Bully Trials [Remake]

Chapter Fifteen

XV: Ritual to Cleanse
Jacelyn

I sit down on the cave ground. My fingers feel the coarse and cool texture of the stone. Maddie, Laura, and I watch Lola give Ash more holes than a warden at a prison riot. The blue spirit and Ramen's voice– the blue spirit is Ash. It seems to match her personality more than Ramen controlling her dead body.

She tried to fight him, trying to keep us alive by stealing time and keeping Ash's body still. Sadly, a woman foiled Ash's plan. Lola, Lola, Lola, the girl's name should be a curse word. 'Excuse me, you Lola?' The real Ash still felt the pain and probably repressed anger from Lola beating her up. Ramen could've felt it and repossessed the dead Ash.

Why? After all this time, why did she only intervene now? It was not the Ash surging back as a demon to torment us all. This was all Ramen's doing. Ash is not a violent bunny. What is going on here? First, I thought Ash made a deal with some supernatural origin to get revenge on us, but no, it all clicked– all the humanity in that poor dead body is gone. Ash is no more.

I stand up and glare at Lola. For the first time, she is below me in height. She ruined the chance of getting out of here or a hidden character that could assist us. If Ash killed Ramen, who knows what will happen? As Ramen said, Lola never changed. We watch him sink Ash's corpse back into the ground with this black gooey substance.

We fade back into the main cave. The contestants dwindling in numbers. Lola does a champion dance. "I defeated a demon! I defeated a demon! All on my own!

I will be laughing if I see Ramen bring back Ash just to sack her ass. Maddie shakes her head.

"See, girls, I can kick ass," Lola beams with pride. The vomit stains all over her body faded, leaving her burnt skin. I wish they were third-degree burns. I want her to be immobile so that the next cannibalistic monsters will have a free feast. No one will help her, not even if she asks Laura nicely.

Marina catches up to us and looks at the dancing Lola. "She killed her?" She asks us.

Lola overhears and nods, "Yes. I kicked her ass. I can rejoin your alliance."

Access denied!

"Cool, I tied 200 dead victims into bowties and threw them into boiling water," she takes an exotic inhale, "turning them into fresh noodles," Marina replies, unimpressed.

Lola becomes shocked and yells, "Girl, what the fuck?!"

"She fucked up Ash's body so hard that a necrophiliac will be afraid of her," I mumble.

Lola gazes at me. "Girl, you are nas–"

She flinches as Ash's slashes and stab wounds start to turn black. This black substance spread like branches around the wounds. I think that is Ash's way of saying, 'You're the one to talk.' She starts to tear up and weaken as she stares at the blackened wounds. I hope the branches infect more of her veins, and she will look like a dead tree by the end.

"How does that feel, Lola?" Laura plainly asks.

"Like hell. I'm turning into Mad– I'm turning black," Lola replies as she tries to ignore her pain. She is grunting more than an old man having explosive diarrhea. Her offensive jokes precede her.

Maddie doesn't look so pleased. "Nice try, Lola."

She doesn't look human anymore. She looks more like a demon than Ash.

Tevin also walks to us, hearing Lola's comment. "I understand that humor may be a way to cope with your... acquaintances, but everyone else can hear."

Lola gets a little frustrated. "They also learned to mind their own business. I am in agony."