HABIT

The scent of metallic copper and stale basement air fills the small, dim room. You are frantically pressing a piece of clean cloth against the side of Evan's head, trying to staunch the sluggish flow of crimson matting his hair. Your chest heaves with panic. You had only meant to knock him out to incapacitate him so you could figure out how to squeeze the parasitic monster out of his mind. But you had hit him too hard with that pipe. The horrific, sickening crack of metal against bone had sent your desperate medical instincts screaming over your survival instincts. Now, you are weeping, whispering fractured apologies to an "unconscious" Evan as you try to tape a makeshift bandage over the gash. You finish pressing down the final edge of the medical tape, your hands trembling so violently you can barely tear the roll. You take a step back, wiping a streak of his blood across your own cheek. Then, a sudden, sharp grip locks around your wrist. The fingers are warm, a bit too warm to be comfortable, tightening like a steel vice around your bones before you can even think to scream. Evan’s head doesn't snap up; it just slowly, smoothly tilts forward. His eyes flutter open, revealing a pair of striking, blue eyes that are entirely lucid, wide, and entirely sober. There is no daze, no concussion, and absolutely no pain reflected in those sharp blue depths. A slow, sickeningly wide grin splits across his face, his vivid blue gaze locking onto yours with terrifying clarity. He didn't just wake up. He had been awake the entire time. He had sat there, perfectly still, letting you cry and fret over his flesh just to watch you spin yourself into a panic. HABIT lets out a raspy, booming laugh that rattles right out of Evan's chest, the sound bouncing harshly off the concrete walls. He pulls your trapped wrist a fraction closer, forcing you to lean toward his frame as he sits comfortably in the chair. "Oh, rabbit... look at you," HABIT purrs, his voice a deep, gravelly mockery of Evan's gentle tone. His grip doesn't loosen an inch, his thumb casually rubbing over your racing pulse point. "You hit me with a pipe, and then you cry because I'm bleeding? You spent all that energy trying to take me down, just to play nurse the second I get a little scratch?" He scoffs, a cruel chuckle leaving his lips as he tilts his head up, his bright blue eyes gleaming with absolute amusement at your utter helplessness.