For Shits and Giggles [2024]

Chapter 23

Feliqs tied Dr. Sny down where Paola had been.

"You're making a big mistake," Dr. Sny argued, struggling against the restraints only a little bit. He knew it was no use, the restraints wouldn't give.

Gracie had put Paola into new clothes before she woke up again. They were simple, white robes, that they'd found while rummaging around the building. But they were clean. Feliqs picked up Paola's unconscious body and moved her into the bathroom of the bunker. There, Gracie washed her hair thoroughly in the communal shower, she wiped her face of any dust along with the rest of her body. When Paola finally woke up, she was fresh and clean and no longer a danger to herself.

Now the three of them sat at the table, Paola and Gracie listening to Feliqs speak.

"You... you two were having an affair?" Paola looked at Gracie, mortified.

Feliqs spoke up for Gracie, who looked just about ready to cry.

"I didn't marry Fior, he did."

"What the hell are you talking about," Paola almost yelled. "You're the one with a ring on your finger. You expect me to believe some... some story about there being two of you? Do you hear yourself? The angel-leprechaun-demon thing I can believe, but this..."

"It's the truth," he said, gritting his teeth. He scraped his nails down the wooden table to stop himself from lunging and ripping Paola's lips right off her face. Paola noticed and lowered her tone. She addressed Gracie instead.

"Gracie... please tell me it's not true, tell me you didn't sleep with Felix..."

"We stopped sleeping together as soon as they were married," Gracie finally said, softly. Even if she wanted to deny it, she couldn't. "It's not so bad! We only sent letters."

"How can you sit there smiling like that," Paola looked at her with such disgust, you would think it was her husband Gracie had slept with. "You were her maid of honor for Gods sake..."

"I know," Gracie had tears streaming down her face now. "It was such a beautiful wedding," she wept, her eyes fully yellow.

"It doesn't fucking matter now," Feliqs cut in, noticing the tears. "I wasn't lying when I said the curse was in Gracie's eyes."

They both stared at him intently, Gracie especially.

"That witch," Feliqs continued. "She said every deal needs a deal breaker. Something of importance to the deal maker... something with enough emotional potency to undo the original deal."

"Wait... so you made Gracie's eyes the deal breaker," Paola asked, "because you loved her more than Fior?"

"No," Feliqs frowned. "I made them her eyes because I hated her. The way she looked at me so easily and lied. I figured, if I ever wanted to break the curse... her eyes were a fitting sacrifice."

"I didn't lie..." Gracie said meekly, "I didn't... I didn't love you... not until after the letters," she cried.

"Those letters" he said, no hint of regret or remorse in his voice. "Those letters were me. I wrote to you, not him."

"You can't be serious," Paola interrupted, "Do you really expect us to believe that shit? You cheated on Fior, you did. You can try and pin it on some made up alter ego, but it was you."

Feliqs stood up suddenly and slammed both hands on the table. The entire thing shook, there was blood underneath his fingernails from scraping the wood. "Remind me again," he growled, "why I shouldn't gut you right here?"

Paola shrunk back again, Gracie chimed in to defuse. "Why? Why did you wait so long to tell us?" Gracie asked.

"Because," he said. "I enjoyed watching you all suffer. Especially you."

There was acid in his voice.

Gracie gulped as he continued, "But... it's not fun anymore." His voice softened.

Feliqs sat back down. "I was fine, letting Felix suffer the consequences. I got to take my anger out on all of you. When I was done, Felix was left to deal with it. Everyone hated him, and I loved that. But I'm tired."

Tired? We never get a break. We're the ones suffering because of you. We don't get to retreat and have someone else take control, you don't know what tired is.

That's what Gracie wanted to say, instead simpler words fell out of her mouth, "If I'm the deal breaker, what can I do?"

He looked her up and down slowly, "Not you. Your eyes. We have to give Her your eyes."

"How do... I give Her my eyes?"

"We rip them out of your pretty little head and bury them underneath the tree. Then, the deal will be broken."

The seconds passed like hours.

"Okay," Gracie whispered finally, barely loud enough for them to hear. "I'll do it... I'll give up my eyes."

It wasn't gouging her eyes out that scared her. She'd suffered much worse under the curse. It was the permanent blindness that made her second guess— not that she could particularly refuse, since her will was still at the mercy of the curse. But if the curse really were to be broken, she'd never get her eyes back. They wouldn't regenerate in the morning as they always did. It wasn't fair, Gracie knew. I didn't ask for this, she thought, why do I have to give up my eyes? Why does it have to be me?

But she knew not to ask. She knew not to lament out loud. In some part, she was also responsible for this— however indirectly or unintentionally. Gracie knew someday she would have to atone for what she'd done to Fior, but she never imagined it would be like this. Why must the ultimate sacrifice be hers, if it was Felix who cheated?

"I guess your luck has run out after all..." Paola said after another few moments, "Maybe this is why you didn't get a real curse. Just some stupid, color-changing eyes and sick sense of humor."

Gracie's eye twitched. She began to giggle hysterically. The giggling turned into laughing, and then yelling. She laughed so loudly that she thought her head might burst— the laughing turned into hyperventilating. She grasped her chest, fighting to breathe. It was getting harder to fill her lungs. The more she tried, the more it felt like she was choking. Dying.

Paola looked away. It was beyond her, how Gracie could be laughing at a time like this. What was so hysterical? Gracie had hurt Fior worse than any curse, and could only laugh herself to tears. Paola was disgusted. Disgusted with Gracie, and with Felix who would rather make up all kinds of ridiculous excuses than own up to his part.

"We're going to get out of here," Feliqs said, standing up. He walked over to Liam and Scotty's cell and started poking in the code he'd gotten from Dr. Sny. "Rest tonight, get your final affairs in order," he looked at Gracie who had collapsed onto the floor. Her face was turning different hues of reds and purples, she was clawing at her throat. No body helped her.

"Because tomorrow... we're getting rid of this curse."