My Little Decoy

♪ Explain to Me ♪ {30}

"Explain to me
This conspiracy against me
And tell me
How I lost my power." -Conspiracy

I was floating. Drifting, more like. With my hands spread out to my sides and my eyes relaxingly shut, I drifted through unconsciousness and white surroundings. It was empty in my mind, desolate and lonely, and I was happy about it.

For once there were no thoughts raging and attacking; I was peacefully submissive in my own bubble. It had been a long time since I was able to sleep like that, without any fear or speculation of what was going on in the real world. I was a feather on a scale of madness.

Something crackled in my dreamscape and I opened my eyes, no longer seeing just the plain vanilla but a black crack towards the top. It grew larger, a horrible cracking noise as it expanded, and soon the voices began to filter in from outside. From reality.

"Blake." A muted voice growled, tinged with anger and annoyance. The conversation seemed to have been going on for a while.

"Yeah?" I didn't even recognize his voice, low with contempt, it was distinguishable from his usual cheerful tone.

"You're being stubborn."

"I can see that."

"Just tell me where you were earlier today."

"Here." His voice replied simply but I knew that tone anywhere. It was one I was too accustomed to that I naturally tried to pick out whenever someone spoke to me. Fear. Blake was afraid.

It didn't occur to me whether or not I was still fast asleep, trapped in unconsciousness or tottering between the void into awakening. It must have been been somewhere in between because I had that falling sensation and awareness that I could tap into the outside world.

"Thousands of people, Blake. The program was seen by thousands of people, expecting to see Tilted Reality but instead we had to cancel your performance because their drummer wasn't there. Think about your reputation, damn it!" I was starting to feel a little hot, a little choked and warm.

"It was just one slip-up."

"One slip-up?" The voice growled. "Do you know how many setbacks this brings to the plan? If we're going to dominate the music industry, you have to listen to what I say-"

"None of us agreed to this!" Blake yelled back and I felt like shrinking back. I had never heard him sound so angry; it wasn't just mild irritation like when he bantered with Zeke, it was ice cold fury that sent me up in blazes. Though whoever the man was that Blake was talking to remained indifferent.

"You didn't have to," said the other man. "Because you all belong to me."

There was a deafening silence. There was a door slam. And then there was nothing. I snapped awake.

The first thing I realized that I could only still see white. It was crosshatched and dark, my air constricted by the warmth. A dull pain erupted towards the left side of my head and the delay took me a moment to realize I was underneath a blanket.

A loud crash exploded from the kitchen area, making me jolt and throw the blanket off, immediately wincing at the sunlight streaming through the open windows. It was dull and orange, showing signs of the setting sun and looming evening.

"Fuck." Blake's voice cried out in pain. Stumbling off the couch, I blindly look around before stumbling towards the kitchen where the crash and his voice sounded. Nearly tripping on a drum stick, I glanced over the counter and bit back a wince.

Strewn over the floors were assorted plates, all broken and scattered in pieces, destroyed like how the boy kneeling on the floor in front of me looked like. He had one hand cradling his arm, which had a nasty gash on the side, dripping with blood that splashed onto the whitewashed tiles.