The beeping of machinery was faint but slowly faded to clarity. My mind was coming to from the black. The aching in my body was everything. It was as if I was being steamrolled by gravity itself. The pounding of my head is what woke me. It pulsed and pulled, tearing through itself in gorey pain. The lights around me were bright enough that I could see them through my closed eyes. They forced my eyes to open slowly. My pupils needed to adjust but they wouldn't stop opening. My vision was clouded as the light blinded me, but it slowly fixed itself. I was on a bed in a room that looked like a hospital room. This must've been the emergency room in the store. I have never been here before. I'd never been that bad before.

The machines that were connected to me beeped along with my heart rate, letting everyone know I was still alive. I didn't expect to be here, I thought it was just a flesh wound, but oh god my head it ached.

I sat up slowly, feeling the burn in my lungs and bones. Everything was on fire, but it was slowly subsiding as I got used to it. I looked down to the wrap around my torso, covering a wound I didn't even know I had. My chest was exposed aside from the monitors hooked up to it, checking my vitals. I coughed, forcing phlegm out of my lungs and throat as it begged for water. I searched the small room and found a small cup of water with a straw sitting on a small table next to the bed. I drank from it generously, forgetting the straw entirely. When I finished, I took a breath. The cold air of the room shocked my lungs back to life. I felt so dry, so muggy. I needed a walk.

The floors were as cold as the air on my bare feet. As I walked towards the door, I removed the wires and things hooked up to me. The steady beeping of the heart monitor whirred as it didn't sense my heart anymore. I found my shirt, socks, and shoes on a chair. When I put them on, I couldn't find my gauntlet anywhere. Dammit.

A nurse rushed over to the room, opening the door before I could. " Oh good, you're awake. Don't take those off next time, thought you were dead." He went over and began to clean up the bed and room, possibly for the next patient. " Are you sure you're good enough to be walking around right now?"

" I feel fine. Gravity is pushing my skull in right now but I'm fine." I sarcastically remarked. Once my shoes were on, I left in a hurry. As I walked down the corridor, I saw some people near one of the rooms. Phil and Emma were talking outside of the room, looking distressed. When I got closer, I saw Pierce was there too, he seemed angry. When I got close enough, I caught their attention.

" Well look who it is, man of the hour." Pierce mocked angrily. He stomped over to me. " Your little stunt almost got you killed, or worse, but you know what your stunt did do?" He pointed to the door. " Go take a look." I went over to the window that was beside the door. Inside the room was a kid, the kid. The kid that had the glitch attached to him. He was laying there, on the bed, motionless. The heart monitor beeped steadily, but the nurses and doctors were off like something was wrong.

" What's wrong with them?" I choked up, my throat still dry.

" They won't wake up." Phil stepped forward, looking through the window as well. He was disgruntled. " The Possessor Glitch it..It was too late. That glitch was one of the rarest glitches we know of."

" Last time they had one, they were able to destroy it before it hurt anyone." Pierce chimed in.

" We didn't know what would happen if stayed attached to a host for too long. Now we know." Phil sighed. " We're going to have to tell his parents. He's not waking up. Ever."

" Comatose?"

" Yeah. We tried everything. They're just gone."

" It's like the body's there, but not the mind," Emma said. The air was thick with pain. From my body, I ached, but from my heart, I cried. I did this. I killed this poor child. They may not be dead, but his blood is on my hands. They're going to have to tell his parents what I let happen. I let this happen.

" I didn't know." I tried to speak.

" Of course, you didn't know," Pierce began to become violent, he marched up to me, yelling, " You don't think anything through! The hell is wrong with you? I may be a jerk but at least I take care of these monsters. At least I don't let crap like this happen!" He shoved me, hard. I fell to the ground. My scars burned. My bones were on fire.

" Enough!" Phil pushed him away. " That doesn't solve anything, you idiot! I will handle this, you just go home." Pierce scoffed, looking at me with death in his eyes, then stormed by. Phil pinched the bridge of his nose. I picked myself up, feeling the weight of my body pulling against itself. Now my butt hurt too.

" I'm sorry…" I put out.

" I don't care." Phil injected. " I don't care that you're sorry. I don't care that you didn't mean to. You did this." He turned to me, taking a breath to calm himself. " Go home. I'm relieving you from your post until you sort out whatever the hell this is. You get straight before you come back here, you got that? I don't want another incident like this happening, especially not from glory-be-to-glitches fanatics like you." He leaned in close. " I will be keeping your gauntlet until further notice and you do not come back here until I tell you to, do you understand?"

I was taken aback by this aggression. I deserved it, but I was still startled. I nodded.

" Good." He walked past me and Emma, then turned back to her. " This is also on your hands too. I'll be thinking of your consequences in my office." And with that, he was gone.

My chest twisted tight, forcing the air from my lungs and not letting any back in. I deserved this. I always did. What was I thinking? I took an innocent life from this world by trying to prove there was innocence in another. I didn't prioritize my fellow man. I didn't know. How could I have known?

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Emma's.

" Hey, it's okay. It wasn't your fault. Nobody knew anything about Possessor Glitches prior. What did your gauntlet say about them?"

" Basically nothing, but that doesn't mean anything." I looked into the hospital room. " This wasn't supposed to happen. I just lost our case because I was stupid enough to try this on an unknown enemy." I slammed my hand on the wall. " I swear, though, I saw something in there."

" What do you mean?"

" When I looked at it. The glitch. It looked back at me. I swear it understood me. I don't think that was the kid under there. I swear it was alive. It didn't want to hurt me. It was scared of me."

I slumped against the wall. " But that doesn't matter now. I lost two things tonight; that kid and my job. It's over."
" Hey, it's not over. You can still fight for your job back. You just need some time is all."

" Time to what? To realize we were wrong or to figure out a better way to prove we were right? I just..I just can't do this right now." I got up, hearing my bones cracking under my weight. " I just need to rest."

Emma tried to reach for me, but I pulled away. She was angry and upset, but not with me. She seemed to understand this situation better than any of us. It was my fault, but it wasn't. We all knew that. How could I have known? I should have known.

The cold air was confined to the hospital area as I walked into the much warmer main lobby. I could practically feel my bones separating. Emma exited soon after me, going in the opposite direction. She was going to talk to Phil. I could feel it.

I followed, wanting to see what was going on. I don't know what side she's on right now, but it wasn't mine and it wasn't Phil's. His office door closed and soon I heard yelling. Oh yeah, I was right. My ear led me closer, trying to take in what they were saying as the yelling began to die down.

" You know damn well what he did was wrong," Phil argued.

" You know damn well you didn't know this could happen either!" Emma shot back. Phil grunted.

" Look, I hate this as much as you do,"

" Oh, that's a shocker."

" But we can't just let this slide. Look, I can't let you off easy either, since you had a hand to play in this too." Phil sighed. " Okay, look. I can't just pull you off like Lucas was, you're way too important to lose, so I'm putting you in charge of the Possessor Glitch until we find a way to deal with it without destroying it."

" Excuse me? Why would you put me in charge of that creature?"

" Because it doesn't matter if what you two believe or don't believe but that glitch is definitely alive in some way. It doesn't react the same way as the other glitches do and has to be contained differently. It's in the holder bay right now and I can't find anyone who will look at it the way I know you will. You have to figure this thing out and chart it so we can figure out if there's any way to reverse or fix the damage."

" So do I just get off easy while Lucas has to suffer for something that wasn't really his fault?"

" Emma I-"
" No, Philbert, you listen here. I have as much to be blamed for this as Lucas. If anything, I should be punished way worse than him right now. I should be fired for this sort of malpractice and he should be mentally helped for what he just witnessed and what he thinks he caused."

Then there was silence. Tensions were rising.

Another sigh from Phil. " I'll take that into consideration."

" His gauntlet."

" What?"
" Give me his gauntlet. He has a friend in there."

Phil was taken aback by this request. I was as well.

" She needs someone and if you won't let Lucas have her back until you think it's right for him to come back, then I should be able to take her until then."

I couldn't see, but I could tell Phil stiffened in his chair. " Fine, fine, whatever gets you out of my office."

" Thank you."

I heard footsteps nearing the door, that was my cue to book it. My evasion was just in time as Emma stepped through the door. She looked at the gauntlet with heavy eyes. There was pain. She didn't notice me around the corner when she turned and left back to her lab. I was in the clear. I had to leave. Not home, but somewhere else. I think I figured out what I have to do.

The glitch holding bay.

The halls were vacant. Nobody was on guard at the moment. They must be switching out right now. Perfect timing. The doors to the glitch holding bay slide aside for me, allowing me access. Only certain people were allowed back here, yet they haven't changed the locks yet. It's careless if you asked me. The bay was a long corridor where the walls were lined floor to ceiling with small boxes. Those boxes contained glitches inside. There were a lot of glitches held in here, as they were deemed more hostile and harder to break down into plixels than others. I searched the rows for what I was looking for. Then I found it.

The box that held the Possessor Glitch. It was right here. I looked in at the transparent box, watching it squirm and writhe as it attempted to break out. I carefully took the box from the row, looking in as it noticed its movement. It looked at me with its glitchy eyes. It looked smaller than it was before, but the same. The same pinkish color, the same yellow eye with a pink diamond pupil. It stared at me with wonder.

" Hey, little buddy. You've got some explaining to do." I whispered. It moved closer inside the box. " Okay, so you can't talk uhh. How about one smack or nod for yes two smacks or a head shake for no? We'll play 20 questions."

The glitch looked at me for a second, then nodded. I couldn't believe it. My knees practically bent in on themselves. If it wasn't for the pain in my body, I would have jumped around like a dumb kid.

" You can understand me? Yes, yes! I knew it. You understood me while you were that giant monster right?" It nodded. Incredible. " Oh my god, they're gonna have to listen to me now. Okay, so what was the deal with that kid? Did you do that on purpose?" It shook its head quickly. " Okay, good. Did you know that was going to happen?" It shook again. " Wait so you didn't know that possessing that child for that long would put them into a coma?" It nodded.

This was crazy. I was playing 20 questions with a living glitch that was just nodding away. Wait. It could be lying to me.

" You're not lying so I'll trust you are you?" It shook its head. I squinted at it. " Mmm, okay, but I'll keep that in mind. So, are all glitches sentient the way you are?" The Possessor squinted it's eye in a way I could tell it was confused. " Right, right, that's more than a yes or no. Okay, uh, are you evil? Guess I shoulda started with that." It shook its head. " Haha! Yes, I knew it! I'm gonna rub this in everyone's faces. Real talk, you know what you did was wrong right?" It nodded, looking almost ashamed. " Good. You're self-aware, that makes two of us." I looked away, then at all of the other glitches stored away. " I don't think like them. I don't see monsters, I see bad coding. You're all alive in different ways. You're more alive than most of the people I know, to be honest. I'm gonna prove that. You're my proof."

I was ready to head out when the doors slid open. There were two doors, one on each side of the corridor for emergencies. It turns out, I set off a silent alarm. Emma and Phil were on one side while a few other techs were on the other.
" Boy, what the hell are you doing!" Phil yelled out. " Why is that thing out of its row?" He growled.

" Lucas whatever you think you're doing, you have to stop. Put it back. This isn't the way to prove yourself." Emma tried to coax me.

" No. No! Listen, just listen to me! I was talking to it. Look! It can understand us, it can hear us. It doesn't like what it did, it feels ashamed for it!" I held out the box for them to see. " It's not a threat!"

" Put that thing down or so help me, Lucas, it won't be the only thing in a box right now." Phil put on his own gauntlet, rearing it up and donning the armor. I tried to step back, but I was cornered. No where to go and I was in no shape to try to fight, especially without my gauntlet. I looked at the box. The glitch looked up at me. It trusted me. I wanted so badly to prove myself. I finally had something I wanted to prove, to share, and now I was being screwed over by the world.

" Why can't you just believe me? Look for yourself!"

" I'll look once Emma's done her job and proves to me correctly that that thing can be trusted." Phil pointed his gauntlet. " Let it go, now!"

I couldn't. I couldn't let go.

" One."

I had to hold it, I couldn't just leave it here with them. I had to protect it.

" Two."

It deserved as much life as that child. It didn't mean to.

" Thre-"

My body took over. I felt my arms burn as I lifted the box above my head. With all of my remaining strength, I felt them throw and release the box at the ground. I couldn't stop myself. Why couldn't I stop myself? The shattered glass broke out all around me, cutting my hands and spreading out everywhere. The pink glitch suddenly sparked to life. It shot off of the ground, rising up within a second. Within that second, all I could see was pink. All I could feel was energy and static. Pain writhed within my very being. I screamed. I couldn't help myself. All I could do was stand there and scream. I felt a blast pass me, possibly from Phil. He always was a lousy shot. At least when he got scared. I would be scared too.

I should be scared too.

My head pounded as I fell to the floor. My lungs grasped for air as my hands grasped at the floor, trying to hold onto anything at all. I felt like I was falling. Everything was so faded. Everything was so wrong. My body felt weird. I wasn't in pain. I was just…Off. I could barely hear the voices of those around me, they were so faint from the pounding in my ears.

" Why would you do that!?"

" Lucas are you alright?"

" What's wrong with you?"

" Get up! Get up right now!"

I couldn't really hear them. I didn't want to.

Get up.

I felt myself rise. I stumbled. Phil tried to grab my arms, the other techs attempting to help. I kicked them away. Literally. They went flying into the wall. I couldn't see much, my vision was dazed, but I could feel Phil's eyes looking over in shock. I pushed him away, once again, harder than I intended. I stumbled, trying to get my balance. I could hear Emma's voice, but I couldn't understand what she was saying. She tried to reach out to me, but I moved back. I didn't want to. I wanted to stay. Why can't I stay?

Go.

I must go. I have to leave. I can feel my feet running. Where am I running to? I've got to keep going. I can't let them catch me. I need to be faster. Faster. I'm much faster now. I look down, and I'm practically flying through the halls and rooms. Nothing can stop me. I feel so alive. Have I never felt alive before? I've felt alive. With her. With them.

I must keep going. Can't give it up. What can't I give up? What happened in there? I can't remember. I only know I can't let them catch us. I must be faster. A ledge was coming up. I can't stop now. I must keep going. Escape. I must escape.

Jump.

My legs were actually flying now. Did I learn how to fly? No. I'm jumping. Over the lobby. Over way more area than I should be able to jump. I feel like I'm in slow motion. I can't stop. We must keep going.

I landed hard on the floor below, but I didn't feel any pain. I was in pain moments ago. Where is that pain now? Why do I feel better? Why do I feel more alive than ever? Why am I so fast?

The portal. I can see it. I couldn't see them. I can hear them. They're still chasing me. I'm too fast. The portal. I've gotten through the portal. I can't stop running. I'm still running. Faster than they can catch me. Out onto the street, and then some. They've stopped chasing me, but I don't stop running. Where am I going?

Home.

Home, yes. I'm going home. I must go home, that's where I'm safe. I can rest there. But why would I need to rest? I feel fine. I feel amazing. Fantastic. I feel like I can run forever. I'm so tired, but I don't feel it. Why can't I feel it? Why can't I… I'm home. I'm in my apartment. When did I get here? Why does my body hurt now? Why is my head pounding? Why am I?

" Gaaahh!" I grip my head, falling to the ground. The pain in my body is gone now, but my head is pounding. I feel my sense return to me. It was the most surreal thing I've ever experienced, but it doesn't look like it's over. I made my way to the bathroom, stumbling over everything, trying to claw my way through. When i made it, I opened the medicine cabinet and began to scarf down pain killers. I took deep breaths. What was happening to me? Why did that happen? What even happened?
I can answer that for you.

"What?" I jumped back. " Who's there?" I looked around, trying to find where the voice was coming from.

I'm right here, Lucas.

I looked at the mirror. I saw my reflection, but it was different. My left eye had turned yellow with a pink diamond pupil. I blinked, then tried to rub the image off of the mirror.

That's not going to work.

" I might as well try." I shakily said, rubbing furiously at the mirror. It proved true. It wasn't coming off. I stared intently. " Are you..Are you the Possessor Glitch?"

Yes.

" Okay, okay. Glad we cleared that up. Uh, so like, do you want to explain what you're doing in my head and on my eyeball?"

I had no other choice. We were cornered.

" So that gives you the idea to ride me like a Cadillac!?" I jumped, furious but also terrified.

No. I did not want this. You were right, I'm not like other glitches. I didn't want to hurt anyone, but it was my nature. I need a host to survive. I need energy.

" Not a good excuse."

I know. I'm sorry. I will exit you as soon as it's safe to do so. I don't want you to end up the same way.

" As the kid? Yeah, me neither. Then we're both screwed." I groaned. " What am I gonna do now? I got you in my head and them on my butt. They don't believe me and after this whole stunt, they're gonna vaporize you on the spot and probably fire and reset me."

Yeah, sorry about that. To be fair, you did put us in that situation yourself. I was only getting us out of it with our lives.

" Yeah, yeah, I get it. I've just been a huge screw up today haven't I?"

Not completely. You can't save that kid, and neither can I, but you can save the glitches if we do this right.

" What do you mean?"

Well, I can understand them and they can understand me. I'm like a link between humanity and glitch. I can help them to calm down enough to where we can tame them. Teach them.

I nodded. " That could work. We could prove ourselves. We could show them me and Emma were right all along. Alright, let's do it, uh, sorry do you have a name or is it just Possessor Glitch?"

My name is Bolypius.

" That's a cool name. I'm Lucas."

I know.

" Right, right, you're in my brain. So what's nex-"

I couldn't complete my question as the door broke in. I looked over to see someone step through the smokey rubble. Pierce. He held his gauntlet out. He just shot my door.

" I'm gonna kill you, Lucas."

Not if I kill me first. I looked over to the windows, I was too big to fit. I had nowhere to run.

Let me.

Bolypius took hold once more. She led us over to the wall, and with a smash of my fist, there was no more wall.

" Did you just break my wall? I'm gonna have hell to pay when I get back for this damage."

Pierce got into the bathroom, aiming for my head. He missed his blast as I jumped down into the trash below, breaking my fall just a bit. He grunted angrily and was about to jump down. Boly made sure we were faster. I hoped down, and began to run once I was far enough away, I hid behind a wall. He somehow didn't see me. He looked around for a few moments, then yelled in frustration. He was out for blood. I looked around. Tons of techs were wandering around with their scanners on. Looks like I was public enemy #1.