October Naut Prompt: Fear.

  Horace stared at the empty beach, retracing his steps. There were no police, no investigators, no reporters, and there wasn’t even anybody there swimming. He was all alone, so he was free to check everywhere for the body. And that’s exactly what he did, searching around the rocks and looking out at the sea. There was nothing. The drag marks in the sand were washed away, no proof of his crime left over.

  He let out a sigh of relief. He was safe, surely nobody would find out. He could leave this behind him and go back to his daily life, he’d never have to think about it again.

 

  Or so he thought.

  It’s been a year, and Horace has essentially forgotten about what happened. Nobody around him knew, and sure Vince was declared missing but that wasn’t his problem!

  But it was.

  Today he was signing autographs, signing pictures with a trained smile on his face and with practiced kindness. It was going well, the line was moving at a nice pace. He watched as one left, happy with their signed photo, and looked towards the next one as they stepped forward.

  His stomach dropped.

  It was Vince. But Vince was dead? He had to keep a pleasant smile tied to his face as he quickly looked the person over. Slight differences, they were a Dreadnaut, and… Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. A Dreadnaut… Was using Vince’s corpse. Was this his punishment? He wanted to run, that same guilt and fear from that night grabbing at him and twisting him up inside of his shell.

  “Aaaha, I’m such a huge fan! I’m so excited to meet you!” They spoke, their grin taunting Horace.

  “Of course,” Horace had to force the words out, shoving them into a pleasant tone so as to not expose his fear, “I’m so grateful for your continued support.” He wanted to get this over with as fast as possible, shoo him away, STRANGLE HIM AGAIN.

  “My name is Nil,” they continued to smile, familiar teeth taunting him as he was handed photos to sign. He had to force his hand to be still as he listened to them speak, “I’m a ‘naut too, of course! Aaaha, this is the meeting of a lifetime… Ever since I washed up on shore I’ve been a fan of yours, it’s been quite a lot of work since I’ve had to catch up, hah…”

  He grit his teeth behind his smile, “Thank you, I’m flattered,” he forced his tone to be even as he handed Nil the photos. Soon Nil would exit the line, and he moved onto the next person. But his mind was racing, it was difficult to remain normal as he finished up the last few autographs. And as soon as he was able to, he headed to the private room reserved for him to get some space.

 

  Sepira was standing there. He looked annoyed, but that’s quite common.

  “Horace,” Sepira’s arms were crossed, shifting on his hooves, “Why is your missing ex-boyfriend a Dreadnaut now?”

  Oh no. “Well, you see…” Horace began, before trailing off, looking everywhere except for at his manager. “I’m.. not too sure…” He swallowed around his nervousness.

  “Oh, I know damn well you’re sure,” Sepira closed the distance, glaring up at him, “You know what’ll happen to you if this gets out right? Are you trying to end both of our careers?! ‘Sepira Raught, manager of convicted model-turned-murderer Horace Thrope!’ That’ll be plastered all over the news, and I’ll never get another management job again! What do you have to say for yourself?!”

  Horace frowned, fiddling with the fur on the sleeves of his coat. If he got found out… Everything would be ruined. He can’t lose what he has, not after how hard he’s worked… His worried expression made Sepira sigh, and then step away.

  “You need to consider yourself lucky that for some odd reason nobody else can put the pieces together about it. You’re so selfish, you know that right? I better hear some ‘Thank you Sepira!’s after this.” Sepira’s arms would cross again, his hooves clicking against the wood floor.

 “Of course, Sepira… Thank you, Sepira…” Horace let out a sigh of relief, and stepped away from the door, watching his manager walk out.

  Horace sat down on the sofa in the room, slouching and rubbing his face. What has he done? Was this his punishment? A constant reminder that his job is at risk? He lifted his head, looking at himself in the mirror that was across the room. Hopefully this was a one-time occurance, hopefully he won’t run into that… Thing… Again. All he could do was hope, and hope Sepira could work some of his magic to keep his job secure.

  His body twisted in knots within his shell once again, and he dropped his head. He’s worked so hard, so hard… He was so scared at the thought of someone finding out, so scared of losing the attention his work gives him… If nobody’s there to look at him he’ll shrivel away, he can’t lose this job.