Jerome, AZ
September 24th, 2018
21:00:14

Curly's POV

"You have until breakfast tomorrow. Speed things along or I'll do it for you." Monica's screeching voice rang throughout the entire floor as she towered over the two kidnapples. She turned her back and slammed the door, its bang echoing through the hall. It automatically locked itself with a resounding click. She walked saucily past me as I fumbled to hand her the 23rd pina colada of the day.

She hastily snatched it out of my hand with a dramatic eye-roll. "You idiot..." she mumbled not-so-quietly under her breath. "First the glowing bitch, now you. Can't anything go right around here?" She scoffed as she started up the stairs, typed in the code, and walked out the dungeon door; it slammed me in the face as I trailed behind her.

"Huh", I sighed gruffly, punching in the code once more. Seeing that Monica was still in the hallway, I quickly dived into the closest room. She's just unbearable when she's like this, I thought.

Once Monica's screeching had faded away, I snuck out cautiously. Maybe I could catch a smoke before she bullied me into her office again.

I went up to my bedroom and turned on the vent with a flick of the switch next to the light switch, which was already on. There were no windows, seeing as our entire establishment was underground and all, so a vent was as good as it could get. I pulled out a cigarette and sighed into the mirror.

"This isn't how things used to be." My dull voice echoed in the silence of the drab, empty room. It was rare that I got like this. Very rare. Faint memories of 5 years ago, maybe longer, drifted hazily across my brain. Each image painfully familiar, but unrecognizable, as though shrouded by fog and tethered just out of reach. Suddenly I straightened up with a fraction of a memory jolting my brain. Monica's laugh. She could laugh? It almost seemed like we had something together, something real. Then, in a flash, it was gone, and my mind seemed miserably empty once more.

Why couldn't I remember anything? Did I always live in fear like this? Fumbling to satisfy Monica, obeying every order like a pitiful lap dog? The image in the mirror said otherwise. Tattoos covered every inch of my arms and chest. Hair sprouted from around my white muscle tank, and a scratchy beard hung from my large chin. I looked like the kind of guy you wouldn't want to mess with. The kind of guy who'd beat you up for fun.

But that's not you anymore... A voice in the back of my head sprung up for the first time in what seemed like years, a voice I didn't even know existed. I couldn't remember who I was before. I could never remember.

Before I could get too reminiscent, a loud buzzing filled the room, echoing off the walls, vibrating from the speaker in the ceiling that I couldn't turn off no matter hard I tried. Monica was calling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monica's POV

"You have until breakfast tomorrow. Speed things along or I'll do it for you." I basically screamed at the wretched girl. Still clutching her face from where I'd slapped her, she looked at me with terror in her eyes. More than terror - helplessness. The realization made me smile as I turned around and slammed the door.

"Stop standing there like an idiot and lock the damn door" I barked at Brad without glancing at him, speed walking up the steps and out of the room as quickly as I could. I couldn't contain my rage. If that horrid little bitch did nothing more than glow then what was the point? My whole plan relied on her, everything. She was the toothless key to the whole operation, and I had to make it fit into the lock.

Turning the corner to my office, I stomped in and slammed the door, startling poor Curly.

BUT WAIT SHOULD THIS BE CURLY POV???? still needs a Monica intro to tell the readers where we're at in the novel lol

Not necessarily - curly's standing outside the door and hears Monica screaming, gets yelled at when she leaves and follows her like a scared little dog

*START IT AT THE TIME AFTER SHE SLAPS VONDA - MARCHES BACK TO HER OFFICE, CURLY'S NAME AND RELATIONSHIP ANGST IS REVEALED, THEN AFTER A WHILE EUREKA

But should there be a eureka?
What if Vonda figures that out herself?
Oh god what's the point of this chapter if there's no eureka?

I think the eureka should come later in the book. It's still day 1. Just give up already. Please

But now what's the point of this chapter? We have curly's angst, their old relationship, her remaining trust for him, her obsessiveness with this whole thing

Can we show her worry?

"Dwayne... what does this mean?"

"Monica, are you ok?"

"What do you mean?"

"You called me Dwayne"

*gets defensive, alien self again*
"Of course I didn't! You're curly."

"No, Monica. The name's not Curly. You know that."

Show her struggle between pickle self and real self. Her love and the pickle control.

*takes a deep breath*

"Now tell me what happened with 7"

*THE END*