Shudders: Retribution

Chapter 7 - The Motel

Slight blood warning ⚠️
———————————————————————————

    Searching the rooms and the rest of the motel eased Yama's nerves. Nothing much in any of the rooms besides furniture and trash. There were no signs of other demons either so he relaxed and went back to their camp.

     He expected his unlikely companion to have started preparing the geese to cook over a fire but when he reentered the room he only saw her nervously holding the knife over the two birds on the floor but not making any attempt to use it.

     She had a fire in the middle of the room going using pieces of wood from furniture and stick that fell on from outside. He left her a lighter that she used to light the wood. At least she did one thing he asked.

     She heard Yama walk over to take the knife from her. She couldn't do it. The bad luck was gnawing at her.

      Instead of her doing it, he proceeded to grab both the birds and put them onto the dresser top, and started preparing their food while (Y/N) looked away. Feeling useless from not even being able to do this.

"Your superstitions scare you that much?" He asked, plucking feathers.

"It's not that it's just-" She started, wincing from an old memory from her childhood. "I had a friend who didn't believe water birds were good luck. He had thrown rocks at a flock of ducks to tease me and then the next day he ended up missing."

'Coincidence.' Yama thought. In this world, you can go missing at any time.

"No one found him until it was too late. He was miles beyond our land and had bruises all along his neck and face. The doctors suspected he was strangled." It happened when she was only 9 years old but it still stuck with her to this day. They never found out if it was a demon who took him or something else but she remembered everyone making it very clear to not throw rocks at the birds in the pond ever again.

"So you think a flock of ducks dragged him away and strangled him to death for throwing rocks at them?" He didn't want to sound morbid, but it seemed so ridiculous and unbelievable that it was amusing.

     She glared at him. He sounded like he didn't believe her for a second. "Not the ducks but something did. That's why we should leave them alone."

     The first goose was finished so Yama floated it over to the fire to cook. Seeing the poor animal be roasted over the fire made (Y/N) nervous that her bad luck would be the same as her friend's. With being chased by those Elitists she really wanted luck to be on her side through this.

    The two silently ate the food, or mostly Yama did. He kept seeing how hesitant she was at eating the bird. She would bring a wing to her lips, readying herself to bite before second-guessing and lowering it back down. This repeated enough times that Yama had already finished his portion and was growing impatient with this superstition.

     He snapped his finger to gain her attention and showed her he was finished. "It's not going to kill you."

"You're finished that fast?" She asked, deflecting but he shook his head.

"You won't be dragged off and strangled to death by ducks. Just eat it before it goes to waste."

      She clenched her teeth, eyes staring at the meat before squeezing her eyes shut and taking a bite.

      Yama watched her bite the meat of the wing and swallow it all in a matter of seconds. Was she really this scared? It was as amusing as it was annoying.

      She continued forcing herself to not think about it. She was taught not to waste either so she just tried to imagine the goose was actually chicken. It tasted similar and Yama did do a good job cooking it. Once she finished she threw the bones away like he did and promised herself to never eat another water bird again.