DEVILS ♛ C. G. 〖 #wattys2018 〗

F O U R / T H R E E

SOTC: Crazy — Gnarls Barkley
• I remember when I lost my mind •

"Elle?" April came to her side. It was hard to believe how small she had gotten, it looked as if her skin was webbed between her joints. Her golden complexion was completely washed out by April's flashlight beam. "Elle? What... what did they do to you?"

Elle turned towards her. The fat on her cheeks had almost completely vanished, like her skin was vacuum-sealed over her cheekbones, around the scarred imprint of her father's iron. Her eyes, they were the same as they were before, black as a cold night. Her chapped lips parted, slowly, but nothing came out, except a little sniffle, and a shiny line down her cheek.

April kneeled down beside her, wrapped her arms around the girl. Elle heaved a sob into her shoulder. It was only then that she remembered that this was Elle, this was her best friend of five years, this was the woman that glowed. Who wore carnival colors in her hair, who now tucked her bare skull into April's arms.

April remembered all the years she kept up the devil's daughter image, pretending to be ruthless and heartless and tyrannical. And the times that she lay in the dark next to Elle, letting that image fall, letting herself crack under the pressure, and the times that Elle would hold her.

"What did they do to you?" She asked again, softly.

Elle breathed a bit, face in April's green jacket. Then she pulled back, dragging her arms back into her lap, face red. She looked at April, and parted her lips again, trying to speak. "Se metieron..." She squeezed her eyes shut, clearly in pain. She tried again, forming a sentence from raspy coughs. "They fu—" she retched. "Fucked with m-my head."

Then she dissolved into a bout of nasty coughs. Her whole body spasmed. April didn't know what to do other than hold her friend, and try to keep her steady.

"Babe—" she tried to say, but she was interrupted by a catch in her throat, and then she began to cough too, uncontrollably, the distinct tang of smoke in her mouth.

She looked around at the prison cell, waved her flashlight around, and saw the cloudiness that had enveloped them. Her eyes grew wide. "Elle!" she coughed. "Stay low!"

They crawled on all fours avoid the bulk of the smoke above their heads. On the floor was a sprinkling of dirt among other things, all of which grew stuck to April's hands. Elle followed behind her, slower but still moving miraculously fast.

Thoughts rushed into April's head. Like I should have thought this through. Like If we're crawling, we might choke on smoke before we get to any exit.

There was a moment where April felt like this was moving too fast. A scary idea entered her head. She pushed it away. She wanted it to leave her alone. She wanted to be back in her room, with Carl, back before her world fell apart. But she was here, in the pitch black, flashlight clicking against the floor.

           Wouldn't it be comical if I die in the same hell I created?

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pppffft these chapters are bad but the end is near so get ready

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Word Count: 591
Created 4-14-18