Chapter 11: Escape is Futile
Lili paced around the small confines of her cell. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this. Vash's vocal chords were slowly healing, though not as fast as she would have liked. She threw herself pitifully onto the floor, tears running down her cheeks.
I'm sorry, big bruder. I don't know how to get out of this one.
She sat there for a while, weeping quietly, contemplating the gravity of the situation. She was only interrupted by Luciano pushing a plate of pancakes through a slot in the door around 2 inches tall.
"Eat up. You'll need your strength for what Oliver has planned for you." He slid a fork through the slot.
"What's going to happen to us?" Luciano merely chuckled.
"Ah, if only you knew. Now, hurry up and eat." Lili scowled, then picked up the fork and began to eat. She could hear more chuckling, then heavy footsteps thudding away from her cell.
Once she had finished the plate of pancakes, she felt a small pain in her chest, but chalked it up to eating too fast. She lay down on the hard floor and fell quickly to sleep
.
~~~Choices~~~
The next morning, she woke to two unpleasant situations. The first, all of the second players in her cell, Luciano shaking her with his boot to awaken her. The second, a throbbing pain in her stomach. It felt like somebody had slipped about two tons of broken glass into those pancakes.
"W-what did you put in those pancakes?"
Flavio giggled. "Just a little hydrofluoric acid." Lili growled. Her stomach felt like it was about to burst. Oliver leaned down and patted her on the head.
"Don't fret, my pet. I have the antidote for you!" He pulled a cupcake out from behind his back.
"This cupcake contains calcium gluconate powder, an antidote for hydrofluoric acid. But... one catch. It contains the blood of your dear friend, Gigi." He set the cupcake in front of her face. "But if you don't eat it," he giggled, "You'll die!" Lili didn't want to eat anything with blood in it, much less the blood of somebody she knew, but she had no choice. She reached for the cupcake and took a slow bite. The crumbling pastry was streaked with a red tone, leaving the cupcake a pink color. Sadly, Oliver hadn't added any other ingredients this time, so the full metallic tang was all Lili tasted. With every bite, her stomach grew agitated, when finally she finished the cupcake and collapsed on the floor, shaking. Oliver and the other second players smirked.
"Poor, poor poppet. The poison will eventually fade, thanks to the antidote, but not for a very, very long time. Best make yourself comfortable."
Oliver pushed a red plastic bucket toward her with his foot.
"You'll probably need this. We don't want you getting the floor messy, do we?" He ushered out the other second players and closed the door behind him. Lili felt a wave of nausea rising up toward her throat, and she fumbled for the bucket.
That...sneaky...bastard...
~~~Sploosh~~~
Lili's stomach felt like somebody had stepped on it, then kicked it, then tossed it into a soccer field and played a little league game with it. She retched another wave of half-digested stomach acid into the red bucket and grimaced. Vash was starting to twitch, and she thought that was a good sign. She would go over to comfort him, but she was afraid of getting him covered in stomach acid. She heaved again, then fell onto her side, shaking like a leaf.
Is it over?
She felt no trace of the sickness she had felt earlier, though her stomach still hurt, so the poison must have worked its way out of her body.
Big bruder!
She crawled slowly over toward Vash, who was quivering slightly. His throat was still bloody, and his vocal chords were still knitting back together, but he seemed better than before.
"I am sorry, big bruder." Lili felt more tears trickling down her cheeks.
I will not cry anymore! I've cried too much in these past couple of days.
She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, then bent down to soothe her brother.
"Don't worry, Vash. Just a few more days, then your throat will be mended, and you can talk again."
Vash turned over, and Lili saw how bad his throat really was. The soft, tender flesh was red raw, and it was oozing some kind of red matter. Lili didn't want to say it, but if they made it out of here, Vash would probably never speak again. Even with a Nation's healing power.
"Big bruder... I'm sorry." Vash realized what she meant, and a single tear slid from the corner of his eye. He turned away, leaving Lili with a sour taste in her mouth and a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. That bad feeling quickly turned into fury, and she let out the scream of an animal, a loud guttural sound that startled Vash.
Oliver, you've hurt me too much. I've changed.
She sat down in the middle of her cell, grabbed the coloring book and pencil, and started formulating a plan.
~~~Oliver is in too deep~~~
Lili had just finished writing when she heard a knock on the door. She braced herself, but the door remained closed.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Canada, motherf**ker."
~~~I HAD TO ADD THAT I'M SO SORRY~~~
"You're second player Canadia?"
"It's Canada, But yeah. You can call me Matt."
"Okay." Lili heard the clattering of metal on metal, and the slot in the door opened. A set of keys were pushed through, along with an envelope, a box, and a lump of fabric.
"Here are the keys to your cell. The dress I've given you has pockets on the inside. Put the keys and the envelope in there, and wait until tonight. Inside the envelope are three pills, a red, a silver, and a blue. Once you get out of the cell, go to Oliver's bedroom and put the red one in his drinking water. It should dissolve instantly. Do the same thing with the green pill for Roland. The blue pill is for Vash."
"Where did you get all these?"
"Flavio doesn't keep his poison locked up very well."
"Nice."
"An ally will come to help you through the mirror tonight. Once you get through, take out the small wooden box. Inside is a solution. Spray the liquid on all the mirrors in the house. Don't forget a single mirror, or they can still find you."
"Isn't that kind of magic?"
"They brought you through a f**king mirror. Isn't that magical enough for you to believe?"
"Okay." Lili unfolded the lump of fabric. It was, in fact, a dress. And it did have pockets on the inside.
"Why are you helping me?" She heard a cough from outside, then, "I don't like the way Oliver's been treating you. And Vash."
"T-thank you."
There was no response but the thudding of heavy boot heels on the cold cement floor. Lili quickly got dressed and stuffed the small items in the pockets. Then, she waited.
At about sometime o'clock, Allen came in with a bowl of salad.
"I'm not eating this."
Allen speared a couple of leaves and popped them in his mouth, chewing noisily. Swallowing, he muttered, "Satisfied?" Then, he left. Lili grabbed the for and started to eat. There was also a cup of water for Vash, which he gulped down immediately. Vash hadn't had the strength to move for a couple of days, so it took all he had to reach for the cup.
A couple of hours later, Luciano and Oliver arrived, holding a cup of red liquid. Luciano went for the sketchbook immediately, flipping through the pages and noting the scribbles of crayon that were supposed to be escape plans.
"Oliver, look at this. The little bird is trying to leave the nest early." Oliver chuckled.
"Silly little canary. You know that a bird can't fly if we clip its wings." He handed the cup to Lili.
"Drink up, poppet. You need your vitamins." Lili took the plastic cup and lifted it to her lips, sipping the thick red liquid. She knew what it was very well, but they wouldn't leave unless she finished.
"How'd you get a new dress?"
"Flavio brought it down for me."
When the thick, metallic liquid was finally drained, the two left her alone. She wiped off the red staining her lips and sighed.
It felt like forever when night finally came.
She waited for what seemed like forever until she heard a knock on the door.
"Hey, bitch. I'm here to help you."
Lili pulled out the keys and unlocked her cell door as quietly as possible. When the door swung open, the girl standing there stopped it with her hand.
The girl had long brown hair tied in a ponytail, and her eyes were brown as well. She wore a short black skirt, black leggings, and a hoodie with a band name Lili had never heard of. Her eyes were heavily lidded with black makeup, and she wore spiked combat boots on her feet.
"Um..."
"I'm Erika. Your second player."
Looking closer, Lili could see a faint resemblance in their body shape and...um...lack of a figure.
"Nice to meet-"
"We'll have time for all that later. Come on, quietly." Lili turned to Vash first. Pulling out the small envelope, she slipped the blue pill into Vash's mouth. He swallowed it, then recoiled at the taste. He went through several muscle spasms before standing up, staggering a little, and walking out the door. His movements were very uneven, and it took all he had to keep standing, but he managed.
"I'll get him through the mirror. You go and do what you have to." Erika grabbed Vash around the waist and walked him toward the only mirror in the basement. Lili tiptoed upstairs as silently as possible.
First, she went to Oliver's room. She saw a glass of water on the bedside table, just like Matt had described. She tiptoed carefully over and placed the red pill in the water. It dissolved instantly, leaving no trace. She looked at Oliver. He was cuddling with a small, pink, bunny plush, and he looked innocent. This was the man that had brought her over, the man that only wanted somebody to care for.
I wish I was sorry. I really, really do.
She tiptoed out, taking one last look at the sleeping man. Then she hurried away to Roland's room, not looking back.
~~~What do the pills do?~~~
Roland's room was harder. He was not a neat person, and the floor was littered with candy wrappers and trash. She was able to make it over without any complications, though she almost tripped over a discarded powder compact. She dropped the silver pill into his water, where it dissolved into metallic powder. She considered adding makeup to his face in revenge, but she figured she probably couldn't do it lightly enough to keep him asleep. She tiptoed across the room and out of site, trying hard to not wake the sleeping beast.
~~~Escape!~~~
Lili slowly descended the steps to the basement. She was contemplating all the memories she had here.
Breakfast.
Cupcakes.
Friends.
Laughter.
Secrets.
.
.
.
Poppet.
She started to sniffle, silent tears running down her face. she mentally berated herself, but she couldn't help it.
This is the house of a psychopath! You shouldn't miss it...
But, no matter how much she remembered and scolded herself, she would miss this place, at least a little.
"Are you ready?"
Erika was standing there. Vash was gone. Lili took a deep breath.
"I am ready."
Erika took hold of her arm, holding it steady, and led her through the mirror. The familiar sensation of walking through Jell-O™ returned, and Lili winced. Then, it stopped.
Home.
Her bed, her rug, her dresser, it was all here. Lili started to cry harder. She leaped off the dresser and dusted off her shirt. Erika grimaced.
"Stop your whining. You have a job to do." Lili sighed. "Right."
She withdrew the small wooden box from the inside of her dress. Pulling it out, she could see inside was a miniscule spray bottle full of violet liquid. Erika smiled, just once.
"Let me go through before you spray it, or I won't be able to get out." She climbed back up on the dresser, saluted Lili, and slid through the mirror. Lili could see her face on the other side, and she was winking. Then...nothing.
Lili sprayed the purple serum onto the mirror. The mirror turned ice blue, then white, then normal again. Lili pressed against it. Normal. But, then again, it had always been that way to her.
She inspected the house for any mirrors, spraying the violet liquid onto each one, then awaiting the coloration change.
Finally, she had sprayed the mirror in Vash's room, a small square around five inches each side.
"Done!" The violet liquid had lasted a lot longer than she had expected, but it was empty now. She relaxed. No more Oliver. No more Roland. No more...Gigi. Lili had completely forgotten about the small girl. She was trapped. Lili assumed Matt had thought up an escape plan for her, too, but she could only hope.
She heard a fierce thumping from under the covers of Vash's bed.
She turned, and there was her big brother, looking dazed. The wound on his throat burned a sickening red.
"Big bruder!"
She ran to him and threw her arms around him, weeping. He tried to speak, but could only manage a weak cough.
"I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have gotten mixed up in all this." He stroked her hair, small tears falling from his eyes.
"Never again." Lili said as she looked up again, hope in her eyes. He nodded.
~~~Happy ending...right?~~~
Oliver woke up, stretching his arms and yawning. It had been a good night's sleep, but he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. He slid out of bed and grabbed the glass of water from his bedside table and took a long sip. He placed the glass back on the table and turned to go pick out his outfit for the day. But his happy monologue was interrupted by him being overcome by spasms, tearing at the inside of his stomach and causing all his muscles to burn. He fell to the floor, twitching and jerking, until finally he was still. He tried to get up, but his arms and legs wouldn't cooperate. He lay on the floor, seething and twitching gently.
Darn Flavio, lock up your poisons better.
~~~What will happen to Roland?~~~
When Oliver was finally able to rise, more than an hour had gone by, and his muscles were still twitching. His stomachache had subsided to a dull throb, and he still had no feeling in his right leg, but his anger had only grown. He walked as fast as possible to Roland's room and lifted his arm to knock on the door.
"Roland, you in there?"
"No. Go away." Roland's voice sounded muffled.
"I'm coming in." Oliver grabbed the door handle as sturdily as possible and pushed open the door. He saw only a giant pile of blankets, quivering softly.
"What's wrong now?"
"Not coming out."
"I swear to god, Roland, you are such a diva." Oliver limped over to the blankets and tore them off of the diva, who shrieked and covered his face.
"Don't look at me!" Oliver moved his hands off of his face, and grimaced.
Roland's face was now a bright blue color, and it seemed to glow.
"What was in that pill?"
"Colloidal silver. Super concentrated."
"What is colloidal silver?"
"Supposed to have healing properties. If you eat it once every day for a few years, your skin turns a blue shade. Flavio combined it with some other chemicals and super-concentrated it. He uses it for whenever Luciano gets too cocky or refuses to try on some clothes." Roland said, bitterly. He placed his head in his hands and let out a dry sob.
"Just cover it up. You're a makeup artist, for pete's sake."
"Somebody hid all my foundation and stage makeup!" Roland wailed. His blue skin and sharklike teeth made him look like some kind of mutant fish.
Oliver winced as another muscle spasm overcame his body, making him shake and jerk around. Roland stopped whining long enough to smirk.
"What happened to you?"
"Somebody slipped me a pill," Oliver hissed as he tried to regain control of his arms and legs, "That limits my muscle control and causes spasms. I have no control over when the spasms happen or where. I can barely stand up, for crying out loud."
Roland smiled, but then remembered his face was a lovely shade of cerulean and started to wail again.
"I'm going to go downstairs and check on Lili. Make breakfast, will you?" Oliver limped to the secret entrance, pushed the button, and slid down with as much dignity as possible.
~~~Where's Lili?~~~
Oliver grappled with the doorknob, trying to get his fingers to cooperate. When he finally got a good grip on the tarnished metal, he turned it and fell through the doorway.
"Lili?"
Silence. Oliver looked up and around the room. It was empty, the white walls seeming to glow mockingly.
"Well..."
Oliver's grin seemed to crawl up the sides of his face. The pink swirls in his eyes seemed to glow with a fire and fury never seen on the strawberry blonde's face before.
"This takes the cake, doesn't it?" His legs gave out from under him and he fell to the floor, giggling madly. Scrambling to get up, he crawled over to the stairway and clung like a baby koala to the banister. He used the wood to get leverage, standing up and climbing up the stairs. He missed every other step, his legs shaking and juddering.
"I swear to god, Roland, you better have made a darn good breakfast, or this morning will become my personal Hell."
~~~Oh, Butterscotch!~~~
Roland did indeed make a good breakfast (Eggs with strips of french toast - and maple syrup), but Oliver was still in a foul mood all through breakfast.
"I'm going through the mirror after breakfast."
"That's nice."
"I'm going to get her back. She can't have gone far."
"Cool."
"This french toast is really good."
"I'm glad you think so." Roland was sitting across from Oliver, sipping a cup of black coffee. Oliver had a glass of milk and was attacking his egg like it owed him money.
"How did you prepare these eggs?"
"Boiled."
"I want scrambled tomorrow."
"You're cooking then."
"Fine."
Oliver sliced the top off of his egg and dipped his spoon in. They ate in silence for a moment until Oliver finally said, "I'm done. Clear the table, will you? I'm going out."
"Sure."
Oliver wiped his lips gingerly with a napkin and stood up. The spasms had finally subsided, though he had cut himself a few times with his butter knife. He pushed in his chair, knocking it against the wooden table, and descended the steps to the basement.
~~~Running out of ideas~~~
"They'll try to come back and get you."
Erika had warned Lili a couple of times about this. Oliver and Roland were not going to take her betrayal lightly. That's what the purple elixir was for, to prevent them from coming back and taking revenge on her and Vash and most likely Roderich as well.
"It's not going to be pretty."
Lili fell back on the bed and sighed. Everything just seemed slow now, now that she had experienced life in the second player world. Everybody there seemed so...oddly happy, as happy as being a psycho killer could make you.
I'm going to miss it...at least the happy parts.
~~HALP~~
Oliver composed himself in front of the mirror. Lili would put up a fight, he was sure. But he brought along a tranquilizer dart, so that he could just carry her back with no problem. And it wouldn't be Vash that gets to play with him tomorrow...Oh, Matt would be so sorry he decided to mess with Oliver. Oliver smiled, fingering the small gun he held in his right hand.
But enough of that, I have to get Lili first.
He took a deep breath, composed himself, and walked toward the mirror.
And bonked his nose on the the reflecting material.
Shoot! Darn darn darn darny darn darn!
He stepped back, rubbing his nose tenderly. Something was wrong with the mirror. He should have been able to travel through it easily. He placed a palm on the cool surface. Solid.
Something must be wrong on the other side.
He grimaced. She had won. There was no way he could get through the mirror. Well, this mirror.
Oliver tried altering the perception to try the bathroom mirror (shoot), the mirror in the living room (fudge), and even the teeny one in Vash's bedroom (darn!).
She had truly won. There were no more mirrors in the house. But...
There was one more thing he could do.
~~Uh-Oh~~
Lili sat up, rubbing her eyes. She had been waiting almost an hour now, and there was no sign on Oliver. She swung her legs off the bed and was about to leave when she heard a vicious bang come from the mirror. She turned on her heel and ran to the dresser.
There was Oliver, gathering all his energy for one final transmission. His eyes were swirling pink, and his grin stretched all the way up both cheeks.
"You may have won this time Lili, but you are not safe. I'll follow you, wherever you go, no matter what you do, I'll find you~!"
Lili scowled.
"And how are you going to do that? I've protected all the mirrors in this house. Go back to your basement and toy with somebody else's mind for a while. I'm done with you!"
Oliver winked at her, and vanished.
There was a silence for a while, and Lili knew it was over. She ran to Vash's room, ecstatic to tell him the news.
It was over.
It was over.
It was over.
As Lili runs, a small powder compact falls out of her back pocket. The reflective surface flashes once, then reveals a bright blue eye.
"Peek-a-boo, I see you; no one hears your screams~
I will haunt the nights of peace, always in your dreams~
Everything is mortifying, as the people wake~
Because poor Lili thought she could actually out-trick a snake~"
Fin.
Nuu it is over! Should there be a sequel, or nah? Comment below!
Thanks to all the people who were along with me on this incredible journey.
Poem above by A Broken Imagi-NATION