Sweat dripped from my flaming skin, the sheets felt like sandpaper beneath my body. Horrifying visions clouded my memory, sending waves of panic and confusion through my entire body so heavy I didn't even realize I was awake. My breath was rapid, my heart was racing like that of a mouse; I couldn't make sense of who or where I was.
Then the calming voice of reality brought me up to earth. My surroundings became familiar to me, even in the darkness of the middle of the night. My breath began to steady and my heart regulated, but the panic still in my heart told me I wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon.
I removed the covers from my sweaty body and made my way, almost blindly, to the door of my bedroom. Just as I reached for the door handle, I heard the muffled sound of voices. I pressed my ear against the wood of the door, hoping to hear then more clearly, but the muffling did not stop.
Quietly and carefully, I opened the door, making my way down the stairs and through the hall. Now that I could hear, one of the voices was definitely Mark's.
Why on Earth would he have someone over at this time of night?!
"Come on Markimoo, stop being such a wuss. Just do it already!" One voice scolded, it sounded like Mark, but...darker. Much darker, almost demonic. A shudder rolled up my spine - any thoughts of a secret girlfriend of his shattered at the rich depth and timbre of the voice in the room before me.
"Or should I say, do her already?"
I recoiled away from the doorway, almost catching my foot on the edge of a corner heading into the hallway before bracing myself on the wall, forgetting to breath. The only sound that accompanied was a soft thump, but it was enough that... whatever it was noticed.
"What was that?"
Sounds of what seemed to be a struggle echoed into the space, juggling in between my brain and my actual thoughts; I couldn't make myself budge even a centimeter.
"Will you stop?"
Another thrash - it sounded like someone was trying desperately to get through the door and still I couldn't raise even a toe to get out of the way of imminent danger and the weird possession that was happening on the other side. It all seemed disconnected, disjointed with what I knew - at least what I thought I knew - about reality.
"This would be so much easier if you would just let me in, Markimoo. It wouldn't be so - ggrkchhj;l -" Something crashed in the room, and I scrambled up to the doorknob, almost gripping it before another something banged against the opposite side of the wall. "- see, this is what I'm talking about. You always - aaaAARGH - fight so hard, just relax for a second!"
His breath seemed to tear out of his chest; I could hear every agonized rip out of his lungs. For a moment, there was silence except for the heaving opposite of me. I tried to pick just one thought of the millions fleeting away and out of my brain - none of it made sense.
"Now," The same voice rumbled through the floorboards, which had come to an uncomfortably silent halt, "it seems that we've got our work cut out for us." A creak towards the door.
My heart stopped. Oxygen flowing in and out of my lungs came to a screeching stop. The short few seconds before the door opened was spent cursing myself over and over for ever getting out of bed.
"She's practically begging for it,"
And the door swung open. I expected to be faced with a complete stranger, the face belonging to the mysterious voice on the other side of the door, but no; I was greeted with the face I had been living with for weeks.
"Hey, gorgeous."
Those deep pools of dark-cinnamon swirls seized the depth and heaviness of one thousand untold stories, screaming danger, mischief, and everything that Mark was not. His eyes scanned my body, like I was a piece of meat he was ready to devour at any second.
My eyes left his horrifying gaze for a fraction of a second to look behind him--there was no trace of another living soul in the room with him.
"If you're looking for Mark,"
He said, the name pinging around in my head like something I should have known, striding forward another step and further pinning me to the wall without even laying a finger on me.
"You're going to have to leave a message,"
Menacingly, he strode further towards me, reaching a hand forward and making me flinch before he spread his fingers onto the wall behind me. He leaned closer, almost growling, his eyes glinting strangely in the dim light.
"He'll get it... later."
For a moment I thought my lungs had collapsed; somehow the goofy Mark had turned into this... creature, all wicked grins and intimidation. I splayed my fingers onto the wall behind me, reminding myself that if I screamed loud enough, someone would hear. Right? Almost as if fighting something internally, Mark winced, grimacing, shaking his head and pulling away from me, stumbling against the opposite wall. I made to take a step, and he inhaled sharply, back in my face.
"Hold it, sweet cheeks"
Disgusted, I turned around to him bearing down on me again. SWEET CHEEKS?!!! This guy was DEFINITELY not Mark. I'm pretty sure the guy couldn't be smooth if he tried, although... I shook my thoughts away, weighed the thought of fighting him versus running from him, and which would actually leave me alive and well.
"I'm not finished with you yet."
But I'm finished with YOU, BUDDY -
"Who are you?"
My voice was shaky and quiet, but I held onto any sort of confidence I had left in my body--which was in short supply in the first place. He continued to shrink the distance between the two of us,
"No one of consequence,"
The feeling of his breath made me wince, jerking my head away from him and out of his paralyzing gaze. Without warning, his freezing hand wrapping around my wrist, claiming it as his and wrenching me forward, forcing the eye contact once again.
"It's rude to not look at someone when they are talking, doll face."
I pulled against his grip to no avail; he had NO plans on letting me go anytime soon. What gave Mark—or whoever this was—the right to grab me like this?
Nothing did. Absolutely nothing.
"As I was saying,"
He sneered, bring me back to focus on the situation at hand.
"I am no one you need fear, unless, of course, you're afraid of the dark."
I wanted to escape. I wanted to get as far away from his grasp as I could. My mind thought back to my previous idea of shouting. Someone HAS to hear me, but would anyone believe me?
Contradicting my own mind, I opened my mouth to let out an earth shattering scream that would have ruined someone's night, but something stopped me. And that something was this stranger's frigid hand.
"Tsk tsk tsk, naughty naughty, love. We don't want you straining that beautiful voice of yours," a smirk appeared on his lips, he leaned in closer to me, his breath now tickling my ear, "unless I'm the cause of that."
Nope Nope NOPE.
Memories from taking kickboxing in junior high suddenly kicked in, allowing me to rip my wrist from his grip and step back into a fight-ready stance. Like the wind.
A look of surprise appeared on his face for a fraction of a second, but soon fell back into that stomach churning smirk, making me feel exposed on the spot and immediately regret my decision. His menacing laugh chased away any previous thoughts I had that I could take this guy.
"Feisty, I like it."
"Who are you? What have you done with Mark?"
He rolled his eyes, his voice shooting up an octave as he mocked me, "Mark Mark Mark Mark, do you talk about anything else?"
Keeping my distance, I gave him a look of confusion; also mixed with fear, frustration, and a million other emotions that were called for in a situation like this. But when I thought about it, had anything like this ever happened before?
"Oh, don't play stupid, sweet cheeks," he insulted, making me even more angry, "it's painfully obvious to all of us, except Mark, that you have a thing for him."
All of us?
"What do you mean?"
His lips slanted into a smirk for the millionth time in our short conversation, "Ah, so you don't know, you haven't figured it out. You stupid, stupid girl."
Offended, I slowly lowered my clenched fists, "What are you talking about?"
The dark figure that was supposed to be Mark leaned closer, if possible, our noses just centimeters apart.
"Mark isn't the only one living here," His breath washed over my face, nauseating me in it's familiarity when the one I wanted to see was suddenly gone. Confused, I pressed my head further against the wall, breaking eye contact for a split second before being brought promptly back to the present by his menacing gaze.
"Still not getting the message?" He scoffed, making me feel even smaller, "Of course not. Why would I ever think that someone who needs ickle Marky to take care of them would be able to figure this out?"
Gritting my teeth, I went to make a retort, then was quickly silenced by the same low tones,
"Ah ah ah, don't try and deny it, princess. Oh, you're so cute when you're mad," Suddenly he was pinning my clenched fists to my sides, too strong for me to successfully resist as I went to make a swing at him. This definitely wasn't Mark - I'd never felt so helpless in my life. He bent closer as I squirmed, trying to get his hands off of me,
"Let... GO, you -"
He didn't hesitate, continuing to invade my personal space as I wriggled, feeling my chest collapse inwards as I thought of the ramifications of being alone with this creep with no one to hear me scream...
"I can see why Mark likes you so much."
I froze, a metallic taste echoing around in my mouth bitterly. Right as I was about to tear into him with some words of my own, his fingers dug into my arms, sending arcs of pain shooting up to my shoulders as he abruptly moaned, squeezing his eyes shut and doubling over. Whimpering a sudden acknowledgment of the pain I was in only caught his crazed attention more; his head snapped upwards and his strange eyes glinted maniacally. His gritted teeth grin only furthered my discomfort as I tried in vain to pull away; he dug his fingers further into my skin and yanked me closer,
"You don't know anything about Mark," He gasped breathlessly, his eye twitching as he seemed to battle internally with something beyond my reach, chilling my blood with the next words he growled,
"But you will."
And he collapsed to the ground, spasming like some possessed being from a horror movie I suddenly found myself starring in.
Gaping open-mouthed, I stood frozen for a split second, indecision between seeing if Mark was even still there, if he was even real anymore, and not wanting a replay of whatever that was. After a moment's silence, Mark, or whoever he was, moaned on the ground, and that was decision enough for me.
I bolted all the way up the stairs and into my bedroom, jamming the lock closed as I heard a trembling, familiar voice call,
"(Y/n)?"
The horror hit me like a truck, as if my reaction to whatever the heck just happened was delayed five minutes. Anxiety spread through my body, making me breathless and unable to stand on my own two feet—an all too familiar feeling. I curled into a ball right in front of my door, not even having the strength or will to crawl back to my bed.
I heard the desperate calls of Mark, though I was not certain of who he was anymore, just outside my door. He pleaded for me to open the door and let him explain, but I made no movement. His cries and the knocking ceased after a while, only to be replaced with the sound of his knees making harsh contact with the hardwood floors.
"Please," he whispered, sounding on the brink of tears, "I'm sorry. That wasn't me."
His inconsolable whines became my grim lullaby as I drifted off into the nightmare world of my own mind.
~~~
Oooooo stuff is getting real.
Huge thanks to @levinbend for helping me with this chapter! <3