(I have a note on this chapter at the bottom of the page.)
Cassidy had always liked that game- she couldn't remember what it was called, it had been such a long time since she'd actually heard the name of the game, but she remembered that she liked its simplicity.
Evan had been the one to supply everyone with tablets. He thought it would help her, he thought she'd be able to watch her killer die over and over again, forever, until the end of time, and finally be able to calm down.
Mike thought a little differently. He's the one who convinced Evan to make the tablets do more than just watch their killer. That's how she stumbled once more upon that interesting game.
The premise was simple; you played as a fisherman. A little fish would swim across the bottom of the screen really fast, and you had to tap on the screen at the right time to catch it. If you missed, you lost. Her high score was 42 fish.
She often ignored that game. She'd only play it when she was forced to sit on the couch instead of torturing her killer. It was happening more often than she'd like.
She wanted to be down there, watching him suffer in person. She wanted to continue killing him in brutal, painful ways. She wanted to rip him to pieces, limb by limb, over and over for all of eternity.
She couldn't understand why they wouldn't just let her do that. They wouldn't have to worry about killing him, she'd have that covered. She had brought Evan's nightmares to life to be his tormentor. She'd brought his children here to see what his creations had done to them. The others didn't need to kill him.
She could do that herself, over and over and over and over-
She missed a fish. She tossed the tablet to the side, watching the stupid 'Game Over' screen as it flashed at her.
She hated that screen.
She hated her friends.
She hated her killer.
She hated everything.
She took a deep breath and picked up the tablet, standing up and making her way through the halls of the Hellspace. Everyone else was busy torturing their killer, like she wanted to be, so there was nothing to do.
Well, there was mostly nothing to do… lately, her friends had been more down than usual. At first, she didn't know what she could do except send them off to kill their killer- maybe that would help them? As it turned out, they had all gone to one source for help, and that source had more than proved to work. They were starting to get better, be more like themselves.
She stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath.
Maybe he could help her, too. Was she doing something wrong? Why was she so unsatisfied? She was getting what she wanted- her friends were happier, she got to torture her killer, and they were all together, free now. So why was she still so angry? Why was she still unhappy?
She reached up and knocked on his door. She debated walking away and forgetting about the whole thing- maybe she was just bored. Maybe she was only angry because she wasn't allowed to do the one thing she'd thought about for 40 years- but the door opened to reveal Mike the Former Guard. He looked surprised to see her for all of three seconds before giving her a nervous grin.
"Uh, hey, Cass- everything alright?" he asked. She walked past him and entered his room. She heard him close the door behind her as she sat on his bed, tossing the tablet into the center of the bed.
"Play this," she said. "It's fun."
Mike blinked at her in confusion before sitting on the bed and picking up her tablet.
"Um… ok," he said. He managed to make it to 3 fish. Cassidy shook her head and grabbed the tablet from his hands, showing him how to play. She got to 15 fish before losing on purpose and handing it back to him. This time, he managed to make it to 10 fish. She nodded.
"You'll get better at it," she said. He started another game and got to 17 fish, nodding.
"Yeah, this is a fun game," he said. He started up another game, taking a deep breath. "Everything alright?"
"Why do you ask?" Cassidy asked him. He shrugged one shoulder. 14 fish.
"Well, you usually don't come to see me," he told her. A smirk graced his lips. "And you definitely don't come to make me play a game."
Cassidy shrugged.
"They benched me and I got bored," she told him. "You're the only other person here, since everyone else is busy with your dad."
She saw him flinch slightly at her tone. She couldn't hide her anger towards his dad, and she wouldn't try to hide it from Mike. From her understanding, Mike's dad hadn't always been so nice to him. She saw no reason why he wouldn't be just as angry at him as they were. He was as much a victim of his dad as they had been- of course he was angry!
…why did he flinch? Why did it bother her? She shook her head slightly to get that train of thought out of her mind. She came here for a reason.
"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you," she said. "There's nothing else to do when I'm not down there."
Ripping him to pieces. Destroying him. Watching in satisfaction as his blood stained the floor.
Mike shrugged a single shoulder again. 23 fish.
"What did you want to talk about?" he asked.
"Why am I not happy?"
Mike froze. 3 fish again. His head rose to look at her, his eyes meeting hers. She tried to move her eyes away from his but found that she couldn't. There was something in the way he was looking at her that held her gaze in place.
"You're not happy?" he asked. She shook her head.
"No," she told him. She could feel her anger at his dad rising in her chest. Her annoyance at her friends for forcing her to stay in the Hellspace, her anger at herself for NOT BEING HAPPY. "And I don't understand why."
Mike flinched again. This time, she couldn't blame him. Her anger leaked through into her words, making it sound like she was angry at him for all of her problems. But she wasn't. She was just… mad.
She shook her head.
"I'm not mad at you," she told him. She wanted to clear that up. "But I AM mad… and I shouldn't be. I'm here, my friends are here, we're getting our revenge…"
She angrily punched the bed.
"I just DON'T UNDERSTAND."
Everything was silent for a moment. She looked up when she saw her tablet being offered to her, the screen showing 'Game Over'. Her confusion was beginning to overrule her anger, and she looked up at Mike. He was watching her in slight concern, but his face was mostly devoid of emotion.
"...you need to let go."
Her eyebrows creased together.
"What?"
"You need to let go," Mike repeated. His voice was soft and gentle and caring… Cassidy looked down and took her tablet back, looking back up at his face. "You need to rest your soul."
She could feel her anger flooding back into her.
"'Rest my soul'?" she asked. "What does that even mean?"
"It means you're unhappy because you're making yourself unhappy," he told her. "Deep down, you know you need to stop, back off. But because you've convinced yourself that this is the best way for you to finally feel better, it's just making you feel worse. You won't let yourself calm down, and you won't let yourself rest."
Cassidy opened her mouth to shout something sarcastic at him. She wanted to scream, throw something at him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
She froze, watching in awe as Mike's eyes slowly faded from his bright, calming blue to a dim, dull shade of purple. She felt the anger drain out of her at the sight.
Just like in the kitchen...
She shook her head to shake herself out of the trance Mike's eye change had put her into. Surely, it was nothing.
"Then how do I stop doing that?" she asked. Mike shrugged again, sighing. He set the tablet down on the bed between them, holding his hands out for her to take. She felt her anger webbing away a little bit, curiosity settling in. She cautiously took his hands, feeling how warm they were.
"Leave the demon to his demons," he said. "You aren't the only one mad at him… the others are, too. They're getting revenge too, but they aren't letting it consume them."
Cassidy looked down at the screen. The 'Game Over' seemed to be taunting her, daring her to start another game and catch another fish.
She sighed. She wouldn't fall for its tricks again. She refused.
"What made you happy before?"
Cassidy looked up at Mike, frowning in slight confusion. She thought about his question for a second, letting out a half-hearted shrug.
"I don't know," she said.
"Do you like spending time with your friends?"
She nodded.
"I've always loved that," she said. Mike squeezed her hands gently, smiling at her.
"They're done for today. Why don't you go play with them?"
Cassidy looked down at her tablet and slowly removed one of her hands from Mike's. Her now free hand missed the warmth of his hands, but she was curious. She reached down and closed out of the game, switching instead to the cameras.
There was Mike's dad, lying dead. This meant that, yes, her friends had finished up for the day. She was honestly tempted to head down there and kill him again- she could control how quickly he came back to life. She really wanted to.
"You've convinced yourself that this is the best way for you to finally feel better."
She nodded and turned the tablet off, beginning to stand up from the bed.
Talking to Mike had been a good move. She understood why everyone had been going to him lately. She squeezed his hands back, and he released her.
Ok, yes, I made Mike OMC. Well, a stand-in for him, anyway. Idk, I just thought it would fit with the feel of the story and make sense in the long run. If you don't like, then oh well.
