• Published 8th Apr 2012
  • 1,928 Views, 115 Comments

Bricks in the Wall - _NAME_



Sometimes, we put on a mask to hide our true feelings. Sometimes, we wear them for far too long and we forget who we are underneath. A story about a troubled stallion and his descent into madness. All in all, it was just a brick in the wall.

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Chapter Twenty: The Show

Chapter Twenty

The Show

The air was white and silent save for the sharp sound of my hooves on the tile and the humming of the fluorescent lights above. I strode through the hall with steely purpose, toward my manifest destiny beyond the door at the far end. The half-red, half-white colors that the brick walls were painted in seemed to seep together under the lights into one, solid pink mass.

As the end of the hall grew ever closer, the silence gave way to the muffled roar of the crowd as they waited for their show to begin. Even through the wall, I could hear their excited cheers and chants biting into my brain, forming the beginnings of a headache.

There was a door to my left that was wide open. The lights inside were off, but I could still see the outline of desks and potted plants through the gloom and fog. The fan on the ceiling was lazily spinning, always in a circle. There was a stack of boxes in the corner, teetering on their edge.

I walked past the doorway and many others like it as I approached the end of the hall. Before I could even reach out and open them, the large double doors swung open and a stallion tangled up in a jumble of wires slunk out, nodding absentmindedly in my direction. I scowled after him and pushed through the opening, entering the backstage.

I ran a hoof over what remained of my mane and permitted myself a grin. Stagehands scuttled about, ferrying cables and equipment from one place to another, or from another to one place. Speakers were strewn high on the sides of the stage, wires trailing over the entire floor. Hot, bright lights in the rafters and on stands and frames scared away all the shadows.

In the middle of the stage, surrounded by instruments, was a group of other ponies dressed in showy, flashy garb. Musicians. Bleeding hearts and artists. Six stallions, one mare, were gathered in a circle, inspecting over their guitars, or drums, or keyboards, making sure everything was perfect. There was one stallion in particular, a scrawny, red hornhead that I remembered was named Ox, who seemed particularly impertinent and offensive.

My head turned away from them, and instead looked at the large velvet curtain that separated the stage from the crowd. Their incessant chanting leaked out from behind it. “Pink! Pink! Pink! Pink!” That weakling name turned into a mantra; each repetition like a hammer banging inside my skull.

I swept back the far edge of the curtain and peered out into that convulsing mass of ponies in the stadium. Thousands of colors, shades and shapes filled both the field and the stands, all meshing together like one being. The unicorns and earth ponies were the most prevalent, stuffing up the outside like a blocked artery. I could even see some of those dimwitted zebras and mules packed in with the ponies. The pegasi and brutish griffons oppressed the air, flitting back and forth above the heads of the lesser beings below them. Harsh arena lighting spilled over the throng of bodies, heightening their already harsh, vibrant coat colors to something that was almost unbearable to look at if I wasn’t wearing sunglasses.

So many had turned out on this night. Each one was sitting there expecting the musical performance of a lifetime that wasn’t going to happen.

They were all at fault. I could see it in their shimmering eyes that they needed to be disciplined. They dared to call themselves ponies, civilized, but they were far less than that, I knew. I could see. I could hear. They were the vile scum of society, they were beasts, the cause for so many years of misfortune and pain.

As I watched, I could see a green unicorn mare with a fiery mane hanging off the shoulders of another stallion. A dark blue pegasus stallion dressed in armor wading through the crowd, only to vanish from sight forever. A young orange colt was holding down foals, doing unspeakable things to them. A group of foals bullied any others who got in their way, especially those different from them. An old, pink mare with a heart as cold as the night was disappointed in everything around her. A grizzled griffon torturing those around him, laughing all the while.

They were all going to pay.

My eyes alighted on one stallion in particular, one or two rows back. While the rest of the audience seemed preoccupied with the prospect of the show that was soon to start, the stallion’s flashing pink eyes were staring in my general direction. A smug grin was plastered on his face, as though he knew something nopony else knew, as if he was better than all the rest.

The stallion’s coat was a dull gray, the same as how I felt inside. His dark brown mane was cut close to his head, and though I couldn’t see his tail, I could only assume it was similar. He readjusted a black leather jacket and stared through at me.

“Pink?” There was a slight tap on my back, and I turned at the touch ready to discipline whoever it was, but the anger fizzled away the moment I saw the pale, white form of Princess Celestia looming over me. She smiled at me, just a little too strained, too politely.

“Celestia.” I said flatly, offering my own fake smile in return. I didn’t bow. I looked her in the eye as best I could. Here was the pony responsible for the war that killed hundreds of thousands and ruined countless lives. She was a villain if I ever saw one, worse than the real enemy. I felt a biting comment rise to my lips, but I stopped myself and let it drip back down.

Her smile slipped away for a brief second, and then returned with a vengeance. “I trust you are doing well, Pink? I figured it would be appropriate to visit before your concert, being that it is in honor of the Summer Sun Celebration and, by extension, me.” She paused and turned, and motioned for me to join her by her side with a flick of her head. I hesitated at first, but then forced my legs forward.

“I think this is a wondrous thing you are doing, Pink.” she continued, looking out over the backstage and the ponies. “I understand that you’re doing twenty-five performances all over Equestria in the thirty days leading up to the Celebration itself, all for charity. It is truly a selfless act to donate all of the profits. Doing that many shows in that many days would wear down anypony. Even me.” She giggled. I didn’t. “Especially when you’re not even going to make any money.”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything. I knew when to pick my battles, and slandering the princess directly in front of her was not a smart move, even if my anger and annoyance with her was slowly coming to a point.

The mask she wore concealed her true identity, but I could see through the aged porcelain, and I knew, deep down, she didn’t care. She had had ages to craft it, and countless others before it, but it wasn’t good enough for me.

My own mask covered my feelings of loathing for her and her own. I kept my face expressionless and tried my best to quell the urge to lift a hoof and shatter that mask that covered hers, so everything else could see her for what she was.

But if the princess noticed anything wrong, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she sighed, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. “Regrettably,” she picked up, “I will not be able to attend your final concert back here again, on the eve of the Celebration itself, as I will be down in Ponyville for the actual raising of the sun.” She stopped again. “Being the 1000th instance, I do expect it to be quite the departure from the previous years.”

I chuckled, finally speaking up. “I doubt tonight will be much like what everyone is expecting either.”

She looked down at me, and I felt as if she was going to say something, but changed her mind at the last second. “I must admit,” she said instead, “I do quite like your music. It is a lovely departure from orchestral arrangements that continually pervades Canterlot. It is not strange to find one of the castle servants humming your songs in the hallways most of the time. Even I find your songs stuck in my head some days.”

She smiled another one of her practiced smiles and waited for me to say something. But I didn’t speak a word, my only response a gentle flick of the ear. I wasn’t going to be amenable with her just because she was the ruler.

The princess nodded and stepped away from me. “I’ll leave you be now, Pink. I’m sure you have a lot to prepare before you go on.” Her mane shone even brighter in the glow of the spotlights. “I had a very nice time speaking with you. I look forward to seeing your show.”

She gave one last smile, dipped her head, and turned to leave, presumably to head up to her special, private viewing box positioned high above the heads of everypony else.

But then she stopped and looked back at me, her expression hidden by her mane. “Is everything alright, my little pony?” A different mask, this one meant to look kind and tender, disguised her face, her soul, but it did little to hide the fact she wasn’t the least bit concerned.

“I’m fine.” My voice echoed around my own mask, my head, my ears.

But she didn’t stop. “I sense that there is something off about you tonight. Something is troubling you, is it not? Are you feeling alright?"

I gently shook my head. “I’m fine. Really.” I turned from her and walked away, ignoring the bitch and her fake concern. She didn’t care. She never cared. If she had truly cared about her citizens, then why were the letters she sent out to the widowed mares and fatherless foals all copies of one another and signed with the same featureless stamp?

Celestia stared at me as I went away from her. I could feel her gaze on the back of my neck. But she was persistent in her act. “I have been alive for a very long time, Pink. I can tell when a pony is in distress.”

I stopped, but continued to face away from her. “I’m perfectly fine. Nothing to worry about.”

Several minutes passed, and when I looked back, she wasn’t there. My hooves felt weak unexpectedly, and I stood, swaying slightly, and just stared at the curtain that separated me from that rabble outside.

There was a noise, a floorboard squeaking as somepony trod over it. I looked over at it; the tip of it bent upwards at an odd angle, missing at least one of its nails. All it needed was to be hammered back into place.

Eventually, someone called for the show to start. I gave one last glance to the curtain and made my way to center stage. My band mates stared at me as I passed by them and they passed by me, varying emotions and thoughts crossing their faces. One almost opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it, obviously thinking better of it.

As they got settled in with their equipment and instruments, I stood in the center of the stage, staring straight ahead at the expansive curtain again. Beyond it was unpredictable. Beyond was chaos. Beyond was evil.

And the stage emptied of bodies as anypony not supposed to be there scurried off. The lights dimmed, and with a sharp click, flickered off, leaving the stage in near darkness, save for radiant light from outside the curtain.

The show was about to begin.

After a pregnant and silent pause, the lights outside darkened as well, and everything was quiet and black. One of my legs twitched.

I breathed out.

I breathed in.

The heady curtains parted, revealing the inferior crowd beyond. Smoke roiled off the edge of the stage, blanketing the first few rows in a dense, humid fog. I could make out a few silhouettes through it, shifting uncomfortably, struggling to find a glimpse of us through the sudden mist.

They all looked so happy, so carefree.

I hated it.

I hated them.

I despised them.

The scowl on my face deepened as one of the band behind me began muttering a near silent count-in for the opening song. I glowered out past the microphone stand in front of me at that crowd of miscreants, killers, and thugs. They wavered, their smiles turning malicious, their eyes flashing.

As the stallion’s voice hit two, the orchestra situated off to the right began to swell into the intro for the song. The silence was slowly pushed away by warbling strings, shrill clarinets, and bugle horns. Everything was still. Everything was calm. For once.

I stole another breath of air.

The overhead lights burst on, bringing light to the dark. An organ blared out in the night, accompanied by the pounding of drums and the wailing of a guitar. The crowd cheered as the music sweltered upwards, and I reared up on two legs, splaying my forehooves wide.

The heat under the spotlights was nigh unbearable. I could feel it pounding on the top of my head and on my back. If it was any hotter, the floorboards might’ve caught on fire. The plastic was beginning to melt.

I smiled, still balanced on two legs, and crossed my forehooves in front of my face in an x, before falling back down to the stage with a thud. I strode closer toward the microphone, into yet another revealing spotlight. I watched as a few in the crowd copied my gesture, motioning their own x.

The music flooded on and fireworks sprouted around the edge of the stage, sending sparks high into the air, across the stage, and into the crowd. They were roaring their approval, not even a minute into the song yet. Pathetic cretins.

A flash of gray caught my eye. The stallion from earlier was staring into me with his large, pink, unwavering vulture eyes. Our gazes connected for a split second and then I wafted over him and turned my eyes up, at the princess, lording down from on high.

At the back of the stadium, several stories above the heads of the highest rows of bleachers, above even the highest stadium lights, sat the white bitch in her tower. Everything was her fault as well. Graveyards would have been littered with fewer stones if she had done her job better. Families would still be together if she had been a little more responsible. The countryside would still be alive if she was at all competent.

Around me, the music stopped abruptly, replaced immediately by a chorus of voices from the left, all singing out in harmony. The crowd stared with rapturous attention and I stared at them from behind my sunglasses, their colors dull, the light muted. Their smiling faces made my blood boil, because I knew it was all a farce. They weren’t as innocent and carefree as they looked. They and Celestia all practiced their smiles. They all had their masks.

I clasped the microphone, leaning into it, supporting myself. Their grins grew wider. They were laughing at my misfortune, my past. Laughing at what they had done to me, proud of the pain they inflicted. I could see it in their eyes.

Soon enough, the point when I should have begun singing came and went, and still I was standing there, unmoving, unflinching. The band behind me hissed at me, trying to get my attention, trying to get me to do something. As the choir faded out, the instruments began to improvise to keep the song alive, with the hope I would dance for them soon.

But I had cut my puppet strings. I wasn’t a small, pink stuffed doll that they could torture for their amusement any longer. I had wised up, and now it was their turn for a taste of their own medicine. I wasn’t about to be trod on anymore.

There were murmurings out in the audience. They could sense that something was wrong, that things weren’t meshing together. Their splitting grins sunk down a bit, their laughter dying away. There was something in their feeble minds that sensed something was about to happen.

I chuckled at the sight, only to have the microphone broadcast my gruff laugh throughout the stadium and into the blooming stars above. I could feel myself smiling a wild and crazy smile that matched what theirs was. The worthless sacks of shit that dared to call themselves ponies, with their happy exteriors, and bright colors, and black-as-sin souls inside ignited a fire in my belly. I hated them with every fiber of my being.

They needed to feel the same pain they had inflicted on me. They were all guilty.

And that thought coursed through my mind, filling my body with a vigor that made my skin crawl. I gazed out over the crowd, my muzzle still divided in a wide grin. The band behind me slowly ground to a halt as it became evident that I was not going to be singing.

“So what?!” I bellowed into the microphone, eliciting a few startled reactions from the crowd. “What, you thought you’d like to come to this show?!” My voice resonated around the suddenly hushed stadium, a few lingering, discordant notes from the band fading out into obscurity as everyone was shocked into silence.

“So, you all wanted to feel this warm thrill of confusion?!” A hoarse, half-scream, half-laugh wormed its way past my lips. “Ha! You wanted to feel this warm, fuzzy glow?!” My face distorted in a cruel rage, visibly reflected in the faces of the ponies before me. I laughed again, giggled even, at their expressions.

I moved closer to the edge of the stage, dragging the mic stand along with me, and the front few rows shrunk backwards in fright, nearly crushing those behind them. Cowards. Weaklings, the lot of them. If they couldn’t even take some unscheduled shouting and degradation, what were they going to do later?

“Well!” I scoffed over the crowd, my eyes looking out at everyone, seeing everything they had ever done. There, all over, was the scum of Equestria, the cause of so much misery; the worthless, and the impure.

Those pegasi , earth ponies and unicorns, always fighting amongst themselves, The hornheads and cloudwalkers all ganging up on the poor earth ponies, beating us within inches of our lives. They thought they were so superior, but they were nothing more than bullies flaunting their power. And yet, the earth ponies weren’t honorable either. They had done their share of abuses and evils.

Those griffons, zebras and donkeys were all so different than us Equestrians. What right did they have to live here, tainting this land with their mere presence and impure blood? For all of this nation’s depravity, these outsiders were even worse, spreading across the land like a pestilence. They needed crawl back into whatever disease-ridden hole they came from or face the consequences.

And then there were those fags, criminals, alcoholics, dykes and drug-users that stunk up the place with their filth and lawless ways. The lot of them were tainted, broken, and deserved to be put down like the animals they were.

I twirled around to see my band staring at me with thinly veiled confusion and concern. I stared at them through the darkness of my sunglasses and gave a wide smile. They were just as bad as everypony else. They had never cared about me. Only the fame I garnered, my status, my money. I snarled at them, pawing at the ground, daring them to make a move against me.

And the fuckers turned tail and ran, rather than face any sort of responsibility, any sort of possibility. They didn’t want to risk anything, unless they knew it was in their favor.

I turned back and walked to the edge of the stage, taking my rightful place in my domain. I looked out at their confused faces and then up at the VIP box, at the speck of white and rainbow that was Celestia.

“Well!” I started again, more forcibly than before, “I’ve got some bad news for you, sunshines! Pink,” I spat the name out, “isn’t feeling too well! He stayed back at the hotel, locked away in the walls!” I gestured behind me, chuckling softly. “And he sent me along as his surrogate tonight! And now, we’re gonna find out where you fans really stand!”

In the crowd, a bright orange unicorn stallion suddenly appeared, slithering his way through the bodies, preying on other young stallions. His head jerked up suddenly and his vile eyes stared at me, and he smiled.

My grip on the microphone tightened, and I found myself grinding my teeth together. “Tell me,” I bellowed, “are there any of those queers in the audience tonight?!” I felt the orange stallion’s hooves running over my body, his breath on the nape of my neck. “Well, get them up against the wall! Get them outta here!” I gestured wildly, my hooves trembling slightly from sheer anger.

I pointed out into the audience, at some yellow stallion, who was caught in a spotlight. I could just tell he was gay. “Right there! There’s one in the spotlight! He don’t look right to me! Get him up against the wall! Line him up with the others!”

I spat into the audience in anger, my mannerisms growing ever more erratic. The crowd stared up at me, unblinking, unresponsive. I wasn’t sure if they just didn’t care or if they were still defying me, even to their end.

“And I see all you drunks, homewreckers and druggies standing out there, baking under the lights! None of you even deserve to be alive! Get up against the wall! Just kill yourselves, so I don’t have to do it for you!”

A griffon flittered on the edges of my vision, mocking me. He leered at me over the glasses perched on the tip of his beak. The spotlight wavered around the audience, catching other despicable bastards in its glow.

“That one looks like a racist!” Some donkey. “And that featherhead cheats on her husband! I can see it in her eyes! And that griffon looks like he beats his children!” The crowd began to shrink back from me. “Who let all this fucking riff-raff into the room, huh!? Get them all up against the wall!” My bellow cascaded out from the speakers, flowing out into every cranny in the stadium.

The ponies in the front row looked at me with eyes and finally turned, realizing that I wasn’t about to let them hurt me any longer. I was a different pony than I was before. Some mare with a flaming red mane grabbed some stallion who clearly wasn’t her husband and pushed through the crowd, away from me.

I cackled. “That one’s smoking a joint!” Some lowly dirtpony. “And that one’s got stripes!” A zebra. “That colt looks like a delinquent!” I pointed at a unicorn. “I can tell that one abandoned his family!” Some blue pegasus stallion with glasses.

I heaved the microphone away, practically throwing it and the stand hallway across the stage. “You know what!?” I screamed, my voice reverberating over the cacophony of voices from the audience even without the amplification. “If I had my way, I’d have all of you killed! Right here! Right on the spot! You fuckers don’t deserve to even breathe the same air I do! Everyone line up against the wall!”

Their faces stared up at me, distraught and confused and happy and surprised and angry and scared. I again caught a glimpse of that gray stallion with pink eyes watching me from the crowd, and then he was gone.

“And you!” I jabbed a hoof at some black soul as the spotlight illuminated him. “You’ll have to die too! I can see that you raped somepony!” I pointed at another. “You!” I slid a hoof across my neck, imitating his beheading. “And you too!” Some guilty stallion, who looked bewildered at my actions. “Yes you! Stand still, laddie! Don’t even think of moving!”

Light illuminated each and every eye in front of me, and I could see all their sin, like a glimpse through a window. They all were to blame.

Flashes of different faces, different emotions, flickered in and out. Some of their masks shattered, their ugly interiors finally showing through their brightly painted covers.

My eyes were momentarily drawn from the mass of degenerates to a smudge of color at the very top of the stadium.

“And don’t think you’re not at fault, Celestia!” I pointed up at her private box, lording high above everything else. “You let Equestria fall into war and ruin! You’re supposed to be our ruler, and you sat back and let countless die, when you easily could’ve saved them! So many lost family, and what did they get?! A letter of condolence and a few bits?! You deserve to be thrown in with the lot of them! Fuck you too!”

If she responded in any way, I didn’t hear or see her over shocked gasps from the crowd. All spotlights swiveled over to me, blinding me in a blaze of warmth and light. All eyes were on me.

“Tell me,” I shouted, “are there any paranoids here tonight!? Is there anypony here who worries about things!?” They didn’t move. I didn’t blink. “Pathetic, the lot of you!” I rose up on my hindlegs, snorting in disgust. “Is there anybody here who’s weak!?” The crowd all shrunk back from my question, answering without having to say a word.

I landed back on my four hooves and prowled the edge of the stage, my mannerisms growing ever more erratic. “Fuck you all!” I roared. “Fuck all of you and what you’ve done! To answer my question, you’re all weak, preying on others just because you can!” I thrust the microphone stand into the audience, hitting several ponies and sending them staggering into several others behind them. A cackle rose in my throat, leaking and echoing in the air.

A hoof gripped my shoulder and twisted me around, bringing me face to face with a disgruntled Short and some nameless unicorn guard. Short flinched at whatever he saw in my face, but then forced a smile on his own. He was as good of a pretender as the rest. “Pink…” he began, “Why don’t you jus’ calm down now, a’ight?” He put a hoof on my shoulder.

I shunted him away. “Fuck you too! You’re no better than them!” I gestured at the crowd behind. “You don’t tell me what to do, cloudwalker! Didn’t I beat that into you already!?”

The pegasus bit his lip and exchanged a look with the guard. “Come on now, mate. Whatever’s goin’ on, it’s gone far enough, don’t you think?”

I chuckled. “It hasn’t even started yet.” I turned to the guard, thrusting a hoof in his face. “And don’t you try to stop me, you got that? I’ve endured enough cruelty by your kind.”

The stallion pushed my hoof aside, his horn beginning to shimmer. “I’m sorry, sir. If you don’t calm down, I’m afraid I’ll have to restrain you.” He took a step forward. “You just slandered the princess right in front of her. You’re acting irrationally, and verbally and physically attacking ponies. You’re a public nuisance. This sort of behavior is not accepted. On the princess’ orders, and only on her orders, I would rather not have to take you by force but I will if I have to.”

I smiled and leaned in close. “What? Did Celestia think only one unicorn would be enough to subdue one lowly earth pony?” And I gripped his horn before he could react and slammed it into the wooden floor, embedding it in the boards, knocking him unconscious. “She should’ve sent more.”

Short took a step forward. “Pink! Stop this now! You’re hurtin’ ponies!”

I peered at the pegasus over my sunglasses. “I know. They deserve it after all that they’ve done.” I glanced back at the crowd to see them watching the show onstage with rapt attention. They may have been scared at their loss of control, but they were more interested in what I would do next. Their loss. They were about to be amused to death.

I grinned ear to ear and strolled over to a bank of speakers on the side of the stage. I waved lazily into the crowd and then knocked a large subwoofer down to the ground, sending sparks scattering across the floorboards and a high-pitched feedback whine shooting through the ears of anypony in range. “So, you all think this is funny, huh?!” I asked them, as I knocked over another speaker, this time off the stage, but not into the crowd. “Are you all entertained by this?”

I bent down a gripped some wires, tearing them from the equipment they were attached to. “You’re even worse than I thought! Is it fun watching me destroy things?! Huh?” I knocked over a stand of guitars and smashed them to splinters under my hooves. “Are you all having a good time!?” I picked up a mostly intact guitar neck and slung it wildly into the audience. A few screamed.

“Oh. Oh, I’m sorry,” I chided, “did you not enjoy that!? I thought you liked stuff like that!?” I kicked one of the fog machines over the edge of the stage, but it missed anyone. “Don’t worry, sunshines, everything’s gonna be alright! You can trust me!” I went to throw another amplifier at them, but Short came out of nowhere, tackling me across the stage with the full force of his wingpower behind him.

We slammed into the floor, right on top of that squeaky board. I struggled against his grip, but he held me firm with the flapping of his wings. “Pink.” I could see my own reflection in his eyes. “Pink, please stop this. Whatever’s wrong, I can help you.”

I snorted. “Nothing can help now, except seeing all these impure bastards get what they deserve.” I tried to push him off me one more time, but he was strong and solidly built for a midget. I guess he was compensating.

After a few seconds of futile thrashing, I knew what I had to do. I relaxed my muscles momentarily, making sure he felt it, and so lessened his own grip, and then lashed out, taking a deep bite from his foreleg.

I shoved him off of me as he yelled in pain and cradled his gushing wound. I sprang to my hooves and rushed at him before he could recuperate and thrust him right off of the stage. The pegasus fell the short distance to the ground and landed on some electrical cord, yanking a large standing spotlight down onto heads of some unsuspecting ponies, where it exploded in a cascade of sparks and fire. I spit on his body. “And my name’s not Pink.”

And then they all screamed, finally broken out of whatever trance they were under. The mass rushed towards the exit, trying to get away from the monster up on stage. Some were trampled by the others who were too panicked to realize any better.

I looked out over the throbbing mass of terrified animals and laughed. “What’s the matter?!” I yelled. “I thought you all liked that sorta stuff?! Let’s all have a clap for me! Come on, I can’t hear you! PUT YOUR HOOVES TOGETHER! HAVE A GOOD TIME! ENJOY YOURSELVES! AAAAAAAHHHHEHEHEEH!”

I stood on the edge of the stage, in the center of a spotlight as the other lights shut off behind me. I tugged on my jacket, making sure it was straight, before leaping down to the floor below, prowling after the ponies as they tried to leave. “That’s right!” I screeched at the crowd. “You better run! I’m gonna get all of you! You’re all gonna pay!”

“This is my night tonight, sunshines!” I stepped over the unconscious form of Short, giving him one last kick. A fire that had spawned from the fallen light billowed up one half of the curtains, casting an orange glow over everything.

“And you all better run like hell!”

Author's Note:

Based on “In the Flesh”