Thick

I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm not sure what it was exactly; a burring feeling that burrowed deep into my chest. It was a feeling of nervousness or anxiety. So there I lay, feeling my eyes getting heavier and heavier but never closing in full. I stared at the ceiling for hours on end, watching the darkness slowly creep around me. It looked like it was alive - black worms that were wiggling and writhing all across the ceiling. It slowly got more and more dense; constantly changing shape and growing infinitely in all directions. Before I knew it, they were making noises. A disgusting slopping noise that made my skin crawl. They continued to squirm until they began to drip. One by one they started plopping down onto my face and body. Even though I could feel in initial impact, they dissipated into mist and were reborn once again along with its sisters who writhed above my head. They grew louder and louder; a quiet buzz turned into a mountain of screaming. High pitched squeals rang inside my ears and no matter what I did, I couldn't hide from it. I covered my head with my pillow, but it provided not even a softening of the worm's cries. I whined and moaned for the sounds to end. I needed to sleep.

I was pulled out of my struggle by a thud that shook the room and made my bed hiss. It stomped out the worms and forced the air out of my lungs. As if a truck drove through the wall I sat up to investigate. Everything seemed to be just how I left it. The floor was still old-looking with a tacky rug that covered a growing water stain, the walls were peeling, my bookcase listed to the left and threatened my old TV that got no signal. My old game console still collected dust in the middle of the floor (I can't remember the last time I used it). The pillows my grandmother made were still scattered on the floor and their age was beginning to show. A light caught my eye. I still don't know why it wasn't the first thing I noticed - after-all, my room was completely dark before, but now, my computer sat on the desk beside my bed with its screen glaring into the room and filling it with a pale blue light. I rubbed my neck and threw my weight to the side so I could get up. With one swift movement I was in my computer chair.

I shielded my eyes for a moment while they adjusted to the painful light. When I felt like I could take it, I glanced between my fingers. The screen was flashing randomly with snow that would buzz and hiss with each strobe. It also looked like my screen was broken. A web was grabbing at the edges of the screen from the center but only appeared between each blizzard. I was feeling uneasy.

Dizzy.

Unsure.

Unprepared.

This feeling was then pushed further by the sudden humming noise that crept out of the tower near my feet - Oh! and I think it might be important to note that I was now on the monitor. A small little image of me standing in the middle of this emptiness, oblivious. I sat there in awe. I don't know what the fuck this was. If this was some joke my family was pulling on me, it wasn't funny - though I doubt anyone in my family was capable of something like this. I didn't know what to do. I tried cutting the power but the machine wouldn't respond. Even totally unplugging the thing didn't work; it only made the machine angry. It hummed a bit louder now, and the area around her began to warm up.

"Damn it! Do something!" I cursed at it, slamming my hand down on the keyboard. It did the trick because it finally reacted. A loud hiss was fired from the speakers on either side of the monitor, and the images on the screen began to phase out with a weird pixel-y effect until it let out a sound similar to an air-raid siren. Louder and louder it grew until suddenly it was cut off by the sound of someone knocking at my door. In the split second, it silenced.

"Sabrina, honey? Are you going to come out today? If you're not careful you're going to sleep through breakfast again... and I made your favourite." It was my mom.

"Y-yeah. . . Give me a second." I figured I would humor her today. Plus it would probably help me cool off. The fact that she didn't seem to notice all the racket coming from my room was making me wonder if I was just hearing things. Cabin Fever I say. I slowly got to my feet, shook out my hair, and stepped into a soft pair of slippers that I got for Christmas. I pressed at the wrinkles in my shirt.

They only set deeper.

Eating was a tad awkward. The two of us just sat in silence as we slowly worked on our plates. My mind wasn't on my food though. I couldn't wrap my head around that damn computer. However, my mother quickly pulled me back to reality before I was able to lose myself further. "Sabi, I'm really worried about you. Ever since the accident. . . you just haven't been the same. I know it's been hard on you, and it's been hard on me too but... It's like we don't eve live together anymore. I wish you would start your life back up. It would be really good for you - you know?"

I let the waffle in my mouth settle for a second so I wouldn't have to respond. I hated the sound of my own voice and speaking would only make things worse for me. I must have made a face because she bit her tongue, "I- I'm sorry dear. I know how much you hate hearing that bu-"

"You don't know what I hate." I sounded ruder than I wanted.

My sudden voicing caught her off guard. She probably hadn't heard me speak in a year. I was practically a mute now. "I'm sorry dear. . . But I always see how you slump over when I say something about it. But... It's been 2 years now."

She was right when she said I hated hearing about it though. I wasn't incredibly close to my father or anything, but I adored my sister. She was so young and beautiful, with her long black hair, and the deepest eyes that were even darker. But the accident gave her some strange disease - so did daddy - that basically ate her from the inside out. It wasn't Ebola, but it was similar. I think the main difference was that this slowly killed them over the course of 10 years or so. It stripped them of all colour, and drove them both mad. It eventually led to my sister having her legs amputated. It wasn't pretty. She could never get used to the prosthetic ones she was given. The feet must have been to small or something, because she could never get her balance again. She just sat in her bed until she died and touching at the leaves of the plants she had sitting around her room. They forgot all about my mother and I. That's sort of what I'm doing now: waiting in my room until Death finally says, "Fuck it, come with me."

I won't bore you with any details, but breakfast sort of steeped over at that point and we once again ate in silence (except for a few, "This is good. Did you get a new recipe?" and a tired sigh or two). I thanked her for the meal and for dealing with me (though it was half-assed and I didn't really mean it) and walked back to my room. When I turned the corner down the hall, I ran to my door before shutting my door and taking my place back at my desk.

The screen had a new message on it: " f l o w_". I didn't get it. "Flow?" I whispered to myself. The screen light alive again. " ye s. c o me w it hu s. ss yo u." This really threw me for a loop. The computer was talking to me. Talking to me. I had to be losing it now. I should've stayed out there and done the dishes with mom or something. I couldn't get up though, I was entranced. " t yp us."

"Type?"

t e ll u s ast or y

"What kind of story?"

a n y g

"And I should type it?"

y e s

I ran my fingers through my hair. I can't believe I was really about to tell my computer a story. What was wrong with me, that I would actually do this instead of picking up the monitor, and throwing it off my balcony while yelling, "YOU WON'T GET ME DEMONS!" Well that probably wouldn't be the smartest idea. Knowing my luck I would drop it on someone, or a neighbor would call the cops on the crazy girl throwing shit off her balcony. But I did it anyway. Yes, reader, I actually told the computer a story. I honestly don't remember what the story was about though; it all came out so quickly. My fingers began to dart around between the keys, pressing them with perfect timing and precision. All I really remember was the first few words: "Once there was a girl, who wanted to touch the stars". After that it was all mush until I regained awareness.

My vision was blurring like I had hit my head extra hard, and I was having trouble sitting up. I pushed as hard as I could against the cold floor beneath me. Wait, cold floor? After my vision was restored, my eyes told me that I was sitting outside my apartment. I wasn't sure how I got out of my room but, I wasn't going to stay out much longer. I took to my feet and reached for the door. The knob spun loosely in my hand; far to loosely. It was broken. The door wouldn't open no matter how hard I shook or kicked it. I spent maybe 15 minutes pounding on that door, begging for my mom to let me in, but I didn't get any answer. It was all so quiet except for my breathing. I couldn't even hear momma's soap operas on the TV right inside. "Damn it."

I then decided to go downstairs to ask the person at the desk for an extra key so I could get back in. I walked quickly down the corridor and turned the corner to take the stairs. They only went up. "Wait, up? No no no. I'm on the top floor. How could they go up when there's nothing above this floor?" I looked over at the elevator. Surely that would take me down to the lobby, but after flicking the button, I decided it was out of order. Maybe in my time locked in my room, they changed the layout of the place? I took back down to the other side of the building, only to be greeted by an identical scene. One difference though, the stairs on this side were roped off with police tape. Okay there were two differences because the elevator on this side responded to me jabbing at the button a few times. It finally reached me and I stepped inside when the doors slid open. You should have seen my face when they closed behind me and wouldn't open. I'm sure my expression was priceless when I noticed there were only two buttons on the panel, "Here" and "There". Now this just did not add up. Not at all. What was I supposed to do? I ran my fingers through my hair, again, and pressed "There".

I was pushed down as the cabin began move. I could hear music getting close.