We'll Get There {AntiAverage} (ABANDONED)

15: T B

953 words

I couldn't explain to you how I managed to actually play the tape, but I did. Truth be told, I only vaguely remembered picking it up. Every instinct I had was repulsed by the object, begging me to chuck it into the nearest river. But some other, stronger, subconscious feeling glued my eyes to the semi-dark screen. It was the kind of black that phones produced when you looked at a picture of darkness through them.

And then, suddenly, I could make out Anti. He was connected to a wall with two chains, and he was laying on the ground with his knees loosely curled into his chest. His nose was bleeding, and his face was contorted in a pained grimace.

It was clearly an older video, by at least a few months, judging by his shorter hair and state of his neck scar. Somehow, whatever Frankenstein of a machine the house had conjured up accepted headphones, so I could listen to him heavily breathing without fear of waking Greyson.

Another man that I didn't recognize walked into frame; scrawny and blonde, with ram horns protruding from his platinum hair. "So you've probably been wondering where your favorite glitch bitch has been, right? Thought he took off on you... again? That would've been my guess, too, but I actually know better.", the way he spoke to the camera was smooth, but somehow still made me wanted to light him on fire. Like a condescending salesman, who kept trying to move you to another object because he was convinced you didn't know what you were looking for.

"He's been here with me.", he grinned, motioning to Anti's tense figure with a clawed hand. "I know! Shocker, right? I'm an excellent actor.", he made a cartoonishly upset face, with puckered lips and dramatically furrowed eyebrows, "Oh I have no idea where Anti is! I'm so scared!" He dropped the face with a hearty laugh, waving his hand in a dismissing way. "Save your applause, please, I've got a point to this.", he came closer to the camera, leaning down to come face-to-face with it. "He's going to stay with me until I'm good and ready to give him up. Now, I know some of you- or should I say Chase? Wink wink, nudge nudge.", the prick had the nerve to chuckle. I narrowed my eyes, wondering why he was singling out my dad specifically. Plenty of people seemed to be close to Anti; Marvin, Jameson, Robbie, Schneep...

He had certainly latched on to Chase since he'd gotten back, though. I wondered if it had been like this before he'd gone missing? Nope, still didn't want to think about my Dad dating.

"Anyways, I know you were pretty close with him, so I wanted you to know exactly what your boy's going through.", the blonde man crouched down by Anti's shivering form, procuring a remote from his back pocket. I had a bad feeling. He tapped on Anti's forehead, and the man convulsed with panic. I didn't realize quite why, until there was a sudden light, and the crackle of electricity filled the room.

This sent his glitches into a frenzy; screams distorted and wavering, body warping and stuttering. It felt like it went on for an eternity, while the blonde man simply watched with a smirk. In reality, it was probably only a few seconds, but my eyes were wide with horror. Anti was sniveling, trying to curl farther in on himself, if it were possible. It was only now I realized how thin he was; terribly pale with bones showing through skin, eyes sunken and hollow. He looked like a corpse.

The blonde man grabbed Anti's chin and forced him to make eye contact, "Were you falling asleep?"

Anti's wide, fearful eyes reflected the small amount of moonlight that was filtering into the one-room building. "N-No Die, I swear, I-I wasn't-"

Die, as apparently was his name, slapped Anti across the face and stood. One of the rings had caught on Anti's face, and there was now a welt of blood building on his cheek. "Would you like to correct yourself?", Die snapped, voice void of all its previous gusto and amusement. His finger hovered over a button on the remote.

"I-I'm sorry... Lord. I'm sorry.", Anti muttered hesitantly, self-loathing eyes glued to the concrete. Specks of blood were splayed across the floor and wall, and he seemed to be looking at a small pool of it. 'Lord'? What kind of ego boost was this sick fuck looking for?

Die didn't seem too pleased with this answer, but he stowed the remote anyway. "You're lucky I'm feeling good today." He turned back to the camera, face so close I could see his sharp teeth through his open-mouthed smirk, "This is going to be fun. Don't worry, you'll get him back. ...Eventually.", he chuckled darkly, and with that the tape ended.

As soon as the video was over, the entire machine that contained it disappeared, tape and all, as though the house were ashamed of producing it. The end of my earbuds dangled loosely, but I couldn't find it in myself to take them out. I couldn't find it in myself to move, really, and so I simply stared at the empty, dark space where I'd just witnessed a small piece- not even enough to make up a crumb- of Anti's last year.

Three minutes of what he'd gone through and I wanted to vomit. All the feelings I'd had previously; about this being karma, being justice, being for the best flew out of my swirling head. No one, no matter what they've done, deserved that.

A/N: I'm back! Don't worry; if you're looking for that A+ Christmas content, it's (probably) still coming. It'll just... probably be around Easter, at this rate. Sorry for the wait!