For Shits and Giggles (complete first draft)

Chapter 19

"Hi my love," Giggles said, trembling. Cuddles' shaggy hair was messier than usual. He looked disheveled. He was wearing an old T-Shirt from a concert him and Gigglies had been to together long ago, basketball shorts he'd had since high school. She could tell he'd just woken up, the way it took his eyes several seconds to fully focus on her. She was covered in dust, in the same clothes from two days ago. He noticed the scratches on her neck.

"Where have you been," he walked towards her, grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a tight, suffocating hug.

"I was with Petunia," she said, squirming slightly to loosen his grip. It was the truth, just not the whole truth. Cuddles didn't budge, he squeezed her tighter. "There's a way to break the curse," she said, hoping that would get him off of her.

"What," he did pull away only to look at her, eyes wide; he was actually smiling. "There is?"

"Hello? Giggles, are you there? What's going on?"

Splendid's voice echoed through the phone in her hand, which had been behind her back until now. It was like something had broken, snapped, inside Cuddles. Deep behind his eyes there was something similar too rage. Giggles had never seen such an eery look on his face before.

Slowly, almost gently, Cuddles wrapped his slender fingers around her wrist. He brought her hand up to her face, the phone now centimeters away from her lips.

"Tell him it's late. Tell him you're going to bed," It was the calmness in his voice that petrified Giggles, he spoke slowly, barely above a whisper. His eyes bore into her. She did as she was told.

"Y-Yes... I'm here, Splendid. It's getting late now, I'm going to sleep."

"Okay... are you s—"

Cuddles hung up the phone with his thumb, cutting Splendid off mid-sentence.

"Why," he asked. Giggles took a cautionary step back, the back of her thighs pressing against the kitchen table behind her.

"Why do you try so hard... to make me angry," with one swift movement, Cuddles threw her phone across the room. It slammed first into the microwave and then skid across the kitchen floor, the screen shattering into a hundred sparkling pieces.

Giggles flinched. She thought about the photos she took of Sniffles' journal, how important those could be. If Flippy's method failed, there was surely something in those photos to hint at the right solution. That's why she'd risked getting caught in the facility, because she knew Sniffles was brilliant. There was something in those notes that would have helped, and now they were gone.

Giggles was furious. She tried moving around the table, still facing him.

"What's this," he said, snatching the letter that was now visible on the kitchen table behind her.

"That's... that's not," she tried to say but he ignored her. Cuddles' eyes scanned the paper, he gripped it carelessly. Giggles wanted to snatch the letter from him, it was hers. That was her heart, her thoughts in that letter. He had no right to it or to her. But she didn't dare say anything to him, even if she could. Right now, she didn't know what he would do.

"Suffocating... possessive, cruel?" He said in that same, low voice, "That's what you think of me?"

Slowly, as if to draw out the moment on purpose, Cuddles ripped her letter in half, then in half again. He ripped it in half a third time and then let all of the small pieces flutter to the ground at Giggles' feet. It was like he was tearing her own hear apart— physically, not figuratively. Another hint of hope, gone. First the notes, now her letter. At least she still had her eyes.

"Do you know how much I worry about you? How much I care? I told you I got us a cabin, right? It was just supposed to be a little vacation, so that we could fall in love all over again..." he continued taking steps towards her, cornering her back against the stove. He placed the back of his fingers against cheek, stroking her skin gently. "But you... you ruined it. I came to pick you up at the cafe, I looked for you at home. You abandoned me for two days, and I'm cruel? I waited for you. I was patient."

"I was with Petunia," she tried to reiterate, turning her face to get away from his touch. She couldn't back up any further. "Flippy told us the secret to breaking the curse... Sniffles kidnapped—"

"Flippy?" It was all he heard, "Sniffles? Splendid... every man except me," he gripped her face roughly, digging his nails into her cheeks. "I must not be that possessive, if you feel free to run around like the town bike."

He let go of her face, Giggles rubbed her cheek.

"We're going. Now. We're staying at the Cabin."

He snatched her arm, dragging Giggles out of the kitchen and up the stairs. The pieces of her letter scattered around and danced with the shattered shards of her phone. In her bedroom, Cuddles threw a couple of her clothes into a bag. "Don't move," he hissed at her when she tried to turn around. She tried to ignore him, to move anyway and make a run for it.

But all she said was, "I won't move."

Cuddles went from one side of her bedroom to the next, grabbing more of her stuff and shoving them into a bag for her. "I need to give Flippy my eyes... it's how we break the curse," she said, trying to get his attention, trying to buy time, "He's going to come tomorrow, I promised we'd break the curse. Please," she begged him. "Don't you want to break the curse?"

"No," he stopped suddenly, glaring directly at her. "I know now, this curse is the only thing keeping you with me. If that's the way things have to be... I accept it."

"Fuck Flippy. Fuck Sniffles, and Petunia. And especially fuck Splendid. We're going to the cabin and we're staying there for good. You did this, not me."

The photos. The letter. Her eyes. In the span of 15 minutes, Giggles was back to square one— hopeless, with not even death as an option.