Decent Into Madness
The year is 2279, the world lies in shambles, never knowing a moment of peace. There is constant war, death, famine, and strife. You could say that the four horse-men of the apocalypse are riding. There is long periods of this chaos with a very rare and brief periods of calmness between the few nations that remained. Very few nations still stand in one piece, yet in some of the more remote cities, some tranquility exists there. And yet, even with all that is going on, there are two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister, who are trying to find a place to belong to. They have no where to go, their home caught in the middle of a battle. The parents, sacrificed themselves to ensure their escape, but before the siblings loss, the father spoke to his son as the soldiers surrounded their home. As their mother said good bye and finally convinced them to go ahead, the father pulled his son aside.
"Thomas my son, promise me this, you will take care of your sister no matter what will happen to us. I don't care what you have to do, but please, please keep her as safe and as happy as you can. Your old enough to endure this. But your sister however, will have a long road ahead of her to recover from this. Please don't take this wrong, but we couldn't be more proud of you two then we are now. Unfortunately though, I feel as this may be the last that we will ever see of each other again. Please don't be sad, we will always be with you. I know it may be selfish of me to give you this burden, but if your Mother and I don't survive and you abandon your sister Emily, we will forever resent you until the end of time. Just know that we will be watching you forever and always. Now go, quick, don't look back no matter what you do. Don't let me down my son." the father finished with tears in his eyes as he ushered them out.
The young boy grabbed his sister, put her on his back, and took off into the forest without looking back. He ran for three hours straight before he finally slowing down and began to walk off the trail. Thomas walked until sundown and settled with his sister in a small clearing in the forest. He started a fire and convinced his sister to get some sleep after assuring her that he would keep her safe from harm. He however, stayed awake, haunted by his parents screams of pain he heard as he ran away. He prayed to whatever gods there were, that his sister Emily couldn't hear their screams. Thomas hasn't slept for the first week since it happened. Not only haunted by it, but also do to the constant worry that his sister would be harmed if he had let his guard down.
One day, Thomas decided to question Emily to see how much she heard or remembered from what had happened. She told him exactly what she heard, and when she did he was relieved. She couldn't hear the screams over the sounds of battle. Since Thomas didn't have to worry about Emily hearing the haunting sounds, he could gain some sleep. It was only an hour every three days, but it was plenty for his grieve stricken and unrest-ed mind. With his mind at a somewhat ease, they began to travel once again. They wandered until sunset, started a fire, and ate whatever edible plants they could. This pattern continued for three weeks until they came across a temple that had a small family living there. The Family consisted of a grandfather, his daughter, and his grandson. After hearing of the siblings story of what happened they took them in.
The family welcomed them with open arms. The siblings learned of how the family survived at the temple by living off the land. They were taught how to farm, what was edible, and how to purify water. They all slept in one room however for safety and to help the children stay calm. Although Thomas wouldn't sleep, he stayed in there until everyone else was asleep. He would then leave to go sit in the moonlight or in an old dark room that he had found. After just a month of living with the family, they seemed like they have always belonged. The grandfather, who's name was Edgar, was an old teacher who would teach the children all they would need to know. The mother, who's name was Theresa, she was an experienced apothecary. While the son, who's name was Albert, was no older than Thomas, but he was able to befriend Thomas and Emily rather quickly. Thomas was glad his sister was happy with their new family. Yet he himself hasn't opened up as much as they have or his sister Emily has.
Within the first week of living with their "new" family, Emily had opened up and told them all about herself. What she liked, wanted to be, and what she dreamed of. Thomas soon followed giving a simple explanation of only wanting to see his sister happy. Theresa and Edgar wanted to know more about Thomas, but didn't pry any further after seeing the look in his eyes when he spoke. It was a look of pure sadness and despair, but there was light in his eyes when he spoke of his sister. They believed he didn't talked about what he liked and dreamed of because it would remind him of his parents. And they knew he was hiding something about them, but would let him tell them when he was ready to.
He still couldn't sleep even after all that had happened and he didn't want his burden to become theirs. Thomas felt as he would only dragged them down but letting them know. He still hadn't told anyone of what his father had said to him or of what he heard as they ran away. But instead of telling them, he found an old blank book where he would write down all that he had felt and experienced every night he lied awake. Thomas noticed that if he went without sleep for more than three days that he would begin to hallucinate and see happier times. He knew it was bad, but he opted to be silent and marvel in the delusions of happier times. He'd even write down in the book how he longed to be able to continue to live within his memories.
Yet one night was the worst ever for everyone in the temple. It was around midnight and everyone was asleep except for Thomas. He sat in the darkened room in a corner, with his knees to his chest. He was hallucinating of the happiest moment he could remember, but during that memory he suddenly saw nothing but blackness. Thomas almost began to panic due to the abrupt stop until he came out from the delusion, and took steady breathes to calm himself down. But then, he was thrown into his worst memory, the one that would be forever burned into his memory until the end of time. It was moments before he had lost everything but his sister, except this time it was from a different point a view.
Thomas watched as he ran off with his sister on his back. Mere seconds later soldiers burst into the home and began to attack his parents. And then he heard the one thing that haunted him for what felt like years, his parents' screams of pain. If it could, time would have stood still for Thomas. It triggered his own thoughts of what happened that day as he ran away. He began to scream, "No, please stop. Don't hurt them." as he watched soldiers brutally stab and beat his parents. Thomas heard their soul shattering screams and pleas for mercy. He then heard what sounded like muffled steps of someone running, yet he couldn't move. He felt something grab a hold of him and he panicked. Whipping his head around, Thomas saw a guard had caught him and was about to attack him as well. Thrashing wildly he tried to escape but the guard had a strong grip on him. He became hysterical and began crying and lashing out with his eyes closed, trying to get it to stop. On the verge of a panic attack, he heard the soft and almost silent pleading words of Theresa and his sister Emily saying, "Please Thomas open your eyes! Its okay, please just open your eyes. It's not real, you have to open your eyes." He continued to hear the screams but he stopped thrashing around and just clutched his head screaming for it to stop. After what felt like an eternity to Thomas, the screaming slowly stopped and left him there jut huddled in a corner crying hysterically.
It hurt Theresa and Emily to see Thomas like this, it seemed as if he was fine, at least he always acted like everything was. Theresa was especially upset because she was a apothecary and should have see the signs of him not sleeping and being delusional. She remembered the other night when she awoke late and notice Thomas was missing. She went to look for him and found him sitting in the room that he was in now. He had a distant look on his face and his expressions kept changing. She couldn't see his eyes so she assumed that he was just having a good dream and decided not to wake him and left. But if she would have stayed, she would have seen that Thomas was actually awake and began talking almost as if there were others there with him.
Emily was currently trying to get her older brother to open his eyes and stop crying. It scared her to see him like this. Thomas was never like this when they were on there own for three weeks. He promised to keep her safe and happy but couldn't see it happening if this continued. And it reminded her of how they had lost their parents and she didn't want to lose her big brother so soon. Theresa ushered Emily out of the room promising her that she would help Thomas. Emily reluctantly went back to where Edgar and Albert were. Theresa began to check on Thomas to see if he had hurt himself during his hallucination and saw a book next to him. After being sure he was indeed asleep this time, she looked at it and saw it was Thomas' own writing. After being sure that he was okay, she began to read it, she noticed that it was about the hallucinations that he had been having. After reading through it, she determined that he had witnessed or experienced something terrible as they fled and had determined that been hallucinating since he had been wandering through the forest because of what ever happened.
Theresa picked Thomas up and carried him back to where everyone was. When she slipped in the room she told them to be quiet as Thomas was finally sleeping. Luckily Albert was a heavy and hadn't woken up. She had lied him down on the bed and had Emily keep an eye on him for a moment while she spoke to her father. Theresa and Edgar walked into the hall shutting the door quietly so they would wake up neither Thomas or Albert. Once they were in the hall her father proceeded to question her.
"Theresa what happened with Thomas? Why was he screaming?" Edgar asked his daughter.
"He was hallucinating to what I believe to be the separation from his parents." she replied. "I don't know how I didn't see it earlier, but he hadn't had much sleep at all. If I'm correct he hasn't slept in over a week in a half."
"Why do you think he hasn't been sleeping?" he asked.
She responded with, "Remember when he told us of how he said he only wished to see his sister Emily be happy?" She saw him nod his head. "And he had a look of sadness and despair in his eyes." Once again he nodded. "Well apparently he experienced something traumatic. After I checked on him, I saw a book next to him, and this book is an account of everything that had happened since they were separated from their parents. Just read this first page Dad." She handed him the book.
The book read, A couple of weeks ago our house was surrounded by soldiers. My mother and father had prepared us to run so that we could survive their fighting. Right as we were about to leave, my father pulled me aside and told me "Thomas my son, promise me this, you will take care of your sister no matter what will happen to us. I don't care what you have to do, but please, please keep her as safe and as happy as you can. Your old enough to endure this. But your sister however, will have a long road ahead of her to recover from this. Please don't take this wrong, but we couldn't be more proud of you two then we are now. Unfortunately though, I feel as this may be the last that we will ever see of each other again. Please don't be sad, we will always be with you. I know it may be selfish of me to give you this burden, but if your Mother and I don't survive and you abandon your sister Emily, we will forever resent you until the end of time. Just know that we will be watching you forever and always. Now go, quick, don't look back no matter what you do. Don't let me down my son." I then proceeded to throw my sister on my back and run into the forest. As I took off for not only my life, but my sister's, I heard what will forever haunt me for the rest of my life. My parent's cries and screams of pain. I just pray to god that my sister didn't hear any of it. If I can't handle it them I know there is no way she will be able to. I wasn't able to sleep for a week. After three days of no sleep, I began to hallucinate. Its nothing bad, only good memories. I know its wrong, but I want to continue reliving these memories. I wish they could continue forever.
Next Entry
I've hallucinated several times while we stayed within the forest. We stayed in the forest for three weeks until we came across a temple. A small family of three was already living there but after telling them our story, they welcomed us with open arms. They taught us how to survive better of the land. We've been with this family for almost a week now, and I still haven't slept yet, but these hallucinations seem to become more frequent. I just can't let anyone see whats happening to me. It was three days later Emily opened up to them all. Telling them all about what she dreamed and wanted to do. I cannot open up as much as Emily has for its my burden of no sleep and hallucinations, not theirs. It's my sole responsibility to bear, not theirs. But I did however tell them that I only seek to see Emily happy.
Edgar stopped reading after the first two entries. He felt as if he should read the remaining three entries. Instead he began to ponder about what they should do about what had happened and for what is to come of this. He then turned to Theresa and asked, "What should we do? We can't act as if nothing has happened. It's already to late for that, his sister has seen it happened. And I doubt it will be the last time that it does occur."
Theresa thought for a moment before responding, "We should try to have his sister keep quiet about it for now. And focus on getting him to ask us for help otherwise if he doesn't get help, he will descend into madness."
Both nodded their heads in a silent agreement and returned to the room where the children were. Upon returning to the room, they noticed Thomas' face begin to slowly twist and distort. They then silently motioned Emily to move away from her brother. Not a moment after she got up, he began thrashing as if fighting an invisible enemy. Theresa rushed to his side and tried to keep him from lashing out at the others. Emily tried to be at her brother's side but Edgar was holding her still. As he restrained her he said, "Emily, listen to me. I know you want to be by your brother's side right now but you can't. We still don't know what is causing him to lash out and we can't having you getting hurt because of this. Imagine if he were to wake up and learn that he hurt you. He would be devastated and may do something impulsive and rash. For now, we must sit on the sidelines until we know what is wrong."
Theresa was able to get Thomas to be calm once again and then ushered everyone who was still up to get some sleep. The next morning rolled around and when everyone awoke, they noticed that Thomas was missing.