Paranoia Girls is an experimental illustrated story set in Northern California during the mid-1980s.
The story and text is by Patrick Macias. The pictures are by Japanese artist Yunico Uchiyama.
Marie Iida helped with translation and coordinatio...
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Larissa sneaks up behind Laura and burrows into the nape of her neck.
She slips a handkerchief hard and fast over Laura's nose and mouth.
Her other arm wraps around Laura's body and holds her tight while she briefly struggles and tries to fight back.
This would be a betrayal if was any promise to break...
...but Larissa never promised Laura anything.
The cloth was dipped in something the Col. Baldwin made: a strange liquid quicksilver substance where different colors floated and merged on the surface in repeating delicate patterns.
Larissa tells herself she's following orders and feels like she's doing a good job as Laura finally ceases to resist and falls limp.
Larissa guides her down to the floor and throws the handkerchief far away from herself, knowing how dangerous it could be.
It lands near Col. Baldwin, who clangs around in the dimly lit cavernous space. He stacks components of broken-looking electrical equipment and lays out tools on a long cold metal table. There are drills, saws, hammers, wires, soldering irons, and some other things Larissa that has never seen before.
Larissa looks at Laura, who lays outstretched on the floor, red hair blooming out behind her on muddy tiles, breathing slow, eyes closed. She looks blissful – her last few moments of being full human – and Larissa can't stop looking at her.
She finds herself saying something out loud without even realizing it, "What will she be like.... after?"
