the sea foam of burgess island

SIMP (08)

"i loved you...what was so wrong about that?"
*****

johnny hated feeling like a coward.
hiding out in some abandoned laundromat while the rest of his classmates were out there, probably ruthlessly killing each other. he hadn't managed to find aster or tuffnut, and he wasn't sure whether or not they were playing the game. he figured tuffnut might play, since tuffnut wasn't exactly an inherently good person (especially since he was in pitch black's gang). he wondered whether or not aster would play. or if aster was dead. god, he hoped aster wasn't already dead.

he looked at that sad excuse of a weapon he'd found in his bag: a spork. was this some kind of message from mr. north? that he was too much of a coward, too much of a simp to even attempt to play the game?

maybe he was. he'd spent and wasted 3 years of his time, his money, his life on a girl who never loved him anyway. a girl who ended up cheating on him unapologetically, not even a thought to how he might feel. mavis never even apologized. she just ran off with that stupid bastard eret. and it was eret, of all people. as pissed off as johnny was, it's not like he could fight eret. eret was part of pitch black's gang, meaning he was tough as nails and could crush johnny with his pinky finger.

johnny sighed. he really never stood a chance against anyone. why was he such a loser? he wasn't even part of that weird AV club group with kids like norman babcock and coraline jones...
he really was pathetic. mr. north probably watched him all those years of being fooled by mavis, and decided that a spork was probably the best option for a killing game.

he thought back to when he called mavis after he'd found her cheating on him.

"I LOVED YOU...WHAT WAS SO WRONG ABOUT THAT?"

"god, johnny, are you crying?" mavis asked, sounding annoyed. johnny couldn't believe her tone of voice. she really had changed so much. why hadn't he noticed she stopped caring?

johnny wiped his nose as quietly as he could, which had begun to run. "just answer the question, mav. what was so wrong about that that you had to go behind my back and fuck eret dragoon?"
mavis sighed. "we've been talking for over an hour. i told you, everything you did just became a huge turnoff for me. honestly, john, last summer, you ignored me for a whole month while you were on your stupid backpacking trip with aster. i forgave you for that. you were always getting wasted at parties, and i was the one who had to take you home at like, 11 pm! and jesus, don't even get me started on how clingy you get. constantly texting me, wanting to facetime, wondering if i was out with my girl friends or my guy friends because you were always so jealous. you never gave me a fucking break!"

"then why didn't you break up with me?! were you just using me because you liked the fact that you had me wrapped around your finger?!" johnny shouted. "don't act like you didn't take me for granted, because i sure as hell know you took advantage of me a lot!"
"i didn't break up with you because you're so fucking fragile!" mavis yelled back. "i knew that without me, you're nothing! without me, you'd be lost and lonely and pathetic!"
"how self-absorbed can you get? i'll admit, yes, you were my entire world, but that didn't mean i didn't have a life outside of our relationship. you never let me hang out with my friends, and gave me those stupid ultimatums that it was either you or them! and who did i choose every single goddamn time?!" johnny shouted.
"maybe i had to give you those stupid ultimatums because you were always playing video games with them or going on road trips with them, leaving me behind to rot in our boring ass town! did you even think about how that made me feel?!" mavis shot back.
"don't even talk about considering each other's feelings when you went behind my back and fucked eret dragoon! and you know what also pisses me off, mav? you went and had sex with him at a party you knew i'd be at! you didn't even care!" johnny screamed into his phone. his pent-up rage made him slap the table he was sitting at.
"that's right, i didn't care! at that point in our relationship, i couldn't even give the slightest flying fuck about it!" mavis screamed back.
"but why couldn't you have just broken up with me before it?!" johnny shouted.
"because you gave me that stupid ass promise ring! what the hell was i supposed to do?!" mavis yelled.

johnny had given mavis a promise ring on her birthday back in february. at the time, he knew, without a doubt, she was the one he'd be with forever (what a stupid thing to believe). he knew after college, they'd get married and have kids and do the whole 'life' thing. mavis had gratefully accepted, even crying and saying things like, 'oh johnny, you shouldn't have! i would've stayed with you even without a ring!' she was the biggest liar in the whole goddamn world.

"if you were going to cheat on me, why even accept that ring?!" johnny yelled. he'd spent so much of his time picking up extra shifts and doing chores for his neighbors to purchase the ring. all of that hard work, down the drain.
"so i could give it to eret and he'd sell it for three times its price on his ebay store!" mavis yelled back.
"what the hell?! you did that?!" johnny shouted, his face flushing from anger. how could she do that? he'd spent so much of his money on it. how could she be so heartless?
"no, eret did!" she screamed.

"go to fucking hell, mavis!"

and with that, he hung up.

what a load of shit. maybe those 3 years of bliss weren't so blissful after all...maybe johnny just thought it was bliss because of how willingly he was had let his love for mavis blind him. huge fucking mistake.

he sat in silence, not knowing how to feel. scared because he was placed in a killing game with only a spork to defend himself, inevitably dying a very painful death? check.
useless because he wasn't able to find his friends and meet up with them so they could get the hell out of there? check.
cowardly because he was hiding out in a laundromat, knowing at some point it would become a danger zone and he'd get blown to bits? check.
pissed, sad, and lonely, because the ex-girlfriend he loved with his entire heart had sex with someone else? check, check, and check.

johnny really had lost. badly.

suddenly, he heard the door to the laundromat open. why didn't he lock it?! why was he such a goddamn idiot?!
johnny felt his stomach drop, a sense of dread flooding his insides. this was it. he was going to die. he'd never be able to get a fresh start in college, a new chapter that didn't include mavis. this was how it was going to end.

"i-is anyone h-here?" a familiar voice whispered. they walked closer. johnny's heart pounded as they got closer.
"h-hello?"

mavis.

was johnny going to reveal himself? maybe he should. he dated mavis for three years, so he knew her. and even though she was a bad person for cheating on him, he knew deep down she wasn't a murderer. just a cheater and a liar.

slowly, johnny stood up from behind one of the laundry machines.
"mavis...it's me."

"johnny!"

before he could even register what happened, mavis was there, her arms thrown around him, crying.
"thank god it's you," she sobbed, "i can't do this john, i can't fucking do this...why are they making us play the game, johnny? w-why?"

it was such a familiar feeling, her arms thrown around him, her face buried in his chest. he hadn't realized in all his bitterness how much he missed this.
johnny wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tightly. "i don't know, baby, i don't know. it's going to be okay." all those emotions johnny felt after mavis cheated on him melted away. the girl he loved, she hadn't really changed. she was still his girl. and in such a situation, they only had each other.

silently, johnny swore to himself to protect her. obviously, eret had abandoned mavis like the flakey douche he was. for all johnny knows, eret would've killed her! he was glad she was here, safe in his arms.
he held her even tighter, reassuring her in a comforting tone, "we're gonna get outta here, okay? everything's going to be totally–"

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