[Welcome to Night Vale] it's getting dark and it's all too quiet (Tamika gen)

[storypaint]

Title: it's getting dark and it's all too quiet
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Length: 180 words
Prompt: fic_promptly: Welcome to Night Vale - Any - Ceremonial Soft Meats Crown
Pairing: Tamika gen
Other: General Night Vale creepiness.

Excerpt: Tamika still gets surprised on a regular basis, but she likes to think she handles it better now that she's thirteen. Her mom helped her wrap up the librarian's head when she brought it home after the summer reading program, and they're going to put it in a shadow box once it's all dried out properly.

It's Tamika's first time wearing the ceremonial soft meats crown -- the first time she can remember it, anyway. Of course she wore it at her baptism, like everybody does. There are framed pictures in the hallway, a little trail of dark blood dripping down her forehead, her little mouth open in surprise.

Tamika still gets surprised on a regular basis, but she likes to think she handles it better now that she's thirteen. Her mom helped her wrap up the librarian's head when she brought it home after the summer reading program, and they're going to put it in a shadow box once it's all dried out properly.

Now that she's back, her parents have decided that she's old enough to participate in their usual religious rituals. Tamika was getting pretty tired of the Sunday school program, anyway. She's holding the jeweled dagger and the meat is cool on her brow and she feels like she can face anything.

Considering that they really don't know what's going to come through that portal today, she hopes she's right.