🔎SkepHalo Oneshots🔍

Love That's Murderous

art by: @frog6d on twitter

(Part 2 to Love That Kills)

⚠️ blood and character death warning ⚠️
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Zak heaved a final puff out as he used his hovel go drag dirt over the hole in the ground. He decided his best bet was to bury his letter, his explanation, for his future self to find. He stared down at the now box, feeling defeated at the chances of him ever finding it again.

Ripping his eyes away, he scanned around the park for any people, or rather one specific person, but saw no one. He choose this place since it was right across from the college he planned to attend next semester, and he didn't know of any other parks near his apartment.

The park in particular always felt oddly familiar to him, as if he had been there multiple times before. He had no memory of it. Something in his gut just told him he had been there many times.

Specifically that night, the playground seemed gloomy and sad. He trudged his feet over to the swing set, dragging his shovel behind him, and sat down. His body lazily swung in the light breeze.

Zak was beginning to wonder if maybe he was murdered there before. As he looked across the field in the late afternoon sunlight, he began feeling deep pains in the stomach, like something sharp was poking him from the inside.

He started down at his stomach in question, as if maybe it would give him all the answers he needed.

When nothing came, he decided he was probably just hungry.

But then the pain got worse.

His body suddenly felt bruised and beaten, as if he had just been kicked several times in the gut by multiple high school bullies.

And then he felt it—a thin line that wandered across his neck.
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He touched the area cautiously, the ghost of cold metal making him shiver. He didn't want to think about dying anymore, so he stood up off the swing and dusted himself off.

He gulped, pulling the shovel over his head to rest on his shoulders. "Time to head home and make a plan to get the hell out of this town."

On his walk home, he felt like he was being followed, but pushed it off as paranoia. Every shadow vaguely human like ended up being a bush or a tree, and every knife a stick or branch.

Suddenly he began wishing he had brought his car instead of walking.

He came across the alleyway he had almost been stabbed in earlier and shivered. He still couldn't believe all of this was actually happening.

As he stood there going over it all again, a familiar creature peaked out of the garbage at to stare at him.

"Mow?" The black and white cat approached him after seeming to recognize his fearful face. It rubbed its body against his leg in a friendly manned.

"Hey, little buddy." Zak crouched down to it, scratching it under the chin. He noticed it had a vibrant green eye color. "You saved my life earlier. I really owe you one."

The cat tilted its head at him, clearly not understanding him at all.

Zak sighed and stood up. "If I live to see tomorrow, I'll bring you some tuna." He smiled sadly at the cat before stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets and finishing the walk home. He couldn't help but glance over his shoulder every now and then. The shadows still stood out, but they seemed to move now. Maybe even faster than he was.

He came up to his apartment and sighsd in relief. He'd feel safer inside for sure, he thought.

He unlocked his door and stepped inside, finding the environment felt colder than normal. "Maybe I just left the A/C on too low."

The hair on the back of his neck stood as goosebumps rose on his arms.

But it wasn't just cold.

The house felt uneasy.

He took a deep breath. "You're just being paranoid again." He turned around and locked the door; then he took a few cautious steps down the hallway. With every step, the floorboards seemed to creak at him more than usual. It was like they were trying to warn him of something, or perhaps someone.

He flicked on the hallway light switch, but nothing changed. The hallway still enveloped itself in darkness. Zak frowned, squinting his eyes. For a second he swore he saw movement at the end of the hall.

Panicking, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to turn on the flashlight but found it was already dead.

"Shit, " he muttered, "What luck." With a deep sigh of fear and frustration, he trekked on down the hall to his bedroom.

When he tried to flick the lights on in his room and found the power was still off, he knew something was definitely not right.

His gut screamed at him to leave. Run. Get out.

He quickly stepped back down the hall, swinging himself around to face front door and make a quick exit before whatever was in his house could get to him. Instead of the front door, his eyes landed on a tall figure in a deep read hoodie.

"Hi there." A dark, twisted voice proclaimed. He could make out the familiar individual in the low sunset leaking through the curtains. It made him look warm and comforting, but his expression tied with the sharp knife in his hands told Zak his intentions were far from friendly.

Zak gulped. "It's now or never." He hesitantly took a step towards his soulmate. "My name is Zak."

The other man seemed to hesitate at the mention of Zak's name, and his delusional smile faltered.

"You don't have to do this." Zak took another step, feeling a bit more confident. "We can be happy together."

His soulmates expression shifted from terror-inducing to soft, and he lowered the knife ever so slightly.

"What's your name?" Zak tried to smile through his fear. His heart thumped in his chest like a bird trying to escape it's cage as he stepped into his soulmate's personal space. He felt the warmth from his body hit his own and found it hard to resist touching him.

He slowly let himself drop into his soulmates somewhat outstretched arms. The taller, seemingly insane man flinched, remaining as still as a statue. He started shaking, keeping his hands away from Zak's body like the boy was some kind of infection.

The violent shivering frightened Zak a bit. He thought about backing away but stopped when he felt arms finally wrap around him in return. They squeezed him gently, filling Zak's stomach with butterflies. The red hoodie wearing man leaned his face into Zak's neck, shutting his eyes tight and breathing in the boys scent.

His hot breath against his skin made Zak shiver, a tiny giggle almost escaping his lips.

"My name, " his soulmate cleared his throat, "Is Darryl."

When he heard the pure happiness laced behind his soulmates voice, Zak almost felt hopeful. Almost. But the quick movement from the taller man and the sharp slicing motion against his neck killed it all immediately.

Zak looked his soulmate in the eyes with complete sadness, trying to choke out sentences, words, syllables, anything, before finally collapsing completely into his blood splattered arms.

"See you again one day, Zak."

And everything went black again.