4

"We're here darling!" Eyeless Jack yells as the group enters the Mansion's torture room. They see a girl with half her hair shaved, she is a brunette. Her right eye is all white with a small black pupil, left eye glows blue. She is tall and so skinny shes boney yet muscular. She wore a greenish greyish hood with brown jeans. And a weapon belt around her waist.

She had a corrupt arm that what red and claw-like. It looked like the devil's hand.

She got out a weapon, that looked like fangs. And she slices a Zalgoaid's throat. "Hello my love," She says, EJ walks over to her and lifts up his mask so Strife can kiss him with her soft gray lips. She also had teeth lining her jaw. They kiss for a couple of seconds then pull away and EJ pulls down his mask. She walks over to a table with a map and torture weapons. She gives the group a dirty look.

"So Babe, what's the matter with my plan to catch Tiffany?" EJ asks.

"Everything," Strife spits.

"Wait, how do you guys know about his plan? He didn't think of it until we got there," Clockwork asks.

"I was watching from the cameras, did you forget that my father was watching the family? I saw and heard everything, that's how I knew you all failed."

BEN, Jeff, and Splendor say sarcastically, "Wooooww. So nice.." in sequence.

"I understand your guy's plan to not kill so there are fewer problems, but after that who do you think Karen is going to try to go after now?"

"Us," EJ says sadly.

"Correct. So why don't we shift-"

The alarms go off. Another Zalgoaid attack.

Everyone groans and gets out their weapons.

"After you Strife. We're all behind you," Strife's husband says.

The group meets the rest of the proxies outside.

"I'm so so excited mommy!" Tiffany yells once they enter the hospital.

Karen shushes her, "Yeah your gonna be a big sissy soon huh?" She kneels down to look into Tiffany's eyes.

"Yes! I'll finally have a friend,"

Karen giggles and pinches her cheek. "Oh yeah, you will,"

They both smile.

"Mom!"

"Okay, Okay. Now look honey, Why don't you go play with the other kids at the kiddy place?" Karen stands back up with help from her husband.

Tiffany nervously turns around and looks where the other kids are. They all stare at her, some look scared and some look confused.

" I don't think they wanna-" Tiffany starts to say before her uncaring mom interrupts saying "Bullshit, go have fun and remember, if an adult starts studying you, or you see a cop, go hide in a bathroom and wait 2 minutes before doing anything, and then stay in there until I come back," And shoves her towards the kids.

Tiffany flies forwards and manages to catch herself before she fell. She steadies herself and looks at the kids. Some backed away and some pretended she wasn't there. Tiffany sees a toy box full of dolls and starts to play.

Karen and Steve are sitting in the waiting room. Karen is texting and Steve is trying to do paperwork but can't help but watch his daughter play nervously by herself, getting stared at by all the kids.

"It's almost done.." He whispers to Karen. She looks up confused at him.

"What's almost done, babe?" She asks.

"The house in the forest that I'm paying someone to build for us,"

Karen rolls her eyes "You're actually serious about that!?"

"Do you want Tiffany to be taken? Maybe even our new child? When we move we are not gonna have to worry about money or staying hidden. There's gonna be room for the baby and a room for when she grows up and same for Tiff. They'll have stuff for all ages so we will never have to leave. We'll grow your drugs and food and hunt our food. We'll be happy with our family forever. There's even a special room for me and you."

"And how do you expect to pay for all of that honey?"

" The so-called 'Monsters' you've been rambling about didn't take your drug money. You had hundreds of dollars in that safe in the closet, so I use it to pay for the house. It's in a bank in my name right now so you can't get back. They have to see ME to give it."

Karen's mouth is dropped open. "How could you! I was gonna use that to, I don't know, get opium or weed or cocaine. How are we gonna make money now?"

"Are you not listening to me? We don't need money anymore and you can do all the drugs you want. We'd be breaking 2 laws," He points to Tiffany.

"Keep her alive and in our arms and you can do all the drugs you want. We'll have a walkie-talkie that connects us with our supplier if we run out of anything. Okay?"

Karen sighs "Okay, let's do it."

"You never had a choice. Like I didn't have a choice when you cheated on me or when you wanted to keep the child you barely take care of when had the chance to rid her before we got too close." Steve plops the paperwork on Karen's lap.

"Now get to work."

Tiffany looks up and sees a cop over at the front doors. She gets up and runs to the bathroom before the cop can see her. She quickly locks the door and puts her back against it. She collects her breath while waiting for her 2 minutes. After 2 minutes of silence, she dances around the room.

"Laaa la laaa!" She sings. She jumps all around giggling. She stops in front of the mirror and looks at herself. She looks at the eye socket without the eyeball in it and covers it. She sings out loud.

"Laa Laa LAAAAA!" as she holds the last note. Sound waves, fully visible, escapes her mouth and cracks the mirror glass until it completely shatters everywhere. Tiffany stops in surprise, staring at the broken mirror and looking at all the shards on the floor. She opens the Bathroom door and peeks out to see if anyone noticed.

There is only one doctor and she's calling to get more help for someone who started to have a seizure during surgery.

Tiffany closes the door and looks at the one piece of glass still in the mirror and all she sees are her eyes...

Credit to Creepy2k3 for Strife in this chapter and the rest of the book.