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1
"See? It's screaming hot."
Marty and Jolie stood at her flanks, nodding knowingly. Of course she was right. Maddie was always the smart one. If anybody knew the right thing to do at any given time, it would definitely be her. The girl took a moment to ponder their situation.
"Well, we can't stay here, that's for sure."
Of course they couldn't stay here. The group had to keep moving. Any time spent mulling about in the same place was time wasted. Any moment now the darkness would surely catch up with them. What would happen then? Everything would be different.
Maddie engaged the first gear and launched the car confidently. The Porsche was slightly battered and dust soiled its white finish, but the engine was perfect, and the machine still impeccable. She expertly maneuvered the stick-shifter across the landscape, dodging wrecks and wretches alike. Her mind was detached from the act of driving - she was preoccupied on a thought.
Maddie engaged the first gear and launched the car confidently. The Porsche was slightly battered and dust soiled its white finish, but the engine was perfect, and the machine still impeccable. She expertly maneuvered the stick-shifter across the landscape, dodging wrecks and wretches alike. Her mind was detached from the act of driving - she was preoccupied on a thought.
"If we're going to get through this, there's something I need to do."
She thought to her backpack behind her. More importantly, what was in it. She had to tell them. Things had gotten out of hand and she had to control it somehow. Doubt clouded her mind, but she felt that it was the right thing to do. What would they think of her then? Surely the situation was dire enough to warrant...
"There's something you need to know about me."
She knelt down and pulled out a bundle of black and yellow from her bag. She let the latex suit unfold before her. Drawing the curtains closed, she put her foot into the suit, relishing the sensation of the rubber against her skin. She shuddered as the latex came to life, twisting and tightening around her body, wrapping her in its impermeable embrace.
The rubber stretched tightly across her face, her features visible through the living membrane. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She watched as Marty turned away, choosing the horrors of the wasteland over the fiasco unfolding before himself. She watched as Jolie stepped forward, prodding her friend's rubber skin worriedly.
Maddie willed herself to say something, to reach out, but she was no longer herself. She was encased in an otherworldly film, her senses assaulted by the unrelenting tightness of the living rubber. It was too much to control.
Jolie watched on, enraptured. She knelt down and turned her head to the sky. Her lips parted and her mouth slowly opened. Her eyes rolled back in their sockets as her jaw continued to unhinge. Maddie watched on in horror as her friend's head swiveled over, the flesh of her cheeks splitting gracefully to accommodate her monstrous bite, as if she were biologically-tuned to do so.
The creature spun around, body facing away. Jolie's upside-down eyes hung over its back, staring deeply into Maddie's rubberized face. The moment lasted an eternity. It raised its arms and began to flail, screaming out of Jolie's unhinged jaw. A mechanical beeping sound echoed out into the wilds from the grotesque being before her, and Maddie's suit began to melt onto her skin. The world rumbled violently, as buildings crumbled and forests burst into glorious blue-green flames. She twisted against the living latex that enveloped her, moaning soundlessly into the airtight rubber molding to her face.
Jolie's grotesque figure continued to warp until it consumed the scene, melting away the fantasy and replacing it with a shapeless void. Maddie's back arched in a wordless cry as the rubber consumed her fully. The mechanical beeping noise subdued itself, until there was nothing but darkness and beeping.
Maddie turned over. She was awake.
Her phone blared incessantly, the unnatural blue light of its LCD screen assaulting her visual cortex in ways so cruel they could be deemed torture and outlawed. More through muscle memory than any conscious thought, Maddie swiped right on her screen and silenced the alarm. She rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
Subdued daylight poured in through her screen door. The air was frigid, coaxing Maddie to stay in bed, under the warmth of her feathered covers. A steady white-noise heard through the thin, hollow wall told her that either Jolie or Marty was still in the shower and she'd have to wait her turn anyway.
Fair enough.
Maddie pulled the sheets tightly around her neck, studying the light fixture in the ceiling before her. She struggled to call upon the details of her dream but they had long gone, the only clue to its content manifesting in a damp spot in the gusset of her leotard.
Giving up on trying to recall or reenter her dream, Maddie's thoughts wandered instead to the day ahead. The mere direction of the thought flooded her brain with adrenaline and anxiety. She'd no idea what she was in for. Despite the certificates, kind words and congratulatory well-wishes, she couldn't quite shake the feeling that her position was unearned.
Grogginess clouded her mind, but she knew that if she remained idle she would surely drift off again. Climbing out of bed with the agility of a moldy potato, Maddie reached awkwardly for her desk chair and retrieved her home uniform - a middle school t-shirt and old gym shorts. The set was easily a decade old, but its age was its charm. Besides, they suited her needs well.
The high crewneck of her maroon t-shirt easily obscured that of the suit's. The elastic waistband on the shorts gripped her hips tightly enough so they wouldn't slip on the smooth material cladding her body.
The sound of running water ceased with the usual thud of shoddy plumbing. Maddie pulled herself to her feet and slid the door open, letting the sunlight into her room in a bit to chase the drowsiness out of her consciousness. She could see Marty still snoozing through the open door of the bedroom across from hers. On cue, Jolie's familiar post-shower sigh reverberated from beyond the bathroom door.
Maddie's bedroom slippers dragged noisily across the carpet. She willed herself to trod the four gargantuan steps needed to close the gap to the kitchen to begin their morning ritual. Stifling a yawn, she thoughtlessly aligned a sleek, black kitchen scale with the corner of the island counter. She tersely placed a small plastic cup atop it and zeroed it, before pouring in coffee beans. She'd stopped paying attention to what kind of coffee they were buying weeks ago.
Stopping just shy of 45g, Maddie picked a few beans that'd missed the mark and deposited them into the container, before loading them into a hand grinder.
The bathroom door swung open, releasing a blast of hot vapor into the apartment.
The grinder changed hands.
The rubber stretched tightly across her face, her features visible through the living membrane. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She watched as Marty turned away, choosing the horrors of the wasteland over the fiasco unfolding before himself. She watched as Jolie stepped forward, prodding her friend's rubber skin worriedly.
Maddie willed herself to say something, to reach out, but she was no longer herself. She was encased in an otherworldly film, her senses assaulted by the unrelenting tightness of the living rubber. It was too much to control.
Jolie watched on, enraptured. She knelt down and turned her head to the sky. Her lips parted and her mouth slowly opened. Her eyes rolled back in their sockets as her jaw continued to unhinge. Maddie watched on in horror as her friend's head swiveled over, the flesh of her cheeks splitting gracefully to accommodate her monstrous bite, as if she were biologically-tuned to do so.
The creature spun around, body facing away. Jolie's upside-down eyes hung over its back, staring deeply into Maddie's rubberized face. The moment lasted an eternity. It raised its arms and began to flail, screaming out of Jolie's unhinged jaw. A mechanical beeping sound echoed out into the wilds from the grotesque being before her, and Maddie's suit began to melt onto her skin. The world rumbled violently, as buildings crumbled and forests burst into glorious blue-green flames. She twisted against the living latex that enveloped her, moaning soundlessly into the airtight rubber molding to her face.
Jolie's grotesque figure continued to warp until it consumed the scene, melting away the fantasy and replacing it with a shapeless void. Maddie's back arched in a wordless cry as the rubber consumed her fully. The mechanical beeping noise subdued itself, until there was nothing but darkness and beeping.
Maddie turned over. She was awake.
Her phone blared incessantly, the unnatural blue light of its LCD screen assaulting her visual cortex in ways so cruel they could be deemed torture and outlawed. More through muscle memory than any conscious thought, Maddie swiped right on her screen and silenced the alarm. She rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
Subdued daylight poured in through her screen door. The air was frigid, coaxing Maddie to stay in bed, under the warmth of her feathered covers. A steady white-noise heard through the thin, hollow wall told her that either Jolie or Marty was still in the shower and she'd have to wait her turn anyway.
Fair enough.
Maddie pulled the sheets tightly around her neck, studying the light fixture in the ceiling before her. She struggled to call upon the details of her dream but they had long gone, the only clue to its content manifesting in a damp spot in the gusset of her leotard.
Giving up on trying to recall or reenter her dream, Maddie's thoughts wandered instead to the day ahead. The mere direction of the thought flooded her brain with adrenaline and anxiety. She'd no idea what she was in for. Despite the certificates, kind words and congratulatory well-wishes, she couldn't quite shake the feeling that her position was unearned.
Grogginess clouded her mind, but she knew that if she remained idle she would surely drift off again. Climbing out of bed with the agility of a moldy potato, Maddie reached awkwardly for her desk chair and retrieved her home uniform - a middle school t-shirt and old gym shorts. The set was easily a decade old, but its age was its charm. Besides, they suited her needs well.
The high crewneck of her maroon t-shirt easily obscured that of the suit's. The elastic waistband on the shorts gripped her hips tightly enough so they wouldn't slip on the smooth material cladding her body.
The sound of running water ceased with the usual thud of shoddy plumbing. Maddie pulled herself to her feet and slid the door open, letting the sunlight into her room in a bit to chase the drowsiness out of her consciousness. She could see Marty still snoozing through the open door of the bedroom across from hers. On cue, Jolie's familiar post-shower sigh reverberated from beyond the bathroom door.
Maddie's bedroom slippers dragged noisily across the carpet. She willed herself to trod the four gargantuan steps needed to close the gap to the kitchen to begin their morning ritual. Stifling a yawn, she thoughtlessly aligned a sleek, black kitchen scale with the corner of the island counter. She tersely placed a small plastic cup atop it and zeroed it, before pouring in coffee beans. She'd stopped paying attention to what kind of coffee they were buying weeks ago.
Stopping just shy of 45g, Maddie picked a few beans that'd missed the mark and deposited them into the container, before loading them into a hand grinder.
The bathroom door swung open, releasing a blast of hot vapor into the apartment.
"Morning, Maddie. MARTY. GET UP."
A long pathetic grunt resonated from the bedroom.
"Morning. We're doing forty-five now, right?"
"Yeah. All measured up?"
The grinder changed hands.
"Yeah. Forty five."
The familiar crackling drone of decimating beans filled the morning silence, followed quickly by the sweet aroma of cocoa and melon.
"Maddie..."
"Marty?"
"...wake me... when you're done with the shower..."
"We're going to be late, Marty."
Jolie continued to grind the beans but made her way back to their room. After a beat, Maddie stumbled into the bathroom and shut the door.
She stared back at the strange, thin, Asian girl that greeted her in the mirror every morning. Watched as she slowly removed her top and shorts, revealing a body clad in black spandex. Looking on in sleep-induced apathy, she peeled her leotard off and slowly stepped out its neck.
Maddie wasn't the kind of person who thought about her body much - her quick metabolism kept her at least decently slim without much care, but it also made her complacent, and thus her body lacked muscle or tone. She never felt particularly attractive, but she didn't feel repulsive either.... not that she was ever any good at judging the thoughts of others.
Then again maybe she was just overthinking it. Like everything else.
She sat down and quickly relieved herself before taking her toothbrush and a tube of Sensodyne into the shower.
The hot water trickled down at a comfortable pressure. Any lingering memory of her dream state was quickly washed away and her thoughts turned to the day ahead. First days always made her anxious. Meeting new people, learning new customs and rituals...
Maddie was definitely used to not fitting in, but that didn't mean she didn't worry about it. She felt comfortable with Jolie and later Marty, but they didn't know what she got up to on her own in her room after dark. They didn't understand why a healthy twenty-five year old girl had already given up hope on ever settling into a meaningful relationship. But of course they couldn't understand. They were the same age as herself and in mad love. Maddie was definitely envious. Not of either of them but of what they had. In some ways they still gave her some hope for herself.
She spat toothpaste onto the shower floor, watching the white foam swirl down into the drain between her feet. Cupping her hands under the shower, she rinsed her mouth once, then gargled exactly twice. Resting her hand on the faucet she took a moment to enjoy the state of warm limbo she was in. Free from judgment... responsibility...
...and then she turned off the tap.
To be fair, she didn't know what Jolie and Marty got up to on their own either. She toweled herself off as she picked up her train of thought. The contents of her dream were long-forgotten, but there was some lingering energy to it that intrigued her. The thought of a dream diary had graced her mind before, but like many of her ideas, it quickly became something thought about but never done.
She inspected her now-dry leotard, wondering when she would get a chance to properly wash it. The new apartment had no dryer, and so she had to hang-dry any laundry. Which would be fine, if you didn't have laundry that'd be hard to explain to your roommates. She'd considered actually taking a dance class just to justify her stash of various suits and other stretchy accouterments, but her collection was definitely way past obsessive, and she didn't really care enough about dance to really get into it, not to speak of spending money on.
Bunching the suit up into a bundle indistinguishable from her towel, she stepped back into her PJs and stepped out of the bathroom, into the brain-tickling aroma of freshly brewed coffee.
"Marty."
She stuck her head into the room.
"Marty?"
She stared back at the strange, thin, Asian girl that greeted her in the mirror every morning. Watched as she slowly removed her top and shorts, revealing a body clad in black spandex. Looking on in sleep-induced apathy, she peeled her leotard off and slowly stepped out its neck.
Maddie wasn't the kind of person who thought about her body much - her quick metabolism kept her at least decently slim without much care, but it also made her complacent, and thus her body lacked muscle or tone. She never felt particularly attractive, but she didn't feel repulsive either.... not that she was ever any good at judging the thoughts of others.
Then again maybe she was just overthinking it. Like everything else.
She sat down and quickly relieved herself before taking her toothbrush and a tube of Sensodyne into the shower.
The hot water trickled down at a comfortable pressure. Any lingering memory of her dream state was quickly washed away and her thoughts turned to the day ahead. First days always made her anxious. Meeting new people, learning new customs and rituals...
Maddie was definitely used to not fitting in, but that didn't mean she didn't worry about it. She felt comfortable with Jolie and later Marty, but they didn't know what she got up to on her own in her room after dark. They didn't understand why a healthy twenty-five year old girl had already given up hope on ever settling into a meaningful relationship. But of course they couldn't understand. They were the same age as herself and in mad love. Maddie was definitely envious. Not of either of them but of what they had. In some ways they still gave her some hope for herself.
She spat toothpaste onto the shower floor, watching the white foam swirl down into the drain between her feet. Cupping her hands under the shower, she rinsed her mouth once, then gargled exactly twice. Resting her hand on the faucet she took a moment to enjoy the state of warm limbo she was in. Free from judgment... responsibility...
...and then she turned off the tap.
To be fair, she didn't know what Jolie and Marty got up to on their own either. She toweled herself off as she picked up her train of thought. The contents of her dream were long-forgotten, but there was some lingering energy to it that intrigued her. The thought of a dream diary had graced her mind before, but like many of her ideas, it quickly became something thought about but never done.
She inspected her now-dry leotard, wondering when she would get a chance to properly wash it. The new apartment had no dryer, and so she had to hang-dry any laundry. Which would be fine, if you didn't have laundry that'd be hard to explain to your roommates. She'd considered actually taking a dance class just to justify her stash of various suits and other stretchy accouterments, but her collection was definitely way past obsessive, and she didn't really care enough about dance to really get into it, not to speak of spending money on.
Bunching the suit up into a bundle indistinguishable from her towel, she stepped back into her PJs and stepped out of the bathroom, into the brain-tickling aroma of freshly brewed coffee.
"Marty."
She stuck her head into the room.
"Marty?"
"MARTY!"
"Thanks Jo."
"MARTY. YOUR TURN."
"Hnnnnnngggg..."
"He'll be up. Yours."
Coffee. Maddie took a sip.
"Thanks,"
"Thanks,"
"Marty, don't make me come in there again."
"I'm... I'm up."
Maddie peeked into the room. Marty was still in bed, face smushed into a hopelessly flattened pillow, ass in the air. His knees were tucked tightly up to his chest under his body and his arms lay limp beside him.
"I... think you should go wake him."
"He'll be up. How's the coffee?"
Maddie looked down at the glass in her hand.
"Hot. I think I'm still too sleepy to taste it."
"Hot. I think I'm still too sleepy to taste it."
"You'll get there. I think I like the old one better. This one's too fruity."
"Fruity's nice."
"I don't know, it's just not... not coffee, you know?"
"That's why it's nice, it's different. It's like... it's trying to be better in its own way."
"Yeah, but how different can you be before you stop being... well, coffee?"
"It's just coffee guys. It gets you up in the morning."
Maddie looked down at her cup. Just coffee...
Jolie glared at Marty.
Jolie glared at Marty.
"Right. Forget I said anything."
He stumbled into the toilet.
"I should get changed."
Maddie left the coffee to cool in the living room, retreating back to her own and sliding the door closed. Her leotard was quickly deposited into the laundry basket, and her towel draped across her computer chair to dry. She knelt down and rearranged her laundry so that her leotard was obscured and hidden from casual observation.
She'd considered wearing another leotard as underwear for the day, but had come to a decision last night that it'd be too distracting. The day was probably too important to come across as uninterested. That said, faced with the consideration again she found herself indecisive once more.
But no. She had to do the responsible thing. She pulled on a clean pair of cotton knickers and a once-worn, t-strapped bra before fishing out a fresh pair of blue jeans. She had only one belt she'd bought on a whim - a bohemian kaleidoscope of reds, oranges, purples and cyans - that she pulled on to hold her pants up. A bright orange Uniqlo t-shirt hugged her body before the whole getup was obscured by a drab gray-and-white striped sweater.
Before she allowed herself to grieve for her own lack of fashion-sense, she reached for a plain, gray beanie to complete the "look", letting her damp hair fall over her shoulders. Adjusting her glasses, Maddie stepped out to her now-drinkable coffee.
The single-origin was definitely fruity. It was bright and tasted of citrus and melon. Its aftertaste was naturally sweet and it left a pleasurable sensation in the back of the mouth, at the base of the tongue. Maddie took another sip. It was definitely different. Different was good, right?
She took a seat by the dining table in the center of the room and rested her head in her arms as Jolie quietly browsed Reddit on her iPad to her left. The shower ran behind her. There was a quiet Zen about the scene. It had a bittersweet peacefulness to it - a silence that was neither awkward nor tense.
Maddie took another sip of her coffee.
"I should get changed."
Maddie left the coffee to cool in the living room, retreating back to her own and sliding the door closed. Her leotard was quickly deposited into the laundry basket, and her towel draped across her computer chair to dry. She knelt down and rearranged her laundry so that her leotard was obscured and hidden from casual observation.
She'd considered wearing another leotard as underwear for the day, but had come to a decision last night that it'd be too distracting. The day was probably too important to come across as uninterested. That said, faced with the consideration again she found herself indecisive once more.
But no. She had to do the responsible thing. She pulled on a clean pair of cotton knickers and a once-worn, t-strapped bra before fishing out a fresh pair of blue jeans. She had only one belt she'd bought on a whim - a bohemian kaleidoscope of reds, oranges, purples and cyans - that she pulled on to hold her pants up. A bright orange Uniqlo t-shirt hugged her body before the whole getup was obscured by a drab gray-and-white striped sweater.
Before she allowed herself to grieve for her own lack of fashion-sense, she reached for a plain, gray beanie to complete the "look", letting her damp hair fall over her shoulders. Adjusting her glasses, Maddie stepped out to her now-drinkable coffee.
The single-origin was definitely fruity. It was bright and tasted of citrus and melon. Its aftertaste was naturally sweet and it left a pleasurable sensation in the back of the mouth, at the base of the tongue. Maddie took another sip. It was definitely different. Different was good, right?
She took a seat by the dining table in the center of the room and rested her head in her arms as Jolie quietly browsed Reddit on her iPad to her left. The shower ran behind her. There was a quiet Zen about the scene. It had a bittersweet peacefulness to it - a silence that was neither awkward nor tense.
Maddie took another sip of her coffee.
[2369 Words]