Chapter 13
MONTEY
A faint static sound played from behind a closed door just ahead, deep in the back of Big Top Pizzeria. A faint, green-tinted light seeped from beneath the door, guiding me as I slowly inched closer. I had no idea where I was going, or what to even expect back here.
Maybe there’s something behind the door that can help us.
My hand gripped the handle, turning as I slowly pushed it open. It squeaked ever so faintly, the green light nearly blinding me as it poured out from the small room. I raised my hand high, shielding my eyes as they quickly adjusted. And what I saw baffled me. “What the—”
The room was a bit small, but even still, there were stacks of old TV monitors to my left, placed on top of one another and ridden with static and green pixelated images.
Empty pizzeria to go cups and trash were crumbled and tossed in all directions, and there was a faint musty smell that hung in the air.
But none of that shocked me as much as the large window that peaked into the pizzeria from behind the counter.
“What the hell is this?” I whispered, tapping the glass.
“Oh, thank god you found it!” Lavender rushed into the room behind me and ran towards the monitors.
She wore a look of panic and was sweating profusely, as if she’d run a marathon or something.
“Please, please, please,” she mumbled to herself, clicking madly at a keyboard as she stared into the many monitors.
The images switched with each loud click, revealing different places around the enormous pizzeria. “Come on,” she groaned.
“What is this room? And what is this?” I asked, tapping the glass again.
“This is Big Top’s security room,” she stated, refusing to look away from the screens, her face drenched in green.
“William works—worked here.” Her curls bounced as she turned to look at me.
“The man Crissa killed earlier tonight. He would sit here and watch everything, flipping between the cameras. And that”—she pointed to the glass—“is a two-way mirror. It’s how they were able to keep an eye on everything at all times. William and Tawny.”
I turned to look back at the mirror, peeking into the pizzeria. “Whatever that thing is…it’s not Crissa.” My breath fogged the glass. “She’d never hurt a single soul. She couldn’t.”
Lavender scoffed, drawing my attention back to her while she kept flipping through the feeds. “Yeah, I said the same thing.” Her blue eyes shifted back to me. “But yet, here we are.”
“Wait. Stop!” I ran over and tapped one of the monitors, pointing out a cracked door that led to the outside. It had a glowing exit sign above it, but no other indications as to where it was located. “Where is this?” My fingertip tapped the screen again.
And how did we miss it?
Lavender peered closer, tapping the keyboard. “It looks like it’s an emergency exit near the other side of the pizzeria, at the end of the hall with those old party rooms…but…that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Why not?” I asked.
She turned to look up at me. “Because that exit has been locked for nearly a year. Tawny shut it down when we closed the party rooms.” Her eyes returned to the screen. “It shouldn’t be open.”
I stared at the screen as static flickered, rippling the live feed.
“Well, it is. And if we can get there, we can escape. Maybe find a phone booth and call for help or something.” Lavender began to frantically toss the food trash from the desk onto the floor, searching for something. “Uhh, what’re you doing?”
“Tawny always kept a phone in here for William to use in case of emergencies. I’m pretty sure he used it to call her when the power went out earlier tonight.”
My brows furrowed. “How could he call in the middle of a power outage? Aren’t the phone lines dead then too?”
Lavender eventually found the landline and grinned. “No, cause this one has that copper wiring.” I made a face and she sighed. “It means even when the power goes out, it should still work.” She raised the receiver to her ear. “Yes! I got a dial tone!” She punched in the numbers 9-1-1 and waited.
“Hello? Yes! Yes! Oh my god!” She began to shake from how relieved she was. “Yes, there’s an emergency at the Big Top Pizzeria…yes, the one in the mall.” She paused, looking at me as she covered the phone with her hand. “What do I say?” she whispered.
“Tell them what’s happening! That someone is hunting us down and killing us!”
She bit her lower lip. “But…do I tell them who is doing it?”
And then it hit me.
If Lavender told the police what was going on, what was truly going on, then they’d surely show up. But when they got here, they’d find Crissa. Or…whatever that thing was inside her. Not to mention, they’d find all of us here, after hours, breaking and entering.
Shit.
After thinking it over for a few more minutes, I ripped the phone from Lavender’s hands and slammed it back onto the receiver.
“What the hell, Montey?! The police could’ve helped! They would’ve—”
“They’d kill her,” I said in a low, monotone voice.
Lavender blinked, understanding my meaning.
“After everything we’ve done to her, could you live with Crissa’s blood on your hands?
” She remained quiet, dropping her head.
“Neither can I. Which means our only option is”—I looked back at the monitor and pointed—“finding that exit and getting the hell out of here.”
She sighed, crossing her arms. “I know my way to the exit, but something doesn’t feel right.
” She softly pushed me out of the way and flipped through the camera feeds.
“I’m telling you…that exit hasn’t been open in months.
We were down there earlier and didn’t see it.
So why is it open now?” Her eyes snapped to me.
“We need to be careful. Cris—that thing—could be playing more games.”
I nodded before looking around the messy office. “Too bad William didn’t have more guns in here.”
Lavender scoffed. “I didn’t know he had the first one. No one did. But if we stick together and move fast, we should be able to reach it pretty quickly.”
“You should. You go on ahead.”
“What?” she snapped. “What about you? I can’t just leave you here alone!”
I crossed my arms and sighed. “Yes, you can. And you will. You’re the only one of us who ever tried to stop things from getting too far. Who tried to stop Sybil and her fucked up pranks. But, even still, I can’t just leave her.” No matter how much I want to.
My palms pressed against the desk, my body hunching over as my head fell forward.
I was angry at Sybil for putting all of us in this situation, but I was more pissed at myself for ever letting things get this far.
I should’ve stopped her…I should’ve stopped it long ago.
But for some stupid, fucked up reason, I just let it happen.
And the worst part was I never even had a reason for picking Sybil over Crissa.
I just fucking did, and now, all I wanted to do was save Crissa from whatever the fuck was inside her. But how? How?
Lavender gently touched my back. I slowly turned to look at her, my blue and purple hair brushing along my eyes. “Don’t do that,” she whispered. “Don’t go blaming yourself. We all did this.”
A heavy sigh left my lips and I stood tall.
“Yeah, we did. Which is why I’m going to stay behind to make sure everyone gets out.
Alive.” Her eyes began to water and she rushed me with a giant hug, squeezing me tight.
“Please…please be careful,” she cried into me.
“And no matter what—” Her head lifted. “Save her.”
I nodded. “I’ll try.”
Lavender wiped her tears away and showed me how to work the monitors before leaving the security office.
The small room fell into an eerie silence, only broken up by the faint static from the monitors and storm outside.
I tapped at the keyboard, watching her make her way down the hall and through a back entry way into the pizzeria.
Please make it.
My eyes bolted across the monitors, searching for Crissa. “Where are you,” I groaned. A faint squeak made me freeze. My head whipped around, searching the green-colored office for any sign of one of her rats, but I didn’t see any.
I must’ve been hearing things.
Shaking my head, my focus returned to the live feed and I tapped the keyboard, clicking through the monitors until I finally found her.
“There you are. Wait…” My eyes squinted to see her standing in the kitchen eating a slice of pizza.
But what really caught my eye was the limbless body on the tile floor.
It was shredded and gutted, completely unrecognizable.
“Who…who is that?” I asked aloud, frightened by the sight.
Crissa turned, as if hearing me through the camera, and smiled.
She picked a piece of skin from her pizza and held it up, waving it around with such pride.
And once I realized what it was, I felt sick.
“What the—Sybil!”
Crissa played with the patch of skin etched with Sybil’s black widow tattoo, before returning it to her pizza and taking a large bite.
I gagged, watching her eat the slice, pepperoni, cheese, skin and all.
“This can’t be real…” I whispered to myself.
“This can’t be real!” I slammed my fist down onto the desk, horrified by everything that had happened. “Crissa.” I choked back tears.
What have we done to you?
Crissa tilted her head and stared up into the camera. She didn’t move or even blink. Just stared with that large, eerie smile. A chill ran up my spine, and I was almost too scared to look away, but I needed to check on Lavender.
Fuck…please…don’t move. Please!