Page 78 of Tempt Me

“Welp, guess you should go fix that, Bob, like you do everything else. Build shit up you see as broken until it’s as robotic as your own whippy whipped ass.”

Goliath looked away, and I knew I hit a fun button.

He could fuck off. He stuck his own fucking brother in the hole and ruined my sexy time with Larry.

“Man, I stuck your ass here for your own safety. You fucking know it as much as I do. You aren’t thinking straight, brother. You’re refusing your meds, spitting them out, and sticking them inside the fucking walls. C’mon, man. I need you to look in the mirror and see it’s the best place for you.”

I shrugged. “No mirrors here, Gee Gee. Those pretty ladies in scrubs know I’ll use them to slice their pretty skin to ribbons.”

My brother looked at me in shock before shaking his head.

“Roe thinks there is a breach here. He swears he saw Emmy in the graveyard tonight.” I snorted, tapping my head. “Well, Roe Roe has been seeing a lot of things lately, hasn’t he? You gonna’ lock him up next to me and be a big fucking happy family again?”

Randall looked at Goliath in surprise but tried to mask his features.

That was right. Nobody knew that Professor Freebird saw the world I did.

“Are you going to fucking help me or not?” Lith pressed.

I smiled at him through the bars, walking over to the two men and sticking my arms out.

“Or…not,” I enunciated slowly.

Goliath shook his head, his ruffled feathers angry at being told no. Don’t piss off the king, or you’ll be stuck in the SHU for another week. Fuck em’. I could jack into Larry’s hole every fucking day. I didn’t need him or my pity party brother either. I only needed my fucking self.

My eyes flashed with yellow flower petals falling around me, glitching in and out. I backed up, yelling and kicking at the floating petals.

‘Tick-tock, soldier number three. Tick-tock.’

The faint voice in my mind gave me a headache, and I ripped at my hair, trying to get the eerie feminine melody out of my fucking head.

“Judas! What are you doing?”

I ignored their shouts, pulling hunks of the black strands free in my fingertips before they tackled me to the ground. I laughed at their efforts, the voice’s suggestions feeling like a command I couldn’t ignore.

‘Little soldier, Tick-Tock. Kill the sleeping doll. Kill soldier number three. Kill. Kill for me.’

I couldn’t quiet the voices, my head exploding in pain, my body compelled to move, my mind, my reality shifting like a brick out of place.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

“Judas! What the fuck is wrong with you? Brother, come back to me. Please don’t make me do this. I can’t, man. Please.”

I could hear my brother pleading with me and their hands restraining me. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop fighting them. I needed to listen. I had to follow the voices.

“Please, my brother. I am begging you,” I shrieked, scrambling to free myself from their hands. I had to get away. I had to follow the voices.

“Judas…no…I am sorry, brother. I love you.”

A sharp pain zapped through my body, and then darkness surrounded me.

Twenty Nine

Nostalgia: Bittersweet ache for something lost.

All I will ever have are my memories of her.

I awoke to the sound of a baby crying.