{"id":5664,"date":"2022-12-26T23:41:31","date_gmt":"2022-12-27T07:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-running-on-empty\/"},"modified":"2022-12-26T23:41:31","modified_gmt":"2022-12-27T07:41:31","slug":"12-days-of-xmas-running-on-empty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-running-on-empty\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Days of Xmas: Running On Empty"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUNNING ON EMPTY<\/h1>\n

Staying in the motel was becoming a real hardship. Not because the room was especially terrible in itself, but because the neighbors on either side were the sort that believed being loud was a right and not a rudeness.<\/p>\n

The couple on one side loudly made love all night every night, while the couple on the other side screamed at each other and threatened violence at such volume their every word was clearly audible. Both pairs were risking their lives without knowing it.<\/p>\n

She wrapped the pillow tighter around her head and clenched her jaw tightly to keep from screaming at them to "SHUT UP!"<\/p>\n

Her body trembled with the effort of holding herself still. She could feel the madness growing inside her. The need<\/em> to unleash terrible violence on the inconsiderate aholes.<\/p>\n

She was exhausted. She hadn’t had more than a few minutes of sleep for the last two weeks. If she could have left the motel room she would have, but she had promised to stay inside and wait for him to return, so here she was. Suffering from cabin fever and maybe malnutrition from only having delivery food to eat, which in this town had meant food from the pizza place every day.<\/p>\n

She’d promised she would stay in the room, but it was becoming harder and harder. It was only her absolute terror of Them<\/em> that kept her inside.<\/p>\n

He’d lined the motel room with paper charms and hung up carved wooden rune squares. As long as she remained inside she was invisible to the monsters chasing her. The monsters he had gone off to kill.<\/p>\n

The moans on one side were growing louder, the fervent filth they called out growing louder and LOUDER while the couple on the other side screamed such vitriol at each other that she thought she could feel her soul curdling inside her body. Both couples were so LOUD, screaming and panting and groaning and the thump-thump-THUMP of a headboard slamming against the too-thin wall.<\/p>\n

She pressed the pillow tighter around her head, mashing it against her ears. The pain was growing in her brain, the headache having grown so much worse over the last two hours. To the point that she’d begun to fantasize about going to the door and stepping outside.<\/p>\n

There would be the howling screams and They<\/em> would appear. She would be torn apart, she knew it, her blood and viscera splashed so far and wide and horrifying that it would be near to impossible to clean up. The motel owners would have to use bleach and paint to wipe away the mess, and even then the cement would be stained forever.<\/p>\n

But those assholes… They<\/em> would kill her, yes, but they would also kill everyone else staying in this section of the motel. They<\/em> would kill her, but that would not slate their bloodlust, the need for violence and murder.<\/p>\n

Assaulted by the loudness of her neighbors, the continuous torment of their screaming and their lust and the THUMP-THUMP-THUMP<\/em> of that damned headboard… She was tempted.<\/p>\n

All she had to do was open the door and step outside.<\/p>\n

=END=<\/p>\n

~Harper Kingsley
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RUNNING ON EMPTY Staying in the motel was becoming a real hardship. Not because the room was especially terrible in itself, but because the neighbors on either side were the sort that believed being loud was a right and not a rudeness. The couple on one side loudly made love all night every night, while…<\/p>\n Read More<\/span> 12 Days of Xmas: Running On Empty<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"Layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-harperkingsley0-0","post-5664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2pPoL-1tm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6679,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-the-real-purge\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":0},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: The Real Purge","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"CW: Revenge THE REAL PURGE There were last preparations taking place before the annual Event. Nobody called it \"the Purge,\" but everyone knew that it was the Purge. It was strange to think that a bunch of rich people had become so enthralled by a movie series that they would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4730,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/family-guy-s10ep6-thanksgiving-its-just-ugly\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":1},"title":"Family Guy, S10ep6 “Thanksgiving”: It’s just ugly","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"November 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Family Guy, S10ep6 \"Thanksgiving\": I view this show with a grain of salt. There are some incredibly funny one-liners and visual gags throughout the series, but there's also a lot of ugliness. When the trans character (Ida Quagmire) in the Thanksgiving episode says \"Oh my. Maybe it's time for us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Opinion Pieces"","block_context":{"text":"Opinion Pieces","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/opinion-pieces\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6684,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/so\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":2},"title":"So","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"So. It's been a bit of a ratfuck of a month. I hadn't really been brushing Lemon because my brother took on the job. Every night he was using these two brush things and \"torturing the cat\"--which she loved and begged for. So I assumed that all her brushing needs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cats"","block_context":{"text":"cats","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/cats\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_2341-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_2341-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_2341-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_2341-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1177,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/serious_business\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":3},"title":"EXCERPT: Serious Business [adult fiction]","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"July 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Title: Serious Business Genre: fiction Excerpt rating: teen+\/adult Warnings: mentions non-con, language Summary: She was not an object to be possessed. (This is the first part of an upcoming novel.) Audio: [powerpress] \u00a0 Excerpt -- SERIOUS BUSINESS \u00a0When she was a young girl, her mother had spoken of her growing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sneak Peeks"","block_context":{"text":"Sneak Peeks","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/sneak-peeks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4143,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/prompt-043\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":4},"title":"Prompt: 043. monkey","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"February 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":".patreon.com\/HarperKingsley. .paypal.me\/HarperKingsley. $5 for access to digital copy of \"365 Prompts\" Prompt: 043. monkey 1. The boys hooted and cavorted like a bunch of monkeys, and he was their monkey king. A. The boys hooted and cavorted like a bunch of monkeys, and he was their monkey king. A little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Prompts"","block_context":{"text":"Prompts","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/prompts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5725,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/dead-dove-do-not-eat\/","url_meta":{"origin":5664,"position":5},"title":"“Dead Dove: Do Not Eat”","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"February 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a current discourse in the fanfiction community about the meaning of the \"Dead Dove: Do Not Eat\" tag, and some people are choosing to use it improperly. Then they get surprised when they read stories under the tag and end up mentally scarred. Tags exist for a reason. Stop\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}