Animorphs 55 The Madness

by BluJ

The sequel to the Animorphs series.

7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

'Someone once said that life was for living, life was for happiness, life was love. I cannot help but feel that I have been lied to. How can life be for love when all you have left is hate? How can life be for happiness when all you can do is scream in silence? How can life be for living when you have nothing to live for anymore? My life is nothing but a disaster. My parents, my people, and my son… I've let them all down…

It was reassuring to see the lack of people visiting the restaurant. With my limited vision I saw maybe four or five other cars and a van, appearing as if they were here for other business. It looked like it would be just us four, Terry, and the working staff.
The restaurant was fancy to say the least: the front entrance was perhaps 20 yards long and lined with wide marble pillars and mosaic patches of light, blotching through hanging plants; an overwhelming stench of polish filled the air, invisible yet greatly discernible; the double-doors were golden and made with dense, sleek metal. It took little force to push them open.
The ground moved to glowing navy tile and the surroundings changed from the deep dark night sky to the unnerving cosiness of the interior decor. The pillars continued into the main entrance and parted away to the sides.
Cassie led the way, confidently strolling up to a small single counter emerging from between two pillars. A stout human male wearing black and white clothing stood behind the counter, upright and proffesional. He held in one hand a collection of red leather rectangles, whilst his other hand busied themselves, typing away at a hidden keyboard behind the counter.
I was surprised by his reaction as he saw us walking towards him. He barely flinched and smiled broadly. He must have known we were coming.
"Good Evening." He introduced warmly. "Welcome to Terry's."
"Thank you." Cassie said. "We're Terry's guests tonight."
"Of course." He shuffled the red rectangular objects and handed one to Cassie. The name 'Terry's' was printed in golden leather font on the front. Very fancy.
The man got out another menu, and he intended to hand it to me.
Cassie smiled, amused. "It's OK, these two won't need menus."
He nodded, placing the menus back on the counter before stepping out in front of us. "Right this way, please." He began to lead us through the restaurant, around a large circular bar area and past several doors leading to the kitchen. It all centred to a huge section of the building where tables lined the floor from wall to wall, a patchy surface of white tablecloth and glowing wax candle light. The tabletops glistened with silver cutlery and perfect dazzling wine glasses. The walls were lined with paintings of other countries and amazing glowing lamps, stretching towards a far window that took up the entire wall like a huge glossy picture frame describing the night within, the trees and the distant stars in one brilliant view. Before the magnificent window, on a big square table, sat two men laughing and holding their beverages. The one on the left was Terry, looking even more heavily made-up than earlier. His hair was swept, and his teeth glistened brighter than his glasses. Erek was on the right, wearing lighter clothing and lying back, relaxed in his seat.
It was easy to tell from a distance that they had known each other. The conversation, though barely audible through the gulps of alcohol and laughter, was barely held back and trivial.
The waiter walked us up to the table. "Mr. O'Donnell, your other guests have arrived." He stepped to the side of the table so that we could move through, his out held arm guiding us to our seats.
Terry looked up, still chuckling and holding his drink. "Thanks, Howard." Howard gave a light bow and walked away.
Both Terry and Erek stood up as we moved to sit, and the usual introductions were given. Once we were warmly welcomed and familiar with each other, I sat beside Erek, with Tal sitting opposite me and Cassie beside us at the head of the table, facing towards the dominating window.
"Welcome to Terry's. I'm so glad you could come." Terry said in what was obviously rehearsed. "How about a drink? On me. We have the finest wines, the best coffee, the most expensive champagne from French vineyards." He gulped another sip of his alcohol. "And Guinness. Irelands finest beverage."
Cassie was zimming through the menu. "I like the variety Mr. O'Donnell, so much to choose from, but I have to go with the Cabalie."
"A fine choice." Terry complimented. "And what will you two have?" He asked, blinking from me to Tal.
"Cabalie?" Tal said.
Erek smirked and looked up through the menu. "I don't think you should have any wine."
"No." Cassie agreed. "I think you and Toby should have water. Anything other than that probably wouldn't be good for you."
"Will we need to drink from a glass?" I queried.
"I'm sure we can find you something more suitable." Terry said kindly. "So that's… one Cabalie, two bowls of water and two pints."
Cassie rolled her eyes, looking at Erek suspiciously before the waiter showed up again, adhering to Terry's short hand wave. Terry gave the orders and he shuffled away once more.
I watched as he moved into the bar area and began making up our order, scratching his head and looking up at the shelves patrolled by hundreds of dark, glistening bottles. Freshly-cleaned glasses hung from sections in the ceiling, lined, organised over the empty bar. It drew my attention to the table, the white tablecloth decorated with blood red napkins and rows of silver knives and forks. The silk flame on the candles drew light from the faces sat around me, little sparkles dancing in their eyes, like the stars falling through treetops and the window that watched us. The feel of rough bark digging between my toes, the leaves brushing against my chest and face as I pounced through the sluggish black mist of the night.
And there, in front of me, he bounded closer to my arms…
Tal, sitting across the table, pleasuring a smile as I awoke from a familiar daydream.
I shook away the images and found the others were already deep in conversation. Cassie was already warming to Terry, who seemed much more pleasant than I had first thought.
"... So I flew down to Germany from Ireland," He explained. "And I opened two restaurants there before coming down here to America. I started in New York and made my way over to San Fransisco."
"Sounds like you enjoy travelling." Cassie said, intrigued.
"Oh, I do." He replied. "But I'll be staying here for a while. It's a beautiful area. So many nice people aswell."
"I noticed that too." Erek added.
Cassie turned to Erek. "Where are you living at the moment, Erek?"
"Not too far away. It was a half hour plane journey."
At this point, the waiter arrived back at the table, carrying on his hand a tray. With a genuine smile he handed us all our chosen drinks. I was given a cup of water, which seemed more like a bowl, filled halfway with clear water. Tal received the same and observed the bowl placed in front of him.
We thanked the waiter as he took out another little notebook. "Have you decided on your meals?" He said with a proffesional and inviting tone.
I must have been oblivious to what was going on earlier. Terry, Cassie and Erek had already decided on their meals.
As Howard arrowed at Tal, he looked to me as if I would know what to say for him, but I had nothing. I looked to Terry. What he said surprised me.
"Oh, yes, and these two will have the bark special. That is if it's alright with them."
Both I and Tal nodded, unable to give any other response.
"Certainly." Said the waiter. "And will you be having desserts?"
"No thank you, Howard. That'll be all."
As the waiter delivered the orders, I began to question Terry.
"What is the 'bark special'?" I asked.
"Well," He started in his distinctive Irish accent. "Since I was expecting Hork-Bajir here tonight, I thought you would enjoy an appropriate, interesting and unusual meal. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
"What does this meal consist of?" I pressed.
"It is a palette of eight different bark varieties from around the world, each taken from healthy, domestic trees. One is from Ireland, I believe."
It had excited Tal, but I was still feeling indifferent and was not sure what to think of it all. I was still uncertain as to why he invited us in the first place.
Terry continued; "It's so nice to have you all here tonight. A real pleasure."
"It's a pleasure for us to be here." Cassie said. "Before the place has even opened aswell. I feel like a celebrity."
"You are a celebrity." Erek intervened.
She huffed and smiled to him. "I choose not be."
I noticed a shocking glare from Erek, but he ricocheted and turned to me.
"What have you been doing, Toby?" He asked.
"I have been doing very little." I admitted. "I go to political meetings once every few months. Apart from that, I stay in the park with the others."
"Oh yeah, you're in Congress. How's that going?"
"It's different…"
He snorted his amusement in a rush of alcohol as he dipped into his glass. He wiped the foam from his facial hair. "And you, Tal?"
"Tal taken to park. Live there. Find Toby Hamee."
"When did you two meet?"
"This morning." I said. "During the harvest. We went to see the parade together."
"Did you enjoy it?" Terry asked.
"Yes, it was a new experience."
"You should go see the Russian circus that's coming here next week." Terry recommended. "They're stopping down by the park for three days. You'll love it. They have everything." He drank from his glass once again and gently set it down, perhaps realising that beer was no longer the appropriate drink. Erek had finished his earlier, and his glass sat empty beside him. He was filing through a spare drinks menu.
The conversation continued for fifteen minutes before the first signs of food appeared. The faint smell of sliced bark arrived just as the subject of Christmas came up.
I had heard a lot about the holiday known as 'Christmas' over the past two years. It was a religious tradition, and one that I had never particularly enjoyed. The weather was terrible, the days were shorter, and the humans seemed much more frantic and panicky than usual.
From what I had heard it was only two weeks away, so Terry was busy explaining his Christmas plan to us.
"I've decided to have the wife and kids down here for Christmas."
"Do you see them often?" Cassie asked.
"As often as I can. Unfortunately that's not a lot." He sipped from his glass of water he had fetched himself earlier. "They want to see the Hork-Bajir."
I had not gotten involved in the conversation, but I kept track of everything Terry said. I was still curious about him. He was perfectly calm, talkative, and acted as normal as the average human would, but I knew he wanted me here for something. I just could not quite find it yet.
I stared out through the black window, the crescent moon bulged from the background of space. In the far distance, though the thick, tall trees, came the tiny flickers of campfires.
A tree nearby rustled in the path of the restaurant lighting, but it was only the building wind.
I tried my best to stay interested in the conversation, and focused on Erek as he began to explain his own Christmas plans, but before I had even caught up to the conversation, the meals arrived.
Two waiters squeezed past our seats and layed out the dishes before us. I moved my finished bowl of water out of the way to receive a similar bowl-shaped object. This one was comparatively larger, and filled with…
Bark!
My mind fixated entirely on it, my tongue shuffled anxiously within my dripping snout. I sat up quickly in my seat, eager for the familiar taste of delicious bark. My tail swung happily beneath the table as I reached down into the bowl with my claw. A quick throat-clearing sound from Cassie helped me notice the drool dribbling from my snout. I rubbed it away and hoped nobody else had noticed.
The words 'thank you' escaped my jaw as the waiters left. They took away the bowl and anything else no longer of use, and left us with our food. Me with my bark.
Cassie's hand grabbed me to stop me from digging in. Terry gave us a small speech, getting up out of his seat to amplify his distinctive Irish accent.
"Now, before we eat, I just want to say thank you all so much for coming tonight. It's been a real pleasure. So, for you, we've brought together the finest ingredients, the most proffesional chefs along with the traditional Irish touch. Every dish has been expertly crafted for your own eating pleasure. I trust you'll enjoy your food as much as we've enjoyed serving you."
"Can't we just eat, already?" Erek interrupted.
Terry shook his head, a smirk growing on his face. "Look, I just spent the last five minutes thinking up this speech. You're going to listen, whether you like it or not."
"Alright, alright. Carry on."
This was obviously a type of humour I had not come across before, but even Cassie was finding it amusing.
Terry paused, and as formally as he had shown all night, said: "Now we may eat…"
The conversation between him and Erek continued, but I was already well into my bowl, pulling out a long shard of rough bark and delicately laying it onto my tongue, letting the taste fizz through me. I closed my maw around it and crunched into it, deliberately slow to lessen the sounds of snapping bark that would have interrupted the talking that buzzed around the table.
The taste was extraordinary, clearly not from around here at the cold outer-edge of Yellowstone park. It was rough, yet so smooth in flavour, and warm, like it had just been stripped from the trunk. I swallowed and searched for more in the mixture until I found a similar piece, which quickly found its way into my mouth.
Terry, Cassie and Erek were keeping up the conversation, whilst slowly picking their way through their meals with knives and forks, and sipping wine from the crytsal clear glasses. A swift, sweet aroma swept deftly from the wax candles and made the taste of fresh bark ever sweeter to the tongue.
The soft rub of Tal's tail over my leg made me shiver. I smiled to him across the table, and he continued to massage my left leg under the table. His touch blended to near perfection with the ambience of the restaurant.
Cassie was speaking. "I want to go down South during the Summer. It gets so cold up here, and I just need a month or two during the year when I don't have to wear several layers."
"Is it always this cold up here?" Erek asked.
"Yes," I said. "Yellowstone has a long winter season. The park is usually covered in snow for six months a year."
"Do you get much snow here in this area?" Erek again.
"Fortunately not," Cassie said. "The temperature gets cooler further in since Yellowstone is surrounded by mountains. The Hork-Bajir all live this side of the mountains, so they arent effected too much by the weather."
"Did you hear about the forest fires last week?" Terry added.
"Yes, they come quite often, but never really around here." Cassie.
"I've heard it was only a couple of miles from here."
"Well I certainly didn't hear it like that…" Cassie wondered.
"It wasn't a big fire." Terry concluded. "And nobody was hurt."
"I have overheard of a fire from a neighbouring camp. My people know what to do in these events, but it has a terrible effect on the area." I casually fetched another slab of bark and chewed on it.
Erek started to explain of a previous fire in a neighbouring state, but I was pleasantly distracted by Tal's tail wrapped around my lower shin. He then drew my attention to a chunk of bark. He wanted me to taste it.
I dug through the concoction of my bowl and picked out the same kind of bark. I sniffed it, licked it…
That taste! It was the bark I had eaten before the parade!
I pushed it around my mouth with my tongue, making sure the taste was flowing in every little space. I chewed, and as the smooth skin cracked the taste exploded within me, sending an electric shiver down through my entire body.
So good. So…
Inviting…
And it dawned on me.

We continued the casual conversation until the plates were half empty and the moon half buried within the trees. The gentle sweep of the candle light sank ever nearer toward the beckoning tablecloth. My bark still tasted as sweet and appeatizing and my legs had fallen into a blissful sleep with Tal's as the night rolled on. I would occasionally pick from my bowl as Terry talked on.
The evidence I needed from Terry was slowly growing. I knew why he wanted me here, but now was not the time to bring it up, not in the middle of what had become quite a pleasant evening.
"I first decided to come down to America to distribute the business, to give the people a taste of Irish culture. To be the biggest Irish restaurant in America."
I kept my eyes on his in buried fascination, finding myself entangled in his patriotic charms. He certainly knew how to talk to his guests.
He continued. "I wanted to see the Grand Canyon, Niagra falls, the Statue of Liberty. The kids only wanted to see Disneyland, of course."
A short laughter breezed from either side of me. I must have misunderstood the joke.
"We started plans to build this particular restaurant about three years ago. We wanted to make sure it was in the perfect space for accessibility and tourist attractions."
I angled my view and swallowed a piece of bark jammed between my teeth. "Yellowstone attracts many tourists. It is especially busy in the summer." I added.
"Exactly!" He took a swig of his wine. "That's the hardest part of the retaurant business, finding exactly the right area. Somewhere people will want to eat, and somewhere without too much competition or excessive distance." He stared out of the window and grinned. "This is the perfect place."
I studied his expression and took a lap at my bowl.
Cassie, remaining casual, asked the question that had been buzzing through my head all night. "Do you think the Hork-Bajir will attract people?"
He barely hesitated but his eyes turned to mine. "Yes, I do. Many people travel around this edge of the park." His confidence was admirable, as was his intellect. "People come from all over the world to see the Hork-Bajir. We're the first restaurant they'll see."
"You're right." Erek confirmed. "No small restaurant business could afford to set up here, definitely none that I have seen."
Tal's presence was recalled as his tail crawled up my thigh. He was becoming bored, having already finished his meal and began to ogle me from across the table.
"How is business elsewhere?" Cassie asked Terry.
"Fantastic." He beamed. "Our new advertising campaign is really boosting profit. We now have advertisements in the media. I have been personally placing up ads around this city, talking to radio stations, and drawing plans for a TV commercial. Our name is getting bigger and bigger."
My concentration was being drawn away as Tal played games with my feet beneath the table. I treated him an inviting stare and his tail started rubbing faster against my leg. I felt the need to remind him of where he was and gave him a discrete kick.
"People are flocking to our restaurants." Terry persisted. "We hired a hundred more staff just to keep up with the demand. One restaurant was so busy on a summer night, that the queues were lining up outside the doors. People tried cramming in through the back door."

Somehow I did not quite believe that last statement.
A misplaced swing of my tail caused a jump from Tal, spraying small chunks of unfinished bark across the table. Everyone jerked as the mixture of food and dribble splattered over the white tablecloth.
"Tal sorry…" He apologised, embarrassed by his sudden outburst and now doing his best to clear up the chunks which had fortunately stayed away from everybody elses meals.
"It's alright." Terry calmed, handing him a small cloth. "Just clean it up with this."
Erek and Cassie were snickering like they had heard some inner-joke. I sat feeling slightly guilty and had retreated my ambitious tail for the moment, whilst retaining my 'innocent' smile.
He finished clearing up the former contents of his mouth and dropped the cloth into his empty bowl. He was the first to finish. "Thank you. Bark good."
"You're very welcome, Tal."
"It is good bark." I confirmed. "Were all these varieties harvested from those trees?" I hinted towards the closest trees that were barely visible through the large window.
"Yes. Seven different species altogether."
I knew what he wanted. It had become apparent to me that this was nothing more than an innocent tourist attraction. That said, he was still using me.
"My people may not find this area." I feigned. "It is too far away from the harvesting grounds, and most will choose to avoid human contact and these residential areas."
His smile was quick to fade, perhaps realising that I had figured him out.
Of course, most Hork-Bajir would flock here to collect some of the delicious new bark, and he knew that. He also knew that they would not come if not given any incentive. He wanted me to bring them here.
"Do you wish for me to bring my people here?" I asked, then added with a deeper undertone, "I am sure that they will attract your customers."
Terry rubbed his forehead with his fingers, perhaps hiding his own embarrassment, but after merely seconds of averting his gaze, he straightened up, freshened and bright, the engaging smile back on his face. "Alright, you got me." He took a gulp of his drink and wiped his mouth.
Cassie was not as surprised as I first anticipated. "So is this area undivided from the park?"
"Yes. No fences."
"Did you get permission from the local council?" I asked, growing ever more suspicious.
"Of course. They didn't seem to mind. They seemed to rather like the idea."
"It's a good idea," Cassie agreed. "But the Hork-Bajir come on their own accord."
"Yes, I know." He grinned and looked up at me again. "Toby, could you perhaps do me a favour?"
I sighed under my breath. "You wish for me to bring my people to your trees…"
"That's all I'm asking."
My eyes trailed to my half-empty bowl, head lowered weakly into my sustaining claw that perched on the edge of the table. This was something I would need to think over. He would be using us for his own gain and his business' reputation, but what harm could it possibly do to my people? We were getting new, free bark for nothing. Delicious bark, at that.
I blinked back up, as each face was targeting mine, eyes drawn to me like missiles.
"May we discuss this at another time?" I considered aloud, as my head began to spiral.
"Of course." Terry said wholeheartedly. "This doesn't need to be sorted now. We are not here on business terms."
I smiled. "Thank you Terry."
The table reverted back to the usual chat and laughter, but I could no longer concentrate. A reverbant itch at the back of my head was pulling me away from the bowl sat before me. I could no longer think clearly, could not hear the words that bounced over the table. I could not see Tal.
My claws caught onto the edge of the table and slowly brought me back. I shook the fever from my head and attempted to focus on the humans around me, but the calm voices had become sharp and twisted in my head, sounding ever more like desperate screams.
I reached into my bowl. Softened delicate bark against my rougher skin. My mouth salivated, longing for the sweetness as it dropped into my craving mouth and twirled through my senses.
A different taste came to me. A liquid so sour on the tongue that it burnt through to my feet.
I reached back into my snout to retreat the chunk.
Held it in front of my own eyes and shuddered.
It dripped a familiar drip.
My eyes followed the bark as it dropped from my claw back into the bowl. It submerged within a stale blue-green liquid. The same liquid that trailed up over the bowl and over the table. It dripped up my legs and my belly, hanging from my snout and crawling around my clawed fingers.
I gasped, trails of blood spewing across the perfect white tablecloth, and I gaped down at the bowl that had begun to bleed a liquid nightmare. There were no more noises, only the swift dances of unreal lights and images that sucked the life from the table that broadened before me. All eyes staring at me. Bearing down at me.
But they never saw me.
Trickling blood crept down my long neck and stained my pulsating chest. Desperate gasps and moans were the only sounds breathing around the table. Most of them were from me. A damp barrage, huffs of sadistic laughter drifted from behind. A laughter that was neither inside nor outside of me. Forever behind me. An invisible being.
It was laughing at me. Mocking me.
Only a helpless whimper managed to break my throat as I sat holding and shaking my head in my arms, praying the nightmare would leave me alone.
But something was clicking. Something in my head died…
So I looked up.
They were all gone. The humans had vanished.
All but Tal.
He had no movement and no pupils. No soul. He sat there, in front of me, staring with blank, blue and green orb-eyes. A static energy that filled the room.
Splinters ravaged my fingertips, inadvertently digging into the table surface, the crumpling, snapping, moaning through my head like a steady aching buzz. It was all but a drone. Colours faded into one another, faces melted into the background.
I was all that remained, as the world around me blotched into whiteness.
"No…"
I was here again, thrown back into the infinite nothingness, with nothing but my broken breathing to keep me company.
But then was something else…
A blue mist before me, certainly not the creature I had encountered the last time I found myself here.
It had no definitive shape or form, no real physical rules, and it was reaching out to me, calling my name…

My eyes were flushed with moisture, shadowing the area in a vibrant blur. It was a mixture of violet-blue, grey and a bright row of light stretching far to my left. A slight breeze blew over me, cold and icy to the touch.
I rose wearily to my feet and held my balance, rubbing at my eyes with my knuckles to clear my stinted vision. As I reopened them, I saw a vapour rising in rhythm with my breathing, and the cold began to sink into my skin. I grunted and retreated my tail between my legs and up around my belly, whilst surveying my position. It was a human environment, recognisable from the hideous grey structures and the brilliant bright streetlamps. Twisting my long neck, my eyes found a pitch black passageway, some sort of back-alley.
I noticed the lack of activity. There were no cars, no humans, just the desolate glow of neon and the hum of a silent generator. I felt alone and helpless, with questions running through my head, as to how I ended up in such a place. Where was I to go now? My primary instinct was to escape the bitter cold, and I hustled over to the dark alleyway. The light dimmed rapidly as I slowed my pace, my sight limited to mere shapes as I escaped the open street, creeping into the claustrophobia of the alley.
It was not long before I found myself lost in pitch black.
I leant against a dripping, wet wall - with what, I was unsure - and attempted to figure out how I could have gotten here. All I remembered was the restaurant; sitting at the fine oak table; listening to Terry's stories; all the while, my concentration focused on Tal as we played with our feet and tails under the table, staring into each others eyes. I began to feel even more alone.
There grew a scent, quickly and from out of nowhere. A rancid stench that clenched at my nostrils and drilled into my throat, drifting over my tongue to give a peculiar and foul taste. I gagged and held my snout, but my curiosity as to where the smell was descended kept me glued to the spot.
Sudden white light, blaring from the doorway which had appeared on the opposite side of the alley. A neon security light. Lone beam casting a gaze like a magnet. Eyes burnt, drawn back to the warmth of the darkness.
Another wave of the stench burst over me, thrusting me back against the wall. A wooden wall. A fence. My blades split through and caught, locking me awkwardly in place as I yelled in sheer horror. I could not move, only struggle as the fence held my arms tightly in place.
Only then did I see the source of the stench.

Slumped directly under the lights beam lay a corpse. Dead. Rotting against a rusty metal door. The slashes patterned on its skin, and the gaps where chunks or flesh were absent, had turned black, but for the small writhing of maggots feeding off the rotten bone that protruded from the cracked skin.
This body had been sat here unnoticed - perhaps - for days. Maybe even weeks.
The fear I felt as I set my eyes on it brought on a bout of frenzied thrashing. The sight of maggots slithering from its gaping jaw, and the sloshing sounds of them feeding off the putrid dead flesh was all too much, but my blades only dug deeper into the wood as I flailed helplessly.
But I was silenced.
The tightened decaying skin and the yellowed teeth sticking out awkwardly from the bottom jaw did not stop me identifying a face I had only seen in mirrors…
My face.
Nothing could have been yelled or screamed to express how I felt at that moment. Only my forced silence could explain.
It did not explain what happened next though, for it came to life.
Now silence was not an option. I screamed and screamed, not taking the time to inhale, nor taking my eyes of the corpse which rose slowly and jerkedly to its feet.
Nobody came to my aid, no matter how hard I cried out. I was left alone, stuck screaming against a fence, watching as my own corpse began to limp towards me, each step an earthquake in my mind, rocking my senses. It was destroying my very sanity. I felt it melt away to nothing, draining to the slimy ground. My mind shuffled and changed, losing all that was me.
My eyes were closed, and I had barely realised. Nor did I realise that I had stopped screaming.
An inner stirring pulled open my eyelids, and there I was, staring back at myself. The eyes were mine, but they burned with a madness, an unreal sickness that twined and spread through my very soul.
"Die."

From the floor, the restaurant looked a mess. Several seats lay as splinters, torn to pieces; a small window to the left of where we had sat was now decorating the red carpet, coupled with stains of what I believed consisted of sweat, tears and blood. A large painting had been smashed, forming a collar around a sorrowful-looking statue.
For some reason, I had a niggling feeling that I was behind this.
Movement brought to my attention the presence of Erek, who was stood several feet from my legs which lay sprawled on the ground. Sweat dripped from his forehead, as his kept to a safe distance from me.
My head raised and received a jolt of guilt, looking at what I had done to Terry's once proud décor. Erek's movent equilized mine, backing away nervously and sustaining a concerned look on his face.
He spoke up. "Toby? You OK now?"
I was not so sure about my self control but I nodded to show him that I was back. "What happened, Erek?"
"I think I should ask you the same question. You went berserk!"
I sluggishly lifted myself to my feet and attempted to hide my embarrassment. "I do not know what happened. The last thing I remember was sitting at the table."
"From what we saw you just decided to trash the entire restaurant."
I jerked. "Tal. Cassie. Terry. Are they hurt?"
"No, but Cassie sure ain't happy…"
All I could do was stare at my feet. Tonight was the first time that he and Cassie had met for over a year, and I had single-handedly ruined it. Not only was I choked by the remorse, but my mind repeated the strange hallucination over and over.
Erek moved closer, still cautious. Perhaps he thought that I was in an unpredictable state. I could not agree more.
I held a claw against my head. "Erek, I believe there is something wrong with me."
"Yeah, Cassie said that you had been behaving strangely today. She's going to take a look at you tomorrow."
I sighed and leaned back against the stained wall, feeling utterly miserable. "I am sorry Erek. I have ruined your evening."
He smiled reassuringly and slapped his hand kindly on my shoulder. "Hey, don't be. We know that you're sick. We're just thankful that you didn't do any harm."
"No."
His eyebrow raised. "Excuse me?"
"Erek, I think I've killed myself."