**Note**

• This chapter seems to be really sick and sadistic, just a heads up. Also, I worked super hard on this chapter, it took like a few weeks to write the whole thing because I wanted it to be as detailed as possible. Sorry for the delays in updates, guys. Also I kinda gave up at the end because I feel awful for not updating. This story is still not making sense, ha. ~Larken

Everything happened so quickly that I could not easily comprehend what had occurred. It was a whiplash of events all strung together so closely that my train of thought was completely thrown off into the pits of nothingness. I couldn’t fathom that it was happening again, the nightmare of all nightmares. My guardian angels have once again abandoned me while I was at an all time low. The panic, the fear, it was all built up and shoved deep inside a small glass jar in the depths of my heart, and yet the pieces were still scattered across the fucked up galaxy that is the human mind.
The last thing I remember is that I stared into the empty black sockets of my very own angel of death. The actions that took place after are extremely vague and whenever I try my best to picture them, all I’m left with is a blank slate. My guess is that I blacked out immediately either from shock or the fact that He screwed me over. Overall, I’m going to go with the latter option. Why? Well, it’s not everyday you meet face to face with the demonic thing that’s haunted you since you were little and then wake up only to find yourself tired, scared, and trapped in a small, pitch-black room of hell.
I opened my eyes and blinked rapidly, letting my vision adjust to the sudden darkness I’ve been consumed within. Everything was so concealed that the only details noticeable were the outlines of objects and figures in the room. I squinted my eyes and scanned the room, focusing on certain things. To my left, there was what appeared to be a metallic table covered in a whole lot of weird metal objects. Strange. In front of me, all I could make out was an old, brick wall and two heaps of black. I frowned, letting the curiosity get to me. I had to see what those things were.
Being the dumbass I am, I sat up too fast from the oddly comfortable seat I was in. The pressure built up in my skull was released and I immediately cringed, falling back against the chair. With eyes squeezed shut, my hands shot up to grip onto my head tightly with the hope that the blistering headache would just melt away. To my dismay, the blood kept pounding loudly against my skull. The roaring sound it made was unbearably deafening. I bit down on the inner part of my cheek and tasted the metallic flavor of blood. It was taking every ounce of energy I had to not scream until my lungs burst or rip the hair from my head. The bandaged flesh keeping my sanity together was slowly tearing apart, revealing the crazed lunatic that I really am. I’m not insane, I’m not insane..
A prick in my left arm threw my game out of whack. It was a needle, as far as I could tell. The cold, liquid was right away injected straight into my bloodstream, and I could feel every little bit of it make an unwanted entrance into my body. Within seconds, the attack of the monster headache began to wear off. In fact, I started to feel a little bit happier...maybe way too happy. Whatever the fuck that drug was, it’s messing my thoughts up even more. This cannot be good
Before I even knew it, it was as if I was soaring high on Cloud Nine and living the good life. I slowly opened my eyes, only to see the room start slowly spinning around. Whatever had just stuck me vanished before my blurred vision. I began to envision all the things that I’ve loved at some point throughout my life. The only plot twist is that they were definitely only something you’d imagine if you were high: Candies with human characteristics, books that swarmed the room like bugs, grotesque looking creatures that were actually super nice on the inside. It was total madness
The serum worked it’s way deeper into my head. All of the envisioned characters slowly began to turn darker and darker. The eyes of the candied people were bloodshot, eyelids violently torn from their faces. Their skin began to harden and crack at the edges, a putrid grime oozing from the cracks like spit drips from a dog’s mouth. Horns began to protrude from their sickly, little bodies, curving in each and every direction known to man. I watched the flesh bubble and melt off of those grotesque creatures, puddling on the ground in a sticky mess, leaving behind skeletons with rotted bones and maggot-filled innards. Bugs squirmed in and out of their crooks and crannies, digesting the remaining liquified meats. The books not doubtedly became bats, their sharpened shark teeth stained with venom and dried blood. Pentagrams and other Satanic symbols popped up on their foreheads, glowing a blinding, but very dark crimson red. Every creature’s eyes were filled with hunger and bloodthirst for the only other thing in the room...me.
Without hesitation, I squeezed my eyes shut, filled my lungs with as much air as they could hold and let out the loudest, most haunting, blood curdling scream I could manage. The room filled with the terrified shrieks and cries of a hundred other supernatural beings. The horrified cries were symphonic in the most demonic way imaginable. I kept screaming, ignoring the agony building up in my esophagus begging me to cease the high pitched wailing. My head was once again in splitting pain due to the expected comeback of a headache. What the fuck was going on?!
Silence. Everything ended with an abrupt stop. I slowly worked my eyes open, the fear still inside that those things would still be in the room, watching every little move I make with the desire to kill showing in their pupils. I was surprised to see that everything was gone: the bats, the candied creatures, the skeletons. It all had vanished. The tension in my shoulders relaxed and I took in a deep breath. I hadn’t realized that I wasn’t breathing the whole time those hallucinations were torturing me.
“Ariel Renee Shepherd, it’s been too long since we’ve last had an encounter like this, sweetheart,” a voice said from the darkness of the room. I looked around, but didn’t see any figure of a sort.
“Who the fuck is there and why the fuck am I here?” I demanded, sitting up straight to mask the panic I was feeling. Drips of sweat were beading up on the palms of my hands. I clenched them tightly, worried that whoever was in the room would see that I’m terrified. I couldn’t let my weakness and fear show.
Don’t you remember me, Ariel?
Huh? Who the hell said that? I glanced around the room again, the anxiety slowly building up in my gut. No one was in the room, but how? Was I hearing things again?
No, you’re not hearing things. My voice is just in your head, sweetheart. Makes sense, amirite?
“If you could do me a favor and get out of my head, that would be great,” I said, adding a slight sneer to my voice.
The voice chuckled...err I imagined a chuckle..uh…
You haven’t changed a bit.
“Can we stop this shit already? Please, let me go, already!”
Ahh, but Ariel, we haven’t finished what we started.
It couldn’t be talking about what I think…
Oh, but I am. That scar on your arm? ‘Tis but a scratch. That’s right, Ariel. I’m afraid I’m going to have to...dig a little bit deeper, to finish what I’m here to do.
I rolled my eyes at the puny Monty Python reference, disgusted and mortified all at once.
“lol k.”
The temperature in the room dropped a solid 30 degrees, instantly freezing up my dampened hands. The blonde bangs that stuck to my forehead stiffened with sweat and made my forehead itch. I pushed the crunchy hair back and my panic level went haywire. Why I hadn’t tried to escape yet is beyond me. I blinked. Standing there, not even five feet away, was Him.
He was decked out in all black, as per usual, with a black fedora pulled low over his face. His arms hung loosely at his sides, hands shoved deep in pants pockets. (is this frank in the helena music video) He may not be much, but he is the man of a thousand nightmares.
‘I need an escape route.’
Even though I had already looked around multiple times, I did another quick 180.
‘Okay, so the door is on the further end of the room, slightly ajar. There’s a metallic table full of sadistic looking tools on my left, try not to cut yourself too bad, Ariel. Sadistic looking thing standing 5 feet away, he’s a monster. A solid wall to my left. All things I’m not going to take into consideration when I make this escape.’
I lunged out of the chair to the right, accidentally slamming myself into the bitter, stone-cold wall. The air left my lungs in a short wisping sound. I longed for oxygen to continue pumping throughout my veins and heart to keep me up and in the right state of mind. Don’t stop me now.
My eyes, which shut after giving myself a slight concussion from ramming into the wall, shot open. I had to act quick, now. So I did.
I dove behind the chair, forcing myself to my hands and knees. His presence was as eerie as that of a ghost in the horror movies; It caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand straight. I knew he could snatch me back up in a heartbeat, but that wasn’t going to happen. I’m not ready to die.
The metallic table turned out to be more useful than anticipated. Standing up from behind the chair, I gripped onto the table and rammed it directly into the phantom. His black-suited figure was appalled, evidently not expecting that to have happened. The hat fell from his head, leaving bones exposed. I gasped in horror, the face completely recognizable.
“Mikey?”
He looked at me, either angry that he’s been found out or saddened that I had to find out this way.
I am not Mikey, Ariel. Just a mere image of him.
“LIES! PURE FUCKING LIES, WAY!”
He flinched back. I took the chance and sprinted towards the door, kicking it down with my foot. The impact jittered my bones a little bit, but I was so furious that the pain didn’t even faze me. All along. It’s been him all along. Why the FUCK would Mikey even dare to make my life a living hell since age 6? I’ve always thought I was crazy. I thought that maybe I have been seeing things and my mental barrier was being torn to pieces. Evidently, that’s not the case.
The sunlight blinded me, and I had to blink to adjust my eyesight to the surroundings. I was….at the park? What?
I turned around and my heart stopped. The building I had just walked out of was an old shed. The wood was rotted down to the core that the structure of the barn was caving in. The door was shut and all evidence of medical tools, cold stone walls, and my living nightmare had completely disappeared.
Maybe I am seeing things.

Notes