How To Kill a Songbird

Chapter 13: Does Medicare Cover This?

"Oh look," smiled Eve. I noticed a mark on her arm that was almost burned on her. It was a strange symbol that reminded me of Satanic markings. "There's that bitch of a retard and her little best friend."

"What should we do with you?" laughed Lola with the joy of a psychotic cheerleader. "We would crucify you here and now, but that would be too easy."

I immediately got up and went in front of Soph. I wasn't sure why they were there with us. I do know, however, that Harlow sent them here to do something that isn't fun.

"Wow," I said as I rolled my eyes. "I guess you bitches never learn. Just because you can find the lowest of trash to fuck doesn't make you bimbos worth it."

I looked them up and down. I was trying to take stock of what they had on them in case they had concealed weapons. They didn't look like they were armed. No big coats were worn to hide concealed guns. They had no odd bulges in their pants or breast area. They were empty-handed. They were just here to torment us, for now.

They laughed in my face as they started moving closer. Lola was the head bitch at school; after all, she was the prom queen. I felt in the pit of my stomach something was off with them. Their behavior seemed forced like puppets on a string.

They acted like they were possessed or something. Both girls' eyes glazed over and the expression on their faces was fear. They went from humans with individual personalities to almost copy-and-paste clones. Harlow is behind this. He always likes kids to act like each other rather than stand out. That's why he hated me. If he sent them here to kill us, then it would be the dumbest move since the Nazis tried to invade the Soviet Union. There are too many witnesses.  They are unarmed. The only weapons they could use against us are the ones you can find in the environment. The girls are too dumb to do something like that. Lola tried to say Rowan was her boyfriend's biological son and blamed it on chocolate and coffee for Christ's sake. Eve isn't much better. Her writing is like a two-year-old trying to tell a story. I decided that killing us wasn't the reason he sent the duo. They are dumb and dumber. The definition of Bimbo Baggins. What was his angle here? Was it to terrorize us?

"Oh please, you stupid switch-hitting bitches," Lola laughed. "Aren't you going to get your mafia brethren after us, Sophia? Why don't you make us some pasta and say 'Mama Mia'?"

Soph hid behind me. She was always scared of confrontation. She looked at me. She wanted to kill them by the look in her eyes. She nodded at me. We silently agreed on the plan of action. Whatever I decide to do, she will follow my lead. 

"What baby daddy are you on, Lola?" I snapped. "Seventy-two? And what about you, Epiphany? Did you finally play 'Aww no step bro' with your brother? You always told me he fucked your brains out every week."

They looked like I threw holy water on them. Whatever is going on with them, their pride can still be hurt. Maybe they are still human underneath the trance-like state they were in.

"That's preposterous!" scoffed Eve. "You said you wanted to fuck me the other day, captain lesbo."

Wait, Eve didn't know that word. I explained it once to her. I even showed her the definition as proof. She scoffed at me and called the damn dictionary "liberal." She can't even use preposterous it in a sentence correctly. It made me even more afraid as my suspicions were confirmed, they were possessed zombies. It wasn't her talking. It was Harlow.

"I wouldn't fuck either of you bitches," I snapped. I started to approach them with balled fists. "I don't want a virus from someplace that'll rot my brain. I am not attracted to vain-ass women who love to fuck the first man or woman they see. You are both wanted for your quality handjobs and blowjobs. Especially you, Epiphany, you are just a sore loser who is sexually frustrated! You called me transphobic, but that sounds like the pot calling the kettle black to me. You are named Epiphany because that's what you are to your father! You should have been thrown in the dumpster as an infant because your mom is a slut and cannot afford an abortion like a normal human being."

They were confused by my retorting back at them. Eve's eyes lit up in realization. It's like she snapped out of whatever Harlow did to her.

"STOP CALLING ME EPIPHANY!!" screeched Eve. "I AM NOT AN EPIPHANY!!"

Eve was reaching her breaking point. It seemed like she realized what she was doing for a brief second. Instead of stopping completely, however, she snapped back into whatever mindset she was in when she walked into the diner. They both stared at me with eyes that were glazed over, turning the vibrant colors of their irises and their dark pupils into a clouded grey. It was like looking at corpses.

"Are you going to swing at me already, or do you just talk a big game, you motherfucking assholes?" I snapped.

They each grabbed a steak knife from a nearby table and looked dead at us, eyes glazed over. I had no idea what was going on now. I prepared myself to fight them and tell Soph to run. I looked at things I could use to defend myself. My natural fight or flight kicked in. My eyes were darting across the room. I noticed the napkin holder would make a good bludgeon. There were some steak knives on an empty table the servers hadn't gotten yet. I even considered breaking a plate and stabbing them in the neck. Suddenly, their voices ruined my train of thought even though their faces ruined my day.

"Our master," said the nasty girls in unison. "Likes you both afraid. It makes the blood even more special when he sacrifices you to our god. Angels are screaming out loud for your blood. They want you dead. They want your bodies and your blood."

Soph and I looked at each other. Their speech patterns were forced and pressured like they were fighting something in themselves. The girls looked terrified as it seemed like their hands were moving on their own accord. It was like they had no say in what their hands were doing or what they were saying.

"Long live our lord and savior," the girls said together. "Down with the heretic and all who associate with her."

Soph started to cross herself as she was Catholic. I did too just to be safe as this was getting even more creepy. There was something demonic at work here. Everyone in the room stopped eating at this point and gawked at the scene in front of us. Some even stopped eating mid-bite or with food in their gaping mouths.

"Down with the House of MacArthur," the girls chanted rhythmically over and over again before they slit their throats in the middle of the busy dinner. I flinched at the sight. Their blood sprayed on the nearby table. They fell backward in their heels and flopped to the ground like frozen statues.

They were laughing with the same grin I saw Harlow have when he was standing at the corner, even though they were dead.  It reminded me of the Joker Toxin from the Batman mythos. Their bodies started swelling like human balloons. They looked like they were wearing inflatable fat suits, except that was their skin. I flipped the table so we could hide behind it to shield us from what their bodies were about to do.

"Get down," I commanded Soph. We both ducked behind the table.

The girl's bodies popped like balloons filled with blood and bile. Everyone in the diner and every single surface was coated with their blood and guts except us due to my quick thinking.  For a split second silence hung in the air. No one in the diner moved. Then a chorus of screams rang out. Thank God I had earplugs in or I would have been overstimulated.

I looked over the flipped table to see the patrons running for their lives in a stampede like it was Black Friday. Some fell as they slipped on the blood like a waterslide.  It caused others to fall on top of them, causing some minor pile-ups. They all cleared out. We were now alone in the diner. I didn't know where the cooks ran off to, but it was suddenly quiet. It was almost too quiet.