Mind games

“Is this how you play?” Dan asks in a choked voice.

“No. This is how you play you dumb piece of crap. You like it this way. You are weird like that. You’re a masochistic weirdo.”

“Lisa, stop.”

“Shut up.”

She almost tries to squeeze the trigger, he stops her.

“I love you, Danny.”

“I love you, too, Lisa.”

(“I love you, shit head.”)

(“I hope you feel dead because you’re absolutely worthless. You’ll die lonely. You will die with your own bullet holes in your fat, stupid body and no one will bat an eye.”)

(I hate myself. I hate myself. I hate myself.)

(You are the dumbest sack of shit, your parents must have hated you in the womb. You know no one actually wants you.)

Then the brightest star light hits the earth, soaking it in a hot white glow of beaming goodness, erasing the darkness. Arturo. Frizzy brown and black curls. Big brown eyes like a sweet tootsie roll.

“I feel like you’re someone that was meant to have found me, Dan,” Arturo whispered.

No more mind games. Only love.