Grimmstead Academy: Submission

by Candace Wondrak

  It was aggravating. If I could reach inside of myself and yank out his sniveling soul, toss it on the ground, set fire to it and watch it burn, I would. I would in a heartbeat.

  It’s not so fun being the one locked up, is it? I asked, starting to grin to myself. Of course, that grin started to fade the moment my eyes roamed to the crack in the ground, not too far from where I was now. The only bit of light around me actually came from that crack, and I knew that couldn’t be good.

  Then again, I also didn’t really care that much, but here I was, anyway.

  I had no idea the secrets this place held, and as I mentioned before, my level of caring was at an all-time low. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if the veneer of this place had started to crack the moment Felice walked through those gates on her first day here.

  Felice.

  As the minutes turned into hours and the hours turned into days, and so on and so forth, I sometimes found myself thinking about her. There was hardly anything else to do. She was the reason I was down here, anyway. Lucien wanted to protect her from me, and he’d been so angry when he’d seen me about to stab her.

  It wasn’t anything against her. Not really. I liked stabbing everyone. Lucien should know that tiny tidbit about me by now; there was nothing new about it.

  Her face was pretty. Symmetrical in all the ways that mattered, her skin a rich, dark hue and her hair a long, shiny brown. She even looked good in the grey uniform dress she wore, somehow, and a fabric like that was anything but flattering.

  Hmm. I never thought I’d ever be smitten towards someone, but I did wonder if, somehow, I’d lost it to Felice.

  She had looked so beautiful painted with my blood, after all…

  My thoughts trailed off the moment I heard the echoing of a door opening further down the hall. Was someone coming into the basement? Was it Lucien coming to check on me? Time was a strange thing down here; impossible to calculate because there were no windows, no sunlight, no moon or stars to gage your day and your nights. This basement screamed an eternity of void, of blackness and despair.

  A lesser man might go crazy down here, locked away and forgotten about.

  Oh, wait. I was already crazy.

  I slowly got to my feet, holding myself against the wall, the chains clamped hard around my ankles and my wrists, underneath my clothes. My head tilted to the side, and I eventually heard two different sounds. Footsteps. From two people? My, my. Didn’t think anyone would want to come visit little old me down in the crazy dungeon.

  Light from a lantern was the first thing I saw, a dull orange glow that grew brighter as the seconds ticked on. The closer they came, the bigger and brighter the light grew. Still nothing compared to the light from a lightbulb, but down here, you took what you could get. Which, in the end, was relatively nothing, because anyone who was locked down here for an extended period of time was obviously just trash to the other people of Grimmstead.

  Fuck Lucien. If I get out of here, I’d…

  My thoughts of murder—as useless as they were, since Lucien just kept coming back—dissipated the moment I saw two people round the corner. Lucien was the first, holding onto the lantern and not looking happy at all about being down here, about seeing me. His stare seemed darker than it did anywhere else in the house, shadows dancing across his face as his stare met mine.

  I smirked while Koda chimed in: Be nice. Maybe they’ll let us out.

  Koda, Koda, Koda. Always one to hope for the best. That was one of the many differences between us. I liked to think of myself as more of a realist than an optimist. When you hoped for the best, ninety-nine times out of one hundred you came out disappointed. I’d rather be surprised than dissatisfied.

  It wasn’t Lucien that called my attention and made my murderous thoughts disappear, though. It was the woman who stood beside him, holding her head up high even though she looked to be shivering.

  Felice. The woman in question, although, sometimes, I would consider her nothing more than a little girl caught in something over her head. She knew more about the truth of this place now, undoubtedly, but the problem in Grimmstead was we were all blind.

  “Well, well, well,” I spoke, still smirking as Felice cautiously walked up to me. She did not stand too close; she made sure to stand far enough away that I wouldn’t be able to reach her if I pulled my chains taut. “Look who it is. Come for another round of cat and mouse?” I was certain I looked downright menacing in the flickering light of the lantern. “Just a warning, I’m always the cat.”

  “I didn’t come here to play with you,” Felice whispered, standing four feet in front of me, her head tilted high and her nose slightly upturned.

  I pretended as though Lucien did not exist, replying, “Then what did you come here for, hmm?”

  Felice quieted, glancing behind her at the crack on the floor. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she grew paler, but it was hard to tell with the darkness seeming to push in all around us. “I came here to talk” was what she finally said, tearing her gaze away from the crack and returning it to me.

  “But talking is so boring,” I whined, earning myself a scowl from Lucien. It was his normal expression, true, but it was like the man didn’t like watching me interact with Felice at all. I supposed I couldn’t blame him, considering what I almost did to her.

  If I would’ve killed her, would she have come back? Or would she have stayed dead? My curiosity was morbid, and yet a part of me was glad he’d burst through that door and tore me off her. Maybe that was the part of me that Koda had his hands in, but still. What a shame it would’ve been if I’d actually stabbed her and she died. After all, she was the first woman to grace these halls in I didn’t know how long. Too long. Had to make her last as long as possible, right?

  Though murder was always fun.

  “I don’t care if you think it’s boring,” she told me flatly, folding her arms across her chest. “I don’t really care what you think at all, Bram.”

  “Am I supposed to be insulted?” I asked, cocking my head as I yanked at my chains. The metal clanging sound echoed in the space around us, causing Felice to flinch and Lucien to frown. “Are my feelings supposed to be hurt?”

  Felice shook her head. “I know you’re not like Koda, but I also know Koda’s in there, somewhere. If being in Grimmstead has taught me anything, it’s just that—anything is possible.” Her arms still crossed over her chest, she took a step forward, just a teeny, tiny one, one that still didn’t bring her close enough to me so I could grab her. “I’m going to bring Payne back, and then I’m going to work on bringing Koda out. You’re next.” She shrugged. “Just thought you should know.”

  I was next. I would laugh, but the determination in her gaze stopped me. Felice truly did think she could bring Koda out, somehow.

  And bring Payne back? What in the world did that mean?

  I decided to ask, since this place was always scarce on answers, “What are you talking about?”

  “About you, or about Payne?” Felice asked, sounding far too innocent. She didn’t belong here.

  “Don’t tell me Payne is still dead,” I said, leaning my head back on the stone wall. The stone’s cool, flat surface gave my mind a bit of a chill. He shouldn’t be. I mean, I did cut his head off, but come on. No one really stayed dead in Grimmstead. It was Grimmstead. The laws of nature didn’t apply here; we all knew that by now, having been here so long.

  So very, very long it was impossible for me to remember where I’d come from before this. My memories…were not all there. It was like my head was this barren, empty space. I could remember nothing of my time prior to Grimmstead, and I wondered if the others were the same.

  Would Felice slowly forget her memories, too? Would she go on, day after day, losing the parts of herself that made her who she was, only to end up a shell like all of us? Caricatures of our deepest desires and fears?

  I was a strange type of conflicted. I both wanted to see her lose herself and I didn’t. Ugh. Wha
t the fuck was wrong with me? Had to be her. Had to be. Felice was getting inside my head, toying with my brain and making me feel conflicted. I was never conflicted about anything. Never felt remorse or regret, only a sick curiosity and a heavy obsession with murder.

  Feeling conflicted meant I actually had…you know, feelings, and all that other disgusting, sentimental shit. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want that at all.

  “He is,” Lucien growled out, causing our eyes to meet. He stood tall, his figure impressive and wide. He was everything any man would aspire to be, and that was because he wasn’t quite a real man.

  “But not for long,” Felice declared, sounding quite sure of herself.

  Meanwhile I was still stuck on the whole Payne was still dead bit. “That’s weird,” I muttered, mostly to myself. “I imagined Payne was up and walking around again, as fine as you.” That last part I spoke to Lucien, who only furrowed his dark brows.

  Felice bit her bottom lip, a gesture I found almost ridiculously luring. I had a strange thought then: I should be biting that lip. A bit harder to make her bleed, but regardless, it should be me. “He’s not,” she eventually said. “Whatever you did stopped him from coming back.”

  “I didn’t do anything.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

  She did not look impressed. “You killed him.”

  “Well, yes, I killed him, no one here is arguing that,” I spoke, rolling my eyes, “but it wasn’t like I did anything fancy. Just sawed off his head, you know. Cut through the flesh and the muscles and the tendons—” I chuckled. “—and the spine…but did I do anything special? No, I didn’t. If I knew a way to truly kill someone here, don’t you think I would’ve gone after Lucien and not Payne?”

  I mean, really. Lucien was the only reason I was down here. The others would’ve just shrugged their shoulders at me and let me be on my merry, murderous way. Lucien was the problem here, not Payne. Payne just…well, he simply got in my way before. He tried to stop me from finding Felice, and I refused to be stopped. I wouldn’t let anyone come between me and my prey.

  I’d known Felice was my prey from the very beginning. So sweet and tender…I bet a knife would cut through her skin so easily. I bet her blood looked downright stunning. And her screams? Oh, I was sure they’d turn me on, one way or another.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Felice said. “I’m going to save Payne, and then I’m bringing back Koda.”

  The smirk that had graced my face this entire time only grew. “Good luck with that, Felice. Koda’s locked away inside, and there’s no drawing him out unless I agree to it.” Or he overpowered me, but frankly, I didn’t think he had it in him. It was always when I grew bored that he took the body over; as long as I stayed alert, I’d be fine.

  “I don’t believe you. There has to be another way,” she said, pretending to know me, as if she’d known me forever. In reality, she hadn’t even known Koda and I shared this body until recently. She didn’t know me. We might’ve had a little encounter in the library before my murder spree, but that didn’t mean anything.

  Her lips were awfully soft.

  Fuck. Not something I should let myself remember.

  “It doesn’t matter if you don’t think there is,” she told me, relaxing her posture—though she did glance at the crack once more. “I believe I can bring Koda back, just like I can bring Payne back.”

  “You best be careful,” I warned her, my hands curling into fists above the manacles around my wrists. “Hope is not something that lasts here in Grimmstead.”

  “Hope is what you make it,” she said, turning her amber eyes to Lucien. “It’s something inside. Nothing can ever truly kill it, so long as you have something to believe in.”

  Oh, how nice. How sweet. How absolutely gag-worthy.

  Seriously. I wanted to gag. I wanted to throw up right there, on the spot, as she told me that. Hope was what you made it. Bullshit.

  I said nothing more, watching as she left me and returned to Lucien’s side. My gaze narrowed when I watched her link her arm through his. She couldn’t even walk by herself down here? Was Lucien that overprotective of her?

  Maybe it was her first time down here, though. Lucien didn’t like any of us coming down here, because, quite obviously, this was the heart of the place. This was where things happened. Anyone in Grimmstead could feel it.

  Before Felice and Lucien were completely out of sight, blackness encroaching on me yet again as he took the lantern with him, she threw a look over her shoulder, her amber gaze lingering on me for a few seconds too long.

  Something inside of me shifted.

  She wants me back, Koda told me, a steady thrumming in the back of my mind.

  I did not respond to him, not until Felice and Lucien were gone, when I could no longer see either of them. Once I was alone, I thought, Or she’s finally realized she wants me. The girls always love the bad guys, don’t they?

  I don’t think so.

  The smirk fell off my face, and once I heard Lucien and Felice leave the basement, slamming the door far down the hall and locking me alone in here once again, I replied, Want to make a bet, Koda?

  My head was silent for a long time. A very long time. But, eventually, Koda questioned, A bet?

  Yes, a bet. I bet I can get Felice on her knees.

  That’s—that’s not something you should—

  I grew annoyed. Oh, come on. Don’t act like you haven’t thought about it. We share a mind, you know. Everything you’ve thought about, everything I’ve thought about, the other knows. Don’t bother to deny it, Koda. I know you want her on her knees just as badly as I do.

  I also wanted a knife to her throat, but I supposed that was one of my kinks. My kinks included torture, murder, knife play…the list could go on, I was certain.

  Bram, Koda hissed into my mind, what are you talking about?

  The funny thing was, Koda knew exactly what I was talking about. In the stillness of the darkness, I couldn’t help but smile. This smile was a true smile, not a half-assed smirk or evil grin. A real smile. I didn’t often smile like this, but when I did, it’s because I knew I’d get what I wanted.

  Right now that was Felice. I wanted Felice, and by God, I’d get her.

  If I was lucky, I’d get her on her knees.

  Chapter Thirteen – Felice

  Lucien was gathering everyone. I stood in the furthest room on the third floor, near the windows, though my eyes were on the pale, mutilated body covered in nothing but a sheet. Payne should be what was on my mind—and he was, but if I was honest, that little meeting with Bram replayed over and over in my head as I waited for everyone else.

  The way Bram had stared at me…made me ten different kinds of conflicted. The way those emerald eyes sparkled in the darkness was disconcerting, and yet alluring at the same time. And that blasted smirk; I should’ve wanted to wipe that smirk off his face, and yet I found my body heating up in spite of myself.

  He’d tried to kill me, for God’s sakes. He’d killed Lucien and Payne, and I didn’t doubt he would’ve killed Ian and Dagen if he could’ve gotten ahold of them, too. There was no redemption for Bram, hence the reason why we had to bring Koda back.

  But still…maybe it was this place. Maybe it was everything that happened, everything that forced my eyes to be open, but I couldn’t help myself. I was attracted to the psychotic murderer who apparently took glee in his killings.

  God, what the heck had happened to me? Granted, I was never the goodie two shoes everyone thought I was, but still. Bram was…maybe more like me than I realized.

  I’d killed Robert and his family. I’d set so many fires in my life I’d lost count. I liked the beauty of the flames, the danger and the power. Bram was like a fire made into a man, unpredictable and violent.

  I closed my eyes, swallowing back my confusion over how attracted I was to Bram. When I opened my eyes, I moved closer to Payne, drawing my gaze along his motionless, pallid form. He looked peaceful, eve
n with the jagged stitches on his neck and the maroon line beneath them. His face was not caught in an expression of fear, his eyes closed. Just…a man at rest. A man waiting to be woken up and brought back to life.

  My hand reached for his, my fingers curling around his slowly. “I’m going to bring you back,” I told him, meaning it. The air around me was almost ten degrees too cold, but that was like a sauna in this place.

  The white sheet covering his lower midsection and legs rustled with a breeze that shouldn’t be present, and I glanced around, for a split-second fearing someone else was in the room. Maybe Victor, or a ghost, or something. I didn’t know how this place worked quite yet, but after a quick glance, I saw I was alone.

  I’d worry about it later. Right now, it was all about Payne.

  The first one to join me in the room was Dagen, and he looked positively uneasy behind his glasses. His shoulders were slumped, and he looked almost as pale as the body on the table before me. His hands were stuck in his pockets awkwardly, and he was slow to meet my gaze.

  “I can’t believe you’re actually doing this,” he said, his head tilted a bit, as it usually was when he heard that sound, whatever it was. Which was all the time, really.

  “I want to bring Payne back,” I said, squeezing the unresponsive hand I still gripped. “He and I didn’t start out on the right foot, but the last thing I want is anyone here to die.”

  Dagen thought on that for a while before asking, “Even Bram?”

  My heart skipped a beat at his question, no part of me expecting him to say that. “Why would you bring him up?”

  He shrugged. “Sometimes I worry that Bram will completely take over their body, and Koda will become nothing more than a memory. And if that’s ever the case, needless to say, we’re all pretty much doomed.”

  I could agree with him on that much. I didn’t think Bram could ever be tamed, which was why I also had to think of a way to bring Koda back and push Bram into the dark. One thing at a time, though. My mind could only handle so much.