DarkWing (Final Editing in Progress)

Chapter 4 - Not Your Average Doctor's Visit

"It's for your own good. I think it would be smart for you to come back next week."

"It was all for nothing." 

"I think it would be smart for you to come back."

"Those eyes."

 "It would be smart for you to come back."

"So intense."

"Come back."

"I don't..."

"Come back."

"I don't know what to do."

"Come back. Come back. Come back!!!"

I sat up and grabbed my chest as I gasped for air. I looked around, and then let out a sigh of relief. "It was all a dream," I said to myself. It had been nearly a month since I got home from Druid Hills, but ever since I got back, I hadn't been able to sleep well. I was lucky to get 4 hours, and I use the term "lucky" loosely. Those 4 hours would be filled with a nightmare, a single nightmare. The same one, repeating, every night. You would think it would be something relating to my mother's death, but since I had gotten home, and I'm not proud to admit it, but that was the last thing on my mind. All I could think about was that man, those eyes, those words. The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. Something wasn't right about him, I just couldn't figure out what.

I glanced at the clock. 3:23am. My earliest class was at 9, and I had to get up about an hour earlier to get ready and get breakfast. I fell back into bed, trying to decide whether or not I should go back to sleep. I wasn't sure which would torture me more, sleeping or lying awake, but in the end, I decided against both. After lying there a few minutes, I got up and walked to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and smirked. "You need help." Then I made a motion to flip on the water.

"AAAGH!!!" A sudden agonizing pain erupted in my back. The pain was so great, my legs instantly gave out, but I managed to grab the sink before I slammed my head into the floor. It was as if someone had taken a pair of pliers and started twisting and warping my spine and shoulder blades. It was the most painful experience of my life, and strangely enough, it ended as quickly as it began. It lasted around 10 seconds then just disappeared.

Breathing heavily, I slowly lifted myself up using the sink as leverage, taking extreme care to move my back as little as possible. Once I was on my feet, I slowly slipped my shirt off over my head, and dropped it next to me. Then I slowly turned to look at my back in the mirror just to find that there was nothing out of the ordinary. I turned on the water and splashed some on my face trying to make sense of what had just happened. Then it hit me. "I think it would be smart for you to come back."

"Taxi!!! Taxi!!!" I started yelling. "God damnit I should really keep one of these guys on speed dial. Taxi!!!" It wasn't everyday that someone was trying to get a cab at 4am, but I had somewhere needed to be. It took about 10 minutes, but finally I got a cab.

"Where to, boss?" asked the driver.

"Corrector Corps."

"Here we are sir, Corrector Corps," said the cab driver. I paid him, then climbed out of the car. This building was exactly like the one in Druid Hills, but there was something... Different. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was just something different, something... new. Not just about Corrector Corps either, everything was... I can't really describe it. I walked into the building, and noticed things I usually wouldn't. I noticed the way the glass door's hinges quietly creaked as I pushed on the gold-painted vertical door bar.

The clarity of this incredibly subtle sound startled me and I reflexively turned around. Then I noticed a 2 centimeter large scratch on the door slanted about 70 degrees located around the same height as my hip. I turned back around to fine a blue porcelain coffee mug sitting on the receptionist's desk and a single drop of evaporated moisture rolling off of it. I heard the droplet reach the countertop from across the room.