A Mind Split

The Day Everything Changed

It was an average spring day in the city. Flowers were blooming and birds were singing. The sun shone and there were only a few cirrus clouds here and there. A male with light brown hair that was scraggly and flowed in the light breeze walked down the street to get to work. He wore a black trench coat and black dress shoes. His jade green eyes glistening in the sunlight as he stopped and looked up at the large building he worked at. It hadn't changed since yesterday but, somehow, today seemed like a good day. He walked in and entered the staff room. He made a cup of coffee and put a tablespoon of cream with 2 teaspoons of sugar. He grabbed one of the doughnuts that someone had bought for everyone and went to his room, sipping the coffee on the way. He set the coffee and doughnut on his desk before setting his bag down next to the desk and taking out some papers. He managed to finish grading papers before his class came in. He taught Calculus at a college in LA, California.

The day went on like any other and he started going home after all his students left. Juaquin had a wife named Maria. She was a beautiful, red-haired girl. Juaquin was 37 and Maria was 36. They had met in high school and stayed in touch all these years. They had finally gotten married about three years ago and maria was currently 8 months pregnant. The child could come at any moment, so Juaquin was in a big hurry to get home as he walked quickly down the streets of city. Wind was caught in his trench coat and hair as they blew around from his haste.

As he was passing an alleyway, Juaquin was suddenly grabbed and knocked unconscious by a metal pole. He awoke, screaming, to a burning pain in his back. He was in some kind of brick room with a cement floor and roof. Cages lined one wall and held a plethora of different animals. most of the animals were strange and seemed like things only known to fiction and fantasy. Along two of the other walls were random things that seemed to be mechanical and magical. He was tied to a metal chair, facing the opposite direction than you would normally sit. His green eyes glanced back at the black haired male. His hair had orange color on the tips and he wore a lab coat. His eyes were glowing red as he cut into Juaquin's back with a burning, red hot knife. The cuts were deep but precise. The other male clearly was doing something specific.

After two hours or so of pain, the other stopped and set the knife down before putting a liquid on one of the marks he made and saying some unknown words. It stung and hurt more than when he was being carved into. The other repeated this for each of the other twenty four marks, each with a different liquid and a different saying in an unknown language. When he finished, he knocked Juaquin out again and injected him with some things before dumping him into the alleyway he took him from.

Maria had gotten worried and was looking for Juaquin through the night. She saw a slight glow from an alleyway and went to investigate. A black trench coat covered a male who's back had glowing runes. She picked up the trench coat that she recognized as her husband's and gasped as she went wide eyed and dropped the trench coat, covering her mouth with her hands. What she saw was her husband, bloody all over, and with glowing cuts on his back. She dropped to her knees despite the small pool of blood that had formed and found that she couldn't move as she looked in horror at the sight she saw.

When Juaquin woke up, he was in an emergency room at a hospital. His back was bandaged and he was hooked up to an iv catheter to keep fluids in him. He looked around and saw Maria laying on a bed next to him. She was asleep. He tried to stand up but quickly laid back down as he felt stinging pain in his back. He kept trying and eventually sat up and took the iv catheter out of his left arm before standing up on the right side of the bed. He somehow felt fine now. He went to the bathroom attached to the room and closed the door. He slowly started to take of the bandages as he looked in the mirror to see what that crazy person had done to him.

Twenty five marks had been carved into his back. The scars were thin but deep and had stopped glowing and bleeding. He looked down and sighed before turning on the faucet of the medium sized sink and washed his face. He finished and dried his face of with a towel after turning off the water. He hung the towel back up nice and neat to be respectful.

He walked out of the bathroom and put on his trench coat that was hanging on a hook by the door. He walked over to Maria. "I'm sorry." He whispered, trying not to wake her, "I know you care about me, but I need to figure out what that man did to me. From what I saw in that room, it'll be safer for me to leave until I can know that I'm not going to be a danger to you and the child. I'll miss you two." He kissed Maria and then her stomach. "You'll never get to see this world, my little Rose." A single tear fell onto the soft shirt covering his wife's stomach as he smiled through his sadness. He walked to the door, looking back at the bed with Maria once more before quietly leaving.