A heavy sigh left my lips and I stood tall. “Yeah, we did. Which is why I’m going to stay behind to make sure everyone gets out. Alive.” Her eyes began to water and she rushed me with a giant hug, squeezing me tight. “Please…please be careful,” she cried into me. “And no matter what—” Her head lifted. “Save her.”
I nodded. “I’ll try.”
Lavender wiped her tears away and showed me how to work the monitors before leaving the security office. The small room fell into an eerie silence, only broken up by the faint static from the monitors and storm outside. I tapped at the keyboard, watching her make her way down the hall and through a back entry way into the pizzeria.
Please make it.
My eyes bolted across the monitors, searching for Crissa. “Where are you,” I groaned. A faint squeak made me freeze. My head whipped around, searching the green-colored office for any sign of one of her rats, but I didn’t see any.
I must’ve been hearing things.
Shaking my head, my focus returned to the live feed and I tapped the keyboard, clicking through the monitors until I finally found her. “There you are. Wait…” My eyes squinted to see her standing in the kitchen eating a slice of pizza. But what really caught my eye was the limbless body on the tile floor. It was shredded and gutted, completely unrecognizable. “Who…who is that?” I asked aloud, frightened by the sight. Crissa turned, as if hearing me through the camera, and smiled. She picked a piece of skin from her pizza and held it up, waving it around with such pride. And once I realized what it was, I felt sick.
“What the—Sybil!”
Crissa played with the patch of skin etched with Sybil’s black widow tattoo, before returning it to her pizza and taking a large bite. I gagged, watching her eat the slice, pepperoni, cheese, skin and all. “This can’t be real…” I whispered to myself. “This can’t be real!” I slammed my fist down onto the desk, horrified by everything that had happened. “Crissa.” I choked back tears.
What have we done to you?
Crissa tilted her head and stared up into the camera. She didn’t move or even blink. Just stared with that large, eerie smile. A chill ran up my spine, and I was almost too scared to look away, but I needed to check on Lavender.
Fuck…please…don’t move. Please!
My fingers tapped the keyboard, quickly flipping through the feeds until I found Lavender. She was in the main dining area of the pizzeria, slowly creeping through. I knew it was hard for her to see, even with the dull neon lights. Thankfully, Crissa and her rats were nowhere near her. “Keep going, Lavender.” I checked her path ahead, flipping through another monitor. “You’re almost there…” Static ripped through the screens. “Shit.” My fingers hit the keyboard as I returned to the live feed from the kitchen. But Crissa wasn’t there.
Oh shit!
Frantically, I searched the monitors for any sight of her. “Where are you? Huh? Where did you go?” I noticed Lavender was still alone, her path still empty. “But if she’s safe, then…” Crissa’s distant laughter echoed through the back of the pizzeria, making its way through the opened security room door. It was pitch black outside it, but I could feel something coming. “Fuck.” I checked the nearby cameras and found her.
Crissa was standing at the end of the hall, smiling up into the camera, waving at me with ripe enthusiasm. It was a fucking creepy thing to witness, her eyes fully blacked out and her teeth long and sharp, like an animal’s. She opened her jaw and mouthed slowly, ensuring I could read her lips.
“I—see—you.”
What?
Just then, a rat squeaked. I shot my head to the doorway to see it standing there, staring at me. “Oh shit!” I ran from the monitors and slammed the door shut, locking it in a hurry. The monitors all fell into a rippling static for a moment before resuming. And Crissa was gone. “No,” I breathed, rushing back to them. “No, no, no!” I panicked, unable to find her.
Fuck!
“Mon–tey.” My body froze at the sound of my name being sung from the other side of the door. “Mon–tey,” she sang again. “Open the door, Montey.” Her voice was sweet and innocent which frightened me more.
I stepped back, looking around the office for some way to defend myself. But aside from the food trash and monitors, there wasn’t much.
“Open the door, Montey.” Her voice became more stern and had an altered depth to it. Crissa hit the door, making me jump. “Open. The. Door,” she growled, sounding absolutely demonic. My heart raced, knowing she’d force her way in eventually.
Crissa hit the door again. And again. And again, until what sounded like just her fists hitting it, turned into full-on body slams. “Let me in!” The door ripped off the hinges and she came crashing in, followed by a few rats. “Aha!” She tossed her head back and laughed before glaring back at me. “No where to hide now, Mon–tey. It’s just you and me, big boy.” A low snarl vibrated from her.
I slowly backed away from her as she stepped further into the security office, keeping the distance even between us. “Crissa, please.” My back hit the two-way mirror, and I knew I was fucked. “Please,” I breathed.
Her arm raised high, the green hue of the monitors drenching her bloodied body as her claws flexed. “I’m afraid dear Crissa isn’t here right now,” she spoke in a deep, altered voice. “But even if she were, she’d be filled with glee at the thought of me killing you!”
My arms raised in a defensive way as I prepared myself. “No, she wouldn’t! Crissa, Crissa I know you’re still in there!” She swung, slicing my arm with her claws and knocking me against the mirror. Blood seeped from the wound, smearing along the glass while I clenched my teeth, biting back loud moans. I clutched my arm tight, but it just kept bleeding. “Fuck! Crissa please! Listen to me!”
“Crissa please,” she mocked before sticking her tongue out in disgust. “Pathetic human! You can scream her name, calling out to her all you want, but she will not hear you.” She grinned. “She doesn't want to. And I wonder why.”
Doesn’t want to? Wait, that means Crissa was still inside her body…somewhere. And wherever she was, she could still hear me.
She swung her arm again, the tips of her claws running across my face. I cried out, grabbing it with my hand. A few rats ran to my legs and began to crawl up them, biting and gnawing at me. “Get off!” I kicked them away, falling over. “Fuck—get off!”
