The Insufferable Silence in Apartment 616

Four - The Thing Inside Her

"Stop crying," Peter was saying in his bullshit hypnotic tone. "You need to accept the darkness and embrace the meaningless of it all—"

Head down, hair hiding her face, Lizzie seized inwards.

Snap!

The ropes binding Lizzie's left hand fell to the floor and Peter abruptly scooted back in his chair.

"... whoa."

Lizzie wasn't sobbing, at least, not anymore. Her body was convulsing, muscles rippling and contorting under her flesh. Her right wrist bulged and strained at the rope, threads snapping and unraveling from the pressure.

Sickening crunches filled the air as Lizzie's finger bones cracked and twisted. Her fingers lengthened as the nails darkened, hardened, and curved to a point.

When her right wrist broke free of the final strands, Peter instinctively shot to his feet and backed up. His eyes were wide but not with fear.

Peter was excited.

He had been right and so, so terribly wrong at the same time. Lizzie Stevenson was far from insufferably boring.

Bones kept snapping and muscles continued to shift as the violent transformation progressed. Lizzie tore at the ropes straining across her chest. The bindings on her ankles snapped. She rose up from the buckling chair. Her shoulders rippled as they gained an unseemly mass, rolling backwards as she slowly straightened to her full height.

Lizzie's head canted to avoid the apartment ceiling.

Peter looked up at Lizzie's face. It was broader, flatter, but he could still see her features. That cinnamon hair cascaded all the way down her body, underneath her stretched and tearing clothes.

"... motherfucker."

Peter's mind raced, piecing together the missing bits of information that had led to an abrupt end to Lizzie's promising internship at the biotech company.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

Or at least, that was one way to look at it.

"You ... are ..." Peter searched for the right word. "... fascinating."

Lizzie's chest heaved as the convulsions of her beastly transformation subsided. Peter cautiously approached her, raising a hand up to her head.

"... I knew there was a darkness in you, but this ... my dear, Lizzie—the things we're going to do together—"

Lizzie bared fangs and growled a violent warning. When she spoke, it came out low and raspy, but without hesitation.

"How's this for letting go?" ​ Lizzie smashed a bowling-ball sized fist into Peter's face.

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