Finally, we reach our destination.
"What's down here?" Eva , a nervous twitch in her otherwise stoic expression. Arthur opens the door. I brace myself and enter the room...
only to be confronted with a pair of electric chairs.
Leles hand covers her open mouth, and she barely manages to bite back a scream.
The chairs of a madman. Electroshock therapy. Is this what Vincent went through? Are lele and Oli going to be shocked into insanity?
"Oh, look," she whimpers, pointing to their customary note. Joey massages her shoulders, his hands trying their hardest to calm her frightened nerves.
"What does it say?"
"My name is Dr. Price, and I have developed a unique treatment for overcoming hallucinations. Each voted-for guest needs to take a seat in their respective learning chair. Their partner must then lock them into the chair by securing the straps. Located across from the learning chairs are crates containing metal rings. Each of you must stand across from your partner, behind the chalk mark on the floor, and toss the rings into the five electrical rods. Missed rings will give their partner a little shock."
Lele's eyes widen. She's not looking forward to it. Not at all. Olía eyes widen too, and he's shaking.
"The first guest to have three rings around any of the electrical rods will complete the circuit and cure their partner's hallucinations. However, the guest who failed to learn will suffer a severe shock, which will end their life.
You have thirty minutes before the chairs short-circuit on their own, killing both guests. The timer will start as soon as both guests are securely fastened into their chairs. Good luck."
"Yeah, sure," mutters Lele sarcastically.
"Good luck." Joey hears her.
"Lele. Listen to me. Nothing is going to happen to you. I'll get you out of here in one piece. I promise." Joey leads Lele and places her in the chair.
"You're not gonna die," Eva hisses through clenched teeth as she locks Oli into his learning chair.
"Hold on, okay? Stay with me. Don't..."
"I won't." She nods, rolls up his sleeves, and secures the final strap. As Joey is strapping in Lele, Arthur grabs my shoulder and hands me a note.
I read it aloud,
"For the Unchosen victim, you may have a fate deemed worse than the others, you will sit on the chair behind the machine and watch the match happen, whenever someone misses you have the choice to take the electrical shock for them or let them be shocked."
I gasp and look at Arthur who holds out his hand. I take it and he leads me to the chair which is placed behind the machine, I sit and he brings to tighten the restrains. I examine the chair. There is a button right by my left hand and if I press it I take the bolt of electricity from Oli and on the right a similar button for Lele. I'm scared. I stare at Arthur as he's done tightening my hand restraints. He beds down to do my leg ones. I'm so numb I can't even feel his hand move my ankle to secure the restraint. I wanna be a hero but I don't wanna be.
"Hey, hey you'll be ok." Arthur says after tying her down. I shake my head, someone is gonna die. Oh god.
"You'll be ok, sweetheart you'll be ok." He whispers to me, patting my shoulder, I don't say anything. He leaves the room as I stare at him leave, then I look at Lele and Oli. As Eva and Joey take their places behind the chalk mark. The timer starts.
Joey throws his first ring. It bounces off the rod, which causes Lele to scream a string of profanities. Then, it's Eva's turn, and Oli has just enough time to squeeze out a quick "you got this" before she misses the rod by a good six inches.
Ok here we go, I push Oli's button. He flinched.
But Oh God. White-hot pain shoots through my body, and a scream escapes my lips despite myself, they all look at me. I was—that hurt—that honestly hurt—don't miss again anyone please don't miss again—
She misses again. And it hurts. So. Much.
I release Oli's button and he begins screaming in pain, and I decide to give Lele a break cause she's screaming and swearing, she's tensed and I see her tension release as I press the button.
Joey keeps missing, and I keep screaming, and it gets to the point where I can't even recognize my own screams anymore. I can't take it anymore! I release her buttons nd she begins screaming again, but she has some energy.
"You got this!" shouts Oli from the other chair. He's seems to be doing ok, so I give myself 10 seconds to breathe.
"Come on! You can do this!"
"Oh mother trucker, how do I do this?" Joey frets. Lele opens her mouth to give him what-for, but then another shock pulverizes her system, and she's temporarily convulsing, ok she needs help, I press her button again, and I can see her breathing again.
Oli, on the other hand, still manages to keep some level of composure (that is, when he's not screaming).
"You got this!" he tells her through gritted teeth.
"Come on!"
"Oh, come on!" shrieks Lele between sobs.
Eva carefully lines up her next shot and throws. It's a ringer.
"Yes!" Oli cheers. "Yes! Come on!" His voice is remarkably hopeful for someone who's in danger of being electrocuted.
"Come on, Eva! Keep going! Keep going! You got this!" Ok so I keep pressing Lele's button and I feel myself start foaming, so I let go, and Lele is in hysterics, crying and screaming and pleading for her life all at once.
"Come on, Joey!" Lele wails. I scream and press her button again. Joey blinks back tears. He can't lose. He can't. He has to save her. There's no alternative. Both he and Eva throw another ring. Eva misses.
"Oh, so close," Oli sighs, but then the electricity kicks in and he's screaming again. Joey, however, succeeds.
"I got one!" he shouts over the roar of the machines.
"Lele! I got one! I got one!" She shrieks an incomprehensible jumble of words back at him, and somehow, that's all he needs to hear. She's Lele freakin' Pons. Of course she's going to make it. Girls like her don't die from things like this.
"Oh..." Oli struggles to catch his breath after another round of shock therapy.
"Come on, Eva, you can do this, you can do this!" His voice is getting weak. Lele looks ok, so I let her button go, and press Oli's.
"I'm trying!" I can feel her heart breaking, but Eva fights on anyway. I scream and writhed I pain.
"Come on!" Lele shouts, her voice almost hoarse, her body slightly twitching
"Just win!" When lele opens her eyes again.
"Lele!" He pumps his fist in the air.
"I got a second one!"
"Did you?" She asks her head hanging.
"Yes!" They're ahead they're ahead she might not die after all oh no it's back pain agony and I can almost hear her thoughts, it hurts duele hazlo parar estoy muerto... I press her button.
Joey and Lele are ahead by one ring.
"Come on!" Eva can do it. Just as I'm scared and screaming I see Eva make another ringer.
"Yes! Come on! Quickly, Eva! One more one more one more!" He pleads. I let go of both buttons, I can't take anymore.
Lele screams again. I know. She needs help. Oh god please.
"Okay." Joey stares at the electrical rod, trying to ignore the frantic snarl that scars his partner's face. One more. He can do this. She won't die. She won't.
"Come on, Eva!" Oli shouts.
Oli's shouts of encouragement are all that keep her going at this point. So he's fine, he's talking, Lele however is saying incoherent things. I press her button, screaming and cursing.
"Ouch!" I yell. It hurts too much. It hurts even when I'm not being shocked. The torture has embedded itself into my DNA, and all the cells in my body feel like they're about to combust.
"Come on!" Oli keeps his eyes fixed on Eva and grits his teeth against the pain, but the sixty-third shock proves too much for him to bear.
"Come on! Please!" The last of his strength leaves him, and he's a sobbing mess in the chair.
"Please don't let me die!" Oh god I release Lele's button and hit Oli's. He sighs.
"Joey, please!" Lele's getting super pissed at Joey.
"Try!"
"I'm trying!"
"You're not trying!" He's literally throwing them on her feet. How the hell is he supposed to make another ringer when he can't even get within ten miles of the rod?
"Yes, I am!"
Next to her, Oli's repeating "you can do this" over and over again. Eva, meanwhile, looks like she's going to burst a blood vessel.
Joey's losing strength, you can see it. To top it all off, he's only got nine minutes left before Lele and Oli are lost to him forever.
"Lele, I'm sorry!" She look up frantically. He's not sure if he can save her anymore. I press her button. And I press Oki and oh fuck it's double pain but they're breathing. I'm screaming so loudly. So loudly, killing myself, oh fuck, oh fuck, I'm seeing black spots.
"Please, Eva."
"Oh, please, I can't stand any more of this." He means it.
"I can't stand any more of this, Eva, please...please..."
Wait he's cheering. Did she just...? She did, she did, she made the final ringer.
Yes!" He curls his hands into fists. "Yes!"
Then it hits me and Oli seemingly at the same time.
Lele...oh God...Lele's going to...
Seconds before she's electrocuted to death by Dr. Price's so-called "learning chair," I hold down her button, trynna save her form so much pain while dying. I watch through my tears as waves of electricity attack Lele Pons's body. She collapses against the back of her chair, screams once more, and finally goes limp, I scream in agony, and my head falls limp. I see black.