A Serenade for the Innocent - 144 You're Looking Very We

“What’s with all the shock? Don’t tell me you didn’t expect this!?” The image of Veronica on the huge TV screen on the wall flickered ever so slightly every now and then as her serene voice boomed throughout our surroundings. “Psh! You’re a bunch of silly kids!”

I then took a step back; I’m sure my mom informed her about her plans, so there’s no need for me to take her attention way too much.

“Why can’t you just accept that people move on, Veronica!?” The salesman screamed out loud with his fingers shaped like a falcon’s talon, trembling profusely. “We’re done with you, and that’s final! We don’t want your bullshit anymore!”

“Nah. That won’t do.” Veronica uttered as her beautiful face beamed a mesmerizing smile while the TV screen itself would glitch every now and then. “You don’t have the right to move on from me. All you gotta do is obey. That’s all.” The lady on the TV uttered lazily, not even wanting to have a serious conversation with the people harboring hatred against her.

“You’re a bitch, Veronica! The only thing you know for real is that you’re a god, but you’re not! You will never be a god, and soon, everyone in your fucked up megachurch will see just how much of a manipulative piece of shit you are and realize that you’re just a whore with a god complex!” The nurse let out her hoarse voice to reiterate the anger spewing out of the void in her chest–a void that Plural Heights had created within her.

“Girl, please! You allowed three men to use you in my office last year! I even have videos and recordings of it everywhere! Stop lumping me with your kind; I have receipts!” Veronica’s voice suddenly raised, which is an unexpected sight since she had managed to keep a level head for a while now. Maybe she just hates being called a whore, you know?

“ENOUGH! I CAN’T STAND THIS ANYMORE!” The policeman then gritted his teeth as he shouted out loud with his muscles bulging from within his tight uniform. He then rushed towards the TV screen with his hands balled into a fist, ready to strike the TV screen.

“I won’t do that if I were you.” Veronica chuckled upon seeing the muscled man rush towards her colossal face on the wall.

Nevertheless, even with that warning given to him, the policeman kept on running with his arms both raised, ready to strike the TV screen till it shattered into million glass shards. When his fist finally landed on Veronica’s nose, the policeman suddenly let out a chilling cry. He raised his hands in the air while gripping his wrist tightly. There, I saw that the skin around his knuckles had begun to melt into a pinkish liquid substance. The policeman continued to scream as his whole hand began to turn into a reddened bile-like thing, leaving only his bones intact, dangling around like a Christmas decor.

“Told ya,” Veronica said before she laughed out loud so damn hard that it almost made my ear bleed. However, the way she uttered her fit of laughter has this sort of quality in it that just feels so… fake. It felt a whole lot like she’s forcing herself to do this entire broadcast in general.

The policeman continued to scream as smoke started to exhume out of his already melted hands. “AHHHH! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME!?”

“None of your business. Now, let’s get on with the order of business, shall we?” The woman on the TV screen uttered ever so joyfully with the voice that I could only describe as angelic.

Suddenly, water started sprinkling from all around us. That was when I finally had time to assess the situation at hand, realizing exactly where we are and what the surrounding looks like. The floor, the walls, and the ceiling are all plastered with a shining white square porcelain tile. I know very well that the room is well-lit since I can see everything so clearly, but because of the sudden sprinkles of water getting bombarded right at my face, I couldn’t quite figure out exactly where the light source is, could be from above us for all I care.  I also noticed that everything around me is white other than the TV screen while the room itself is huge enough to contain about a hundred people.

I then realized that there are holes all over the walls, the ceiling, and the floor–holes small enough not to be able to see at first glance but big enough to make water squirt out of it in the form of rivulets being spewed out from every direction of my body like a laser made out of water. It made me remember about that time when my mom forcefully showered me when I was just a boy. I remember getting seven bruises after that session. It was fun.

What’s not fun is what happened to our bodies when the water hit our skin. Rashes then started to appear from my skin that then sent a few stinging sensation all over my body. The red rashes went every skin of my body as if it’s trying to scald me alive! However, I knew that the water is not a strong acid because it didn’t burn our clothes nor did it melt out hair. It’s just irritates our skin, making us all want to scratch every nook and cranny of our bodies.

“Ugh. Look at the dirt all around you! All of you look awful, awful, awful!” Veronica uttered amid the sound of countless water hitting from all around us. Then, she started cackling away with that same fakeness plastered all around it while all of us began to scream and shout because of the suddenness of this unneeded shower. “Yuck! You all have so much dirt on your body! What have you been doing out there? You’re like pigs; you disgust me! Look at all those shit all over you? It’s like there are mountains and islands on your skin!” She began to laugh out loud again, making her voice boom throughout the white walls of this cursed place.

“STOP! STOOOOP!” I heard someone among us say, and from the sound of it, it must have come from Francis. “No more! NO MORE, PLEASE! THIS IS FAR TOO MUCH!”

“Hmph! You’re looking very wet.” Veronica scoffed. “Why are you giving up already? You can do it!

“I’M SO SORRY, MOTHER! PLEASE! WE WON’T BETRAY YOU EVER AGAIN! WE WILL DO EVERYTHING YOU ASK!” The voice of a woman echoed amid the sound of water sprinkling the floor. From the looks of it, those words definitely came from the nurse, which is rich for her to say.

Meanwhile, the policeman just continued to scream away in pain and agony from afar; from the sound of it, it seems like he’s still standing near the TV screen. Part of me wishes that the sudden downpour coming from all around us would make him slip, so his face would hit the surface of the TV screen and fucking flatten his stupid face already. Let’s see if he would still smirk after that.

“Too late!” Veronica uttered as her once joyful voice now turned into a stern tone, filled with utter condemnation with all the hatred that she must have tried her hardest to conceal within her. “You’ve all had your chances; I was patient with all of you! Wasn’t I the perfect mother to all of you, but how did you repay me, huh? Answer me! How!? YOU PAID ME WITH NOTHING! YOU’RE ALL JOKES! YOU’RE ALL A BUNCH OF FUCKING UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN, AND YOU DON’T DESERVE ANYTHING THAT YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED IN MY FAMILY! I kissed you, I shook your hands, I talked to you; we were once a family, and you ruined that!” Tears then started to spew out of Veronica’s eyes, well, at least based on what I can hear from the tone of her voice and how her mood started to turn a bit wavy. I’m sure she’s just faking it; she’s good at it. “Now, I don’t even know who to trust anymore; all because of you STUPID UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SHITE!” A loud banging voice then resounded throughout the air like something had just fallen on the floor. “I HATE YOUUUUUUUU!” The shrill cry of Veronica enveloped the wet chaos all around us, making me jump up in fright upon hearing her demonic and banshee-like yell. She’s really, really good at this.

Gradually, the water coming out of the small holes all around us tapered off like the wilting stem of a flower, the rivulets thinning until they disappeared into nothingness. This whole incident drenched all of us as we all shivered once the cold embrace of the water ceased. Then, I could hear what seemed like loud whirring noises accompanied by mechanical sounding banging and all sorts of sounds that one could only hear in a construction site, creating what seemed like a crescendo of loud industrial booming.

“Grovel like the bastards that you all are! None of you came from within me; thus, allow me to show you how cruel and unfaltering the waters of my womb are!” Veronica whispered from the other side of the screen, but it was loud enough for the sound of it to scour every nook and cranny of this tiled room.

Before any of us could even react, the floor of the room suddenly swung open like a massive double door. We all shrieked, especially me; I let out a high pitched wailing, which made me sound a lot like a woman falling into the depths of hell. I came into this fucking hell hole because I was 100% confident that I would be able to navigate this place with the greatest of ease.

What the hell is happening then? Why the fuck am I falling? This is not a part of the program!

After a few seconds, I felt a stinging pain all on my back, signaling that I must have hit the surface of something, but it’s not solid–I felt as if I had just hit still waters.

And, indeed, I did. I felt myself falling farther down into what seemed like an endless ocean-like abyss as I saw my companions getting dragged down further into the darkness down below us with slimy maroon tentacles wrapped around their torsos.