12. Havoc

Chapter 12

Havoc

D olly and boss are separated by bars and stone, chained away from the other, lost in the sneaky shadows. Lonely, naughty little pawns . Dolly sniffles so much while bug's breathing gets heavier and heavier. Huff and puff. I raise my hand holding the large circus hammer as it smashes against the bars.

"Wakey, wakey, toys!" I cackle, happy by the vibrating sounds, smashing again and again. "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Dolly shrinks at the sight of me, moving away as I dance outside the bars. Dolly seems scared. Scared of Havoc? Silly Dolly. It's the game, Dolly. Dolly likes games. Why be so scared? Does Dolly taste like fear? Hmmm... maybe one lick? No! Spider lady said no licks or bites. Behave, Havoc.

"Leave her alone, Havoc," bug barks like a wolf. Foolish to assume Havoc won't squash him like the bug he is, as I have a giant hammer.

My head snaps toward the glowing bug, and I blink. Fascinating . "Boss is sad. Why such a sad bug?" I grab the corners of my mouth and pull them down into a sad face. "I thought boss liked games."

"No more games," Dolly wheezes out through a sob. "Please."

"Oh?" I dance to the other side of the prison and leap onto the bar of the cell. "Dolly winds up and speaks! If Havoc pulls her string, what will she say next?"

"Havoc," Bug growls. "Leave her the fuck alone!"

"Bug is boss no more," I hiss like a snake. "Havoc has no leash. Speaks to whoever Havoc wants."

"No leash?" He huffs out a laugh, his chains clinking as he moves. Clink-clank. "You think the Spinster doesn't have you threaded to one of her needles, using you like everyone else?" His chuckle is low as his head shakes. "Foolish girl."

Words make me angry as I feel fire in my face. "Bug and Dolly are locked up, but Havoc is free like the wind. See?" I twirl. "Free."

"Open your fucking eyes, Havoc! You're not free. You're just as much a prisoner as we are! Your prison may look different than ours, but you forget that Blue and I have both been in your position. We know precisely how far those chains go. We both got out of here, thinking we were free in Nightmare, yet look at us." He shakes his arms, his chains singing to me. "Let's see how far you can reach with yours."

"No!" my bad voice growls, teeth biting his air.

Bug stands, dragging his chains as he speaks through the bars in such an angry voice. "Then why are you here? Why did you kidnap Blue? Why do her bidding if you're so free? You're not free. You're a pawn like the rest of us, a player in this fucking endless game that no one wins."

I slam the hammer into the bars as he stumbles back on jelly feet. "Havoc serves Havoc, not a player or pawn. Havoc does not play the game but watches very closely." Eyes see all.

"If you're just watching." Dolly stands, sad tears leaking from her face. "Then why kidnap me? Why help the Creator?"

"Why not?" I shake my head, skipping to the other side of the wall. "Havoc helps whoever Havoc wants."

"If Havoc helps anyone, then why pretend to be my friend, or his, if you were going to just betray us? Who's side are you on?" Pretty Dolly knows nothing.

"Havoc already said!" Stamping my foot, I huff. Stupid Dolly, not listening to words! "Havoc watches." I pull up my lid, pointing to my wet eyeball. "Sees all the players, all the mistakes. So many mistakes."

"The only mistake any of us made was trusting you, you psychotic fucking clown." Bug is angry. Should be red but green with it. Green from vile, mean words.

I sit down, facing the two puppets, my face sad. How to make them see what Havoc sees? "Do bug or Dolly ever see a thing and want to touch it? To poke at its guts and see what happens?" I tilt my head, waiting as they say no words. Strange; Havoc feels she's being very clear.

"Havoc likes to poke at the game—see what happens. Like shoving buzzing bees in a jar and shaking it up real fast!" I move my hands up and down, smiling. "Havoc likes to see what happens! Chaos!" I jump to my feet, twirling the hammer in my hands.

"That's not chaos. That's insanity." Bug sits down, looking like an ugly, sad puppy.

"I trusted you, Havoc." Dolly sniffles again. Must be allergic to the dirty room. "I thought you were my friend," she sputters as she chokes on sad tears.

I slither to her, peeking through the bars as I smile big, showing my sharp teeth. "That was Dolly's mistake." I bite, chomping the air as she gasps, startled at my laughter. "Green and blue," I sing, swirling away from her. "Soon, you'll both be red and dead!"

"Havoc—Havoc, wait!" Dolly tries to distract me, but I know better. "Don't leave us here!"

"Tick-tock!"

The Creator

His dice rolls in my hand, the edges still sharp. After all these years, he still holds such fondness for them, clinging to the memory of a lonely boy who tried to befriend him. Fool. A grunt escapes my mouth as I chuck the red dice across the ground, watching as they roll to an eight.

"Spider lady!" The insipid clown minion of his barges into the room, twirling a neon-painted circus hammer in her hands, smiling as her razor-sharp teeth reflect the nearby light. I can't help but roll my eyes at her vexing, shrieking voice. She's insufferable, a loose cannon in every sense of the word, but a useful tool nevertheless.

"Yes, Havoc?" Her name is quite fitting. "Any news?"

"Zip!" She slams her hammer down, the loud noise grating on me, before sitting on the face of it like a chair. "Bug is still glowing with sadness. Dolly blue as always." She kicks her platform shoes, shaking her head.

"Excellent. Let them suffer in their dingy cells, withering away as they listen to the other's screams, helpless, slowly succumbing to madness and starvation. It will be a fitting punishment, don't you think?" I sneer, my eyes blazing with savage satisfaction as I stare into the flickering flames of my fireplace.

She tilts her head, staring at me as if frozen in her eerie position. I'm always left to wonder what goes on behind her eyes, in that colorful little brain of hers. Havoc plays them both, despite her apparent deep fondness of the two. She offered her eye for me to spy with yet has defended her boss in battles she nearly didn't make it out of. She doesn't seek power or retribution; instead she simply wants to raise the stakes of my game, adding new twists and turns. It's impressive, really, watching her play them all. Entertaining, yet slightly unnerving. How does one grow so close and yet is still able to flip so quickly?

She blinks. "Is spider lady bored now that the game is over?"

I flinch at her words. Bored? How dare she.

"Of course not!" I grip the arms of my elaborate chair, my needle-like fingers digging into the wood, releasing a satisfying crack as I lean forward. "I have won my game after all these centuries, with the added bonus of watching your bug's heart shatter in the process." I grin, revealing my own sharp teeth. "It's something I have waited to taste for far too long." I lean back, my smile fading away. With the game ended, now what?

"He wouldn't love me, yet he chose to fall for a toy, and not even a proper one. Blue isn't even complete, made from scraps. It's such an insult."

"Spider lady seems sad."

"I am not sad!" I snap at the imbecile. "I am angry. He should've accepted the truth of his creation, taken his seat at my side, and spent eternity as my king here in Dreadmoor. Instead, he chose to disobey me, choosing to side with those wretched children, casting himself into that dreadful world they call Nightmare, planning all the ways he could kill me—his creator. My own creation, made in my image, has plotted my death for centuries." I release a short, cold laugh. "It's rather exhausting, really. It seems we were destined to never be. If I cannot have him as my own, then I shall break them both. Let's see just how strong those traitorous toys are when they rot away, listening as the other dies a slow, painful death, unable to help. Always just out of reach." A poetic end to it all.

The clown presses her lips together in a thin, firm line. "But with bug dead, the game is over."

"Precisely," I growl under my breath. "I have won."

Havoc hops from the hammer, pacing back and forth, as if contemplating something. I pick at my fingers, exhaling as I wait for whatever nonsense she's about to spill. I wonder if I pluck her button out and send her back to Nightmare if she would stay there. I have what I need. I have won the game, and I do not need her anymore.

"Havoc has it!" She snaps her fingers. "What if spider lady gives bug one last chance?—"

I can't help but scoff. "I am in no mood to see him ever again, clown."

"Havoc wasn't finished!" She stomps her foot, reminding me of the bratty children I've lured in over the centuries. Such a temper.

The tiny terror doesn't threaten me, but I'm intrigued by her odd passion, morbidly curious as to what she may suggest. I won't admit it out loud, but she is correct about one thing; the game is over, and soon, I will grow bored. My greatest opponent, the man I created to love, has been had, leaving me with no challenge or threat to oppose. This feeling is something I'd prefer not to experience.

"Go on. I'm listening."

"What if spider lady," she crawls around, retrieving her boss's set of dice, "gives bug one last chance?" She crawls to me, offering the dice up as her head cocks to the side. "Let him roll his fate for old time's sake."

I stare at the red dice, tapping them with the pointed tip of my fingernail. "If I did allow such a thing," I drawl, "what would be the stakes?"

"Odds, boss wins. He and Dolly live happily ever after. Forever."

"I don't think so?—"

"Boss rolls even," her face darkens with her voice, "then boss must do what needs be done. And spider lady wins a bloody game and her toy." What needs to be done, hmm? Intriguing.

"Interesting proposal, Havoc, but the chances of me losing are just as high as him winning. I do not like it." I push her open hand away. Too high a risk, I refuse to lose him again.

"Don't you see?" she shrieks, shooting to the edge of my seat, standing close. "Boss always wins the rolls. The only way to be together forever," she leans even closer, her mouth moving next to my ear as she whispers, "is death."

I see. If he wins, they both die. If I win, then the doll dies. There is no loss on my part; it's simply a trick of words, meant to confuse—something my little creation would so easily catch on to if he wasn't being led by his dick.

"If he thinks there's a way to save that wretched toy, he'll take it." The clown nods quickly, eager and excited by me entertaining her idea. "It would make the shortly ended game a bit more interesting—for the time being."

She giggles, unable to sit still with giddiness, her mood bleeding to my own.

"Alright, then." I smirk, and the clown squeals with excitement. "Bring them to me, Havoc. We shall have one last game after all."

Havoc raises her hammer up in the air in excitement as I walk from the fire towards my window, looking out over my land. I cross my arms over my front as a familiar ache fills me, an ache I have spent an entire existence trying to ignore.

No one could ever understand the emptiness I feel, knowing I am a god, a creator of beings and words, yet I have no one by my side. I thought he—well, I thought things would be different. I should've known better, but call it desperation on my part. I thought he would see it my way. When I created him, it was for a companion, but—I may be a god, but I am still a woman. The way I designed him, his eyes, that crooked little smile... He stirred things in me. I wanted him—needed him.

His rejection broke me in a way I didn't realize I could break. I became mad in every sense of the word. I figured he was broken; somehow, I must've made a mistake, he was incapable of love. But here I stand, with his love in the cell below me as they find their pleasure through my threads. I created them both, and yet he chose her? He chose a pile of scraps I threw together just to get out of my way.

The windowpane cracks as a bolt of lightning shoots across the sky, igniting an idea. "Havoc," I snip out, not looking away from the storm. My cold hand reaches my chain necklace, playing with the large stitch remover dangling between my breasts. "Bring me the toy first." A smirk pulls at my lips. "There are a few alterations I would like to make, ensuring she looks her best for her Boogeyman."