Chapter Text
"I'm heading out, Aunt Rosie."
It was a long day at the emporium, to be honest. Rosie had some sort of important guest coming over, so cleaning duties were turned up to eleven to make the place 'spick and span' for them. There was also a lot of noise, people bustling about and making orders. They couldn't even take their walk when they usually did, and now it was almost getting dark. This walk was long over due. It had been long overdue for nearly a week now. El has been wanting to get out the house, but it kept not happening and not happening and not happening and now they felt like they could just snap.
...Yeah. It was walk time.
Rosie's voice called out from the parlor, just out of view.
"Oh, of course, dearie! Enjoy your time out."
With a shrug and a pull of their jacket over their shoulder and one last 'I love you I'll be back soon goodbye', they were out the door and down the street. They took quick breath, leaning against the closed door of Aunt Rosie's and theirs house, feeling the cool afternoon air bloom in their chest, touching their too tense lungs and bringing a touch of relief.
After that, they took some earbuds out and into their ear left ear. They preferred the sound a proper pair of headphones provided, but with ears shaped differently and placed higher up than most people's, they could get a little uncomfortable. Plus, the earbuds made it where they could they could keep one ear plugged in, and the other clear and aware to whatever happens around them. You could never be too careful in a place like Hell, after all. Even with El's normal protections.
They walked a few blocks down Cannibal Town, sharing polite nods with a resident or two when they said hi. As they walked, they had their phone out, scrolling through to pick some music. Carefully curated playlist after playlist flew past, all picked around different moods or themes. What would be good tonight? Upbeat swing that slowly melted to deep, throbbing techno? No, they didn't need the extra energy. Sad love songs? Nah, they needed relaxation, not longing. A quick tap of their thumb, and a folder named 'chill out...' started to spill forth, refreshing like the cool air. The first song was one of their favorites.
Down and out of Cannibal Town took about 10 minutes, even walking slowly. After that, they walked down a familiar path on the sidewalk to a section of Hell that lead near a river. El liked where Rosie lived more than the small cabin on the outskirts of town were they used to live. The city was busier, sure, and louder, but they liked the walks. They liked way they could duck out of a busy section and turn down some small little alleyway that lead to the back of some section of houses that then lead to a long stretch along a river.
Plus, outside of Cannibal Town, people tended avoid El like the plague, and that suited them just fine.
The water of the river was roaring, freshly warmed and flowing with a rush. (Seasons didn't really change in Hell, only gently shifting from 'Sorta cold' to 'Sorta hot', with plenty of neutral lukewarm in the middles. They had just gone threw a sorta cold spell recently, so whatever ice that a river in hell could have was melting, causing the water to rush faster than normal.) There was litter, of course, and limp lumps of plastic caught up in the water pasted then more often than actual fish. But El still thought it was lovely. Next to the rose park out past the Lucifer statue, this was one of their favorite places to walk outside of Cannibal Town after a long day.
The music reached a lull, and they walked to the side of the path to stare at the dark water. It was perpetually dark in hell, but there was a definite separation between night and day, (or 'dark and less dark'), with now leaning towards dark, a sorta ruby red dusk that made the water appear even more deep.
Later, El would start the trek back home, taking a shorter path than the one they took to get to get to this water, just before it would start to get dark. They would eat dinner with Rosie. They would read for a short while, and then they would try to sleep for a few hours, and then do it all again. El knew this. But now, right now, they breathed in the rushing air of the river, they took every tiny hint of stress and heat in their lungs, and let it out in a long sigh.
The seasons staid still and there wasn't a sun to set, an ever stale constant. but El still felt like everything was rushing by so, so quickly. They were already 18, and so scared of whatever the future had in store for them, so scared of wasting time, so scared of going back to that tiny busy house, so scared of the thought of wherever their dad was right now.
They let out a long, long breath, and gave all this fear to the river.
And then they started walking again, back to Auntie Rosie's house.