House of Conchita

Plat Principal

"Welcome, Roy," says the ghost of poison past. He snaps his mysterious fingers and Penny falls to the ground. She moans and flops over to her side.

"Penny, no!" I start to dash over to her, but I suddenly find myself bound by creepy chains.

"It would be no fun if you escaped as soon as I got here!" says the ghost. "Besides, where would this story be without expositional dialogue?"

I struggle to remain standing as I bear the heavy weight of the chains... and my sins. 

"You..." I say. "You're responsible for the disappearances, aren't you?"

The ghost cackles. "Oh, that's all you give me credit for? Pity. No, my boy, I have accomplished so much more. You may think the lady is the enemy here, but you are most definitely mistaken. You are both pawns in my game, too busy trying to maintain power over the other to realise that the one you should be fighting is me."

I squint. "Why are you telling me this now? What do you get out of it?"

It cackles even louder than the last cackle. Truly the cackle of all cackles. "I changed her, Roy. She wasn't always this way. But now she's stronger than ever, and no one can stop her. Well, except me, but that would be no fun, now, would it?"

I fall to my knees. "Please, you have to! What if she doesn't know what she's doing anymore? She'll destroy us all. There'll be nothing left! I can't believe our lives are about to be destroyed by some uninteresting second rate villain who showed up without so much as a warning."

"That's such a shame," says the ghost. "In that case, why did you create me? The lady is cursed. Every time your precious chefs try to poison her, the ghost that would have been created, had she died, fuels my energy." My jaw drops, and before I can react further, the spirit laughs one last time. "Farewell!"

The ghost disappears, along with the chains. I run over to Penny and check her pulse; thankfully, she's still alive. I don't know what curse she's under that makes her unconscious, but I know I have to hide her, from...

"Roy!" I tilt my head upwards and see the lady standing above me.

The ghost was right. She has been changing through the night. Not physically, that is, but her actions have been very strange indeed. Does this maybe help explain what happened to the others?

Oh.

Oh no.

Is that lipstick she's wearing, or is that...?

She strokes my arm with her hand, whilst using her other hand to caress Penny's flesh.

"My lady," I say, my voice shaking. "Have you... uh, seen the chefs? I... I don't know where..."

"There is no need to worry about those people," says Lady Conchita. "Few of us remain now. Soon, it will be over for all of us. We will be free from this world."

I cannot escape her grip, so instead I tremble in fear. Nearly everyone who works here has disappeared now. Not to mention, Anatola is on the brink of death herself. Penny... Brett... Conchita, and I. Once we are gone, it will truly all be over. Is this what the ghost wants? Why else would he do this to the lady? Does he even have motives, or is he a villain for the sake of being a villain?

My thoughts are interrupted by Conchita.

"You're so cute," she says, gazing into my widening eyes with her own sparkling ones. Her voice almost lulls me into a hypnotic trance. "I could just eat you up!"

She strokes my shoulder and ever so slightly tightens her grip. "Probs will."