DISCLAIMER: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS NIGHTMARISH IMAGERY AND BLOOD
Chapter 34: See What Makes You Tick
"Oh, I see you're awake…excellent, that means we can get cracking then as it were!"
Mindy emitted a low growling sound in response to the upbeat tone of her tormenter. Can't you give me a break for once?
The Projectionist's lips quirked upward in amusement as he made swift, graceful strides towards her. He then kneeled beside the girl's still form, and leaned in towards her ear.
"You know full well I can't do that." He cooed, "If we want this ridiculousness to end as soon as possible, then we can't waste precious time squabbling and bickering (even though I have loads of fun watching you bristle with aggravation). No…no…there are only two methods I can use in order to deal with your insubordination…either kill you or convince you to go back to your wonderfully ordinary black-and-white world. Obviously, I can't kill you whilst inside your Dreamscape…so I must go with the latter."
She opened her eyes to look up at him…her mouth twisted into a sneer, "If going back means having to remember every second of every day that you're continuing to oppress these innocent characters by not giving them the freedom they deserve…I'd rather die."
"You're going to regret those words." The Projectionist's crimson eyes flickered before he rose to his feet and circled her, "It's easier to wish for death than to actually face it head-on…you're so young…so inexperienced… so thick in the skull. It's a miracle that you're even still alive. You must understand that words mean nothing to me…especially when they come from absent-minded individuals. All that matters is action... what we choose to do in order for justice to be served. Tell me princess, if I were with you inside of that mouse's abode with every intention of killing you…would you still be wishing for death instead of fleeing to the safety of normalcy?"
At this point, Mindy had already sat up. "Absolutely."
"I've said it before, and it appears as though I'll have to say it again to get it through that thick skull of yours." He emphasized his point by rapping his knuckles against her forehead, "You are a foolish, foolish, girl."
"So what happens now?" She laughed, "Huh? What are you gonna do to get me to change my mind?"
"Oh, my stubborn little dear." The Projectionist leaned on his cane as he loomed over her with his seemingly permanent smile, "I'm going to see what makes you tick."
In an instant, she was accosted by his swarms of tentacles, and blasted into the sofa. Mindy let out muffled screams as the hundreds of gooey limbs slithered and pulsed around her body. She tried to use her newly acquired telekinesis to thrust them off of her, but with each one she disposed of, another would take its place. She could do nothing but watch as the blots of ink forced her onto her back, leaving her at the mercy of The Projectionist.
"I truly am sorry about this." By the tone of his voice, she wasn't sure if he was being sincere or not, "A mortal girl like you doesn't deserve to be on the other end of my vengeful wrath…but you brought this onto yourself when you chose to not leave us alone."
Mindy raised a brow at this…
Before she could question further, he transformed into his monstrous nightmare-inducing form, complete with hastily-scribbled checkered squares, cracked inky lines spreading across his face, and crimson eyes that flashed in-and-out of existence.
"Fighting is pointless." The Projectionist tilted his head to one side, "What if, instead of fighting, you let me in."
This advice only further encouraged Mindy to squirm on the couch.
"Remember, it's impossible for me to kill you while you are inside of the Dreamscape." He pointed out, "So would letting me into your subconscious, giving me access your deepest, darkest fears, and bringing them to light REALLY be such a bad thing?"
She nodded her head vigorously in response, "You're a sociopathic bastard! You know that?!"
"Name calling? You're immaturity will never cease to astound me." He tutted with disappointment, "Keep in mind that I shall take no pleasure in doing this."
Some of the tendrils latched onto her neck. Mindy tried to struggle against them, but they brought her head down so that she had no choice but to meet The Projectionist's unflinchingly tantalizing stare.
She let out a strangled gasp as a high-pitched static cut through the silence, and the pressure started to increase inside of her brain. Dots of white-and-black flooded her vision as a scorching heat engulfed all of her senses. Hot, lava-like dribbles of sweat trickled down her body, and caused salty tears to form into her already stinging, bloodshot eyes.
Mindy was burning from the inside-out, and she was powerless stop it.
"Dear, this is only the beginning." The Projectionist's crooked grin spread to an inconceivable length, "If you can't handle this part, then breaking you should be easier than I thought it would be!"
Despite the intense agony she was enduring, she managed to lift her chin defiantly, "Do…your…worst."
"If you insist."
She winced as the ink seeped into her eyes.
Despite how much she fought against it, she ultimately caved in. She could somehow sense every aspect of her mind being violated by what felt like tiny hands shifting through her hopes, dreams, thoughts, memories, until they reached what they had initially come for: her fears. Mindy had never felt more vulnerable, helpless, or exposed then in that exact moment, and it was not a pleasant sensation in the slightest.
When the time was right, The Projectionist snapped his fingers, and gossamer strings tied themselves to the girl's wrists. Before she had time to process what was happening, she was hoisted into the air. She screeched as the sitting room grew further and further away until it was nothing but a speck amongst the walls of endless darkness.
Stupefied, Mindy raised her head and cowered upon seeing that The Projectionist had grown ten times her size. She noticed he was holding something in one of his gargantuan hands, but couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was.
It wasn't until he leaned forward that she recognized it as a t-shaped rod.
Shifting her gaze downward, she discovered that the strings around her wrists were attached to it… her eyes widened in silent terror.
Before she could say or do anything, The Projectionist dangled her over a life-sized puppet theater filled with a variety of grotesque characters and settings from her abysmal subconscious.
There was a humongous pale multiple-limbed creature with lifeless holes for eyes, a floating row of massive razor-sharp teeth with blood oozing out of them, and armies upon armies of ventriloquist dummies, scarecrows, clowns, animatronics from various Disney attractions, and other creepy marionette puppets. Not only were there monsters from her childhood nightmares, but there were also objects and environments that made her want to disappear inside of herself for all eternity. Intimidating hospital beds, cars swerving out of control in the pouring rain, stairs leading nowhere, straight-jackets, and to make matters worse, the rickety, dilapidated, roach-infested theater was gradually filling up with water that she could somehow sense from her current position was hot and cold at the same time.
And to top it all off…the stage was slowly but surely getting smaller.
The Projectionist started to lower her inside, "You know, for such a perfect little goody-two-shoes, I would've never expected you to come up with abominations as emotionally-scarring as these…I suppose despite the black-and-white influences that surrounded you back in that charming, provincial town of yours, you still have that spontaneously unpredictable imagination that started all of this trouble…a very sick and twisted one at that."
Her heart was going off the charts by this point.
Mindy shrieked in outrage as she thrashed around in midair. That only caused her to swing back-and-forth in a nauseating manner. She gave up with a groan as trails of ink dripped from her hollow, lifeless, eyes.
"What was that you said when we first introduced ourselves?" The Projectionist tapped his chin with his free hand…then, his eyes lit up at the revelation, "Oh yes, now I remember! I'm not another one of your puppets that you can control whenever you want! Well…here we are! It appears as though you're the leading lady of this production! And believe you me; this is sure to be a performance that you'll NEVER forget!"
Mindy gasped as he plopped her center stage.
Foul, sewage-smelling water splashed directly into her face, and caused her to cough excessively as a result. She wiped her mouth onto the damp sleeve of her nightgown, and gagged as she struggled with getting the vile taste off of her tongue.
The dusty, shredded velvet curtain chose that moment to rise.
Cheap-looking spotlights from the rafters swiveled in her direction, and bathed her in an unpleasantly white-washed light. She was about to shield her face when her arms dropped to her sides on their own accord. Puzzled, she snapped her head forwards as a rigid, off-key melody from an unseen organ made its presence known.
The music (if you could even call it that) drowned out her screams as The Projectionist manipulated her arms to move in time to the beat. She desperately tried to regain control of the situation by running in a random direction, but she was promptly yanked back to her original spot.
"Ah, ah, ah! Where do you think you're going?!" The Projectionist lifted her higher so that her feet hovered mere inches above the floor, "See? Now that's better isn't it?"
"NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST!" Mindy hollered as one of the many puppets shuffled towards her.
"Come now, won't you smile for me?" Against her wishes, he brought her closer to it, and they started a sort of mechanical waltz, "You're our star after all!"
"I never chose to be!"
She kicked the marionette with all her might, but it came back with a vengeance, and barreled right into her chest. Mindy's ribs ached from the blow, and she wheezed for air as she and the puppet started inexplicably spinning around the room.
"What's the matter?" The Projectionist inquired, "I thought that you enjoyed dancing!"
Mindy let out a squeak of alarm as the puppet switched places with a clown.
He let out a sadistic high-pitched cackle as she shook her head whilst shutting her eyes tightly. Just then, her lids were forced open as her partner twirled her into the arms of Abraham Lincoln from Great Moments with Mister Lincoln, then she was passed on to a ventriloquist dummy, then a scarecrow and so on and so forth.
This chaotic dance of nightmares continued on for what seemed like hours, with Mindy growing more and more disturbed with each creature she was forced to encounter. She had given up trying to escape after the tenth lap around the stage, and instead just allowed it to happen.
She was sweating from both the intensity of the dance, and the panic-attack that was building up inside her. It was physically straining for her to not show a hint of weakness or trepidation on her visage. Mindy knew that The Projectionist was keeping a close eye on her, and if she allowed her mask of indifference to crack even for a split-second, then he would win. All she had to do was continue playing his game until the morning sun would come and set her free.
All she had to do was keep dancing… no matter what, she had to keep dancing.
A sickening crack pierced through the auditorium.
Mindy released an ear-splitting shriek as blots of ink poured from her eyes. The Projectionist had pulled her up too soon, and unintentionally popped her wrists out of their sockets as a result…
She bit her lip so hard that a sliver of blood leaked out of her mouth.
Mindy didn't hear The Projectionist's sorry-not-sorry, and instead separated her soul from her body in order to dissociate herself from the pain.
She did her best to keep her thoughts numbed, but it wasn't enough to stop her slow descent into madness throughout the rest of the night.
Mindy had lost track of time.
She wanted to vomit from the amount of times she had been jostled around, and her ears were bleeding from the cacophonous symphony of screeches emanating from the organ. It was almost as if it were begging for someone to put it out of its misery.
Just like how she wanted someone to put her out of her misery.
She was spinning with one of the scarecrows when it raised her by her waist and carelessly tossed her to the opposite end of the stage. Mindy snapped her eyes shut, and waited for the impact of the fall.
Who knows? Maybe that'll be enough to wake me from this hellhole.
Her heart skipped a beat as she was caught by none other than The Projectionist himself.
Once she got over the initial shock, Mindy looked up and registered that the bigger version of him was still orchestrating the puppet show from above. A little weirded out but not entirely surprised, she just went along with it. She then shifted her attention back to The Projectionist who was staring at her like she was an unopened Christmas present.
"I'd say that this is going swimmingly, don't you agree?" She winced at his words, "You're a natural! It's as though you were born for the stage!" Mindy couldn't stop him as he set her down, and drew her into an unwilling dance, "Believe me when I say that I am impressed with your perseverance to see this to the end."
"Screw you!" Mindy clawed her nails into his hands, "Screw you and your stupid game you sick, demented psychopath!"
The Projectionist blinked..."That wasn't very nice."
"Does it look like I care?"
"I'm mortified…here I am congratulating you on your success, and you're not even pretending to be grateful." He rolled his eyes as he gave her a twirl (much to her discomfort), "Not to mention that I saved your life just now."
"Saved me?" She demanded, "Have you forgotten that I can't die here?! Or are you really that cruel to make me-"
"-Cruel? Why, whatever do you mean?" He dipped her with a victorious smirk, "You aren't being held captive here! We can stop this nonsense at any time…all you have to do is give your word that you will leave The Dremesphere and-"
"-No." Mindy spat, "I made a promise, and I intend to keep it this time! And if I have to deal with your questionable methods of torture in order to do so, then I swear that I will go out of my way to make your existence a living hell..."
The Projectionist leaned in close to her ear, "I'd love to see you try."
She grunted when he unexpectedly dropped her, and vanished into the crowd.
Taking advantage of the control she now had over her limbs, she got up, and bolted in a random direction. Mindy was now drenched in the thick, putrid, almost tar-like water, but she honestly couldn't have cared less and proceeded to splash it everywhere as she dashed past the monsters. Shockingly enough, they continued to dance without giving her a second thought.
"Oh, when will you ever learn?"
Mindy tripped over one of The Projectionist's tentacles and landed on her side. She didn't stop to process this. Instead, she scrambled to her feet, and rushed forwards. However, she was abruptly yanked back by the marionette strings above.
"Don't you get it?!" The Projectionist boomed, "You have no control over this section of your mind whatsoever! You lost it when you decided to leave your subjects behind all those years ago. Face it princess…you're no match for me. You never have been, and you never will be. So do yourself a favor and go back to where you came from!"
"Never!" She groaned as she struggled against her restraints, "I'll never leave them…not again! I would never be able to live with that guilt knowing that I could have done something but instead choosing to take the easier option all for the sake of saving my own sanity! Don't you understand that I can't win either way?!"
"Don't say that I didn't warn you…you foolish, foolish girl."
That was when all hell broke loose.
In less than a second, the water had reached above her calves as she was forced to dance with another clown. Mindy could've sworn she received whiplash when he grabbed her lifeless wrists, lifted her off of the floor, and jerked her around like she was nothing but a new toy for him to play with. After presumably three to four minutes, she was sent sliding across the water.
Mindy winced as she clutched her now bleeding forehead.
A sort of lethargic, hallucinogenic sensation overcame her, and it was as though her entire world was spinning in disorienting, colorfully dizzy circles…
She didn't have the chance to recover as she was snatched up by the multiple-limbed creature.
Its roar penetrated her tortured eardrums, and caused her disheveled sweaty locks to blast behind her as a result. Instead of dancing with her like she had originally predicted, it unsheathed its claws and struck her across the face.
The blow knocked her to the ground.
Mindy held a trembling hand up to her cheek only to discover that it was also bleeding.
A second roar erupted from the creature as he struck her again, this time right underneath the ribs. She careened backwards with a yowl of pain. Before her attacker could do anything else, she stumbled to her feet, and took off in a random direction whilst holding her gashed stomach.
Mindy shoved the countless nightmares out of her path as her eyes rapidly searched for an exit.
Then, she spotted one of the many MC Escher staircases in the distance.
Without thinking, she sprinted towards them at full-speed. A strained noise escaped her when she realized that some of the monsters had stopped dancing, and instead decided to follow her up the stairs. She ascended four steps at a time, and didn't stop running until she was certain that she was alone in the black abyss.
She fell to her knees as she panted in exhaustion.
Pools of ink leaked out of her eyes as she glanced down at the marks that adorned her belly. The creature's claws had torn through her nightgown and she recoiled as the metallic scent of blood filled her nostrils. Her head was still spinning, and she half-expected to pass out from just the pain alone.
She was starting to understand how Basil felt that night on Big Ben.
Mindy needed to wake up.
She wasn't sure how much longer she could maintain this mask of "fearlessness" as the detective had put it…but she knew that it was better to suffer in silence, then to appear vulnerable in front of others.
But there was nobody here…
Her shoulders racked with sobs as she lay there…weak and helpless. She released her bottled-up emotions…all the anguish, hatred, fear, and heartache came pouring out of her eyes with such ferocity. And there was nothing she could do to stop what she had started.
"So…the façade breaks."
The Projectionist's voice caused her to flinch.
"I told you before." He continued in a surprisingly low gentle tone, "This cruelty brings me no pleasure... Princess, give me your word that you will never set foot in The Dremesphere again…and I can stop this...I promise that I will take all of this torment away, and bring you back to your home, to your family…please…you must do this for your own sake."
Mindy didn't say a word for a moment, and then she managed to croak out, "That place…is the furthest thing from a home that I can think of…and I won't go back until I know that my people are safe from you."
There was a tense moment of silence…
"Then I'm afraid I have no choice."
She gasped as her ears caught the sound of footsteps thundering up the stairs. With some difficulty, Mindy hobbled to her feet, and resumed her excruciating ascent. She was relying solely on the adrenaline pumping through her veins as she blindly ran through the overwhelming darkness.
She made the irreversible mistake of looking over her shoulder.
Mindy yelped when she tripped on a step, and collapsed onto her aching stomach.
Hissing in pain, she unsteadily lifted herself onto her haunches. She was about to stand, when something grabbed ahold of her ankle, and pulled her backwards. Mindy didn't turn to see what it was, and instead kicked with a harsh grunt.
Luckily, the blow stunned the creature enough to release her.
She didn't hesitate to spring to her feet.
She took in strangled breaths of hysteria as she charged upwards with everything she had. Mindy screeched in fright when she nearly toppled over the edge of the stairwell. Her arms flailed around as she struggled to regain her balance on the landing.
She whirled around to face the advancing monsters.
Mindy snapped her head forwards and spotted one of the swerving cars far below…then, she got an idea. An undoubtedly reckless, stupid, and entirely improvised idea.
Licking her lips in anticipation, she watched one of them go berserk for a couple of minutes. Her eyes followed the car until it was right about to pass underneath her. She sucked in her courage, and bounced back-and-forth on the balls of her feet to hype herself up.
Using the last bit of strength within her, she leapt off of the staircase and landed on top of the vehicle. The impact knocked the breath out of her, and the rain pelted her at full-force as she clung to the roof for dear life. Mindy's heart was doing a million flips as the car zig-zagged in unpredictable directions.
She managed to lift her head up. The pools of ink that used to be her eyes noticeably grew ten times their size at what they saw…
The car was heading directly towards the colossal blood-dripping mouth.
Mindy screamed at the top of her lungs as she zoomed into the carnivorous jaws.
Please…wake me up.
That was her last thought before the gnashing started, and a beacon of glaring white light pierced through the seemingly impenetrable darkness.