) Stop thinking, just focus on getting away from this drunken prick. Sprint into my room, close the door and lock that shit, shove my dresser in front of the door for good measure. All I can do now is listen to the pounding pair of feet charging towards my door. He pounds at the door for a good minute before heading back down the hall, probably to his room to sleep off the massive hangover he must be suffering from. My forehead meets the door as I lean over the small dresser, I stare at the patterns running along the wooden door. And I'm still just fucking...laughing. Did i really find that much joy in seeing just a single second of my deadbeat father relive his own misery? God damn right I did. My maniacal laughter echos through the door, and into the hallway out side. One. By. One.                                                   HA!                                                      HA!                                                           HA!                                                                 HA!                                                                     HA!                                                                          HA!                                                                                HA!                                                                                    HA!                                                                                         HA!                                                                                              HA!                                                                                                   HA!                                                                                                        HA!                                                                                                             HA!                                                                                                                  HA!                                                                                                                        HA!                                                                                                                            HA!                                                                                                                                 HA!                                                                                                                                      HA!                                                                                                          ***** A Different Kind of Lust ***** Chapter Notes Animal abuse coming up, didn't want to add a tag because its a one chapter thing. Or not, if it happens again I'll add a tag.      The sun is setting, and the idle noises that once filled the house all disappear. Seems to me that this is the perfect time to check the trap's. But before I do that I need my kit, full of nails, tools, bandages, anything you would need to keep something alive. Even if it doesn't want to be. I feel like I'm missing something though, something crucial for these little outings to the backyard. Oh yes, I remember now, I need something sharp. I could use a normal kitchen knife, but that got rather messy last time, I like to keep those for bigger targets. I need something precise, something made just for the task at hand. Oh! I could always go through his collection. After the divorce, Dad,  (I am gonna throw up if I say that word one more time, lets just call him by his real name, Richard.) started collecting all sorts of weaponry and other...thing's. (That fat fuck has always had his disgusting kinks.) He has to have something I can use. Time to go see for my self.       Good thing Richard is as stupid as he looks. He keeps everything unlocked, it was easy to sneak into his room and go through his little boxes of goodies, so many different weapons, all laid out upon me. Swords, batons, staffs, brass knuckles. Does he have every weapon known to man in this damn closet? It didn't take me long to find it, the one. A gut hook knife, fits in my hand well, sharp, and very good at tearing. A wide grin appears on my face, stretching from ear to ear. It's perfect. While I'm here, might as well go through the other boxes and see if anything may come in handy, it's a good thing Richard is a heavy sleeper, or I would have been caught ages ago. More weapons,tax papers, old photo albums and...no, no no no not thatthing. I hold the ball gag in my hand, in the box is everything else he's used on me. rope, belts, paddles, why did I look through the other boxes God dammit, I need to get out of this room. I placed various items back in their right box, and sorted everything back where it was, and made my way out of there. I lay on my bed with the knife and try to keep off a panic attack. I need a distraction. I need to kill something.       Sneaking out my bedroom window has always been easy, My house only has one floor, so my room is ground level. I've always appreciated that, especially because of the fact that I sneak out so much. My squirrel trap's are surprisingly empty tonight. I've already checked three out of the five I made, usually at least one has something in it before I get to three. Its the middle of Summer, these little fucks should be everywhere...heh, seems like my luck hasn't run out yet. Looks like someone checked in to trap number four. I designed these traps to be opened and spread out like a cutting board, so I had to be quick to put a nail through the thing's tail so it couldn't move. After it cant get away, it's just a matter of holding it down to nail it's arms and legs too. Little squeals of pain from the squirrel, and little squeals of anticipation from me. It's been so long since I've had a good kill, and with something as perfect as this hunting knife, I can tell this is gonna be a good one. ***** Good Boy *****      "Come here Titan!" The rottweilers ears perked up, and he noticed the skinned squirrel I held over the small chain link fence. He dashed over to me in an instant, and I watched as he tore the squirrel to shreds. Titan is always ready for any sort of meal, especially because of his owner starving him, I swear I'm a better master to this dog than his actual owner. Titan is an attack dog, so far I've only figured out that he knows two commands, sit and attack, but he also does this thing where if you whistle at someone, he barks at them. Like a warning or something, no idea how you train something to do that. Sit is self explanatory, attack however, you have to point at something, then say 'attack'. I've tried it with him a few times on squirrels that were pinned in my traps, and they were gone in seconds. I'm sure as hell lucky my neighbor turned this thing into a killing machine. Dogs are different than humans, dogs are trained to be mean, cruel animals. Humans...just born that way, all of them, well, except maybe one. I hop over the fence separating my yard from the neighbors, and pick up what remained of the squirrel. Part of the fence is busted on the bottom, so I lift it up to let Titan and my self out, throwing the squirrel corpse in a trash can standing by the road. I forgot it was trash day, lucky me, or I would've had to throw it in my backyard again to decompose. Time to get the hell away from this house, I climb back inside my window to retrieve my bag, its got everything I need for a night out. Ski mask (never know when you need one I guess.), a fashioned leash for Titan, snacks and water, and of course a Bowie knife I snagged from Richards collection a few months back, I could never leave home without this thing. I come back outside to see Titan sitting on the sidewalk, waiting for me. Attach the leash, and were on our way.  Thirty minutes later.      Its gotta be at least ten at night by now. I love the cover of darkness at these late hours, my path lit only by the occasional street lamp. The night is my home, I can do what I want, eat without worrying about being caught by Richard, and even kill any thing I want to. As long as I do it in the right place, no one would see me. Eventually I find my destination, abandoned buildings and dark alleys surround me, each one holds a different story. But I'm not here to explore, I have someone to meet. Low hanging catwalks loom above me, and bursts of heat come and go with each barrel fire I pass, getting glares by those who surround it. A quick whistle in their direction and Titan lets them know not to stare anymore. I pat Titan on the head, "Good boy." he wags his tail in excitement. I spot a head of spiked, dyed green hair near one of the barrels. "Greetings Jack."  A set of blue eyes peer up at me, "Hey short stuff!" "The name is Chara, Jack." Jack walks away from the fire, "And ya brought Titan along too!" he says as he crouches down to rub Titans cheeks. Jack stands back up, making me have to look up at him to make eye contact. He places a hand on my head and smiles, "I see you haven't grown much." "Just because I'm only five feet tall now, doesn't mean I wont grow to be 6'8 like you. Then I can easily knock you on your ass." He quickly removed his hand, "I'll keep that in mind. Come on, lets head back to my place." We begin our walk to his apartment, and I give him a questioning glare. "Don't think I didn't notice your blood shot eyes Jack, have you been smoking pot...again." Jack shrugged, "We all got our addictions Chara." Indeed we do.           Jack opens the door to his apartment, gesturing me in, "Ladies first." I detach Titans leash as I step inside, taking in a deep breath of air. "Still smells like a shit hole." A small chuckle escapes Jack as he shuts the door behind him. Jacks apartment isn't that different from home when it comes to smell or cleanliness, but he has cable TV, food, and treats me more like a daughter than Richard does. We watched bad movies, ate sweets and joked with each other until midnight, and for the first time in what felt like ages, I actually felt myself smiling, not from the joy of killing something, or the misery of others, it was from just having good company. "How did you get your eyes to be all red like that?" I lifted my head off the arm of the couch, "I was born with them jackass! We've known each other for how long? And you're just now noticing the color of my eyes? " I giggled. "So you don't have like, any colored contacts on?" I raised a single eyebrow at Jacks stupidity, "Do you really think I would want to wear red contact lenses my whole life?" "Yeah, I guess that would be pretty uncomfortable." He stared up at the ceiling, his usual "goofy stoner" smile gone, replaced by a confused expression. "Hey Chara...when I said, 'we all got our addictions', You kinda got this, serious look on your face, and I just wanted to say sorry if I brought up some bad memories of your dads alcohol problem and shit. I didn't mean to do that, if I did." "Jack...Its okay, I wasn't thinking of his addiction, I was just, reminded..." Jack looked at me, his blue eyes staring in to my very soul. "...Of yours? Yeah, I know how that feels, my parents told me everyday how much of a disgrace I was because I lit one up every once and a while...if, you don't mind me asking...whats your addiction?" I was taken back by Jacks question. Should I tell the only person in my life that cares about me that I kill things for fun? Will he hate me, will he leave me, will he...will he...I took his hand, and led him off the couch over to my bag, which laid next to a sleeping Titan. Taking out the Bowie knife, I turned to Jack and said, "Let me show you." before opening the apartment door, putting the knife in the rim of my jeans, taking his hand and leading him out into the streets of the town.  ***** My Addiction *****      "Hey, didn't you say Richard only lets you sleep like, five hours a night? Shouldn't you be heading home?" "That was only when he was sober, he would come barging in my room yelling and kicking the bed. But hes never sober anymore, he gets up at noon everyday now. Sometimes roaming to the kitchen to get more booze, then he sleeps more. Were fine Jack." I tug at his hand as we speed down the alley, this side of town is like a maze. Thankfully, I've been through this maze with Jack many times before. We would explore all the abandoned buildings in the area, looking for random trinkets and goodies left behind long ago when the town thrived. But now, it looked like the apocalypse swept through this entire side of the town, with abandoned buildings and those who looked like they came straight out of the dirt. You can find very few friends here, but enemies every turn you take. I suppose its like the rest of the world. "Hey Jack? You remember when we first met?" "How could I forget? Seeing some kid, surrounded by thugs. I took a good beating for stepping in, but hey, at least they left you alone. Shit, you were even wearing that same sweater, you could barely get your hands out of the sleeves it was so big on you." "Giving me this sweater was probably the only good thing my mom did in her life." I said, sliding my index finger along the single yellow stripe the green sweater held. Jacks eyes went wide, and he pointed in the direction he started walking. "Hey, we ever been inside that building?" A small, run down grocery store stood by the side of the road, I followed Jack across the street. "Food Mart, what a generic name. Lets try and find a way in." "Wow, will you look at that Chara, a front door!" "Ok, like thathas worked for the past dozen places we've been to." Jack strode up to the front entrance with a cocky smile. "Bet you a chocolate bar it works this time." He placed his hand on the handle of the door, and I folded my arms. "I'll gladly take that bet." Jack shook the handle of the door, put it didn't budge. His smile gone, he lowered his head, "I'll pay up when we get home." I couldn't help but giggle, "Come on, let's do this my way. Look around for anything heavy." A few minutes of searching and I found a lead pipe in a dumpster behind the store. Smash a window, crawl through, and were in. "Please tell me you brought your phone." A beam of light lit our path, and my question was answered. Random food items littered the shelves, probably year's past their expiration date.  "You think they would've packed everything up before shutting down, or maybe this place isn't even closed, it's just truly abandoned." Jack smiled, looking like he was a kid in a candy store. He took my hand, "Come on, let's go check the cash registers!".      "Score! What kind of jackass just leaves thirty bucks in one of these things?" I was in the middle of trying to bust one of the registers open when I heard a noise coming from one of the other aisles. "You heard that too, right?" I asked Jack, "Yeah, I heard it." We both slowly crept from aisle to aisle, shining the flash light of Jacks phone down each one. Then we saw what made all the noise, it was a possum. But now it was just laying there. Playing dead, defenseless. "Oh, well that answers that I suppose." Easy pray."Chara, you ok?" I came out her to show him my addiction, right? So why not. Just do it, you know you want to. I slowly crept up to the possum, and lightly placed my foot on it's torso. Putting just enough pressure to keep it pinned, but not enough to harm it. Yet. I removed the Bowie knife from my jeans, Jack stood silent, watching my every move. I pushed the blade into the possums neck, and slid it across the things throat, slowly. It shrieked in pain as I watched it's blood seep out onto my blade, pooling under itself onto the floor. It laid lifeless, and Jack stepped closer to me as I kneeled, and cut open the possums torso, right down the middle, and opened it up. Playing with and prodding at the insides of the possum with the tip of the knife, I spoke, "This, is my addiction Jack. I love to kill things, doesn't matter what, people have always told me 'Life is sacred' but how sacred can it be, when I can so easily take it away." Once I was done toying with the possums body, I turned to Jack, his facial expression...calm, understanding, even. "We all got our addictions, Chara. I'm not gonna tell you how fucked in the head you are, or tell anyone. 'Cause if I'm honest, I'm a little fucked in the head too. 'The stoner and the killer' sounds like a perfect team for this shit hole of a town." He offered me his hand, and I accepted it as he pulled me off the ground. "Lets head over to our favorite spot.".      Our favorite spot was on the top floor of a multi story parking garage. It felt like I could see everything up here. I could even spot some of the lights from the main city, miles away. But me and Jack always looked at one thing in particular when up here. Mount Ebott. The stars glimmered above its peak every night. "You think we could ever make it there? It's not that far a walk. Couple miles away." I questioned Jack as we leaned on a part of the railing. "And do what? You wanna make a log cabin up there, live like lumberjacks." "I wouldn't go against the idea, It would get me away from Richard and my mother. We could get out of this hell hole of a town, you know?" We both laid down on the concrete roof of the parking garage, examining every star we could see. Looking for shooting stars and constellations. "Hey Chara. Have I ever told you the story, of monsters and humans? "       ***** Fairy Tale ***** Chapter Notes Alright, so I've been real busy with my job lately, I'm getting more hours (yay!) so updates may not be as frequent, that goes for all my works. But I promise, I will find the time to pump out new chapters for you guys and gals. See the end of the chapter for more notes      "Long ago, the Earth was ruled by two races, humans, and monsters. One day, the humans attacked the monsters, cruelly, and without mercy. The monsters, after a long battle, were defeated. And using a magic spell, the humans sealed the monsters underground, below Mount Ebott with a magical barricade. And the legend tells, who ever travels up Mount Ebott, is to never be seen again." I turned on my side and faced Jack, the twinkle of each star in the sky lighting up his eyes, "Jack," he turned to face me, "that's the stupidest shit I've ever heard." He smiled, and we both laughed before he spoke. "Well, its all just a fairy tale anyways, something parents would tell their kids so they wouldn't travel up the mountain alone. Let's start heading home before the sun comes up." We both stood up and dusted ourselves off. You know what...fuck it. I wrapped my arms around Jack, burying my face into his stomach before speaking, "Do you ever think were gonna get out of this town?" Jack was completely shocked, but regained his composure before taking me into an embrace, "I don't know kid...I don't know." We stood there for a few moments, wrapped in each others arms. God it feels like forever since I've had a genuine hug. "Alright short stuff, we should really head home now." I simply nodded as we let go of each other, and followed his lead.      We were back at the apartment watching TV, I gave Titan a part of the sandwich I made earlier. He climbed up on the couch, getting a glare from Jack, "Come on Jack, whats a little dog hair gonna do to this old thing." Titan sprawled out against both of our laps, even though only half of him was laid out on my lap, I still felt like I was being crushed. He rested his head in Jacks lap, and closed his eyes. "Well, looks like were both trapped under a sleeping giant." Jack said as he rubbed Titans head. "Well at least you don't have the ass end of the giant." I poked at Titans back leg, and he kicked me in the stomach, which sure as hell hurt, but it also lifted up part of my sweater. Revealing a collection of long forgotten scars. Jack, much to my dismay, noticed them before I could cover them back up. He got Titan off the both of us, and scooted closer to me, "Who did that to you? You didn't...cut yourself, right? I-I'm here if you wanna talk abo-" "No!" I crawled further away from him, placing my back against the arm of the couch. "Chara, I get the whole 'killing animals' thing, I mean, I use to shoot at birds in my backyard with a BB gun. But please, just talk to me about this. I don't wanna see you h-hurt yourself." "It wasn't me! Ok? " I stood up, positioning myself in front of Jack, "I really wish you hadn't seen those." I said, as I took off my sweater and folded my arms over my black bra. Jack simply remained seated, quietly examining the scars that covered my whole torso. "This wasn't me, or even Richard. In fact, he has his own scars. This, is the work of my mother." I explained, "You wanna know why Richard owns all those knives and shit? He said it was a reminder, a reminder of what she did to him. Same goes for that sweater of mine I suppose. I keep it to remind myself that I got through it. Once Richard started drinking, she divorced him, as if she was better than him, like she was above all consequences." Jack had a sullen look on his face as I went on. "Truth is, they're both just walking piles of shit. And I still remember the times when me and Richard would be locked in the basement together, while she watched her garbage soap operas upstairs. I told him 'I'm gonna get us out of this one day daddy, just watch.', he said he didn't want to hit her, said he couldn't. Shortly after that, he started abusing me. After the divorce, and we moved, he would start...tying me up, and...and..." Tears started rolling down my cheeks, Jack grabbed my sweater, and put it back on me before pulling me into a tight embrace. He put his hands on my cheeks, and made me look him in the eye. "That won't ever happen again Chara. None of it. I'm gonna make sure of that.".      Everything went by so quickly after those words left Jacks mouth. He grabbed a baseball bat from his room, and we drove over to Richards. He answered the door after five minutes of banging on it. And that was when Jack smashed the bat upside his head.       Chapter End Notes How are you guys liking Jack so far? Yay or nay? Tell me anything I can do to improve his character in the comments if you want. ***** Daddy Dearest *****      This is fantastic. The sight of Richard, tied down on his bed using all the rope and belts he's used on me. I can feel myself quivering with excitement. Only problem is he wont shut up ever since he regained consciousness. Just keeps going on and on about how he's gonna kill us when he gets untied. Wait...oh this should be rich. I retrieve the ball gag from its box, and put it on Richard. Muffled screams from him, fits of giggling from me. How the tables have turned. Jack stood near the window, arms folded, and his head down. "Jack...if you don't feel comfortable, you can leave the room." "Yeah...yeah I think I'm gonna step out into the hallway." He made it halfway to the doorway before turning around, facing me. "Actually...do you mind if I...join you? " Well, that was unexpected...but at the same time, I felt incredibly happy at his question. I beckoned him over, and handed him the kitchen knife I held. "I just sharpened that thing, so do be careful not to cut yourself." Jack rubbed his thumb horizontally on the edge of the blade, testing its edge before speaking, "Why a kitchen knife? You said yourself this asshole owns all sorts of other knives." "It's not like we need a scalpel for this, this fat fuck isn't exactly the size of a squirrel. It's big and sharp. It'll get the job done." Richard struggled harder and harder with his restraints as Jack walked around to the side of the bed, and he tore off Richards shirt. Exposing his chest and stomach, Jack placed the edge of the blade on the side of Richards stomach. But then just stood there. Frozen in place. I wrapped my hands around his, and guided the knife down the side of Richards flesh, his muffled screaming through the ball gag confirming his pain. I've been waiting to do this for so long. Blood started oozing onto the edge of the blade, and with every violent gash Jack and I made along Richards chest and stomach, more blood spilled out onto the bed sheets. Jacks hand started shaking, I turned to him, "Are you ok?" "I'm f-fine." I ignored the shakiness in his voice, blaming it on being his first time doing such a thing. Richard was struggling too much to do what I wanted, so I took the knife from Jack so he could hold him down. I sat on Richards chest, and placed my legs on each side of his torso, trying to get him to stop moving. Jack still held him by the shoulders, and I leaned down to get right in his face. "This is gonna be fun." I whispered, licking a thing of blood off the side of the knife with the tip of my tongue before discarding it. My eyes widened as I grinned. And I dug my thumbs into Richards eyes. Finding pleasure with every scream of agony from him. "Come on, isn't this fun daddy! " I jammed my nails into his pupils as his blood soaked my thumbs. I pushed them deeper into his eye sockets and held them there for minutes at a time, violently thrashing his head up and down until he laid...lifeless. He's finally...dead. "Jack..." "Y-Yeah?" A thing of nervousness laced Jacks voice as he spoke. "Wheres the knife? " He handed me the kitchen knife I had previously tossed to the floor. And I positioned myself on Richards lower stomach, giving me access to most of his torso. I raised the knife high in the air. Ha. STAB HA. STAB HA! HA! HA! HA HA HA HA HA HA! STAB! HA HA HA! HA HA HA! STAB! HA HA HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA! STAB! HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA! STAB! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB "Chara?" I turned around to face Jack... and he looked, scared...scared of me.     ***** Forced ***** Chapter Notes God I am so sorry about not updating my works as much as I should. If I'm honest with myself, I kinda took a break from writing and have been playing a SHIT load of Overwatch. But now it's time to write!      Jack backed away from the bed. "S-Stop looking at me like that!" "Like what?"  "Stop making that creepy face! Stop smiling like that! " I'm smiling? I am smiling...fuck. I got off of Richards corpse and slowly approached Jack, with every step I took towards him he would retreat farther and farther away from me, it probably didn't help that my clothes were covered in blood. "Come on Jack, its me, Chara. We've known each other for years! T- This doesn't change anything between us, right? "This isn't good. "Uhh..." He backed himself into a corner of the room. He thinks I'm a monster now. "Come on Jack! You told me yourself you were also 'a little fucked in the head', what happened to that!" "Jesus Chara! I was talking about being a druggie, fucking shit up with BB guns! Not murder! " He's gonna leave me. Then I'll truly be alone.  "I told you that you could exit the room, you decided to stay! You could have left!" "I was trying!I thought I might, like it, but after we started carving into Richard...it just felt so, fucked!" I stopped advancing towards him, and gave him a questioning look, "Did you not notice me trying to pull away when you started cutting into him, or the death grip you had my hand in!" "I did? ...oh God I did." How did I not notice him trying to pull away? Was I just being selfish? Lord know's I've wanted to kill that asshole for years.I collapsed to my knees, and put my head in my hands. The blood that soaked them covering my face. Oh God, I forced this onto him, forced him to cut into Richard, and just didn't let him go. H e probably hates me now. Probably thinks I'm just some...freak. Will he leave me? He can't. HE CAN'T. I CAN'T BE ALONE.     I lunged toward's Jack, and took him into an embrace, burying my face into his stomach while repeatedly shouting. "Please don't leave me! Please don't leave me! Please don't leave me! Please do-" I finally shut my mouth when I felt his hand touch my back, and he hugged me back before whispering. "I could never leave you kid...no matter how fucked things get, I'm always gonna be here for you. Ok? Now stop crying, and lets clean this whole mess up." I'm crying? I am crying...shit. Jack was back to his regular self, almost like all that shit never happened, and he instantly started to take lead. "We need to get rid of any DNA evidence that uh, this shit went down. So lets get cleaning, and we also have to um...dump the body somewhere." I turned to the corpse that laid on the bed, then back to Jack. "When did you become an expert on this shit?" He ran his hand through his hair, and simply stated, "I uh, watch a lot of cop shows on TV." I narrowed my eyes at him, and he quickly shuffled off to find some cleaning supplies.      "Well, that was a pain in the ass." Jack said, hands on his hips while he looked over the room top to bottom. Jack had brought along a bunch of various cleaning supplies, but it wasn't long before he decided to just douse the room and bed in bleach. I was carrying a couple of bloody trash bags, "At least you weren't on 'cut up the corpse duty'." If I wasn't covered head to toe in blood before, I sure as hell was now. But... I have to be honest,it was pretty, enjoyable, cutting Richard up into itty bitty pieces. We both carried the bags out to the car, where the bloodied bottoms of the bags left obvious stains in Jacks trunk. I guess we have another thing to clean, later. "We'll get you cleaned up when we get home kid, can't risk taking a shower here." "What? Why?" I asked, "Well, what if a strand of your hair falls out, cops find it, then trace it you!" "I LIVED here jackass! There gonna find plenty of DNA evidence just in my room! we were cleaning to get rid of evidence that you were there, and that Richard died in that room. Remember?" Jack looked at me, skeptical, "Oh yeah!" I rubbed the sides of my head with my index fingers before speaking, "Jack, it is seriously amazing how much shit you can forget within the span of an hour.".      We were finally back at the apartment. We dumped the cut up remains of Richard into a lake, far away from the town. I was just glad I was finally getting the dried up blood off of me. I simply stood in the shower for awhile, letting the hot water hit my back. Jack was probably trying to wash the blood out of my sweater, putting it into the washer for the tenth time tonight. "Chara!" He shouted, and I turned the knob on the shower to turn off the water. Wrapping a towel around my self, I peeked out of the bathroom, and saw Jack with my sweater, still wet. But, the stains were gone. "What the hell did you clean it with to make it look brand new?" I asked, he waved his hand in the air and replied, "Magic. It's uh, still pretty wet, so you may have to wear one of my shirts until morning." "That's fine, let me comb my hair then I'll be out of the bathroom, if you need to use it." I closed the door, and found a brush. I tried to tug it through my hair multiple times, but it didn't budge. I gave up, and went to Jacks room to change, a pair of black basket ball shorts, and a simple white T-shirt, which almost came down to my knees. Jack tried not to laugh when I found him in the kitchen, but he failed. "Looks good on you short stuff!" He said between laughing fits. I kicked him in the shin, "First, you're an asshole. Second, well, you style your own hair right? So, could you maybe cut mine for me?" "Sure, it probably is getting pretty annoying huh? It is waaaaay past your shoulders, so can't say I blame you. Well, follow me." Jack got a stool out of the laundry room, and sat me down in the center of the living room. "So, anything you want in particular?" he found a pair of scissors, and a retrieved a bigger brush from the bathroom. "Um...does it sound stupid just saying 'short'?" He smiled, "Not at all, in fact...I may have an idea." A few minutes later, the floor was covered in hair, and it felt like I just shed pounds off of my weight. Jack retrieved a hand mirror from his room, and held it in front of me.  I loved it. Nothing fancy, Jack knew me, I don't like fancy things. He gave me a simple bob cut, my hair wrapping perfectly around my face. I turned to Jack, and said, "I guess It's alright." before hugging him. I leaned into his ear and whispered, "Thank you...for everything."  His grip on me tightened.             ***** Habits ***** The next morning.     I woke up to the sound of the closet door creaking open. Jack looked down at me, sitting in the corner of the small space. "Why are you sleeping in the closet?" "Um...sort of a habit I guess." I say, getting out of the fetal position I was in, and crawling out. "So you're telling me, that in the middle of the night, you got off the couch, and snuck into my room just to sleep in my closet? " "Yeah...a closet has always felt safer to me than any sort of bed." "That's kinda weird Chara, you care to explain why? Or..." "I'll go into further detail when you have breakfast ready." I say, walking out of the room, Jack followed behind me. "Breakfast? Kid, it's three in the afternoon." I turned around to face him, "What? How?!" he shrugged before speaking. "We were up pretty late last night. Who can blame us for sleeping in?" I folded my arms across my chest, "So how about a late lunch then?" "Sounds good to me, I know a good diner a few minutes away from here, your sweater is in the laundry room by the way." I ran towards the laundry room, where I found it laying across the top of the dryer. I had it on me instantly, it felt a little smaller from the last time I wore it, but it smelled so good. Like flowers. I quickly brushed my teeth in the bathroom, after spitting out the left over toothpaste I stared into the mirror. "My name is Chara." I said, and smiled. Jack was waiting for me near the front door, car keys in hand. "Ready to go short stuff?" "Not exactly,do you have anything else I can wear other than these shorts?" I pinched the fabric of the basketball shorts, "Its the middle of summer, you sure you want something other than shorts?" "Have you noticed I'm wearing a fucking sweater? " "True," He placed his keys on the kitchen counter top, "let me go check for something." A few minutes later he emerged from his room, holding a pair of dark brown cargo shorts in his hand. "I outgrew these a long time ago but never got rid of them, I think they should fit you just fine." He threw them to me, and I caught them as he retrieved his keys, then walked back over to the door. I stepped into the hallway out of his sight to change. Jack was right, they do fit me. Wow these things have a lotof pockets, and big ones at that. I threw Jacks shorts onto his bed for him to pick up later. I stepped back into the living room where Jack could see me, and did a little twirl. "Lookin' good, now let's get out of here, I'm starving!" We walked outside to the back of the apartments where the parking lot was located. It was a pretty discreet place when it was dark outside. Honestly, that, and the fact that Jacks room is so close to the entrance is probably the only reason I didn't get spotted with all that blood on me last night. And the person at the front desk is always asleep. Jack turned the keys in the ignition, the AC blasting out that familiar shitty smell instead of cool air. "You should really invest in a new car Jack, hell even the paint job looks like shit now." "I think it looks better with age." He states, "Oh, so piss yellow looks good to you?" "I would get a new car if I could kid, but money is kinda tight right now." "If it's so tight, then why are we wasting gas going to this place instead of walking, like we usually do?" I asked. "Honestly, I feel way to lazy to do any walking right now. And put on your seat belt, I don't want you getting hurt." "Awww, you care about me." he chuckled.      We were half way to the dinner when Jack decided to break the silence in the car, "So, did Richard have any, um, friends? " "What?" "Just answer the question." he said in a serious tone. "No, he mainly went to work, came back home and started drinking. The only person he ever really talked to was me, and that was hell. He didn't even send me to any school, or anything." I answered. "Well, then it should be a while until anyone notices that he's gone. My guess is, when his bills start to become overdue, that's when people will figure out he's missing." We pulled into the diner, parking right next to the front door. We stepped inside, and a little bell hanging above the door rang. A plump blonde woman looked up from the front counter she was wiping down. "Why hellooooo there!" She spoke with a thick southern accent. Jack and I sat in a booth near the back of the diner. Jack ordered both of us a burger and fries while I looked around, the walls were littered with black and white pictures, and a jukebox sat in one of the corners. This place feels like it came straight out of the sixties. The blonde woman eventually brought us our food, and offered Jack a cup of coffee, he rejected it. "Can I have a cup of coffee?" I asked the woman, "Is your dad okay with that sweetheart?" She looked over at Jack, "Oh, I-I'm not her father." Jack gave an embarrassed laugh. "Then what are ya hun?" "I'm just her legal guardian. And yeah, she can have some coffee." She sat down a mug, and poured the black substance into it. She went back to the front counter, and started wiping it down like when we first entered. "...Legal guardian? " "What, did you want me to tell her 'oh nah I'm just some guy she lives with now.' I might as well be your guardian." I actually like the sound of that. I'm definitely liking the idea of living with Jack, I always hoped I would someday if I'm honest.  I took several sips from the coffee between bites of food, "Hows the coffee?" Jack asked, "This is my first time drinking coffee actually, tastes like its...missing something I guess." he handed me some sugar packets. "Put that in there and stir it." I did what he said and took another sip...sweet Jesus this is the best thing anyone's ever told me to do. "I can tell you like it by that smile on your face." He said.      Several cups of coffee later, and two plates of food gone, we were ready to head home. We got back in the car, and I buckled up. Jack pulled out of the parking lot and sped down the street before speaking, "Alright, you got some food in your belly, care to explain the whole 'sleep in a closet' thing from earlier today." "Well...when I said it was a habit, I wasn't lying. After Richard starting coming into my room in the morning, screaming, kicking the bed and punching me to make me wake up, I started to sleep in the closet. I hid behind my jackets and some boxes so he couldn't see me if he opened the door. One time he did, and I just had to sit there, dead quiet. He never figured out that's where I slept." "Oh..." Was his only response. "Yeah, so can we stop talking about Richard now, the fucker's dead. Who cares." We both remained silent until we got to the apartment, where Titan greeted me with his tongue to my face. Jack just kept laughing at my misery, since there was no escape from Titan due to his size, he easily reached my face even when I was standing. I eventually just gave in, pursed my lips and held my breath until he gave up licking me. "It's kinda strange to think Titan is gonna be here every time we come home now." Jack said, "Well, honestly how much of a crime can it be stealing this dog from his actual asshole owner."  "True." He says.    "I am so fucking tired." I said, rubbing my eyes. Jack stopped cleaning the dishes, and looked over at me from the kitchen. "Ah, your first caffeine crash. In hindsight, it probably wasn't wise drinking an entire pot of coffee your first time." I laid down across the couch. "Hey Jack..." "Yeah?" "Shut the fuck up and get me a blanket." I heard him chuckle, then put down the plate he was cleaning before retrieving me a blanket from the linen closet.He covered me in it before speaking, "You sure you won't get hot under there in that sweater?" "...Could you go get me one of your T-shirts." He came out of his room with one of his shirts, I loved wearing his clothes, they were so big and comfortable. I handed him my sweater after I put on his shirt, and he hung it up in his closet for later. Titan crawled into the recliner chair next to the couch, and laid down. I fell asleep to the sound of his breathing and the clanking of silverware in the kitchen.      Later that night.     I woke up in the middle of the night, all the lights in the apartment were turned off. This didn't feel right, this didn't feel safe. I got off the couch, and slowly opened the door to Jacks room. He was asleep in his bed, I took a few steps towards the closet, and took the door knob in my hand. I turned to Jack, his back was facing me. I took my hand off the door knob and whispered into the darkness, "Hey Jack? " "...Yeah?" he groggily spoke. "Can I...sleep in your bed tonight? I don't wanna sleep in the closet again." "Sure."  I crawled into the bed, and covered my self with the blanket. I stared at Jacks back for what felt like ages. I wrapped my arms around his torso, and I felt him tense up a bit. "Good night Jack." I whispered. He loosened up, "Good night Chara. " This felt right. This felt safe.               ***** Little Haggler ***** Chapter Notes Wow, it's been awhile! Sorry about not updating, but with school back in session it's hard to find time to write sometimes. I'll still find time to update for you guys and gals though! "JACK!"     I heard the sound of pounding footsteps making their way towards me. Jack stood at the entrance of the hallway, and I looked up at him before pointing to the math book in my hands with my pencil. "Can you help me with this problem?" He sighed, relieved. "Don't scare me like that kid, I thought you were in trouble or something." He took the book out of my hands, and I pointed to the problem that was giving me trouble. "Where did you even get this book, I know you didn't sign me up for homeschooling and get this thing legitimately." "Ebay. And guess what? There is more on the way. English, World History, all the key subjects in school." Jack furrowed his brow at the math question, "Why are you making me do this?" I asked, trying to sink myself in between the couch cushions so I never had to see another math problem again. "Because I care about you Chara, and since I'm basically your parent now I want to raise you right. But I can't send you to an actual school with everything going on." "Jack, ever since we met you've been basically my parent." He smiled after hearing that, but he does have a point though. Sending me to an actual school would be a bad idea. Its been five months since I killed Richard, and now people know that he's missing. But now everyone in town thinks that I'm missing as well. The local news station did a story on Richard and I after the police searched my old house. 'Daughter and Father Mysteriously Vanish.' That was the headline, they even had pictures to go along with the story, Richards was taken from his work ID that was taken just last year, so his was more recent. My picture however, had to be taken from an old photo book in Richards closet, so now people only know what I looked like 4 years ago instead of now. Guess I should be kinda thankful Richard stopped caring about taking pictures for the photo books after he started drinking, other wise the town would know what I looked like now instead of all that time ago. With four years of aging, and my new haircut, I doubt people will recognize me. Jack rubbed the back of his neck as he stared blankly at the math book. "Yeah...I don't get this at all." I sank further into the couch. "Well then how do you expect me to know how this shit works? I only know what I know because of you, Jack." "Well, hmm... I may have something that can help you out." With that, he sped back down the hallway, and disappeared into his room. I picked the math book up off the couch, and looked over to Titan, who was laying down in the recliner. "Think if I ripped this up, and blamed it on you Jack would believe me?" I asked him, he gave me a bark in return. "I'm starting to talk to our dog...I think I'm going crazy."      Jack emerged from his room with a laptop that looked like it belonged in the stone ages. "Found it!" He spoke with such excitement. "Found what? A brick of dust?" He gave me a glare, "I'll have you know this thing went with me through my high school years, I'm sure it can help you with your school work." He placed the laptop on the couch, and I opened it. To my surprise, it still had half a charge somehow when I turned it on. "Kid size shorts, old laptops, how much junk do you have in your room?" I asked, He swung around to face me halfway down the hallway. "That's actually a really good question." He once again disappeared to his room, and I connected to the free Wi-Fi offered in the apartments. I spent what felt like ages watching videos online explaining the way to solve the problems I had. This suck's. My brain hurts, and I'm bored. Jack started dragging box after box into the living room, "So, wanna tell me what your doing?" "I'm looking through my room for all the old junk I have." I got off the couch and looked through some of the boxes, old clothes, game consoles. Even some newer phones and tablets. "Where did you get all this newer technology from?" I asked, "Well, that's the funny thing, I can't exactly remember." "Knowing where you got a shit ton of phones and stuff seems like a pretty important thing to remember." But Jack just shrugged it off like he usually does. "Well, the point is, we're gonna sell all this random crap for some serious cash." He rubbed his fingers together, and did a little dance, that if it didn't look so stupid, would be pretty adorable. "And just where are we gonna get this serious cash from?" "Don't worry short stuff, I got the whole thing planned out. We're gonna load the car with all this random crap, and we're taking it to a pawn shop a few blocks away from here." Seemed like an okay plan to me. An hour later we had Jacks room completely clean, and all his useless shit in who knows how many boxes. We took a last look through a few of the said boxes, "I think that's all of it." Jack said, spinning his car keys around his finger. "Well then let's head out." I replied, grabbing as many boxes as I could before walking outside to the car. It took around ten or so minutes just for us to load all the boxes in the car, and it was a rather tight fit. I even had to put some on my lap in the passenger seat. When we finally arrived at the pawn shop and I got everything off my lap, I had to do a few laps around the car to regain feeling in my legs before heading inside. The man at the counter had a scowl on his face you could spot from a mile away, and a stench that could be also be smelled from a mile away. He simply grunted when we walked in, I guess that's his way of saying hello. He removed a red bandana from his head, revealing a thing of jet black hair, and wiped his hands on his leather jacket. He looked like he belonged in a motorcycle club. He spoke in a low, raspy voice. "Name's Bill, what can I help you with today." "Well Bill I got a whole bunch of old junk I need to get rid of, think you can help me with that?" "Buddy, were a pawn shop, we specialize in old junk.".      Once we actually got all the boxes inside and on the counter, all Bill had to say was, "Wow." a pretty suitable reaction. He went through the dozens of boxes one by one, examining each item inside each one. After carefully inspecting each item, he placed his hands on the counter, "Well, this is a rather decent collection of old junk if I do say so myself. But, you do actually have some valuable stuff in here, like the phones and these game consoles." Bill folded his arms across his chest, then started rubbing his chin before speaking. "Tell you what, I'll give you...three hundred dollars for all of it. A lot of that is coming from all this tech you got." I folded my arms across my chest, imitating Bill. "Can you make it three hundred fifty?" I gave him a cocky little smirk. "How about three hundred?" He replied, "How about three hundred twenty five?" I asked, "How about...three hundred? " he repeated, placing his hands back on the counter, Jack was just trying not to laugh. "...Would you do three hundred and ten?" I might as well try one last time, "If I give you the extra ten dollars will you feel like you won?" he raised his eyebrows, and scratched his head. "Yes." I replied. Bill chuckled and looked straight at Jack. "You got yourself a good kid there man." He patted Jack on the shoulder, leaving a sweaty hand print on the cloth of his shirt. "Alright, you got yourself a deal, three hundred and ten dollars it is you little haggler." I placed my hands on my hips triumphantly. Jack signed a couple of things of paperwork before we left. Back in the car, Jack looked at the hand print left on his shirt, "I think I'm gonna have to burn this shirt when we get home.".         Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!