[center][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/YueL3TS.png[/img]     [img]https://i.imgur.com/3lqAk2R.png[/img] [/center]
[right]Interactions: Kari [@Evil Ghost Note], Nora [@NoriWasHere], Anyone who can hear her
[code]Warehouse, the ‘bar’[/code][/right][hr]
[color=e77fbf]"She isn’t–"[/color] Ella froze midsentence, a sense of wrongness overcoming her. Before she could even consider what it was, screams hit her ears and a horror show played out before her. A girl- someone she barely knew, but recognised- was brutally killed like a scene out of the poltergeist. Then a boy, brutally slammed into the ground by some invisible force. 

Ella screamed, barely able to keep down the pink drink she’d just finished. It roiled in her stomach, threatening to come up as more blood sprayed across the vicinity. Nausea and terror captured her, making it easy for Kari to drag Ella away. She reactively followed, hooking her free arm around Nora to drag her with them as well as pulling her tight for comfort. 

Not that there was any comfort from the unfolding massacre. 

Her feet had a mind of their own, one that followed Kari’s authority where Ella was struggling to process what was happening. 

Screams and horrendous cracking of bodies filled her ears, and she barely heard what Kari was saying. But her calmness was beginning to bring Ella back down from the fear that clutched her. Then she fully snapped out of it as Tuyen slipped away from them and back into the crowd.

She couldn’t just run like this, no matter how sensible it was. [i]Sailor Moon[/i] never ran away. Even when she was terrified and cowered at first, even though she always said she wanted to run away, she never ever did in the end. She did her duty as a sailor soldier- and Ella would do hers to protect her friends. But what could she actually do? She was just a normal girl. She didn’t have magic. 

That was it! There was something she could do!

[color=e77fbf]"Keep going, we- we need more exits! I can help with that."[/color] Ella shouted to be heard, letting go of Nora. She looked at her two friends with a bright grin, as if none of this horrendous chaos was happening around them. Of course she was [i]terrified[/i]. She had to do something. [color=e77fbf]"I’ll get out too, don’t worry!"[/color] 

She turned, dodging around Kari- who couldn’t move her unless Ella wanted her to anyway. She forced herself back through the bottleneck, along the edge of the wall. Her goal wasn’t that far from the exit everyone was swarming towards. A window a few along from it, far enough away from the exit that it wouldn’t just make things worse. 

There wasn’t time to find something to help… She wasn’t sure if it was possible to break a window without a metal object, but she had to try! Plus, her high kick was always praised by her taekwondo instructor, so it should work… It had to work. 

Steeling herself, Ella slammed a hard kick into the windowpane. Then another, and another, until it finally shattered. Shards of glass spilled out from the shattered window, cutting her bare leg that she hadn’t withdrawn fast enough. She wasn’t superhuman after all. She winced, biting down her lip and a cry of pain. It hurt like hell, fuck, but she’d done it! 

[color=e77fbf]"Over here! You can climb through the window!"[/color] She shouted at the top of her lungs to anyone that’d listen.

[center][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/39h0Tk1.png[/img]     [img]https://i.imgur.com/OfpTxjr.png[/img] 
[sub]and two very special guests.[/sub][/center]
[right]Interactions: Vicky [@Atrophy], Kersten [@Rekkuza]
[code]Warehouse[/code][/right][hr]
Tuyen let out an awkward laugh at Lupe’s comment, which quickly died in her throat. It wasn’t just because she felt the clear sarcasm cutting her like a poisonous knife, but some other horrific anxiety she’d never felt before. It felt [i]unnatural[/i]. 

[i]Crack[/i].

Tuyen’s breath caught in her throat, ice cold panic filling her lungs as she struggled to breath again. Her whole body tensed, the cup in her fingers falling to the ground and the little left spilling over her shoes. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the aftermath of what had happened. The poor girl’s body… It could barely be called a body anymore. 

[color=#eac6ae]“Girls! [i][b]RUN![/b][/i]”[/color]

Kari’s order snapped Tuyen out of it, her body working on autopilot with just a single tug. She had to get out of her. This wasn’t how she wanted to go, even if she didn’t think she deserved anything, she at least didn’t deserve [i]this[/i]- Not tonight. She wanted to live. She wanted to–

No, no, Vicky was still in there! She was too drunk to save herself… She had to go back. She couldn’t live with herself if she left Vicky to die.

[color=9777bd]”I have to go back.”[/color] It was barely a whisper, possibly not even loud enough for Kari, Ella and Nora to hear over the screams. She deftly slipped away, swallowed up by the heaving mass of bodies surging towards the door. It was hard, but she was small enough to squeeze through. 

It was easier once she got past the bottleneck of people trying to get out, but also more dangerous. What if the thing came for her next? She pressed herself against the wall, sticking to the shadows as the lights flickered above her. Maybe it wouldn’t notice her, like people often didn’t. She hoped not. At least until she got to Vicky and got her out. 

[i]Almost there[/i]. It wasn’t a long distance, but it felt like a slog, every second slowly stretching out into a minute until she was close enough she was sure her friend could hear her. 

[color=9777bd]”Vi-”[/color] 

She wasn’t the only one with Vicky’s safety in mind. 

“Babe! Vicky!” A louder, much more masculine voice forced Tuyen to cut herself off. Chef ran towards Vicky, reaching her first and immediately bending down to try to help her out of the beanbag chair she was still stuck in. He gestured to Kersten. “Help me!”

He’d clearly forgotten they’d broken up in the heat of the moment… Though maybe he was the kind of guy who would’ve helped her anyway. Probably. Maybe he knew only he’d be able to get drunk Vicky to cooperate. That must be why he was helping, and Kersten hadn’t managed to drag her away yet. 

Time stretched out slower as Tuyen stood there, close enough to call out but not to help. Her chest clenched with an emotion she didn’t even want to name. [i]Jealousy[/i]. 

How could she even feel that? [i]Right now[/i]? No, it was something she should never feel. It wasn’t right. Vicky and Chef were right, her feelings… They weren’t. They didn’t exist. She didn’t have them. She was [color=9494a9]disgusting. She didn’t deserve to even be near Vicky. She didn’t deserve to be near anyone? Why did she even exist? She shouldn’t.[/color]

Something else had slipped through the tear. A weak, hungry Apparition looking for something to feed from. All it took was one negative thought for it to sense Tuyen- and it quickly found a [i]feast[/i] of doubts. The moment it latched onto her it ate its fill. 

[color=9494a9]The least she could do was sacrifice herself for someone better.[/color]

She forced herself forward, what had been less than a minute stuck on the spot feeling like much longer.

Her shadow, once normal, now slunk around her in silent glee. She was too focused on Vicky, forcing down those horrendous feelings of guilt. She could still be useful. She could help, couldn’t she? But could she do [i]that[/i]? She didn’t have to- Vicky was drunk enough she’d need more than Chef to help her walk! Wouldn’t she? But Kersten was also there. She was [color=9494a9]useless.[/color] No, more than that. She was [color=9494a9]a burden. She’d just drag them down. She’d probably get Vicky hurt. She might as well just not bother, what even was the point in trying? She should just stop and let it–[/color]

Tuyen’s feet still moved even as her mind was filled with more and more doubts. They brought her closer to her friend and the people around her. Close enough for something else to reach out.

[color=9494a9]The floor sank under the weight of [i]something[/i]. A heavy footstep, another, closer to them.[/color] Panic filled her lungs as she tried to bridge the remaining gap. She needed to pull Vicky away, couldn’t they see– 

Invisible claws, the length of a forearm, shoved through Chef’s chest as he pulled Vicky to her feet. Blood splattered from the wound as they withdrew, and he let out a spluttering cough. Before it could be processed, the same claws pierced his shoulders, lifting him up into the air. His body was twisted horrendously, arms straightening out as if he was being tugged. With a final cry of pain he was torn in two, blood and viscera splattering across Vicky and the surrounding area.

Anyone who’d become Aware could see what had done it. A horrific shadow monster, its dark edges rippling as if it was made of mist. Its multiple, horrendously bent arms ended in long, sharp claws. Glowing white eyes regarded its prey, sharp teeth filling a sinister mouth. It had no feet, instead a shadow across the ground that connected to Tuyen.  

It wasn’t only the Blinds who couldn’t see it. As part of some twisted game it clouded Tuyen’s mind with a hallucination, removing itself from her view the moment it manifested.

She took a step back, tripping over a bottle and falling backwards. She could only watch in horror as the [color=9494a9]monster[/color] ripped Chef to pieces. Everything screamed at her to run, but she couldn’t move. She was frozen with fear, hands clutching at the floor now slick with blood. She realised with horror that it [color=9494a9]wasn’t a bottle she’d tripped over. It was an arm, ripped from a person like they were just a doll.[/color]

No, she had to do something, why couldn’t she move, why was she so useless–

The Shadow turned its next victims- Vicky and Kersten- with a sinister smile cut out of its shadowy face that they couldn’t yet see. Its sharp claws slashed down towards Vicky. 

[color=9494a9]With a horrific squelch, Vicky’s head was torn clean off her body. It landed on the ground with a thud, rolling towards Tuyen from the momentum. It stopped beside her, cold, lifeless eyes staring up at her. Her glossy lips were open as if mid scream, and her perfect blonde waves were stained with blood.[/color] 

[color=9777bd]”No, no, no,”[/color] Tuyen whispered, whole body trembling. Tears spilled from her eyes and she clutched at her face, [color=9494a9]smearing blood across it.[/color] Her legs kicked out desperately, finding some traction against the ground and beginning to push her away from the scene. 

She couldn’t look away from [color=9494a9]Vicky’s head. Not even as another thud told her Kersten had followed.[/color] She’d be next. But it didn’t matter anymore, it shouldn’t matter, so why was she scrambling back to try and escape? She desperately pushed herself back across the floor, slowly tugging away the Shadow with her.