Twisted

1, 2

Drip, drip

It was bloodcurdling

3, 4

Drip, drip

The air that was once sweet, tasted metallic. Bitter. Acidic.

5, 6

Boop, drip, drip

7, 8

It was putrid

It tasted revolting as it burned down her air pipe, strangling her between her uncontrollable sobs.

Hot tears of anguish made her taste madness.

Fatigue slithered and constricted around her body as she lay on her side. Pristine white tiles now splattered with blood.

She was paralyzed. She was useless. She felt hollow.

She watched everything from beginning to end with dead eyes.

Why did tragedies move in such slow motion whilst happiness stayed fleeting?

And why was it, when you needed help, it never came on time but always when you were broken or too far gone?

scritch scratch krrr

She watched him sharpen his knife.

She watched as he tested its sharpness on her parents- the knife sliced through their skin like it was butter-

She watched them get cut apart and sewn back together.

Like a Frankenstein movie.

“Forever together’’

He was like an ugly villain .

“Wasn’t that in their vows”

His voice grated against her ears as he noted his thoughts aloud.

His eyes seemed to be glazed over in remembrance as he stared at his latest masterpiece. He sighed in satisfaction. His lips peeled back showing his disdain with an aching smile before he turned his head towards her. He glanced at his audience on the floor and felt pride. Because nothing could stop him now.

He stepped towards her slowly. His steps heavy with revolting conviction.

“You don’t need to worry anymore, fairy. I’ll handle it all for you, love”-he was a great exaggerator- “I won’t let them leave on their own. You’ll join them soon. After all, family should stick together forever. Don’t you think so? Sweet fairy.”

Cough, cough, she tried replying. Her body ached. Her throat was so sore. She was so thirsty.

She wanted to tell him what she honestly thought in this messed up situation.

‘If he was so set on family joining one another, he should have just ended himself alone and dragged himself to hell.’

But nothing mattered anymore because even if she had the strength to utter those words, she had no power to back it up. A vile human like him would just relish the thought.

She was going to die anyway.

If only she could tell him to go f##k himself, she would at least feel a bit satisfied going down.

Ah, the tiles were cold. She was so cold. Her eyelids were heavy. She just wanted to sleep.

If this life of hers mattered to anyone,

then please-he had gotten closer to her

Nudge- “Sera”, a harsh whisper

Please, I beg of you- step step, he was almost there.

nudge , nudge, “Seraphina!”

Save me-

“Seraphina. T. Grey!”

My body trembled in frustration before my eyes snapped open and my head lunged off the desk. My body thrust itself into an upright position no longer sleeping on the plain unattractive university desk but now reclining against the chair that was fixed into position. And I finally breathed again. Fresh air burned itself into my nostrils allowing me to feel alive again. My head was heavy with confusion until the bell rang.

Ring! Ring!

“Please take note that at the end of the week your criminology assignment is due”

The pleasant voice that broke through my haziness belonged to Manic, our criminology lecturer. A bunch of annoyed groans scattered throughout the class.

“Now, now, you all had two months to prepare for the assignment. No late submissions will be accepted and this will be two percent of your course mark. So I’m hoping to receive essays that will knock my socks off like how you guys knock yourselves out in my class when you think I’m not looking.”

Somehow I felt like that was aimed at me.

Also don’t forget to leave your permission slips on my desk as soon as possible. We’ve only got two days before we head out for our.. little excursion on Saturday. I’ll see you all Thursday morning for class. Class dismissed!”

I looked around with still blurred eyes and was surprised that I actually fell asleep. Greg Manics lectures were never boring. He had a pleasing yet stern voice at times and his passion for criminology really shined when he started his lecture. More than a lecture It felt like he was conversing with us as adults in his class instead of looking down at us. Communication with him was easy and it didn’t hurt that he was a pretty good looking guy. At an over average height with tanned skin, blue eyes, brown hair and a fit body that couldn’t not be noticed with that tailored suit. He had female students and teachers wanting to flock to him.

“Hey Sera, you okay?”

Turning to my left, I gazed into Sabrina’s concerned eyes. Sabrina Malloy was a petite, smart cookie and one of the few people I could trust.

“Hmm? Yeah I’m fine, just a bit tired. Silvenstein academy is just a never ending workday you know? Just when you think you’ve completed one assignment, you’re suddenly writing a test, pop quiz and exam that’s worth your course mark. At this point I’m wondering if I should just sell that kidney so we can open a coffee shop”

“I think you’re gonna need that kidney with how much coffee you keep drinking. I’m not renting mine out to you,”she started before pausing-”you seemed like you were having a bad dream, do you want to talk about it?”

‘You can’t hide things from best friends but you could try’

“No it’s fine, probably just the stress piling up, I’ll be good as new once I get some food in me”,

My stomach rumbled angrily on cue allowing me to glide off the topic.

Thank god for my stomach, I’ve trained it well to get me out of these situations, I thought as I looked down at my black hoodie covering it. I was a bit taller and broader than Sabrina was with gray eyes, brown hair and a back pain of unknown origin that made me feel like I was already 60 years old.

Sabrina’s eyes scrutinized me carefully.

“Well if you’re sure I won’t push the topic for now”

My eyes averted itself out of guilt.

“Did I miss anything important during my unexpected cat nap?”

I stretched before standing up and reaching for my bag on the ground. Throwing it over my right shoulder and looking around. The class was almost empty except for the few female fans that surrounded Manic asking him questions.

Sabrina woke up from her seat as well after packing up her notes.

“Not really, he just spoke about what might be coming up in the exam and how we should revise certain sections more so than others”

I blinked thrice in a dumbfounded manner at her nonchalant attitude. Before I stared at her incredulously.

“And..that’s ‘not really’- I emphasize- important?”

“Mhmm ″, she hums whilst staring at me straight dead in the eyes and swinging her bag over her shoulder.

“Seriously?”

“Pfft, please you already know I took down notes for you anyway. Let’s head to the cafeteria before your hangryness gets the best of you and your tummy”.

We headed down to the front exit of the class, passing the Manics fanclub on the way (The Maniacs) and silently wishing them to create some drama for entertainment. It’s a horrible thought but the academy needed some life breathed into it and I needed a new drama to watch.

We passed by a few stragglers in the hall and headed towards the center of the academy where the cafeteria awaited us- The gift of god- I say. Usually cafeteria food was sad but this place was actually pretty good. It’s probably because they had a bunch of different takeaway shops there too so you could pick your poison. Like cholesterol and the works.

“Ah, that reminds me”, Sabrina starts whilst staring at her phone in the food line,

“ Annah sent a text message asking if we’re all going to the party this Friday. Apparently it’s being hosted by Daniel Blake and it’s like the biggest event of the year”.

“Who’s Daniel Blake?”

“I’ll get two of the hot strips and rice please, one strips and chips, a bottle of water, 2 orange flavored cool drinks and 3 of the choc oat cookies please. Thank you” I say to the cashier before reaching for my wallet to pay.

“No clue, but it seems he’s a popular guy, hey! let me pay this time”.

“Ahh no, you’re buying the coffee and cake for our study sessions later. When did she ask you this anyway?”

“Cool, she asked me this morning’

Looking around for an empty seat we finally found one that had been recently cleared in front of the shop. We swung our bags down on the wooden bench and made ourselves comfortable..

“And what did you say?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

She stared at me with a raised eyebrow

“ Annah didn’t even wait a minute before texting again and saying that she already knew we weren’t going”

“Miss social butterfly knows us too well. Did she say what time she’s heading here?”

“Order number 22!”

“That’s us, lemme get our stuff, what time is it anyway?”

“It’s one o’clock now”-Bing!- “Oh its Annah, she says she’ll be here in 5 ”

“Cool, I’ll be back”

Grabbing our order took about five minutes before getting back to my seat. Whereby we were joined by our little munchkin Annah. Annah Brea Cher, another trustworthy friend. She was a brunette with chocolate coloured eyes and was also 20 years old. She was the social butterfly in the trio and had a way with handling numbers. Although you would think she was always the party type, she was actually the- I would rather eat a whole large popcorn mixed with chocolate while binge watching dramas type. She was also the shortest in stature and got confused alot for being a child.

“ Hey munchkin, how was class? You look like you went through an apocalypse.”

“Ughh don’t even get me started, the ethics professor gave us group work to do and I have this ominous feeling that I’m the one that’s going to be busy doing everything again”,

Disdain coated her voice as she ranted whilst her hands reached into the food packet I plopped onto the table.

“Are these the choc oat cookies?! yess, this was just what I needed, gosh you always know what I’m craving for”

“You’re always craving them, that’s why she knows.”

“Why don’t you just tell the professor if they’re shirking?”

“Like that would make a difference, it’s faster if I just do it anyway”, she said while tearing into her food. “I love chips”, she sighed.

“It’s kind of hard to go wrong with fresh chips”,

Sabrina mentioned before we both started digging into our own meals.

“But what time will you be back from the party?”.

“To be honest, I don’t really wanna go if you’ll aren’t there. I might as well just chill in our dorm room and have a Friday night movie marathon. I mean it’s not like you guys will be going anywhere this Saturday right?, so we can just sleep in”

“Actually, we have to go to prison on Saturday”,

I proclaimed and paused in suspense for Annah’s reaction

“What the hell did you guys do while I was in class?!, Did you actually manage to murder the computer lecturer within half an hour? Or was that the plan for Friday night?”

Annah exclaimed and looked at us both in disbelief.

Sabrina and I had glanced at each other and communicated what we were going to do

“Well we “were” going to invite you but it seemed like you were busy on Friday”

“Oh shush Sera, can’t you see that she already looks like we betrayed her for not inviting her to the plan”.

“Guys, come on don’t joke around like that. I don’t think I have enough money to bail you both out”

“But you have enough money to bail at least one of us out?”

I can’t help but check before getting serious again.

“As much as we would like to enact that plan, it’s actually not the reason. We have a criminology assignment based on this excursion because the government decided that we needed a dose of reality and politely suggested, ahem-threatened-, the academies to do it.”

“So, now we’ve got a bunch of impressionable youth all over the country going to prisons and trying to dig into a criminals mindset. And it’s not as cool as it sounds with how people nowadays find criminals to be much cooler than the police.”

Sabrina chimed in.

“Especially with how easily the youth can shift their morals and values when it’s not instilled into them properly and freedom gets to their head when they’re away from their parents”

Curiosity creeped into Annah’s eyes

“So then which prison are you guys going to?”

Sabrina and I glanced at each other with pursed lips.

“The Cage”