Tick: Grazing 1.1 (Worm/Tokyo Ghoul)
Here's the first chapter of my newest short story, Tick! I'm not sure how long this one will be, but I'm pretty sure that it won't be over twenty chapters at most but likely much less. I hope I can keep you all interested during its run!
~~~
When Taylor first made the choice to attend Winslow High School, choosing possibly the worst rated option out of the three that had been given to her, she did so with the impression that her time spent there would be spent alongside her best friend in the whole world. After all, as long as she had her by her side, things couldn’t be too bad, right?
She was wrong, though not in any way she thought possible.
“Oh my God, she actually brought her lunch to the bathroom! How low can she get?”
Mocking laughter rang in Taylor's ears as she backed away from the group of girls crowding the bathroom. The paper bag of food crinkled in her hands as she clenched her fists, huddling into herself as her cheeks burned with shame.
Next to the girl who spoke, Emma sneered, a familiar expression that haunted Taylor's dreams and nightmares alike, “At least she knows her place. I don't think I'd be able to eat with her stinking up the lunch room.”
“Leave me alone. I’m just trying to eat..” Taylor muttered, staring at the ground. She flinched as a hand suddenly smacked the lunch bag out of her hands, spilling her meal all over the floor and thoroughly ruining any chances of Taylor not going hungry today.
Her ruined lunch didn't even register though, as Sophia stepped out of the crowd of girls and into her personal space, glaring at Taylor who trembled, “What was that, Hebert? Speak up, I don't think we heard you.”
Taylor didn't look at Sophia who was only a few inches away. Her jaw clenched as the girl's hand came down on her shoulder, muscular fingers digging into her painfully, “Well?”
“Hold on a minute, Sophia.” Emma’s voice came, this time much softer, yet still sadistic and horribly, horribly familiar, “She’s right, she just came up here to eat. We all got to eat already but her lunch is right there, still untouched. We should let her finish it before we talk, don’t you think?”
Sophia grinned, an expression that spelled bad news for Taylor, and her grip tightened even more, “You’re right. She hasn’t missed a meal yet so she’d probably throw a bitch fit if she went hungry today.”
With that thinly veiled insult to Taylor’s weight, Sophhia suddenly increased the pressure on Taylor’s shoulder. The brunette grunted in pain as a foot slammed into the back of her knee, causing it to buckle and send her to the ground. The swarm in the back of Taylor’s mind buzzed in agitation, millions of insects responding to her distress as she was sent to her hands and knees, forced to grovel at the group’s feet.
“Well, Hebert?” Sophia’s hand moved to the back of her head, pushing her towards her ruined sandwich. It was clear what she wanted, “Eat up.”
Before she could force Taylor’s face into the floor, and before the girl herself could decide whether or not she was going to allow that to happen, the bathroom door opened, admitting another member to the carnival of misery that Taylor's life had become.
It was another girl, though not one from Emma's group. She was tall, even taller than Taylor, with dark hair that swept across her shoulders and dull blue eyes outlined by dark bags. She was sporting a sleepy and almost disinterested look on her face, which barely changed as she noticed the ravenous horde of teenage girls surrounding Taylor.
It took a second for Taylor to recognize her. Julie Henderson was the newest addition to Winslow's failing curriculum. A transfer student from out of the city, brought to it by a recent tragedy, she mostly kept to herself, slipping into the background so thoroughly, Taylor sometimes forgot they shared more classes than they didn't.
Julie blinked slowly as she saw what was going on. Her gaze slowly went around the room, scanning each of the girl’s faces including Taylor’s own, before her eyes slowly slid down to the food that had been forcibly spilled onto the floor in front of Taylor.
She seemed nonplussed as she stared at the ruined ham sandwich and spilled bottle of water that was slowly leaking all over the dirty tile, before she slowly looked at Emma, clearly recognizing her to be the ringleader of the group despite Sophia manhandling Taylor, “I’m sorry to ask, but could you weirdos do this literally anywhere else? I understand it must be hard to control your urges, but I’d rather not relieve myself to the sound of a teenage girl sobbing over her spilled lunch.”
The words took everyone aback, including Taylor, and Julie shrugged at their expressions, “I mean, if you want to harass some girl and give her a swirlie or something, more power to you. But this is the only working bathroom on this floor and I always have to pee when I wake up from a nap so I’m going to need you to skedaddle.”
The crowd of girls shared uncertain glances, suddenly unsure of themselves in the face of this new variable in their plans. Two of them though, were unperturbed by Julie’s appearance.
With a look from Emma, Sophia let go of Taylor’s head, standing to her full height and stalking towards the new arrival, puffing herself up like an animal protecting their territory from a threat. Despite her actions, she was still a full head shorter than Julie and was forced to look up at the girl who regarded her dully, “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, you can turn around and walk away right now.” Sophia said, getting into the girl’s face, “You don’t want anything to do with that loser and you sure as hell don’t want anything to do with us. So if you know what’s good for you, you’ll turn around and walk away.”
Unlike practically everyone else Sophia threatened, including Taylor herself, Julia didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest. She didn’t back away, didn’t apologize or do what Sophia had suggested, instead, she just stared at the athlete like she had lost her mind, “Um, no? I just said I have to use the restroom. I’m not going anywhere unless it's to that stall behind you.”
Sophia’s eyes narrowed, “Are you friends with her or something? Or maybe you’re just stupid. Turn around and leave.”
“And maybe you’re just deaf.” Julia shot back, “If you’re going to assault someone, maybe do it in the bathroom that doesn’t work so this doesn’t happen next time. I don’t know what kind of idiot does this in the middle of the school day anyway but clearly this group is a little more special than the rest.”
Taylor saw what happened next in slow motion. Sophia’s face twisted in rage at Julia’s remark, before the athlete drew her right arm back, shoulder muscles bulging as she shot it forward, directly at the taller girl’s face. Julie didn’t even have a chance to widen her eyes before she was suddenly laid out on the floor, brought low by the explosive power packed in Sophia’s punch.
As Julia fell on the ground, the crowd of girls behind her screamed in surprise and filed out the door, distraught by the sight of such overt violence. Emma frowned angrily as her friend walked back over to her, giving her a glare, “You’re going to get in trouble for that, Sophia. She’s a new student so they’re watching her extra carefully. She’s not worthless like Taylor.”
Sophia spat, “They aren’t gonna do shit because she’s not gonna tell them anything. Right Julie?”
Julie was in no position to respond, curled up with her hands attached to her face where Sophia had hit her. She was trembling, but no sound came from her lips as she stayed there, protecting herself like a pillbug.
Seeing this actually seemed to worry Emma a bit. She glanced down at Taylor, watching as she slowly stood, and growling with frustration, turning away from her, “Come on. We're done with her for now.”
She turned and stormed out of the room and Sophia hesitated a moment before following after her, throwing a nasty look at Taylor as she went, “You got lucky, Hebert.”
Taylor didn't say anything as the two of them disappeared, glaring at the ground with her fists clenched by her sides. Another lunch ruined.
As the door closed behind the girls, something strange happened. Julie, who seemed to be in so much pain that she couldn’t even speak just moments ago, suddenly uncurled from the ball she had put herself in and stood like she hadn’t even been knocked down in the first place. Her pained grimace had been replaced by a sharp glare as she stared at the door, holding one hand in front of her mouth.
“What a bitch.” She said, her voice slightly muffled underneath her palm. Blood was smeared across her fingers and as she pulled them away, Taylor grimaced as she saw that it was coming from inside the girl’s mouth. Julie ran her lips across her teeth, ignoring the blood dripping down her chin, “She’s got a pretty good right hook though. I think she knocked a tooth loose.”
“...Why did you help me?” Taylor asked, having trouble speaking through the knot in her throat as the girl carefully checked her clothes for any stains, “You don't even know me.”
Julie gave her a dully amused look, "Help you? Did you not hear me before? This is the only working restroom on this floor. You think I’m going to walk down two flights of stairs and then all the way to the other side of the building just to go pee. I’m not a psychopath.”
She walked over to the sink to wash the blood off of her face, “I can't say I expected to get punched in the mouth just because I needed to relieve myself, but I guess that's what I get for trying to give some friendly advice.”
Taylor was at a loss for words as Julie turned off the sink and dried off her face. She had long since given up any kind of hope that someone would intervene in the Trio’s torment of her but the idea that the girl's intervention was just a coincidence was… almost disappointing.
Julie turned around and raised an eyebrow as she saw Taylor standing there staring at her, “What? Do you have to use the restroom as well? You'll have to wait. There's only one working stall and I called dibs.”
Taylor slowly shook her head and Julie shrugged, walking into the only stall and closing the door behind her without another word, leaving Taylor extremely confused. As the stall locked, Taylor looked down at her discarded lunch, taking in the footprint on her sandwich where Emma had deliberately stepped on it. Her nose scrunched at the sight and she turned away, leaving the bathroom behind without another word.
{~~~~ Tick ~~~~}
In the days following that strange encounter, for some reason that Taylor couldn't explain, Julie became a constant fixture in her life. Though the girl claimed that what happened with the Trio was just a coincidence, that didn't stop her from showing up practically every time Emma or the others tried to start something with Taylor. It didn't matter where it was: in the hallway, the gym, or even the bathroom like before. If Taylor was in trouble, she was bound to swoop in eventually in that same, almost lackadaisical manner. It was almost eerie, the way she would just show up any time something was about to happen, as if she was following Taylor around the school, just waiting for someone to try something.
Eerie, and suspicious. Taylor hadn't spoken a single word to Julie before that first day in the bathroom. Heck, she hadn't even been at Winslow for more than a month, but she was… protecting her? Why? They barely knew each other. Something was weird about this whole situation, and Taylor intended to find out. If this was some kind of elaborate prank by Emma, then she wasn't going to have it.
The lock on the door to the school roof had been broken since before the school year but Taylor thought she was the only one who knew that. Regular scouting with her bugs proved her wrong, as every lunch period, someone had the guts to do what she didn't and ate lunch alone in one of the few places students would actually get in trouble for trespassing.
As Taylor pushed open the door to the stairwell, she spotted her immediately. Julie was sitting on the ground, leaning up against one of the large air conditioning units with her eyes closed as she dozed off. Her tray of lunch was sitting on the ground behind her, completely and utterly untouched, which made Taylor wonder why she had bothered to get it in the first place.
Taylor stared at her for a solid minute or so, just trying to think of what to say. Anger and suspicion brought her up here but now that she was actually here, she was at a loss for what to do
“If you're going to stand there and stare at me, could you please think a little quieter?” Taylor jumped as Julie's eyes opened, meeting her own across the roof, “I come up here so I don't have to think, but that doesn't mean you have to think enough for both of us.”
Her voice was dry and Taylor swallowed, stiffening her spine as the other girl stared at her, “Why are you doing this?”
The question garnered a raised eyebrow, “You're gonna have to be a little more specific.”
“Helping me.” Taylor clarified, “Why are you helping me? We don't know each other.”
“Oh that.” Julie closed her eyes again, shifting to get comfortable on the concrete roof, “I never had any intention in getting in between whatever you and Emma have going on, I just can’t stop running into you guys for some reason. It’s honestly pretty annoying. You guys should have your lover’s spats somewhere more private.”
“You’re lying.” Taylor didn’t buy that explanation for a second, “You’ve been here for more than a month and you never did anything before, but now all of the sudden you just happen to keep running into us when they’re messing with me? Why don’t you just walk away like everyone else?”
Julia’s brow furrowed but her eyes didn’t open, “Did you want me to? Here I thought I was being a good samaritan by getting those girls to back off of you. If I had realized you liked being pushed around like that, I would have just left you alone.”
“I don’t like it, but you’re just going to make things worse.” Taylor hissed, “The best that you might do is stop them from messing with me when you’re around but when you’re not, it’s just going to be ten times worse.”
“Then why don’t you stop them?”
Taylor paused, “What?”
Julie’s eyes slipped open, pinning Taylor with a lazy stare, “You heard me. Why don’t you stop them? It’s not like fights aren’t common here and they clearly have it coming. Not to mention, the only one with any brawn in that group is Sophia and you’re taller than her by quite a few inches. I’m sure you’ve got some pent up anger from all of the crap they’ve pulled, so why not just let it loose on Emma’s face? I doubt she’d try picking on you after that.”
It was a question that Taylor had asked herself quite a few times before, but hearing it from someone else was somehow jarring. Maybe it was the lackadaisical way Julie said it, like it was the simplest conclusion and she was an idiot for not thinking of it. But she had thought of it. She thought about it a lot. And so she gave Julie the same answer that she gave herself.
“I won’t stoop to her level.” She said, her voice firmer than her conviction.
“That’s not why.”
Taylor blinked at the other girl’s expression, unsure if she had even spoken due to how fast the words had come out, “Excuse me?”
Julie’s face was a mask of interest, her blue eyes almost piercing as she finally sat up from her awkward lean, crossing her legs underneath her body and leaning forward as if she wanted to get a closer look at Taylor, “You’re lying. That’s not what’s stopping you. No… You’re scared that you’ll like it. You think that once you finally give Emma what’s coming to her, you’ll want to give her even more than that. You’re scared you’ll go too far, that maybe you won’t ever be able to stop once you start.”
Taylor stared at Julie, completely taken aback by her almost sinister words, “What? No that’s… That’s not the problem.” She denied, but the words felt weak even to her.
Julie grinned at her denials, the first smile that Taylor had ever seen cross the girl’s face. It wasn’t a pretty thing.
“You don’t have to lie to me, Taylor.” She said, her voice low and compelling, a far cry from its usual monotonous tone, “It’s only natural. She wronged you and now you want to wrong her in return. It’s only fair that you get your licks in, right? Emma’s been getting off scott free since she started this crap, so why shouldn’t you take things into your own hands and give her what’s coming to her?”
The girl’s eyes narrowed, piercing slits of icy blue glaring into Taylor like needles, “But you don’t. Instead of giving into your instincts and doing what anyone else would have done in your situation, you just sit there and take it. It’s like you’ve been beaten down so much that the thought of rising back up makes you sick to your stomach, and I guess that interests me.”
Julie lifted a hand and Taylor’s heart stopped as she saw the striped centipede held gently between two of her fingers. It was completely limp, dangling like a wet noodle, but Taylor’s power told her that it was still alive. It just refused to move, hoping that staying completely still would ensure its survival.
“Maybe you think they’ll get bored of you and just leave you alone.” Julie continued, staring into Taylor’s eyes, “But you and I both know that’s not going to happen any time soon. If that little ‘prank’ that everyone’s been telling me about is any indication, then the longer you keep pretending to be their little punching bag, the harder they’re going to hit. If you want it to stop in a way that doesn’t end with you six feet under, you have to hit back.”
Julie’s hand slammed closed around the centipede and Taylor both felt and heard any semblance of life leave its chitinous body. Julie's hand opened, revealing the bug had been completely crushed under the force of her grip, and the girl let it fall to the floor with a wet smack before reaching towards her untouched lunch tray for one of the napkins resting upon it.
“You might go a little too far and do something you can’t take back, but sometimes that's what you have to do if you want to survive. Trust me, I know.”
The words rang in Taylor’s ears as Julie wiped her hands free of bug guts, and she realized all at once that she was completely frozen, barely even breathing as she stared at Julie who nonchalantly cleaned herself up from the aftermath of her gruesome act. Her swarm buzzed in the back of her head, moments away from bursting forth in response to her turbulent emotions, and Taylor forced herself to calm down, pushing all of her feelings into the depths of her bugs to leave her with some modicum of calm.
“I’m not going to hurt anyone.” She said, her voice much more sure than it had been only a few moments ago as her mind cleared, “And you’re going to leave me alone. I don’t need any help from you and I definitely don’t want it. Stay out of it.”
Julie studied her, looking her up and down with lidded eyes, “Interesting… alright then, I’ll stay out of it. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you though.”
Reaching into her pocket, Julie pulled out a silver, circular object attached to a chain: a pocket watch. It popped open with a click, and Julie stared at it for a moment before clicking her teeth, “Fifteen minutes. Guess I’m sleeping in algebra again.” She closed the watch and glanced at Taylor, “Do me a favor and close the door behind you. The teachers like to check for students on the stairs and it’d suck if they found me up here.”
As Julie got comfortable, leaning back against the air conditioner and closing her eyes again, Taylor nodded stiffly and did an about face, leaving the roof behind and dragging her swarm with her. As the door closed behind her, the back of Taylor's burned as if someone were right behind her but when she turned back, nobody was there.
She took the stairs two at a time on the way down.
{~~~~ Tick ~~~~}
Moonlight drifted through the clouds, caressing the darkened streets of Brockton Bay with their silver rays. Taylor's swarm crawled through the darkness as she stalked along the side of the road, watching and listening to anything and everything around her.
Her costume sat weirdly on her body. She didn't put enough padding between the armor panels so they were digging into her skin, especially at her waist where her chest panels met her hips. She should have worn it a few times before taking it out like this.
She wasn't planning to go out as a cape this soon, but that conversation with Julie earlier today really got under her skin. The girl's words and even just the way she spoke made Taylor feel odd. She needed to get out and do… something. Save someone. Anything to get it off of her mind.
Even remembering the conversation made her skin crawl so like always, she turned to her swarm, focusing on it instead of the roiling storm of emotions inside. Her insects crawled through every nook and cranky, infiltrating buildings and alleys as she searched for someone in need of help, or even just a cat fight she could break up.
Unfortunately, the streets of Brockton Bay were much quieter than she had been led to believe. There wasn't a gun fight around every other corner or shady men lurking in alleys waiting to snatch up random girls. Instead, it was almost peaceful , which wasn't something she ever thought she'd say about her home city.
It was somewhat disappointing but Taylor didn't let it get to her too much. It was a good thing that the dirt wasn't crawling with criminals and she had to admit being out here and flexing her power like this was helping all on its own. Even if there weren't any crimes to stop, the walk was doing a pretty good job of calming her down.
She was so calm in fact, that she was beginning to think maybe she should call it a night. She knew she wasn’t ready to be out yet, with an unfinished costume and literally no idea what she was doing. She should go back home and prepare more before coming back out.
Just as Taylor made the decision, her bugs happened upon something in one of the nearby alleys. She stopped walking, freezing in place at what her power was telling her, before turning and booking in that direction, praying that she wasn't too late.
The alley was just as dark and eerie as all the others, but not nearly as empty or peaceful. Blood ran in thick rivers through the grooves of the concrete, a veritable waterfall of crimson splashing on the ground. It filled the air, thick and cloying, like the smell of rain on a summer's day only a million times more gut-churning as Taylor crouched by the mouth of the alley.
Two people inhabited the alley seemingly unbothered by the scent though for much different reasons. The first, a skinny man wearing a ratty jacket, was simply in far too much pain to worry about the smell of blood. His face was the very expression of desperate agony as he clutched at his stomach which had been pierced straight through in a brutal fashion, pinning him to the wall behind him.
He was somewhat obscured from Taylor's sight by another person, clearly the one responsible for all of his current suffering. It was a tall woman, taller than Taylor even, with steely grey hair held in a long braid. She was wearing street clothes: skinny jeans and a dark jacket that had a yellow logo on the back that Taylor couldn't make out from this far away. Her clothes were covered in blood, some of it fresh, and she was holding a mask in her unoccupied hand, though Taylor couldn’t quite make out the design. The woman's jacket was also cropped, showing off an ample amount of midriff in a way that even Taylor's more openly promiscuous peers wouldn't dare trying to pass in school. The alteration clearly served a purpose however, as it allowed the woman's tails to extend freely.
The tails… Honestly, calling them mere tails was doing them a disservice. They were more like living creatures, thick, winding serpents bursting from the woman's tailbone, sapphire scales stained by the blood dripping from the black ridges running along the top. They seemed to glow in the dim light, catching the eye and drawing it towards the danger they presented.
Though she had never seen them in person before, Taylor recognized those tails. She didn't know many on the east coast who wouldn't. Those same appendages had been plastered all over PHO for the better part of two years thanks to their owner’s slippery nature and proclivity for brutality. They and the one they belonged to had gained infamy comparable to the likes of Butcher, though many argued they were even worse.
Because while running into the Butcher usually meant death, the Ghoul would make that death long and exceedingly painful as she dismembered and consumed you. Piece by agonizing piece. She was a cannibal, and she apparently had no issues eating her prey while they were still alive.
And as Taylor hid in the shadows of the alley, she had a front row seat to the horrific act as the woman leaned forward, her head pressing against the man's neck, before there was a visceral and wet crunch followed by the most gut-churning sounds that Taylor had ever heard in her life.
The man impaled on the woman's tails screamed in agony and even more blood splashed on the ground as the woman pulled her head back, humming in absolute bliss at the sick act she was performing. Her tails seemed to quiver as she shivered, leaning back and swallowing loudly.
And then, she spoke, and Taylor's blood froze in her veins at the distinct timbre of her voice. It was low, almost seductive, and oh-so different from the almost monotone that she was used to, but it was unmistakable.
“Just as I thought, you taste absolutely divine.” Julie Henderson said, letting go of the man’s throat to caress his face, leaving him suspended just by the tail in his stomach “It's always hit or miss with the skinny ones. If you don't eat right, your blood tastes like piss and your flesh has the consistency of rubber. But not you… I knew from the moment I saw you that you take good care of yourself. Now if only you weren't the type of man to follow unknown girls into dark alleys, you might have been able to continue that healthy lifestyle.”
She giggled, the sound haunting as she leaned down again, “Oh well. I'll never say no to an easy meal~!”
Taylor couldn't let this go on any longer. She knew that the man was too far gone by now, but she couldn't just stand here and watch him go through something so torturous.
“Stop!” She called, bringing her swarm forth. Insects crawled out of every crevice of the alley, lining the walls and floor in a skittering, chitinous mass as she stepped into the alley as bravely as she could, “Get away from him!”
The cannibalistic cape slowly turned around, revealing glowing, red pupils framed by a yawning black abyss. A metal half mask was resting around her jaw, allowing Taylor a full view of her face which was utterly soaked with blood and other viscera from her meal.
Julie's crimson-stained lips spread into a wide smile as she caught sight of Taylor. She inhaled deeply, scarlet eyes piercing into the brunette's own as she spoke in a low purr.
“You actually showed yourself while I'm feeding. I'm surprised. I thought I'd have to hunt you down." She licked her lips, lapping up the blood and gulping it down with relish, “You really are interesting, Taylor.”