This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/vehino on 2024-10-31 00:29:14+00:00.
Chapter Theme: HEALTH :: UNLOVED :: MUSIC VIDEO
Chapter 39.
A half-hearted heartbreak.
As it turned out, everything was not fine.
It was with a light step and a merry song in my heart that I found myself at the Lover’s Lane motel and breakfast buffet, Room 28, twenty minutes later. Just as I expected, the place was a bit of a shady mess, the sight of which brought a warm smile to my silly face.
Avidia, it seemed, liked to have her fun in some shall we say interesting environments. Well, I wasn’t going to judge her for it. Some people preferred the setting for their trysts to be pristine and perfect like the setting of a fairy tale, and others liked grinding it out on the threadbare carpets of the sleaziest dives they could find. Either option was good enough for me.
I’m very easy to please.
“Keep watch outside, will you lads?” I asked my companions before entering the room. Schultz barked in acknowledgement and took a position beside the door to stand guard. Orby, on the other hand, just floated in the air and emitted a confused sort of beep at the order he’d been given. I really think he would have stayed there all night if Schultz hadn’t given an irritated bark that I’m sure roughly translated into Get over here, stupid! Which sent the blood orb scurrying over to his side.
Heh. It didn’t take those two very long to get a friendly little dynamic going, did it?
I gave the door a few light raps before stepping inside to find the curtains drawn, the pleasant scent of vanilla candles filling the air, and some romantic-ish electronic music playing in the background. In the center of the room was a large heart shaped bed illuminated with flickering neon pink lighting.
“Scoooore,” I said to myself. This was going to be wild.
“Shhh,” said the breathy whisper of the woman behind me as she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“This is an interesting setting,” I said as I placed my own hands over hers. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“I’ve always wanted to try out a place like this,” she said coyly. “It’s fun, right? The perfect background for some naughty roleplaying.”
“We’re doing roleplaying as well?” I asked excitedly. “Oh! Can I be an angry Gamestop manager? You can be the sultry customer trying to trade in her old games for the advertised value without a power rewards card. Are you ready?”
“…huh?” she asked.
I ignored her and said, “Now listen here, Missy. I keep telling you your membership expired last year. If you want full credit, you’re gonna need to throw me a little something extra, got it?”
“Kyler, what is a GameStop?” the woman asked in confusion.
“I’ll tell you all about it in bed, babe,” I said as I turned around to kiss her passionately. “Now let’s just—”
My breath caught in my chest at the sight of her.
“What are you doing here?” I asked in surprise.
Anikka Velas grinned slyly at me before throwing her arms around my neck and drawing me in for another kiss.
“That is what I’m doing,” she said breathily before using her teeth to nip gently at my ear.
She was dressed in a black shift under a red robe, with her golden hair cut in a messy, spikey pattern that suited her. Her vivid blue eyes twinkled at me beneath a messily applied layer of black mascara.
She looked great. She looked like a disaster. She felt like trouble.
Her teeth on my ear felt good. They felt very good. But I was no longer in the mood for it.
“Lady Anikka,” I said calmly. “I’m not certain how up to date on recent events you are, but despite our chat about playing roles, I’m not very interested in the idea of being toyed with. I’ll be taking my leave now.”
“Is that all you have to say to me?” she asked, with a hurt expression on her face. “You’re taking your leave? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” I replied. “Nothing at all. And in the interest of keeping myself that way, that’s why I’ll be avoiding further contact with you. Those in your circle have a tragic tendency to die young, don’t they?”
“Only the ones who deserve it,” she whispered.
“Not even the decency to fake a little remorse,” I said. “You’re a rare sort of beast, aren’t you?”
“I’m what the world made me,” she said as she pushed past me to take a seat on the bed. “It pressed too hard and now I’m wearing its wounds in my soul.”
“Oh, bless your weary little heart,” I said mockingly. “Are things going that poorly in the land of milk and honey?”
“Why are you speaking to me like that?” she asked.
“How should I speak to a murdereress?” I wondered.
“I-I read the report my father had on you,” she stammered. “How can you even think to call me that with some of the things you’ve been up to?”
“Because I’m a hypocrite. And possibly a psychopath. There are no great expectations for the likes of me,” I said. “But for someone like you, with all the choices in life that others could only dream of? It’s a shameful thing to see you sink to my level.”
Annika was back on her feet in an instant, standing inches away from me with an intensity that heated the air between us. She placed her hands over mine and tried to smile with a face that trembled like it wanted to weep.
“I’d do anything to be with you,” she swore.
“Have you tried throwing yourself off a bridge?” I asked her.
“Stop mocking me. Please…please stop being so mean to me,” she pleaded.
“Then stop acting like such a joke,” I said angrily as I pulled myself free of her. “I already told you, your days of toying with Evans have ended. I’m who you have to deal with now, and I’m far too old for this melodramatic nonsense.”
“You’re the one who ran away!” she yelled as I began walking to the door. “You ran away like a coward and left me to fend for myself! You said you’d protect me!”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“You left me behind,” she said accusingly. “Why did you leave me behind? I needed you! I still need you! And now you’re doing it again!”
“You needed Evans so much that you stabbed him in the back?” I countered. “Did you forget about the part where you murdered him? I didn’t.”
“Why do you keep speaking like that?” Anikka asked angrily. “Just stop it! Stop playing games, stop playing with me!”
“Are you really the one being sported with?” I asked her. “Are you the poor little rich girl in this scenario? You can’t have your way so you’re having a tantrum. Do you realize how tedious you sound?”
“Kyler, stop it!” she shouted.
“I don’t want to,” I replied. “In fact, I think I prefer you this way. You’re a beautiful girl, Anikka, but it’s a distant sort of beauty, isn’t it? Unapproachable. Unknowable. Seeing that face twisted in anger pleases me greatly. Imperfection is what truly makes someone worth remembering.”
“You’re acting like you don’t even know me!” she sobbed.
“Of course, I don’t. We’ve never even met,” I said as I turned away from her. “Anything else to say? It’s your final chance.”
“Why are you leaving me again? Don’t do it!” she said as she clutched desperately at my arm. “Kyler please, I need you! You’re the only one who understands me!”
At the mention of Kyler Evan’s name again, anger burst bright within me, volatile and white hot, alongside a sudden desire to be hateful and cruel. Why didn’t any of these fools understand?
I grabbed Anikka by her shoulders and pushed her against a wall. Then I gripped her chin and tilted her face toward mine so that she could look me in the eyes as I spoke.
“How many times will I have to repeat this fucking conversation with you insipid little people?” I growled at her. “Look at me. Look at me! I am not Kyler Evans. I was never Kyler Evans. Whoever he was, he’s now gone. Yes, Anikka, gone. Dispensed with by your cruel hand, remember? Broken and lifeless on that cold cavern floor bereft of clothing and dignity. A toy that you chose to cast aside.”
“I didn’t,” she whimpered. “I would never do that.”
More lies. I would hear them no longer.
“You did,” I said icily. “You killed him. Murdered him. You threw him away like a broken doll. But now you, the architect of his doom, dare to beg for his return? It’s pathetic. So pathetic.”
My hand slowly lowered to her throat.
“Why do you deserve to live when he didn’t?” I asked.
“I don’t,” she said with tearful eyes. “I don’t, I don’t.”
“Then why did you do it?” I asked her. “Why did you betray him?”
“I couldn’t stop them,” she wept. “I tried to; I swear! But they were following my father’s orders. He read my journal, he knew about us, and he wanted you dead.”
“Ah, now it’s your father’s fault,” I said. “What sad, little star-crossed lovers you and Evans must have been! It seems as though the whole world was against you!”
“It was!” she yelled suddenly. “IT WAS! EVERYONE! EVERYONE, USING ME! TREATING ME LIKE A RESOURCE INSTEAD OF A PERSON! A HUMAN BEING! You were the only one, Kyler! You were the only one who saw me! You knew I was hurting! You understood me!”
“And for that, he was rewarded with death,” I said.
“It was THEM!” she screamed. “IT WAS THEM!”
“Prove it,” I said as I cast [Mesmerize] and overwhelmed her free will with the power of my mind. Her face i...
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