Chapter Text
Connor was not having a good night.
Mind you, he had been having a good night, staying up later than he was supposed to in order to read a really good book, but he’d heard… something in the dark. Something that sounded like a friend of his, and not just any friend, but the girl he thought was the prettiest in the world.
Erma Williams.
He was scared to go out there and check, since it was past his bedtime and a deep dark had settled on the woods behind his house. But a prepubescent crush is a powerful thing, and on this occasion it gave him the will to head out into those dark trees.
Now the only thing that let him see was the faint moonlight shining through the trees above, and the chill and whistling of the wind alongside him was getting to his nerves more and more with each passing second.
Just when he was about to cut his losses and turn around, the voice cried out again. It spurred him forwards, and gave him enough courage to shout into the woods.
“Erma?” he yelled, not his loudest, but loud enough. There was no response, but he had heard that voice, he was sure it was there, even if denying it would’ve given him an easy out to go back to his safe bed.
Pumping himself up, he gave it another try. “Erma!” he cried, louder and more confident than his last try. Still, there was no response other than the whooshing of wind and stirring of leaves.
His legs shivered, even bundled in his orange onesie as they were, but they carried him further into the dark.
He could see more light ahead, not a lot but more than beneath the leaves, and so he made his way over, entering a clearing where the moon shone brighter. Still, it wasn’t bright enough to make out much, but he could see what was probably a very large rock, the shimmer of the moon on a small lake, and what might’ve been… a body?
Before Connor could yell, run, or investigate though, movement flashes in his vision, and he freezes. Turning his head towards it, he sees that behind the rock there was a familiar pale head with black hair.
“Erma?” he asked hesitantly, stepping just a bit closer to get a better look in the dark. The head was shaking intently, but a hand raised out from behind the rock to wave at him, before it beckoned him closer.
The hand, colored the ghost girl’s telltale white, was such a beacon in the dark forest, and belonging to a friend he dashed over without another thought.
He loops around the rock to find the girl leaning against the rock and… naked.
Heat rises to his cheeks, but the red marks on her body forced concern past his prepubescent lust. “E-Erma? Are y-you okay, what h-happened here?” he asks, voice shaking as he does so.
Erma’s face is twisted in an expression of fear as she shakes it violently, and points away towards where he saw the… body . Which, now that he was within a few feet of it, was definitely Erma’s babysitter.
The fear welled up further in him at seeing her still form, but Erma’s sorry and worried state made the boy brave enough to walk forward and investigate, even as his body shook and his heart hammered in his chest.
‘Do it for Erma, do it for her…’ he chanted in his head as he came to stand over the girl.
Her dark face glistened in the light, seeming almost wet with water, but a glance at the lake explained that to the scared young boy and he moved on. Hesitantly, he reached down to put a hand on her stomach, listening and then his nerves eased as her breathing pushed against his hand slightly.
“H-Hey, she’s okay!” he shouted with relief, turning back to the girl. But he found that she wasn’t there and, confused, looked back at the unconscious woman to find that Erma was standing above her.
He yelped in surprise, but calmed himself as it was only his friend. “S-Sorry, you startled me,” he assured her, but she didn’t respond, only looking at him with that same worry on her face.
“H-Hey, don’t worry. She’s breathing, she’s fine!” he stated, forcing some cheer into his voice to help. But his friend didn’t respond, only kneeling on the ground above the older lady’s head.
Then, she puts her hands on either side of her head, and her face morphs into a silent scream, light pouring from not only her eyes and mouth, but from the babysitter’s too.
This time Conner fell back on his hands as he watched, a shout escaping his mouth as the situation unfolded before his eyes. The two bodies shook violently, but Erma’s hands never came away from the lady’s head.
Then, just as suddenly, the light faded, the shaking stopped, and Erma’s eyes rolled up into her head as she began to fall.
Concern rolling through him, the boy sprung into action and dove in order to catch his crush in his arms, watching with both relief and worry as she groaned and twisted gently there.
“A-Are you okay! Erma?” he asks to no avail, the girl not answering him. Still, he takes solace in the fact that she’s still alive and, with great effort, looks over to the other woman.
She lifts up off the ground with her elbows until she’s upright, before putting her head in a hand and groaning.
Seeing a lifeline, Connor speaks up. “M-Ms. Babysitter!” he stammers out. “Erma’s hurt!”
The woman freezes, then starts to slowly turn towards him. Her eyes rest on his face, then the girl in his arms, before her face twists into a grin he can only describe as “evil” .
“Ah, so the human fell for it after all,” she states, before the terrifying smile widens. “And a male too, how… convenient .”
In a flash, the woman’s hands reach out, grasping onto his shoulder rough enough that he yelps at the pain, and he sees that the other is reaching out towards Erma’s shoulder too.
Looking back, he finds that the babysitter’s face is closer than he’s comfortable with, that dark expression inches from his own.
“I’ll use you, and her body will. Be. Mine!”