Baby It's Cold Outside ✔️

A Bite of Red

It had only been less than 24 hours ever since she left the message, but Kaylee felt like she had been waiting for an eternity.

When will Dr. Snow return?

Kaylee looked down at her hands pale and veins spread out in all directions.

Were these hands capable of killing? If the police hadn't stopped her, would she have wrapped these hands around Terrence's throat and choked the life out of him?

The stretched hallway on both her sides seem to go on forever. Empty cell after empty cell stared back at her, the desolation deafening.

When will Dr. Snow return?

Kaylee remembered back to that blissful week, where she met Duke, where she kissed Duke, where she was falling for Duke, only to have it all shatter because it was just a dare.

'No one will ever care for you. No one truly loves you. They don't dare to get close to you, because they're afraid of me.'

The whispers began. Kaylee placed her palms over her ears, trying to block out the sound but it only got even louder.

'You're not worth- you're never worth it nobody loves you everybody is scared of you everybody hates y-'

"Kaylee?" a clear voice sliced through the cacophony of whispers, and the shadows began to disappear as Kaylee found Dr. Snow standing in front of her.

Dr. Snow's hair was in a ponytail.

Kaylee blinked, and in a second she was transported back to the day in court, where all the Beast wanted was to rip that goddamn ponytail off the girl who stole her mom.

The Beast was ready to leap out and strangle Whitney, the only thing stopping it was the part who felt accepted and understood by Dr. Snow. The internal war was raging within Kaylee, but on the outside she was deathly silent.

Noticing the recognition, Whitney sighed and kneeled down to get to Kaylee's eye level.

"We might have not gotten off on the right foot. You may not like me and I understand that. If I were in your position I wouldn't imagine otherwise"

"But know that I think I know what you're battling, and I would like to try help you, if you give me the chance, because I'd like to get to know my half-sister."

Half-sister. A half-sister that took everything away from her.

Whitney reached out tentatively toward Kaylee, but she flinched away violently. Kaylee opened her eyes and all Whitney could see were black orbs drowning out the whites.

When she spoke, it was no longer Kaylee speaking.

"You STOLE my mother! You ruined my life, and now you think you can waltz in and 'fix' it? I can't be fixed, because the world made me like this! YOU made me into this monster"

Kaylee lunged at Whitney, but this time she was prepared and brought her arms up, blocking the blow.

"Your mother isn't who she claims she is! She's made my father and I prisoners in our own home, she's not an angel!" Whitney tried to yell above the screams and inhumane cries as Kaylee continued slapping her wrists.

But Kaylee was long gone, and her insecurities, her Beast, was who replied.

"She chose YOU over ME! And when she comes back here and loves me, you were too jealous so you faked being my doctor to take her away from me again!"

"She doesn't love you! She doesn't love anyone other than herself, please listen to what I have to say." Whitney stopped resisting, and the Beast unfurled its claws, slashing from Whitney's left eyebrow to her chin, breaking the porcelain-like skin, replacing it with angry patches of red lightning.

The blood dripping on the floor seemed to snap Kaylee out of her trance and the Beast dissolved. She stared at her bloodied fingernails in horror and back at her half-sister who was now cradling her face.

"Do not trust your mother. She is not who you think she is." Whitney whispered as Kaylee did the only thing she ever did.

She fled.

Out in the backyard, Kaylee gulped mouthfuls of air as if she had been drowning. In a sense she had been drowning all her life, by her thoughts, by the Beast, by everyone who didn't value her in the end.

Help me...

A faint echo carried by gust of wind, and Kaylee swiveled around in search of its origin. She saw a group of construction workers a few feet away, sawing down a very bent, ancient looking tree.

An invisible force drew Kaylee closer to this tree and its withered branches. With every step she took, Kaylee heard the echo get louder and louder.

Help me...

Her heart ached for this tree. She knew it was an apple tree, but they didn't grow apple trees around here. It must have persisted in the hostile weather before finally succumbing.

Its bark was unnaturally bent and twisted, like it had a thousand burdens piled up upon it. She knew its leaves were once green, before the gray disease took hold and overpowered the color.

She felt a bond with the tree, one she couldn't explain. But as she stepped closer, the final swing was delivered.

The Tree fell down with a thundering crash, billows of smoke soared up into the air, swirling around Kaylee with the aura of defeat.

Kaylee never noticed The Tree until now, but somehow she knew this had to be done. The Tree would only grow more rotten if it were left alive.

A bright red apple rolled toward Kaylee, surprisingly fresh from the carcass that was alive a few moments ago.

Kaylee picked it up and looked at it. Would eating it make her feel as alive as it looked?

Take a bite.

Just one.

She opened her mouth and bit it.

"NO!" the words barely left Whitney's lips as she saw Kaylee's figure crumple in the distance.

Her body hit the ground with a thud, and as the faded sirens surrounded the scene, the red apple with black flesh rolled out of her outstretched hand.