"Why would you choose him?"
She stares at him in silence.
"He didn't deserve getting pulled into this!"
"It needed to be done, you know this."
"It was too early! He is no where near ready!"
She smiles at him, sending shivers down his spine.
"It had to be done."
She stalks around him like a predator.
"After all..."
She walks backwards into the shadows.
"We both know consequences of breaking Rule #1."
His eyes widen as she disappears into the void.
He was going crazy. It was the only answer.
It has been four months now, two months ago Void had shown improvement, she had shown clarity and actually spoke to him. However, after giving him a warning, she had stopped talking altogether. She doesn't even tell him about that dream of hers anymore. All she does is hum a tune, over and over, like a broken record. It sounded sad, almost like a haunting choir singing a horror tune. It grated on his ears and while he can't deny that Void sings wonderfully, something about it causes an uneasy tenseness within him. After each visit, he would see more shadows, hear these whispers when he was all alone. That haunting tune haunts his sleep along with that Cheshire smile and endless darkness. He wakes up through the night covered in sweat and shaking in fear and because of this he has dark rings under his eyes from lack of restful sleep. His temper has also shortened, stress has him in tense knots and that phrase is STILL echoing in his head. We shall see.
He was going crazy. He has to be. Johnathan has become paranoid as well, locking his house tight at night, becoming strict about who enters his office and has suspicious eyes on everyone. His coworkers has noticed his gradual shift in behavior and are becoming worried for him. However, they left him alone, afraid of losing their jobs. Why is all of this happening?
'Doctor, do you believe in monsters?'
'Monsters are not real, Miss Dean.'
'We shall see.'
A shiver crawls down his back at the memory.
"Dr. Green?"
Johnathan looks up to see the head nurse in the doorway. He sends her a smile, "Yes, Ms. Reddit?"
"Everyone has gone home for the night and the night gaurds will be here soon. I need to get home as well to feed my dogs. Will you be leaving soon?"
Dr. Green looks at the clock and is surprised at how late it is.
"I'll stay until the night gaurds arrive and lock the place up. You take care, alright?"
She sends him a nice smile and nods her consent.
She pauses, "Oh! Before I forget, Ms. Dean has asked for you to come by her room."
Dr. Green looks up sharply but the nurse is gone, as if she had never paused to deliver such a message. Another illusion, then. His mind was spiraling deeper into insanity. He pauses, or perhaps a message? This didn't start until Void had shown clarity. Dr. Green's eye harden and he stands up with determination. Perhaps a visit would be beneficial. He marches to the elevator and goes up to the top floor. Upon finding Void's door, he stops in front of it.
A small breeze flows behind him and a very faint whisper of "go in" brushes against his ears. He almost didn't hear it but he did and it made a shudder flow through his frame. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up in primal fear. Something is wrong here, something horrible is about to happen and the feeling in his gut told him it was going to happen, whether he wanted it to or not. With a knot of dread in his chest, he slowly reaches out and turns the knob of the door. The click seemed like a bomb has gone off, it was so loud, and the door squeaked open. Void stood in front of the window, her jacket still secured on her being and her form was silhouetted by the moonlight. The entire room was covered in shadows, unnatural darkness.
"Do you believe in monsters, Doctor?" She whispers, not moving an inch.
"No." It was true. Despite all that has been happening, he still did not believe in things such as demons or monsters. It simply wasn't possible. He was a man of science and such beliefs were below him. The door behind him slams shut and the click it made tells him it's been locked. He quickly turns around and pounds on the door, "Hey! Let me out! Frank, Gordon! If this is a prank you'd better let me out right now or you're fired!"
"Quiet!" Void hisses.
Johnathan turns around to glare at her with anger, "No! I will not be quiet! This is your doing! I know it is! How are you doing all this? Who did you bribe to be part of this? Tell me!" His voice grows louder and louder the more he spoke.
Void tries again, "Quiet! They'll hear you!"
"Who? Those creatures of yours? The monsters? Ms. Dean, there are no demons, no creatures, no monsters in the dark! All of it is in that little head of yours! It is a fantasy, an illusion you have trapped yourself in! Wake up! This is the real world, Void! THERE ARE NO MONSTERS!" Dr. Green screams at the girl, the lack of sleep and his anger getting the better of him.
Suddenly, all light within the room in gone.
"They are here." Void whispers.
Johnathan looks around the dark room, unable to see a thing and whimpers out a, "W-what?"
A pressure around his ankles causes him gasp. It climbs up his legs making him fall. With a thud he lands hard on his front and he can hear another thud in front of him, Void had fallen, too. Suddenly he was being dragged, dragged further into the darkness. It was then he realized that it was hands that clutched his legs, arms of darkness were dragging him. Johnathan dug his fingers into the floor trying to claw anyway from these things but he only managed to make his fingers bleed. The sound of metal fills his ears, the buckles on Void's straight jacket were scraping against the tiled floor, she was being dragged as well. His gut sunk as the sensation of falling fills his being. He opens his mouth to scream but no sound escapes his body. Falling, falling, he fell for what seemed like years before he lands.
Around him is darkness and yet he could see fire and rivers of blood. He saw bodies of creatures unknown, a battlefield long since dead. Hands full of claws dig into his legs and arms, holding him into place. He couldn't move and his fear had numbed. A shadow, no two shadows stood before him. One held green wings, the other a very light pink, almost white. They stood next to each other when the one with white wings attacked the green winged one. They fought, the ground beneath them rumbling and cracking. The war. The white winged one sliced the green winged ones neck, splattering blood across Johnathan's body. The green winged one fell to his knees, choking on his own blood. The white wings got stained by the spurting blood, turning them a deep pink. The now pink winged one reached down and grabbed both of his wings, bracing himself with a foot on the green ones back, he pulled. Screaming, tortured soul churning screaming echoed through the silence of this Hell. Ripping sounds and sickening wet spurts came from the screaming one and finally with one last tug, the green wings gave way and were permanently taken, forever. Betrayal. Once done the pink one tried to fly away but was tackled by the green winged one. He plunged a hand through the pink ones chest, tearing a hole in its heart. Vengeance. The pink one gasped and managed to buck the green one away. A hand on his chest, showed what the green one stole, his heart. The pink orb was in the green ones hand and with a dead laugh, he clenched his hand. For but a second, the cracking of glass was heard and the orb shatter to billions of pieces. His soul, the very being of his self, was gone.
An eye for an eye, as the saying was. In this case, it was a soul for a soul.
The orb burned the green ones hands causing them to turn a nasty scorched red. They had both taken what mattered most from each other. And in a way, killed each other. Murder. Johnathan couldn't believe his eyes and yet he kept watching with a numb fascination. It finally hit him as to what was going on. Void's visions, this is what she saw almost constantly within her haunted mind. Both shadows collapse and a new being appears. Pale skin, brown hair and blue eyes give away her identity.
"Void!" He called but no sound escaped him. All he could do was watch.
She kneels down beside the two figures. A hand on both of their heads, her jacket had somehow come undone. Another shadow appears behind her, claws ready to stab into her. He screamed her name, trying to warn her of her fate. She looks at him, her eyes focused and steady streams of tears escaped her sad eyes.
"Do you believe in monsters, Doctor?" She had whispered it but it sounded like she was screaming with how loud it was to his ears.
The claws descend fast and tear straight through her torso, blood sprayed everywhere, covering him from head to toe in blood.
He looked into her eyes, glazed and blank, no life anywhere could be found in them. She was dead but he still whispered, "Yes." It was audible this time, the first noise since coming to this wasteland.
"Then save me."
Her form began to mutate. It grew taller and taller, her mouth melted and a thin line of blood crossed perfectly down the middle of her face. An even waterfall of blood covered the right side of her face and hardened. It turned as black as the shadows around him. Her right eye became slanted and triangle-like and a white stripe goes from the hairline to the corner of her eye closest to her right ear, causing it to become a solid white. Her left eye widens until its perfectly oval and black tears began to fall down her cheek and stop at her jaw. Soon her entire eye is died a solid black, along with a permanent black tear line, and her skin on the left side of her face turns a paper white. Her hair flies on an invisible wind and pulls itself into a bun leaving two curly bangs to frame her face. The bun pales until its white and the rest darkens into a black. The straight jacket is shredded until only a little covers her chest and the sleeves are reduced to a over the shoulders strap to hold the garment up. As she gains height, her body thins out until she looks very malnourished. Her arms from the strap down turn black and her fingers sharpen into dangerous claws. Her white pants melt together into a skirt which then dies black just like her arms. Ghostly chains appear around her wrists and waist, keeping her imprisoned. Then a thin line cracks across her face, all the way from where her ears are supposed to be, and she roars. The line opening to reveal the crack created sharp points to simulate teeth and a black and white striped tongue is inside.
"HELP ME ESCAPE!"
Then he woke up.