He felt his back being cushioned from the weight of his body into a soft cradle that had his torso angled slightly upwards. His midsection and legs were lacquered in a soft warmth that kept his waking status at bay, a weight was noticeably present along the left side of his torso which was pleasant, like his arm was being hugged by warm coals. What had awoken him from this strange daze was the sounds of what he thought were people to his right, footsteps and chattering entered his ears, none of which was intelligible along with a squeeze to his bicep that slowly got tighter, but then let off before he knew it. He was only able to pry his eye lids ajar with a sloggy effort, they were heavier than bricks. What greeted his eyes was the amalgamation of white and light blue hues which seared at his previously hibernating irises, looking down atop of his belly was a blur of light brown that smeared into the white and blue surroundings that he thought what was giving the weight in which he felt. Still in his daze he felt the scorching of his eyes which further held them shut as they wished to convalesce. He tried to lift his right hand since the other was buried underneath what he could not make out, then his heart began to race as the sensation rocked his system that he had once felt before in the form of a tugging coming from within his arm that he so dearly hated. Flashes of the other world pooled into his mind as he then thought of the schizophrenic man who had seemed to commit great atrocities with his red drooling face. Then others of the two unfortunate damned beings that had met a swift end. Images of the reaper flooded his sight, its grotesque swallowing black hole of an eye along its bulbous figure that made your skin crawl. With no face but only a sphere, all he could think about was the pointy, spiny tendrils that moved with violent ferocity. That and the two gaping mouths on either side of it, the mouths that engorged humans whole with ease and melted them into oblivion. The woman's shrill screams filled his mind as he felt his heart rate rise and chest tighten once more.
Only a second had passed for him to re-imagine all of these events as he ripped the needle from his arm with great vigor, disregarding the one that was weighing him down as he yanked his arm free, thus waking her from his violent motion. The machine to his right that rested at the wall behind him had started to emit intermittent beeps of two raps. Discarding the finger monitor unknowingly set off another alarm as a bead of blood started to form from the opening he just violently released.
“Babe, What the fuck!” the woman who was resting on him shouted whose words made no sense to him.
“Whoa whoa, calm down man!” The man who was in the corner of the room said with an uneasy, raised tone. The new voice made his head waggle in his direction with diminutive haste as his eyes revealed only a thin white and black figure, his unfocused eyes created abstract art without him realizing it.
“Get away from me!” Anthony shouted, slurring his words heavily as he attempted to stand up from the bed. The other man who was in the corner of the room had halted him and pressed his palms upon his chest to keep him rested on the medical bed. All the while the beeping continued, his grunts and the sounds from whom was around him filled the air.
“Brotha you can't walk right now, you need to stay put!” The man said out loud to him, reassuring him that he would be okay just from his tone of voice. He could vaguely make out his figure as he seemed to be well dressed in a pressed long white tee and a black tie. His face was hard to discern but he saw that his hair was short and black.
“Babe, please. You are safe, we are both here for you.” The woman's voice chimed in as he then turned his head with a sloppy effort towards her. She had the light brown hair he made out earlier, she was now close enough for him to make out any facial features. He was comforted by what seemed to be her eyes and soft face. He felt her soft hand gripping his left, woven through his fingers individually with a comforting squeeze. The only thing he could think about was how much longer he would be able to look at her grace. When was it going to be when he wasn’t able to enjoy the features of her face? He was astonished by her and halted his attempts to escape while saying nothing, he rested back into the bed, holding his eyes on her expecting nothing as his heart simmered down.
A nurse had come rushing in to assess the situation, running over to his side where the iv was ripped out and dangled onto the floor.
“What the hell happened here?!” She asked the room, exercising distress.
“I don't know, he kind of just woke up with a jolt, ready to sprint off.” Said the other man who was waiting.
“Is that normal? Is he going to be okay?” Asked the woman who was resting her head on him but now clutched one of his hands. She silenced the machine that was keeping track of his vitals and then walked over to a cabinet to grab some cotton. Walked back to his right side and handed a swap to the other man.
“Press here on that spot, he won't bleed all over the place but this will help stop it. I need to get a clean needle since the one he ripped out has touched everything.” The man follows directions as he watches them move about in amazement. The fear that struck him before has completely vanished as he is now encapsulated by his doped consciousness and the comforting touch of others, watching these figures dance about before him he forgets what was putting a fire underneath his ass. He looks side to side at the ones who are next to him, he can see the woman’s face is now tilted downwards as tears are dripping, she is wiping them away along with snivels. The man on the other side has a rather flaccid expression and takes in a deep sigh while he still presses at his arm with the cotton.
“Who are you guys?” The words slip out of his mouth with an uncooperative tongue, but just clear enough for them to understand. A slight shock skims over the man's face who then glances over to the woman at his other side. He slowly follows this look with a sluggish turn of his head. She is staring at him desperately as more tears flow from her eyes. She clasped his hand between both of hers endearingly while keeping a leaking stare.
“You mean to tell me that, you don't know who I am?” Her words are shaky and somewhat difficult to discern, but after a few seconds he is able to fully grasp her communication. All he does is give a shake of his head with distant eyes.
“Hey, Clare, come on. He probably doesn’t even know who anybody is right now let alone himself.” She disregards the man's words and then lets go of his hand as she rests both of hers over her mouth while taking a stand. She lets out a few chokes of whimpers and then walks over to the corner of the room where she proceeds to cry. He watched her walk her short distance before his altered vision was interrupted by the nurse returning to his right. With a few blinks of his eyes, he falls back asleep effortlessly.
He didn't know that he was walking around in this white void, he didn't know that he was dreaming. The vividness and reality of it were strange to him considering the altered state in which he was before. Looking around aimlessly from side to side into the corridors of white whose shade were but a tint darker than white which gave away their stealth. The ever so slightly dimmer white walls made these hallways in which took up most of his sight. Gazing upwards only led into a blinding white abyss that swirled in a difficult to discern spiral; strange for how bright it was that it wasn't hard to look at but easy to get lost into. As he walked down the aisle into nothingness he kept close to the right side and brushed his hand against its temperature devoid surface. Smooth and dull, nothing exciting at all was to be noted of this plain plane. It didn't matter which direction he moved either, both were the same flaccid white. As vivid and as real as this dream felt, it progressed in a sense of jumps in time. One second he was looking up, the other he was running, and lastly he was walking at a slack pace holding hands with the wall, or at least pretending to. Then another frame jumped into his mind, down the lane in the middle of an intersection laid a man on the floor, short blond streaked hair and young in the face. He also bore clothes of the surrounding colors, white long sleeve shirt and thin white pants. Before he knew it he was kneeling before him and looking him in the face, wondering why his eyes were so empty of life. He could tell that he wasn't dead since his chest was moving ever so slightly.
“Oh don't worry about him, he'll be here for quite awhile.” A strange voice came from behind him as if uttered from a male with a high toned voice who sounded like he was right behind him. He turned quickly in reaction to the sounds to see nothing but the empty white lane. “Oh such a pitiful state to be in, tsk tsk tsk.” Turning back around he sees a Black woman kneeling down on the other side of the man, looking down at him just like he was. She was dressed in the same attire.
“You know this man?” He asked her, or rather he thought that he asked her. The words seemed to play out themselves, but he wasn't aware that they did.
“No, well, I guess I do. I know him but he doesn't know me if that answers your question.” Her voice is somewhat raspy but pleasant to the ears, much like what you hear from older people but her face appears to be of a woman in her early thirties and doesn't match her at all. She stares at his head for a few moments, then the balls of her eyes roll nearly to the top of her sockets as she holds an endearing smile before standing up. As she stands up her appearance flickers and smears along the movements into a taller asian man with neat black hair and glasses. He thought that this person was on the other side of the body before him but he feels mistaken as the man is now standing just a few inches away as he leans his head down lower than his own while still maintaining eye contact. He can see off to the side that the person who was laying on the ground is now behind him and that he himself seems to have been a few feet away from his position.
“Do I know you?” He asks hesitantly as the person continues to study the likes of his face while their hands are coupled behind their back. Making him rather uncomfortable considering how close they seem to be getting. Their mouth drops open with shock that then switches to one full of excitement.
“Remarkable! I did not figure how much of your own self that you would actually forget.” He is now staring at the person as they paced back and forth within the small well they resided in. Sometimes they would step on the man who laid on the ground that may as well have been a corpse, this step would lift them slightly into the air as a tiny grunt could be heard from him. Each time this being turned around to walk back the other way they would smear into another person, be it that of race, gender, height or weight. Pacing back and forth as they pondered deeply about what he imagined was himself. Clicks of frames were what it was like in time, what was minutes was shortened down to seconds, but it wasn’t noticeable and only felt natural.
“What do you mean forget?” He asked out to them, the being stopped and turned their head towards him while still holding their chin between forefinger and thumb.
“Well in the matter that you take yourself to be this young man here on the ground instead. The self in which you take on the appearance of here is of who you truly believe who you are.” The person is talking to him now in the form of an Arabian man with thick stubble and an accent. His sentence confuses him and clears up nothing.
“Uh, what are you talking about?” His question only makes the person laugh from their belly, suddenly he is standing by his side and turns him to the wall nearby from his shoulders, the wall that is hard to differentiate from the surroundings. He waves his hand up and the surface becomes perfectly reflective. Looking into this mirror he can see himself, the Indian lady that is leading him at his side, and the man he saw before on the ground. Startled at first from the sight, he could see that they were identical. He takes a look back behind him to reassure himself. The man on the ground didn’t change, looking back at the reflection he can see very much so that they are like twins. Out of the side of his vision he can see that the person guiding him is now that of a black man who is laughing at his reaction to all of this.
“It’s okay man, I’ll be sure to take good care of you.” The person says to him, reassuring with a grip and light shake to his shoulder. His face and thoughts are lost from bewilderment, but the strange eerie dream-like air of this world makes him soon forget what he was thinking about.
“You sure are a strange being, why don’t you stay the same person for more than a few seconds?” the being doesn’t answer, they only stare at him with a blank smile. Interrupting what seemed like it was supposed to be a reunion, voices were starting to be heard from the so-called sky of this world in what sounded like an argument. Nothing could be understood as the voices were mangled like a walkie talkie with bad reception. They both turned their heads upwards in light of the new sounds that echoed about. At the sides of his vision he could see the person shift into another once more, it didn’t feel strange entirely, just like something that was accepted.
“Well, looks like time's up, can’t hold you here much longer even if I tried.” The now short white woman said to him while she patted him on the back in a friendly manner. He turned to her as his vision was starting to blur violently, streaks of everything were growing and slipping outwards as they flew away in their stagnant lines.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Whoa, wait-, -w-h-a-t?” He could hear coming from his own mind and mouth which had reverberated into the surroundings as they slowed down to a deep pitch. Suddenly he felt her push him into the wall where they were standing next to, meeting contact with its surface had felt like falling into a pond of water, the liquid splashed around his entrance while each droplet that sprang from his force was sent spiraling outwards in slowmotion. The lady stood and watched as “Anthony” disappeared into the wall with a grin. She snapped her fingers at her side and out of the ground a tall lanky human-like black figure oozed out with haste. It was hunched over and seemed to have long hair covering its face. It's shade contrasted harshly with the white void as the edges or it's figure blurred and shook about like it was resisting the air.
“Make sure he doesn't figure out how to get back here.” And the moment she stopped speaking the figure shunk immediately back into the floor.
He kept closed eyes from the anticipation of meeting impact with the wall before him; Noticing that his ears weren't plugged with dull and muffled noises from being submerged in water, he felt a weight throughout his entire body fighting off a weak force of numbers who he was forcibly introduced to. He understood that he was pushed into a wall that was sideways, but it was pulling him deeper into its own void. The farther along that he sank, the more weight he could feel press amongst every facet of his physical body, or whatever he thought was to be his own body. Strangely as this progressed, so did the speed in which he felt on his own core. The farther that he fell the faster that his body was flung. Soon enough, he was flying at mach speed and through space, eyes were forced forwards as the front of his torso was determined to be his center mass that catapulted through the sky.
“Fuck you!” Were the words that emitted over the disastrous amounts of air moving past his ears and body as he homed in towards a landmark within the planet. For just a few moments time seemed to have stopped itself as he sat there in orbit, staring down at the planet itself. Taking in its awe, he knew that being in space like this would kill you in seconds, but he could feel no negative effects upon his body. The sun glinting around the right side while the moon watched in jealousy, the stars sparkled trying to distract and pry his attention away from the titan before him. Earth. He was lost deep in its enveloping gaze, he felt like it was right to gaze right back. The contrast of the deep space surrounding it, the sheen that was painted across its beautiful angles in which none of them were ugly. The light of the sun spun round and round of this centerpiece that his sight was taken captive to. The moon danced around in the background, showing off all of her dresses trying to get his attention, but his eyes would not dare falter from this sight before him.
“Fuck you!” The words tore through again to him through the air, these were the words that ripped him from his euphoric isolation, his nirvana, the words that brought him right back to reality as he felt a warm embrace grow into his right hand and through his fingers. This time instead of zipping through the air violently, all it took was a turn of his head down to his hand and then looking up to the one holding his hand to be brought back.
“Fuck you!” He heard through a slough of stinted consciousness. Head lifted up as he was now comfortable with the sensation of another human, the feeling was tight but comfortable in his left hand. Looking up to the emittance of words that pierced his slumber he could more clearly make ‘Her’ out. What he can make out of her in his severely dazed state is her fierce expression and the cell phone she is holding up to her left ear as she hovers over his supine body.
“You cannot prove any of that bullshit that you are saying!” She says. He can make more sense of her words this time around, but is still lacking in thought process. He slowly looks back up at her and admires the woman who is clutching his hand.
‘Even though she is angry, I wish that she would never leave my side.’ He thinks to himself unconsciously. His mind is still moving at a snail’s pace.
“Mam, I am going to have to ask you to please calm down.” He turns his head to the right and can see two men in cop uniforms as a woman with a scowl and an eye lags behind them. She is staring at the one right besides him with arms crossed and a face that is the definition of contempt. The one thing that stood out about her was the eyepatch adorned to her face, hiding one eye that he wondered if it was there or not.
“Tai, once you get this message, I am probably going to be in jail. I just needed you to know that these people are taking Anthony away into that Estate that he never wanted to return to. I have already sent you permission to access my bank account.” He hears her say into the phone with a stern and concerned voice. She then hangs up and turns the phone towards their invaders.
“Come on. Is any of this really necessary? For Christ's sake this lady is his sister?” One of the cops jutted out trying to cool down Clare’s alleviate state.
“I know just how horrible that woman can be! You are going to have to arrest me to get me out of your way. I can show you scars on his body that have been fought over, and proven in court that were inflicted by her. I don’t know how much that bitch is paying you, but what you two are doing here today is uncivilized.” Both of the men looked at each other with raised eyebrows and then proceeded to peel her off him. All he could do was watch in a confused daze, not sure of what was happening before him he caught a glance of the woman who was proclaimed to be his sister at the side of his eye. She was standing in the doorway staring at him with a disgusting grin stretched across her face, knowing that she was getting away with crime.
He had then turned his head towards the struggle that was happening before his eyes as Clarice resisted the two men the best that she could without hitting them violently, in the shifts of bodies her phone fell to the floor with a clatter towards the door. Looking up from the spot in which it landed, he saw a nurse peeking in for just a second with a turned head as she walked by, then disregarding what she saw, she resumed her path pretending that the altercation wasn’t happening. He then thought to jump to action, to try and aid in the injustice being dealt against the one who gave him comfort. Motioning his body to stand from the bed while he tossed off his blanket, he was then unexpectedly forced back down to his pillow by his neck. Instinctively, he moved his hand up with efforts to pry away what was closing off his airway. Eyes following the arm up to its owner he could see it was the one with the eye patch. Behind her he could see that she kicked the built-in door prop which led it to shut, keeping others within the building mostly unaware of their actions. Looking back up at her face above his, he could see that she was still grinning. She moved a hand up that only had a raised pointer finger, rocking it back and forth in a no no motion as she sucked her teeth to match its motion.
“Anthony! Anthony!” He could suddenly hear in the room being screamed out from Clare who was struggling to ward off the two policemen. He darted his eyes over to her yelps to see that she was facing towards him past the foot of his bed. One of the men had her arms folded behind her, but what caught his attention was the other man standing adjacent to them with a yellow box shaped gun ready to fire. As he struggled to breath the man shot and tased the one he fell in love with for just the few moments that he saw her. Upon seeing this he fought harder to rid his neck from the woman who was strangling him. She then knocked him in his temple with her free hand, the glove she wore seemed to be reinforced at the knuckles. Knocking back into his stupor he felt his limbs go numb as they themselves seemed to have given up. He watched in a blur that seemed to jump in time frames as they happened before him. First he saw Clarice being arrested as they shouldered her weak body off into the halls. Then with the closure of his eyes he could see that he was pent up in the back of a limousine while being constrained within a straight jacket. A slight look over he could see his sister in the same cabin scrolling through her phone and typing within it, she gave him a glance in which he then turned his eyes to the outside. Past the window was hard to see given what seemed like approaching dusk and heavy rainstorms streaking across the glass. Then he saw them pull up to a gate that was watched by an armed guard, they stopped here for a few moments before he could feel the motion of the car rock his body. All he could think about was going back to sleep, but he felt like that would be doing a great injustice to the one who had fought so hard for him. He knew what she said was real considering how they were treated by the supposed “cops” and the one who is claiming to be his sister who had knocked him in his head.
As he fought off the daze he felt like his mentality was building slowly like behind a dam, the next thing he noticed was them stopping at the front of a mansion within the roundabout that was right out in front of it. He felt like he was blinking out of unison with one eye at a time as his head was still spinning, spinning from both the administered drugs he felt in his system and the knock to his head. As he sat and watched with building curiosity, he saw the driver crack the privacy window from the front and into the cabin just enough to reveal his eyes which were peering through the crack with startling seriousness. The coldness from his stare felt like it penetrated deep into his body, tearing away at every shred of his soul. It was just for a mere few seconds that they locked eyes, but it felt like an eternity. As soon as the driver ripped his vision away to step out of the car he felt like he could breathe freely again. The taps upon the roof of the limo were present again within his ears from the rain, like a child trying to get attention from their mother they tapped away, pounding at his swirling head. He looked back up at his sister who was watching him intently, she was sitting in a rather leisurely posture resting her on the seat with one leg over the other as it bobbed up and down while her hands rested atop of the higher knee, one hand naked while the other bore the knuckle embraced glove. She gave him a hearty smile which made him hate her even more so than he already did.
“Why are you doing this?” He was able to muster up enough air from his lungs through the twists of his tongue and mouth to sputter out those words, but shortly after his efforts, he had to regain his breath. She stopped smiling and bobbing her hung up leg in response to his question, a raised eyebrow and a stern look grew across her face as she leaned in to study him further. Just a foot away from his face she stopped as a frown crescented over her mouth.
“Because you are my brother stupid.” She then smacked him on the flat of his forehead with an open palm like there was a fly resting there. He was taken aback by her actions and words, she had the appearance of an adult but the demeanor of a child. Still surprised from her reaction, he sat there pondering in his dulled state. Abruptly the door on his right slid wide open as she then grabbed him by the nape of his jacket, for her size he was surprised by her strength as well. Shook from her fortitude, he was flung out of the vehicle by her and onto the cold wet concrete. There, he laid for a few moments, filling his lungs back up with air for the wind was knocked out from his own body weight. The breaths from his mouth pushed tiny waves across the small accumulations of puddles in which his face had landed upon. Two men had then grasped him by the jacket close to his torso and brought him to his feet. He only had time to look at one in the face before they forced him up the stairs. The man’s expression was incredibly identical to the one he saw in his dreams, dead inside without the will to push forwards. He wore a cap to cover his face from the elements and a long sleeved navy blue fleece. Before he thought of turning to make out the others' faces, the background of the small parking lot before the Estate caught his eyes as he glimpsed past the man's face and at three other vehicles with varying colors nestled on top of the asphalt. One silver, one white and the other was red while the lawn behind it gave great contrast to the cars with its wonderful dark grey brown, full of wet dead foliage.
As they entered the great structure, pushing the doors open, he heard a feminine voice from within call out to them upon their arrival.
“Oh so great to see you boys, care for a towel?” He turned his head to see a dark skinned woman standing before them within the midst of the foyer. She had a button up short sleeved dress that was also navy blue like the others, sleeving the rest of her body was a white long sleeve shirt in which the collar rested above the other, making her outfit pop from the contrast. Her legs were covered with a thick dark panty hose ending with dark glossy dress shoes. What stuck out the most from her was a bright pink bow that was tied at the top of her bust, it was ostentatiously present along with her appearance. This ebony woman bore the same forced smile that was stretched across his sister's face, the sight of her expression made him sick to his stomach. As they proceeded to move his body into the foyer and dump him onto the couch close by, he could not take his eyes off of this woman. She felt unreal, even if this was a dream or a creation from the medications that they put him on, he could not pass this person to be what they were trying to be.
‘Uncanny!’ Is the word that popped up into his head and thoughts, he knew it was rude to stare, but for this instance his eyes would not follow any of his commands. No matter what he tried to tell himself, he could feel an ominous energy, sprouting and pooling off of the one in which he had glued his eyes upon. She kept her figure, her stature, form was straight and tight but her eyes were loose, and once the pupils of what he was looking into had met with his own, his heart dropped. It was worse than gazing into the driver’s eyes in which he noticed that the man wasn't present within the foyer. He felt his mouth getting dry along with his eyelids as they seemed to droop as he got lost into emotions. He could feel himself running, running away from something deep within the black pools of her pupils as they held eye contact.
‘Blink, breathe, think, feel!’ Were the words that took over his thoughts in a voice that he wasn't sure of. It was intrusive and he could feel his body give in slightly to the commands like some sorry sap with a strange fetish. All he could do was tighten the grip in his bound fits and grit his jaws, he thought that he might actually be going crazy, but he wasn't willing to submit into the words he felt pouring into his mind. She saw his contemptful eyes and only greeted them with a smile. ‘Maybe I am going crazy?’ He thought to himself as she then turned her attention towards the lagging female who had just entered the building. He watched as this distrustful woman padded his so-called sister dry. It might have been the medicine, it might have been the knock to his head, but from what he witnessed seemed almost to perfect of an interaction. No accidents happened, she raised her arms perfectly in sync with the one who was drying her, she turned around without the other telling her to. The motion from the lady with the pink bowtie had never rested and was continuous throughout their entire interaction which was rather quick and appeared to be rehearsed. So lost in observing, he had barely noticed that the two men near to him had picked him up and motioned his willing legs father into the cascading halls of the mansion. When he caught on to this, they were already heading down a corridor.
