So this is my take on a "sequel" (more like a spin off) to a story written by Cresenta's Lark... She has her own real, amazing sequel planned for that fic but since my brain is dumb it insisted I write this.
MUST READ "Monsters" by Cresenta's Lark to understand this "sequel". Just my take on a sequel since I reread Monster and it wouldn't leave my brain...
The nightmares never stopped. So, she stopped sleeping.
It didn't stop her from snoozing here or there but the energy drinks and caffeine pills and everything else that would give her an arrhythmia was doing the job quite well.
She's lost track of time but what, it's been months? Weeks? Years? She wasn't sure anymore. She anxiously chewed on a nail, a nasty habit she picked up at some point, and lifted out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket. Another nasty habit that… well let's just say she had a lot of those now. Ever since…
Ever since that night in WOOHP. Where he found her.
The nightmares never stopped, but somehow they were never as bad as the real thing. It was a small comfort. Nothing ever compared to that night, when she was violated and everything she knew about herself vanished into thin air.
Lighting a cigarette, Sam pushed some black hair behind her ear. It was short now, almost Clover's length she thought with a sad smile. Oh how she missed them.
But she didn't have the courage to do it. Face them again. Not without the shame that came from being raped by Tim Scam.
It was horrific, she remembers. It took months (weeks? years?) of the nightmares replaying themselves in her brain to recall what he said to her that night.
A monster, she had called him. Better than a fucking bastard, she thought at the time, but somehow it ticked him off and made him come for her.
And he did. Come for her, that is.
And it hurt. It hurt so badly, to the point where even the thought of sex terrified her. She won't be able to have it again, she thinks to herself all the time. Not without remembering Scam's smirk, or Scam's touch, or Scam's voice…
Basically, she was fucked. Not literally, not ever if she had a choice.
But she didn't have much of a choice the first time around… He managed to rip that from her. To the point where even other men terrified her, especially ones that looked like him. She always wondered, was this the moment that he decided he hadn't had enough of her? Maybe he got his fill of her the first time but what if it wasn't enough?
What if he never got enough?
The fear terrified her when she woke up and resolved to never let that happen to her again. Even if it meant pretending she was dead.
The pretending part was hard. Most times she considered poisoning herself or getting a gun and doing the job a messy way but… she never had the guts.
Death scared her. Rape did too, but at least she was alive. At least he hadn't murdered her right after.
Probably on purpose, she thought bitterly. He must be chuckling to himself thinking that she is hiding from him, and what's worse is that he would be right.
She was hiding.
But not in the way he probably thought.
It took a while to get an unmarked gun. It also took her a while to learn how to shoot it. The aim came easy to her, years of handling WOOHP weapons and all, but death seemed too easy for him.
So she hid, biding her time until she knew what to do next.
School wasn't an option. Neither was any future career. It hurt her to think about going outside. She did so for basic necessities but the actual act of living?
She stopped doing that months, weeks, years ago.
She wasn't even sure how long it's been.
But death was too easy for him. He deserved to live in fear just like she had. But how? How would she even do that to him the same way he had done it to her?
She had found the chip a while back, by the way. It was scratching at her skin and she felt it under the surface.
So that's how he'd done it. Clever.
She could use that.
Use it, she means, staring blankly at the blood stained chip. She stole (sorry mom) some equipment before she went underground, and had been tampering with it for months.
Such a small thing caused her such agony.
God she hated him.
Hated his face and skin and touch and eyes and voice and everything about him made her want to rip what little hair she had left.
But it was a clever plan. If she wasn't so traumatized by it she'd have complimented it.
To get back at him she'd have to be even smarter.
Besides, she had nothing but time now.
She stared at the chip while smoking, unsure of how to reprogram it. Nightmares weren't enough for
Scam. She hated him so much, that the fury was threatening to blow up from inside her.
But the lack of sleep got to her. It burned her eyes and ruined her mind.
But one day… it hit her.
She'd have to be careful. He probably expected her to come back for him. Or maybe not, maybe he thought he broke her enough to never see the light of day again.
But he hadn't. She was made of iron and he was pixie dust. Or he would be when she was done with him. She couldn't wait.
The nightmares would be too easy and also predictable. But maybe… maybe an endless dream would do. One where he had everything he wanted… or where everything was in his grasp but he could never reach it.
It would be another stretch of time before anyone saw her again. She had some work to do.
She started counting time again.
Weeks later, after wrapping her mind around every neuroanatomy and neuroscience textbook she could get her hands on, the possibilities seemed so much more real. Neurosurgery seemed like an interesting field. She's going to finish school when this is done with, and learn everything she could about the brain.
How to not let that happen to her again.
But she was starting to feel hope again. It's been so long since she's felt anything like it, this warm buttery feeling in her chest. She could do this. Find Scam, make him dream an endless dream, and never have to worry about him again. Go to school. Maybe become a doctor. Maybe becoming a woman's activist. Maybe both.
She quit smoking.
She threw the device against the wall. It crashed into pieces. Good. It was useless anyways.
The hope started fading.
She started biting her nails a bit more.
It took years.
That was fine. She thinks she's 18? 19 now? She was 17 when … when it happened. But she did it.
She came up with it.
She called it a dream catcher. Fitting, considering she could never sleep. But the helmet looked like a dream catcher, a halo that one would put around their heads.
Scam was somehow still in jail after all these years. Perfect. She's not sure why he stayed, he clearly was capable of leaving at any time. But it didn't matter.
Maybe he was waiting for her to come back for him.
And she would. In due time.
She waited until nightfall, when the guards were at their lowest and most susceptible to being tired. It was dangerously easy to sneak into WOOHP, she thought, and figured that's probably why Scam was able to get out so quickly every time.
She dressed like she belonged there and swiped a key card from another guard. The dream catcher was at her hip, ready to be used.
This is where it was tricky.
He was asleep, but she didn't want to go into his cell. Not give him a chance to rape her again. But she's been practicing her aim for this and slid the dream catcher through the food slot.
It landed on his head perfectly.
Latched it even quicker.
She knew this was real because of the token she always carried with her. Also her dreams were never this easy, never this good anymore.
She watched the dream catcher devolve into his skin, leaving a slight imprint under his hair.
Death was too easy for Tim Scam, but at least he'd never wake up again.
He had a dream. In it, his beautiful love came for him every time, but she always escaped before he could see her face. He knew who she was, with her red hair and porcelain skin. But she came to him. Finally, she came to him.
It took three times to realize that the dream repeated itself.
It took eight times to realize that he was never going to see her face.
And it took him thirty times to realize that he was stuck in a loop… and he knew exactly who put him in it. Problem was…
He just couldn't seem to wake up.
Hope you guys enjoyed. Figured it was good irony for Sam to never sleep and for Scam to never wake up. Hope you enjoyed this spin off! Please watch out for the sequel to Monster by Cresenta's Lark!
Love,
Ivy