For Shits and Giggles (complete first draft)

Chapter 25

When Cuddles finally broke his promise— his bittersweet promise to never leave her again– it took Giggles by surprise.

He'd gotten an unexpected text from Splendid. Emergency meeting. Happy Cafe, 2 o'clock.

Her chest felt tight, her heart pounded in her ears. It wasn't his leaving that filled Giggles with anxiety and dread; in fact, she relished every second he was in a separate room, or out taking a quick dip in the lake. It was the box underneath the bed that made her palms sweat.

"P-Please," Giggles felt like she was choking. Suddenly, her tongue was too heavy and too swollen and took up so much room in her mouth that it lodged in her throat. "I promise I'll be good, I won't run away," she begged. And this time, she meant it. The risk wasn't worth it.

She gasped over and over; no matter how much air she sucked in there was never enough to fill her lungs.

But Cuddles wouldn't listen. He pulled out the chest. It'd been cleaned since the last time, smelled of lavender pinesol and very faintly of ammonia. Giggles cried and screamed and kicked and scratched, but as soon as he yelled, "stop fighting!"— she'd stopped fighting.

Even after closing the car door behind him, Cuddles could hear her muffled screaming. It was extremely faint– so faint that to anyone else it might have been a distant bird, or the whispers of old wind chimes. But he could hear her voice distinctly ringing in his ears, even after he reached the Cafe.

"You're late," Splendid shot Cuddles a glare when he walked through the door. A bell twinkled above his head, several eyes turned to look at him. A couple faces he didn't recognize. For a moment, Cuddles thought he'd been caught, his secret splaid across his forehead in bright neon letters. But then Flippy looked away, and suddenly there were more important things.

Petunia was there. She sat at her own table– away from Flippy and Splendid, her face full of contempt. It caught Cuddles by surprise. Petunia never came to these gatherings. She'd actively refused to participate in the search for Giggles. Cuddles wanted to ask why, weren't they best friends– shouldn't she be worried sick? Aching to find Giggles? But he never did ask; the less people searching for his beloved, the better. Or maybe Petunia knew– subconsciously, metaphysically knew– that Giggles was where she belonged. With him.

"What's the emergency," Cuddles asked as he pulled out a seat for himself. "Did you find Giggles? Where is she?"

Splendid shot him an unbelieving glare. Flippy did too.

Cuddles took another look around, feeling the tension, "Where's Flaky?"

"She's not coming," said Petunia. "Group gatherings... you know what they do to her."

"Okay," Cuddles swallowed, confused. "Then why are we all here?"

"The day Giggles and I were taken to the facility," Petunia started, ignored his quesdtion. Splendid and Cuddles knew everything about the facility; the cells, Sniffles' notes, the experiments. Fliqpy revealed everything. He told them about Sheriff Lumpy, why they had to search for Giggles without his help. He couldn't be trusted.

Cuddles played with the bottom of his shirt nervously, "Was there a clue there? Did you find something?"

"No," she said. "Not really... but I remember she got a text that day, from you. You wanted to take her to some lake."

"Yeah... it's true, so what?" He swallowed hard.

"So... did you guys check by the lakes," Petunia scanned the room.

"What are you implying," Cuddles stood up suddenly, his chair scuffing loudly as it scooted back. "That I kidnapped my own girlfriend?"

"I wouldn't put it past you, you sick fuck," Splendid stood up next.