“Wake up... wake up... WAKE UP!!! That scream in my head made me open my eyes and jump up from where I was laying. I took a look around and couldn't remember where I was. I tried to stay standing but 3 out of my 6 legs were too week, so I fell on the floor again. Wait, I have 6 legs? I look down and only saw 2, so why am I feeling like I have 6?
donottrytothinktoohardabouthisyouwillonlygettired.
I decided to try to stand again, forcing myself to look at my legs while I was doing it, and could get up easily. I think I'm getting used to this 2 legs ideia, I feel like I have been flying like this all my life. Wait, I'm flying? As soon as I think that, I hit the floor again and all my 6 legs hurt.
trynottothinkabouthisifyouwanttogetout.
Get out, seems like a good ideia. Look for a way out, a window, a door, a hole. There's a weird shape on the wall, just above the tall blind man. Wait, I'm not alone in here? How did I not see this man before? Why he only has 2 legs? I blink and he is gone, a door behind him. The shape of the wall is the shape of the keyhole. My fingers are in this shape too. I put my finger in the keyhole and the door opens…”
Behind the closet door lies a dark room. So dark, in fact, that the light from my bedroom couldn’t penetrate it. I couldn’t make out the shape of the room, the size, or even if it was a room at all. Was this a closet, or was this a chasm of emptiness and woe? A chill went down my spine.
“Darn it, what now?” I said, stamping my bare foot on the floor. A small but cool, frozen flame burst into a roaring existence, hovering just inches above my head. It wasn’t uncomfortable. The warmth actually reassured me a little bit, at least until I saw the illuminated room in front of me.
This room was large, like an abyssal, empty warehouse. But the room was not empty; I could make out large shapes in the distance. Cautiously I decided to investigate. I inched closer to the shadowy shapes. That’s when I noticed the piles. The room was filled to the brim with bodies.
Bodies...bodies everywhere. They lay in various heaps on the floor, undulating and writhing in an otherworldly mass of plastic and flesh. Mannequins...of me... Each pile looked different; some had long appendages; some were missing their legs entirely; some laughed while others cried. They came in every color and hue, every size and shape, every permutation or action a body could take on. I looked closer at their hideous forms. “Look inside yourself,” they whispered in cacophonous unison. They looked back at me, staring into my very soul, dragging me deeper in with them. Was I trapped in my head, or was my consciousness trapped in the very fiber of my being. Did it really matter? At this point, I was along for the ride, there was no fighting the pull. My doppelgangers opened their mouths wide, blinding me with white light.
A flash of white light. Then darkness. Then white again. I was back home...on the street outside my house. Night time. There were people inside, my loved ones, my wife and parents, sitting around my dinner table; faceless. They were all staring at me, at least I assume they were staring at me, accusing. I could feel their gaze piercing my body, leaving holes in my corporeal form. At least I think it was my corporeal form. I felt no pain. Was this real or in my head? I’d find out one way or another. My body was slowly disintegrating from the inside-out. It didn’t hurt, though. In fact, it felt rather nice; cathartic almost. Then Nothing.
Nothing. Now there was Nothing. No more pain. No more thoughts. No more impulses. My dark side was gone. They had burned it out of me. Only the good remained. Only happiness remained.
A poke in my back. I turned around. My shadow grabbed me, prying open my mouth, trying to worm its way back inside my head. I clamped down my teeth, I wouldn’t let it torment me. I refused to let it share my body, not again. I shoved it away. The shadowy form shifted; an amorphous blob of evil and malintent. It sunk into the asphalt and began to slither its way toward me.
“You need me. I keep you safe. I stop the Pain. I stop the Hurt.”
“No!” I commanded “You have no place here! Not anymore!!”.
The holes in my body radiated a righteous light. I began to hover above the ground. Armor descended from the heavens: the Armor of God. I opened my mouth and shouted The Word, light emanating from my mouth toward my reverse entity; toward the darkness. It dissolved in the flash of light.
I fell to the ground, exhausted from my triumph. Body pierced, worn down to my very being, I wondered if this was a pyrrhic victory. My light that shone through my body closed up the holes and returned my strength, and I stood up. I turned to walk back to my home, back inside where my loved ones would be waiting for me, but it was gone. There was nothing where my house used to sit. No rubble, just nothing; it’s as if they had all just turned their backs and walked away.
All the people and homes on my street had disappeared, as if forsaking me and my triumph. I turned around. The forest was desolate. There was nobody left but me. They were all gone. All alone.
“WAKE UP” I shouted, trying to wake from this waking nightmare, back to the normalcy I cherished. But there was no waking up, I was not asleep. I was alone. Had they left or had my battle pushed them away? There was no telling. All I know is that I’m now all alone.
Nods to @fireguardian for the writing prompt! Very Kafka-esque: @fireguardian/contest-crossover-storytelling-pob-wotw