"Hey Jimmy, it's me again. I really miss you."
"I miss you too, Sarah. But I'll find you."
"Jimmy?"
"Yes Sarah?"
"Please wake up."
"Huh? What do you-"
I felt darkness rush over me as Sarah's image faded away. The bonds of reality once again wrapped around me and the pain greeted me once more as I slowly woke up. I found myself back in the hospital, and to my dismay Sarah's box was gone. I shot out of bed and scanned the room frantically for it. Relief washed over me as I found the box on the floor next to my bed, still locked tight. I picked it up with care. I wanted to find out what was in it so bad, but I dared not shake it. What if whatever inside was fragile? Sarah would never forgive me if I broke something important enough to her to keep in this reinforced haven sitting in my hands. I set it on my bed gently and stumbled towards the door of my room.
"I'll open it after some breakfast" I told myself as I opened the door. As I walked out, a nurse saw me walking down the hall and quickly went up to me.
"Oh, Jimmy, I'm glad you're awake." she said.
"What is it?"
"Doctor Patterson said to get you as soon as you woke up." the nurse replied. I gave her a confused look but chose to follow her as she ushered me down the hall. She opened up a door and asked me to go inside. I went in only to find that it was completely empty, save for a lonely chair in the middle of the white-washed room. I hesitantly took a seat, not knowing what to do.
"Hello, Jimmy." I heard a voice say. I turned around to see a man walk into the room in front of me.
"Hello, Doctor Patterson?"
"Yes, that's me." he replied. "Jimmy, you're checked into the hospital and must remain here until further notice."
"Oh," I said, remembering how I went to the cul-de-sac. "Sorry."
"Just make sure it doesn't happen again. Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions."
"Questions? Why?"
"Just answer them please." the doctor replied. His voice started to sound a little stern, and it worried me. I don't remember all of the questions he asked, but I do know they were very strange. He gave a lot of riddles and trick questions that I didn't know the answer to and all the while he wouldn't tell me what they were for.
"So you say you can 'talk' with Sarah in your dreams?" He asked.
"Yes, I can hear her voice and we talk to each other when I'm asleep."
"I see......I'll be right back." the man said as he exited the room. I waited patiently in my little chair in the middle of the room. I was confused, but I knew it was good to listen to adults. After a few minutes, however, I started to get a little impatient. I opened the door and took a peek into the hallway. I waited there for another few minutes, looking for any sign of the man who interrogated me with riddles and trick questions. I soon saw him walking down the hall with a few other people in different uniforms than the standard doctor's outfit. I was about to shut the door and sit back down when something caught my eye; in one of the men's hands was a jacket. A straight jacket.
My eyes widened and my mind started to race.
Was that jacket for me? Am I crazy? Did this have to do with Sarah?
All of these questions formed in my mind as the men became more and more ominous the closer they got to the room. On an impulse, I flung the door open and ran. The doctor and his partners saw this and started to run after me. My head throbbed from the quickening of my heart rate and rush of adrenaline that was coursing through my head and the only thing I could think about was Sarah's box. I rushed in my room and snatched the treasure off of my bed just as one of the men came in carrying a syringe filled with a strange yellow liquid. Not wanting to find out what it did, I scurried between the man's legs and ran out of the room, much to the surprise of the men waiting outside. Dodging their hands and attempts at poisoning me with needles, I ran down the hallway faster then I'd ever ran before. I noticed Kevin coming out of an elevator door and quickly took the opportunity to get in. Pressing the first button I saw, the door closed just as the men pushed a surprised Kevin out of the way and turned towards me. I felt the machine jerk a little and I felt myself becoming slightly lighter, meaning I was heading downwards. Having regained my breath, I noticed the button I pressed was for the hospital basement. I didn't want to go to the basement, but it was better than being put in a straight jacket I supposed.
A wave a fear washed over me as the doors opened to a dark, dusty room barely illuminated by a few flickering lights. It was very cold and I could almost see my breath. I saw two light switches, one on and the other off. I turned the second one on and, to my slight relief, another set of lights flickered to life. As I looked around, I noticed one wall was completely covered with large, metal drawers. Upon closer inspection, I saw the drawers were labeled with names. Looking over them, I found one that had Double-D's name on it. With my brain still not functioning very well from the chase that took place moments ago, I mindlessly opened the drawer and nearly puked.
Inside the large metal tomb was Edd. Or what was left of him anyway. His skin was a sickly brown color and parts of it were missing, revealing the dry, rotting muscle underneath. His clothes and hat were still on, fortunately, but his face was disfigured from rot and he stank to high heavens. Despite his grotesque being, I was still more frightened by the people chasing after me.
"Oh Double-D, what should I do?" I asked quietly as I put my back up to the wall and slid down. I was very tired from the chase and couldn't bring myself to move anymore.
"Give up."
I nearly jumped out of my skin as I heard Double-D talk. I quickly shot up and felt my body tingle with fright. The corpse of the boy I had just pulled out was looking at me. His eyes were dull and glazed over, yet they burned into my soul with their gaze. I felt myself vibrate at the gruesome sight of Edd sitting up off of the drawer, not taking his eyes off of me for a second.
"W-w-wh-what??" I managed to stammer.
"I said, give up." Double-D's voice was close to normal, only it was lower-pitched and had a sinister tone to it.
"W-why?" My heart started to rocket around my body as I heard him chuckle to himself.
"You don't get it, do you? Sarah's dead, yet you're trying to find her?" he wore a smile that, especially when coupled to his decomposing face, sent chills down my spine.
"Y-yes, b-because she's not d-dead." I said as I clutched the metal box more firmly.
"Oh, you think she survived falling off of that cliff, the day that you killed her? That is funny, Jimmy. You need to grow up one day. You think that whatever is in that box will revive her, or help you 'find' her as you say? You should know by now that isn't going to happen. There is no magical quest you can go on to save her life, no ancient artifact that will bring her back. She's gone, and there's nothing you can do about it. Just accept it and live, cling on to your life you were willing to kill Sarah over."
"But....I...." I felt tears forming in my eyes at Edd's harsh words. "I didn't...."
"Oh, but you did, dear Jimmy. Her fate was in your hands when you held her from being dropped from miles up, but what did you do? You let go and killed her. It's as simple as that."
I felt the sadness start to boil over into anger inside me.
"I mean, you loved the girl, didn't you? Bought her a gold ring and everything? Yet you still killed her just to-"
"I DIDN'T KILL HER!" I screamed at Double-D, who's smug look of sadistic pleasure suddenly turned into a face of anger.
"Don't you shout at me, Jimmy! I'm not the one who killed-"
My frustration got the better of me and I tackled Double-D, knocking him off of the metal drawer and onto the cold stone floor. Ignoring the stench of rotting flesh, I fought with him and we wrestled to pin the other down. Double-D then shot a hand at my throat and started squeezing. I felt the breath leave my lungs and I was no longer able to breath. With much more strength then I'd ever seen in Double-D, he stood up and held me above him by the neck, squeezing the life out of me. I found that struggling didn't loosen his grip at all, and I felt my vision turning black. As a last desperate act, I grabbed his hat and ripped it off of his head. To my surprise, Edd started to scream as he dropped me and placed his hands on his head. I covered my ears from his horrid shriek and watched as the boy slowly started to crumble from top to bottom. In a matter of seconds Edd turned into a pile of dust on the floor, unmoving and bearing no trace of its former shape. I let out a sigh of relief as I backed away from the wall of drawers, not wanting to get in another fight like that one. I looked around the room some more and found a tool cabinet with a large set of thick pliers. I heard faint noises coming from the stairs and knew I had to act quickly. I managed to cut through the padlock on Sarah's box and I opened it up.