A Self-Study Within A Broken Mind

I came back the next day to check on Lila’s progress, hoping she did not rush through the whole thing. The sequel saw me in a bad light, then a bit of good, then a lot of bad. I was sure it ended on a bad note, but remembered that Rebecca left behind a laptop of recordings, something I asked her to do to keep track of the things I missed by being away from her. The laptop I disintegrated after Lila put her effort to record my expanded ideas into. I blipped into the library and panned over the whole space to see if Lila came back inside. “Hey,” said a voice from above. I turned to find Kara leaning over the second floor railing, as she often did. I wondered if she had back pain like me. “Seen Lila around? It’s her turn teaching Tarne.” “She’s probably reading in the garden,” I replied. “Teaching?” “What did you do now?” She asked. “What is she reading?” “Just a book, a story from the many I’ve written,” I lied. “Uh-huh, like I’d believe that,” Kara said. “If I had to warrant a guess, yo...

I came back two days later after re-reading the beginning when I met Lila. She posed as a kid on a time-out for “bullying her brother”. Not knowing what she really did would have been better, but there was no taking that reveal back. We were both monsters in the end, but even those deserve some kind of comfort in the eyes of those who pose themselves as better. For some reason, I entered the library through the garden, and was very surprised to find Tarne there. She was sitting alone in the lush green, facing away, one hand propping her back up on the rock. I walked up, but paused when she made a specific sound. Without warning, beast made my body invisible just as her back arched, casting her gaze towards where I stood. Her face was contorted in euphoria, content in privacy of the garden while too obviously masturbating. I wanted to say something, but beast held me rooted to the ground, invisible. His cage was gone, no bindings holding him back. I put out a hand in my mind, and wore h...