Crazy In Love | Buggy

s i x t y t h r e e

Over the next couple of hours, I slipped in and out of consciousness. Whenever I did manage to peel my eyes open, my vision was nothing but an unclear blur. I tried to focus my sight with absolutely no luck.

The more I tried, the more pain that would radiate.  My head was pounding. It felt as if I could still feel the bat being smacked against my head. I couldn't move, no matter how desperately hard I tried to.

I would try to start off with small movements, just my fingers or my toes, but it was as if I wasn't really in my body. I couldn't feel anything except from pain.

Then, I'd slip back into sleep - if you could call it sleep. It was more like a nightmare. In my dreams, I saw horrible visions of Buggy being killed, thrown overboard into the sea to drown. It felt like I was drowning in my fears.

The next time that I managed to open my eyes, I could feel my body. In fact, I could feel my body being lifted up from the ground. I was in someone's arms.

My heart raced as I imagined it as Buggy. This entire fantasy of him fighting his crew, winning, and then carrying me to safety played in my head.

I knew it wasn't real. Whoever was carrying me, was being rough. It was only the top half of me being held, my legs were sliding across the ground as I was pulled to wherever I was being taken to.

I looked up. Still, my vision was a blur. I could see black hair - not Buggy. Although I already knew that, it still hurt my heart.

"Is she awake?" A voice asked.

My hearing was weird. It was as if whoever said it was speaking from the end of a hallway, their voice echoing in my head as if it were bouncing off the walls.

I squeezed my eyes closed, hoping they would think that I was unconscious again. My concern was that if they knew I was awake, they would hit me with the bat again, to knock me out. That was the last thing I wanted. My head was already pounding from the last beating that I took.

"She doesn't look awake to me."

"Her eyes were open - I swear they were."

"I hit her pretty hard. She won't be awake for hours, at least."

That voice was Dilly's. I was still so confused about her. I had really thought we had made amends, became friends once again.

So, why did she do this to me? I wondered if she felt bad about it, even just a little bit. Was it a difficult decision, or was I fooling myself into believing she ever cared about me?

That last option seemed the most likely. She, like the rest of these clowns, was heartless. She didn't care about anybody but herself.

And yet, a small part of me wanted desperately to believe I was wrong, that she was my friend and, perhaps, that she might change her mind and help me.

"Yes, but she's your friend, so how much can we trust your word on this?"

Although the voices were echoing and distorted, I immediately recognised that as Bozo. The clown who hated me.

This entire situation was probably his idea. He had made his hatred of both me and Buggy apparent. What was his plan, to become the new Captain?

"Hey, she's not my fucking friend!" Dilly snapped. That hurt, and I felt stupid for being hurt by it. "It was your idea for me to get close to her again."

"Well, you were pretty convincing."

"I'm the one who knocked her out. How can you seriously still think she's my friend?"

It felt as if she were talking to me. Calling me stupid for believing that she could be my friend after what she had done to me.

I had no allies. That thought was terrifying.