Who: Dan, Jack and Abra and open to anyone who was in the food court around lunchtime. Where: Foodcourt When: Lunchtime, 04/04/19 What: Dan's memories are here. woo yay. Rating: Gross. Naked "Zombie" fun times.
Dan was back up at Lacey's getting a bit more to eat for lunch while his dad and Abra still sat at their usual table. He'd been surprised at how hungry he often found himself in Brenna's body, but then again, he knew he normally ate less than most people. He remembered how, after he'd given up the smokes, people kept telling him he was about to start piling on the pounds as food replaced nicotine, but it never happened.
He got everyone else refills for their drinks while he was up, thanked Lacey again, and then carried his tray down towards their table. Abra was explaining something to Jack - at least, he guessed that was what was going on. She was talking to his dad, using her hands, her voice and her Shine (he assumed). Dan couldn't pick up on the zip-zips at the moment, which was getting to him a lot more than he let on, and he couldn't really hear her voice yet, but he could definitely see her hands gesturing, so he used his context clues and decided that she was describing something pretty interesting.
And then he noticed it. A horrid smell, one he hadn't smelled for years and years. Like decay, like a rat had died somewhere hidden and started to rot. He looked all round him, trying to keep a tight hold on the panic he could feel building within him, and failing utterly. He knew that smell.
That was when he saw her, and part of his mind reverted instantly to Danny, eight years old and terrified.
Mrs Massey was sitting on a chair, about five meters in front of him, grinning up at him with her rictus grin and metallic-gray eyes. She was as naked as ever with her legs spread wide so that everything was on display, and everything everywhere was sagging. Her green-tinged skin was loose, almost melting from her bones. Her hair hung round her face in sodden wet clumps, and when she moved an arm, she left bits of skin and flesh behind.
Danny didn't scream. He didn't even look like he was panicking, although nothing could be further from the truth. He knew what she was going to do. What she always tried to do no matter if he dreamed her up or she appeared as a ghost. "False face, not real," he muttered, his voice glassy and hardly there at all, as she got to her feet - they were purple, he noticed in a beyond-abstract way, not green. Not green in the slightest. The blood was pooling in her feet - and started to shuffle towards him.
Danny stepped backwards and nearly fell into a table, spilling the drinks as he stumbled, but he couldn't look away from her. She was going to throttle him, again.