Addison’s origin

*This story is underneath my folder titled “What on earth is this monstrosity”. Gacha Club character designs are under this forum: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=116005&start=1470. Enjoy!*

Introduction

Addison had watched many movies about love, but seldom found love herself. She would dream about it, but it would not come her way. It seemed almost too beautiful to be real and then…

The car she and her friend Nina were using to get to some party crashed into a tree and someone had whisked them away.

Someone who could harm and help.

Chapter One

Addison sat on the staircase, staring at her legs, admiring how long and spindly they were. She used to have two of them, but after Bethel took her, she had eight.

It hurt at first when he tore her and Nina apart, especially with his claws digging into her flesh. But when she looked at his sorrowful red eyes, she knew that he didn’t want to hurt them.

He wanted to show love in the only way he knew how.

Chapter Two

“I hope you like pudding, because this is all I found.” Bethel said, smiling in a way that seemed strained, holding a plastic container of pudding and a silver spoon.

“I’m fine with anything you give me. I’ll always love a little treat. But more importantly, how are you feeling?” Addison asked, extending her hands out for the pudding.

She did not know where it came from and she did not care. Bethel was being sweet and she would never, ever be opposed to that.

Chapter Three

Bethel reached out with a clawed hand and tipped her face to look up at his. He stared at her with his big, red eyes, not blinking, not faltering.

Addison hitched a breath. He did that a few times and it always left her unable to say anything, completely still and at his mercy.

“Not the best. But you make me feel better.”

And then he let her go.

Chapter Four

The car smoke rose up into the air, curling into blurry clouds. Addison coughed, her eyes stinging with tears. Nina was the one who was driving and usually, she was so careful, but something had thrown her off and the car had crashed into a tree.

Nina threw out a string of curses mixed in with cries as she tried to get out, but wood was mixed in with the metals and Addison could not feel her legs, so she did not think that Nina could, either.

She could see red eyes coming closer, but that couldn’t be true, because no one had red eyes, because-

But those red eyes had saved them both.

Chapter Five

Addison heard somebody crawling up the stairs from downstairs. She beamed to herself, glad that Nina was finally coming up. She stayed downstairs so much that Addison sometimes wondered if Nina would ever come up.

She stayed on the steps, eating her chocolate pudding, listening to Nina’s crawls and her voice,

“Addison! Addison! Ad-Addison?!”

Nina stopped and stared at her in horror, her blue eyes wide. Addison smiled with her pretty yellow teeth and said:

“Bethel gave it to me.”

Chapter Six

Nina’s eyes got a flicker of judgement in them. She raised an eyebrow as though she didn’t understand Addison. That was okay. Addison would help her understand.

“He’s not as bad as he seems, Nina. Just talk to him. It’s what he wants. To talk to people. To love. To-“

“I don’t care! He still hurt us! He still did-why are you eating that?! How do you know it’s not poisoned?!”

“I don’t. But it wouldn’t matter. We’re both dead anyway.” Addison said with a shrug.

Why would it matter if Bethel had already killed them?

Chapter Seven

“I don’t know if we are dead. We can still feel things. Bethel still did…he still did what he did.” Nina said.

Addison frowned. Nina had a wide-eyed, teary look in her eyes. Her hands that were firmly planted on the ground shook along with her arms.

Why did she scare herself like that? They were dead. They couldn’t be alive in the states that they were in and that was fine. They had Bethel. Beautiful, misunderstood, lost Bethel, who so graciously saved them and made them better, who-

“Nina, come here.”

There he was. Standing right behind Nina and speaking in a voice that sounded like something delightfully dangerous, was Bethel himself.

Chapter Eight

If Bethel had said that to her, in that tone, then Addison would have crawled to him without hesitation. Who could deny his engulfing, glimmering red gaze?

But Nina stayed put. She did not move. She stared at Bethel, steadily. Addison’s heart raced in panic, hoping that Bethel wouldn’t be offended, that he wouldn’t try to hurt her. Nina didn’t know any better. It wasn’t her fault.

“Now.” Bethel seethed.

Addison put another spoonful of pudding in her mouth, desperately willing it in her head for Nina to do as he said.

Chapter Nine

Nina was beginning to stand up from the ground, her legs shaking as she did so. Addison’s heart beat faster as she watched it happen. She never knew that they could stand up after what Bethel did to them.

She then rushed towards Bethel, running towards him with such fury that Addison cried out for Nina to stop, to not hurt him, to-

But Nina had lunged at him all the same.

Chapter Ten

Addison wanted to stop Nina. She wanted to jump on her and pull her away, but that would also mean hurting her. They were both already hurt enough.

And Addison could not move. Crawling had felt like such a chore for her to do and rooted in horror, watching Bethel and Nina fight, twist and turned at her heart.

She had eaten the last of the pudding. There was no more sweetness to keep her company.

Chapter Eleven

“What’s going on?! Who are you?!” Addison asked, her voice coming out in strange, distant garbles.

Somebody was carrying her and Nina over their shoulders. They wore a long black cloak that swept the grass, but Addison could not make out any other details.

“I’m going to help you. I’m going to make you better. Don’t be afraid.”

The voice sounded like a voice that belonged to all of the boys in her school, but it was smooth. No edge of foolishness within it.

The way Bethel held on tight, that was how stuck Addison felt at the stairs.

Chapter Twelve

Bethel and Nina were fighting so viciously that Addison could see Bethel bite deep into Nina’s arm…what? Biting her arm? But weren’t they both dead?

“We’re not dead. What are we?” Nina asked.

But then…why would Bethel lie about something like that? Addison felt her heart twist at such a betrayal, at the idea that Bethel could just say something so completely untrue. If he wanted to make them monsters, why wouldn’t he say it?

It would have been better for him to tell her.

Chapter Thirteen

As Addison thought about it, she remembered the sadness in Bethel’s eyes as he confided in her about his Mom, about how she used him, experimented on him, made him a monster…he entrusted her enough to tell her that, so why didn’t he want to tell them what they were? Was he afraid?

“Is it so wrong of me to want company?” Bethel asked, his voice so quiet, so broken, Addison would have scarcely heard him if she wasn’t paying attention.

Maybe he was afraid they’d leave him.

Chapter Fourteen

Still, Nina attacked him and just when Addison was going to get up and help, he flashed her a look that told her to stay, so she did as he asked.

Bethel had somehow survived Nina’s claws and still stood up, grinning at them and yet pleading with his eyes as he said:

“It’s not my fault my Mom wanted me to be a vampire, so why should it be a problem that I make the both of you monsters? There’s no where else for you to go. Just stay here, with me. I just want friends.”

Addison felt her heart drop at such a word, couldn’t believe that he would say that. Friends? But what about those shared moments together? How he confided in her?

He just…he saw her as a friend?

Chapter Fifteen

“Do you really think that I care that your Mom did what she did?! You didn’t have to take us! You didn’t…we were going to a party and then you just…you just made us into monsters. You know how much that hurts!” Nina screamed, pouncing on Bethel again, because apparently she hadn’t attacked him enough.

Nina didn’t seem to care that Bethel had just opened up his heart to them both, that he let out his deepest, darkest secret and so Addison had to intervene:

“I don’t think he meant to hurt us. I think he-“

“Addison. I got it.” Bethel said, always rising up from Nina’s relentless torture.

Chapter Sixteen

“No, I didn’t mean to hurt you. But I wanted to keep you. Do you understand how much pain I went through after my Mom turned me? What, so she could a “pure, sickless son”? I’m a monster. But I don’t want to be a monster alone.” Bethel said.

He glanced over at Addison and smiled, his fangs glimmering in the lamp light. How could Nina not melt under his glittering gaze? How could she not feel an ounce of sorrow for him?

He wanted to keep them both. No boy had ever said that to either of them before!

Chapter Seventeen

Addison hoped that Nina would rethink attacking him and instead leave him alone, but she had jumped on him, raising her claws to tear him apart and so, Addison jumped on top of Nina.

Addison had to stop Nina from killing Bethel, she couldn’t just wait and watch. Her legs felt heavy, they felt like they were weighing her down, but she had to fight back.

For him.

Chapter Eighteen

Addison fought back as best as she could, but her arms felt so heavy, as did her legs, as did everything…and why did Nina move so violently? Why wouldn’t she stop? Why-

Nina had turned on her, her blue eyes wild with ferocity and before Addison could run, could do a thing, Nina had raised her claws, slashing Addison’s face.

A stinging pain struck Addison, followed by unbearable, searing pain throughout her body.

Chapter Nineteen

She caught glimpses of who was slashing her, hurting her. Nina, relentless in her pursuit to kill, to destroy.

“Nina-why-why-“

“Don’t you know what we are? No?! We’re monsters, abominations, and we deserve to die!”

Addison slashed back too, trying to keep up with the fighting spirit. But Nina was faster, more determined.

More willing.

Chapter Twenty

Addison could feel herself being torn apart, could hear her legs be ripped away from her, slamming onto the ground.

She had seen Bethel’s mouth covered in her own blood, could see that Bethel needed to eat people, but to see Nina with her blood, her best friend, her only friend…

How could Nina be such a monster, eyes wild and white, teeth stained red?

Epilogue

Addison wished that she had done more to save Bethel from Nina, even if it wouldn’t have made a difference, even if he still hurt her. It felt like he had genuinely loved her, like he wanted to be with her. The loneliness was ever so gaping in the garden of Heaven, when he was not around to keep her company.

But Nina wanted them both to be free. She didn’t want to have them be stuck in that mansion as creatures. As sad as Addison felt about Bethel, she loved her friend more. She knew that her friend wanted to help in killing both Addison and herself.

And in spite of it all, Addison forgave her.