Chapter 22: Ferris Wheels and Death

Flint Morgan

Flint awoke on white cotton sheets. The walls however, were a startling grey. He was in some sort of prison-like place. Looking down at himself, he was still all there, just not flickering anymore. Flint wanted to be happy about this...but he was so unsure what this was.

Getting up, all his limbs ached from inside out.

In this sort of prison, there was this mirror, sink, toilet and grey bars that were a connecting walls between cells. Looking in the mirror, he found the same man he'd always been. His hair was blond and tousled over his murky green eyes.

Without Kate though, who was he really? His heart raced at her mere name. She was everything to him. And she was also dead because of him. Flint's gaze flew to the bars. He deserved this. Still...tears clung in his glassy eyes.

Figuring he was now finally alone, he choked out a sob. It was so great to be alone with no expectations or shadows hanging overhead, but he was missing something. No. That's too vague. He wasn't just missing something, without her, he was missing everything.

Her ocean deep eyes scraped the surface of his brain.

It wasn't her inherent looks that made him fall for her. It was her vulnerability and strength. It was her stream-like eyes that had him perpetually running into her. It was her big wide and gaping heart. It was so many little things that made the bigger and beautiful picture of her.

But she was gone.

And now, so was he.

Rubbing his forehead in frustration, he looked into the mirror again, thinking of her.

As he thought of her however, a screen appeared on the mirror.

Flint's eyes narrowed as he intensely looked at something that was impossible. The screen played what looked to be Kate and a redhead talking to each other. Moving closer, he listened in.

"Yes. I will kill Carter...and maybe I'll finally get a raise while I'm at it"

Flint stepped back and gaped. She did not just say that. That was the woman he loved. She would never do anything like that. She even cried in his arms about even just running away from the Lakehouse.

The redhead grinned at Kate like everything was going to plan.

Flint's stomach soured as Kate went on. "I will kill him for Flint."

Her face seemed so assured and Flint had no idea who she was anymore.

In practically a moment, her ocean blue, kind eyes, turned into cold ice-like eyes. His heart hardened. So, while Kate was alive...she wasn't really herself anymore. And who asked her to kill for him? No. God this was a mess. He wish he could tell her to stop.

Shaking the mirror, he practically yelled at her, "Don't do this Kate! Please, no!"

But she didn't hear him. It was like watching Netflix and he couldn't interact with the character to tell them they were making a huge mistake. It was horrible to watch. Flint drew his dagger-like eyes away from the sight.

Staring at the walls now, he yelled out.

"Why the hell did I leave her? I loved her. I loved the woman who cried my arms that night." With even more desperation, he pressed on by asking, " where is she? But more importantly...who is she now?"

Beating his fists against the concrete walls, he screamed. "I'm supposed to be with her. Where the hell am-"

A female voice interrupted. "You're in a Etch-a-sketch, now shut up!"

Flint's heart raced against his ribs as he let a flutter of silence bleed into the air.

"An Etch-a-sketch," he asked incredulously
.
The voice echoed back, "Yeah, you did sign up for Blank Slate, didn't you?"

Flint's eyebrow snagged upward in confusion.

"Who are you," he demanded
.
" Ugh...fine...I guess if we're making pleasantries..." A hand stretched through the bars.

Flint shook it, still vastly unsure if he was still dreaming. "My name is Jessica Baxter."

"Ba...Bax...Baxter?" he stuttered out.

She answered "Yeah, what's it to ya...and what's your name? You're obviously not Carter...so who the hell are ya?"

Flint's heart shot out of his chest. "Uhh...my name is Flint."

"Well okay, 'my name is Flint', here's what's going on, just to get you up to speed. We're stuck in an Etch-a-sketch unless someone we love uses a Full Slate on us. I think that pretty much covers it...oh and we have to watch the ones we love try to get us. For me though, it's more like watching the one I love sell out all my secrets to my sister."

Huh? What the hell was a "Full Slate"? His head spun a record of perpetual questions.

"So what does that have to do with killing someone named 'Carter'"

Flint heard Jessica rapidly move closer to the bars between them. "Carter, you say?"

"Yeah, what is the big deal with that guy?" Confusion drew at his brows and outlined his features. Jessica's soft features glimmered in the low light of this prison cell. Her eyes looked violet and her hair was startling black.

Her eager eyes tracked him. "What did you say about Carter being killed?"

"Oh, just that the one I love; Kate, was going to kill him. But I don't want that. Doesn't she realize that she won't be the same girl I fell for if she does that?"

Jessica rolled her violet eyes back like he was stupid. "It doesn't matter if she kills him and you hate it. If she does it and gets the Full Slate from Carter, you won't remember anything."

Flint's green eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"You know how an Etch-a-sketch works right. Well...right now we're inside of it and the Full Slate is the only thing that has a memory of all the clients. Think of the Full Slate as the backup drive to your work. So...when she gets to the Full Safe and shakes it, we're free...but consequently the client's memories are wiped. It was a bug I hadn't quite worked out before Carter..."

Flint's mind flooded with more and more questions. Through the bars Jessica could even tell how many questions he was going to ask, so she decided to tell him first. With a shushing motion across the bars, she began.

"Well, here's the story of how Blank Slate came to be..." She started. "I was working on a program that would put you into games like Etch-a-sketch and Pac Man. But it was a little different...for my Etch-a-sketch program, I wanted to allow people disappear from their life. I was in the middle of deciding where they would disappear to when I fell for Carter.

She continued on with a wistful eyes.

"We met at a carnival, on the Ferris wheel, to be more precise. I had my head in a science book, he thought I was his girlfriend, but his girlfriend had gone over to get cotton candy. When we got the top, the Ferris Wheel stopped and shook. Carter, thinking I was his girlfriend, he closed his eyes, pushed the book out of my face, and then he kissed me. I don't even think he realized I wasn't her until he opened his eyes."

Jessica paused to laugh.

"You should have seen the look in his eyes when he heard his actual girlfriend calling out for him to get down there so she could smack him. I was sixteen when it all happened. After that, we both laughed about it and became best friends. Back then, I was too scared to tell Carter how I felt. So, Carter married someone else. We always remained close, I was even the 'best woman' at the wedding. But then Carter found out his wife; Isla, was cheating."

A tear ran the length of her face. "It hurt so much to see him in pain, so I whipped up something that could help him...but only because he forced me to. He told me that he'd kill himself if something didn't change. So I made Blank Slate and I made the mistake of telling him about it before I was done with it."

Jessica's voice began to get heavy and hoarse. " So, New Years Eve, I kissed him and told him I was in love with him. He didn't care about that though." Jessica's grip tightened around the bars.

"He asked me about Blank Slate, then he forced me to show him it. So I did. But...I did something that he saw especially as a betrayal. I made it so he couldn't disappear...so he retaliated and made me disappear." Tears flew down the thistle of her cheek.

Flint reached out and dried the tears off her face with his thumb.

" I haven't aged since then. I'm still twenty nine. Before you, all I did was watch Carter go on with his life and forget about me. Murdering him will free us. Don't you see that Flint?"

Flint shook his head unassured. "I just don't want Kate to be the one to kill him."

Jessica looked up at him with her violet eyes. Her eyes played a sad and silent melody.

"At least you have someone to come after you."

Flint touched Jessica's cheek through the bars.

"But will she be herself after she does all that? Don't get me wrong, I love that she would do anything for me...but I also kind of hate that 'anything' means giving up herself and her morals."

Jessica's wild eyes blinked at his statement.

"Don't you want to get out of here?"

"Truth be told, if I went back, what would I really be going back to? I stayed for Kate, not for this version of her."

Jessica cocked her eyebrow at Flint. "But...if you're in love with someone...aren't you supposed to love the broken parts of them too. And at least she has a good reason for killing, it's not senseless."

"You don't understand. I do love her...but doing this would make me forget the reason why I loved her in the first place."

Jessica looked at him sorely. " You just hate that she's falling out of this little box you've drawn for her. You see her as innocent, beautiful and amazing. But you're worried if she steps out of your lines, she won't be the picture you wanted. Look, she makes her own decisions, so either admit you're scared that you're wrong, or walk away knowing that it wasn't her that wasn't enough; it was you."

Her words broke over him in a serrated violence.

His heart shattered into a million unmistakable pieces as he looked down at the floor.

With his hands in his pockets, he admitted aloud, "maybe, I am not enough for her."

Flint stepped away from Jessica's cell. His head pounded uncontrollably. Maybe it was for the best that he forgot her.

Turning his pillow to the colder side, his restless heart beat sky rocketed in his chest.

He tossed and turned underneath of those white cotton sheets.

Unable to sleep, he went up to the mirror, where the screen was.

Even though his heart was still on the fence about her, he still wanted to know she was safe.

Looking at the screen, he saw Kate walking up to what he assumed was her work.

A large office painted the screen as Flint watched intently.

Had she already killed him? Did she get the Full Slate yet?

Questions filled tumbler of his mind and they slowly dispensed like a gumball machine.

Flint focused on the screen instead of asking these questions, though.

His heart raced yet again at seeing the name on the door that Kate was entered.

It read: Carter Michaels.

Flints heart jumped at the thought. Was this it? Was he going to watch the girl he loved turn into something he hated?

He ruffled his hands through his hair in nervousness.

Looking back at the screen, however, Carter wasn't there.

It was Jared.

Flint gave out a long sigh of relief.

Then, the look on Jared's face made Flint's brows quirk up in curiosity. "Kate, I need to tell you something about Flint."

Kate's eyes widened. "What is it, Jared?"

Jared stepped closer to Kate. His dark hair fell over his eyes and bruises laid smattered over his face.

Soon, Jared was face to face with Kate. He snaked his arms around her waist and looked into her deep icy eyes, just like Flint had.

Stroking her cheek, he began to speak softly.

"He never really loved you enough to stay. I did. I love you. I'll stay for you."

Kate looked like she wanted to dash off. Her eyes went wild and she glanced around for escape route. Jared, however, pinned her eyes to his and kissed her. Flint couldn't believe what he was seeing. His heart crumpled in his chest as he watched her lips passionately kiss Jared back.
How could she do this? His heart kept slamming into the walls of his chest as he yelled out at the screen. "How could you do this, Kate?!?!?"

It hurt even more coming from his own brother. First Wynn and now Kate.

When their lips finally parted, a devilish smirk formed on Jared's lips.

"Carter told me you would fall for it, just like that."

Jared then picked up a gun from his pocket and held it to her stomach. The smirk never left his face as he pointed the pistol at her.

Fear smothered Kate now and her eyes got ice-blue eyes melted into a trail of unmistakable tears as she looked down at the weapon.

"How could you do this Jared?" Her eyes were full of raw betrayal.

Jared stiffened, his fingers tightened on the trigger of the gun .

"Because..." he said with gritted teeth, "you're the reason that my wife and child are being held hostage by Carter."

He paused for a second. Regret plunged in the deep pool of his gunmetal grey eyes.

"I really didn't want to do this...but they left me no choice-"

Jared pressed the trigger and a bitter shot rung out.

Flint threw his fists against the screen in anger. Tears filled his eyes as he shouted, "no! Kate, no! God, no! Please. Let her be okay. Let her be okay. Just..." He paused. Broken sobs cut out of him as the screen showed a heavy storm of blood gushing out of her.

Kate then fell to the floor.

Her body was splayed on the floor lifelessly.

After a moment, Jared dipped to the floor and checked Kate's pulse.

Getting up he just nodded a solemn "no" to something in the distance.

Then the screen turned a cold and brittle black.

Flint yelled out again, "no! This can't be happening. She was supposed to survive. I was supposed to go. Why? Oh why?"

He knelt down and his head fell forward into his hands. Only broken sobs dripped out of him.

Jessica apparently heard his outburst and rushed to the bars.

"What is it, Flint?"

Flint took a massive breath in. Shakily he replied with an ominous tone, "there's no one left to save us now."

Thank you for reading! So...now we know how Blank Slate started...but how will they get out now? Also...we found out that you actually disappear into an Etch-a-sketch when you disappear...will they be able to be saved now that Kate appears to be dead? And...what's up with Jared? He seemed so sad last chapter...what did Carter change in him? Find out in chapter 23 of Blank Slate.

I've been loving all these comments and don't worry there's still more chapters after this so it doesn't just end here.

I love all of you guys ❤❤❤