Darkness

Infatuation

No, no, this isn't real. Can't be.

Paige blinks, confused. He was just kind of...grinning a second ago, and now he's just kissed her? That doesn't sound right. 

And it's so not him it's unreal, not just out of character but there's something eerily Disney about it, the too-perfect, spontaneous change of heart, and that's what convinces her it's not real. Something like a daydream, a misinterpretation, a hallucination...

Hallucination...

As soon as she thinks the word, just like that, she's looking at Oscar, and he's standing back, watching her, arms folded, looking ever so slightly amused.

"What?" she asks warily.

"You were hallucinating," he says with a smirk.

Paige blushes furiously. "How do you know?" she demands, changing the subject.

"Everyone does. That's what this level does to people- hallucinations about...erm, love interests."

"How the hell do you know that? No, actually, screw that- how are you not affected?" 

Oscar sighs melodramatically, his annoyance shining through again. "I'm immunised," he tells her, offering absolutely no further explanation as to how exactly he came to be immunised. He looks over to where Zach lies on the floor, Coby standing beside him. They both look quite distant. "Look at the idiots, they're still in theirs, bless their souls."

"In their what?"

"Hallucinations. About crushes...I like to call them infatucinations myself. It's a portmanteu of-"

"Yeah, I get it, infatuation and hallucination. God, never knew you were such a nerd. Right, well, if they're hallucinating,shouldn't we...help them?" Paige makes to walk over to Coby.  

Oscar shakes his head. "Nah, it's more fun to watch them shake it off themselves.That's what I did with you."

"Okay, but hypothetically how would we...make them come back?"

"Make them realise it's not real." He stops as Paige tuts and walks up to Coby anyway. "What are you doing?" he asks as she repeats the word 'hallucination' in Coby's ear a few times. "Spoilsport," he whispers as he snaps back into the real world.

Coby's about to speak, but Paige cuts him off. "Whatever you just experienced was all in your head, brought on by...I don't know, some weird, like, hallucogenic drug in the air or something? Anyway, because Oscar's a really stupid fountain of knowledge, I was able to get you back to reality."

The other Scot nods curtly, taking it all in at once, because he doesn't have much choice. He swings around to see Zach, and kneels down beside him, frowning.

"Make him realise it's a hallucination and he'll be okay," Paige says nonchalantly.

"DUDE! Stop telling everyone left and right! Christ..." A very annoyed Oscar stamps his foot, and Paige thinks about it very breifly, and decides that he definitely has a sadistic side.

Coby, meanwhile, grabs Zach's shoulders, taking the top half of his body slightly off the ground. "You're hallucinating, mate. HALLUCINATING. Think about that word...HALLUCINATING...wake up, awrite?"

"See this? Friendship, not enjoyment of his suffering," Paige mutters.

"I don't enjoy suffering! It's just...a nice way of testing someone's strengths. Timing their realisation."

Zach groggily breaks through his dreamlike state, and promptly bursts into tears. Coby quickly hugs him. "You awrite, mate?" he asks, but Zach just shakes his head, crying uncontrollably.

"See? This is a lack of strength," Oscar says to Paige, pointing at Zach.

"He's been through a lot."

"We all have. It's been a while."

"Oscar, it's been four hours."

He laughs. "Only physically. Time has a different meaning here. Bonds are easily made, and your psychological decomposition is pretty speedy."

"Delightful, but where did you learn all that? Or is that just common knowledge with Irish people? Like the difference between a shamrock and a four leaf clover, whatever it is?"

Oscar shrugs. "What did you see? When you were...you know, hallucin...uh, that?"

Paige almost tells him, but she remembers quickly that they were supposed to be romantic, and she doesn't want him laughing at her, so she just says, "An ex."

As he nods, it dawns on her that this means she has a definite thing for him. Oh, great, she thinks. Just what our group needs is the cliche, annoying teenager completely head over heels for some lad. 

She promises to herself there and then not to turn into a clingy, horrible Bella Swan like every female character in every film she's ever seen does. She's going to put her survival first, and stupid...love stuff second. Reasonable priorities. There.