Alice is fifteen, has a driver's license, body dysmorphic disorder, and is smack dab in the middle of her freshman year of high school. Her room is as normal as a teenager's can be, if you don't look at the paper masks piled up on her desk, hanging...
Making me ask if there's a better world that is out there rather than Dad.
Making me lose everything.
Everyone's gone now, though. Most of them moved on. Molly found a way to be happy without me, everyone else said. Josh decided to divorce, and almost took Molly with her until the world decided that neither parent was for for it.
They damaged each other so much.
So Argos and Him decided to take Molly back with them. He said he burned the notebook, but I doubt it. He probably took some of the masks with him. And that bracelet. Maybe. I don't know.
Beep... Beep...
You got to let me go. It's obvious that nobody'd really mind. He knows that I'm going to do it myself if you don't.
I know you're not Him. I understand that you've been playing what everyone hoped you were. A god, right? Peering into everyone's lives and bringing the best out. No, I doubt you're really here. You'd have moved on pretty fast if you didn't do anything.
Always had a feeling I wouldn't make it past eighteen. It would've been Mr. Plant or something else. I just never thought I'd be at my limit looking at Josh, though.
I'm sure you know why I hated them so much.
Josh might as well have been Dad himself. He might as well have beaten me and Mom. Might as well have almost killed baby Molly.
But I'm so sure Josh was the one who actually got Molly to exist. Forced her. Made every waking moment of Mom's existence, whether it be looking at Molly or not, as bad as hell. Or a high-heeled kick to the balls.
She might as well have reached her breaking point years ago. Or maybe she had, and decided to call the police. She touched the self-destruct button herself.
I was the real guardian Molly. I went to events for her school with her. Field Day, STEM, Art. I wonder what you're going to do to her without me being the punching bag.
Beep... Beep...
Mr. Plant asked how I was feeling the other day.
Beep... Beep...
And when that guy asks how you're feeling, it's obvious that something is going wrong. And I asked him, "What happened?"
And he told me that my body's slowing down. The person who was supposed to keep my muscles from withering hasn't been doing their job. And they got fired quick. The person who was supposed to watch over me has tried to pull the plug on me repeatedly, but has kept getting caught doing so.
"Humans are so brutal. Molly has been wondering if you were even her sister in the first place."
And I told him, "Just tell her that I never existed."
That she was only lovingly saved by them. Paint it however he wanted. But let me not exist peacefully. I was created by her own imagination to be the one who would keep her company. That I never really ate. I never really slept during those nights where she wanted me there.
So, what was I?
What kind of friend was I really?
You know, don't you? About everything I did. Everything I said. But even you don't know what to say, I guess.
I was terrible.
I was a torturer.
A murderer? Maybe.
I'd rather die than hear someone scream again. Hear them say everything I've done and said.
But maybe I'm a bit too hard on myself? No. No, I deserve saying all that to myself. It's hard to take myself seriously thinking that.
Beep... Beep...
Was I ever unhappy?
Yeah. Maybe.
Beep...
...Beep...
...Beep...
...Beep...
...Beep...
...Beep...
Could I have done something different? Was I so far gone that nothing could've been done?
...
"Answer me."
"Answer me. Please."
"Please."
"Let me know."
"I don't care anymore."
Someone has always been staring at me, huh? Right behind me, watching me and judging whether or not I should die then or later.
"I hate you."
I stare at the ceiling, knowing exactly where you are. Not here. Not the attic. Hell. And I'm looking away from you. I don't want to even see you. I despise you.
Find another punching bag because I'm not gonna do it anymore.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...
...eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
Screaming. Cries. "No!"s.
(Thirty minutes left.)
Then I can't hear anyone. Except one.
Maybe I'm happy to hear him again.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
"Did you learn what happens when ya-"
I wipe the tears away from my eyes, but a few escape down and away from my face. Is it really him? Right there? In front of me? My face hurts. My arms hurt. It feels like I'm already wasting away. Why am I smiling?
Everything is wasting away. The ceiling is gone. The paint is peeling from the walls, repulsed. Revolted. Disgusted. The floorboards have cracked and become so thin from whatever water damage it induced that I'm afraid to move. It kind of feels like I'm drowning, but there's no water.
Mr. Plant doesn't waste a second between standing across the room and walking towards me. I just watch him come closer. Stepping, almost fighting. Breaking everything. The darkness comes closer, closer closer. And everything slows down.
(Twenty minutes left.)
"What was I to you?" I ask him. He just looks at me. My skin is becoming scabbed, scarred, bloody. Right in front of our eyes.
Silence.
Answer me.
Please.
"Ha...
..p..
...p..."
*****
Word Count: 921
hehe done finally
apologies for any halfassery you find
i got no excuse now :D
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