Stitches (Part 2, Memories & Monsters)

Part 2: Memories & Monsters

— — Tiffany — —

— — 6 Months Earlier — —

“Diner gal? You Okaaaay?” Tiffany asked as Kendra stared at her glass of wine on the bar counter. “Yoo-hoo,” her second attempt had the repeated result of an unresponsive woman gazing into her drink.

Was she transfixed by the glow of the neon signs that reflected on the dark surface of her wine? Maybe she was taking in all the scratches on the counter. Names and symbols etched from decades past could be fun to read... for about two seconds. Or was she hurling herself into another anxiety-fueled despair spiral?

The last one was the most likely.

Tiffany needed to pull her back.

She put her hands together in prayer. “O, angels above, I know I’ve given you my soul, and per our last conversation, I said I’d only give my body to a man who could fuck me right.” A snicker came from the side of the bar. The stool creaked as she turned to see a trio of men.

Tiffany locked eyes with the leader of the three. It’d been a while since she had last seen him. The suggestion from his brow movement made her bile churn.Like hell she’d just let him get away with that. She smirked, bringing her hands back together. “O, higher power, if you keep sending guys that last two minutes, who tell me ‘that’s never happened before’, I might consider a life of celibacy.” Shock followed by ire was short-lived as the two men around him began their mockery of his ability.

Satisfied, she turned back to Kendra. “While I have nothing to offer, my friend here is looking for a job.” Hands still clasped in prayer, she placed them next to the wineglass. “Think about it. She’s eager to escape a life of boredom and anxiety fueled by underemployment, so plea-a-zus, Je-a-zus, Amen.”

“Huh?” Kendra mumbled when the glaze left her eyes. “What are-” She looked to see Tiffany praying with her eyes closed and hands invading her personal space on the bar counter. “Tif?”

With her eyes still closed, a wide grin formed as Tiffany wrapped an arm around Kendra’s shoulders. “They’ve answered my prayers, Kendra. You’ve come back to me.” With a light pull, she brought her closer. “So I might have told a higher authority you’re cool with giving yourself to a life of spreading the word of God. You wanted to travel, right?”

Instead of a laugh, Kendra’s gaze returned to that damned glass. “Hell, if they’ll give me an interview... or an email to kindly fuck off. Something. Anything.” She fell silent. With the cue to keep trying, Tiffany shook her lightly.

“Kendra, job hunting sucks.” She nodded, agreeing. “Like, I got luck-eeeee.” Tiffany sighed. “Pretty sure it was some kind of miracle I got in at the radio station.”

When Tiffany paused, Kendra’s eyes darted back to her friend. “How is this-”

Tiffany put a finger to her lips. “Diner gal, I was doing a pause for impact. Let me finish.” She let out a sigh. “If I hadn’t gone through all the rejections, I would have never come here.” She smirked and raised her finger from Kendra’s lips to her forehead. “And you wouldn’t have someone to pull you out of your own head.” With a light series of taps on her friend’s forehead, a chuckle escaped Tiffany.

“I guess,” Kendra said in a huff. “It’s just that I’ve already sent out about sixty apps this month.” She took a sip of wine. “That’s on top of the hundreds I sent out last month.” She slumped. “It’s so boring, I just sit at home applying for jobs, or I’m at work cause I can’t afford to do much else.”

Tiffany’s hand returned to Kendra’s shoulder. With a light grip, she spoke, “Which is why I take you out every other Friday. God forbid I come over and see you writing a CV that just says, ‘All work and no play makes Kendra a dull girl.’ Granted, if you came at me with an axe, I’m pretty sure I could win.”

Kendra turned to Tiffany. “If I get that bad, just hack me to bits.” The two went silent at the morbid suggestion.

She was backsliding yet again.

“Look, one day you’ll get an interview that goes somewhere, and before you know it.” Despite her smile and cheerful tone, she couldn’t hide the melancholy in her words. “You’ll be out of this town.” Kendra was unreadable.

Tiffany knew what would happen if she left it be.

“Relax, you can always visit me, the diner, and all the other things that have been here foreveaaaaah.” She grabbed her mug of beer and took a sip.

A washed-out smile formed on Kendra’s face, followed by a weak laugh. “You’d think you’re an old lady with how you talk.” She leaned back, finally allowing herself to relax. “I don’t think thirty-two is elderly.”

Tiffany scoffed. “Loooook, once you hit your thirties, sometimes your knee hurts just because it exists. Enjoy what’s left of your twenties.”

“Why don’t you go tell Miss Della that being thirty-two is old?” Kendra teased.

Tiffany raised an eyebrow. “You sure you want me to do that? You might die with me.”

Kendra stared confused at her response.

“Heyyyyy Miss D, I was talking to Kendra about how I feel oooold. Kendra immediately thought of you and said I should ask you about it. How is it being old?” Tiffany watched the horror dawn on Kendra’s face. “The last thing you would ever hear is the clacks of her heels before it all goes black.” A grin formed on Tiffany’s face. “I’ll tell her unlesssss...” She dragged the word out sinisterly.

“Unless?” Kendra asked.

The seconds dragged on as her friend relished in the fake tension.

“You stop moping and we have some fun. We only get two nights like this a month.” She raised her beer.

Kendra grabbed her glass. “Deal.” With a soft clink of glass, the mood lightened, and their conversation shifted to happier topics.

The respite the two got from these bar nights made it all bearable. They knew these nights wouldn’t last forever, but little did they know they would end in the worst way. The seams they formed amongst the people of Red Oak Valley would be severed and woven into macabre shells of what they once were.

— — Tiffany — —

— — July 21st 10:27AM — —

The injured roar of the car’s engine paired with the grinding of whatever parts the crash had damaged wailed out on the empty road. Despite the RPM needle going well into the red, the speedometer was just below the thirty marker as she made her way up the hillside.

“Damn, I really messed you up, didn’t I, girl?” Tiffany said as she set her hand on the space above the dash and caressed it in hopes it would forgive her.

Instead, another dashboard light came on.

Seemed the car was still mad at her for driving it into a fire hydrant.

“Look, I had to get rid of Travis and Miss D!” A squeal came from the engine. “Ok sure, maybe pretending to not see the Stitched until I *had* to hit them and then crash into the fire-hydrant wasn’t the best way to do it.” Tiffany paused.

Why was she explaining herself to a car?

Loneliness?

She had to get rid of those two; it was that, or risk them being killed by the containment teams once they arrived at her post.

Guilt?

The diner she’d like to visit had become the grounds of a massacre that would spawn more god-awful creatures wearing the faces of people she knew....

Granted, Fred’s inability to follow instructions got most of them killed.

If only the dumb bastard had listened and aimed for its head...

Regret?

She never found Kendra in the parking lot, only Casey, with a bunch of rotting deer heads stitched to his body, before introducing him to the underside of her car.Did he get to her before...

No.

She had to be alright.

Kendra was stronger than she gave herself credit for.

A pop from under the hood pulled her out of her thoughts. The revving of the engine stopped, and the car slowed rapidly on the uphill road.

“Well, shit.” She put the car in park and killed the engine.God forbid this wreck blow up before she could get away.

She glanced at the car clock and the radio. With the engine noises gone, the faint music filled her ears.

The radio station hadn’t switched over to emergency mode yet.

Rusty was waiting for her to return.

She’d get hell from the higher-ups if the containment teams beat her up there.

She was still a couple of miles out from the radio station. Looking through the cracked windshield of the car, she saw the top of the radio tower up on the mountain. The red light at the top of the tower was fading in and out against the dark, cloudy sky.

“Two miles, uphill.” She sighed. “Wonderful, just wonderful.” She vented.

Tiffany pulled the key from the ignition and stepped out of the car. The fresh air, tinged with the smell of burning rubber paired with hot metal, hit her and made her wretch. She stepped away from the car and glanced down the hill at the town.

Despite the massacre within the diner, the town still had its visage of a world that moved at a slower pace than the rest of the country.

A place filled with people who knew each other...

Dread gripped at her throat. The illusion would shatter when containment arrived and began burning it all to the ground.

Fire was the primary way to stop these things; unfortunately, it would also consume the town and people with it...

She’d already seen that in her hometown over a decade ago...

Those monsters might not have used needles: they just looked like the people she spent a lifetime with.

Her eyes went from the town to the road she had been driving up. In the distance were several figures making their way towards her. Their shambling, graceless movements were enough to tell her these weren’t survivors looking for help.

“I really hope Travis and Miss D got away.” She said right before a plink on her car caught her attention.A raindrop had landed on the windshield, another pattered on the car. Then the sky opened up.

Two miles on foot, uphill, and in the rain...

Murphy’s law was giving generously today.

“Well, let’s get their present ready.” She said, making her way to the trunk. A click sounded as the hood sprung up. Within was her bug-out-bag, and a medium-sized black box with a glass screen and keyhole.

She glanced back at the creatures lumbering towards her position. She had maybe four minutes until they’d be here.

More than enough time to get out of the blast zone.

Tiffany separated her car key from the ring and put it into the box’s keyhole, and with a twist, the display lit up and flashed four zeros. With a few taps, the numbers solidified, music boomed from the device, and the numbers started their countdown.

She had to move before anything nearby could center in on the sound source.

Tiffany gave the car she’d used all the years she’d been in Red Oak Valley a last look. “Sorry you got to burn like everything else in my life.”

A hot tear ran down her face as she sprinted away from the car. As she made her way up the hill, the blasting music slowly faded until an explosion went off.

Another part of Tiffany Triche, the pothead radio DJ was gone.

She could mourn her death after she survived this hell.