Just Reality

Chapter 1

I startle awake, shooting up in bed. At first all I see is black darkness, but soon the different items of my bedroom fall into place. The dresser to my right, and Sloane across from me. Scratch that, the turbo engine across from me.

I chuckle lightly as I stand, exiting the room to grab a glass of water. The hallway seems to stretch farther with every step I take, and I come to a halt.

"Stop it!" I scream. "Stop it! Please! Stop!"

Almost like a jump cut, my hand suddenly rises in the air, a glass of water in hand. I begin to down the drink, but as I do the water turns dark.

Blood.

I pull the glass away from my mouth, sputtering, and a spasm causes the cup to crash to the ground. Glass shards fly, and the coppery liquid splashes all over me.

I look down at myself, when I hear a gunshot. Then another. They don't stop until I hear five. The small blotches appear in my chest, and I look up with tired eyes.

Standing across from me, gun in hand, stands Michael.

"You murderous pig," he snarls. "I can't believe any of us ever trusted you, Locke."

The name.

I should've heard the name.

But before I can even process his words the floor beneath me disappears, and I'm free falling through the abyss.

I scream, flailing my arms and legs, when suddenly I erupt into a pool of water. Dark and salty, the cool burns my skin, setting my flesh aflame wherever it has direct contact.

I scratch at myself. My arms. My legs. My chest. Anything to get the feeling to go away.

But nothing happens the way I want it too.

Through the pitch blackness of the sea around me my skin lights up. Sparks and flames igniting my whole body. I scream, air bubbles floating away from my mouth, and I feel myself shooting downwards, oxygen slowly depleting, until my feet meet air. In the flash of a second, the rest of me catches up, and I fall into nothing once again.

The flames still flicking around me, I twist and turn, trying to put them out, but instead I land in a pile of coal. My flames start a bonfire, the orange heat spreading like a disease through the stones.

I'm in a chamber. A large rectangle, full of the light that erupts from my body.

In front of me, only meters away, is an exit. I begin to drag myself, pulling myself along the burning cobbles.

"Help," I rasp. "HeLp."

I pull myself closer to the entrance, but each metre is three more back. Soon the door is so far out of sight, that I collapse, the flames enveloping me in a terrifyingly familiar embrace.

My skin begins to sweat, soon melting off like candle wax, and I shift into a pool of flesh within the chamber...

I shoot upwards, my breaths coming heavy and fast. My chest heaves, a cold sweat sticking to my body. Rough hands push my hair out of the way, and I let out a whimpering sigh.

The nightmares should've gone away by now.

But nothing happens the way I want it too.

I slink out of bed, languidly making my way to the bathroom. Sloane's snores can be heard even behind the closed door, and however unbearable the sound is, it's my comfort at my darkest times.