Chapter 3: Stay Awake
+I think I can move my finger. A sharp flow of pain shortly seeps into my entire arm, pulsing. The air is heavy and damp, and my head feels like it's been hit by a truck. Do I smell gasoline?
I try to move my leg, and it soon scoots across the floor in a wet, sticky mess. Suddenly, it comes back to me. That...thing, it was coming after me. What was that? Lifting my arms off the ground, I unbearably claw my way out from under the burning rubble. A faint roar begins not too far away.
Suddenly, the door bursts into flames. Wrapping my arms around my head, I gasp with my weak lungs choking from the smoke.
I don't think I'm going to make it.
Collapsing in front of the door, I wearily make slow, small breaths. As the darkness conquers more and more of my sight, I notice something shining out in front of me. Somehow, it doesn't fit.
This light is a soft, ocean blue. It feels...somehow comforting. Part of me desperately wants to see what it was, but it seems too far out of my grasp. The doorway completely engulfed in flames. Even if I could somehow make it to the mysterious light, I would surly die from the heat.
Well, I'm going to die anyway, might as well feed my curiosity by chance.
I'm so tired...
Taking in all strength I have left, I shove my ton-weighing body towards the doorway. I can't breathe. The heat is eating at my skin, melting away everything. My body falls to the tile floor within an instant.
+The blue glow...it's in a cup. It's just a glass of blue liquid. For a moment, my eyes begin to blur, and the room is growing darker with each passing moment. I can't feel my arms or legs. The heat comes closer; I can practically feel the smoke in my eyes. My hand is already near the cup, but I can't find the strength to reach it. Another burst of flames erupts, a plank of wood collapses from the doorway, conveniently tipping the cup over, the luminous blue liquid spilling over the burnt and shattered floor. Resting my head on the hot ground, a rush of coolness soon takes place. I feel calm, and the heat is receding. Opening my eyes, the flames are gone. My weakness has vanished. The building stands in complete durability and silence. Hoisting my head up, I see the cup...
It's completely disincarnated, specks of black ash spilling where the blue liquid once flowed.
+Suddenly, it hits me. My casts are gone. That's impossible. How can I suddenly move around with no problem? Gazing amongst the deserted room, I couldn't see any other person there. Time seemed to stand still. No sound crept everything froze.
Millions of questions began to form in my head. Where did everyone go? Why didn't I die of blood loss?
Drip...
Wait. I can hear someone.
Drip...
No, it's water. It sounds like it's coming from the closet by the stairs. Slowly walking out of the strangely in-destructed office, I began creeping towards the door. I can hear it more clearly.
Drip...
Yeah, it's getting louder now.
DRIP...
My hand is on the heart of it, slowly cracking it open.
DRIP... DRIP...
The stained light makes the room a tint of revolting red-brown. Pulling away with my fingers tightly clasped over my nose, I nearly choke from the rotting stench. It seems as if someone or something died in there. A sloppy pile of black and red is heaping on the floor and shelves,
dripping...
Gaining enough courage, I can see the pile more clearly reaching closer. It looks like spilled carcass. But I can't tell because it's too grounded up. I can't bear the smell anymore. Slamming the door shut, gasping and running towards the opposite wall, the dripping becomes louder. I fall to the floor weak with disgust. I have to get out of here.
But I've never left the fourth floor before. How will I escape? Stuck in these infinite thoughts, something starts to move. It sounds like something is moving around at least, only because the dripping has stopped.
Suddenly, the closet door starts to rattle uncontrollably. Instinctively racing for the office, I realized the door trapped me in, my blood immediately running cold the minute I turned the knob. It starts to shake in the same manner. I slowly back away as black ooze begins to spill from underneath the shuddering doors. I feel a small gust of wind pass by me, causing me to turn and see a shadow sprint up the stairs, nothing more than a blur of black.
+Distracted by the dark figure, some of the black ooze hits my bare foot, dissolving into my skin, burning. Yelling out, I notice I can't move my foot anymore, it's completely paralyzed, falling to the ground, more of the black inkish ooze floods its way towards me. I begin to crawl my way towards the stairs to the second floor, when more of the black ink flows down the stairs like a fountain. Panic has taken over, there's nowhere to go, and soon I'll become eaten up by the black. Backing away towards the opposite wall, I watch as the liquid poured from the stairs and underneath the doors. Closing my eyes shut, I waited for the black to consume me.
A minute passes. Five minutes, and still, nothing happens.
Unexpectedly, I come to see the black ooze has disappeared, and all that remains is a jet-black mirror. I can barely make myself out, huddling by the wall on the floor. A sinister chuckle breaks the silence.
"You look even more pathetic than you did as a child." Turning, I come to see a man leaning on the wall not too far from me. He is wearing a long, brown coat and a straw hat that looked as if it ash painted it. Bits of black ash sprinkled in his red hair. His boots dripped with the black ooze staining the wall behind him. He looked like some kind of freaky scarecrow and somehow... familiar. Something told me that he was up to something serious...and evil.
"What," I asked unknowingly.
"You know you'd be far stronger and better off if you would just let it in."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb, " His voice grew impatient. "You know you've been fighting it off for years, and even when he's trying to get rid of you, you won't prove that you're worthy!"
" I really don't know what you are talking about. Who's trying to get rid of me? " A pair of angry, gleaming, yellow eyes soon faces their attention on me. His hand grips my collar and in the next second, dangling me off the ground, pinning me to the wall in a snarling rage.
"Father doesn't like questions." He snarled. His mouth looked like it was sewn shut, and cut open so he could talk. Gasping for air, I try to unlock his grip...but he's too strong. Face-to-face, now I know how he looked familiar. It was like staring into a mirror.
"T-this is c-c-crazy..." I manage to spurt out.
"Well, do you have your answer?" He asks again in an irritated manner.
"DO YOU?!" We slip past the opposite wall and he flings me across the room, never leaving his place. Liquid fills my mouth, coughing up red, I weakly turn towards the man terrified.
"What do you want from me?"
He kneels beside me. A sinister grin stitched upon his face.
"Will you or will you not let it in?"
"What...let what...in...?"
"His blood, your power"
"Whose blood," I ask, frightened.
"Father doesn't like questions."
"Why should I let him in?"
"Father saved you. He wants you to return the favor. He brought you life, and he can take it away if he chooses so."
"I don't trust Father." I spit back, aching and turning to my side. His smile disappeared.
"You won't hold on for long. When the time comes, you will kill. You can't fight what's inside." Standing above me, he looked down and said.
"When the transformation is complete, you'd better have your answer. Because if you don't..." His eyes flash a luminous yellow glow. Suddenly, his smile returns as he watches my feet.
"It's already starting to take control." Looking down at my numb foot, I could see it had turned frostbite black.
"You can't fight it now. You've already had a taste." He sounds excited. He sounds EXCITED. Did I just give into this maniac?
He's by the mirror now, getting ready for something. Instead, he steps away from the mirror, to let me look inside. The building was still set ablaze. And I was sprawled out on the floor, asleep. I was fighting, as if I was in a nightmare. He faces me again.
"...I can feel it..." Without warning, his feet began to sprout large tentacles of black, curling like weeds. They grew quickly, stretching out in fat, long swirls across the floor. They seemed to crowd against the wall and...melt into it. They were attaching themselves to the wall, like giant veins pulsing and growing faster with each second.
"W-hat what is this?! Who are you?" I shouted horrendously.
I noticed the blackness take hold of my legs and lift me up onto the wall, sticking me in place and tying me down.
"LET ME GO!"
"I can't Matthew. You're mine now..." He snickers.
I can feel my body growing numb. I was losing control. I can't even close my eyes. It's like a movie.
Staring at the mirror, I can see myself rising from the floor like a puppet on strings. Horrified, I was floating in midair, then let down to the ground in a second. Suddenly, my eyes shot open.
They were burning harvest moon yellow. A sinister smile stitched across my face, staring at me. Then, the room goes dark.
+Choking from the smoke in the air, I can only see my room. The image clears out from the hazy smoldering atmosphere. Instantly I reached out for my arms and legs, only to see they were in all right health. Looking around, I could see the room still stood despite the fire's effects on the building. The walls are still standing, sputtered with black bits just like the rest of the room. But the scarecrow...
Listening carefully, I can't hear anyone moving around. How did I get up here?
+Leaving into the hallway, I shield my face from the blinding light shining out the battered windows. Not even a few feet away and the hospital looks like it's abandoned. Like of it had been for years. Burnt doors are in heaps of smoldering ash, and the hallway is full of papers scattered around the floor.
"Matt..." A cheery voice echoed. Quickly catching a glimpse of the black figure, I started after it. We turned a corner, and I was losing my breath. I didn't realize how tired I had become. It was unnaturally fast for a thing that looked like a kid,
a shadow that looked like a kid.
It was heading for the stairs. I was only at arm's length to catch it. Grasping the collar of its shirt, the creature and I suddenly froze. It stood like a statue. Turning the child around, I saw that it was a girl.
It was same girl from my room.
Dropping my hands to my sides, gawking at the sight of her liveliness, she smiled and continued down the hall, as if we were just playing a game.
"Can't catch me," She called out.
Was it just a game?
Her long, auburn hair fell as she raced down the stairs, chanting,
"Can't catch me... can't catch me!"
Stepping in front of the staircase's door, I could barely see her already halfway down to the second floor.
"Come on, Matty. Stop being a slowpoke!" She stopped to tell from below, her smile growing more disturbing by the second. I knew I shouldn't trust her, but I had to get out of here. Resting my arm on the rail, I started down the stairs.
The floor was sucking me in. I gripped my sore fingers around the bar to keep me from falling. Kicking one of my legs to the top where the floor still stood I pulled myself to safety, my breath growing with each shiver of relief.
The ceiling had fallen and caused the stairs to collapse to a heaping wreck three floors underneath me.
She was trying to kill me.
"MAAAaaatty..." She giggled. I was beginning to feel strangely dizzy. As if I just ran miles and miles and just stopped.
"Come and plaaAAAAYYY,"
Everything was turning...red?
"Matty, why don't you wanna play?
The room was spinning as I got up. Trudging into the hallway, I tried to run from the voice as it chased me.
"MATTY, PLAY WITH ME!" Her voice grew impatient.
The hallway seemed to stretch out farther than I had intended it to be. Breath was growing scarce. I barely had enough energy to make it to the first door to escape.
It locked shut.
Frantically trying to open doors, her voice pounded in my sore ears, the red visions blurring more, making everything harder to see, harder to bear.
"PLAY WITH ME!"
Still locked, every door locked. They began to tremble at her fury. Up ahead, I could see a door slowly closing shut, I had a chance to make it. Running blindly up the hall, I could feel the hot air blow against my face making it harder to breathe. My hand reached far out to hold open the door.
"PLAY WITH MEEeeeee..."
Slamming the door, holding against the screaming voice with my back I tried to block out the horrible blaring, nearly tearing out my hair.
+The room around me seemed to come alive. Everything moved with my heartbeat ringing through my ears. Her voice faded, and all I could focus on was my bleeding hand. It seemed to be rarely interesting. Flowing in a clean, watery dribble down my palm, around my wrist like a ribbon, it bent and curved in a shimmering crimson wrap around my arm.
It was so beautiful. Now I realize that I'm thirsty. I'm so thirsty.
Taking it in, just letting it slip down my throat, wrapping it inside of myself like a neat little present, it tasted horrible. The aroma of copper made me sick usually. Before, I could hardly bear it. But I wanted more now.
Greedily slurping down more and more until there wasn't any left, I had to have more. It was like an addiction. I felt weak. I desperately needed more. I need it. Maybe if I could cut more open....just enough to...
Crashing to the floor, snapping me out of my sickening trance, the desk shoots out a million papers across the room. The light returned. Looking down at my hand, a trickle of fresh blood dripped onto the floor. Watching it, I noticed a piece of stained paper right in front of me. It was an information sheet. I didn't know this man. I must've come into the room where they keep everyone's records.
Even my own...
Rummaging through the continuous piles of scattered papers, I searched for the one containing my own past. Maybe this could remind me. I could finally remember! Excitement begins to run in me.
Hours pass, and still no sign of my papers. I'm about to give up hope, when I spot the name MIDNIGH. Looking down at the information I could only find reasonable:
MIDNIGH, MATTHEW October, 24, 2001
AGE: 8
Gender: M
Blood Type: O-
Complexion: Fair
Eye Color: Emerald
Hair Color: Red
Condition: Severe Schizophrenia (Unclassified)
Basis of Registration:
Strange dreams causing trauma, and harm to self. Talks in sleep, insecure fear.
-Excused from operation therapy until further notice.
Parental Visitation: Terminated
Resides: Block 408
Farrah Midnigh Kenneth Midnigh
Farrah Midnigh Kenneth Midnigh
Farrah and Kenneth, they're my parents. The hospital wouldn't let me see them. I wonder why? Turning to the next page, it shows more of my health information and an address:
204 West Greendale, Redwire, OH
This is where they live. I've got to find them. Maybe they'll know what's going on here. Rising from the floor, I head towards the door, slowly check to find the little girl and find that the hall is empty. Walking quickly towards the stairs, I come to a realization. The stairs collapsed, and it's too far down to jump out of the window. Trying one of the doors, the stubborn knob answers my question.
Knowing the stupidity of the act, I open the door to the stairs and find them in perfect condition. I nudge my foot to kick a shard of ceiling, and it passes right through the steps, revealing its true form. Gazing down towards the destruction, I saw that climbing down off the edges of fallen stairs was my only chance of escaping. The windows were too small to climb out of, and tying sheets together to climb down would have been perfect: if it weren't for the fact the doors were locked.
Gripping the sides of the stairs, I slowly made my way down. Slipping on loose bits of cement, I had to try my best to ignore the sweat pouring from my shaking palms, squeezing tightly on shards of broken glass and wood. Blood stingingly seeps down my arms and legs, but I have to resist.
One wrong move and I plunder to my death.
I'm halfway towards the bottom. My arms are growing sore and my mouth is very dry. Shaking, I take another inch more below. Sweat dribbles down my hot face. It's growing harder to see the more I descend.
My foot touches something hard.
Gasping, hitting the sharp points of wood and ceiling I let out a yell and quickly stand. A small flow of light reaches towards me. Pulling apart planks of wood, I only have enough strength to create a small entrance, hardly big enough to get out of here.
+Squeezing past the blackened debris a puff of ashy smoke whishes past my hair making me squint with the dust blowing in my eyes. I scrape myself out of the small hole. Everything on me, stained in cinders. And every part of my body is stinging with thin, red and white lines. Staring out into the open, I can s recognize this as the hospital's lobby. The chairs and sofas lay completely disincarnated, chunks of burnt cotton spread across the floor. The doors are smashed open, and the walls and floors are scattered with debris. Walking out the front door, taking the piece of paper out of my pocket I began my way towards home. Not exactly how I pictured leaving this place. But what matters now is finding out why I was brought here.