You’re a creep, Barry

“Wait, stop!” Astrid sobbed as she fell to her knees in front of Casper’s lifeless body. “Please,” she whispered, “he’s all I have left.”

Everyone that Astrid had ever loved or cared about corpses were scattered on the ground before her. She didn’t think she would ever forget the blank look her friends and family possessed while staring at the grey sky. It was the look of death. Astrid wasn’t sure how everything had gone so wrong so fast.

-

“Astrid, Astrid, wake up!” Astrid bolted upright, panting heavily. Scarlett had gently jostled her shoulder to rouse her- she hadn’t removed her hand yet though, so it remained resting on Astrid’s left shoulder. Scarlett’s hair was sloppily thrown up into two braids- she was missing her signature ballcap, Astrid noted. Scarlett was also in orange pumpkin pajamas, which indicated the time was probably late at night. The light that shone through Astrid’s window was dark.

‘So it is nighttime,’ Astrid mentally confirmed her theory.

                “Are you okay?” Scarlett asked, concern evident in her tone. “Yeah. I’m fine,” Astrid answered, moving a hand up to her face to collect the tears that were freely spouting from her eyes. “Are you sure? You look pretty shaken up.”

Astrid stared at the wall in front of her stoically. “Well, if you aren’t going to talk right now, move over,” Scarlett maneuvered herself into her friend’s bed and tucked the covers over them. “You guys- all of you, you guys died,” Astrid mumbled in response, “I was the only one that lived.”

“Oh,” Scarlett muttered, “That must’ve been hard for you.”

               "You have no idea,“ Astrid swiped across her face with her elbow. Scarlett slowly hugged her friend as an attempt to comfort her. "Nothing’s going to happen to us. We’re all okay. I promise,” she softly reassured, moving a hand up to cradle the back of Astrid’s head. “Are you sure?” Astrid questioned, looking like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Scarlett disconnected from the hug. “We can go check if you want,” she proposed.

Astrid nodded.

               They both got up and tiptoed through the hallway. Both girls poked their heads in Aaron’s room first. The lights were off.  They noticed Aaron asleep on his purple beanbag in the far corner of his room. A strong scent- coffee, Astrid recognized- was present in the room.

‘It’s probably all over the floor,’ she thought to herself, before slowly making her way into the room.

“What are you doing?” Scarlett quietly hissed.

Astrid made her way over to Aaron and gently pulled a blanket over his still form. Then she returned to Scarlett. “All set,” she said.

They went to Caspar’s room next. He was asleep in his bed, Carrot lying next to him. Astrid had never realized how many pictures of them Caspar kept in his room.

‘It’s endearing that we mean that much to him,’ she thought.

A small smile pulled across her lips, and before she knew it, she found herself and Scarlett starting to walk towards the kitchen.

Someone rummaging through things- that noise was emanating throughout the house. “Let’s go check it out,” Scarlett said, quickening her pace. Both girls hurriedly ran to the kitchen.

The clock on the stove read five AM.

From the corner of her eye, Astrid spotted Tic-Tac standing on a countertop, going through the contents of a cabinet.

“My jellybeans!” Scarlett cried loudly. “Wake China, why don’t you?” Astrid quipped. “Tic-Tac! Get down from there! Those are mine!” Scarlett sneered, reaching for the jar. Before her hand could make contact with it, the jar fell to the floor, shattering. “Tic-Tac!”

“You are so loud, Scar,” Astrid pointed out.

“Go suck an egg.”

               Luckily, the whole house did not wake from the commotion. “I’m going back to bed,” Astrid stated, shuffling towards her room. “And leaving me with this mess?” Scarlett whined. “It’s not my problem,” Astrid remarked, shrugging, “Goodnight.”

“Bad-night.”

When Astrid returned to her room, she picked up the framed picture sitting on her bedside table. It was a picture of herself, Aaron, Casper, Eddie, Alesha, Scarlett, Tic-Tac, Barry, Carrot, and Brad. She smiled and returned the picture back to its rightful spot. Astrid closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Dreamless, if she was lucky.

That was the most sleep she had gotten in a while.

Autophobia- the fear of being alone.

~

This is so old. Lord.

~

I don’t write enough female friendships.

~

Title came from the song Afraid by The Neighbourhood.

~

I already have quite a few fics/hcs for fandoms saved, which I’ll be posting soon.

~

@tammysocs

Characters belong to @tamaytka

               Aaron was never fond of water. He never quite understood why- maybe it was the lack of control while underwater, being unable to breathe without drowning. Maybe it was the fact that even though he knew how to swim, he wasn’t a particularly strong swimmer. Maybe it was the fact that a person could sink in the ocean and simply never be found again.

               So when Scarlett came bounding into the room excitedly, proposing a beach trip to her flatmates, Aaron continued flipping through TV channels from the couch. “Pass,” he replied, clearly uninterested. Scarlett looked taken aback. “You were slow to blow me off, thanks,” she hissed, rolling her eyes.

               “What about you, Cas? Astrid?“ Scarlett called, hoping that she could play the ‘majority rules’ card. When the yell prompted no response, Scarlett screamed again. Casper poked his blond head through the door frame opposite of her. "Yes, My Sweet?” he mockingly greeted her while stepping inside of the room. Scarlett approached him straightaway. Aaron grinned.

“What do you think of us going on a beach trip?”

“Us as in like, us us? Or us as in us?” Casper asked, shifting his eyes towards Aaron’s direction. Aaron looked at the floor. “Us as in all of us. Well, not Eddie and Alesha since, you know, they’re far away,” Scar nervously bit her lip and then quickly stood on her tiptoes to close the gap between her and Casper. “Pretty please? It’d be so much fun.”

“Yeah, I’m in, I guess,” he agreed. Aaron cringed. “I’m out,” he said instantly. He received quizzical glances from the two. “I just don’t like beaches, that’s all,” Aaron didn’t feel the need to justify himself any further. He stood up and headed towards the door. “I’m going to go find Barry.”

“That was weird,” Scar whispered. “You know he doesn’t like the ocean,” Casper responded curtly. “Yeah, but I didn’t think he’d freak out like that,” she stated, looking up at Casper. “But to answer your question, yes, I would like to go. And I know Astrid will too. And I’ll coerce Aaron to come.” Scarlett smiled before saying, “Sounds like a plan.”

-

Convincing Aaron to go on the trip was easier said than done. Casper begged him for almost an entire week for him to join them. A lot of the time Aaron slammed the door in his face. Or was told to screw himself. Or both.

But on the sixth day, because of eventual blackmailing, Aaron accepted the offer.

“Fine, whatever. If you’ll just give me five minutes to myself, Cas, God!” he had said in annoyance.

Everyone was pleased with the end results.

-

               They left for the beach three days after that in their small vintage mini-van. Casper was forced to drive. Astrid had proposed the idea that Aaron should, but he bluntly refused. He didn’t want to go in the first place, let alone drive for two and a half hours to get to their destination.

               The car ride was long, and everyone was over it fast. Aaron was starting to develop a headache, and the chorus of ‘500 bottles of beer on the wall’ that had been going on for the past five minutes was not making matters any easier.

-

They arrived on the shoreline during midday. “I hope a shark eats us,” Aaron grumbled before adding, “or I overheat.”

“Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine,” Astrid quipped, looking Aaron up and down. He still had his pigeon hoodie on, even though the temperature was hovering around ninety degrees. They’d all have to change into their beach attire for normalcy, and for the fact that they didn’t want to have a heat stroke.

-

               “Wow, who wants to be the lucky friend who surfs with me today?” Casper asked his friends, enthusiastically. “Well, I would but I’m planning on d-doing… something… yeah,” Astrid immediately stuttered. Casper looked to Scarlett. “Sorry, Cas. I’m doing the same… something,” she shrugged.

               “A?” both Astrid and Aaron both glanced up, those it was obvious who the question was directed at. Aaron quickly shook his head no. “C’mon. Live a little, it’ll be good for you,” Casper assured. “No, Cas, I don’t want- “What’ve you got to lose?”

Aaron was about to say their lives, but he decided to hold his tongue.

“I’m taking your silence as a yes. C’mon,” Casper grabbed his friend by the arm and started leading him towards the surfboard rental center.

-

               “You see? It could be worse. And you can’t say you aren’t having a good time,” Casper was laying down on his pink surfboard, waiting for another large wave to paddle into. “Yeah. I’m having a fun time. Thanks, man,” Aaron replied, mirroring his friend from a purple surfboard. “Anytime. I mean, what are best friends for?”

“Buying lunch, I hope. I’m desperately craving some noodles or pizza right now and everything in between,” Aaron remarked cheerfully. “Fine, we’ll get something soon.”

As a large wave came in, both boys paddled into it and stood up on their boards. Before Aaron could realize what was happening, he was tasting salt water. Pulled under a wave, he suspected. He tried to swim to the waterline, tried to resurface, but the next thing he knew was that he was pulled underwater even farther than before.

He tried not to panic, tried to think of a rational way out of the situation, but his limbs felt heavy and immobile against the suction of the tide. He was sinking- he knew that much- and wasn’t sure how he could help himself.

He had researched drowning before. It was always rumored to be one of the worst possible ways to die and he had always been curious about why. He no longer wanted to know why.

An average person could hold their breath for around thirty to sixty seconds. A person could last eighty-seven seconds without oxygen before they reached a breaking point, and no matter their strength, their body would give up at that benchmark.

Pain. The excruciating pain was the only sensation left that Aaron could register. He was trying to focus on how much time he had left to live, all the people that he’d never get to say goodbye to, tell them that he loved them. Because details were starting to get hazy, and he had to remember them. His vision was swimming. He had to hang on for his friends.

‘Cas, thank you for being my best friend.’

‘Astrid, thank you for properly teaching me about kindness.’

‘Scar, thank you for teaching me about camaraderie.’

‘Tic-Tac, I hope you didn’t eat all of the jelly beans while we were away.’

‘Barry, you’re a creep.’

‘Carrot, stay lazy, I guess.’

‘Brad, what a wild concept.’

‘Thank you all for showing me what family is like. I love all of you.’

Aaron felt content as he opened his mouth to take a breath. His vision went dark.

-

               There was a heavy pounding on his chest. Something was hitting him- it felt the need to strike him repeatedly, apparently. Aaron could vaguely hear crying and muffled voices in the distance. It was almost as if- God, would that thing ever stop hitting him?

His eyes snapped open and he bolted upright. He was pushed onto his side by someone while he began to dispel water from his lungs. Once he was done coughing, his hands instinctively were brought to his chest. He couldn’t fathom why they hurt, what was the last thing he remembered again?

               “Are you okay? I mean, you’re not having trouble breathing or anything? I thought I got to you in time, but I guess not…” Casper trailed off. Aaron groaned in response. “My chest hurts. Why’s that?” he slurred. Disoriented was not the right word to use for the scenario. It was ten times worse than that. “Your sternum broke,” Casper winced.

Then, Astrid and Scarlett appeared in Aaron’s line of sight, tears streaming down both girl’s faces. They were on their knees, sitting next to Casper, crowding around Aaron. So that’s where the crying had come from. He was finally starting to piece the situation together.

“I’m so happy you’re alive, Aaron, it was so close,” Scarlett brought a hand to her face to wipe away the remaining tears. “How close?” he countered curiously. “Your heart stopped,” Casper mumbled so quietly that if you weren’t paying attention, you’d miss it. “Oh,” Aaron said dumbly.

“I-I don’t know what happened. You were with me, and the one minute you weren’t and then- “Cas. Cas, it’s okay. I’m okay,” Aaron reassured gently, afraid that his friend would have an anxiety attack otherwise. He put a reassuring hand on Casper’s shoulder. “I found you and you weren’t breathing, and you wouldn’t breathe, and you-you were dead,” he continued, “That was the scariest moment of my life.”

“I didn’t mean to scare you guys.”

               A sharp pain reverberated through Aaron’s shoulder. It took a moment for him to realize that Astrid had punched him there. Hard. “What was that for?” he questioned. “Never do that again,” she demanded. “Don’t worry guys, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m never going near water ever again. Not even to drink.”

“Good call.”

“Also, as I thought about my demise by a watery grave, I thought about something.”

“Proceed…”

Aaron smirked, “How much I hate all of you.”

~

This title is inspired by the song Wrong Side of Paradise by Fall Out Boy, an unreleased track. And the characters are not mine either, they are owned by @tamaytka . Now it is 3 AM and I must go. Tam, if you see this, I hope that you take the time to read it, and possibly enjoy it. It was a pleasure to use your amazing characters for a topic that I have been wanting to work with for a while. Thank you.

~

The idea about Aaron kind of being scared of drowning came to me because of him and the bridge. I don’t know if they can die in the afterlife but I went with it.

~

When I mentioned that Eddie and Alesha are away, I sort of was thinking college/ an alternative to college.

~

The ocs having a beach day with like Scar and Astrid building sandcastles while Aaron and Casper are surfing is a really cute idea to me.

~

That’s I think where all my inspiration came from.

@tammysocs

Hey, tamtato @tamaytka your OCs are freaking cute and this is a pretty darn good interpretation of them

Person b: burn the house down

Person a: and what did you do

Person b: made you dinner

Person a:

Person b:

Person a:

So… I doodled @tamaytka ‘s oc Scar. Love her design oof!

Painting with watercolors is really difficult, my respects to @tamaytka who paints with them most of the time.

Well, with all this stuff that the author of these characters is discouraged, I’m going to start drawing their Oc’s to bring back their spirits.

Tamaytka, don’t worry be happy ❤️👌