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Painful.
If you asked, that’s how Elliot would describe his current situation.
The pizza place—the place where he’d grown up, lived and loved— burned down in flames, the hot and shiny kind that engulfed everything in its path, the type not even tears could erase and that firefighters struggled against.
In the middle of it all, standing like this was just another stage to be discarded, another game to be played, was the man who’d probably haunt his dreams and nightmares all alike, the one he’d never be able to forget even if he wanted to.
007n7 stood tall, his c00lgui floating carelessly around him as he laughed and laughed gleefully, uncaring of the flames that burned and erased all that once mattered to Elliot.
The pizza man fell to his knees, frozen and unblinking, eyes fixated on the light that illuminated his face. A sickening feeling of hopelessness fell upon him like poison that didn’t seem so unlike the bright and warm fire. Elliot had a feeling he’d never be able to unsee the scenario in front of him, no matter how many times he’d closed his eyes and tried to forget and move on, just as he’d been taught to do.
A head turned his way with a sharp smile and a scoff full of a suffocating mockery, one that no matter how many times he’d seen, he had never truly gotten used to it’s malicious nature. “Aww…” The hacker cooed, moving closer to his frozen form. “Look at what we got here! If it isn’t poor little Elliot.” He uttered, a venom that barely bothered to hide itself dripping from his words.
He didn’t move—couldn’t, really— when the man approached threateningly, c00lgui still floating around him like a shield and a weapon, only watching helplessly as his workplace, his future burned down like paper, the kind no one really cares to check upon. He felt sick, throat closing up in terror when the hacker leaned down to his level, staring right into his wide eyes.
“Pfft- What? You gonna cry of something?” He said with a smirk, voice calm like this was all just a joke, like it didn’t even matter for him, like he enjoyed it, like this wasn’t someone’s work and dedication and life he was destroying. At the thought, Elliot couldn’t help the few tears that appeared in his eyes, his face contorting slightly to a frown.
The words sat there for a moment until the first tears fell, soon opening the gates to the ones who had been previously forgotten, the ones that fell like rain and felt like unspoken memories, the ones which represented everything that’d never be the same ever again.
A chuckle that soon evolved into a so horridly mocking laughter rang out in the barely existent silence, cutting through Elliot’s tears and the pizzeria’s flames like a knife. “Geez, you really are pathetic as fuck.” 007n7 said, standing up without a care in the world, turning to look over the burning pizza place. “At least this was kinda enjoyable… or something. It was lame how fast the flames got everything.”
The words made Elliot’s tears freeze, something warm in a sickening way making itself home in his chest. ‘Enjoyable’, he’d said, like he enjoyed it. Like tormenting him, like everything he’d done to the pizza place, all the restless shifts and staff members who left after he started hacking the place, all of the times he’d stayed ungodly hours cleaning up after him, all of the things he gave up so that the business kept running through the havoc he’d caused…
Like all of that was enjoyable.
A bad, awful joke.
Fun.
A sigh went unheard, the hacker clicking his tongue in annoyance. “You sure are quiet as hell today, no ‘calling the admins’ or ‘blacklisting’ talk.” 007n7 gave a glance to where the pizza man sat on his knees, glossy eyes and hair messy, and gave a smile. Before he could speak though, the noise of sirens — police or the fire department, if he had to guess — echoed in the distance, the hacker’s tail giving an annoyed twitch.
“How unfortunate, Ellie! Seems like our wonderful time will have to be cut short!” The hacker mocked, despite the clear unhappiness with the situation colliding with the sick sweetness in his tone. He moved closer, staring at the worker one last time before giving chuckling. “See ya, hot stuff!” Was all Elliot heard before the hacker evacuated the scene as the sirens grew closer.
Elliot stared at the pavement below him, finally tearing his eyes from the burning building. His brain was a mess as his body shook with anguish, fear and a resentment that was so sick but felt so right, one he’d grow to dislike and, eventually, would be all that remained between the two of them.
And as the feelings grew heated and vibrant and so awfully overwhelming, he knew that perhaps he’d lost not only his future within the flames, but also a part of himself that had been refilled by something that felt not so different from the fire itself.