For Shits and Giggles (complete first draft)

Chapter 05

"You piece of shit."

Giggles groaned as she heard the yelling, wanting to open her eyes. She couldn't, they burned her and she was seeing red. The morning sun was bleeding through her eyelids. Her jaw ached and her cheeks were throbbing.

"I told you I didn't want you alone with her," it was Splendid. Giggles heard thuds, a loud crash against the wall, and what sounded like fists pounding raw meat. Then came Petunia's voice.

"Splendid, don't!"

Petunia was worried for Flippy, sure. Mostly, she was worried for the mess his mangled body was about to make.

"I'll kill him," Splendid growled, and Giggles finally wrenched her eyes open. When her vision steadied, she realized she wasn't in her own bedroom. She was tucked into Flippy and Flaky's bed. Flaky was nowhere in sight, but she noticed her drawers had been emptied and there were open suitcases laying around. She saw Splendid towering over Flippy. He was cowered in a corner, his clothes torn, burned in all different places and blood gushing from his nose, lip, and swollen left eye. There was a bouquet of flowers scattered across the ground, Petunia was on her hands and knees picking up petal by petal. She carefully avoided the glass by the shattered window. Splendid had a flair for the dramatic, and grand entrances were his favorite. Even if it meant crashing through a locked window.

He punched Flippy again, blood splattered across the bedroom floor. Petunia crawled away, but not quickly enough. Blood painted her neck and the lower part of her jaw.

She screamed, diving for the curtains. She needed something, anything, to scrape off the blood. She spun around enough times to entangle herself, the sheer fabric wrapping tightly around her throat. In her panic, Petunia fell backward out of the broken window. The curtain caught her neck like a makeshift noose. It pulled tight with the weight of her own body, and she was gone – her lifeless corpse thudded against the side of the house, like some morbid Halloween decoration. Flippy and Splendid were unaffected.

"I'm sorry," Flippy coughed. Splendid cursed at him again, jabbing his knee into his gut. Flippy made no attempt to fight back. He welcomed the punishment.

"Just kill me... I deserve it," he grunted, coughing up blood onto the cream colored rug.

"Kill you," Splendid picked him up by the collar, slamming him against the wall. The entire house shook, his shoulder dislocated. "You'd like that wouldn't," Splendid punched him, there was a sickly crack at the breaking of cheekbone. Flippy's blood splattered, painting the walls and Splendid's face the same color as his own Hero Fit mask.

"Splendid," Giggles reached for him, her voice hollow and weak. A hand grabbed her firmly, stopping her. Giggles hadn't noticed Cuddles until then. She looked at him in shock— had he just been watching this entire time.

"Cuddles, please we need to stop him..." her voice was hoarse, her head was throbbing, her abdomen ached.

"It's what he deserves," Cuddles said coldly. He wasn't looking at Giggles. His eyes were fixed on the scene as if anxiously awaiting his turn to jump in, now that most of the work was done. It was like an arrow through her heart, to hear him say that, to see the contempt in his eyes. It was sadistic. If Giggles could frown, she would have. She had fallen in love with many things about Cuddles. He was caring, loyal, and attentive. What she loved most about him, however, was the compassion he showed the world. It was his capacity for forgiveness and understanding that won her over – she had hurt him their freshman year of college, very deeply. But he saw past that and accepted her anyway.

Giggles saw none of those qualities here.

She wrenched her hand free from his grasp and threw the covers off of her body before he could stop her. The pain was immeasurable, but somehow it hurt worse to see Flippy brutalized without remorse. He didn't deserve this. No one deserved this curse.

"Splendid, please!"

Giggles tried to grab his arm, but Splendid flicked her away easily. She only managed to slow down a fraction of the punch's momentum, Flippy's front tooth still went flying. His lower lip hung off the chin bone. Giggles pried herself between them before Splendid could throw another punch. Cuddles tried to call her back but he didn't dare get between Splendid the way Giggles just had; Splendid wouldn't hesitate if it was Cuddles there instead of her.

"Giggles," Splendid panted, his hands still balled into fists by his sides. His knuckles were raw, bleeding. "Get out of the way."

She could hear Flippy sobbing and gasping behind her. She wanted to stand her ground, but the Tree didn't let her. She moved out of his way obediently. At least she had give Flippy a short break.

"Hey," Giggles said through her smile, tears streaming down her face, "Let's all just take a coffee break, no?"

Splendid glanced at her face, as if checking for something. His features softened, and he backed away. Still breathing hard.

Cuddles pulled Giggles into his chest and stroked her hair, "Giggles," he began, "What are you doing? Now's not the time for coffee, Splendid isn't finished my love."

She was furious with Cuddles. There were always pinpricks of doubt popping up when she didn't want them to: do I love him, or is it the Tree? Am I truly happy with him, or is it the Tree?

Now she had her answer. A new clarity solidified in her mind. It didn't matter that he didn't know how she truly felt, it didn't even matter that he was unknowingly holding her against her will. She didn't love him. Not really. She thought about him, truly thought about him. Him before the Tree. And there was nothing there. The realization, the anger, the humiliation, they hit her like waves.

But Giggles was angry with more than just him. Giggles was angry with Splendid for doing this, she was angry with Flippy for killing her, she was angry with Flaky for putting her in that situation, she was angry with the Tree for... well, everything. No one knew how she felt, no one respected her wishes or her choices. But of course, how could they when Giggles could never defend them? Giggles could never stand for anything, the curse destroyed any ability Giggles had to argue. No one understood. No one except for Splendid.

"I want to go to Splendid," she mustered, but he shook his head. He didn't want to let her go, and she couldn't do anything else about it.

"Leave her," Splendid spat, glaring in their direction, pure fire in his eyes.

As much as he didn't want to obey, Cuddles knew not to mess with Splendid when he was like this. Flippy's face was practically mush, and Splendid hadn't been punching even at half strength. One well-placed punch would have destroyed Flippy, but Splendid wanted Flippy alive. So Cuddles obeyed, reluctantly, and placed a gentle kiss on Giggles' lips before letting her go.

She ran to Flippy instead. He was on the floor and hardly breathing, Giggles kneeled beside him.

"I'm so sorry Flippy," she cried. She grabbed his hand and cradled it between both of hers. The way she had done in the park, the way she knew would bring him comfort. "I know it wasn't you. It isn't you."

He stared at her, a blank look in his eyes. It was a horrible, sad sight. There was nothing left behind his gaze, and she wondered if he was even alive. But he was. His face was too swollen to make out any expression, but she could see fresh, bloody tears streaming down his face. Suddenly, he screamed. His body began to spasm and contort again, and he shook violently. He'd flipped.

"Giggles, move!" Splendid shouted, grabbing her arm harder than he had meant to. He flung her behind himself and sent her crashing into Cuddles. They both went flying back into the bed. Splendid paid them no mind, "I'm finally going to kill this piece of shit."

But Fippy made no attempt to attack.

"Giggles," he said. His voice was strained, hard to make out. "Break it," he said.

Giggles sat up in the bed, rubbing the fresh, purple-blue bruise on her arm. Her heart was in her throat. She was shocked, mortified, confused. Flippy, flipped out Flippy, wasn't attacking anyone. Splendid and Cuddles were equally as stunned, they did not move.

"The curse, your eyes," he said. He looked defenseless, weak. "The curse is in your eyes, you have to save us, you just—"

Splendid killed him before he could finish.

In the distance, another Happy Leaf fell.