Puppet Boy

15.

EMILY BEGAN TO shake the second she heard his heavy footsteps near the doorway. She sat in the cold corner of the prop room, staring at the floor and praying that Tyler was alive rather selfishly - if he was alive, she would be able to help The Man torture him and hopefully get to see Andrew.

"Emily?"

The small, familiar voice made her heart wrench.

Andrew?

Her heart pounded at the sight of his large, innocent and sparkling eyes that were so dark they could almost resemble obsidian.

"Andrew!" she practically screamed.

She instantly ran over to him and even felt the warmth of his small body under her embrace. She sobbed as she got on her knees, continuing to hug him and cry with joy into his shoulder.

"It's okay, Emily," Andrew's small voice spoke. Emily pulled away from him to stare into his eyes, her heart fluttering in relief. He had to be real. She could see him, and she could feel him - but something still didn't seem right.

"Oh, God," she laughed through her tears, her fingers running through his thick, raven-coloured hair. "You need a haircut."

He laughed, but didn't speak.

Her eyes widened. "Are you okay, Andrew?" she asked, hoping that The Man didn't hurt him.

Andrew said nothing.

"Andrew?" she whispered, her heart dropping. He was disappearing. "Andrew? Andrew!" she shrieked painfully, her throat too dry to ask where he was going. He only continued to stare at her, as his body seemed to disintegrate into thin air.

He only gave her a weak smile as soon enough, his image was gone.

She reached out shakily to where his body once was, but she didn't feel him. There was only air; thick, dust-filled, rotten air.

"No," she cried out. "No! No, no, no, Andrew, no," she continued to cry out, searching the dimly lit, lonely room for him. There was no sign.

She stayed sitting on her swollen knees and began to cry heavily into her hands. Barely any tears were falling from her dehydrated eyes and her sobs were cracked and pitiful, simply coming out as moans into her clammy palms.

The heavy door swung open, and she jumped in surprise, turning towards the doorway to find The Man angrily approaching her. She shook her head in fear, knowing exactly what his problem was. She fell backwards in a rapid attempt to move away from him, her hands desperately scratching the cold floor to get away.

He was too fast. He grabbed her by her thin arm and nearly pulled it out of its socket, slamming her into the brick wall. She cried out in pain, her cheek skimming the gravelly rock of the wall and her head falling weakly onto her shoulder.

"You little bitch! You killed him!" The Man screamed, his voice so strained that his words hardly escaped.

"I didn't-" she tried to say, but he grabbed her by her matted hair and lifted her off the ground. She screamed into the air, her cries faltering desperately. "Please, stop! I didn't kill him!" she pleaded. "Please!"

He lifted her against the wall, and her hopeless attempts to escape his grasp were unsuccessful. He pinned her there by her bare shoulders, staring into her eyes in a way that she would definitely never forget. His eyes seemed to form a sheet of ice over them as he gazed menacingly into her.

"You did. You... you were jealous. Because I showed him more attention, didn't I?" The Man asked, his tone dangerously low. "He's dead now, Puppet Girl," he growled, his mask touching the flesh of her ear. "I hope you regret it, because-"

"Wait, wait," she said quickly, stopping his sentence. He stared down at her, while she tried to form a thought coherent enough for her to speak. "I can help you. Yeah, I-I can help you find another one. We, we can... we can toss his body somewhere, wh-where he won't be found and, I will help you find another boy! I will do whatever it takes," she shook with each word, hoping that her suggestion would change his mind.

His eyes were unreadable. They were icy and filled with malice. "He was your husband. How dare you say such things about him! You think that I can just toss his body? I now have to find a new Puppet Boy and Puppet Girl, because nobody will have the same connection with you as he did."

"Y-yes! They can, I- I will make sure they have the same connection. Please don't kill me, I'm begging you," she entreated, her voice rocky. "I will do anything. I love you. I love you so much, please, my creator."

"You are a murderer," he said, unmoved by her pleas. His fingers trailed slowly down her thin waist. "You... you are cruel," he told her. "You turned on him so quickly, just to see little Andrew... or Anthony, whatever the hell his name is. You actually thought I would let you see your brother?" he laughed, shaking his head.

Her heart dropped to her stomach.

"You... you're not.." tears instantly rolled down her cheeks. "You're not going to let me see him?" she whispered, her eyes locked on his cruel stare.

She thought back to when Tyler was beneath her, struggling and helpless, his crystal blue eyes dull and his face sunken in. She remembered him telling her that The Man wouldn't actually let her see her brother, but she didn't believe him. She truly thought that if she helped him, he would let her free. But she was wrong, and with that realization she also realized that Tyler was gone, and she was alone in this harsh display of puppetry.

"No," The Man snickered. "Of course not."

"I need to see him, please. I will do anything, absolutely anything," she was so desperate. She even leaned down and pressed a kiss to the cheek of The Man's mask. "I'm all he has, please."

Nothing seemed to change his mind.

"Please!" she screamed, her voice cracking as tears streamed down her cheeks slowly.

The Man started to laugh. It was a deep, guttural and mocking laugh that belittled Emily's desperate screams to nothing.

"W-why are you acting like this?" she asked, trying to calm him down. "I thought you loved me. I was going to perform in your sh-show," she whispered, and his gaze fixed downcast in thought. Her hopes leaped - it was a good sign that he was thinking.

"I hate anybody that hurts my puppets. Even if they are puppets themselves," he told her, his head lifting and his eyes staring into hers again.

Emily closed her eyes tightly.

"Please..."

"You killed him!" The Man suddenly screamed out again, his tone sounding almost... heartbreaking, to Emily. His voice was broken, and his eyes were shattered and she almost felt sympathy for him. But then she remembered all he had put her through, and she remembered that he took her away from her brother.

"I didn't-"

"You killed my Puppet Boy. My Puppet Boy. My handsome Puppet Boy..." His voice was laced with sorrow and his eyes were filled with desolation.

"I didn't kill him. You killed him. Look at what you've done to us! We are people," Emily whimpered, her voice faltering with each word. "We're not puppets. You beat him, not me. You starved him, not me. You killed him! Look at yourself! You need help," she tried to tell him again, keeping her voice soft to maybe try and talk him out of doing whatever he was planning.

It didn't work.

His head tilted to the side, and harshly - in a voice even more monotonous than his original - he asked, "Do you care about Puppet Boy?"

She nodded rapidly. "Y-yes, I really do," she said. And she did, she did care about him, but when it came to survival, she obviously felt as if her life were more important.

"Oh, good, my beautiful Puppet Girl. You can join him, then," he said with a horrifying sweetness to his tone.

Before Emily could protest, his fingers were locked around her neck.

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this is dedicated to BetweenTheseWorlds because her story is amazing and she is one of my favourite people on Wattpad :) check her out!