XXI.

ANEURYSM

Sunset finally came. The street lamps began to produce light as did the headlights of the various vehicles passing by. Everybody was heading home for the day or leaving it to venture out into the night. In either case, it was around that time for people to feel relieved of their duties and relax both body and mind until it was time to go to bed.

For a certain pair of individuals, this day was no different from the rest. It reeked of boredom and proactivity, just another meaningless day to get by.

For Griff Matthews it was like this everyday, just wasting away in front of the television set, watching whatever was available as he basked in the sensation of the liquid that flowed through his veins. The euphoria of it all was better than anything else in this pathetic life he inhabited, even better than the God awful sex he had to partake with that damn woman. The cooking wasn't any better, most of his meals were cheap and frozen microwave food and take out from his closest fast food joint. He had to reserve most of his cash for his needs, food and anything else came second.

Having being out of a job for months now, his only source of income was from his girlfriend who was a real bitch at times. Also he did help this mean old fuck of a senior citizen wash his fucking cars and cut his lawn, all for $140 a week, fuck it, it was something at least. Enough to get his drugs, that's all that mattered, fuck everything else.

He looked from the very corner of his eye as the front door clicked open. In came the nagging bitch, also known as Nellie, his current girlfriend and equal junkie as him. How the fuck did she manage to keep a job despite being hard into blow was beyond him.

"Just where I left you." She closed the door and headed straight for the refrigerator, not giving him a second glance.

"Yeah, whatever." Griff dismissed her back.

Damn he needed to get another hit, he could feel his body already itching for more. He only had three small packets left and he really wanted to make them last, despite his body wishing otherwise. He was all out of cash and Nellie would get her check in two days. How was he meant to function for two whole days with just three fucking small ass packets of cocaine?

"God damn it, did you drink the fucking juice box again?" She screeched at him.

"If you had brought more to drink than that then I wouldn't have!" He shouted back.

"The juice is mine you fucking moron, how many times do I have to say it!" She retaliated with frustration.

Everyday it was always like this, scream, yell, shout, complain, fuck, eat, shit and take a quick dose to finish off with a perfect score. He was down right sick of it, but then again where else is he suppose to go? He already tried living under a bridge and it sucked ass, he was real luckily to end up with some chick that owned her own place and didn't mind at all his needs for the product, she was just as bad as him.

"You can always go buy more! Stop bitching about it!" Griff flipped channels, already feeling a headache growing.

The itch was coming back, all this shouting was getting a rise out of him. His fingers couldn't stop twitching and tapping at the leg rapidly and his breathing was also getting hard and raspy, not mention the increase in sweat his body was producing despite the air conditioner being on. He only had three left, but if he snorted them all he'd be out. The shitty tv shows at this hour of the day were just God awful to react to, his game shows where all that mattered and right now none were available. He had nothing at all to distract him from the starving need.

After five full minutes had passed the itch had now become unbearable, never having been a man of restrain he abruptly stood up and headed for their room. Opening one of the drawers he pulled out a small black packet in his hand. He tried to peel it open, but his shaking and clammy fingers made it more frustrating to accomplish such simple task.

"For fucks sake!"

He grabbed a makeup kit by the vanity desk and made a mess searching for anything sharp. Finally getting his hands on a pair of clippers, he gingerly cut the packet open and immediately inhaled the entire white powder up his nostril. The surge of adrenaline coursed through his body as his beloved medicine brought him a sense of relief after such a mundane, yet stressful day. But as it's well-known amongst drug users, it's never enough.

Just as he was cutting open the second packet he was rudely interrupted by a nagging voice, "What the fuck are you doing? You can drink my fucking stuff, but don't fucking finish our blow too!"

"The last one is all yours okay! I just need to mend my fucking head is all." Griff exclaimed as Nellie tried to pry their cocaine reserves from his clenched hand.

"Then take a damn aspirin! These are suppose to last us until my payday!" She aggressively reminded him, "The money I have left is for the upcoming rent!"

Griff shoved her away as she was practically barking on his face, "Then go suck off the landlord again! Worked the first time didn't it?"

"Fuck you dickhead!"

She attempted to hit him, but got both hands held tight by Griff as he used his strength to hold her in place. They were now at it again, this being the third time this week alone. A lovers quarrel at first during the early stages of their relationship, now just a series of hateful insults and slaps, he was getting sick of it, sick of it all in general.

"If you did more then wash a couple of fucking cars every now and then, maybe we would have enough money for both coke and rent. I wouldn't need to do fucking shit like that ever again! You fucking no good, lazy faggot bitch bum!" She cursed him out, also fed up with the way things had been going as of late between them both.

He had finally had enough and without a second thought he punched her directly on the face. Her body limping down to the floor as she gave out a painful groan in response to his sudden attack. He was livid as he kicked her hard on the chest before grabbing the last two packets and storming out the room.

"Disrespectful little bitch! Fuck you and fuck everybody else that thinks just like you!" Griff grabbed her purse and reached out for all the money she had stored in it.

Grabbing the keys to the car he opened the front door and slammed it shut. Angrily muttering his way down the stairs and his temper flaring uncontrollably he reached for the parked car ahead. He didn't give a damn if the bat closed in three hours he was gonna spend the whole night getting shitfaced, luckily he'll find a pretty horny slut to spend the night with.

None of that would happen though. As he opened the door somebody held an arm to his throat and a rag with an odd smell to his face. Everything went pitch dark.

Coming to his senses, the first thing Griff noticed was that he was tied up from the torso, sitting down on the grass against something hard. Second he was surrounded by trees, so who knows where exactly he could be and lastly somebody was standing right in front of him. The full moon light serving as the only source of light shined above the figure before him, his captor if he had to guess.

Sitting on his ass, he could only look at this person slightly upwards. He had no way of telling how tall this imposing individual was, likely around his height of he had to guess, his personal height being five feet and ten inches. Another thing he also noticed was that the guy was wearing a mask, one of those tactical cop or army plastic face masks on top of having a hoodie over his head to be more anonymous. A black jacket, black gloves, pants and knee pads with army boots, this guy looked like a mercenary straight from the movies.

Squinting his eyes, they were suddenly wide open as he saw what appeared to be two holsters on each side of his hips, holsters carried guns and thanks to the moonlight, the reflection of steel illuminated from the waist were they were currently held in place.

"H-Hey what the fuck is going on?" The panic in his voice was evident.

Lyra held no true emotions as she quietly stared at him. Through her goggles he could see all of his emotions at play in his face, the confusion, the anger, the fear, most importantly the fear. She had expected more of a fight, in fact her initial plan was to bust down the door and viciously interrogate them both then and there. Thankfully she had something called a brain and being a former A student with a promising educational career, she put it to good use.

Hello there, I was passing by and wanted to know if it was okay for me to offer tickets for a fundraiser at my local church?

Yeah, sure, do as you please kid, nice of you to ask first, young kids today don't have any courtesy anymore.

I promise no to be a nuisance to your tenants it'll be quick and I'll be on my merry way.

Hey kid, uh, you might want to skip apartment B-4. They're the worst people I've had to deal with, mostly the prick that lives there. I know you folks are all about saving souls, but that guy is a certified junkie bastard with no heart. I already called the cops on him once.

Oh my, well I thank you for the warning. I deeply appreciate it sir.

Just want to spare you from the receiving end of a barrel of unforgiving insults coming from that bastard's mouth is all, besides, not trying to scare you, but he seems the filthy minded type.

I thank you again. God bless you.

Having pinpointed his target down she waited outside for the opportunity to strike. Instead of barging in and alerting the entire apartment building, she opted to wait by the other side of the fence in between alleys and camp out till someone exited the place.

Now here they were.

"Who the fuck are you? What do you want?" He kept demanding.

"Who's your seller?" Lyra asked, lowering her voice as best she could.

"My...what?" He actually looked bewildered.

Rolling her eyes, she pulled her arm backwards and from the sling in her back unsheathed a baseball bat. Holding it with a strong grip she bashed it as hard as she could on his kneecap. The a sickening "thump" was heard and felt as he screamed out in pain from the blow.

"Aaargh! What the fuck!?"

"Who is your fucking drug dealer!" Lyra demanded, both hands still clenching on the bat.

"You fucking crazy bit-aargh!"

Lyra struck him again, this time crushing his shin, the feeling of bone breaking could be felt through the bat to her hands. Not satisfied she lifted the bat above her head and against his pleas, brought it down harder than before on the same spot. His screams were loud as they could be, but nobody would hear him. Lyra had made sure to drive them both as far away into the boonies of Michigan, nobody would ever find them. She had all night to interrogate this piece of shit, and she had no qualms about breaking every bone in his body.

"Want to go for three?" She asked the man who was on the verge of tears, "Who sells you the drugs!"

"...I...I, go t-t-to, a trailer! A f-fucking trailer house! His n-name, fuck! His name... Francis! For fucks sake!" he blurted it all out in pain.

"Where is this trailer at?" Lyra was not done yet and readied the bat for another swing.

"It's at Clearv-view Trailer Park! It's w-white and blue with a red picku-p-p truck damn it!" He quickly replied back.

She now had a name and location. She knew that trailer park, after all there were only three of them in Royal Woods. it was on the outskirts of town, made sense for it to be the perfect spot to sell drugs. Far away from public eyes this immoral business was blooming with excellence and zero interruptions. It made her mad, realizing just how dirty her hometown really was. For most of her youth she believed her hometown to be a proud example of unity and prosperity, know she knew better, every city no matter how big or small, they all carried their share of litter, trash that has been allowed to pile up and stink up the whole area. Royal Woods was beginning to rot, her and Lemy had been living in on top of a trash can that was beginning to overflow, due to all the filth that was being accumulated.

She needed to find them. She needed to kill the cancer.

Looking down at the man before him, she felt disgust. He too was a proud production of this disease, an extension of the cancer that was killing this town. An extension of the cancer that killed the boy she loved. Reaching for her gun, Lyra aimed it directly at his face and cocked back the hammer that would trigger the shot.

"Is that the only person? You don't have any other assholes you buy from?" Lyra growled.

Seeing a gun aimed at his face got him spooked hard, "He's the only one! Don't kill me! I-I-I have a girlfriend...waiting f-for me back home, she'll die of a, a brok-ken heart!"

Lyra glared hard at him, even if he couldn't see it himself, "Any bitch willing to put up with the bullshit of a junkie asshole like yourself deserves every inch of pain in their sack of shit life."

After a few seconds, Lyra raised the revolver up, gently decocking the hammer back to its normal spot, "I'm not going to waste a bullet on you."

Putting her gun away gave him a sense of relief. He would only have to deal with broken leg and had no idea just how far from town he truly was. Would he be left here, or would he get drugged again and tossed in front of the clinic? He gave everything that he had been asked for, now what? Trying his best to ignore the unbearable pain from his possibly broken leg he saw his torturer grab the baseball bat again. With both eyes wide open, he saw the vigilante readying for a swing, this one aiming for his skull.

"Night, night, asshole."

Mustering all her strength, Lyra swung as hard as possible, no holding back. Never again.

"No! No! N-"

The ride back home was quiet, on her behalf, she did have the radio on at a moderate volume. Nothing noticeable was playing, music she did not recognize at all. Looking around she saw paper and junk decorating the floor and backseats. Was this guy such a slob? At least all of her sisters had the decency to clean up, some would require a more firm request than others (Loan), but in any case this car needed to be cleaned up.

Stopping at a red light, Lyra still wearing her hoodie on, tossed out all crumbled up pieces of paper she could reach out the window. She was feeling the hunger, but decided to wait until arriving back at Panther's, who would clearly be asking where she acquired this beat up vehicle. That was a fair point, what to do with this stolen vehicle she was now commandeering? Eventually it would be reported missing as will he. She did take him deep outside of town, his body would most likely be consumed by the local wildlife by the time anybody finds him. Again, who would ever miss such a drug addicted piece of shit anyhow?

He did have $87 on him, a nice bonus with all things considered.

As she continued driving, she thought back and with a rational mind, she accepted the fact that she felt nothing. Just like everyone else that had the misfortune of crossing her path, she felt nothing. She ain't going to be picky and play favorites, or most hated. They all have it coming.

"What the hell am I going to do with this car?" Lyra asked herself.

Her phone beeped. With light traffic around her, she pulled it up to see who it was. Not recognizing the number, she tapped on the message.

I know you want nothing to do with me. Your father and I both, but if there's ever a chance to talk. Whenever you want. I'm ready to listen. Mom.

Grinding her teeth, Lyra was ready to tap on the delete icon, but stopped. Instead she saved the phone number, now she knew not to answer when it actually rang. Luna had gone through so many phones in the last four years, both Lincoln and Lyra had stopped keeping track. Lemy on the other hand, he had a direct hotline with their mother, always ready to answer her calls and messages, eager to hear the voice of the woman that left them behind.

Lyra sighed, how she wished to have changed his views of Luna and see her for what she really is, but in the end, she could never be so cruel as to take that administration and love he still had for her. His happiness was first before her own beliefs. She raised up the volume of the radio, wanting to swat away such unpleasant memories.

"All right next after this commercials, we are taking it back to the school of old everybody, with the first request of the night, Nirvana! Never let the classics die man." The disembodied voice of the DJ happily spoke.

"Cobain...Lemy really liked that guy." Lyra smiled with fondness.

She had sworn off rock music, citing it as the devil's favorite genre. But the more she actually bothered to really think about it the more sense the real reason turned out to be, she rejected it because it's all her mother cared for. Now having exiled herself from heaven and living the life of an unapologetic sinner she could see things more clearly, it was never about following the will of God, she was just rebelling against her mother's ideologies.

It struck her just like that.

Lyra's face turned to one of confused enlightenment, she was just as much of a rebel as Luna was at her age. Like mother, like daughter. Didn't matter if it was music, religion or even politics. She just wanted to rebel against society and march to the beat of her own drum, both Lemy and her had. All this time preaching the Lord's salvation was nothing, but a charade, just a ploy to spite her mother. She was never a saint, only a genuine hypocrite who had it out against the current establishment that had raised her.

Lyra was so desperate to disassociate herself from Luna, she latched on to religion like a mad woman and followed it feverishly. All to just give her mother the finger and show her that she would never be just like her and follow her legacy. It was all based around a personal grudge. That's why she had also rejected her growing feelings for him. Why she rebuked the growing love she was developing for Lemy so many times in the past. If she gave in, she would be just like her mother. If she accepted this wonderful feelings for her own brother, it would had appeased her mother and appear that she had embraced her incestuous love out of admiration and honor for her mother, whom had done the same.

If she didn't have such severe mommy issues and had confessed much earlier she most definitely would have had experienced a much longer and beautiful relationship with him. He would probably still be alive, things might had played differently. They could had been forever together, happy, married and with children of their own.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." Lyra gripped on the steering wheel as she did everything she could to prevent the tears from gushing out.

She had abruptly stopped in the middle of the road, engine still hot and running. She didn't care, her heart was hurting again. The painful realization was weighing her down, how could she had been so blind to her own actions? She could of had it all, but chose to ignore it all, left it all to get back at a mother that left her behind.

"I...I love you Lemy, I love you so much. I was a fucking idiot." Lyra mourned.

A car honked madly as it passed her. Ignoring it she kept trying to calm her nerves. Another revelation that had proven to be a fatal blow. A fatality that she had to live with moving forward, the pain was part of her punishment she understood that now, but she still had a purpose in this world. She still had a mission to full fill. Another car passed by, also honking at her for having stopped in the most unexpected spot on the entire road.

"You're in the middle of the street, dumbass!" The driver yelled out.

"Go fuck yourself!" Lyra shouted back.

Having cooled down enough, she stepped on the gas pedal and continued on home. She needed to sleep the misery away, first a shower to wash of the crap on her face and sweat on her body then straight to bed. It was around 79 degrees and the gear she was wearing was adding some extra heat to her body, good thing the air conditioner in this crappy car was operational and blowing fresh cold air. June wasn't so bad, but next month is when the hottest days revealed themselves.

Her phone rang, checking the caller ID, she answered it, "What's up?"

"I shouldn't be acting like this, but can I ask where you at?"

"I'm just exploring the town, Panther, nothing serious." She said.

Lyra reached a crossed roads and waited for the light to turn green. Across from her on the right side was a diner serving it's finally hour. A couple of vehicles and group of bikers, four of them just hanging out in the parking lot.

"Are you on foot? It's getting late, how far are you? I can pick you up."

"I'm already on my way back, I...just need to walk, it's the only thing that keeps my mind busy...from everything." Lyra comforted her friend.

Still waiting on the green light, she looked around for anything to stare at. Her eyes focused back on the diner. She had eaten there before now that she remembered. Lincoln had taken her there to celebrate her passing of the first semester exams back in sophomore year. That was one memory she had completely forgotten about.

She saw a pair, man and woman exit the diner. The man held the door for her like a true gentleman, as both walked together to their parked car. Lyra smiled, chivalry wasn't dead just yet. Lemy was always a sweetheart when he allowed it to happen, one of the many things that caused her to fall hard for him. Some things were harder to forget than others it seemed.

"Just looking out for you. Don't take long okay, I just...I want you to feel okay."

"Hey thank you for caring, I mean it." Lyra looked ahead and suddenly her demeanor changed.

The four bikers in their sports motorcycles had witnessed the passing couple and proceeded to cat call the young girl. The man quickly hasten their pace ignoring the debauchery from the men. It wasn't enough as one of them slowly approached them on his bike, just as they had reached their parked vehicle. From Lyra's distant perspective she could see a confrontation ready to happen and it was triggering something deep as she revisited a previous dream with a similar scenario.

"I...will...yes?" Lyra was at loss for words as she remained utterly focused on the situation ahead of her, "Panther... I'll call you soon. No, uh... I'll be home soon."

"You okay? You sound off?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I'm...just... there's too much on my mind." Lyra fumbled with he phone as she reached for her headgear on the passenger seat, "I'll see you soon okay, I'm on my way."

Hanging up the phone she saw it happen. The boyfriend shoved the bastard to the ground, defending his girl's honor. Admirable, but reckless, they should have driven away, for in that moment the other three rushed him and proceeded to give him a beating. As the girl screamed for help, Lyra pulled out her new pistol, a Glock and was just ready to hit the gas when a fourth party appeared to the rescue.

The other patrons at the diner, at least five of them ran out and collided with the bikers. With the green light on, Lyra approached the diner. Driving by she saw the odds in their favor as they forced all four of the attackers to mount their motorcycles and flee the diner. She had stopped on a parking space on the same street just about 50 yards from the spot and silently watched with contempt as the four bikers raced past her. She quickly turned around to see the man getting helped back on his feet by the good Samaritans as his girlfriend hugged him.

Looking back as the four were now a distance away from them all, Lyra said nothing as she grabbed the shift knob and switched it to 'Drive'.

After speeding nonstop for six blocks, the four men relaxed as they stopped on a red light to catch their breath. They didn't expect to get in a brawl, in their mind they were simply defending their friend. They were a pack, one gets struck they all attack back as one. The guy was lucky others had come to his defense, else he be spending the next couple of weeks in a hospital room breathing through a tube. Nobody fucks with them and expects a fair fight, the numbers game is how one survives.

"I'll admit, he shoved you good J, you should hit the gym more often." The biker at the left behind the first, chuckled.

The main biker that instigated the whole mess took off his helmet, "Eat shit, I wasn't expecting that bitch to man up is all."

All four shared a laugh. Just another night, far from Detroit. They should be getting back, it was getting very late after all. Their need to race back home for a good night's rest, would never be. None of them bothered to once look behind them as a the head lights of an approaching car was zooming in at a very dangerous speed. When one of them did turned around it was already to late.

Rocking the radio at full volume, at the very last second before colliding, Lyra spun the wheel handle to the right causing the entire car to perform a 180 angle at a staggering speed of over 70 mph. The sickening impact of all the sports bikes and its drivers crashes into the car, some hitting the side and others flying over the roof. Broken bikes and bodies scattered on all directions as the mad driver exited the ramming vehicle.

The raspy, yet intense voice of the godfather of grunge rock consumed the silent and empty streets as Lyra with her face once again covered up marched with baseball bat in hand. Reaching the her first victim, the biker was sitting down on the ground, helmet still intact, in a state of shock. Lyra full on adrenaline wasted no time and cracked the side of the helmet at full strength. The man slumped to the floor immediately, Lyra ignored him and moved on to the next one ahead. From the clothing she recognized the first one that started it all as he laid unconscious on the floor bleeding from a gash on his forehead. Lyra stood over him and saw that he still lived. The urge was to cave in his skull was strong within her as the need to spill blood was screaming at her to do so, in the end she relented and chose a different approach. She kicked him in the ribs as hard as she could with her steel toe boots and gripped her bat with both hands, she raised it above her head and brought it down on his leg.

He was woken by the blow and screamed in pain as the bat struck him.

A disgusting sound of hard wood smashing into bone and flesh was heard as Lyra repeated the process a few more times on both legs. Her high was granting her immense stamina as her arms refused to acknowledge the muscles' tiredness.

"You psychotic motherfucker!"

Lyra turned around and got slashed across her chest protector. One of the bikers had recovered and was brandishing a pocket knife at her. If she wasn't so drunk on rage she would feel grateful to have bought the expensive chest protector at the sporting goods store, but right bow she was on attack mode.

"I'm going to kill you for this!" The man tried to stab her again as Lyra moved backwards, dodging his wild swings.

Lyra believing to have an opening, attempted to smash his face in, only for the biker to stab her in directly in the left forearm, "Mmph!" she grunted as the pain reached every nerve in her body. This one second of painful distraction was all he needed to grab ahold of the bat with his left had and stab her again, this time on the left shoulder.

"Ah!" Lyra's voice broke out as the pain doubled.

On instinct, she let her right hand let go of the bat while the other still held on to it and reached for her holster. As the biker readied for a third attempt this one aiming for her exposed throat two shots were fired and two bullets entered his torso at lighting speed and dropped him down to the ground.

Lyra had her Glock out and kept it aimed at the man before her. He no longer moved, a silent cue that the deed had been successful. Still clutching the bat with her left hand and gun with the right she approach the last living biker as he managed to witness the carnage first hand. His leg was broken and he could only crawl as the lunatic that killed his friend in cold blood approached him with a murderous intent.

"Stop! Please stop!." He pleaded for his life as Lyra dragged her bat against the asphalt, the sound of scrapping wood adding to the man's fears and silently glared at him.

Dragging himself as best he could he realized it was pointless and starred back at his would-be executioner in fear, "Please I don't deserve this, I... didn't do anything! Have mercy, I'm going to be father, my girlfriend needs me!"

Lyra stopped and stood still as the man whimpered in both pain and fear. The throbbing pain in both of her stab wounds was keeping her adrenaline going as she thought over his choice of words. She just wanted to hurt them, that guy, that was self defense. If they had killed the man or even sexually assaulted the girl, then it was open season and she would enjoy dipping her bat in blood and gore. This sad sack of shit was just as pathetic as everybody else in the world. Maybe she should kill him, a warning to the rest of them out there, or maybe she should let him live, scare him for life and allow this beatdown to leave him focused on only his soon to be family instead. To many options, she was bleeding out, she made up her mind.

She put away her gun, but grabbed the bat with both hands and raised it above her head at him.

"Fuck don't please!"

Lyra brought the Louisville slugger down and dislocated his kneecap. He screamed, gripping the damaged knee with both hands as he squirmed in pain. Lyra watched him for a few seconds as he let out various grunts through gritted teeth, melody to her ears as they mixed up with Kurt Cobain's vocals which were still blasting from the car's stereo.

She lifted the bat with one hand and aimed it at him, he looked at her with concern as he kept on massaging the pain away.

"Lucky." Was all she said.

She turned around and walked towards the car. Getting back in she shifted the transmission and drove away, dragging a damaged motorcycle underneath as the three survivors were left reeling from the sudden ambush under the silent night sky.

Fuck the pain was really started to get to her now that the rush had died down. She could either go to the clinic and get patched up, also get questioned for her entire get up as well the many weapons that were in her possession and arrested by the police. Or she could go to Panther's and hope that she was already asleep and wouldn't notice the crimson stains on the floor of all the blood dripping from her arm sleeve.

Fucking hell, she hadn't planned on getting hurt, well technically she was bound to get hurt, but not this bad. She had no idea how to go unnoticed. She needed to fix up her wounds before reaching Panther's and resting for the reminder of this fucking night.

Stopping at a gas station, she parked around the back and reached with a duffle bag in tow, she exited the car and reached the outdoor restrooms. She went in locked the door, hoping that nobody would come in knocking at night. Placing the bag on top of the sink, she opened the faucet water on the other one, letting the water flow. Unzipping the bag she pulled out a medical kit she had bought at the pharmacy the other day and opened it up.

She wasn't a professional nurse, but knew more than enough on how to treat wounds, all thanks to her brother, who always had a bad habit of injuring himself for the dumbest reasons. Seeing herself on the the mirror's reflection, she pulled back the hoodie allowing her damp hair to spread out a bit. Lemy's bandana sticking to her forehead as she now chose to wear it like that, in remembrance to her lost love. With both hands she removed her face mask, careful to not accidentally tear of her precious headband. Holding the goggled mask in hands, she now had a clear view of herself.

Messy damp hair, a beloved bandana covering her forehead and the area around her eyes covered in messy black grease paint to better cover up her identity. Now alone, tired and injured Lyra could only breath heavily as she saw the thing she had become, a welcoming change that she had allowed. This was her new persona moving forward.

Come on over, do the twist, aha

Overdo it and have a fit, aha

Love you so much, it makes me sick, aha

Come on over and do the twist, aha

Beat me out of me (beat it, beat it) 7x

HELLO. I'M BACK.