JELLYFISH

DOOR 009

They were so close.

So fucking close.

[name] felt burning sensations all along their skin, their face felt heavy, and their shoulder ached. They were standing though, standing the moment they woke up, standing at the center of this light that wouldn't turn off.

This light that they had grown to hate.

They just needed to keep going, right?

"I guess thinking on your feet isn't one of your strong suits," that familiar voice hit [name] like a train, their head snapping to the owner of the voice who stood in the dark. They could hear it; his smile.

"You killed me," they said in a low, shaken voice. They swallowed hard, "YOU KILLED ME!"

Sebastian's lure swung back, blue eyes disappearing and appearing again in quick succession. He hummed lowly, "it was for an experiment. I wanted to see if I could end this cycle you're putting me through."

[name] sputtered, knowing exactly how they wanted to respond, but unable to put everything they wanted to say into words. They waved with their hands and arms, face growing hot, eyes as well, as anger burned in their stomach. [name] wanted to both scream and cry, rip out their hair, throw up whatever was burning in their stomach.

"It's- no! My life is not an experiment for your entertainment! You don't just get to decide, oh, I want to kill [name] just because I want to test something. They won't mind at all!" [name] began to speak quickly, tears that they wouldn't show in front of the others, boiling over now, "I do! I already told you I don't want to die! It hurts!"

Sebastian's blue eyes narrowed. His hands came down onto the table, causing the laptop and samples to jump, one DNA sample nearly falling over. [name] reeled back, still glaring up at the man who ended their life this turn.

"If it succeeded, my...experiment, I-...you wouldn't have to suffer anymore," he spoke calmly, unaffected by [name]'s burst of rage, "if it didn't, well, we see now that it didn't. Sucks to suck, I guess."

Again, that burning feeling rose, weak, and then, [name] just felt empty. Their eyes were blurred by the tears that fell down their face and they used their palms and sleeves to wipe them away.

The two of them were swept into silence save for the various sniffs [name] gave, trying to clear their clogged sinuses. They kept their head lowered, not wanting to, but unable to meet Sebastian's eyes. [name] was both angry and ashamed, but they knew it was Sebastian's fault. It was hit fault, just this once, but that one time was enough to hurt them.

"I'll make it up to you."

[name] laughed, unbelieving. There was no way someone like him, who had no remorse for shooting them in the face, would try and help them out.

"I'm serious," he sighed, his voice was closer now, but they still did not raise their head, "stop crying already."

[name] grumbled in response, pushing hard against their eyes with their sleeves until the skin around them became irritated. They wiped down the sides of their face and swallowed, looking up.

Sebastian's lure was lowered, closer to the desk than before. They could make out the shopkeeper's features from within the darkness and the faint outline of his hair against the darkness; it was greasy; the light pronounced that.

"Don't get carried away and rush through. They aren't paying you shit for how fast you get this job done, so make 'em wait." He then raised himself back into the darkness, a flash of his clawed hand appearing and then disappearing. It wasn't something [name] liked, but they knew that Sebastian was right. Speeding through and dying carelessly from a simple mistake wouldn't cut it.