[007] - You wake up in a really good mood only to realize something is horribly wrong

In response to this prompt.  Dark, but pretty fun to write nonetheless.

***

I woke with a big smile on my face.  I’d never expected things to go as well as they had last night.  The breakthrough that I’ve waited years for, failing time and again, crushed by unrealistic expectations.  Why couldn’t it have happened sooner?  Last night’s sleep had been amazing, the best I’ve had since--well, I can’t recall ever having a more restful slumber.  It showed in the mirror, too, the excitement in my eyes a much better look than my typical moroseness.

The wild facial hair had to go, though.  With the joy that filled my eyes, I looked like some sort of maniacal lumberjack.  I hummed contentedly to myself as I shaved off the wild and unmanaged beard.  When had I last allowed myself to sing, to care about my appearance?  I don’t know.  Obviously, it had been too long.  Why would I deny myself this simple pleasure?  Even when I ended up cutting myself with the razor, I kept my cool, whereas in the past that simple mistake had driven me to rage.  Nothing would bring me down again, life could start anew.  It had certainly taken damned long enough.

Leaving the restroom, I checked the doors and windows--still locked and secured, no one had entered during the night, nor had any of my pets escaped.  I knew that boarding them up so firmly bordered on the obsessive, but ever since that one incident back when I’d started, I’d learned not to take anything for granted.  Besides, everyone knew that safety had to come first.  Confident in my security, I wandered into the kitchen for some breakfast, smiling at my dogs waiting for me to feed them as they always did.

Then I realized that only two of the three stood there.  A frown crossed my face, threatening to ruin my good mood.  Of the three, Scotty always acted the most ravenous, so his absence troubled me.  I tried to put it out of mind; losing these high spirits would be silly, especially if Scotty had merely elected to sleep rather than waking up with his siblings.

I put some food down for them and proceeded to prepare some for myself as well.  I poured myself a bowl of cereal and brought it to the table with some milk, then grabbed some oranges from the fridge to make some fresh-squeezed orange juice.  I grabbed a knife from the holder on the counter, and in doing so, realized the absence of the one next to it.  I tilted my head as I tried to remember where it might be.  Usually I returned everything to where it belonged when I had finished using it.  I thought I could remember not finding scissors yesterday, so resolved to look for it in my room momentarily.

After my simple breakfast, I took a deep breath and prepared to head to the basement, where I’d had the breakthrough the night before.  I smiled in anticipation, ready to take great pride in my success once more, and then I heard it.  A weak whimpering.  Something had gone horribly wrong here.

“Scotty?” I called out, but no response came.

I rushed down the rest of the stairs, then fell on my ass when my foot slipped on something slick on the floor upon leaving the stairway.  I cursed as I looked up and saw the scene before me.

“Damnit, not another one!  This one was different!”

I’d deceived myself again, taken all that care shaving for nothing.  My newest pet, my Rachel, had apparently only put on a front of eagerness.  Crying and smiling as I took her in the bed and broke her in, promising that she loved me, that she would never leave me, and now this betrayal.  Had I overlooked something in my passion last night, left the door unlocked?  Allowed this to happen?  Yes, that was always the answer.

The stubborn girl had stabbed Scotty in the gut, leaving him in his current state, feebly twitching every now and then, his blood mixed with that of my Rachel.  My Rachel that had found some way to do herself in, the same as all of my other Rachels.  This one had elected to slit her wrists with the missing knife from the kitchen and bleed out onto the floor, curled upon herself like all the rest.  Why did good things always have to turn out so horrible?  I’d lost my dog and another Rachel, the only consolation that she’d at least gotten me in a good enough mood to make myself look like a normal guy again.

Well, after I take care of this mess, I’ll go out again, find the Rachel that has eluded me for so long, and this time she’ll see.  This cyclical nightmare will finally end, and I’ll be happy forevermore.

I’m coming, Rachel.  You won’t have to wait long.