Spiderweb - 157 Scratch

“Hello~~~” Antonin called out, “anybody home?”

Regan’s eyes dart to the door of the bathroom, her hands shaking immensely. She presses them onto the edge of the bathtub and sat on top of them. Swallowing her saliva, she bit down on her lips, gathering up strength in her lungs.

“I’m in the shower!” She yelled, her voice quivering at first, “give me a few minutes!!”

Outside, Antonin parked the cart, a little blush on his face. “Ah… ok then.. How long do you think you’ll take?” he asked.

Regan’s lips tightly shut for a moment as she looked down at her thighs where beneath she could feel her hands, still trembling. Her pupils shook. Her lips quivered for a second as she forms her response. “Maybe 10 minutes?!” she responds. “I’ll try to get out quickly!!”

Outside, Antonin shook his head and waved his hand. “Ah… N-No take your time, I can wait!”

Regan stood up from her seat and withdraws her shaking hands from behind her. Quickly, her hands begin to undress her, harshly pulling down her pants, leaving behind two long lines of scratches in their path. They rush to the end of her sweater and pull them over her head, scratching her body in the process.

They unclip her bra and her underwear, letting both fall down to the ground carelessly. Quickly, she rushes into the shower, feeling the hot steam on her skin but still rushing in, shuddering when the scorching hot water hits her skin, burning her.

She bit back her yelp of pain and reaches down for the cold water knob, as she shook in pain while the hot water ran down her body, she turned the knob, nearly letting out a deep sigh of relief when the cold water mixed into the warm. That soon changed into a yelp as the cold water overpowered the hot water. She quickly turned both knobs as she shivered.

Finally, warm water hits her body and she collapses, her body falling into the tub as the water beat down on her head. The water tasted salty, a result of it mixing with the river of tears that was pouring down her face.

There, in the tub, as the water beat down on her harshly like hail, she cried. Softly sobbing as tears and water ran down her cheeks, entering her eyes and her nose. Her trembling hands reach for the soap on the edge at the end of the tub and she runs the soap over her body. She pressed it into her hair and ran it over her body as she cried and shook. Everything stung.. Everything hurt so badly.

She didn’t want to feel and in these moments, there were no thoughts in her mind. There didn’t need to be, she was feeling them all at once.

‘It hurt. It hurts…’ she thought to herself. ‘I can’t breathe… get it together…’ Tears continued to flow down her eyes as she tried to bathe herself.

Her eyes opened despite the stinging and through her blurry vision, made out the mouthwash that was hanging on a shelf on the wall. She trembles, crawling on the slippery floor of the tub to reach the area in the tub right underneath the shelf. Her wet and soapy fingers held on to the edge of the tub as she pulled herself up to the shelf. She barely stood up, only managing to get halfway up as her hand reached up to the shelf, searching blindly for the mouthwash.

A bottle of shampoo tipped off the edge and fell, hitting Regan’s head on its fall. She twitched in pain as she continued to search for it. Finally, her hands made out the figure of mouthwash and clutched it tightly, her arm scraping the side of the shelf as she pulled it down to her body.

She shut her stinging eyes as her hands quickly unraveled the cover of the mouthwash and lift the top up to her mouth, tipping it over and letting its fluids pour into her mouth. It stung her tongue upon contact. It tasted like overpowered mints, felt like millions of pricks by needles on her tongue, and had the underlying taste of sweetness and soap.

Her lips trembled as she closed them and gorged the mouthwash, pushing it against the roof of her mouth, her tongue, and the sides of her mouth and teeth. It tasted horrible, mouthwash and soap never went together.

She closes the top of the mouthwash and simply drops it into the tub. Then crawls backward, moving until she felt the majority of the water from the showerhead hitting her head. Then she sat up on her knees, looking up as her hands ran over her face and her hair, washing out the soap from her hair and them running over her face and wildly running over her eyes, trying to reduce the stinging in her eyes.

Everything seems to hurt. Her body hurt, her arms and her eyes felt like they were being sprinkled with pepper. Despite all this, she hurried, quickly washing her hair and spitting out the mouthwash after enduring it’s stinging for a few minutes. Her skin no longer felt slippery as she got most of the soap off and the stinging in her eyes reduced. Slowly she raised her arms, running water over them and her armpits, and scrubbed the rest of her body.

Her hand reached for the knobs of the showerhead, waiting for a little bit before dropping back down. She sat there, letting the water run over her for a few more seconds while she calmed her anxiety. Then when she felt her trembling reduce, she stood up from the ground with less effort than before and ran her hands down her legs.

Her hands finally got to the knobs of the shower and turned them, shivering a bit as the shower turned off and the air around her got a little bit colder. She stepped out of the bathtub, running her hands on the walls as she walked to the sink. Then she ran her hand on the walls again, reaching for the short towels, and took one off the rack they were on, quickly bringing it down to her face and wiping it, her eyes slowly opening.

It still stung. She could feel it but at least now she could see, her hand rising to the mirror in front of her and using the towel to wipe it. Her reflection was a bit blurry due to the soap in her eyes so she leaned in, checking to see if there was anything on her face that would reveal the struggles she just faced.

Except for her slightly red eyes, there was nothing. Her body would be covered by the towel and since the scratch from hitting the shelf was under her arm, one of the area that would usually touch the sides of her body, it wouldn’t really be seen by Antonin or Ryder.

She let out a deep sigh and bit down on her lips, then turned behind her and reached for the long towels hanging on the rod behind her. Pulling off a long white towel, she wraps it around her body and lets out another sigh, her fingers running through her wet hair. Quickly, before she could regret it, she reached for the doorknob and pushed it open, stepping into the room.

In front of her, Antonin turns around to face her before immediately shutting his eyes and a deep blush crossing his face.

“Omgomgomgomgomgomgomg,” he muttered through a trembling voice, “I am SO SORRY! I DID NOT MEAN TO LOOK! I JUST TURNED MY HEAD AUTOMATICALLY AT THE SOUND OF A DOOR OPENING AND-AND I DIDN’T REALIZE IT WHEN I WAS DOING SO AND-AND I ACCIDENTLY ENDED UP LOOKING AT YOU!!!”

He turned around completely and fell to the floor, his knees hitting the ground and burying his face in his hands. “I AM SOOO SORRY! I AM SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON FOR TURNING AROUND BUT-BUT I PROMISE I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING!”

Regan chuckled, the clenching in her chest reducing a bit. “Of course you didn’t dummy,” she teased, “because I was wearing a towel.”

Antonin completely fell to the ground, leaning his body over and pressing his face into the ground. “PLEASE FORGIVE ME!” he begged desperately, his voice quivering as he spoke. “I-I AM SO SORRY!”

Regan let out a sigh and grinned. She walked over to Antonin and slapped his back. “I said it’s FINE!” she yelled, “now get up and stop making it seem like you’re worshiping your cart of food.”

“I-I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to look up at this moment,” Antonin muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.

Regan laughed, completely getting rid of the stress in her mind and the shaking in her hand finally stopping. She looked down at Antonin, a bright smile on her face. ‘Ah.. what was I thinking…’ she thought to herself, ‘it was just him afterall… he’s Antonin. He’s going to always be the same. I had nothing to worry about after all.’

She reached down and ruffled his hair. “whatever you want, dummy. You’re gonna have to be in that position for a while though, since I’m getting dressed and all.”

Antonin nodded his head furiously. “Of course, of course, I would never turn around at this moment. It would be a disgrace for me to turn around and look at you at this moment.”