Losers Can't Be Choosers Ch. 21

Chapter 21 - Payback

Gail opened her tired eyes to find herself in a similar position to the one she had left Nick before, tied to the old apparatus, her clothes torn off. Angela stood in front of her, one hand around her waist, the other cupping her chin. As for the young paramedic, he remained stationary by the warehouse's entrance, back turned to them. He had made a promise to stay regardless of the consequences and honor bound him to it.

"I'm glad you're awake," Angela sniggered. "Now we can get started."

Not even the restraints silenced Gail's viperine tongue. "Started with what? Are you going to torture me, Angela? Because we both know you don't have it in you."

"I used to think the same way but after everything I've seen you do, I realize how blind I've been all along. I know you won't stop willingly so it's up to me to set things right again."

"Bold words but you're still the same weakling you've ever been. All the time you spent trying to 'help' people would have been better served playing them silly and exploiting them for fun. You did not seize the moment when you had the chance and that's why you've been nothing but a failure! It runs in the family!"

"Is that the best you've got this time around? I'm disappointed..." the therapist mocked.

"I've got plenty more to show you. Release me and we can go for another round."

"Nice try but this time I'm making the rules."

Gail pushed against the binds, an insane glint on her eyes. Nick turned his head to look at her for a second and flinched. Her mutated expression was straight out an ancient horror flick, veins popping everywhere, a gaping hole where once used to be a perfect row of pearly teeth. "Go on, do your worst then! I can't wait to see you lose your nerve when things get real!"

"You still think this is just a twisted game, don't you?"

"But of course it is! That's what Life is. We're all cast from the same shadows into this wretched place and it's our responsibility to make do with what we have or create the conditions to achieve what we want. My kink has always been power. I will always hold on to it, no matter what."

"And look where it led you..." Angela declared. "And it will only go downhill from here."

"Believe it, I've had worse and there's nothing you can do to make me change my mind."

"We'll see about that," Angela cracked her knuckles.

From an unknown position above, the homeless man looked down into the abandoned warehouse, surprised at the unexpected turn of events taking place. It was if as he was watching a family drama unfold now and he had little patience for those. Where were the kinky shenanigans? The raw displays of forceful dominance? At least the fight between the two women a few minutes earlier had been interesting, albeit brief. He yawned and hoped for their verbal diarrhea to end.

"I know where this is going but you won't be able to reprogram me, Angie! I'm not a loser like your brother! Besides, I worked for you for so long I already know all your tricks."

Angela leaned towards her, brushing a lock of hair away from her face and whispered:

"That's where you're wrong, bitch. Let me show you."

She snapped her fingers, and the world dissolved into a black void.

* * *

Gail opened her tired eyes to find herself in a similar position to the one she had left Nick before, tied to the old apparatus, her clothes torn off. Angela stood in front of her, one hand around her waist, the other cupping her chin. As for the young paramedic, he remained stationary by the warehouse's entrance, back turned to them. He had made a promise to stay regardless of the consequences and honor bound him to it.

"I'm glad you're awake," Angela sniggered. "Now we can get started."

"Wait..." the secretary cocked her head. "What just happened?"

"What do you mean?"

She didn't know. Not for sure. Perhaps déjà vu was the most appropriate word for it and yet it paled compared to the uncanniness of what she was experiencing. Everything was silent except for the two of them, a pale light descending from a hole in the ceiling creating a blinding barrier in the spaces between.

"Didn't this...? Didn't this happen just now?" Gail blurted, her voice hoarse, her eyes droopy.

"Why would it? It's not like I have the power to turn back time, is it? That would be awesome though."

"Okay, hold on. I'm sure that..."

"Sure of what? That you've seen this already? That you lived it before? Our minds often play tricks to compensate for things they don't want to deal with. It's a type of dissociation, you know? Is that you think is happening right now?"

Gail remained silent, uneasy eyes piercing her surroundings. It was all as she remembered save for a few significant details. Despite the source light from above, no shadow laid at Nick's feet and therapist's the skin had a translucent sheen to it, a colorful apparition to make fun of her soul.

"What did you do, Angela?"

"I've done nothing yet but I will. Just watch."

She snapped her fingers, and the world dissolved into a black void.

* * *

Gail opened her tired eyes to find herself in a similar position to the one she had left Nick before, tied to the old apparatus, her clothes torn off. Angela stood in front of her, one hand around her waist, the other cupping her chin. As for the young paramedic, he remained stationary by the warehouse's entrance, back turned to them. He had made a promise to stay regardless of the consequences and honor bound him to it.

"I'm glad you're awake," Angela sniggered. "Now we can get started."

"You're already inside my head..." Gail muttered.

Angela sat right next to her captive, admiring her perfectly manicured nails. "You need to speak up, I didn't hear you."

Gail rattled her restraints, and the ground shook beneath her feet. "How the...? How the fuck are you already inside my head?"

"Inside your head? Why would I want to be there? It seems such a miserable place to be in. Are you feeling okay, Gail? Or did you snap for good?"

"I want to know what you did!"

"Didn't you say you already knew all my tricks? If that were true, you would know the answer already. Or are you reconsidering it?"

"It's not funny!"

"Oh, seeing you all confused is what I would describe as funny after everything that happened between us. I'll give you some time to think things through. Back in a jiff."

And just like that, Angela vanished, a trick any magician would love to learn, but only a hypnotist could pull off. Gail examined her surroundings once more, this time noticing yet another discrepancy in what she thought she knew. The white light was gone, replaced by a series of almost invisible wires suspended above her head. Two-dimensional cutouts stood where the broken-down walls of the warehouse used to be. The glorified props laughed at her in her own voice.

Gail pushed against the ropes and they came loose, slithering on the floor like rattlesnakes. Stomping the closest one as it tried to escape, it dissolved into a pool of dark sand.

"Angela? Angela, come back!"

"Right here," her silky voice echoed from the right. "Or perhaps, here," it chirped to the left. "Now you see me, now you don't. But even if you don't, I'm always around."

"Let me out."

"Out of where?"

"This fantasy you built or whatever it is. I don't want to be here."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Let me out!"

"If you want to leave, the door is right there. Go on, what are you waiting for?"

Gail jumped back on her feet, took ten steps forward and...

... the world dissolved into a black void.

* * *

Gail opened her tired eyes to find herself in a similar position to the one she had left Nick before, tied to the old apparatus, her clothes torn off. Angela stood in front of her, one hand around her waist, the other cupping her chin. As for the young paramedic, he remained stationary by the warehouse's entrance, back turned to them. He had made a promise to stay regardless of the consequences and honor bound him to it.

"I'm glad you're awake," Angela sniggered. "Now we can get started."

"God, not again!" The secretary whimpered as the illusion reset.

"Again? What on earth do you mean? Have we done this before? I'm so confused right now..." Angela's replica grinned.

"You slipped some suggestions while I was knocked out, didn't you? That's how you're doing this!"

"Perhaps, I did, perhaps I didn't. Who knows? If you don't like where you are, the door is right..."

"... over there, I know, but if I try to reach it, it will just fade away again, won't it?"

"I don't know, Gail. It's your nightmare, not mine."

"Stop fucking with my head!"

"Why? Isn't playing with others so much fun? Making them think and feel things they were never meant to think or feel just for the sake of masturbatory fantasies of power and whatnot? You told me you liked that, you would do anything to keep the juices flowing and yet the moment you went to sleep, you came here and found yourself stuck, vulnerable, caught in a loop you're not even sure where it came from. What does that say about you, Gail?"

"Shut up."

"I think it says you're crazy. Yes, you don't play with a full deck, do you? Whenever you thought you were playing with someone, you were the one being played. That kind of power you want isn't attainable unless you give away something of worth. Call it consciousness, call it soul, call it remorse, call it whatever you like. You embraced your sociopathic ways with no thought for what would happen next and now you're shattered. You will always be shattered, the fragments of your existence locked inside this little pocket dimension you will learn to fear, if you don't do it already."

"Shut up!"

"I could but where's the fun in that? Unlike what you said, I know how to enjoy myself, I know how to enhance fantasies to the point where they become a second skin. In my desire to help Jonah, I miscalculated my ways just like I misjudged you but I learned something valuable from all of this. I've learned there's nothing I won't do to protect the ones I care the most about in this world and you... you're not of them. You're just a bad memory that will fade away but until that happens, you'll stay here, trapped in your own twisted playground because here's the beauty of something like this... every time you question what's happening, every time you lash out at the inconsistencies, every time the continuity of your thoughts finds itself interrupted and the cycle begins anew, you go a little 'diaper' *snap* and 'diaper' *snap* and 'diaper' *snap*. The exit is so close, it will always be close, yet you will never reach it unless I want you to. Instead, you will linger in this mindless pool of mud and shit and endless variations of your pathetic solitude until you have no choice but..."

"... but what?" Gail shivered.

"Forget, obviously. Forget your ways, forget who you are, forget who you thought you were. It's simple. Unless you leave your skin behind, you'll always be here going 'diaper' *snap*, 'diaper' *snap*, and 'diaper' *snap*. Go 'diaper', Gail, for this is your past, your present, and your future. I'm not your happy hypnotized hypnotist, you filthy slut. I'm your jail keeper!"

*snap*

* * *

Gail opened her tired eyes to find herself in a similar position to the one she had left Nick before, tied to the old apparatus, her clothes torn off. Angela stood in front of her, one hand around her waist, the other cupping her chin. As for the young paramedic, he remained stationary by the warehouse's entrance, back turned to them. He had made a promise to stay regardless of the consequences and honor bound him to it.

"I'm glad you're awake," Angela sniggered. "Now we can get started."

Gail screamed as her true torment began.