Disclaimer: The characters belong to Mondo Media.
Warning: Excessive drama. Dark themes, violence, not very appropriate language.
xxx
He didn't make his appearance the next day. Flaky expected him to. She expected him to show up at any moment, whether she was home, on the street or at work. But he didn't.
Her tension somewhat faded away when she got home after a day filled with stress, even though she had no reason to be less tense, because the day wasn't over yet. He could have broken in through the window, like he had done so many times before. But Flaky had the strong feeling he wasn't going to show himself that day after all. And she was right.
She had mixed feelings about it. Most were positive of course, she was terribly relieved that he had apparently decided to leave her alone, at least for one day. But she was also a little curious about his sudden change of mind. She wondered if something happened to him, if he died or if he hadn't flipped out at all that day, which could be some of the causes he hadn't paid her a visit. Whatever the reason was, she was really grateful for it.
When he didn't come the second day either, Flaky was happier than she had been in days, maybe even months. She tried not to be too excited about the sudden turn of situation, but she couldn't help it. She felt that day was going to be at least like before, when he wasn't stalking her and making her his rape victim, when her only source of unhappiness was the fact that she was dying because of the town.
If she thought better, she hadn't died lately at all, which was quite strange because there had never been such a long period of time in which she didn't. She was surprised she hadn't noticed the latest lack of her deaths but it made sense, because she had been so traumatized by Flippy that she hadn't had the time to notice it.
She was still cautious and panicky, but less than usual. She even managed to laugh along with Giggles and Petunia, at one of the jokes Petunia had made regarding her amorous life, in which so many partners had been involved, Flaky almost lost count.
When her shift was over, Flaky felt even better because she remembered that her next days were free. The weekend was coming, which meant other three girls were going to replace her, Giggles and Petunia at work, for the following days.
She was neatly trying to fold her uniform in the changing room, hardly intending not to let the paranoia grab at her again. She was trying to be optimistic and hope that Flippy wasn't going to show up that night either. But she knew inside that was just false optimism.
A hand grabbed her shoulder and Flaky jumped a few inches in the air, squeaking. She hurriedly turned and backed away in a drawer, but exhaled in ease when she saw Petunia chuckling amused at her reactions.
"Oh my god, Flaky, I haven't seen you so scared since we went into that roller coaster." Her chuckles died down, as she approached the smaller girl and put a calming hand on her shoulder. "What are you so scared of anyway?"
Flaky averted her eyes, not wanting to respond to that but to her relief, she didn't have to. Petunia raised her other hand and talked in her place.
"Don't answer. I'm such an idiot, I almost forgot that there is actually only one person almost everyone in this town is terrified of. But don't worry, he's not going to bother anyone from now on."
Flaky furrowed her brow, somewhat baffled by Petunia's words. The blue-haired girl smiled knowingly.
"Haven't you heard it? He's been locked in for the following trial."
The shock that went through her at the news was almost overwhelming. She knew it was meant to happen sooner or later, she had seen the announcement of his trial in the newspaper in the last days, but she didn't think anyone could actually handle Flippy and especially handle capturing him and locking him in somewhere. It had probably been a great police force who had managed to do it. Perhaps a force sent from the other side of the country, because their small town wasn't that powerful.
There was confusion, shock, and most of all, relief clouding her mind, turning and twisting her insides. She had so many questions that she felt dizzy at the sudden information clawing at her brain. Where had they locked him in? Was it the prison in their town or the fortress that she had heard so many people talk about? When and where was the trial going to take place? The news didn't offer much information.
She knew she shouldn't be interested in any of those, since everything related to him depressed her. But she couldn't abstain herself. She was curious about what was going to happen to the man who had made her life a living hell.
When she calmed down a little, a dawning realization hit her. So that was why he hadn't visited her in the last two days. And he wasn't going to visit her at all from then on.
She was probably never going to see him again.
The relief stayed, but that was it. She had expected to be a little happy, but she wasn't. She didn't feel the smallest smidge of joy, as all those thoughts passed through her mind.
She didn't want to meditate upon it, but she had to accept it in the end. She had to accept the fact that she was sorry for him. She was sorry because he was mentally ill and he had no cure, because one half of him was a really good person and yet he was bound to be punished.
He was going to live the rest of his life in prison, as the monster he unintentionally was.
She didn't talk to Petunia about him. She didn't have the intention to linger upon the subject, especially not with one of her friends.
The red-haired girl let out the breath she had been holding in when Petunia seemed to let go of the subject too and started talking about their friends' plans for the next free days. Her thoughts were swirling, even though she kept listening to Petunia's enthusiastic rant, while they existed the restaurant. She briefly wondered where Giggles was – all of them usually left the restaurant together-, because she saw no sign of the pink-haired girl.
Petunia seemed to guess her unspoken question because she responded quickly.
"She's waiting for Cuddles to pick her up." Petunia grinned. "After years of tension, they have finally decided to officially hook up."
Flaky gave a small smile as she nodded in understanding, feeling partially glad for her two friends. Partially, because she knew they could never find true happiness in that world. None of them could.
As she separated from Petunia, she was left again with her tumult of thoughts. She strained hard to be at least a little thankful for the gift her fate had offered her. The gift of never seeing Flippy again, of never being bothered by him again.
There was just a hollow emptiness instead. Because so many atrocious things had happened between them and ruined the friendship that could have been. Because she knew all of them had horrendous destinies, and yet she realized in that moment that Flippy had the worst of them all.
She was aware that she had been too hateful once, regarding him and his condition, but she felt nothing right then. She felt that it was right for him to receive the punishment for all the terrible things his psychotic self had done, even though the sane part of him didn't deserve it.
Then again, both parts were still Flippy. That psychopath was just another side of him, it was part of his subconscious, no matter how much she tried to make a difference between them. It was still…him, in some form or another. Just another face of him.
When she entered the house, she sensed her usual fear crawl upon her, half-expecting him to be there, through some twist of events. She relaxed when she was only greeted by her silent, empty, dark home.
After many torturing days and nights, it was peaceful again.
She changed herself into her sleeping clothes, another new gown, since the last three gowns had been ripped apart by him. Her bedroom was a mess from the last time he had burst in there and destroyed everything in his way. Pieces of furniture were torn to bits and turned upside down, as her bed's sheets had been cut into pieces and stained with blood.
Her blood, from the first night he had broken in, wasn't there anymore, she had actually cleaned it, not knowing he was actually going to intrude and ravage everything again. The newest blood was actually the blood of his victims. He had always barged in, covered in the blood of his previous victims, before he did what he wanted to her.
She was too tired to clean it up and put things in order than night, so she just slept on one of the living room's couches. The living room was less demolished, most objects were still intact, but there was some blood on the floor. If anyone visited her right then, they would be shocked at the deplorable state her house was in.
Flaky lay down and covered herself with the sheets, before she closed her eyes, letting sleep envelop her.
Except there wasn't any.
That night, she didn't manage to find her sleep.
xxx
The following morning had been more tiresome than her days filled with work.
Excepting the fact that she had barely had any sleep in the previous night, she didn't remember working as hard as she had done in those hours to make her house look at least half-decent again. She moved her desk and turned her night tables to their initial positions, scrubbed her carpet, trying her hardest to get the dried blood off, and threw away her last ruined sheets, mentally making a note to buy other sheets later that day, when she was intending to go for a walk with her friends in the town.
Some parts of her furniture were so wrecked, that she found impossible to even keep them there anymore. Two of the chairs had been smashed to bits, while her desk had apparently a large gash in the middle. There were deep scratches on her wardrobe, and to her horror, she found one of his used, bloody knives under her bed.
She barely picked it up with two fingers, cringing as she did so, before she ran outside and threw it quickly into one of the trashcans. When she darted back towards her home, she was stopped by a poster stuck to the lamp post closest to her. She believed it was the same black and white poster that had been spread earlier that week, but the color in the picture proved her otherwise.
The Flippy that looked at her wasn't serious and calm, as the one in the previous photo – probably because that one had been the normal Flippy. This one was covered in blood and looked at camera with a rage that she didn't think it was possible, not even for Flippy. She still wondered how they had managed to capture him after all, since he was one of the strongest and most savage beings that Flaky had ever encountered. He had probably murdered many of those people, until they succeeded in holding him off, and Flaky shuddered a little when she thought about it.
She read the article and sensed that heavy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't realize if it was regret or dread – probably both at the same time. Regret for him and dread for the people that had to secure him and guard him, so that he wouldn't escape. She couldn't even image the chaos that he would bring, if that happened.
The trial was going to take place on Monday apparently. All the witnesses who dared to participate were more than welcome and Flaky trembled a little. She was sure everyone that planned on participating was going to relate stories that would find Flippy more than guilty. She didn't think that witnesses who could confess in his favor even existed.
Flaky sighed and tried not to think about it. She tried to forget him, she tried to forget about that trial. The pity worsened when she returned home, even though she made great efforts not to feel that way. She sat down on her couch, hugged one of her pillows and stared blankly at the walls as the gears in her head turned.
She forced herself to remember some redeemable things he'd done as his psychotic self, but she couldn't find any. All she could see in front of her eyes were the horrible things he had done to her and her friends for years. The fact that he had tortured them and murdered them, the fact that he had mentally and physically destroyed her, by terrorizing her and forcing her into gruesome sexual activities, couldn't determine her to root for him, even though she still held that vague pity.
She wanted him to be punished for everything. Every time she remembered the awful things he'd done, a small part of that hate returned to her and that hate was convincing her not to help him in any way. Even if she helped him, she knew that he wouldn't win the case, not even in one million years.
She remembered three days ago, when he had barely managed to stop himself from killing the people in the restaurant. She believed at first that he had fought his instinct to kill for her, but she dismissed the idea after that. Psychopaths didn't care for anyone and it had been preposterous to think that Flippy's psychotic side even saw her as human. She had probably been just an object to him all along. Whatever reason he had had not to kill those people, she couldn't find it then.
The phone suddenly rang and she jumped a little, disturbed from her train of thought. The girl put the pillow aside, stood up and answered with an almost strangled 'hello'.
"You have now been connected to the convict named Flippy." An unknown male voice talked in her ear. Flaky didn't even have the time to react, because his voice suddenly started calling her name, on the other side.
"Flaky! Flaky, please don't hang up!" He frantically spoke as she remained frozen in place. "They will only let me use the phone for a few minutes so please, listen!" Her mind was blank for a few seconds, before her limbs started shivering. She almost dropped the phone, her hand was shaking that bad. She gulped heavily, trying to calm herself but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. She sensed an upcoming panic attack, because she began hyperventilating from the spasms that prickled her skin.
On the other side, Flippy seemed to have calmed down a little, when he probably realized she wasn't going to hang up on him.
"I know… that you hate me." He muttered and he sounded like he was about to choke from sorrow. "And I won't ask you much." He carried on. She believed for a moment that he was actually tearing up, but she renounced at the thought. "They will keep me here for two more days, until after the trial, when they will take me in the North." There was a small pause, in which none of them said anything. Flaky could hear his heavy breathing on the other side, a breathing that almost matched hers.
"I just want to see you one last time." He whispered weakly.
She felt her stomach lurch in severe anxiety, as her lips were seemingly stuck to each other. Her mind had apparently been wiped out, because she couldn't get out a word. A sudden weariness gripped her, so she supported herself on the table, so that she wouldn't fall to the floor.
"For the sake of our old friendship, please…just come and visit me. And it will be the last time you will see me."
It was silence at the other end for a few seconds, as he was waiting for her reply. She opened her mouth, before she closed it again, and before she could respond, the line went dead. His call time was probably over.
She remained paralyzed and stared at the phone, still stupefied that she had heard him after all those days, when she had believed all along that she was never going to see or hear him, ever again. She tried to recover from the trauma, as she shakily put the phone back into its place. Her legs buckled up under her, so she ended up on the floor, her back stuck to the cold wall.
She stood in the freezing silence for a while, as a small battle took place inside of her. When she reached a decision, Flaky was aware that she wasn't completely sane for what she was about to do. Her planned act was going against her morals and especially against her raging negative emotions that she kept for him.
She didn't know for sure what was determining her to do it. Perhaps it was the sorrow that she felt for him. The sorrow, the pity and some morbid curiosity that she was sure it was going to scar and mark her in the most unimaginable way.
With a trembling hand, she lifted the phone. Her friend joyously answered, and Flaky started speaking before the short-haired girl even had the time to start her own conversation.
"H-hey Giggles, I'm sorry, but I-I won't be able to join you guys today."
xxx
Pain and fear crept through her insides at the sight of the gray building in front of her, but she kept walking forward, towards the main gates. The two guardians let her pass through them, but not before they asked her several question that she reluctantly replied to. Both of them appeared taken aback at the motive of her visit, but none said anything, to her gratefulness.
She was led by one of the cops through various intimidating doors and she noticed that there were just a few convicts in some of the cells that she passed by– the town was mostly quiet and peaceful and it was rarely disturbed by criminals, despite that the town itself was the greatest source of deaths.
Flaky heard most of them call or whistle after her, which made her lower her head terrified and walk as far away from the cells as possible, almost stuck to the opposite wall.
There were other dark walls, a few metal doors, and before she realized, she found herself in a separate room, with one cell. Five guardians equipped with weapons supervised the room and there were video cameras in two of its top corners.
When she got closer to the cell, she remarked that he had metal cuffs around both wrists and ankles, despite that he was already behind bars. Flaky supposed that he was the worst criminal those men had ever faced.
Her head reeled and her heart almost burst in torment when Flippy suddenly looked up. His eyes were the same green that she remembered, but they seemed to have apparently lost the lucidity they had once kept. He widened his eyes when he took in her presence, before he exclaimed a tortured 'Flaky'. She jumped and yelped at his reaction, not sure if he was in his psychotic mode. He apparently wasn't, because he didn't have the mad stare specific to his flipped out mode, but she was too afraid and traumatized to even get closer.
She sensed the men around her get into an alert state, their hands tightly gripping their guns.
Flippy ignored the other people in the room as he focused his entire attention on her, which sent icy chills down her spine. She couldn't exactly realize what was stronger in that moment: the sympathy or the fright that he induced her.
He approached the metal bars and grabbed them and the girl stepped backwards, moving even farther from him. They stared at each other in silence for a few moments, fearful eyes into sad ones.
"I knew you would come, Flaky." He smiled bitterly. He moved his gaze from her and looked at the air as his features harshened for a second, startling her. "The other convicts mocked me and said that no one would ever want to visit a monster like me." Then he focused his gaze on her again and softened as quickly. "But I knew you would."
Flaky trembled, whimpering, her gaze falling to the dark floor.
His sudden, alternate changes in behavior proved that he barely had control over his other personality. She could hear the other self in his voice, in his tonality, she could see the mad shine in his eyes, flickering at every word. The normal Flippy barely existed anymore, as it seemed that his other self had come forward, replacing his primary consciousness and pushing his original self at the back, into the deepest part of his mind. The good person and friend that she had known once was almost gone.
He was going completely mad and a sharp pain carved into her chest at the realization.
"W-will anyone h-help you at the t-trial?" She inquired, her fingers twining nervously. She swallowed heavily when he gave her a strange smile.
"Help me?" He pondered the question for a moment. "I have my own lawyer, if that's what you're referring to. The most expensive one, as I'm the wealthiest person in this town." His strange smile grew wider and Flaky sensed her unease getting bigger with every second that passed. "Not that it matters much. Right now, all the money in the world won't buy my freedom." His smile faded away, as he dug his hands into his pockets. Flaky noticed for the first time that his clothes were covered in dried blood.
"I don't understand why they bother with the trial, since everyone already knows my final judgment." Flippy mused, resting his eyes on the cell's wall, which was apparently stained with blood too.
Flaky exhaled deeply and looked again at the floor.
"I…I'm sorry." She murmured tremulously. She looked up and her legs weakened when she saw his fixed stare glued on her. She couldn't read his expression right then, but she continued to say what she had to say.
"I-I'm sorry that it had to end up this way." She spoke, suddenly feeling the effects of the exhausting, mentally scarring events that had taken place between them.
Flippy shook his head.
"You shouldn't be sorry for anything, Flaky." He harshly retorted, his pained, angry voice hurting her. "Don't you ever blame yourself for anything." He grabbed the bars again and his knuckles turned white from the force that he was gripping them with. Flaky tried not to let the scary thoughts invade her mind again. "I think that would be my role but then again, saying sorry won't heal the wounds that my actions have left behind, will it?" He questioned, throwing a glance aside, avoiding her pitying look.
"Due to all the bad things I have done, I have decided to make it up to you in some way." He continued, still looking away. "You are the only person alive that I still care about. That's why I have decided to give you my fortune."
Flaky leapt as she gaped at him with wide eyes.
"W-what?" She barely managed to get it out.
He then looked up and his stare was so intense, Flaky thought he was going to burn holes into the back of her head.
"It's true." He went on. "I will leave you everything I have. I assure you that with my money, you will never have to do any of those common jobs again." He gritted his teeth, appearing to fight his insanity. Flaky brought her hand to her mouth, perturbed by the sight of him going through that mental torture.
"F-flippy, p-please…" She mumbled, fearful.
"Let me finish, Flaky!" He snapped, making her yelp and the other people in the room tighten their hold on their guns again. "I want you to live the life that you deserve, because I care about you too much. I…" He appeared to struggle finding the words for a fraction of second, as he breathed heavily. "I love you, Flaky. I know that I have hurt you too many times to count, but this is what I have felt for some time."
She couldn't breathe as she watched him, as his tired, desperate eyes and struggling voice remained imprinted into her memory. This time, it wasn't torment nor distress. She couldn't perceive what she felt, all she sensed was the shock that froze her mind, her heart, her spirit.
She could feel one of the guards' hand on the upper part of her arm, gently dragging her away from that place, announcing her the visit time was over, and she could hear Flippy yelling after her, telling her his goodbye, telling her that he would never forget her.
When she reached the outside of the building, she stood there for a few minutes and let her empty gaze fall over the gray building, one of the many horrid places that would remind her of him.
She walked in a daze, like a soulless being, her head aching from the pressure of what had happened, her body too tired to feel anything else.
She didn't even observe when she stepped into her own house, chaotically throwing her flats away into a corner, letting herself fall into the mattress of her- now clean- bed. She tossed and turned, trying in vain to stop her mind from flitting uselessly from one thought to the next. She couldn't even concentrate on any of them as they jumbled and spun inside her head.
That night she dreamed.
She dreamed of green eyes and forest hair, of nice smiles and birthday parties that ended well.
She dreamed of a man that was forever lost.
xxx
Monday came and she found out how the trial had gone, thanks to her friend, Cuddles, who walked in the restaurant and told her, Giggles and Petunia that he had been there to plead against Flippy, just as the rest of their friends and half of the town.
He had been found guilty of everything of course, and no one had expected otherwise. Flaky felt bad for not going there, but she couldn't. Not after everything that had happened, not after everything he'd said two days earlier. She was too marked by his words, by his actions, by his entire person, so seeing him there would pain her more than anything, even if she wanted to see him.
After Cuddles finished his tale, Flaky excused herself to her friends and quickly found the bathroom, where she barged in and closed the door behind her. She stared at the air for a few moments, trying to refrain herself from doing it, but it was too late.
After days, she felt the tears streaming down her face again. And she wasn't crying because of him, like she had done so many times before.
For the first time in her life, she was actually crying for him.