We're all mad here (?FM+/?F+) [FINISHED]

[RopeBunny]

Epilogue.


i.

"Wait." Phoebe calls out, making to step, to lunge, forwards, as the door closes on Melantha and the multicoloured alien woodland she's stepped, impossibly, across the threshold to enter.

She is, though, too late. With a click Phoebe's view of the strange girl she's come to love vanishes. And, moments later, the door is pushed open from the other side, revealing a pair of orderlies, and beyond them the bland whitewashed corridors of Hidden Hills.

"Doctor." Laura frowns at Phoebe's upset expression. "Is everything okay?"
"What?" Too much, breathe, control. Wiping a forearm across her eyes, Phoebe tries on a smile she doesn't feel. For appearances sake. "Sorry. Yes. I'm fine."
"We heard voices."
"Oh." A brief pause, then she waves behind her, towards the desk and opened laptop. "I was. Reviewing an old interview."
"Okay." A small frown, because Laura's sure of what she heard. Of who she heard. "You're aware that inmate Jude has escaped Doctor?"
"Yes." Another waved gesture. "The warden has informed me of developments regarding inmate Jude." Phoebe smiles, almost a smirk, takes a half step back, opening up a path into her office. "If you need to check?"

"Well. Thank you." Frowning, not least at Phoebe's knowing smile. "Doctor." With a nod Laura and her coworker leave, heading to check the next room on their list, leaving Phoebe alone once more.

Face the door, take a breath. Phoebe touches the smooth wood, stares, trying to see through, trying to see the woodland somewhere beyond. Another breath. Open it.

Nothing. Whitewashed corridors. Plain. Normal. Not even a pot plant.

"Damn." Muttered. "Okay." Shaking out limbs. It's all about belief. And. "I believe. I want. Need." A smile. "To see you again. Melantha." That last, her maybe lovers name. Her true name, she whispers. A nod. Ready. Phoebe opens the door.

Onto whitewashed corridors.

"Please." Head down, hand resting palm flat against the closed doors wood. "Please. I want to come. I need to be where you are. I." Standing again. "I need you."

"Please." Staring again at whitewashed corridors, voice whisper quiet, almost prayer like, as though begging the universe to listen. "I changed my mind. It can't be too late."

Closing the door, shaking her head. "Tell me it isn't too late."

Somehow it's dark outside. Time to go home.

And. Home. Phoebe thinks. She thinks of the wrongs that were done to Melantha, thinks on her small yet significant part in those wrongs. The fear of losing her job allowing the warden to bully her into signing off on Melantha's false treatments. Maybe, Phoebe thinks, finishing off the bottle of wine she started over lasagne for one. Maybe I can't be with Melantha. But. "I can sure as fuck see her avenged."

Morning. Wake up. Shower. Dress. Nothing fancy today, faded blue jeans with ripped knees and a black Vans tee, both of which items hug her toned legs and good sized bust respectively. No need to dress up, she doesn't expect to have a job after today. Not with the amount of dirt she's about to dig up and spread around. Slipping on black army boots, loosely lacing them, Phoebe shrugs on a grey Hidden Hills hoodie, ties her hair back, and smiles, blows herself a kiss in the mirror, leaves.

From carpark to office she sees nobody, not even Vicki on reception. Had she looked up. But she doesn't. Phoebe marches forwards, eyes only for her office door. A lady on a mission.

"Hello you."
"Melantha?"

Sat behind her desk. In her chair. Cheeky smile on her black hair framed face. Melantha stands, bows, giggles.

At which point Phoebe collides with her, wrapping the former patient into a tight embrace, kissing her.

"You came back?" Keeping hold of Melantha's hand, finding herself unwilling to let go lest she lose her again, Phoebe smiles. "I. I didn't think I'd see you again."
"Well." A shrug, another cheeky grin. "I missed you."

Dressed in black jeans and a dark green, almost leaf coloured, tee, Melantha's wearing black boots too, though hers are laced tighter, the better to actually walk through her woodland.

"I was going to expose the warden." Pointing to her desk, her laptop. Her proof. "To help."
"Really." Melantha leans in, kisses Phoebe. "That's very brave of you. But." Shaking her head. "There's no need."
"Brave?"
"Well. Yes." Taking hold of both Phoebe's hands on both of hers. "To risk your job, more, just for me."
"I wanted to help. I wanted to try."
"Well." Kissing her. "Thank you."

"Brave of you too, really."
"How so?"
"Coming back." Phoebe glances back at her office door, fresh memories of yesterday. Was it really only yesterday? "If you're caught." She swallows, shakes her head. Unable to finish the thought.

But Melantha laughs.

"What?" A small smile, liking that something's funny, not knowing what. "What?"
"Don't freak out," gripping Phoebe's hands that bit tighter, "but, I didn't return alone."
"Huh?"
"The Admiral," smiling, Phoebe returns it, "wouldn't let me leave without help."
"Help?"
"Look." Melantha nods, upwards. Phoebe looks.

Gasps.

Feels a sudden urge to sit down on the floor, to make herself both lower down and smaller.

There are spiders on the ceiling. Maybe twenty at a fast count. Maybe more. Black and German Shepherd sized they sit, hanging upside down.

"Fuck." Staring upwards, briefly flinching, resisting, as Melantha takes her hand to lift her back onto her feet. Then allowing herself to be pulled up. "I mean. Wow."
"These," a smile, "some of them anyway, are my friends."
"So they talk? Like Admiral Nay?"
"Yes."
"Do they have names too?"

"Phoebe." A soft Russian accent, female, drifts down from the ceiling. "My name is Dakvishlcocodl, the four...."
"Yes." Melantha. Holding up a warning hand. "They have names. But." Smiling at Phoebe. "For a spider a name is like a list, like an old world title. One which must be repeated each time in full."
"Oh."
"So." Shaking her head. "Best we save those for later."

"Are you sure this time?" Standing before Phoebe's office door, open, the woodland stretching out beyond. Melantha smiles across at the pretty lady holding her hand tightly. "Yes." Phoebe nods. "But."
"But?" Teasing. "Ah." Melantha nods, getting it, she thinks. "You want to know whether you'll be stuck in the woodland, whether you." A squeeze of Phoebe's hand. "We. Can come back and enjoy a burger and a beer sometimes?"
"Well." Blushing. "Would that be so bad?"
"No." Nodding. "And, yes." Melantha taps her head, then the open door. "This thing I can do, we can return here. Plus a fair few other interesting places. Anytime we desire."

"Your brother though?"
"S' a big world out there." Melantha shrugs. "I'm sure they sell excellent burgers in the good old U S of A."
"I guess we'll find out." Phoebe hugs herself up against Melantha, knowing this, the decision to step through the door, is right.

She's already looking forward to what life might bring.


ii.

Twilight Sparkle bows, held straight and lowered arms allowing the purple cami to slide down off of her enhanced F cups, and right on cue there's the expected wolf whistle of appreciation. She knows how to work a crowd.

Standing, with a flourish, she catches the skimpy top at the last moment. And spins, arms flung out wide, tossing it into the club.

She stops, strikes a pose, chest out, arms back, legs bent to accentuate her pert butt. Take a breath. Smile. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy being the centre of these fifty odd men's world, at least so long as the music plays.

The rules here at 'House DD', pronounced double d, are simple. One girl, minimum, always up on stage, and, if you aren't either on stage, or on a break, then you need to be out on the floor, showing off the goods, making yourself available. Doing whatever you can, in short, to help House DD part these nice men- plus the occasional lady -from their hard earned.

Abbey- Twilight now she's on the clock -is having a good night so far. In House DD the girls all earn a cut plus tips. Heading backstage, for a short break, she nods, happy. A good night, aside from that smile.

Abbey doesn't believe in ghosts. Magic. Aliens. All those big late night debates, none of these subjects hold any interest for her.

But that smile now, what was that?

Four times she's seen it. Four times in just over three hours, because, having come on shift when the club opened at nine, it isn't yet too far after midnight. Three times whilst on stage, dancing, and once whilst working the room.

And each time its like the smile was waiting for her, waiting until she'd seen it, because, having spied it each time, hanging up in the darkness of the clubs arched roof, up amongst the scaffolding for the various lights and speakers, when each time she'd tried to take a second look. No more smile.

It had, she decides, looked not unlike a crescent moon turned on its side.

At the back of the building, next to the storeroom, is a small space for the girls to dress up and store their bags. A small room with mirrors, linked to a toilet and shower cubicle. There's also a handy fire door in one corner, leading out to an alley that runs between House DD and the Ford dealerships workshops next door. Most of the girls prop this door open, stepping out for a crafty fag.

Abbey does so now, using a good sized slab of concrete placed in the alley nearby for exactly this purpose.

"Fuck." Breathing out, eyes closed, leaning back agaisnt the rough brick wall. She's still dressed in her purple cami top and a black thong. Luckily it's a warm night. "Damn," eyeing the lit end of her expertly rolled joint, the only thing Abbey smokes, "why's the first toke always the best." Which is followed by. "Huh?" As her eyes, her head, falls forward, and her gaze shifts from the sky to the alley itself. And she sees a crescent moon smile in the darkness opposite.

"Nope." Abbey shakes her head, wagging a finger at the smile. "You aren't even real. You see." She nods, takes another drag. "Just. Um." Waving her arms about. "Swamp gas over Venus. Or. Um. A solar flare. And anyway I'm probably going to wake up any moment."
"Finished?" Wu-Quikhf, stepping forwards, his serpentine body, easily the size of most cars, shading in as he leaves the shadows behind. "Or." Head cocked, thoughtful. "Prehaps there are still other things you believe me to be?"

"Fuck me." Rubbing her eyes, not afraid, not yet. "What the fuck is going on here?"
"Well." Stopping, Wu-Quikhf leans back onto just his hind legs, allowing his front limbs to reach up and untangle the rope he's carrying, its long length looped and coiled from left shoulder to right underarm. "Abbey. May I, call you Abbey?"
"Sure." A nod, an amused snort. I'm actually talking with a dragon? "That's quite a lot of rope you've got there."
"Yes."
"Is it," Abbey, no stranger to being tied up- by humans at least -feels the first trickles of that part nerves part fear mix that the unknown of imminent helplessness brings, "is it for me?"
"It is." Wu-Quikhf nods. "I am here, that is to say I've sought you out, Abbey, in order to avenge your wrongs agaisnt the lady Melantha."

"Who?"
"Ah." The dragon tuts. "Jude then."
"Oh." Abbey thinks, takes another drag. "But, all we did was play." She giggles, remembering. "And, I'm fairly certain she enjoyed that."
"Yes. Well." A shake of the head. "Whilst that may well be true, your delaying of her, your refusal to help, allowed her to be recaptured."

"The guy in the suit you mean?" Wu-Quikhf nods, Abbey shakes her head. "That's all her brothers doing." Spreading hands wide. "Not on me."
"The lady Melantha's brother has already paid for his part in the ruin of her past."
"He has?" There's something very not pleasant about the smile Wu-Quikhf gives her. Something that makes her blood run cold. "Oh." She is, at this moment, very glad she isn't Melantha's brother.

"Did she." Abbey swallows, briefly contemplates running, but where do you run when it'll be a dragon chasing? "Did Ju..." Wu-Quikhf shakes his head, tuts. She swallows again. "Did Melantha send you to do these things?"
"No." The rope, now uncoiled, lies puddled on the concrete floor. "My queen does not know what I am about this night."
"Your," she can't help the laugh that barks up out of her, "queen?"
"Yes." Wu-Quikhf grins, even as the body behind that curving smile somehow fades away, becoming nothing more then another shadow. "And whilst she may not be aware of what I'm about to do with you, Abbey, she will certainly approve the end result."

"But." Panicked now, finally, realising that unlike those other times she's been tied, by Melantha's brother and others, this time she almost definitely won't have any say in what happens to her after. "Wait." Holding out a hand, as though to ward off that grin.

But the shadows, the dragon concealed within, only chuckles. "Don't worry." And then the grin too vanishes, as the rope, as though pulled by invisible string, levitates up off the floor. "Dragon hands are surprisingly dextrous."

The wind rushes her, hot breath, another laugh, gusting Abbey in the face. She drops her half smoked joint. Doesn't even have time to scream.

[GreyLord]

Ah! Retribution begins. How sweet it it.

[NotSeen]

Oh, how I'd like to know exactly what fate befell Melantha's brother... but then that's just me...

So very nice to see that, in the end Phoebe got to join Melantha in her 'wonderland'.

Once again, a top-notch story. Thank you.

[RopeBunny]

Thank you both for the comments throughout this tale, and for reading something I worked hard to write.

Always good to have members here reading stories I've enjoyed writing

[NotSeen]

Thank you both for the comments throughout this tale, and for reading something I worked hard to write.

Always good to have members here reading stories I've enjoyed writing

You bet! Eagerly awaiting what you come up with next.

[Caesar73]

[mention]RopeBunny[/mention] : I found the concept of the storie most intriguing. Two Spehres touched: The Reality as we know it and the Reality (?) of the Wonderland. If I had had to make guesses after the first Chapter which road the Story would take in the end, I would have failed. With time the "colour" of the story got darker, more sinister - and the end had something of a Horror Movie. And I liked that ending very much, because we do not kno what the Dragon will do, that is left to our imagination. I will read the story in the next few days again. Good work!

[tickletied84]

Definitely one to read again and again, there seems to be so many layers to this. Wonderful story!

[Dpsiic]

An amazing story as always Louise, thank you for the effort you put into writing for us.