chapter three
a monster

CHERYL FOLLOWED THE Berman sisters out of the infirmary. "You realize what happens if you get kicked out, right?" Cindy asked Ziggy angrily. "How awful that would be for me?"

"Do you know - Did someone do something to Nurse Lane?" Ziggy wondered, hardly paying attention to her sister. "Like make fun of her daughter or something."

"Ziggy, are you listening to me?" Cindy furrowed her brows.

"She was upset," Ziggy told her.

"I don't care!" Cindy exclaimed. "I - Do you hear what I'm saying to you?"

"Loud and clear, ma'am," Ziggy answered.

"Well, clearly you don't because we had this conversation last week and the week before that."

"Yeah and, again, I'm not gonna get kicked out," Ziggy needed Cheryl's hand, pausing slightly, she reached behind her for the brunette to grab on.

Cindy eyed Cheryl. "Kurt thinks you both are going to get kicked out."

"Why am I gonna get kicked out?" Cheryl questioned.

"You and Ziggy do everything together, if Ziggy keeps doing things like that, you'll go down with her," Cindy explained.

"Yeah, well, Kurt can suck it," Ziggy went to walk off.

"No. Ziggy, no!" Cindy grabbed her sister's shoulder so she couldn't move. "If you two get kicked out, mainly you, I do too. Mom can't work and take care of you. And then how will I pay for college, huh?" Ziggy scoffed humorously. "Oh, that's funny to you?"

"Yeah, kinda," Ziggy admitted, walking off.

"Explain to me what's so funny," Cindy followed the two girls.

"How dumb you are?" Ziggy replied. "No one gets out of this town, not even Miss Perfect. Bet on your way out you get run over by a bus."

Cindy frowned. "Once in your life, could you just not be so. . . so mean?"

"For once in your life could you just stop pretending?" Ziggy snapped. She grabbed a blue shirt that was laying down and threw it to the girl. "You're Shadyside in case you forgot."

With the final word, Ziggy led Cheryl off. After a bit of walking, an arm was slung around Cheryl's neck. Already knowing who it was, a smile appeared on her lips as she looked up. "Hey, Theo."

"Cheater," he grinned boyishly. "Hi."

"I didn't cheat," Cheryl huffed.

"What happened?" Ziggy inquired, glancing between her girlfriend and Theo. "Cherry, what's Theo accusing you of now?"

"We were playing Hide and Seek," Cheryl began. "And I found him first so he thinks I cheated." She sent the slightly taller boy a small glare. "You just fucking suck at hiding."

"I don't suck at hiding-"

"Yes you do," Ziggy inputted. "You really suck at it."

"I hate you two," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Awe," Cheryl cooed, sticking out her bottom lip. "Love you too, Theodore."

"Can't say the same," Theo shook his head and lightly shoved her shoulders with a laugh at her offended gasp.

○●○

NO MATTER HOW crazy Nurse Lane had been acting earlier, Cheryl wouldn't have expected her to try and kill Tommy. The girl and Theo stood away, watching as the police handled everything.

"I knew she was crazy," Theo commented. "She was weird."

"Shut up!" Cheryl hissed, smacking his chest. "She was amazing. She would've never willingly murdered anyone."

"Cherry, she just did!" the boy defended himself. "She just tried to kill Tommy! Maybe she's taking after her daughter's footsteps." He chuckled at himself. "Man, I wish Stephen was here. It'd show him how a real police officer acts."

Cheryl frowned, eyes flickering to her girlfriend who was watching from by the tree. Wordlessly, the girl began to walk over. She knew how much Nurse Lane meant to Ziggy. She needed to be there for her.

Seeing Sheila and her friends approach Ziggy, she rolled her eyes and quickened her pace. "Why don't you three scram like the little roaches you are."

Sheila only grinned. "By the way, you guys might wanna check your stuff. I think there was an accident in cabin five."

Cheryl and Ziggy's eyes widened at the same time. They shared the same cabin and Sheila definitely hated Cheryl, only just a tad less than Ziggy. They immediately took off with Cheryl flipping them off as they went.

Cheryl threw the cabin door open and her mouth fell open. Written on Ziggy's wall were things like Ziggy is a witch bitch and slut and tons of other horrible stuff.

However, on Cheryl's, it was nothing but slurs.

The brunette had never felt more angry. She stomped out of the cabin, heading off to find Sheila and her friends. Ziggy followed close behind her. Cheryl wasn't particularly an angry person, so Ziggy had never realized how hot she was when she was angry.

"I'm going to get them back," Cheryl announced. "I'm going to fucking kill her."

"Okay," Ziggy caught her hand. As much as she wanted to kill Sheila and her friends too, she knew Cheryl's mind was only clouded with anger and she'd regret anything later. "I have a better idea."

Ziggy smirked and led them to the arts and crafts cabin. Cheryl watched her grab a can of paint. "We're going to Carrie this bitch." Ziggy grabbed a screwdriver and used the back to hit the top of the can.

"What are you doing?" Cindy's voice sounded, making Cheryl look over.

"Art project," Cheryl simply answered.

"Okay," Cindy nodded, heading over to her sister. "I need to talk to you both."

"I'm not in the mood," Ziggy responded.

"Earlier, you said Mary was upset-"

Ziggy chuckled dryly. "Oh, so now you care!"

"Ziggy, this is serious."

Ziggy simply stared at her. "It was serious earlier, and you didn't give a shit." She turned around. "Let's go, Cherry."

Cheryl nodded and grabbed the paint while Ziggy grabbed a bucket. They walked out silently, hearing Cindy's footsteps behind them.

"Come on!" Cindy whined. "You were the last people to see her before she snapped. What about drugs? Did you see any around?"

"She's a nurse, so yup," Ziggy replied curtly.

"Well, did she mention anything or-"

"Nope," Ziggy mumbled.

"Ziggy, I'm just. . . I'm just trying to understand what happened today," Cindy told her.

Ziggy just wanted to get as far away from her sister. "Who cares? It's over."

"Not for Tommy," the older Berman argued. "He's still freaked out and acting weird and. . . it's just a big joke to everyone. Mary was possessed by the witch."

"Maybe it was the witch," Ziggy shot back.

"Ziggy."

"What?" Ziggy rolled her eyes. "That doesn't fit your carefully constructed bullshit view of the world?"

"Why are you being like this?" Cindy inquired.

"Oh, I don't know," Ziggy shrugged. "Maybe because Nurse Lane was one of the only three people here who was nice to me and now her life is over because bad things always happen to Shadysiders."

"Nothing just happens," Cindy tried. "There's always a reason."

"Not always a rational one," Ziggy turned around. "Deep down, you feel it, don't you? Shadyside. . . there's something here. It's just. . . holding us down, cursing us."

"Ziggy, that's enough," Cindy protested.

"You're too scared to admit it," Ziggy's gaze hardened. "So when things go bad, you just wanna explain it away."

"I'm sorry. I'm not going to blame everything on some. . . fairytale," Cindy muttered. "Life sucks sometimes, I get that. I mean, God knows it's been hard since. . ."

"Since what?" Ziggy spat. "See, you can't even say it! Since Dad left. Since Mom started drinking. Since we're going to lose the house. And it's not gonna magically get better. And saving up all summer to buy a super cute polo shirt can't hide that. Trying to explain why nice, old Nurse Lane almost lost it today can't either. We're all cursed. For Mary, it was today. But someday, it'll be you, and this whole fake bullshit life of yours, it's gonna come crashing down."

"That's a horrible thing to say," Cindy swallowed thickly.

"It's not horrible if it's true."

Cindy took a shaky breath as she tested up. "I don't know who you are anymore, but. . . but you're not my sister."

"Then who am I?" Ziggy challenged.

"A monster," Cindy finished.

Ziggy pursed her lips and nodded, heading over to open the cabin door. "That's what they say."

Her action allowed Cindy to see the horrible words written on both girls' walls, but only for a second. Ziggy gripped Cheryl's wrist and dragged her inside, slamming the door shut behind them.

𝒎𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒍 !!