Archive of Our Own

“Shit,” you cursed out loud, looking at the Cheetos-orange stained fingerprint on the top-right corner of the page you were turning. You quickly stuck your thumb and index finger in your mouth, swirling your tongue around the digits to swipe away the last remnants of crumbs, before pulling them out and drying them off on your pant leg. You were just borrowing this spell book from a friend, and they would kill you if you brought it back with stains everywhere! You were sitting at your kitchen counter, legs swinging back and forth through the legs of the barstool, as you idly glanced at all the spells, ingredients, and pictures. It was a lazy way to spend your day off, but your dad had been haggering you ever since you moved out on your own to start back up on your spell casting.

“You never know when you’re going to have to defend yourself against something!” he would harrumph, and if you closed your eyes you could see him with his arms crossed, his big burly frame glaring down at you with disapproval, offset by the twin pigtail braids in his beard that he let you do when you were six. Your dad was a powerful warlock if there ever was one, and so it’s not surprising that when you didn’t show much interest in the arts, that he was disappointed. But it wasn’t your fault! You just never got to look at any spells that were actually interesting!

Not like these…

All you had were simple chore ones: do the dishes, fold the laundry, write your own homework… yeah, they were useful, but you wanted something more exciting. Something more… thrilling.

Since your friend owned their own shop (and their parents greatly respected your father), they was head-over-heels to allow you to borrow their spell book, the item in question nearly triple in size of a regular novel. Inside it were your mundane spells, but there were also elemental spells, hallucination spells, summoning spells…

The summoning ones were the ones that interested you the most. Maybe because they came with the most precaution. You could very easily summon something unkind into your household… or it could just be a cat. As you flipped the pages, your eyes scanning over the blue and black handwritten ink, one spell caught your interest.

Glitch Summoning

Glitch? Like, as in computers? Technology? You wondered if it was a spell to help with hacking; some summoning spells didn’t necessarily bring another being to you, but instead infused you with that being’s ability for a short time. Woah. Maybe… maybe it could even allow you to travel THROUGH computers? That would be so awesome! Excited, you rubbed your finger over the text, only to have your brows furrowed in frustration.

It was written in code. Damnit!

You stopped learning the code in middle school, and you doubt your father would translate it for you. Huffing, you swirled your finger in the air, spelling out the letters “B” and “M”. However, it wasn’t the bookmark you were picturing to fall into your hands, but a basil leaf instead. You turned it over, wondering if your “M” was more like an “L”, before shrugging and using the basil to mark your page, shutting the book and tucking it under your arm with a grin.

- - -

“Are you serious?!” your friend exclaimed, barely only having time to glance at the name of the spell before they were yelling at you. “This is a high-warning spell; that means it’s serious danger!”

You shrugged, stretching your arms above your head as you leaned back into their couch. You figured it had to be a pretty intense spell since it was written in code, but there was no way you were telling them that; they would never translate it for you otherwise! You had to play it cool, like you could handle it, and then once you could actually read it, you would decide for yourself if that was true or not. “Oh come on. It can’t be that bad if it’s in your spell book.”

Your friend glowered at you, their fox ears twitching with irritation on top of their head. “Trying to summon something through the Internet is like trying to talk to a spirit; you’re opening up a wormhole for anyone to use. Yes, you can run across kind-natured glitches, but then you can also get a virus.”

“So is that why it’s in code?” you asked. “Since you can’t tell through text whether it’s good or bad.” Even though you were staring up at the ceiling, you could still see your friend nod from the corner of your vision.

“Why do you want to know this?” they sighed, tapping their fingers at the icons, a grimace flashing over their features as they read something particularly disturbing.

“If it’s in code, then that means it’s interesting,” you said, though you started to add on when that didn’t look like it was convincing enough. “Come on! Just because I want you to translate it doesn’t mean I’m actually going to do the spell! I just want to know what it says.” Okay, that was worse. That made it worse. However, your friend knows you, and knows that you would keep bothering them until they finally broke down and did it. And so, with another sigh, they pulled out a notepad and pen and got to work.

- - -

You had dropped off the spell book at home, and then walked the three blocks to where your public library was. The very first thing your friend had written down on the notepad said, “DO NOT TRY THIS IN YOUR HOME.” So, you decided you would try this at a public computer instead.

Making your way inside, you found a computer that was nestled into a hole in the wall, settling down and digging out your library card and your phone. Before logging in, however, you quickly browsed through your social media one final time before powering down your phone. Seeing how these were beings that could travel through technology, you needed to make sure anything electronic on you was turned off before contact. That way they couldn’t hitch a ride with you.

Logging into the system, the timer blinking at the top told you you had one hour before it would log you off. That should plenty of enough time, right?

You placed the notepad next to the mouse, glancing down at it as you went to Google. Obviously, the place where glitches hang out are chat rooms. That being said, it’s also your biggest obstacle, as no one has used a chat room since the early 2000s. You wondered if there were even some still in existence. After wasting about half your time, you seemed to find a site that didn’t look suspicious and one that the public computer would allow you to enter. Once on the site, you started up a new chat room, though immediately made it private. Glitches really liked one-on-one contact, and you didn’t want any randos ruining your experience. You made the classic Generic Username your name for what would show up, before typing into your chat room of just one.

Hello?

You felt silly, talking even when you knew you were the only person in the chat. But you hoped maybe a wandering spirit would stop by. However, only after two minutes you saw “someone is typing” at the bottom of your screen, causing your heartbeat to quicken in your chest. Holy shit, you didn’t think you’d actually find a glitch!

Well el͡lo̕ dere

The being responded, and as you glanced further to the left, you found what you were looking for. Their name, in the brightest neon green the site could do. Anti. There was something off about the letters though…you figured that was just part of the glitch, changing the way the text looks. You also found it weird with the way that they typed; did they maybe type the way they spoke, and if so, did they have an accent? Before you could have a chance to respond, Anti sent another message.

Asl?

Okay, you couldn’t help the laughter that fell from your lips. Was this glitch serious? How long have they been trapped?! You haven’t seen that acronym since you were in middle school. You quickly responded that you were a female, along with your age and that your location was in a library.

What about you?

You wondered how they would respond. It was almost instantaneous. Immediately after you hit send, their response was already up. You couldn’t exactly think it was weird; after all, they were living in that computer.

M

That’s all they put. No age, no location. Just their gender. You didn’t know why, but the fact that you knew you were talking to a glitch that identifies as a male thrilled you a little bit. Your sexual endeavors seemed to have peaked after your romp with the guy that your father had wanted you to marry. They were a nice magical family, but you weren’t really interested in the same topics, hobbies, or passions. You were more interested in his body, but after a few nights of sexual ecstasy, he cut it off when you told him you weren’t interested in anything beyond that.

Daddy wasn’t too happy when he heard.

So maybe you were just horny, but the tasty danger of a male glitch urged you on. You wondered if they would outright say if they were a virus. Like with spirits, unless you have a knack for sensing it, it’s hard to tell whose telling the truth, or who’s just a very good liar.

What's with the way you're typing?

You figured you might as well be honest about your thoughts; you wanted to get to know your little glitchy friend a little better.

M'accent l̢ov͞e

Love? Woah, was this glitch trying to be suave or what? You couldn't help the smile that crossed your face when you read the word, though. It had been a long time since someone had called you that. You continued to talk about random things, mostly you asking Anti questions, about how long he's been in there and if that was his real name. His answers were always short and to the point, with the text only messing up on a few words. You saw you had about five minutes left when you typed out your message goodbye.

Leaving so soon?

You paused, finger hovering over the enter key. You hadn't even sent the message but yet... he seemed to already know you were going?

… Yeah…

You barely had time to breath, to stop your racing heartbeat when you read his next words.

See you next ti̢m̛e

You quickly logged off, shutting down the computer and just staring at the black screen for a few minutes. How did… How did he already know? Your fingers twitched, desperate to power back on your phone and ask your friend about the incident, but you withheld. There were computers still on; he could still be in the area, waiting nearby. Hanging out, for a chance to jump ship and come home with you. You shivered. Anti didn’t seem malicious but the fact that he knew you were leaving before you said something made your toes curl in a bad way. You swallowed, realizing your throat had gone dry with the realization. You needed some Starbucks, and stat.

You powerwalked your way out of the library and didn’t turn your phone back on until you were two blocks away at the Starbucks, and only because you needed to use your app to pay for your tea. Twenty more points and you get a free drink!

You went home that night, and constantly jumped at the shadows on the wall, imagining things that were there when they really weren’t. You didn’t think three little words would offset you so much, and you blamed it on the fact that you haven’t been in contact with a magical being you didn’t know in a long time. It was just a new experience, that was all… nothing to get worked up over. Especially since there was no way that little glitch bitch would have been able to follow you home. He probably had no idea where you even went off to, and you planned to keep it that way.

- - -

Despite your initial, gut-wrenching thought of telling your friend about Anti, you (un)wisely kept your mouth shut; instead, you continued to visit him in the library for the rest of the week. The times that you came varied, but he never failed to enter the chat room once you created it, popping on with a ‘hello’ or a waving emote. And besides that first ‘creepy’ moment, things have been normal since. Still, sometimes his words took on a weird font, but he insisted it was only due to the fact of how long he’s been in there. He still wouldn’t give you an exact timeframe on how old he is, but it’s safe to say that he’s not a newbie.

He’s been around the block, and you can hear your friend screaming in your head: If he’s old, then that makes him powerful and dangerous.

But by now you were starting to grow bored of him. If he was dangerous, that meant you couldn’t do anything with him (like travel through computers) and that meant you were wasting your time talking to him when you could be finding other glitches that were more considerate. You decided to play coy, seeing if perhaps giving him an ultimatum would finally turn things around in your favor.

I wanted to summon a glitch to do cool things with, and so far I’ve done nothing. You all talk Anti?

You haven’t given me a chance yet sweeth͢e͠a͘͘r̛͢t̴͘

Prove it then

He went silent after that, taking longer than usual to type out his response, the constant blinking of “someone is typing” setting your nerves on edge. You suddenly feared you were being too bold; what if he crawled out of the monitor Grudge-style? Your eyes darted to your bag, and you were flipping open the notebook to the pad where the Glitch Summoning was transcribed, trying to memorize the directions to take if you want to get rid of a glitch. Sage, salt, plants, silver, frankincense… You think you had most of them tucked way back in a cupboard somewhere, except for the plants. You would definitely need to get some of those, some that can survive without much help from you. Dad never let you touch the plants in the house due to whatever the complete opposite of a green thumb was, because you most definitely had that.

How would you like me to prove it? Would you like me to come out and see you in person?

The words were on the screen before you realized it, feeling your heartbeat hammer in your chest. Your hands were in a death grip on the bottom of the chair, ready to rocket yourself back and as far away from the computer as possible if he decided to appear.

No… you don’t want that, do you? Not unless I’d be b͘͞e̶t͢͡w̸̢̛e҉e̵n̨ y͜o̸͏ų͝͏r̡ ̷͢͜l͢͠ę̕͡g̡s̸̕͝

Your body didn’t know whether to feel aroused or frightened. Aroused because it’s true, you wanted that. You weren’t ashamed to admit that these past few nights you’d dream of a faceless man eating you out and fucking you senselessly. Okay… maybe you were ashamed, because deep down you knew that you were admitting to yourself that you’d be okay with fucking a glitch, a virus, a… whatever he is. But your arousal was trumped by the feeling of ice shivering down your back; you could feel your eyes dilating in horror.

Because he had written your name at the end of his sentence.

You allowed anger to overshadow your fear, slamming your fingers down on the keys.

How do you know that?!

You punched the ‘enter’ key so hard, you heard the keyboard protest underneath your efforts. Immediately after that, the screen flashed, particles of black and white boxes covering it for half a second before it was gone. In its place was something much more horrifying. Instead of text appearing all at once, like it normally does in a chat, now you sat there watching each letter appear. One. By. One.

I know a lot about you. A lot mo̵̸͟r̨e̕ ͟t͝ha҉͝n y̵o͘͏u̶͡ t̶͟͡h͠i͡҉n҉̢k̵

You t͞͡h̕i҉nk̢̡ ̕͏̧y̡̛o̷u ͢͟c̡a̶̢̛n͡ ͘͝͝g̶͡e͏̷̨t̨͟͢ ̧aw̨̨a͠y̸̴̛ ̴͢f̶҉r̷̛͠o̸m͠ ͜m̶͟e̕?̴͢!͟͡

As the text went on, the words got more and more distorted. You could feel Anti’s anger rippling through the computer screen in waves.

Y҉̶̸̢o̸̷̶͡u̷͝ ̨̧͢c̶͞҉̨a̸̡n͞'̛҉t͘͡͡ ̴̷̵͢͞ę̵̸v̧̢͟e͢r̵̵̡͞ ̛̛e̢̢͘͟͜s̶͏c͜a͏p̛͝͞ȩ̸̷̡ ̢͘͝f͝r͘o̶͠m͏̢̕ ͞m̴̨͟͠e҉̨!҉̶

҉͞I̢͢'̷̢͘͢l̵̢̨͜ļ̷̛̕ ̧̛͡͠f̡҉̛u҉̧͘͢c̨͘͢͞k͘͘ ҉̴̕͘y̨̡o̶͜u̢͝͠ ͏̷̶̧i̸͏͟͞n̴̨͢t̢̕͜o͏̵̷̛ ̷̸̧s̶̸͝͝҉u̸̷͘̕b̸̴̷̨̨m̶̴̡͢i͏̷̛s̢͢͝͏s͏͘͟i̴̵̷͟͡o̶͟ņ̸̡ ̷̢͜͠s̷o͜͞ ̧ḩ̨͡a̵̛͟҉r̵̴d̕̕͡͞,̶͟ ̴̡̕y̶̶̕o͏͏̵͏u̸̡̕͟r̴͏ ͏͏̴̕c̴̨u̢͜͝͞͠n̵̴͢͡t̴͜͟͢ ̢̛w͟i̷̴͝l̵͏̵̸͟l҉ ̸̢͞c̛͢͝ǫ̶̛n̵͝҉s̢̛͜͟͞t͡͞͝a̡̡͝͠n̶͏̧t҉̷̡l̡̕y̕҉͝ ̧͘a͏̨̨͢͟c̶͝h̶̛͘͜e͘͝͠͠͏ ̵̶͜f̵̢̕͢o̷͘҉̨r͢͟͡ ̷͜͝͡͏m̡̧e̛͟!̧̕

̸̶̡͟͞Y̸͢͝o̢͜͝u̷̧͘͞'̷̢͟r̶̶̴͡e̵̵̢ ̷̶͢m̡͢͡͝i̴͘͠͏͜n̨̛e̕͞ ̴̧̧͟͝f̧̨̢͠o̧̢͠r̨͢͡e̸͞v̷͘͟e̶̛͟r̸̴͜!͜҉̕

̸̧̛͢͜M̴̨I̡̕͝N̢̛E͢҉!̸̵

The screen soon erupted into walls of text, unreadable text. You jumped back, your chair scrapping across the carpet before finally tumbling down behind you. The few people around you turned to look at you – including a very upset librarian that you’ve made so much noise – but you didn’t care. Instead, you pounded at the power key on the tower, not even bothering to power it down the right way. The screen went black, which meant the computer was off, but you still felt too scared to move. Frozen to the spot.

Suddenly, with a high-pitch shriek, the power screen lit back up, and suddenly, all the computers in the library lighted up, whether in use or not, that same high-pitch scream emitting from all of them. You didn’t bother waiting around, seeing others’ reactions. You couldn’t. Your mind was only focused on one thing, and that was getting the hell outta there.

You bolted for the doors, not stopping, not looking back, not caring how ridiculous you might seem as you ran down the street, straight for your apartment. You practically ran face-first into the door, barely having time to get it open before slamming it shut and locking it, feeling your heart hammer in your chest. ‘Everything’s fine, everything’s fine, everything’s fine,’ you chanted to yourself, closing your eyes and trying to even out your breathing.

Your apartment was loud, or maybe that was just the sound of your heartbeat in your ears. You could hear your neighbors being their usual self, with their dog barking through the walls. It calmed you, to hear the normalcy. Hesitantly, you peeled yourself away from the door, creeping around your house like you were trying to spy on someone. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so you chalked your paranoia up to the incident at the library just making you over-analyze.

Your friend was right (as usual); you shouldn’t have messed with a virus but you’re glad you didn’t do it in your own home. You felt bad, as the library was most likely contaminated by that glitch, but your father will hear wind of it sooner or later and then he’ll fix everything and everything will be back to –

SCREE

Your back was immediately against the wall – you had walked into your bedroom to check it last – staring at your printer sitting on your desk next to the window. The printer had turned on and was starting its boot up sounds. It sometimes randomly did this, especially if your computer was updating and needed to restart. But you kept staring at it, afraid it was going to start printing some sort of text next. ‘Stop it. You’re freaking out for no reason,’ you tried to tell yourself, sucking in a deep breath and holding it until your lungs ached for air.

You blew it all out, deciding you just needed to find something to distract yourself with, and then you would forget all about it. You left to go get some food, and then went to a movie after, and by the time you arrived back home and everything was the way you left it, you felt silly for even thinking he might have followed you home.

- - -

As the weeks went on, you began to forget about your encounter with Anti. Sometimes a light would randomly flicker and cause you to jump, but you hadn’t run into any problems with either your computer or your phone, and you considered that a good sign that he was gone.

You probably shouldn’t have gotten so cocky.

One evening after you arrived back home from work, you could see a light flicking from around the corner of the hallway. Walking into the room, which it happened to be the kitchen, you stared up at the ceiling, watching as the light flicked on and off, methodically. Like someone was flipping the light switch, until suddenly the lightbulb burst. It took all but a few seconds of doubt before you were moving.

Running into the living room, you jumped when the TV suddenly turned on, the volume turned all the way up as the sound of static shot through the speakers. You ignored it, pulling open the supply closet in the corner and tugging handfuls of ingredients under your arms. “Shit, where is it?” you asked yourself, before spying your notebook lying on the coffee table, still open to the where your friend wrote down the Glitch Summoning.

Kneeling in front of the coffee table, you spread the materials on the floor, pulling the notebook into your lap, your eyes frantically scanning over the page.

In order to get rid of an unwanted glitch: First, pour salt in a square with interconnecting swirls from each angle.

Damn! Of course a high-level spell would involve a complicated way in order to remove it. You couldn’t hover on that thought for long, pulling open the spout on the salt and quickly dumping it right onto the carpet, following the instructions to the best of your ability.

Light the sage and swirl follow the patterns, starting with the box.

The hallway light started to flicker, and bit your lip to hold back the whimper in your throat. Why didn’t you trust your gut when you first got home? You wouldn’t have to worry about rushing if you just did that, or better yet, didn’t mess with it at all! Your hand holding the sage was shaking as you tried to wave it quickly but efficiently over your box pattern.

Use frankincense oil to copy the runes into the box.

Oh, thank God your friend copied the pictures in their lovely handwriting. You didn’t have a bowl and you didn’t have time to go get one, pouring the oil over your right hand as you started to carefully follow the pattern in your notebook. One wrong misspelling and you could make everything worse for you. You could see the lights flicker from the corner of your vision, hearing your computer hum with booting on and off as you finish off drawing the runes on the carpet. But it was too late; he was already in the house.

Just as you finished thinking that, there was a hand around your neck and suddenly your back was on the floor, your legs bent in a painful position from having been on your knees before the sudden change, heel of your foot being pressed into your ass. In its place, you were now staring into eyes of a sickly green iris, the whites of the eye being pitch black. He… Anti… grinned, showing off teeth sharp like knives, before opening his mouth slightly to let a forked tongue loll out and lick across them. His gaze was piercing, and you could feel your resolve crumbling. You’ve always been so bullheaded and strong, where was that person now?! You needed to concentrate and throw him off you! But it was getting hard to think… it was getting hard to breathe.

“So,” Anti spoke, leaning more pressure down on the hand that was currently wrapped around your neck, causing you to gasp. “Yer prettier den I was expectin. And a lot weaker too. Isn’t your Pap – “ Anti said a name, mostly likely your father’s, but it was hard to hear him. All you could hear was the blood rushing through your ears, like the sound of an ocean. Your vision was starting to grow blurry around the edges. Anti looked down at you, like waiting for confirmation, before a look of realization crossed his face. “Yer dyin already?!” He barked a laugh, the sound like brakes screeching. “But I aint hardly done nothing yet!”

With that, he pulled his hand away, moving to stand over you, watching as you squeakily gasped in air like a fish, curling your legs against your chest like a child. Blinking back tears, your head pounded with a headache, but you tried to ignore that, staring up at his form. His body was thin, and he was wearing all black. It made the neon green of his hair stand out even more. He looked familiar.

Gently pulling a hand up to your throat, you gritted your teeth as you felt indents of where his fingers used to be. “Why do you look like Jacksepticeye?” you asked, hating the way your voice sounded when you spoke. It sounded weak and pathetic, not at all strong and filled with hatred like how you wanted it to be.

He laughed again, and you could hear it clearly now. The sound of an old modem dialing up, the screeching part of it. “His fan base happened ta create a dark form dat shared a lot of tha same similarities as meh, and I figured I needed ah updated look.” His head was tilted to the side as he spoke, grin permanently etched on his face. He stared down at you like you were a piece of meat, like you were something beneath him. The person he pretended to be was nothing like how he actually was, and you hated yourself for falling so easily into his trap. ‘But if I could just get to the door…’ you thought, eyes flashing to the corner of the room where the hallway was before back up at him. If you could just get outside and scream and yell, there would be no way he would try and continue to pursue you. Then you could go to your father, with your tail between your legs, and beg for forgiveness and help.

You just had to stall enough to distract him and land… some sort of attack on him, and then you’d be home free.

You slowly started to sit up, watching how his eyes dilated, sharp like a feline’s, studying your every move. He must know that you might try to do something, and is instantly on edge. You furrowed your eyebrows; this might be more difficult than you thought.

You scooted yourself out from under him, and he let you, never taking his eyes off you as he backed away some. Closer to your exit. You debated throwing yourself out of the window, but you didn’t live on the first floor and might not survive the fall. Struggling to stand, you finally made it to your feet, leaning back against the wall for support. “You were able to follow me home…” You paused, licking your lips, feeling how dry your throat had become. “How?”

He laughed, and you resisted the urge to cover your ears. “Oh darling, I’ve been in yer home since tha very beginning.” You could feel your eyes widen in disbelief, the shit-eating grin on his face seeming to grow wider, spreading high across his cheeks. “You think turnin off yer cell would do anything ta stop meh? Ya didn’t even protect yerself.”

You let the anger flow through you, anger at yourself for not being smart and placing some sort of protectant around you before attempting to summon anything. You tried to channel that anger into something useful. “Well, it’s not too late,” you said through bared teeth. Anti’s smug grin turned down a little, but you paid it no mind, instead flinging out your fist, throwing the salt you had grabbed last-minute in a wide arch around yourself. “skerms van versper-ahh!”

The spell barely was out of your mouth before you were interrupted. He moved so fast your brain couldn’t process it. One moment he’s standing in front of you, and then it felt like your eyes spasmed. And then he’s right in front of you, with his fist in your stomach. You doubled over, feeling yourself pushed back farther in the wall, out of breath. Then, his fist was gone and suddenly his hand was over your face, his fingers digging into your skin as he pulled you up and slammed your head into the plaster.

“T̸͘ḩ̧͞i̕n̢k̷̨ ͟͢y̨͡o͘͝u ̕͢c͏͟͢a͞n̢̛ ͜͏ģe͘ţ̧͜ ą͜͠w͘a̷̢y ̛̕͝f̵̧r̵ǫ̛m ҉m̴͝e̶͜͡?” His voice was right in your ear, and it felt like metal grinding against metal. You wondered if your ears were starting to bleed. “That was pretty clever,” he mused, his voice back to normal, squeezing your face tighter until you let you a scream. “Tryin ta set up a barrier, eh? Maybe if ya practiced yer craft more, it would have happened.”

He let go of your face only to smack you across the cheek, the force so blunt and quick your teeth dug into your lip, causing it to bleed. You managed to catch yourself on the ledge on the way down, and ended up kneeling instead of face-first on the carpet. “I already told ya,” he said, and then you were retching up saliva from being kicked in the gut, arms crossing over your chest as you curled in on yourself. “Yer ̕m̴̢in͟͡e̡.͟”

Silent tears were streaking down your face, mouth open as you tried to gasp in air. It hurt to breath, maybe something was broken? You weren’t sure, and you were losing hope fast. Anti was going to kill you in your own home, and there was nothing you could do about it.

You felt his hand tangle itself in your hair and suddenly your head was wretched up so you were staring into his eyes. He grinned, teeth pressing down onto his own lower lip as his eyes roamed over your form. He moved closer, wedging himself between your legs, his free hand moving to grab at your breast through your shirt, harshly squeezing it. “N-No, stop…” you whispered, afraid to speak any louder, your fingers weakly trying to pry his grip away. The hand was suddenly gone and instead wrapped tightly around one of your wrists, causing you to wince in pain.

“Try ta resist and I’ll break yer fookin arm.” You nodded your head, immediately compliant with him. You just wanted the pain to stop. “Look at meh!” he commanded, and your eyes flashed open, staring at him. “Now be ah good girl und cooperate with me. Understand, love?” You opened your mouth to say ‘yes’ but no words would came out. If you resisted, he would just keep breaking you until you couldn’t move. If you consented, then you’d be giving him free reign. He was too strong to escape from on your own. You were utterly trapped and terrified. The wetness on your face felt like a permanent staple that wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

Anti seemed pleased, letting go of your wrist finally, and smiling when you just left it resting on the floor. “Aah, yer so pretty when ya cry,” he cooed, lifting a finger to trace a tear streak on your cheek, your eyes too afraid to move away from his own. “Der’s no reason ta be afraid; you’ve wanted this haven’t ya?”

Anti leaned forward, forked tongue flicking out to lick at your jawline, nuzzling his face into the side of your neck. His hands were on the outside of your thighs, making small soft circles over the fabric of your jeans. He wasn’t hurting you but it didn’t feel good. You were still so scared he could snap at any moment. Anti seemed like a loose cannon; it now made sense that he was such a powerful glitch. With the few loose wires he had, nobody could know how he would react. “I’ve watched ya.” His voice was in your ear, soft and breathy, and the way he said your name made your back shiver. “Watched ya touch yerself and call out meh name in ecstasy. How would ya have felt if I showed meself right den and just fooked ya into da mattress?”

His hands trailed up your side, slipping under your shirt. You jumped at how cold they were, letting out a small gasp. You could feel your body starting to react to his words, your brain giving you flashbacks of the nights you pleasured yourself to the thought of him. What a fool you were. His lips pressed against the side of your neck, no doubt feeling your racing heartbeat. “It would have been so easy ta show up. I could even smell ya through ta screen.” His words were hot and his hands were cold and you turned your head away from him, giving him more access to your neck. “Dat’s my girl…” he mumbled into your skin, starting to press down in harsher open-mouth kisses.

His hands pushed up your bra and you let out a mewl, feeling his fingers pinch at your swollen buds. “Ya like dat? Tell me,” Anti demanded, sinking his teeth into your shoulder, your body shuddering at the waves of pleasure-pain he was giving you.

“Y-Yes,” you moaned out, feeling him twist your nipples as a reward for following his command. His bites on your neck became more aggressive, feeling him break the skin every time he did so. And his fingers were relentless, pulling and twisting your nipples, causing your back to arch as you twisted and moaned under him.

“Yer so sensitive… Makes me wonder how tight yer cunt is,” Anti groaned into your ear, the tone of his voice dropping lower as he latched onto your lobe. You gasped at his filthy mouth, feeling your panties start to grow wet. His fingers finally released your nipples and there was a moment or two of sudden coldness between your breasts before Anti leaned away some, pulling up his hand from under your shirt, the fabric easily splitting in half due to the knife he had just materialized.

It left your chest open and exposed, your eyes glued to the knife as he flipped it absentmindly in his palm. “Hmm, wanna do some knifeplay love?” he asked, staring down at the cutlery with a sort of adoration on his features. He flicked his gaze back to you to see you shaking your head vehemently. He shrugged, taking pity on you. “Maybe next time then,” and the knife was gone, his hands back at your chest and massaging your breasts within them. His head was also between your breasts, brushing your breasts across his cheeks as he played with them in his hands. Your fingers twitched against your sides. His hair looked so soft and now that he was up-close, you could see how his shoulder muscles ripple under the black t-shirt he was wearing.

“… Anti.” He picked his head up slightly to look at you, his eyes glossy. He seemed to be mesmerized with just touching you, and you were fine with that because he wasn’t hurting you. “Can I?” You slowly lifted your hands up, wiggling your fingers. His eyes trailed lazily from one side of you to the other before scooting his face closer to your left breast, his hand moving to place itself against your mid-back.

“Don’t try nothing funny.” He empathized his point by baring his fanged teeth over your breast, digging his canines into the side of it. You squeaked out a small shout of pain, the two of you watching as blood bubbled up to the surface of the cut, trailing down to the valley before Anti’s tongue flicked out, cleaning at your wound. “Fook, you taste amazin,” he praised you, his tongue moving to circle your nipple, sucking on it when lolled your head back and moaned. “Best I’ve had in ah long time.”

Your fingers gently weaved into Anti’s hair, noticing that it wasn’t green all the way through like you thought. Just the front of it was; the back was a natural dark brown color. Anti seemed to enjoy your touch, for he was pushing himself closer to your breast, mouth in full suckling mood as the other hand greedily pinched at your nipple. “Aah fuck!” you cried out, tugging at his hair.

It was like hitting a light switch.

You could feel the plaster cracking under you, as Anti slammed his body into yours, his mouth covering your own as he pried it open, teeth digging into your lip, tongue invading your mouth when you cried out in pain. His hands were at your chest, giving your swollen buds more abuse. “Tell me how much ya like dis,” he growled against your mouth, tugging on your nipples like he was trying to rip them off you. Your only response was a high-pitched scream. The pressure he was putting on them grew more, if that was even possible. “Tell me!”

“Yes, fuck! I love it!” you cried out, feeling tears in the corners of your eyes, and Anti let them go with a pop, his hands flashing down to your pants, knife once again in hand. He shoved it down your waist, blunt side against your skin, cutting through as if it was butter. He did that until you were basically wearing crotch-less pants, your panties having been cut as well.

He pulled the fabric away from you, throwing the jeans somewhere behind him but holding onto the panties, holding it up to his mouth as he snorted in your scent. “Fook, yer so wet… fer meh?” His eyes were shining as he looked at you, tongue flailing out as he licked at your wetness on the cotton. It was so vile and gross but you couldn’t help but feel more turned on just by how intensely he was looking at you.

Your chest heaved with pent-up arousal, and you wondered for half a moment if he was just going to leave you like this, until his mouth was on your core, tongue fucking you. Your body thrusted up in the air, trying to become closer to him, both hands now in his hair as you tugged him closer. His fingers dug bruises into your inner thigh, a warning that he was still in control and you loosened your grasp on him.

You could feel your orgasm approaching like a freight train, and then his mouth was gone and he had… fuck, you couldn’t tell how many fingers he had just stuffed inside you; it could have been his whole fist for all you know. But he was close, too close for you to look down and determine, but with the way he was slamming his hand in and out of you, you were just content to ride his fingers until you came. “Look at yah. Yer such a whore for meh, ya can take me whole hand and still want more. Bet ya want meh to choke ya too, ya little bitch?” He asked but it wasn’t a question, his hand wrapped around your throat again and you could hardly breathe. You had tunnel vision and you were coming, harder than you ever have before. You could feel your mouth open for a scream but you couldn’t hear yourself. You think you screamed out Anti’s name but you weren’t sure. But when he let go of your neck, you slumped back against the wall, panting, watching as he removed his fingers from you and started sucking on them, eyes rolling into the back of his head as he tasted you.

“Now, don’t tell meh yer done.” His tone was playful but his eyes showed no mercy even if you were. You shook your head no because as exhausted as you felt, seeing the outline of his cock against his dark jeans spurred you on. You wanted to taste it, wanted to feel it inside you. Suddenly, your head slammed against the floor, feeling rug burn against your ass as Anti had pulled you down by your legs towards him so you were lying flat on your back. “Such a good whore yer are… hungry for meh cock.” You watched as his unzipped his pants and pulled his cock out through the hole, though you didn’t have much time to marvel at it before he pounded it into you, holding your legs up until you got the memo to wrap them around his sides.

His pace was relentless, slamming into your cervix with each hard thrust, feeling your body rub and chafe on the carpet underneath you. But throughout all that was overwhelming pleasure, and you showed him by moaning his name thoroughly, your nails biting into his shoulder blades. His head was against your own, marking the other side of your neck he had yet to get to, smelling your blood in the air. “Yer fookin mine, got it bitch?” he yelled, one hand on your waist, the other in your hair. Both squeezing you until you screamed. “Yer mine!” His thrusts were becoming more erratic and you came, twisting your head back as you felt him bite at your pulse. “M̶̡Į̶̡N̴̴̛͠Ę͝!̢͝” And then he was coming, slamming into you three or four more time so hard you thought your pelvis might break.

He finally stilled inside you, collapsing on top of you, the weight of his body taking your breath away. Everything felt heavy, and you felt so tired. You closed your eyes, figuring you could rest them a moment or two. You felt a hand gently twist through your hair, trailing down the side of your face. “Ya. A body like yers is gonna be… interestin…” You started to open your eyes, your mouth to question him, but everything was so heavy.

So dark.

- - -

You woke up sticky, in extreme pain, and most importantly, alone. It took a while for you to get your bearings, but after smelling the spices that were still spilled out all over the floor, the events came rushing back to you. You sat up, probably faster than you should have as you felt your head spin, looking all around you. But Anti was nowhere to be seen. You knew it couldn’t have been a dream (you were naked and hurt too much for that to be true), but you also didn’t know what happened to him.

Sitting up, you decide you need to clean yourself off before trying to clean up the mess in the living room, standing on wobbly legs as you made your way to the bathroom. You purposely ignored your reflection, immediately hopping in the shower, the hot water stinging your cuts and soothing your aching muscles. You stayed in there until the water went cold, thinking about nothing, toweling off and finally deciding to see how much damage was done.

The entire sides of your neck, shoulders, and collarbone were all a dark purple color, with lines going across your throat like stripes from where his fingers were. Your bottom lip was busted open from the heat, swollen from you yourself biting it and from him. The cheek where he slapped you was puffy and red but at least it wasn’t bruised. You had finger-shaped bruises on the inside of both thighs, and your nipples were crusty and extremely dark from their torture.

You looked at yourself and felt disgusted, though when you looked at your face, one thing surprised you. Your eyes. One of them was green, a sickly neon green that you didn’t quite remember ever being before. Or having those colored contacts. As you stared at your reflection in the mirror, it suddenly changed. No longer sporting the confused face you were wearing, it was grinning. With teeth too sharp to be called your own.

You stumbled back, hand against your chest, trying to calm your racing heart. You’ve… you’ve got to do something about this, tell somebody. But as soon as you thought that, your mind was flooded with images of why that would be a bad idea. Your body, twisted in ways where you couldn’t possibly still be alive. Your friends and family, equally damaged but by your own hands.

Can’t have people knowing about us, can we love?

There was a voice in your head, but you knew it wasn’t your own. As you stared at your reflection, it winked, and then suddenly you saw your fear-filled face staring back at you once more. You started panting, hyperventilating. This wasn’t good, not good at all, what were you going to do?! –

Head between your knees, you suddenly straightened back up. What… what were you doing like that? It felt like something might have been wrong moments ago that caused you to do that, but you couldn’t exactly remember what. Looking at yourself in the mirror, a finger gently traced over your makeshift necklace.

You were going to have to stay inside for a few days until that cleared up; no way were you wasting that much makeup on it.