Isla: Somewhere with snow!
Isla: Do you have a passport? I forget.
Isla: Maybe just Colorado for some skiing?
Absofuckinglutely not.I respond with a gif of a disgusted face, followed up by,You’re not gonna catch me dead in the snow.
For the last few years, we’ve been each other’s family. We go on vacation for the holidays, so she doesn’t get pressured into going home. Yet again, another reason I have no interest in getting tied down to a man. What man is going to support me and my best friend gallivanting off across the states just to hide from her fucked up family?
As I sip my coffee she doesn’t respond, and I message her again,Hey, I’m plugging in to do some work, so we’ll have to figure it all out later.
I look through my email and respond to a few, hoping to land a couple more jobs so I can be ready for the upcoming holiday season. Studying my calendar, I find empty spaces where I can squeeze in a few hours here and there. If all goes to plan, I can still fit another three jobs before Thanksgiving.
I’m not super close with my family, but I still want to be able to get them something. Doing all that this year will be extra tough since Charlie moved out, leaving me without a roommate in this massive,expensiveapartment. I can manage, but it sucks having to.
Of course, I’m so glad Charlie found his happily ever after, and I would never suggest he hold himself back from moving forward. But it’s thrown a wrench in my plans for a big fat savings account. I look towards his room down the hall and wonder what he’s doing right now. Probably almost exactly what I’m doing. Late breakfast and beginning to work.
With my emails all caught up, I close the computer and start cleaning up after myself. I start a second cup of coffee, and while it brews, I quickly rinse my other dishes and throw them in the dishwasher.
Glancing around my kitchen and living room I think, not for the first time, that I need to get some decor in here. Since Charlie and I both worked from home we needed an apartment with enough room for two offices and two bedrooms. He had converted the living room into a makeshift office for himself, and now that he’s not there, it’s a mere skeleton of what it used to be.
Shit, it looks like someone died, and all their stuff just got tossed in the dumpster.
With that terribly morbid thought, I grab my drug of choice off the coffeepot and head upstairs. Both of our rooms are up here, as is the third bedroom he helped me transform into the beauty it is. Because I’m a glutton for punishment, I poke my head into his room.Maybe it’s time for me to find a new roommate.Or, maybe I should just sell what’s left of the lease and find somewhere smaller.
Continuing on, I open the door to my little sanctuary.God, I love this room.My entire book collection is here, as are the fan art and maps to go with them all. I blow a kiss to my favorites on my way toward my desk and glance at the closed cabinet, smiling to myself. I love what’s in there, too. But I can only partake once I get some work done. Whenever I finish with a long day of reading smut and feigning sex noises, I find myself in desperate need of release.
I have fake cocks and toys of all kinds in there. I mean… how could I talk about different shapes of dicks if I don’t have intimate experience with them, right? The large human-looking ones are fun, but the best are the most depraved. The ones with extra ribbing, thetentacles,and especially the one that mimics knotting. Why would I want to fuck a real man when I can stay home and guarantee as many orgasms as I want?
Bel, you horndog, focus. Put in your hours, then go fuck yourself.
I laugh at myself and try to get my head in the game. Today won’t be a horny work day anyway. I need to do a quick read-through of today’s content before I turn on the equipment, so I grab the manuscript and head over to my cozy corner chair.
I paid more for this chair than all the furniture in my living room but it was worth every fucking penny. It’s nearly wide enough for two people, made of the softest dark green velvet, with the top tufted to look like a scallop seashell. It’s accented with coppery gold and has a matching ottoman. Kicking my feet up on it, I set my drink on the table beside the chair and begin my reading.
If I can keep myself on track, I can probably get through 25% of the book today. I’ll read for an hour, then take a break before I begin recording. I try to set reminders to take a break every 90 minutes or so, otherwise I’ll get so sucked into the work that I’ll go the whole day without eating or drinking anything. More often than not, I even forget to get up to pee unless my phone yells at me to do so.
As happens so often, I lose track of time and get lost in the story before me. Three teenagers have decided to summon a demon to enact revenge on their abusive parents but it doesn’t exactly do as told. Rather than eliminate the parents, it sets seemingly innocent tasks in front of the teens, threatening their lives should they fail. But from what I can tell, those tasks bring the kids closer and closer to their worst nightmare.
*Ring* *Ring*
There’s Siri telling me to take a piss again.
I take care of business in my en-suite and run down the stairs to grab a water bottle. Long hours of talking, moaning, and sometimes even fake crying mean I need constant hydration.
As I set up to finally get to work at my station, I find myself really excited about today’s work. Horror isn’t my usual genre, but getting to try something new and stretch my limits a little bit will be incredible. This book seems like it’ll require screams of terror rather than the type I’m used to.
I trudge through the first few chapters, which include the intro to each character and the reasons they’ve decided to off their parents.Honestly, I get it.The parents are truly horrific and deserve whatever demise they’ll find at the end of the book.But I don’t trust this bookseller lady.I mean she just happened to have a book of exactly the type of spell they’re looking for? No way, it’s too easy. She’s in cahoots with the forces of darkness, I’m telling ya.
I decide that’s a good enough place to stop and take a break. But the plot is so compelling that I practically inhale my lunch so I can get back to work.
I return to my studio and continue well into the evening. Realizing that I’m now in the unfortunate position of reading the sacrifice and summoning long after the sun has gone down has my skin pebbling. Pushing through the discomfort, I proceed.
The kids make their way to the local deserted church house, ready to call upon a demon fresh from the pits. Each of them takes turns slicing their palms open, spilling it into a white marble mortar they stole from their kitchen.Gross.Then they all snip a lock of hair from themselves, and the oldest tosses in the horrifically fresh jawbone of their mother’s prize-winning cat.Poor Flannery.
The youngest starts reciting some obscure Latin that I don’t understand. I had the good sense to research Latin pronunciation, so I know I’m at least getting that right. I think I recognize the word for warrior and another that I’m pretty sure has something to do with protection.
As I turn the page to continue their incantation, I slice my middle finger on the corner of the page.Motherfucker!Trying to ignore the burning in my finger, I continue through the summoning spell. As they finish, black smoke begins to rise from the floor of the church they’ve broken into.
