The Light In The Dark: Chapter 2: Illusions

[shaziru]

A/N: *mumbles* Hi. Yeah, it's been two months, I'm really sorry for that. The first month was a month full of my first writer's block and the second month was me actually making progress.Thank you for all the kind words last chapter, I was just overwhelmed for the whole week. Also, thank you to chemrepnacl (aka Salt) for beta-ing this chapter, it wouldn't have been as good if she didn't. Hope you all enjoy!

Words: 2884

Chapter 1: Nightmares

As Vechs slowly regained his senses, he felt an uncomfortable heat that caused sweat to drip down his face, and even with his eyes closed he could see an orange glow of light. He heard footsteps coming his way before they stopped abruptly.

"Are you awake?" asked a voice. When he realised that he couldn't reply, his eye shot open.

Vechs lay stomach down with only one eye being able to see the unfamiliar room he was in, the other pressed against the metal bed he was on. He just barely was able to make out the green walls and tiled floors but a bright light prevented him from seeing anything else.

"...shouldn't...awake," muttered the voice. Only seconds after, he felt drowsiness overtake him.

~~~

Vechs awoke again to the clinking sounds of metal tools. He heard mumbling next to him but was too weak to react, "...worry, I...sure to wash it."

~~~

He started to panic when he felt the knife go down the back of his head.

------

Vechs woke up gasping for air and clutching the back of his head. "Vechs, Vechs, Matt," two large hands firmly gripped his shoulders and he looked up. "Calm down," he said softly. It was Blame.

Looking around him, he realised he was in a hospital bed. A door was at the front right corner from where he was and another bed was to the left of him, empty. Vechs' heavy gasps quickly turned into sobs.

"I-" he sniffled, "felt it," he said, starting to sound nasal voiced.

"You felt what?"

"I felt the pain," he replied, his voice shaky. Blame took his hands off Vechs' shoulders and sat down on an armchair next to him.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked patiently.

"In-In my dream," he stammered, "I felt the pain in my dream," his voice cracked as he said the last words, wiping tears from his eyes. They both sat in awkward silence for a few minutes as Vechs took deep breaths in attempt to compose himself.

"You're awake," called a voice from outside the room. They both looked up to see the nurse coming through the door, relieved that the silence didn't last long.

"Yes," he replied, slightly tensed, "I'm awake." She set down a food tray at the end of the bed.

"I'll inform the doctor, and in the meantime, you can eat your breakfast," she said.

"Breakfast," he echoed, his voice hoarse, "so I haven't been unconscious long?" He cleared his throat.

The nurse smiled, "You've actually been unconscious for a day." His eyes widened at the assertion.

"Huh, it only felt like minutes to me," he said, taking the tray and setting it down on his lap.

“Well, it definitely wasn’t,” she said, half-playfully and left the room through the already opened door. Blame leaned forward as he clasped his hands together.

"So, what do you mean you felt the pain in your dream?" asked Blame.

"I had the same dream I told you about," he opened up a plastic container with a sandwich in it and fell silent for a moment, "but all the pain that I dreamed, I could feel." His hollow eyes stared blankly in front of him as he was lost in his own thoughts. He tried to push the thoughts away and took a bite into his sandwich.

Vechs swallowed, “I know you can sometimes feel pain in dreams but this was different,” his voice trembled in fear. A long silence filled the room.

"So, assuming you have all your senses, how will you be able to tell which is the real world?" Blame pointed out.

Vechs shook his head, “Dude," he said with his mouth full of the sandwich, "don't make me think like th-" Vechs was terror-stricken when he turned to see nobody by his side. He stared at the chair where he thought Blame once sat, the only thing making his vision move were the shivers of fear and shock that ran through his spine.

------

"You can't get him to what?" Blame was outside Vechs' room, talking to a nurse in a hushed voice.

"I can't get him to respond," she said, raising her voice a little more.

"So he's just completely quiet?" he asked.

The nurse shook her head, "No, he was almost screaming before you came but ever since then, he's been having random panic attacks," Blame looked to the door beside them, hearing the barely audible, muffled cries.

"May I?" asked Blame politely as he pointed to the door. With the nurse's nod, he entered. Inside, he saw Vechs lying down in the fetal position and clasping his temples.

"Ve-Matt?" His fingers dug deeper into his hair the moment he spoke. Blame slowly walked to the bed with the nurse following behind him, and sat down on the side that Vechs' back faced.

"He won't respond, I've tried all morning," said the nurse. She mouthed a “watch” and leaned forward slightly, “Mister Gregson. Mister Gregson, there’s no need to be afraid. Your friend’s here with you.” When Vechs didn’t move, she turned back to Blame and gave a defeated shrug.

Blame turned back to him. “Matt, it’s me.” Again, no response came. "Why's he quiet now?" whispered Blame, soft enough so Vechs couldn't hear him.

When he received no answer, he looked back behind him. The nurse had already left the room, the door wide open.

He sighed quietly, "Bye for now, Vechs." Blame stood up and started walking slowly back to the door. As he approached it, he wondered to himself again, "Why was he quiet when I came in?" An idea then came to him, he slowly pushed the door closed while he was still in the room, making a distinct creaking sound. Not long after the door was fully shut, Blame heard Vechs begin to mutter to himself. Being as quiet as possible, he made his way to him.

"Please, please ... please," said Vechs softly as Blame came closer. His voice seemed so different from his usual feverish self. "Please make it stop," he sniffled. At this point, Blame was right next to him.

"Vechs," said Blame worriedly and placed his left hand on his shoulder. Vechs' eyes shot open.

A flash of white

Two large hands gripped firmly onto his shoulders and he looked up, it was Blame.

Another flash of white

Vechs grabbed Blame's wrist and threw his arm back forcefully, causing his wrist to hit a lamp behind him with a high pitched clanging sound. Blame grimaced in pain and backed away.

He looked to Vechs; he was in the same position he was in before, but visibly trembling in fear. Cautiously, he walked towards him again. Blame sat down on the end of the bed as he faced him.

"Why don’t you tell me what’s been going on,” he said as gently as he could. Vechs’ head shook ever so slightly more than the rest of his body, and Blame sighed.

After what seemed like minutes of silence, Blame noticed Vechs licking his dry lips. "I-" he started, his voice cracked from the lack of use. He cleared his throat, "I just want to wake up."

Blame gave a quizzical look, "You can tell when you're awake can't you?"

“I can’t trust,” he sniffled, “if anything is real.” every word had a hint of hesitation in it.

Blame was puzzled, “How would you convince someone if anything is real?”

He looked to his slightly red wrist and stroked it with his thumb. His eyes then wandered to the clock hanging on the wall. Blame watched as the seconds go by, the ticking sound filling the silence in the room.

His face then filled with sudden animation. “Vechs,” said Blame excitedly, “Look at me.” The only response he received were the tightening of Vechs' eyelids, which only made him frustrated. “Look, if you seriously think this is all a dream, then there’s no reason to be afraid ‘cause it can’t affect you in reality.” Vechs realised the truth in his words and slowly opened his eyes, sitting up.

“Now,” Blame pointed to the clock, “I think you know that in a dream, whenever you look at a clock, look away, then look back, the time will differ." Vechs nodded.

"Good, now look at the clock," said Blame, "you're gonna close your eyes for five seconds before the second hand reaches twelve and listen for five ticks. When you hear the fifth tick," he talked a little slower, "you immediately open them. Got it?" He was earned another nod.

The clock's ticking filled the room's silence once again. When the second hand reached eleven, Vechs shut his eyes quickly, fear clearly in them.

Tick

Vechs didn't know why he was so scared. "If this is a dream, it won't affect me in reality," he reminded himself.

Tick

"But if I'm awake..." Vechs recalled from earlier. He remembered what he thought was Blame, grab onto his shoulders.

Tick

He remembered feeling the force of Blame's hands being pressed onto his shoulders.

Tick

If he was awake, he would have been feeling the pressure being exerted presumably by an illusion. All these thoughts flew by Vechs' head, making him doubt if Blame was really there with him.

Tick

Vechs opened his eyes again to the second hand just leaving twelve.

"Well?" said Blame. Although he wanted to believe that he wasn't a hallucination like before, Vechs just saw no way of proving it.

"I'm sorry, but I-"

Slap

Vechs' head jerked sharply to the side. "That real enough for you?" said Blame with a smile. As Vechs held his now red cheek, he realised that hallucinations could never move him like that.

"Yeah," he said, raising his voice, "that's real enough." He groaned and started to raise his other hand to slap him back but quickly set it down when the door opened.

The nurse from before came in, "What happened to him?" she asked, obviously curious as to why Vechs was holding his face in pain.

"He hit his head," said Blame quickly.

"On what?" she asked doubtfully.

"His hand," answered a still slightly annoyed Vechs. The nurse looked at him with surprise the moment he spoke.

"How'd you get him to talk?" she turned to Blame.

“Well, he had some … ” he looked to Vechs, “trust issues. So I tried to make him trust me again.”

"Uhm ... okay. But since you're talking now, I'll inform the doctor again and he'll ask you some questions later." She turned around and walked out.

"Wait," said Vechs before she could close the door. She turned back to him, "can I finish my sandwich please?" he asked innocently.

He could hear Blame cover his face and mutter a soft, "Oh God," a short giggle following that.

-------

"Matthew Gregson," said a nurse. Vechs looked to Blame a few seats to the right of him. He was in the ‘Special Diagnostic’ waiting room and didn't know what to expect; he had never heard of anything like this before. Blame gave a quick nod of support as he stood up, and was given a thankful nod back. Vechs walked to the door with sweat starting to form in his hand, and opened it.

He walked in, taking a quick look around. The room had a desk and three chairs, one on the doctor’s side and on two on the patient’s side, with a small bookshelf in the corner. “Take a seat,” said a deep voice. He somehow didn’t notice the doctor sitting directly in front of him. He wore round spectacles and had greying hair. Vechs sat down as he looked to the floor, his hands fidgeting from nervousness.

“So, what do you do for a living?”

“Well, I uh … make Youtube videos.” He hated it whenever people asked this because they would usually ask him, "How do you make money out of that?" Surprisingly, he didn't ask and took note.

"So, you work at home then?"

"That's right."

"Is it a stressful job?"

"Occasionally it is." The doctor straightened out his back.

“So, I understand that you’ve been experiencing some hallucinations?” he asked.

“Yes.” answered Vechs.

"So, do you have any drinking or smoking habits?"

"I rarely ever drink and never smoke."

“When did you first experience these hallucinations?”

“I believe it was ... yesterday.”

“Twenty-eighth,” he murmured as he scribbled it down, and Vechs turned sceptical.

“I’m sorry?” he cocked his head and leaned forward.

"Oh, I was just noting down that it was on the twenty-eighth." Vechs sat back into his chair, trying to remember the night he came back from Pax.

“Didn’t I come back on the twenty-sixth?” he thought. He pulled out his phone and unlocked it.

11/29/14

"Is something wrong?"

"The nurse told me I was unconscious for a day?"

"Yes, that's correct."

Another nurse opened the door, "Dr. Barnes, there's someone on the phone that wants to speak with you," she said.

"I'm busy right now, as you can see," he said, gesturing to Vechs, "I'll speak with them later."

"They insist it's an emergency," she said. He stood up and walked out with a slightly annoyed look. The moment the door slammed shut, Vechs grabbed the small calendar from the table and held it in front of him.

"I came back on the twenty-sixth, woke up the next day and passed out for another one," he whispered as he traced his finger across the dates, "shouldn't today be the twenty-eighth?"

His eyes darted across the dates, making sure his logic wasn't somehow flawed. After doing so, his gaze locked onto the twenty-seventh, the day after he came back.

"Unless ... I slept for a day. But why would I be sleeping so long?" He hadn't considered of how loud his voice was getting before the doctor came in.

"Sorry about that, someone just prank called me," he said, sounding even more annoyed. He shook his head and sat down, “So, can you describe these hallucinations?”

“Well, it’s a little bit different every time I had one,” he said, trying to get the dates off his mind, and proceeded to explain to him about the three times they occurred. Each occurrence he told, he was met with intrigued but sceptical eyes.

When Vechs was done explaining the details, the doctor was leaning back in his chair, dumbfounded and eyes wide.

“Do you possibly know anything about this?” asked Vechs.

"I ... uh can't jump to conclusions right now," he said, a mixture of thoughts clearly running through him. This made Vechs even more anxious and paranoid than he already was.

"D-do you have any other information that might be helpful?"

A flash of white

Vechs started to panic when he felt the knife go down the back of his head.

Another flash of white

"Uhm, I'm not really sure if this'll help but ... before I had these illusions, hallucinations, whatever, I had a nightmare," as soon as he mentioned the word 'nightmare', the doctor's face turned doubtful, almost judgingly, like he had heard it a thousand times.

"Yes?"

"And-uh, in the nightmare, a part of it was the back of my head being ... cut open. I know this is extremely stupid but do you mind if you'd check?"

The doctor put down his pen, "It couldn't do any harm." He stood up and walked behind Vechs, only doing this to reassure him. As he pushed through his patient's hair, he felt something peculiarly bumpy.

"Oh my god," he whispered with surprise. He had revealed a scar that stretched from the middle of his back head to his hairline.

"What is it?" asked Vechs, even though he knew what the dreadful answer would be.

"There's a scar." Vechs' hands started to tremble and his breathing became heavier, “I'm no surgeon but whoever did this must be an expert, they even managed to keep your hair.”

"W-What should I do?" he said, his voice was drenched in terror and the doctor walked back to his desk.

"You need to report this to the police and go home," he reached for his pocket and pulled out a card, "here's my number if you need to call me. That'll be all for now, but I’ll need to see you soon." Vechs took a glance through, slid it into his pocket and walked out, thanking the doctor on his way.

Blame looked up to him from his phone with eyes expecting some explanation, but he just shrugged and motioned Blame to follow. The rest of the time in the hospital, they were both silent to each other. It wasn't until they were in the car when Blame spoke up.

"Did he not tell you anything?" He turned on the engine.

"Well ... he didn't say nothing."

"Then what'd he say?" Vechs sighed and looked out the window for anyone who might pass by.

"He found this," he turned his head around and pushed aside the hair where the doctor had before. Blame could be heard slapping his hand over his mouth.

"That's ... fuck, man, that's terrible," said Blame in shock and Vechs turned to the road again, "you need to get to the cops."

"Okay but, it's getting really dark and I'm tired, I'll do it in the morning," drawled Vechs sleepily. Without another word, Blame released the handbrake and drove through the winter downfall.

------

Please tell me what you think of this chapter. Was it better, worse or same? I also gladly accept constructive critisism.

Edit: I forgot to tell you guys that the next chapter is most likely going to be delayed because I'll be overseas for almost 2 weeks. I promise I'll work on it before I leave though.

Comments

[sleetgeekartist]

shaz this is really really good! (is it okay if i call you shaz? it feels a bit more casual...) i'm absolutely loving the body horror and psycho-horror here, and this is a beautiful cliffhanger! you're an absolutely excellent writer!

:)

[shaziru]

Thank you! That really means a lot to me. Sure, you can call me Shaz.

[dragongirl810]

love it so much. need moar. *dies* X_X

[shaziru]

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, very good. IN fact, awesome. Yeah, totally, let's say that. Thanks

[(Anonymous)]

I would LOVE more of this <3

[shaziru]

More will come! Just not so soon, unforetunately.

[thezombineer]

I am intrigued. This is quite good

[shaziru]

Thank you