WARNING! The following story contains adult content and graphic scenes of violence!
Ever since Elle was a little girl, she always was afraid to put her feet over the edge of the bed. She'd always tuck her feet under the covers at night so nothing would grab them. It didn't matter that it didn't make sense. Of course she knew that a blanket couldn't actually protect her from anything that would attack her. It was just some sort of irrational fear she had.
She remembered from when she was little, screaming in the dead of night because she heard something under her bed. It's long claws scratching as it clawed it's way towards her, or so she imagined. Her parents running into the room, still half asleep, and then blaming her because they claimed there was nothing under the bed.
"There's nothing under your bed. You're just imagining it. You must have had a nightmare."
"I didn't! I heard it! Something was clawing under there! It's gonna get me!"
"Maybe we need to check for rats?"
"There's nothing under there. Whatever you imagined isn't there. We'll check for any signs or rats or something in the morning. Just try to get back to sleep."
That's how it went most times she screamed in the dead of night, fearing for her life, fearing the creature she knew must be lurking under her bed, waiting to grab her. Her parents wouldn't believe her and she'd lie there clenching her blankets tight around her until she'd inevitably fall asleep out of exhaustion.
She wasn't a kid anymore though. She just moved into her first apartment, albeit with roommates. She had a nice sized room, with a shared kitchen and bathroom. She has already lived alone in the college dorms for quite some time now, so she was used to it a bit.
Somehow she had managed to get a job directly out of college with a company she interned with. A lot of her friends weren't so lucky. It almost all fell apart though, as it was in an entirely different city than she grew up in, and where her parents lived. If she hadn't managed to find a place she might have had to give it up. Thankfully her job agreed to give a bit of a stipend to move into a new place and she managed to borrow a little for first and last months rent. It all seemed to somehow come together.
Now if only she could do something about all these boxes piled up in one side of the room. She barely had any room with it all. She had already started her job and was too tired every day after work to unpack everything but she was determined. She asked some friends to help her unpack on her next day off. They were mostly new friends she had made between work and moving here, but they seemed to be alright.
She got up that day already dreading the job of unpacking, but determined to do it anyway. She made some coffee for her and her roommates, and some toast for breakfast. Not the best of breakfasts, but she'd get something better for lunch when her friends were there.
*BZZZZT!* They were already starting to arrive. That was the sound of the door buzzer.
"Hello?", Elle clicked the button, still not really used to it.
"Yeah, it's me, Jane. Sorry, I'm a bit early. I woke up at 5 and couldn't get back to sleep. You know how it is."
"Yeah, it's okay, just come on up. I'm still not fully dressed though." Elle pushed the button to buzz her in. Did she had time to rush to put some different clothes on? It's just Jane. It's fine. First, coffee. She drank a bit more of her coffee and took a big bite of toast. She barely had time for another sip before Jane was at the door.
*knock knock knock*
"Come in. Come in. I was just having breakfast."
"Oh really? Because I brought -- DUN DUN DUN -- DANISH!" Jane pulled out a sugary frosting caked desert out of the paper bag she was carrying.
"Ooh! You have no idea how much you saved me! I didn't wanna make anything. All I had was toast!"
"No problem. Pour me a cup of coffee? I figured you had some so I didn't get one."
"Coming up! But we only have oat milk and this weird non-dairy creamer thing one of my roommates got."
"Oat milk's fine. You really gotta get more used to city life. If you can't even take some non-dairy creamer, this city is gonna break you."
"Oh ha ha. I was drinking it just fine before you arrived. I was just worried you might not like it. I really need to get to the store but this new job has me tired every day. I'm making up for some employee they lost a few months back. They're always talking about her and how much she kept that place together. I hope I can manage to find my place, because it really doesn't seem like I can take hers."
"You'll be fine. Didn't you say they really like you there?"
"Yeah, they --" Elle unceremoniously took a bite of the danish in the middle of her sentence. "SO GOOD!"
"Well, if they like you that much, there will be nothing left of you." They had a little chuckle and finished their danishes and coffee before starting on the boxes to unpack in her room.
"Why are there so many? Did your parents think you have your own house? Couldn't they have kept some of them there for storage?"
"Some of them did get moved up to the attic, but my mom wanted to move as much out as possible so she could fit her exercise bike and a few hand weights in there. She had a TV set up and was doing her exercises in there before I even left."
"Sometimes parents can't hide how much they wanna get rid of us. So what's in all of this? Where do I start."
"Well, I know what's in some of them, but I had help packing, so I don't know what's in all of them."
"Oh hello! Does this one have a name?"
"No! How did you manage to find those in one of the first boxes you opened?"
"It's a gift."
"Whatever, it's better that you found them than they were found later when more people arrived."
"Like Chad?"
Elle silently stared at Jane for a second. "Yes, like Chad."
"I dunno what you see in that guy. He's such a big oaf."
"He's sweet -- in his own way. Plus he's big and tall and I thought he could be helpful with moving big things."
"Maybe big things are exactly why you keep him around. Maybe you want him to take over for Mr Big-And-Floppy." Jane wiggled a giant purple sex toy from the box in front of her.
"Oh come on! Stop it! I dunno that I even see him that way. Though he does have some big muscles... Just put that back in the box and shove it under the bed."
Jane put it back in the box and tried shoving it under the bed. "Oh, I don't think it's gonna fit. I think it's a bit too big for you. Kinda like Chad."
"Stop it! We'll just have to move them to a smaller box."
"What about this one?"
"Fine. Dump it on the bed for now."
"No! Not the sex toys! The other box!" The toys all fell out of the box and flopped unceremoniously onto the floor.
"Ugh! I don't think it's all gonna fit."
"Just like Chad."
"OMG! Stop! You don't even know!"
"I don't. But if the rest of him is any indication..."
"Whatever, just shove that in here. We'll make it fit." Elle quickly dumped the smaller box on the end of the bed and held it out.
"Pfft!" Jane couldn't contain her laughter and a second later Elle was laughing too.
*Bzzzt!*
"OH GOD! I hope that's not Chad! Quick! Shove them in the box."
Elle quickly ran to the buzzer. "Uh. Hello?"
"Yeah, it's Chad. I'm here to help you with moving or something?"
"Oh damn." She pressed the button. "Just a second and I'll buzz you in." Elle ran back to her room.
"Did you get it all in there?"
"It won't fit! Your box is too small!" She paused for a second. "Pffft! Who was that?"
"It's Chad! We gotta get all this stuff put away before I buzz him up!"
"Don't want him seeing how small your box is or all the big things you stuff in it."
"Oh come on! You're doing this on purpose!"
"Maybe."
"Here, these ones I can put in my dresser drawer." Although she didn't take much furniture from home, she did manage to find a dresser on Craigslist that seemed pretty decent for the priced. She hadn't really unpacked most of her clothes yet though, so it was still mostly empty. She opened the drawer and she only had a few underwear left that she had unpacked. She quickly stuffed a couple of toys under them.
"Okay, somehow I managed to get them all in. It was long and hard and your box was just too small but with a lot of effort and some good college try I managed to fill it up. I think I even stretched it a bit,"
"You done?"
"Yeah, I guess. I'll put it under the bed."
"I'll go buzz Chad in."
She ran to the door and hit the buzzer, then pressed the intercom, "Sorry about that Chad, come on up!" Just as she said that, she realized she was still in her pajamas. "Oh god." She ran to her room. "Quick! I need to change before Chad gets here. I need a shirt I can move stuff in. Pants! Pants!"
"Don't let me stop you. I dunno why you're acting like I know where your clothes are."
"Ugh!" She ripped her sleep shirt off.
"Wow. How do you manage to look that good? You got a gym membership or something?"
"You're not helping!"
"I wasn't trying to."
She quickly grabbed a shirt from one of the lower drawers and pulled it over her head. Then she tried to quickly pull her pajama pants off. As she was hopping on one foot, trying to pull her pants off of the other, she fell directly into a pile of boxes. "Ugh!"
"Found some clothes!" Jane was looking at a box that had been knocked over by Elle falling and had spilled some clothes onto the floor. "Here, let me help you up." Jane outstretched her hand for Elle.
Elle didn't have any time to try to recover. She needed pants! NOW! She grabbed a pair of grey shorts from the box that had overturned and quickly put them on.
"Are you trying to look good for Chad?"
"What do you mean?" She looked down and noticed her shirt was barely big enough for her, exposing just a bit of her midriff, and her shorts were far shorter than she realized. She probably would have been better off staying in her pajamas. "Ugh! Whatever! Just shut up! It's too late now! Chad's probably he..." She didn't even get the last word out before she heard the knocking at the door. "See."
Elle ran to the door. "Sorry about the wait. Things are already pretty hectic."
"It's okay."
"Ugh! What's with all the racket?" One of Elle's roommates, Shirley, opened her door. She stood in the open bedroom door, in front of an absolutely trashed room with clothes strewn about the floor, in only a pair of panties and a small shirt that exposed her belly button, and it's piercing.
"Sorry Shirley. I didn't mean to wake you up. But it's already almost 9."
"Than I should be able to get a couple more hours sleep." She rubbed her eyes and blinked, trying to focus on who was at the door. "Oh, heya Chad."
"Shirley, maybe you wanna get some pants on."
"Why? I'm sure Chad doesn't mind. Do you Chad?"
"Uhh..." Chad had no idea how to respond.
"Or maybe he'd like to help me find some? I hear he's gonna help you move today. Maybe he can help me with something. What about it Chad, wanna help me, in my bedroom?"
"I already said I would help Elle. But if you need me to move something later I guess I can help."
"Ugh. Whatever." Shirley turned around and closed her door behind her.
"Come on Chad, we already started. Just this way."
"Okay. Wait, was she hitting on me?"
"What? I don't think so. I think she just was still half asleep and her room's a mess."
"Oh. Okay." They made it to Elle's room and Elle walked through the door, surveying the mess of boxes. "Heya Jane. What happened here."
"Oh, Elle was in a rush and she fell over and so did all the boxes."
"Oh, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just scraped my elbow a bit." She looked at her elbow and there was a bit of blood.
"Oh, you should get a band aid."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll check the bathroom."
Chad stood there awkwardly with Jane waiting for Elle to come back.
"So. Uh..." Jane tried to fill the silence but nothing came to mind. "I guess I'll get started on these boxes." She reached down and put some clothes back in the box. "This should probably go over there with the dresser until Elle can put them away. Can you get them for me?"
"Sure." He picked up the box stuffed with clothes and moved it over to the dresser just as Elle was coming back, pressing a band aid on her elbow.
"Actually, Chad, I wanna move that dresser over a bit into the corner. Can you help me with that first? Just put the box down and we'll move the dresser, then you can put the box of clothes on top."
Chad awkwardly moved the box off of the dresser and seemed to struggle with figuring out where to put it.
"Anywhere is fine for now." He put it down in the middle of the floor. "Jane, would you help me with this side? Chad, you get the other side." Everyone moved into position. "1, 2, 3, and heave!" She and Jane scuffled towards the corner while Chad seemed to have no effort, even holding it with outstretched arms as he moved the dresser into the corner. "Ho." A slight thud of an object moving inside the drawers was heard but no one paid attention.
"What?"
"Heave ho. You know, like the saying?"
"I thought you were...never mind."
"Wait, did you...?"
"Shut up. I did not. I didn't do anything."
Jane muffled a slight laugh. "Okay Chad, I can take that box now. Just put it right up on top." Chad moved the box and Elle started to open the top drawer when she saw a pink tip poking out from a pair of underwear. She quickly closed the drawer. "Um, uh, Jane, can you...?" She tried to motion with her eyes and head to get Chad's attention.
Thankfully Jane took the hint. "Hey Chad, can you help me with this heavy box over here? Just move it over there."
"This one? Over there?" He picked it up with ease. "Is not heavy."
"Not for you. Big man. You're huge." Jane awkwardly patted his muscles.
"Okay." Chad looked down at her with a blank look on his face.
"Yeah...what am I thinking..."
By this time Elle had thankfully gotten the toy stashed under some underwear and was unpacking clothes into drawers. "Chad, why don't you help by picking up some of those boxes and sorting them. If you find any more boxes of clothes, put them over here. Any random junk I guess put by the closet and we'll slowly sort through it. If you find anything that goes in the kitchen put it by the door."
"Okay."
They slowly sorted through the boxes and started to make some real progress. Most of Elle's clothes had been unpacked into the dresser or hung up in the closet. A few things were being sorted into boxes to go into the back of the closet.
"Hey, what's this?" Jane pulled one of the creepiest dolls you have ever seen out of a box.
"Oh god. I forgot I even had that. Why did mom pack that?"
"She must not have wanted it at the house."
"Ugh! I don't really blame her. I think we got it at a garage sale or something when I was little. I don't know why we got it. It always gave me the wiggins!"
"Well, yeah, it would."
The doll had comically long arms and legs and messy hair. It was missing an eye but had a button sewed on in it's place. It wore a small hat that was sewn on it's head and a small blue suit. It should have been just an odd doll, if you looked at it objectively. A bit unusual but nothing about it was that much off that it should feel as creepy as it did. Yet it did. It somehow was one of the creepiest dolls they had ever seen.
Photo by Ben Mason (Source) Taken December 24, 2008
Used under the CC BY 2.0 Attribution 2.0 Generic License
(no, this is not the doll)
"Just put it in a box in the closet for now. Maybe I'll get rid of it." Jane held it at arms length and walked it over to a box near the closet and put it inside.
They continued working for a while. "It's staring at me." Jane said, looking over at the doll, whose head was peaking out of the box.
"I thought you put it down in the box. Why is it poking it's head out now?"
"I don't know! I did put it down in the box! There was even stuff I put on top of it! Maybe someone moved it?"
They all looked back and forth at each other before Elle walked over and put it back down into the box.
"I don't like this." Chad said, despite being mostly silent all day. He went back to sorting a box for a bit as everyone went back to work, before eventually saying "I'm hungry."
"We have been working for quite a while. We've gotten most everything done and sorted. I really appreciate you two helping me so much. Lunch is on me." She checked the time. A bit after two. "Late lunch."
"Oh? I'd love some lunch." Shirley had appeared out of nowhere at the bedroom door. She was dressed in mostly black with a short black and white tartan pleated skirt that ruffled out to the sides, and black fishnet stockings with heavy leather boots. Her lips contorted in a slight smirk with their blueish black lipstick and black lip liner.
"For you, I'm not buying. You could have helped."
"Whatever. I had to get ready. Besides, you had everything in hand. I still wanna get lunch. Err, breakfast."
"Where is even still serving lunch? We're almost in early bird territory."
"What about that place on third?"
They argued a bit back and forth on what to get and where was still serving lunch before finally deciding.
"Wait! I gotta get changed!" Elle was a bit sweaty and Jane's shirt was more than a bit dirty.
"You got any shirts that I can wear?"
"I didn't bring a change of clothes." It was clear that Chad wouldn't fit into anything she owned. She didn't even have any exes clothes or anything with her.
"I've got something. Come with me big boy." Shirley took Chad's hand and started leading him away.
"Shirley..."
"Don't worry. I'll be good. We don't have any time anyway."
"Whatever. We gotta get washed up first. I'll pick out some things that might fit Jane."
"Let me know if you need anything." Shirley led Chad off to her room.
"We gotta hurry. No telling what she'll do if we take too long." She riffled through the drawers she had just meticulously sorted. "What about this?"
"Ugh! You got anything else?"
"It's slim pickings! I didn't take a lot of things!"
Jane looked over at all the empty boxes they just sorted through, decorations around the room, bed covered in stuffed animals, etc. "I'd beg to differ."
"Ugh! Okay! Whatever! We gotta hurry! What about this?" They went through a few more options and Elle rushed Jane off to the bathroom after picking something.
* * *
Meanwhile, in Shirley's room.
"i know I have a few things in here. Things exes left. I tried to return some of them but for some reason they never seem to want to risk it. You know, once I get my claws in someone..." She clicked her long blueish black sharpened nails together. "What about this?" She held up a shirt for him.
"Okay."
"Then lets get that shirt off of you." She pulled up on the bottom of the shirt as he grabbed the sides of the fabric. Just as he was getting it to his head, she pulled the fabric back a bit, getting it stuck on his head, restraining his arms.
"Ugh! I'm stuck."
"Oh no, whatever will we do." Shirley ran her claws down Chad's tight abs, before leading him over to the bed and pushing him down.
With a crash Chad fell back on the bed. It barely held without breaking. It may have damaged the wall as the weight forced it to bang against it though. "Oh no. I fell. Is soft though."
"That's good. We don't want you getting hurt." Shirley crawled on top of Chad and ran her tongue up his abs. "Mmm. Salty. Musky." She breathed in the scent of him and kissed his abs with her lips.
"Wet. What are you doing?"
"Oh, nothing. Just getting a taste for you. You taste good."
"Taste? Why are you tasting me? Are you