Page 38 of Sour
My chest ached as I kept walking, ignoring the sounds of his shouts as he desperately tried to break free.
“Koven!”
I looked down at my smiley face and smiled.
Goodbye, Ziggy.
Amonth or so had passed since I had escaped Wellard Asylum. I’d spent almost every day running, trying to get as far away as possible. Eventually, I ended up in a small town where people didn’t care to ask questions, and I could easily fit right in.
I found myself a simple job, working at an old school video store, probably one of the few places that even still sold videotapes. It didn’t pay much, but the owner was willing to keep it all under the table. I had grown accustomed to this newsense of freedom, enjoying how I could walk down the street and not worry about prying eyes or whispered voices. There were no ghosts of my past, no nurses visiting me in my sleep, and no Ziggy. Just me and the mundane life I had created.
A simple life.
The bell above the video store door rang. “I’ll be right with you!” I called out, shuffling a few videotapes back onto the shelves behind the counter. I popped up with a smile and noticed a hand sliding a tape across the counter. I looked at the tape, then noticed a tattoo along the man’s hand. It was a yellow smiley face. Just like mine.
No.
My smile fell as I slowly glanced up to see Ziggy, dressed in his leather jacket and dark clothes, smiling back at me. “It’s been awhile, Skittles. Did you miss me?”
I immediately turned and tried to run, but someone else appeared and knocked me down onto the floor. “Fuck!” I grabbed my nose and felt blood drip down my face. I looked up to see Johnny standing there, grinning. “No.” I rolled onto my hands and knees and tried to crawl away, but Ziggy caught my ankles and pulled me across the carpet. I screamed, clawing at the floor. “Let me go!”
My stepbrother grabbed a chunk of my hair, ripping it back as he clutched my body and tossed me over his shoulder. “Watch the door,” he muttered to Johnny.
“Let me go!” I kicked and screamed, but Ziggy just carried me into the backroom of the video store. He threw me down onto the floor, the impact making my bones ache as I rolled around in agony. I had hit the floor so hard, my shoulder felt as if it had dislocated. “Why,” I begged, holding my arm. “Why are you here? How did you find me?”
Ziggy brushed his hair from his face. “Oh, I’ve got my ways.” He spun a nearby chair around and took a seat, catching hisbreath. “It wasn’t easy though, I’ll tell you that much! You were one hard thing to find, Skittles.” He chuckled.
I rolled to face him, groaning as I tried to move my arm. “How the fuck did you even get out? I left you handcuffed to an operating table!”
Ziggy popped a yellow Skittle into his mouth. “Oh, yes you did. You pulled a dirty little trick on me, leaving me behind like that, Koven. But, you underestimated me. Just like you always underestimated your little friend, Dream.”
Dream. Fuck. I almost forgot about her.
“What did you do to her?” I asked. “What did you do to Dream?”
Ziggy exhaled. “Well, once you escaped, I figured the staff would notice Dr. Sable’s disappearance. And I figured it was only a matter of time before they found BJ’s body in the tub of that old bathroom.” He ate another Skittle.
So he did have something to do with BJ. No surprise there.
“I figured I needed a scapegoat, just in case.” Ziggy winked. “You see, Dream was the one who gave you and Eydie up. You really did underestimate her, you know? She knew all about you sneaking around the asylum, all about Dr. Sabel’s little organ business, BJ and his toys, hell, she knew it all. It was a risk I couldn’t take.”
“What did you do to her?” I growled.
“I simply laid all the blame at her pale little feet. Oh, you should’ve seen her face when they came for her. It was truly something to behold. Of course, it didn’t help that when they did find her, she was cuddling that fleshy rabbit I made her. The staff threw her into a straitjacket and tossed her into seclusion for a few days while they tried to decide the best way to punish her.” Tears rolled down my cheeks as I listened with a heavy heart. “In the end, the state decided it was best to just put her out of her misery.”
“No,” I breathed.
“Oh relax. They didn’t kill her. I’m notthatheartless. They gave her a lobotomy.” He moved his arms, smiling, as if playfully mocking the very idea. It made me sick. “She went into the operating room, shouting and thrashing all about, saying stuff about how everyone’s a liar or whatever. Nonsense, really. And when she came out, she was absolutely silent, wearing the biggest smile.”
“How could you? She was your friend. She trusted you!”
Ziggy ruptured into laughter. “Dream was a pawn in my game. Just like I was in yours.” He stood and walked over to me. “Well, not anymore.” Ziggy pressed his fingertip into my blood and drew a smile from the corners of my mouth. He then did the same to himself and licked his finger clean. “No more running, Koven. It’s time to finish what we started so long ago.”
I watched as my stepbrother pulled two syringes from his leather jacket. They were filled with a pale blue liquid. I had no idea what they were, but just seeing him hold them frightened me. “W–what are those?” I asked.
He held a single syringe up, admiring it with a giant grin. “This, Skittles, is cyanide. More than enough to kill someone. And that’s exactly what it’s going to do.”
No.
