Page 116 of Damsel in Disguise

A diabolical laughter rips out of me—raw, vicious, bubbling up from a place they helped create. “Bitch, please. Try looking in the mirror,” I manage between the hysterical edges of it.

I inhale slowly. Let the madness raging inside me settle like dust.

“Now, now…” my smile sharpens. “Ready to become the feast for these lovely babies?” I ask sweetly, already reaching for the lever that lowers them.

The fish are restless beneath them, swarming on the surface. They’ve smelled blood. They know what’s coming.

For a second, I let myself believe they understand my language, and they eagerly want to avenge their little master.

“Please, Ari, don’t do this. We were just being funny with you,” Sadie whimpers—the mastermind of the little bullshit prank, the coward who still thinks she can rewrite history at the edge of death.

I cut her off with a scoff. “Funny? Didn’t sound funny when you said…” I air-quote, tilting my head, “I needed a friend, and you were too friendly, gullible, and naïve. And now I don’t need a spoiled princess anymore because I have both Athena and Refayla, who also dumped you because once again… you’re nothing more than a pathetic crybaby, a loser drama queen,” I recite the sentence word by word.

Color drains from their face, faster than the blood dripping from their fresh wounds.

“You called me a slut,” I remind softly, almost tenderly, “because guys liked approaching me more than they ever glanced at you.”

A sob breaks free just by speaking the word.

Then I look at the last one with teary eyes—Refayla. She keeps her gaze glued to the floor, terrified that eye contact alone might provoke me into whipping her again.

“You said I was the earth to your moon,” I say to her, new tears flow freely down my cheeks. “Yet you never stood up for me. Not once. You just sat there when Athena said I deserved this. Did our friendship really mean nothing to you? Was it always one-sided?” my voice shakes with restrained rage.

I breathe harshly through my nose and point at Sadie. “She said I deserved to be treated like trash just because I have a very specific type in man and I wanted to wait for him. You said I’d be a whore if only I didn’t have the money, and maybe I’d sell my cunt for fun.”

My glare sharpens, fresh tears falling free. “You three wanted to test my fucking character. You thought making a prank account and catfishing me would work. That I’d fall for your cheap little tricks and send nudes just because I’m a sixteen-year-old hopeless romantic girl.”

The words scrape raw from my throat. I pause, chest heaving, breath shaking with the force of it.

“Well, guess what, bitches…” a slow, satisfied grin unfurls through my red-rimmed, teary eyes. “For you, I happen to find my man.”

The grin drops in an instant from my face, leaving something far more sinister behind. “But I’m afraid you won’t be present at my wedding like we initially planned.”

I glance between them—weighing, choosing who deserves to live to remember.

Both of my hands curl around the levers, pulse steady now with the final decision. With that, I yank down two of the three levers.

Athena and Sadie crash into the water, their bodies hit the surface with a wet plop.

Screams explode through the room, mingling perfectly with the crescendo of music—sharp, shattering, tearing across my eardrums as they thrash wildly.

It doesn’t matter. Panic is useless in the jaws of something hungrier than them.

On top of that, the pool is deep, the sides rim slick with a chemical sheen that makes climbing out impossible.

“Oops,” I murmur, cracking my neck.

My hand flies to my lips dramatically. “I forgot to say goodbye,” another sob breaks free.

With that, I’m bawling my eyes out, holding on to the nearest wall so I don't fall on my knees.

Through the tears blurring my vision, I watch the clear water cloud into a violent red. The piranhas swarm in a frenzy, ripping through flesh as if it were nothing but soaked paper.

Above them, Refayla hangs suspended, shrieking so hard her vocal cords are about to tear apart—screaming as if it’s her body being shredded below.

I don’t look away even as I sob, wiping away tears to give space for new tears to flow down. Not until there’s nothing left—until the pool calms, the monsters disguised as fish slow in their frenzy, their bellies full and glinting with satisfaction.

Refayla’s voice finally gives out, collapsing into a rasp that barely counts as sound.