Oh...? I do love a challenge...~ But, like always, I'll win...~
The Stitched Horror[]
A creation of stuffing and blood, stitched together through a few sacrificial offerings and a self sacrificial suicide, and an old large stuffed bear.
Warning[]
I’m adding more to the prologue and remaking Weakness and temporarily removing slaughter and adding it as a later story as both are very rushed.
Ritual (The Prologue)[]
“Silent… Just like always…” Shizuka mutters, her pajamas sticking to her skin. “Grandma isn’t home, I can finish my little ritual…” She sulked downstairs, moving silently as she slipped into the basement where she stepped down the creaky stairs. She went over to a freezer and pulled out some dead birds and raccoons she kept preserved and set them on a table. She grabbed a cleaver she left out and made a cut on her arm, drawing a pentagram in her own blood. She then laid out the animals in it and then set candles on the points of the shape. After lighting them, she went into the darkness and dragged out a large plush she sewed together a few weeks ago. "Really nice of that Eggman fella who taught me how to sew..."
“No, not this one… Too frilly… Where’s Salla…” She put the psychedelic one back into the dark, the tarot cards in its paws shifting softly with the wings on the back and then pulled another one out of the dark. “No, not this one either…” She put the magical one back, the jet black, demon-like wings on them shifting softly. She looked around the room, opening one of the old closets as she pulled out Salla. “There you are… I forgot how faulty those other two looked compared to you…” She said with a low voice, putting Salla in the middle of the blood shape. “Now all I gotta do is cut out my own heart and-” “S-Shizuka…? W-What are you doing…?” It was her younger brother, Shiori. He was practically blind, having really low vision. She approached him, hiding her cleaver behind her back, not like he’d notice it anyways.
“Oh, just clearing my mind with some incense… You should get back to bed, it’s not safe to wander around blindly in the dark… You could get hurt. After all, you were always Grandma’s favorite.” She growled before holding his mouth shut as she brought her cleaver forward and twisted it deep into his heart, watching the life leave his soft gaze. “Dammit, now that he left the room, Shiala’s gonna notice him gone. Guess I’m killing her too…” She muttered as she started to drag his body into one of the closets. Right before getting there, she heard footsteps approaching the door. She dropped his body, landing on the plush with the tarot cards and silently dashed to the corner of the room, readying a small pistol, which should be lethal to the head. The door opened as Shiala came down with a lantern and set it on the nearest table, gazing upon the ritualistic nature of the basement.
“What the hell…?” She muttered, looking around as her nose picked up on the scent of blood amidst the dancing embers of the candles. She looked around the room and found Shiori, dead on the floor against that doll. Her body froze as a few tears pricked at her eyes. Before she could reach down to touch him, a bang rang out as Shizuka fired at her older sister, right through the head. Shiala staggered, shuffling back as she turned around, looking at her sister, uttering one last breath. “...Why, Shizuka?” Before falling lifelessly to the floor against the other doll in the room. Shizuka threw the gun off to the side as she approached the center of the pentagram, chanting in Japanese before sinking the cleaver and cutting her heart out. WIth little strength left, she unzipped a compartment over where a heart would be on the doll’s body, inserted her heart, and then zipped it shut.
“I will… Live on… Forever… In a better… Body…” She said hoarsely before falling to the floor. The doll twitched slightly, the gem from its head glowing softly as it slowly stood up. “Wow… That worked just as it should… I’m no longer that sad sack Shizuka… I am… SALLA.~”
She giggled as she stretched, groaning a little as she bent. “Now what to do…” She said, grabbing her body and picking it up. “I’m not leaving this here with them, or someone would be able to piece together I shot them then myself, as that gun has my prints on it…” She then picked up the gun. “That’s if they end up finding out I have a new body anyways. I’ll play it safe.” She said as she tucked the revolver away in her tank top. “Now where to start… I think I’ll go kill Taylor, it’s time for her retribution…”
She chuckled lowly as she left the basement, taking her old body with her as she left up the stairs and out the back door into the woods. After a bit, one of the plushes stirs and eventually stands up, being Shiori in the body of the one with the cards. He groaned painfully, the eyes opening softly, being able to see everything clearly for the first time in his life. “I… I can see… Oh my god I can see!” He felt so joyful at being able to look at his surroundings so clearly. He then looked down at his previous body, the lifeless corpse static on the floor.
He held the hand softly, kneeling down as he was much taller now, before looking at his new body in the nearby dusty mirror. “I’m so tall… I have these beautiful accessories, I have a really pretty body now…” He said softly, blushing under his mask. He kept admiring himself, the wings, the clothes and all as the other plush started to stir, letting out a pained groan. “Ow, what the hell… I thought I died, damn Shizuka…” She winced, standing up as she found she was much taller, looking down at her old body. “Oh I was so pretty… Poor me…” She said, as she looked over and noticed the other doll, wondering who the hell it was before putting two and two together, realizing it was Shiori. “Shiori, you look… Really pretty.” She said as he looked back, noticing her.
“Oh, I guess your soul went to that one, makes sense…” He said, sitting down as she went to inspect herself in the mirror, before shrieking. “Oh my GOD, I’M HIDEOUS!” She wailed, clawing at her face in anguish as she cried. “I’M A FOUL CREATURE, I DON’T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE A GODDESS ANYMORE, DAMN YOU SHIZUKA! I HATE YOU!” She cursed out as she slumped to the floor, sobbing hysterically. Shiori came over to hug and comfort his sister, pulling her up. “Hey, it’s alright Shiala…! Even if you don’t think you’re pretty, I think you look fine!” He said softly, reassuring her as he pulled a box of tissues off a dusty shelf and handed it to her as she brushed her tears away. Shiori perked up, hearing sirens in the distance as he shot up, grabbing a staff that was left next to wear he arose.
“Shiala, c’mon, let’s get outta here! I can hear the police approaching. Someone must’ve heard Shizuka’s shots!” He helped her up as the two went up the stairs and out the open back door and into the woods like Salla. After a few minutes, the police cruisers pulled up to the house, the officers stepping out of the first one. “God, it’s too late for this shit… Can’t people wait to commit crimes in the morning…” Antara muttered, sipping from her mug before setting it on her hood as Officer Shard got out.
“C’mon Shard, it’s your first scene, don’t fuck around.” She grumbled as she went up to the door, as he followed. “Alrighty alrighty I woooon’t!” He said, having quite an energetic tone. “God, you’re too energetic, it’s 1:25 at night and you’re acting like a kid in a candy shop.” “Is that really a bad thing? Why don’t you lighten up, you’re always uptight and grumpy…” He said, swaying about softly. “You watch your mouth, worry about yourself, kid. I’m the leader of this whole damn force, got it?” She sighed, unamused by his joy and whimsy as she pushed the door open, looking around. “Hey, look! A blood trail…” Shard exclaimed, following it down the hall as Antara followed, leading them to the back door.
“Off into the forest, so whatever, or whoever was here left out this way to avoid being seen…” Antara muttered as she trailed the blood back with Shard behind her, stopping at the basement as she reached for her gun and slowly went down. They stopped at the foot of the stares, greeted by the fresh gore of Shiori and Shiala’s bodies, accompanied by the pentagram and animal bodies. Shard gagged as he went to hurl in a nearby can as Antara reached for her walkie talkie, turning it on. “We got a code 45D, send some assistance to investigate and get an ambulance. I want these bodies in a morgue to analyze after investigating the crime scene.” She said as her voice rang out through it as the other officers at the station got into gear and called an ambulance to arrive.
"Now... After Taylor gets her retribution, I'll be off to find Sheifuki and bring her back to life..." Shizuka chuckled, looking back at the house as she continued off into the forest.
Shizuka’s Lament (Masking)[]
It’s funny, isn’t it? I’ve longed to not be Shizuka for so long. I had a horrid life. Ignored, unloved, and uncared for. That egghead was the only one who cared for me. But now I wish to be myself again? I wanted out of being that for so long and now I want it back? It’s like I threw myself out like a boomerang and now I come flying back… I’m much happier as this Salla character, so why must I turn and toil on the carousel of my grief flooded past? Why must I obsess, rip and tear, and completely suicide over wanting to be Shizuka again when I’m much happier as Salla…? Salla, she’s just a mask, and I’ll continue to wear that mask over my grief… I’ll just suppress it until it goes away…
Terror[]
“It’s quiet out here… It’s nice and silent. It could be quieter… No chirps, wind howling, or grass shuffling. I couldn’t even kill myself… Shot down from the entrance through Heaven’s Gates and Hell's Maw. Cool.” Rae muttered to herself as she trudged through the muddy forest outside Tokyo. She muttered helplessly as she hopped up onto an old, vine ridden bus that’s grown old to time. She crawled up onto the old, torn seat as she yawned and slowly drifted off to sleep. In her deep, she dreamt of eventually being pardoned to Heaven, being able to see her sisters again after they passed, due to the diseases they got, as she got lucky and didn’t die from hers and recovered from her own miraculously. She tossed and toiled in her sleep as she felt hallucinations of her sisters slowly haunt and curse her ever so more as she kept passing deeper into her drowsy state.
She eventually woke up, falling off the seat and onto the cold, metal floor as she stood up, wiping a few bugs off her as she groaned, walking out the bus and looking out into the dark as she slowly trudged through the forest, sleepily mumbling. “Hungry… I need something to eat… Where are all the rats…?” She grumbled a little, pulling a centipede off her shirt and tosses it away as she kept shuffling through the forest as she grew hungrier and more aggressive as she kept trudging through the horrible, dark and muddy forest, her eyes darting around as she kept hoping a rat comes by quicker. She eventually passed by an old, decaying body on the side of the trail, covered in bugs and old plants. “That guy probably has a rat… His body looks old though… Maybe he lived out here and died eventually…” She said as she bent down and looked over the body as she looked at it closely. “C’mon, be a rat on this dead thing…”
She muttered as a rat scurried out of the decayed skull's eye socket, startled as Rae approached due to her unsettling and dead appearance. “Rat… So delicious…” She growled as she lunged at the rat like a feral animal with a deep snarl of hunger. She fell into the dirt as she watched the rat scurry off. She got up swiftly as she started to bolt after the small animal and cut around through the foliage, making dead sure she didn’t lose sight for her late night meal at all, as she was starving. “Must… Eat… Rodent…” She kept occasionally muttering to herself as she drooled a little. She kept rushing through the foliage as she looked up and watched as the rat scurried up and into an old looking, run down and foliage overgrown house, rotten to time and worn out. “Woah… That’s an old house. I’ve never seen it here… Guess I never came far out this way…” She muttered as she walked up the creaky stairs and slowly pushed the old, rusty doors open, dust falling all around her as she coughed loudly.
“Dusty place, isn’t it…” She looked around, seeing how old it was within the house as it slowly lost its touch to the roar of time. “This place is kinda cool… It’s old and quiet. I might shift over here instead of that old bus…” She muttered once more as she pushed into another room and found herself within a large bedroom, a large bed adorned the room off to the side, old vases and paintings on the walls and antique dressers and tables. Off in the corner, she heard a rat scurry around and squeak. “Rat… There's my snack…” She slowly approached the corner as she snagged the rat swiftly as she held it tight. “I can just snap you in my hand…” She said maliciously before she noticed a strange, abomination of a thing in the corner. Some sort of mannequin like a music doll, slumped over, but was clearly much taller than her. She looked at it for a small time before leaving the house with the rat in her hand.
She leaves the house as she snapped the rat's neck and kept walking, slowly picking at its skin slowly and munching like a sick popsicle. She eventually reached the bus after a long, tiring walk as she climbed up the steps into the old, metal tube. Inside the bus, she found that strange doll from the house mysteriously here, somehow before her as well. “Huh… Weird, why is it here…?” She muttered, throwing the rat at it like a small stone. After a moment, the doll stirred a little as it slowly stood up, towering over Rae as it looked down at her. “Oh, you come to my house and ignore me? You don’t even say hi?” It said with a soft, unnerving giggle. “Uh… Yea. I don’t talk to random dolls.” She said as she sat down on one of the seats. “But I have seen you roam this forest for so long… I know how much you want to die, and I can achieve that for you…”
Rae completely ignored the girls tempting offer to finally end her undying torment of a limbo between life and death. “...No. I’m good.” She muttered, curling on the bus seat. The doll looked down at her with a really confused expression. “But, you want to die… Why deny my offer?” Rae grumbled a little to herself as she shifted in her seat. “I want to be the one to kill myelf, it’s more gratifying…” “But, you know you’ll most likely never be able to do it yourself, no? I have powers that can bypass whatever curse upon your sorry soul won’t let you rest…” Rae ignored her, yawning tiredly to herself. “I can make myself rest… I will. Eventually…” She groaned, ignoring her as she slowly drifted off. The doll got increasingly annoyed she was being ignored, so she decided to hover there within the bus for an extended period of and haunt Rae in her usually restless sleep with cheap, petty imitations of her sisters as wooden puppets, trying to convince Rae into letting herself be killed to pass on.
She eventually gave up and angrily left the bus with a rage as Rae drifted off to her hellish dreams once more. She tossed and toiled, eventually waking up later, finding the doll there once more, who returned with a sick, twisted smile. “Hello dear Rae… I’ve returned with your lovely sisters by my side…” She purred maliciously as she slowly sat up. “You’re delusional… You know they’re dead… And I have become practically unprovoked to my despair ridden illusions and hallucinations…” The doll giggled, giving a soft smirk as she stared down at Rae. “Are you sure? They can almost fit in my palm…” She sneered, dropping cruel, musical doll imitations of her three sisters, watching as their wind-ups spun and creaked softly as they marched back and forth, emitting a soft music box tune from each. “Yea… That’s so creepy…” Rae mumbled unamused as she then kicked the dolls at the metal walls, watching as they shattered and broke pretty swiftly. This infuriated her immensely as she grabbed Rae by her collar and shook her aggressively.
“You benevolent little rat! You know how much I put into those damn toys?!” “No, and I really don’t care how much you put into some crummy toys that look like a fast food kids meal side piece from the 90s…” She grumbled, shaking out of her grip and leaving the bus as she walked off out through the foliage, the sunset slipping through the canopy of the upper trees ever so slightly, casting orange lights across the grassy carpet. Rae grumbled a little as the doll incessantly stalked her through the bushes and greens. “You’re starting to bother me… Can you buzz off…?” Rae grumbled as she grabbed a pinecone and threw it at the doll. “You’re starting to piss me off. I will physically harm you if you don’t get off my ass.” The doll just annoyingly laughed at her as the small object hit her. “Harm me?! Oh, you’re such a jest! I can break you in so many ways it’s absurd! I can do so many awful things to your quite frail, pathetic body!” Rae just rolled her eyes as she stood over the edge of the cliff she stopped at, the steep trailing down into an old, abandoned mineshaft.
“You don’t even know me, you can’t begin to comprehend me! I… am Sheifuki! The one and only true beauty of this pathetic forest! Or I was until my snake of a husband grew tired of my slow, teasing love and started cheating on me… I confronted that man and what was my reward? I get gutted and stabbed mercilessly in our bedroom until my entrails and intestinal tract are splayed across the floors like a rug! I plan to kill you and use your body as a vessel to rid myself of this ugly body I possessed, his pride and joy of a creation he made with those grubby hands..” Rae looked at her when she brought up having a husband, thinking of that body she saw the other night. “Husband? I think he’s that body I found outside your house a bit far out, he’s pretty far gone from alive…” Sheifuki growled, enraged she wasn’t the one who ended her husband. “Preposterous! I should’ve been the one to kill that rat! That doesn’t change the fact I’m taking your body as my own to be much prettier!” “I don’t know why you want the broken and battered body of a somewhat hideous, messy and suicidal girl beyond repair, but my body isn’t up for grabs. If you want it then you have to take my damn life…” She growled, snarling at Sheifuki.
“FINE! I’ll pick your cold body up off the floor myself!” She lunged at Rae, grabbing her as the two tumbled down the cliff, Rae getting snagged on some branches from her shirt as Sheifuki plummets down the chasm and into the open mineshaft, being impaled in multiple vital locations on stalactites, bleeding out and dying. “Huh… I guess that strength she had was just a bluff…” Rae muttered as she slowly climbed carefully up the little bit of cliff she had to go back up, rolling up and looking down the dip. “Well, at least that sorry soul is probably at rest, unlike me. Maybe I should’ve let her put me to rest…” She sighed softly, trudging back with her head low once more, returning back to the lonely, somber girl she always was. Alone and forgotten in the forest…
Weakness[]
On the outskirts of Mobius, Taylor was walking back to her camp she set up, going through an outside surrounding forest in the night. Such blindness clouded her vision as she stumbled about, despite the use of her flashlight. “Stupid flashlight…” She muttered, shaking it as it flickered for a second before fizzing out. “Great. Now I’m out here, no light and a dead phone…” She pulled her arms against herself as she shuffled along in the dark, unable to tell where she was going. Eventually, she tripped over a root jutting out of the dirt and tumbled down a slope, planting into a puddle. She picked herself up as she heard an eerie hum, soft, but very unnerving. “H-Hello…?” She said softly, backing up slowly, bumping into something quite hairy. She yelped softly, turning around as she looked up, and was met with a creature a little more than 3x her height. “Awh, did I spook you? Sorry… I’ll give you a warning next time…” She said before giggling. Taylor backed away from her as she bumped into a tree, her voice wavering.
“W-Who… No… WHAT are you?!” “Oh, I’m sorry… I forgot my name while relishing your fear…~ It’s really nice to meet you dearie, I’m Salla…~” She smiled with very sharp teeth and a look that would make gods cower. “Come here, I wanna play a little game… Shouldn’t be too hard. You win, I let you go sweetie…~” “A-A game…? W-What kind of game?” “Oh, nothing too complex, I promise…” Salla then vanished as the surroundings shifted to become a complex maze, looking like a cruel dollhouse. Large teddy bears with button eyes and unnerving grins everywhere. Cobwebs coating every bush and corner, a truly gothic sight for the eyes. Taylor shuddered as the temperature dropped drastically. As she tried to get a grip of herself she heard Salla’s voice echo throughout the twisting paths and corridors. “Just find your way out of my maze darling, it shouldn’t be too hard.~ Oh! And don’t trust your eyesight… It might make everything feel real…~” Then it went back to silence.
Taylor looked around before it clicked on her. This was the exact same maze where she almost got murdered by some psychopath with a cleaver. She started to hyperventilate as she clutched her arms against her chest as she looked around frantically. “H-He never went to jail… H-He’s probably out here still… W-Waiting for me…” She whispered, tears pricking at her eyes as she started sprinting as hard as she could. She wasn’t too fond of the teddy bears either, always had a fear of them, and looked way too offsetting. She swore as she ran by that some had realistic eyes and were watching her. Just then, she heard a soft revving of something mechanical, a chainsaw. Her heart dropped as she froze and looked behind her. There he was, her ex, still in that stained apron with that mask years later, with that nasty, gravelly voice. “There you are Taylor…! I’ve been waiting, FOREVER!” He cackled as he rushed at her. Taylor tried to run but her legs felt like jelly. Right as he was about to slash her, her legs finally moved as she bolted down and around the corner, her ex right behind her. She couldn’t hear the sounds of his laughs over her heartbeat and the whirring of the chainsaw. She reached the exit as she dove outta the maze. Right as he approached her, ready to strike, he seemed to crumble, wither into a pile of centipedes and bugs. Taylor crawled back frantically, distancing from the bugs as she then broke down into a hysterical sob, pulling her knees up. She looked up, Salla was standing over her with a sickeningly sweet smile on her stitchy face.
“What’s wrong?~ Don’t like my little insect friends?~ Oh don’t worry, that ex of yours is long beyond dead, it was all just your imagination silly… I told you not to trust your eyes. Oh, and you won… How… Sick. You see, I don’t like winners. No one wins against me, and if they do they surely don’t get to live…” She snarled before grabbing Taylor by the back of her head, watching her flail, kick and scream in fear. “Oh look! There’s a boost panel on that wall! I think your face needs a little rearrangement.” She growled, giving a cackle as Taylor screamed before having her face pressed against the panel, shredding her face into paste as Salla threw her body to the floor, her face mutilated and torn beyond recognition. “Awwh… Such a shame. Little Taylor didn’t live…~ I wanted to have more fun… Guess I’ll turn you into one of my little dolls then.~” She giggled as she dragged her body off, the area fizzing back to the forest.
Back at the camp, Isaac was toying with a butterfly knife, flipping it around and then throwing it at a tree. He took it out of the bark before calling out to the forest. “Taylooooor! Taylor Starliiiiiight!” He sighed, grabbing his lantern and walking off. “Where is she, I hope she’s okay…” His tail swished softly behind him as he pulled out a machete to cut through the thick foliage. He kept shuffling through as he rounded a tree, Taylor’s ring at the foot of it. He picked it up, seeing a puddle of blood around it. He tensed as he gripped it tightly, looking around as he put his machete back and readied his shotgun from his bag after setting it down. He glanced around, hearing shuffling in the bushes. “Keep the sound in mind, where is it coming from…” He muttered, his eyes darting between the bushes. A branch in the dark snapped followed by a loud thud against the grass. “Taylor…? Is that you sweetheart?” He held his gun close as he went to the noise. He looked down and froze in shock. Taylor’s body, lifeless before his eyes. He stood there, his hands gripping the gun tightly.
“Awwh, her little husband, all heart broken without his little Tater Tot…~ How pathetic…~” Salla’s voice rang out sweetly in a patronizing tone. With some really swift reflexes, he pointed his gun out into the dark as she laughed, and pulled the trigger, luckily hitting her right in the heart. She let out a strangled growl as she lunged out of the darkness at him. “You little-” He immediately reached for his machete swiftly and slashed her across the stomach and sidestepped her and kicked her in the spine, sending her crashing into a tree. “D-Damn… You don’t play around…” She said hoarsely, with a giggle. “More fight than your wife there… A sad creature she was…” She mocked Taylor, even in her death. Isaac kept a distance, pointing his gun at Salla’s head, ready to shoot again. “You picked the worst person to get in a fight with. Serving in the war taught me much more than being some sort of demonic god can.” He growled, pulling the trigger again. But right as the gun went off, Salla vanished. So did Taylor’s body. Her voice echoed throughout the night sky, a deathly threat in her voice. “I’m different… I’m a god that can’t be killed… You just got lucky. And next time we meet, you’ll be dry outta luck, Isaac Talos…” She cackled, her voice slowly fading off into the night as Isaac was left heartbroken in the woods, the death of his wife a stain on his mind, knowing that if he went out to get firewood with her, maybe she’d still be alive…
Isaac’s Lament (Loss)[]
Why did I let her go out alone? She said she could handle herself, but I know she was scared too and she couldn’t admit it. She wanted to impress me, I thought she’d be okay… But that… Thing came along and brutalized her, who knows what else it did to her before, if anything, before killing her… Maybe, if I was faster, I wouldn’t have lost her… Maybe, she’d still be with me… Then again, I probably didn’t have a fighting chance against that thing…
Gallery[]
