The girl narrowed her eyes and began to speak. "Sad, she has already given up."
The boy nodded. "Nothing like a beast to dull one's day."
She broke out of her stupor shouting. "What are you doing!? Run away!"
The girl spoke again, carrying a monotone voice. "The girl wants us to run away."
"Perhaps it is time, dear sister, to reveal ourselves." The boy shifted toward Egos.
"Huh?" Egos looked up from its meal. "Go away, Fallacy! You are interrupting!"
"As the creature stated, we are Fallacy," the boy spoke.
"We are the corruption of human words," the girl stated.
"From now on, we will speak at the same time." The twins finished together.
Egos gulped, sliding Mimi up more. It was now up to her waist. Egos narrowed its eyes before speaking to them. "Who cares!"
The twins walked toward Egos, still holding hands. "Slut," the word materialized in mid-air and slammed into Egos.
Egos let lose a squawk, throwing up Mimi in surprise. It squealed and wielded on the twins.
"I am not," Egos roared, pounding a fist into the ground.
"Ugly," Fallacy stated. The word suddenly materialized, slamming into Egos.
Egos lifted up roaring. Tears coagulated down its face.
"Weakling, go cut yourself, do it. Kill yourself; no one likes you. You should have never been born." Each word the twins spoke spawned and slammed into Egos.
Mimi and Egos covered their ears, screaming. "No, no, that is not true! You don't know what it's like! Shut up, shut up! Maybe I will!"
Egos fell to the ground, a bloody mess.
Mimi covered her mouth trembling. "Why, why are people so cruel? Perhaps they are right. Maybe, I should crawl into the mouth of that thing." She sobbed. "It's so hard to ignore the words. Sometimes, I find I can't."
"As we said, we are Fallacy. You know those words you believe, the words the wrong ones tell you. Those words make you debate whether you are worth it or it. Those words have no meaning if you don't give them power. You feed us, believing in their stupidity. Then again, humans cannot help themselves in what they believe. Humans are sometimes not rational beings. Every single one is different. Therein lies the problem: what works for one, may not work for another." The twins finished speaking blandly. Their eyes bore into Mimi's.
"You, you approve of this." Mimi flinched breathing in and out.
The twins shrugged. "It is commonplace for people to assume so. We do not care for this ability. We do not care for the destruction it provides. Words are damaging, and only morons do not understand that. There are people out there wishing to do harm. They should be held accountable. No one has the right to tell another living creature to die unless it is for food." The twins paused. They reached their arms up to touch their foreheads. "Unfortunately, that last line is another whole philosophy we can't get into. You should run now."
"Hmm, what?" Mimi's tone of voice went higher. Her eyes expanded.
"You are our food." The twins waited.
"Are you being nice?" Mimi scurried up, glancing toward the forest.
The twins, without answering her, whispered into their hands. The words they whispered materialized. The hilt of the word was the first letter.
They swung synchronized, hitting the ground before Mimi.
A dust cloud and dirt blasted into the air.
Mimi took off, finally reaching the dead woods. She heard snapping and thumping. It sounded like a huge mass coming this way. Mimi stopped. With her heart thumping, she turned around.
The trees had moved, blocking the entrance. Their branches were weeping to the ground. Mimi ran up to the trees.
Her eyes shattered. "No, no it was here! I know this is where the entrance was!" Mimi reached her hands up to her mouth, biting her nails. Mimi stared at the mass of trees and fell to her knees.
"Why, hello there, little one." A female's voice echoed throughout the path.
Mimi turned around on all fours. She looked for a pair of feet. Not seeing any, she sat up, folding her arms.
"Look up!" the female voice called out.
Mimi glanced up in front of herself. She gasped in awe. The woman was stunning.
The woman, upon being noticed, floated to the ground. Her white dress bellowed as she touched the path. "I am the Willow woman, but you may call me Willow." She moved closer to Mimi.
Mimi scampered back, holding her hand out. Her palm faced Willow.
Willow stopped moving. She noticed Mimi's terror-filled eyes. "It is all right." Willow bought a finger to her mouth. "Shush, I am not going to hurt you." She got on her knees and crawled toward Mimi.
Mimi scooted back every time Willow inched closer. "Stay back!" Mimi balled herself up, shaking.
"Sweet child, so frail and ready to give up. Isn't this place frightening? Aren't you tired?" Willow held out her hand smirking.
"This place is so confusing, so heartbreaking. I don't know what it wants from me!" Mimi lifted up her hand and covered her forehead.
"Why, for you to give up, of course. To lay here with me and wait for all of time to pass. Wouldn't it be so easy to give in? To give up?" Willow approached Mimi.
Mimi did not move away. She lifted her head, dropping her hand down. "To give in . . ."
Willow reached her hand toward Mimi's face, cupping Mimi's chin. She reached her other hand up, grabbing the side of Mimi's face. "Why yes, we can stay here, never moving forward. Never going back. Nothing good ever comes of going forward. Nothing ever comes with moving backward. Staying still, never achieving anything, that is the way to be."
"Never moving?" Mimi glanced at Willow. The woman was infuriatingly beautiful. It was tempting to stay wrapped up in this almost reassuring presence. "I could stay here."
"Could you? How sweet! Now, stay still while I nibble." The woman's voice suddenly transformed into a dark sinister mocking tone.
"What, no!" Mimi slapped Willow away.
Willow hit the ground. "Ha, ha, ha, I will come for you. You do not have to run. Running is hard."
Mimi stood up, clenching her fist. "You do not know how strong I am. I am not as weak as they come. I have been hurting for so long. Inside feels like a hole that's ripping me apart. Their actions, their words encircle my head. People I have trusted, people I cared about, turned their backs on me. It is cold and it is dark. There is no way out! Every waking moment I think I deserve it! Even if someone were to tell me that is not true, it would still consume my very being. I wish I knew a way out. I don't see through it. All I hear, all I see, is their hate. I feel like it is becoming a part of me."
Willow smiled, then spoke, "Woody, I think we are finished here."
Woody appeared with a small circular table. He was sitting on an absurdly small stool with a teacup in one hand and a saucer in the other. "All ready and I just got to tea time," he huffed.
Mimi looked between the two. She glanced back and forth. "Do you want to eat me, too?"
Woody placed his teacup down. "Heavens no! You would have to excuse my language! I think you are still rather raw."
Mimi glanced at Willow, who was still on the ground. She pointed at her. "Does she want to eat me?" Mimi asked with a raised eyebrow.
Woody sighed, "No one wants to eat you."
Mimi huffed, "Then why go through this?"
Woody shrugged. "Because I can." He picked up his cup and poured his tea on the ground. He then placed the teacup on the table.
Mimi narrowed her eyes and stomped over to him. "You are not a good person."
Woody replied, "I am a figment of your imagination."
Mimi grabbed at Woody's suit jacket. "That ain't saying much."
"There are people out there who are not lucky at all. You survived, next time you may not."
Mimi let go of Woody's jacket. She slid down to the ground. "I survived," she whispered to herself. She then looked up at him. "So, this is my mind?"
"A warped version of it, yes. We did a bit of redecorating. I want you to know it is not your fault that it is okay. I can't even imagine the pain you are in. I know you must be afraid because you think they will look at you differently—is that so bad? Are you worried that they will hate you, too? That person or persons you think so lowly of . . ." Woody moved toward Willow. He helped her up.
Mimi lifted her head up. "Yeah, I don't think lowly of them, I think lowly of myself."
"They will want to help you if you talk to that person or persons. If you cannot speak, write letters. If you cannot write, show them. Show the messages, the bruises. If you cannot, out of fear or out of it hurting too much, I promise you they would rather have you alive. But If you cannot, I get it. There are other forms of help. Please consider them. I can assure you that you are not the only one. Help does exist. I can assure you that it is okay to ask for help." As Woody finished speaking, the path and trees slowly disappeared. A complete blackness overtook Mimi's mind.