Page 30 of Lolli-Gag
“I told you all those years ago—you were worthless. That’s why I put you in the oven.”She laughs. The smell of burnt rubber bands and stale cigarettes hits my nostrils, making me gag.
“It’s not real, honeycomb. She’s not fucking real,”Jethro says, but I ignore him. I see her. I can smell her. I step closer, tilting my head.
“Your imaginary friend telling you lies?”she asks, but I don’t answer her. I just keep walking closer and closer to her.
“Whether you are real or not. You’re fucking dead, Mother!” I growl, and she laughs. So I lift my blade and charge for her, except the room warps again as a guard stumbles back. His eyes widen, and I giggle, bringing the blade up and slashing down his face. He screams but I don’t stop. I keep swinging the knife wildly until he falls to the ground. I straddle his waist and slam the knife into his throat as Vinny comes to stand above me, lifting his foot, and slamming it against the guards face over and over again until brain matter and blood splashes against me. I throw my head back and giggle like a maniac, then rip the blade from the man's throat, only for someone to grab me by the arms, pulling me away. But I chuck the knife at Vinny and he sends it right above my head, sinking it into the guard’s eyeball. He immediately releases me screaming and thrashing. I giggle and grab the handle of the blade, twisting it, but he slaps me in the face pushing me to the ground. My head bounces off the floor. My vision blurs, and my stomach twists. Nausea takes over as the room spins.No! I don’t want to leave. No! No! No!
“Canvas, Canvas,” Killian panics, cupping my face. “Stay with me. Take a deep breath,” he tells me, and I tilt my head, looking into his big blue eyes.
“You know you’re beautiful, right?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“No, you are,” he says, and I smile. My chest rises then falls as the alarms blare.
“Doesn’t it hurt you?” I ask, but he shakes his head.
“Not right now it doesn’t,” he says, and I giggle. Jethro chuckles as something echoes down the hall like it just crawled out of the wall.
“Do you hear him?” I whisper, but Killian shakes his head.
“Get up, Honeycomb. We aren’t finished,”he orders as I try to stand, but Killian lifts me by my waist, leaning me against the wall.
“I’m good, Killer. Let’s get the hell out of here,” I say, and he smiles. But the hallway stretches in front of us. More doors. More guards, and my smile widens.
“They made a mistake,” I say.
“They made you,”Jethro hums.
“They did,” Killian answers. I step forward and everything in front of me—becomes something to break. They don’t stop coming. They think numbers matter, that noise matters, or that we will tire out. Which might be true, but I laugh anyway.
“You don’t ever learn. Haven’t we gone through this dance already?” I sing.
“They don’t need to. They just need to try,”Jethro hums. I like it when they try. It makes the game much more exciting. I jump up and down as the hallway pulses with movement. Boots slam. Blood splatters, and the screams—their screams—fuel me. Jagger slams a guard right over the head with his metal pipe. The crunch of the man's skull sends chills down my spine. Killian moves behind him, twisting bones, and shivering with every correction he makes, leaving bodies looking deformed and waiting to be fixed. I giggle, walking up to Lucifer as he continues to whisper. What the fuck does he tell people that have them freezing and forgetting how to exist. It’s fucking weird. Vinny is the scariest of them all, because you never see him coming. One second he’s there and the next—gone. I step forward again, my feet sliding on the sticky floor, but I don’t look down. I just keep moving forward, to where? I have no idea. It’s not like we can escape this place. Instead, we just made it our own playground… a killing ground. My hands feel alive like every movement, every kill just gets easier and easier, like I was always supposed to do this.
“Keep up,” I call over my shoulder, making Jagger laugh.
“Try and stop me.” He grins, snapping a guard's neck and dropping his body at my feet. I spin as another guard reaches for me but I dance out of his way and climb onto his back. He thrashes, trying to throw me off, but I dig my nails into his throat, causing him to choke as Killian comes in front of him.
“Press a quarter of an inch higher, Canvas, and apply just a touch more of pressure,” he corrects me, and I listen and do exactly what he says. The guard falls to his knees, thrashing me wildly as I cut off his air then plug his nose. “Such a good girl, Canvas,” he praises as butterflies swim in my stomach. Wrapping my arms around his neck and head, I twist until I feel his bone pop then giggle, climbing off of him.
“Too easy,” I whisper, and Jethro chuckles.
“More,”he urges.
“Yes.” Always yes, but the alarm changes as the pitch drops and the rhythm shifts. I pause, tilting my head.
“Do you hear that?” I whisper, but Jagger doesn’t stop beating a guard's head in with his pole. Killian doesn’t look away from the body I just killed. Lucifer though—he smiles wider, and Vinny—he freezes. He hears it too.
“That’s new,”Jethro says as something hisses.Soft. Wrong. Shit. The vents. Fuck!
“They’re changing the rules,” I sing as a thin mist spills into the hallway.Colorless and silent. Almost invisible.
“Don’t breathe,”Jethro snaps, and I laugh.
“Too late.” It hits fast but not like the drug. My limbs slow and my fingers twitch as the hallway blurs. Jagger stumbles, as Killian reaches for the wall, while Lucifer exhales slowly, but Vinny’s eyes snap to mine, and I take a step towards him, or try to. The floor shakes under me and the hallway tilts.
“Stay up,”Jethro growls.
“I’m trying, don’t you see that,” I whisper, my voice sounding far away. The gas thickens and everything gets heavier, slower, making the noise fade. Not gone, just muted like the building is wrapping us up and pulling us under.
