Disclaimer: As usual, I didn't come up with WK and I don't deserve any $$ from it. I don't deserve to be sued, either. Oh...Greta's mine, though. All mine. She doesn't deserve to be stolen.
Midnight Garden Chapter 14 by Kye Syr
I sat up like a shot, the last trace of my very real scream resounding in my ears. Was there a vice on my head, or was that Farf squashing me? Oh. Fingers. Farf.
"You can let me go," I said. He did. I breathed deep and blinked, trying to orient myself. It had been a dream after all. No wonder it had been so weird. I reached up to brush away my hair and felt sweat on my forehead. Only a dream, I told me. No big deal.
The only big deal was that the voices were back full force, almost as bad as Brad had remembered them. They'd been kind of subdued in the dream. Maybe Greta scared them. If I didn't know her, she would scare even me. Not that I could tell you why; she's not your overdressed punk, with the black lipstick and the spiked hair and the twelve safety pins sticking through even the most uncomfortable looking parts of her body. She's not the creepy little whitely glowing girl, either, all mystical and wide-eyed. She's just...Greta. She doesn't really look like anyone in particular except herself, and then only when you look closely at her, and then you see her looking back and she is somehow the most terrifying thing in the world. Well. If you don't know her.
But why the voices had gone when I was out didn't really matter, I thought. What mattered to me was that they were back, and they were horrible. I heard myself whimper and clenched my teeth, angry. If there was one thing I didn't want to do, it was to reach the lowest levels of pathetic. I'd fallen through enough of them already, what with being stabbed, tortured, mentally attacked, drunk, yelled at, pitied (by Brad, no less), and kissed. By Farf, no less.
I desperately didn't want to whimper.
"They hurt you," said Farf. "They hurt you in your sleepings. Why?"
"Not my sleepings," I said. I could barely hear my voice, it was so quiet; so much for avoiding pathetic. Damn, damn. "I hear them now. In my wakings. Bastards."
"Not the voices," said Farf, who looked as though he thought I was a total idiot. "Your brain. Your brain and the Hunter."
"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, they did. Who cares? Now it's the voices...hurt like a bitch."
"That's not logical."
"Huh?" I said and he thought, 'hurts like a bitch'. "Oh. No. Who cares? It just does. Oh, shit." I fell back and, when I bounced against the pillows, felt a wave of dizzy nausea near strong enough to knock me out again. I opened my screwed-shut eyes and almost shut them again. I hated surprises, and he was a surprise.
You're not Farf, I tried to tell him. I could see now, see that it wasn't really him. He was different from Farf. He was little and happy and he had two whole eyes and he said, "You never know what will happen to a person, do you?"
"No," I said. "You don't know anything."
"You do," said the boy. "You know a lot. You know more than you want to. You know everything that lives in the world, everything that walks and crawls and thinks. And now you know me. And I don't even exist anymore. How do you know me, when I don't exist?"
"I don't know," I said. "Am I still not awake?"
"You're awake?"
"I don't know. Am I?"
"It doesn't matter. You don't belong to them anymore. So it doesn't matter whether you're asleep or awake. You'll never see them again anyway."
"What?" I said. This felt very bad.
"Hope you liked talking to them the last time you talked to them. It'll just be my kind from now on. Until he kills you, I guess." I sat up and sank back down. Ugh. It was almost as bad with my eyes shut as with them open.
"What are you talking about?" I said. Very, very bad.
"Don't think I understand. I'm dead. I'm only alive in the back of his brain. You're just lucky I'm not staring at you all creepy and saying cryptic stuff. But I don't know anything. Not a thing. You know, if ya say something right now, he might hear you. You're almost gone, but he might hear you. You hear me? You listening? Hey, you're blacking out. I guess I gotta go."
"Oh--" I started, 'crap.' And that was it.
Midnight Garden Chapter 14 by Kye Syr
I sat up like a shot, the last trace of my very real scream resounding in my ears. Was there a vice on my head, or was that Farf squashing me? Oh. Fingers. Farf.
"You can let me go," I said. He did. I breathed deep and blinked, trying to orient myself. It had been a dream after all. No wonder it had been so weird. I reached up to brush away my hair and felt sweat on my forehead. Only a dream, I told me. No big deal.
The only big deal was that the voices were back full force, almost as bad as Brad had remembered them. They'd been kind of subdued in the dream. Maybe Greta scared them. If I didn't know her, she would scare even me. Not that I could tell you why; she's not your overdressed punk, with the black lipstick and the spiked hair and the twelve safety pins sticking through even the most uncomfortable looking parts of her body. She's not the creepy little whitely glowing girl, either, all mystical and wide-eyed. She's just...Greta. She doesn't really look like anyone in particular except herself, and then only when you look closely at her, and then you see her looking back and she is somehow the most terrifying thing in the world. Well. If you don't know her.
But why the voices had gone when I was out didn't really matter, I thought. What mattered to me was that they were back, and they were horrible. I heard myself whimper and clenched my teeth, angry. If there was one thing I didn't want to do, it was to reach the lowest levels of pathetic. I'd fallen through enough of them already, what with being stabbed, tortured, mentally attacked, drunk, yelled at, pitied (by Brad, no less), and kissed. By Farf, no less.
I desperately didn't want to whimper.
"They hurt you," said Farf. "They hurt you in your sleepings. Why?"
"Not my sleepings," I said. I could barely hear my voice, it was so quiet; so much for avoiding pathetic. Damn, damn. "I hear them now. In my wakings. Bastards."
"Not the voices," said Farf, who looked as though he thought I was a total idiot. "Your brain. Your brain and the Hunter."
"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, they did. Who cares? Now it's the voices...hurt like a bitch."
"That's not logical."
"Huh?" I said and he thought, 'hurts like a bitch'. "Oh. No. Who cares? It just does. Oh, shit." I fell back and, when I bounced against the pillows, felt a wave of dizzy nausea near strong enough to knock me out again. I opened my screwed-shut eyes and almost shut them again. I hated surprises, and he was a surprise.
You're not Farf, I tried to tell him. I could see now, see that it wasn't really him. He was different from Farf. He was little and happy and he had two whole eyes and he said, "You never know what will happen to a person, do you?"
"No," I said. "You don't know anything."
"You do," said the boy. "You know a lot. You know more than you want to. You know everything that lives in the world, everything that walks and crawls and thinks. And now you know me. And I don't even exist anymore. How do you know me, when I don't exist?"
"I don't know," I said. "Am I still not awake?"
"You're awake?"
"I don't know. Am I?"
"It doesn't matter. You don't belong to them anymore. So it doesn't matter whether you're asleep or awake. You'll never see them again anyway."
"What?" I said. This felt very bad.
"Hope you liked talking to them the last time you talked to them. It'll just be my kind from now on. Until he kills you, I guess." I sat up and sank back down. Ugh. It was almost as bad with my eyes shut as with them open.
"What are you talking about?" I said. Very, very bad.
"Don't think I understand. I'm dead. I'm only alive in the back of his brain. You're just lucky I'm not staring at you all creepy and saying cryptic stuff. But I don't know anything. Not a thing. You know, if ya say something right now, he might hear you. You're almost gone, but he might hear you. You hear me? You listening? Hey, you're blacking out. I guess I gotta go."
"Oh--" I started, 'crap.' And that was it.