For Shits and Giggles (complete first draft)

Chapter 12

It had been several hours before Flippy finally woke up.

Giggles had begun to nod off in her chair. Sniffles was busy writing in his journal. Suddenly, Lumpy jumped up.

"Flippy's awake!"

He yelled, jolting Giggles from her half-sleep.

"So he is," Sniffles put his pen down, standing from his chair and walking over to the cell. Giggles followed him.

"What... where am I," Flippy groaned, sitting up slowly. His eyes hadn't adjusted to the bright, fluorescent lights yet. He was struggling to make out the blurry figures that were Sniffles and Giggles. Then, the panic set in.

"Where am I," he said again, this time bolting up from the makeshift bed and looking around desperately. He slammed both hands against the glass separating them, leaning in so close that Giggles could see the condensation forming from his breath.

"Giggles is that you," he said, breathing hard. "What's going on, why am I in here? Where are we?"

Before she could answer, Sniffles spoke "You don't remember our conversations?"

Flippy's eyes darted towards him, "No... who are you? Will someone please tell me what's going on!"

"Most interesting," said Sniffles. He took a moment to note something down, then spoke again.

"The Sheriff and I found you in your home several days ago. You were..." he paused as if searching for the right word. "You were attacking yourself. You punched yourself repeatedly, you bashed your own head into the ground. We took you in after that, we've had several conversations... albeit none that were very useful."

It's true no one had seen Flippy for days, but that wasn't very unusual. He was banned from several places, and when word got around that he and Flaky were separating, people expected to see him even less. Still, Giggles felt a pang of guilt for not checking up on him. How could she have known he was in a place like this.

"Amazing," Sniffles said after Flippy looked even more confused than before. "It's like he's an entirely different person. Could it be dissociative identity disorder... no, that's not this... is it related to the curse, incredible..." He was talking more to himself this time.

"Giggles," Flippy said with pleading eyes. Sniffles interrupted him.

"Ah yes, Giggles. This condition of his, you must know more about it."

"I do," she said. "When he flips... he is completely different, dangerous. He wants to hurt people, he doesn't remember any of us. It's not him at all."

"If it's not him then... who is it?" Sniffles asked, and Giggles was stunned quiet. It was a question no one had thought to ask before. He turned to Flippy, "Who are you?"

"Private Fliqpy," Giggles heard herself whisper, thinking back to that evening in the park when she was finally able to speak to flipped Flippy for the first time.

Flippy looked at her with wide eyes, like she had said a secret, forbidden phrase never meant to be spoken out loud.

There was a sickly crack of bone and joints as he began to contort suddenly. He let out a loud, painful howl and fell to the ground, foam bubbling at the sides of his mouth. He arched his back at an unnatural angle, his ribs poking out from his chest as he slammed the back of his head down against the concrete.

"He's going to kill himself, stop him!" Sniffles yelled, fumbling with the security pad to unlock the door. "We can't keep wasting time!"

No, Giggles wanted to yell, don't! Idiots. He'll kill us all.

She stood by motionless as Lumpy jumped into action. He lunged forward into the cell, arms wide open ready to scoop Private Fliqpy into his skinny arms. In one swift movement, Fliqpy rolled out of the way. He looked like a snake, the way he swiveled around to Lumpy's back and wrapped his legs around his waist. Seconds after entering the cell, Lumpy hit the ground; his neck broken and twisted 180 degrees.

Fliqpy was like lightning. Before either of them could react, he was already out in the main corridor, an arm wrapped around Sniffles' neck, his other hand pointing at Giggles.

"You remember" Fliqpy growled. Sniffles struggled to breathe, trying to pry his arm from his throat. Fliqpy only tightened it.

"Of course I remember you," Giggles' heart was in her throat, she was trying to control her breathing. She felt she could pass out at any moment.

"No not me," he said. "What we did. To Flaky."

The room began to spin. Suddenly it was too hot, the lights were too bright, the walls were too close together.

"I... what are you... I-I..."

Fliqpy threw Sniffles to the side, he hit the ground with an audible smack, heaving and hacking for air.

"You can't lie to me," Fliqpy stomped towards Giggles, grabbing her by her collar, lifting her up to his face.

"Remember," he shook her, her legs dangling as he held her in the air. "So we can break this fucking curse," he pulled her forward, their lips meeting in an electric song and dance. She could feel herself begin to melt into his body, her hands— either willingly or unwillingly— grasping his shirt, pulling herself closer to him. His hands moved down to her thighs, wrapping them around himself so that he could hold her better.

Giggles clung to him, "I remember..." she said, speaking against his lips, "Of course I remember... I thought it was you who forgot, I needed you to forget," her body ached for him, and she couldn't pull away. It was like they were college kids again, exploring each others' bodies for the first time. They fit around each other like puzzle pieces.

She blamed the curse— she wanted to blame the curse. The curse didn't let her pull away in time back at the park, it wouldn't let her pull away now, it didn't let her say no that day under the tree with Cuddles and it didn't let her stop Splendid when he flirted. It has to be the curse, she thought. But, when she caught a glimpse of herself in the glass behind them, her legs wrapped tightly around Fliqpy's waist, his hand in a familiar spot underneath her dress, she saw that her eyes were red.