The Purple Pupeteer

Glitch in the System

Ryan tried his hardest to keep cool and level-headed despite the rising fear. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me," the purple-eyed man snapped. "What did you tell him!?"

"I told him that I wanted a Pepsi."

Dawktrap scowled. "Oh, okay, so you left the group for ten minutes, despite me telling you to follow us, and in that amount of time, all you did was ask for a f***ing Pepsi?"

"We spoke about the stage show too," Ryan stated as believably as he could. "He was just excited and wanted someone to talk to about it."

"So, he specifically wanted to talk to you, and not wait for the whole group to come back?"

"No, it's just that I happened to be the last person out the door, and I heard the question he asked. I stayed behind to talk to him."

"What question?"

Ryan knew he looked nervous. He could feel beads of sweat starting to dot his head as his face flushed with heat. "If I was looking forward to today."

"We had already spoken about that before we left."

"It was a more specific question, though! He wanted to know if... if I was looking forward to the fact, we were on a bigger stage now. With more fans watching us and stuff."

"You are a god-awful liar," the younger man stepped forward, marching towards Ryan with a face like thunder.

"I'm not lying! That's really all we spoke about!" Ryan exclaimed, stepping back.

"So, all you spoke about in ten minutes was getting a Coke, the stage show, and the fact there were going to be more people in the audience?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, so much for getting a Pepsi then, huh?"

"T-That's what I meant!"

Dawktrap scowled. "What drink did Razz say he was getting?"

"A... uh... Fanta."

"What flavour?"

"Orange."

The purple-eyed man pulled his phone from his pocket. "Okay, so if I ring him now, and ask him what he's getting for himself, he is going to tell me that he is getting an orange Fanta, without hesitation?"

The pit of despair in Ryan's stomach began to grow as he realised the corner he had backed himself into. He couldn't bring himself to say anything else, knowing that it would only do more harm than good at this point.

"Thought so," 'Lewis' murmured, putting his phone away. "The other method didn't work as well as the screens, did it? You're not like these two. But that doesn't mean it didn't work at all." Faster than Ryan could react to, grabbed onto the sides of the older man's head tighty, digging his nails into his scalp while his hands starting to give off that sickly purple glow once more. "Now, look me in the eyes, Ryan."

Ryan's eyes widened in shock as he locked his gaze with Lewis' purple ones, his body seizing in place.

"Now you are going to tell me what you really said to him."

"I... I uh... I said..." Ryan's mouth was moving on it's own, completely against his will, as he stared into the younger man's eyes. He was mentally screaming at himself to shut up, but his own thoughts were being completely drowned out by the younger man's instruction. "I told him he... he couldn't tell anyone a-about.... about what we spoke about..."

"And what did you speak about, Ryan?"

"I told... I-I told him about... about what you were doing... a-and what you were making my friends... become..."