Chapter 12 - Camera Off, Camera On

                                    

                                          
TW: Mention of animal death and struggles with eating. If these things trigger you, please, proceed with caution or don't proceed at all. 
It was now the weekend, Sunday to be exact. The incident from my first day at work still lingered on my mind. I had avoided the first male ghouls, but my efforts proved to be pointless as Sodo was always messing with me, ever since my first task. 
I had gotten...somewhat used to the "church". A sister of sin had told me that while several people called it a church, it was also called "the ministry". She had explained that to not count as a cult they had to call themselves a religion, which it technically was. Being called a religion and not a cult is a lot easier when resembling an already popular one, and they did technically just worship Satan, which could be any desired figure. Including the abrahamatic Satan.
Well anyways, my day had been going pretty normally. I had my regular, pretty boring, routine which consisted of waking up, getting breakfast, staying in my room for four hours, then finally eating lunch. Today's lunch had been pasta and some kind of tomato sauce, but I had no appetite. 
My relationship with food had become a lot worse after my transformation. I now mainly associated my ghoul form with the pigeon incident.  
The time I fucking ate a pigeon.
Off the streets.
A small, gray pigeon with a white neck. A perfect mark for where I was supposed to bite.
I became overwhelmed as soon as I stepped into the room, which smelled of some kind of tomato sauce and meat, both in separate areas. 
I didn't want my food anymore. I quietly and almost unnoticeably snuck out of the cafeteria and back to my safe haven. My room.
I went up to the floor with the ghouls' rooms on it. I then went into my room. The door now had a gold plate with the name "Stardust" engraved on it on the door. My room was surprisingly, still clean. My guitar was in its case by my desk and my dirty clothes were in their correct hampers. If I would have been at my old home then this place would already be extremely filthy. Books and art supplies laying everywhere.
Speaking about home, I remembered that I had been called before leaving to go eat lunch. I picked up my phone and looked at the number. It was my older brother, Ren! I removed my mask and then quickly called him back. I put the phone up against my right ear. I heard him answer.
"Hiya Para! How's everything going..?" Said the voice of my older brother. He sounded a bit sad and tired. 
"I'm alright...Everyone here is really nice and all. Well, I had a bit of a strange encounter *once*, but whatever. What about you? How's mom and dad?" I asked him. My voice was quiet and almost nervous. What if he was freaked out by the fact that I was now some weird demon? I was lucky that he hadn't face timed me! He would probably have dropped his phone out of shock.
"I'm alright, just a bit tired. Mainly from school you know. Mom and dad really miss you though, they're handling this a lot worse then I imagined." When he mentioned our parents something inside of me stung. Like the burning aftertaste of a slap across the face. I felt bad. How could I have just left them like that? Especially mom. She would have a much harder time going to concerts to see me once I'd start preforming. "Can you pass them the phone? I want to say hello.." I asked hesitantly. He hummed as a response. I could hear shuffling and Ren moving. After a little while i noticed that I was being face timed.
I wasn't actually sure if I was allowed to answer. I mean, I didn't have my mask on, and I had no glamour whatsoever. 
It shouldn't be too bad if they see me...right? We were supposed to be family, so they couldn't just *not* know what had happened...right?
I soon answered the call, but I turned off my camera. I saw the faces of my adoptive parents as they stated a conversation.
"Oh my baby! Paradox...how are you hon?" My mother said in a whiny voice. "Yeah! You were supposed to call us, and turn on your camera, god." My father chimed in. 
That word..."god". It was a word I hadn't heard in oh so long. Not that I missed it or anything, I didn't even like god before i joined the ministry, an openly satanic...lets say, church.
My father still seemed to want to see me, as well as my mother. I don't know what came over me, because I turned on my camera so that they could see me now. Gray skin and all.
It became silent for a few seconds. My family seemed stunned by my ghoul form. My mother then, finally, spoke up.
"So...You're a so called "ghoul" then, aren't you. She seemed so shocked. They were okay, for the most part. They were just very surprised.
"I am walking, talking asphalt, and that's okay. I like it here, mom, I really do.." She softly smiled at me. She looked at me withe her warming, dark brown eyes. She chuckled a bit at my joke, then she mimicked a small kiss the camera.
"It'll take some getting used to, honey. Just know that we'll always love you. Also, do you know what instrument you'll be playing yet?" She asked me with her gaze, which reminded mw of autumn.
"Yeah..I got a list of instruments to choose from. I think I'm going to pick guitar. They may also want me for certain vocals.." She beamed at me and exclaimed "That's amazing honey! Oh shit, we need  to go...Bye hon!" My parents waved goodbye as I laid back in my bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Well...that went better then I expected.."