Two days passed before Syler could see Lauren again, but in those days he ended up getting interviewed for the position for the job that he was hoping for, along with Zane's help. Syler was hoping dearly that he would get it so he could waste his time in less self-destructive ways, but he knew that was almost impossible, as Syler was good at self-sabotage in so many senses. He was just happy to finally have money to buy cigarettes and other things he may want.
Lauren had texted him that morning and asked about him and if he was ok, as his absence concerned her, which Syler wasn't ready for. He'd never actually been asked if he was ok by anyone. It was an alien term in his brain, but it made him feel good that someone cared enough about his well-being that they asked about him. He had never actually liked pity or sympathy really, so he did tend to keep anything that would cause pity to himself, and only recently felt he could share with anyone, and that was a breakthrough to him. The dreams on the other hand, those remained within himself.
Syler had fallen asleep after another sleepless night of smoking on the roof until his lungs felt like they were dying. The whole puking situation the day prior didn't help the feeling either. He was prepared for the dreams, as he slowly started to become accustomed to them more and more. They weren't nearly as terrifying to him as they once were, he was never phased by the hooded creature's killing sprees, or the cleansing acts, it all seemed normal to Syler now. Syler tossed and turned for a couple of minutes before he finally forced himself to sleep.
The creature was sitting on the rock, which was by the cliff that faced the moon. It seemed almost dead, unmoving. The wind was rustling its' clothing. The hooded creature seemed serene for a little bit, almost as if it was calmed down from anything. The silence felt deafening to the creature, and it looked down at the cliff below. The fall was far beyond what anyone could survive, it was deep, and the pitch blackness of the hole seemed to haunt anyone who looked down it. It caused many people's hearts to just race, but the importance of this hole, no one knew.
The creature stood up after a couple of moments and its' head was turned to the moon. Syler knew what was going to happen, it happened every time. The creature began to roll up it's sleeves and watched the weak pulsing of maggots through its' veins. It soon began to take the energy of the moon. The moon grew darker, and it began to deepen the craters already in the surface of it. This was a new observation, but the craters got deeper as the creature sapped its' energy. The eyes of the hooded creature began to glow the familiar deep red shade, and the creature let a toothy smile cross its' mouth. Its' teeth glinted in the dull moonlight. Its' heartbeat was louder than anything that was ever heard, it beat through the silence that already seemed to deafen anything around it. The creature walked through the forest, embracing the power it had received. Then it happened again, the pulsing of the maggots through its' veins. The creature felt the squirm as if they were trying to break its' skin and get out. The creature knelt near a tree, took out it's dagger and began to slice along its' veins to release the maggots that were furiously trying to break the skin of the creature. The wound that the hooded creature created was just big enough for the maggots to squirm out, covered in blood they made their way out of the veins of the hooded creature and onto the floor, where they lay and squirm, writhing in the blood that was shed with them. The hooded creature watched them for a little before it put its' dagger away. It was always fascinated by them and how they kept coming back into its' body, but it never questioned it, it refused to, nature was nature, and it would stay that way. The creature let the wound drip blood for a couple of moments before pulling its' sleeve down again. It heard rustling in the leaves, which scared it, or at least startled it. The creature laid its' fingers on its' dagger to make sure it had defense enough in case the danger had come back to it.
The rustling grew closer, and the hooded creature became more terrified of itself. It stood by the tree, the same one where the maggots were dying in its' blood. It looked around at the clearing that it was in, right before the forest. The heartbeat grew louder now, almost jumping through the chest of the hooded creature, well that's what it felt like. The creature took a stance of defense, as if it was ready to attack if it needed to. The rustling stopped for a second, which made the hooded creature sense more danger, and it grew even more anxious and even more ready to attack. Out of the trees there walked a person, someone the creature deemed dangerous, it sensed the danger on the person, or at least the threat the person held to it. It seemed as if the person wanted to try and stop it from the nightly deeds it did, but the hooded creature wanted to continue, it felt so much power in this habit, and stopping it seemed pointless. The hooded creature used its' dark clothing to mask itself in the dull glow of the moon, and it followed the person closely, looking for ways to attack before the threat could stop it from doing what it does. The hooded creature snuck from behind and it grabbed a hold of the midsection of the threat. It pulled the threat towards it, breathing into the face of the threat.
You will not stop me, I cannot be stopped. I am here to cleanse this world and take this vessel.
The hooded creature stuck two of its' fingers down the throat of the threat. The threat gagged and the hooded creature refused to stop, it shoved its' fingers down the threat's throat again, and the threat puked. The creature didn't stop, even as maggots started to be found in the vomit. The hooded creature forced the threat to puke again, and then it reached down the throat of the threat and it pulled up the intestines of the threat. There were screams, but those were muted from the hand of the hooded creature. The heart of the threat began to die out, and once the intestines ripped from the system and pulled from the threat's throat with the hands of the hooded creature. The heartbeat of the threat died out and the body fell to the floor, limp, and the hooded creature was victorious. It watched the maggots writhe and die out in the puddles of puke that now littered the ground, the moon began to pull its' strength back, and the creature went back onto it's rock by the cliff before it lost everything.
Syler awoke in yet another puddle of sweat, and his throat burned as if it was on fire. He looked at the clock on his desk. 3 pm. He had slept for six hours, which felt long compared to his usual three to four. The dream felt just as much real as everything else, and it really shook him. This one was worse than any of the rest that he's had in the past. Syler got up slowly, trying not to puke and he opened the window as fast as possible to air out his room and hopefully dry up the humid air that seemed to swallow him. He wrung his hair out from the sweat, as this was an ungodly amount even to his standards of night sweating. He pulled a small handful of hair out, and he knew it was starting. The true downfall, his body was starting to slowly die. Which made him feel sort of bittersweet. He wanted it to happen, but he wanted it to go slower than it was happening. He wanted to suffer, truly. It was punishment for existing to him.
Syler went into the bathroom and decided to shower, as he felt disgusting, he smelt disgusting, and even if the fear was too much, it was better than being drenched in sweat. He undressed himself and before he could go into the shower he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He realized he had lost weight, he didn't know how, but it sort of made him look twice, another thing he could use to suffer from. Low weight, it would cause more pain, and that's all he wanted, he felt that pain was all he deserved really. He then quickly got into the shower and washed his body of the sweat and any other thing that might've gotten on it, and he quickly got out of the shower and got dressed in some basketball shorts and a shirt. He put his hair into a bun while it dried, and then he walked back into his room and listened to some Code Orange and wrote a little bit of what he remembered from the dream. Half an hour passed before he heard a knock on his door.
"Syler, you awake yet, mom's freaking out a little over here." Jess said, and Syler turned down the music.
"Yeah, sorry I got distracted with stuff." Syler fibbed, and Jess gave him a sort of "I don't believe that but ok" look.
"Yeah, sleeping because you spent the night on the roof again," She said and Syler turned red. "By the way, how do you not fall?" She asked.
"Well, I guess I sit more on the sill, it's fun, you should try it. Please, don't tell mom, she's already on my tail about everything else." Syler explained, and Jess agreed.
"Well only if you go eat because mom is freaking out again." Jess said and Syler said.
"She will not give up on that will she?" Syler asked and Jess shook her head.
"Trust me, it's all just a mess, go, before anything else happens." Jess said and Syler slowly trudged downstairs. He walked into the kitchen, trying to act normal, well more as if he wasn't severely annoyed. He made another bowl of dry cereal and took it upstairs with him. His mom glared at him, but she said nothing, as she was relieved he was at least eating something.
There was a text from Lauren, which made Syler happy, he looked at it and smiled. She had agreed to visiting later, after his mom was going to be working, so they'd have the house alone. Syler was now just waiting for his mom to leave, which usually happened at 3:45 or so. He listened from his door, and heard her washing up in the bathroom and grabbing her keys at 3:49. He texted to Lauren that she was allowed to come over whenever, and then he waited while listening to Code Orange again.
Time passed quickly for him it seemed, and he realized he still had his untouched bowl of cereal on his desk. Syler sighed and ate some of it, knowing he'd need something of the energy, otherwise he'd just fall asleep on Lauren. The time started to pass slowly, as Syler started to anticipate the doorbell more and more. His brain began to create images again, the hooded creature choking out the lady from the dream Syler had the night before, the guts of the lady being pulled out. It made Syler shiver, he wanted the image to leave his head, but it played over and over again. The constant re-playing made Syler feel sick, which, with his weak stomach, caused him to run over to the toilet and puke. Syler sat by the toilet, the room reeked strongly of vomit that was mainly stomach acid and some undigested cereal. The sour taste seemed to burn Syler's mouth, but he couldn't find the energy to stand for a second. His heart was beating faster than he was used to, palpitating really, and it started to scare Syler. He heard the doorbell ring shortly, so he quickly washed up and ran down the stairs to open the door for Lauren. His heart was beating nervously now, along with the feeling of butterflies in his aching stomach. He unlocked the door and opened it. Lauren looked up.
"Yo." She greeted him. He smiled.
"Hey." Syler awkwardly greeted her back, and she stepped inside, and Syler shut the door. He looked around awkwardly.
"Dude, you want a cig?" Lauren asked, and Syler nodded. That was all he really wanted, especially after puking and after the dreams.
"Hell yeah." Syler said, and Lauren handed him one, and then she placed one between her own lips.
"I guess it's returning the favor from when you gave me one." Lauren explained her actions. Syler pulled his lighter from the pocket of his shorts, lit his cigarette, and then lit Lauren's. The two walked outside and sat on the porch to smoke. Syler realized that the arm that he tended to burn was uncovered, so he made sure to hide it from Lauren's sight. She looked up at the sky, which was clear, blue, and something Syler truly loved.
"You ever been to a hardcore show?" Lauren asked, suddenly, and Syler shook his head. He always had wanted to, but he never found a chance to.
"Not yet, but I've always wanted to." Syler said, and Lauren took a drag and the smoke was exhaled through her nose, winding through her piercings. Syler found this extremely attractive, just as he did Lauren.
"Well, there's some bands coming to the Garage in a day or so, I was wondering if you wanted to go." Lauren suggested to Syler, and Syler's mouth formed into a small smile, he was happy with this suggestion, it would give him a chance to get closer to Lauren, which is all he wanted.
"I'm down, how much and at what time?" Syler asked, and Lauren looked up the details on her phone.
"At six tomorrow, and it's 10$ to get in." Lauren said.
"Sweet, I'll plan for it." Syler said, and the two were silent for a bit, as they smoked their cigarettes down. He watched Lauren play with her ears, which were easily stretched larger than a zero in gauge size. Syler had always wanted stretch his own ears, but his mother would never allow it, nor would his father, so he hoped to do it once he turned 18.
"Do they hurt?" Syler asked, and Lauren looked confused.
"Does what hurt?" Lauren asked, her voice questioning, and Syler motioned toward her ears.
"Your plugs." He explained and Lauren shrugged.
"Nah, really only the first few times I sized up, but it got easier as they got larger." She explained to him and Syler nodded in understanding.
"I've been wanting to stretch, but I'm not sure yet." Syler said and Lauren looked over.
"Let me see your earlobes, sometimes they're not fit for stretching." She told him. Syler put his hair behind his ear.
"That makes sense." He said, and Lauren took a couple of seconds to look at the sizing of Syler's earlobe.
"I'd say you could manage up to a double zero, but anything more would just rip." Lauren said and Syler smiled.
"That's the highest I was planning to go anyway." He said.
"Well, how many years until you're 18?" She asked.
"One, well at least in a few days it will be, my birthday is on Thursday, and I'll finally turn 17." Syler said.
"Ah, I'm slightly older then, I guess, I'm 17, turned 17 back in March." Lauren said.
"Ah, that's pretty cool. I don't know, the whole adulthood thing scares me really." Syler confessed, and Lauren agreed before pulling out another cigarette. She lit it and took a long drag from it.
"The future is a scary place for sure, but I assure you, it's not as bad as people make it out to be." She said, and offered Syler another cigarette, he gladly accepted it and quickly lit it up.
"Yeah, oh, um, by the way, please make sure to dispose of your cigarette buds and trash in one of the trash cans not near the house, mom would freak out if she knew of the fact that people have smoked by the house." Syler said, and Lauren nodded.
"We can do that in a bit for sure." She said, and the two sat in silence again and smoked. Syler wanted to burn his skin with the bud again, but he didn't have a way of covering up the burnt skin afterwards, so it took all of his efforts to not burn his skin.
"Sorry, it's just, I don't want my mother freaking out over me more than she already does." Syler apologized, and Lauren exhaled the smoke from the drag she had just taken.
"No, no, man I get you, my mom was the same for a while, she's better now, but she was, I swear, always breathing down my neck about my habits, I get it." Lauren sympathized and Syler smiled at her.
"Ah, yeah, I get it. It's hard really, because I'm old enough to not have someone breathing down my neck every few minutes about my eating or about my bad habits. She used to get on me about my sleeping habits and she sort of gave up on that." Syler explained.
"Sleeping? What's your poison there?" Lauren asked, curious.
"Insomniac really, I rarely sleep for more than six hours I swear." Syler said.
"I remember I did that, started on Melatonin and it's helped." Lauren explained, and Syler inhaled from his cigarette again, then exhaled the smoke.
"Medication is the last thing I want right now, really." Syler said, and Lauren nodded.
"I get you there man, then don't worry about it, it was just sort of a testimony I guess." Lauren apologized.
"Yeah, I've already been destroying myself in so many ways, I'd rather not take any meds that could destroy me more." Syler explained.
"Yeah man, same here." Lauren sympathized. Syler felt so in love with Lauren, he felt a connection that he never had felt before, and it was a sort of lust towards her, which he had never experienced either. He wanted to kiss her or something, he was still confused with himself, he just wanted Lauren, in some way he could never actually comprehend. He felt so confused with himself.