Page 14 of Twisted Diaries of a Monster Groupie

Dear Diary,

Monster creation Is easy. It’s making a real Family that’s hard.

XOXO – Roxy

A few days later, Roxy stepped through the front door of her home, missing her green lover more than she expected. She hadn’t even noticed Hank in the yard mowing the grass and how he’d fixed the leaky roof. She was so consumed with thoughts of Acid that she hadn’t even had any manic episodes due to being consumed by images of him making love to her. All she knew was a desperate pull to want to be in her arms.

She couldn’t explain it. The longer they were apart the more she yearned for him. Like a part of her soul was missing. She could only assess that maybe she had gone mad and imagined the whole thing. Maybe going off her meds hadn’t been such a great idea. But no. It was real and she couldn’t block this memory from her mind like the day she tried to harm herself.

She hadn’t planned on sleeping with Acid, saving his life, or even reanimating another body out of a stone-cold killer to protect him. Now she was home alone and she felt an emptiness she’d never felt before. She’d always crushed hard on him, but had she…? No… She couldn’t have.

She stopped her tracks raking her hand over her face. “Damn it. I’m really in love with him.”

When she flopped on the couch and her mother came over to hand her a drink, she didn’t even move her eyes away from the static on the TV.

“Afternoon, Roxy. Did you notice the new drapes? I sewed them myself.”

She finally veered her eyes to her mom and what she saw was a tad unsettling. She looked like something straight out of an old black-and-white TV sitcom, only darker. She was dressed in a black 50s A-line dress and her hair in a perfect updo. She looked good. Happy even, in a horror sort of way. Except for the bandage that was still wrapped around her forehead.

“Yikes,” she mumbled to herself. “Mom, did you do something to your hair?”

“Do you like it? I did it myself.”

The smile on her face made Roxy shiver. Darla was not the same woman she once was. She was pleasant, unsettlingly so.

“Uh… yeah. Why don’t you power down for a while and relax? You’re creeping me out.”

“Yes, dear. I do have the worst sort of headache. I love you, baby.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

Roxy watched her mother sit in the chair across from her and quickly her head dropped as her chip turned off.

“Fuck, that’s creepy. I gotta do some tweaks on that chip to make her more natural. I may have gone a little overboard.”

As she looked at her mother Roxy realized something she hadn’t before. The difference between her creations and her father’s, free will. It’s what her father warned her about. Playing with the dead changed people, and not always for the better. But she had to admit the changes she made to her mom and Hank were by far an improvement to their former selves. They were downright likable now. Hank even fixed up the house and was working back at the butcher shop. Her mom was delightful, although eerily submissive, and even hugged Roxy for the first time in years just a day before.

It was a freakshow among freakshows, but it was too late to turn back now. She’d built her perfect family and now she had to live with it, like it or not.

The only thing missing from her perfectly created existence… Acid.

Kidnapping him had seemed like the perfect plan. Her father had always told her she needed to take chances if she wanted to control her future, but nothing had gone according to the plan. Surprisingly she wasn’t that mad about it. She’d had the best weekend of her life with him, even though they were chased by criminals out for blood.

She tossed her keys onto the end table and leaned over her knees. Her surroundings were almost grim in a delightful way. A metallic clink echoed through the house as Hank passed, holding hedge clippers. She wasn’t sure why it made her jump, but she kept her eye on him, nonetheless. In the end, he went on to the backyard to trim shrubs.

“I really have to adjust those chips.”

The sudden silence that loomed over the house except for the TV static was distributing and she hated how quiet it had become. She was so used to the yelling and didn’t even know how to think without the noise. She could almost hear rational thoughts among the wave of emotions she’d been trying to ignore since she and her lover boy fled the casino. This wasn’t right, any of it.

Her mother and stepfather had become her perfect picture of domestication, like characters from a vintage postcard complete with aprons and pearls. Her stepfather had killed her mother, and in her fury, she’d brought them both back, turning them into her mindless drones. She pretended they were perfect now. No more screaming in the middle of the night, no more broken plates or endless bruises. They just existed to her liking. A puppet family, and she, the puppet master.

But why wasn’t she happy?

“Why does this have to be so damn difficult?” she muttered under her breath. “Why can’t I get him out of my head?”

Trying to drown out the silence, she grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. Lines flickered across the warn-out screen before the image sharpened into a breaking news segment. Her stomach twisted when she saw the familiar face grinning back at her. Of course. She should’ve known.

The screen showed her green lover flashing his signature cocky smirk at the paparazzi, the cameras loving every second of it. Reporters shouted questions at him, and Acid chatted them up with a playful toothy grin that made Roxy’s blood boil.

“What the hell are you doing, you idiot?”

But she knew. He’d set up a media blitz to draw attention to himself to keep the loan sharks away. Not an entirely bad idea, but still incredibly stupid. Now everyone knew he was back at his second home in LA and hanging out with the local nightlife.

“You sneaky little shit. You’re putting on a show for the cameras to keep Donnie off your back.” She clenched her fists, feeling a mix of admiration and irritation. “You should have laid low.”

She knew he wasn’t one to do that. Acid lived for the attention, and he was always a step ahead of the game.

She couldn’t help butsmile at how handsome he looked on screen. Annoying as he was, the thrill of their twisted entanglements had her anticipating the kidnapping angle all over again. Maybe this time she would get it right. The scientific side of her was never a quitter.

“Looks like I have some planning to do. I’m coming, greenie. And this time, you’re mine.”