Love Me To The End

Chapter 11: Haunted House

That week Maise and I moved into our new flat.

There was no reason to stay in the shared house any longer. Maise had money and I was employed full time at Morior Studios, so we were able to rent a two bedroom first floor flat overlooking the fields on the city outskirts. Uncle Morbid had given Chris a day off to help us move and even let us use one of the company's vans, in the end we managed to get all our things moved across in just a couple of trips. Chris loved that we had the head chopper and asked us to put him in it. We happily obliged and he loved seeing the carrots fly apart either side of his neck as the blade slammed home.

We set up the head chopper with the Hitchcock poster in the front door hallway, so it would be the first thing visitors saw as they entered. Anyone who had a problem with our weirdness shouldn't be coming to visit anyway.

The main bedroom was beautiful and spacey with a king size bed on an iron frame. I noticed the familiar glint in Maise's eye and wondered what exactly she had in mind. The other bedroom had fitted wardrobes all around, so we turned it into a dedicated dressing room, where we would keep all of Maise's clothes rails and mirrors. We liberally decorated the whole house with my horror posters and Maise's vintage art deco, I was looking forward to decorating properly when we got the chance.

We also – finally – had a proper bathroom, with both a bathtub and a shower cubicle. Our last place was meant to have a shared bathroom on each floor, but in accordance with everything else in the building ours was a pathetic former airing cupboard just over a metre square, with a shower, sink and toilet all crammed in. We were both looking forward to wallowing in a proper bath for the first time in ages. Our new location also brought us much closer to Morior Studios, greatly easing my daily commute. I was hoping I might even be able to start cycling to work, if I could find a route across the fields.

We ordered pizza and invited Chris to stick around as we spent the evening binging horror movies from my DVD collection. Even though Maise and I were eager to settle into our new home as a couple, having him around just felt right. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it felt as if the three of us were meant to be a team.

Chris told me they'd finished prepping the new batch of cars for the crusher, so they'd be wanting to crush me again to try out the modifications they'd made from my feedback.

"There is one thing I need to ask you," said Chris, suddenly serious. "I know this is a lot to ask, and I would understand if it is a step too far, but... can you wear a skirt when we do the test? We need to check on ways clothing might affect the mechanism."

I took on board the comment that I would more happily jump into an industrial crushing machine of death than feminine attire. I gave him a serious look, as if preparing to make the ultimate sacrifice, grasped both his hands and made a solemn vow.

"For you, Chris, I will do it," I said. "I will put on a skirt."

I saw that Maise was bouncing up and down in her seat excitedly. She was already thinking of ways to dress me up for the crusher, bless her. I still suspected she knew more about this whole car crusher thing than she was letting on.

After Chris had left, Maise and I had a shower together. The warm water cascaded down over our naked bodies as we came together and kissed, but as soon as we did something came over me... a jolt, a vision, a daydream – I couldn't be sure what it was, but suddenly we were both fully clothed in the shower and someone outside the cubicle was pulling up a sheet in front of us. I threw open the door to confront the intruder but no-one was there. Maise and I were naked after all, the water was gently running down the plughole, there was no sign of any sheet.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," I said.

"The sudden feeling that we were suddenly clothed and some weirdo was out there waving a sheet about?" said Maise. "I felt it too."

"Great, our new home is haunted."

Maise kissed me.

"Of course it is. It wouldn't be ours otherwise."

It was still bloody strange, though.

As we lay in bed, we talked about the developing feud between Maise and Debs' respective avatars. Maise explained she had created the villainous Axiala specifically to give Betsy a worthy opponent, because Debs' aggressive, competitive style had left her running out of people willing to take her on properly. There were plenty of "volunteers" – willing avatars who played to lose – but Betsy wanted to be challenged.

The trio Axiala had rounded up for the shredder were all volunteers, chosen for a performance that had been all about creating an impact leading to Axiala's theatrical challenge of Betsy. Betsy had already picked me as her next opponent and that game was always going to be a cat and mouse affair. But then came her closing retort to me at the end of the game, as I was being buried alive.

"Tell your Mistress I'm coming for her," Betsy had said as the sand closed over my eyes.

"She bent the rules saying that," said Maise. "You were there as an angel. That means you can't be killed off like avatars can, but only because you're meant to be an impartial, nameless helper, a sacrificial pawn. By making it personal with you, she wasn't making an example of a random angel, she was specifically killing you, Lexie, in order to send a message to me."

"So what do we do about it?" I asked.

"We send a message back," said Maise. "It'll mean brutally sacrificing Angel Lexie to Axiala, but I'm sure you'll be up for that."

"Hell yeah. What do you have in mind?"