For Shits and Giggles [2024]

Chapter 18

It had been several hours before Felix finally woke up.

Gracie had begun to nod off in her chair. Dr. Sny was busy writing in his journal. Suddenly, Lotto jumped up.

"He's awake!"

He yelled, jolting Gracie from her half-sleep.

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

"What... where am I," Felix 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 Dr. Sny and Gracie. Then, the panic set in.

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

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

Before she could answer, Dr. Sny spoke "You don't remember our conversations?"

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

"Most interesting," said Dr. Sny. 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 Felix for days, but that wasn't very unusual. When word got around that he and Fior were separating, people expected to see him even less. Still, Gracie felt a pang of guilt for not checking up on him. How could she have known he was in a place like this.

"Amazing," Dr. Sny said after Felix looked even more confused than before. "It's like he's an entirely different person. Could it be borderline personality... no, that's not this... dissociative identity? Could it be related to the Tree? Incredible..." He was talking excitedly to himself.

"Gracie," Felix said with pleading eyes. Dr. Sny interrupted him.

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

"I do," she said. "When he flips... he's 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?" Dr. Sny asked, and Gracie was stunned quiet. It was a question no one had thought to ask before. He turned to Felix, "Who are you?"

"He's private Feliqs," Gracie heard herself say, thinking back to that evening in the park when she was finally able to speak to him for the first time, "My Feliqs."

Felix looked at her with wide eyes, shocked. Like she had betrayed a secret, some forbidden phrase never meant to be spoken out loud.

Suddenly, Felix began to contort in that familiar way. He let out a loud, painful howl and fell to the ground, red 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!" Dr. Sny yelled, fumbling with the security pad to unlock the door. "We can't keep wasting time!"

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

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

Feliqs moved like lightning. Before either of them could react, he was already out in the main corridor, an arm wrapped around Dr. Sny' neck, his other hand pointing at Gracie.

"You remember," Feliqs growled. Dr. Sny struggled to breathe, trying to pry his arm from his throat. Feliqs only tightened it.

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

"No," he said. "You remember what we did."

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..."

Feliqs threw Dr. Sny to the side, he hit the ground with an audible smack, heaving and hacking for air.

"You can't lie to me," Feliqs stomped toward Gracie, grabbing her by her collar, lifting her up to his face. "You still feel it."

He shook her, her legs dangling as he held her in the air.

"Tell me you remember," he pulled her forward, their lips meeting with a sudden burst of electricity. She could feel herself begin to melt into his body, her hands— either willingly or unwillingly— grabbed 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.

"I remember..." she said, speaking against his lips, "Of course I remember... but I wanted to forget. I wanted you to forget," it was muscle memory, the way they held each other. It was instinctual and she couldn't pull away. It was like they were college kids again, exploring each others' bodies for the first time. They fit together like pieces of the same fucked up puzzle.

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 Camilo, and it didn't let her stop Santiago when he flirted with her.

It has to be the curse, she thought. But, when she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass behind them, her legs wrapped tightly around Feliqs' waist, his hand in a familiar spot underneath her dress, she saw that her eyes were brown— simply and authentically brown.