Chasing Ghosts VI: Help Me
02 Jan 2024Maul Montresor
---Click Here For Previous Post---
"We built a house on sacred ground
What happened out there now happens in here"
"We built a house on sacred ground
What happened out there now happens in here"
My eyes fluttered open. I felt as if I'd just awoke from a terrible nightmare. One that I couldn't exactly remember. The distant thoughts quickly vanished altogether as I became aware of my surroundings. I was lying flat on my back in a room too dark to see. My eyes were trying to adjust to the light levels but failed as usual. The cheap cybernetics were producing a grainy image at best. It caused my head to hurt. Like a hammer pounding on the sides. Then I recalled the chair, the brutish figure in the darkness. I attempted to reach up to feel the wound on the back of my head but couldn't move. I'd been restrained. I tried my other arm but nothing. I struggled and fought against whatever was holding me down in the darkness, exhausting myself.
I flattened back out on my potential death bed and tried to be quiet. Collecting my thoughts. Observing what I could while lying in pitch black nothing. My legs weren't restrained and I was barefoot. I wasn't wearing my maverick suit any longer. I couldn't reach to feel or see but I felt near naked. I could also feel a slight force pushing down on me. No longer weightless. Whoever attacked me must have moved me to a different part of the megaship. I must have been in one of the few rotating sections of the ship.
My mind lingered, it had no other choice. I could hear nothing but the constant hum of the ship and could see nothing. I'd been held captive like this once before. Not exactly like this but similar enough. It was 5, maybe 6 years ago. A man named Bryce Morgan tortured me. I had been a threat to him and his employer at the time. He's the reason I have one of these cybernetic implants. He said I'd "seen too much" and that taking my last ganic eye would balance the scales. The sadistic bastard. It's funny. I used to work for his employer. Unknowingly of course. I thought I was just delivering cargo. Was a fresh faced pilot. Little did I know that I'd stumble into a narcotic distribution racket the size of nothing I'd ever seen before.
None of that matters now though. I killed Bryce Morgan. Stabbed him a year or so after all that. The Corporation he worked for is dead too. Both of which I thought would heal something inside of me. Neither did. One of my old friends, Khelan once said "Then what? It won't fix that hole you feel inside you. You'll still feel empty and look for something new to chase." I'm paraphrasing. It sounded better in his words with his thick Scottish accent. He was right though. He was always right, the prick. I miss him.
The sound of metal screeching ripped me from my thoughts. A blinding light flooded the room. A man heavier and bigger than me stood in whatever makeshift doorway he'd just opened. Was he the assailant? The one who brought me here?
"Billy, time to get up! You sleep too much. Mother always said 'The more you sleep, the less you live!'"
I could finally see. My suit and weapons were nowhere to be seen. I'd been stripped and put into some sort of dirty oversized medical scrubs. Similarly dressed as the man who'd just literally shed light on my situation. Who was Billy and why does he think I'm him?
"Come on, I'll help you." Said the mysterious figure.
As he approached me I could see his botched hair cut. Unevenly buzzed with strands of long hair here and there. There was a look in his eyes that I can only explain as absent. I stayed still and quiet, letting this play out.
"Before I untie you, it's time for your shot."
Every muscle in my body tightened.
"A shot? What for?"
The man smirked.
"To help you see, brother. To help us all see."
His voice was gravelly and calm. Warm almost. I feared him now but in any other situation I wouldn't think twice about the guy.
He bent down to the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet in the corner of the room, turning around with a syringe in hand.
"Untie me and I'll do it myself." I said, hoping to get an upper-hand on the situation.
"Brother, I cannot. You know this."
That's when I noticed his accent. Scottish. Was this a coincidence? Did I think this man into existence? It wasn't exactly as thick as Khelan's accent but what are the odds of this here and now? Lost in my thoughts again, he'd already gotten close enough to grab the top of my head ruffle my hair.
"Looks like Mason didn't you butcher you as bad as me!" He laughed.
My hair was gone. Shaven like the man before me.
"Who's Mason?"
Ignoring me, the mysterious man held my right arm down and injected me with whatever he'd promised will help me see. I was powerless to stop him and I'd accepted it. He stood and watched me for a moment. I could feel a weird sense of relaxation overcome me. Taking over my body. I could sleep an eternity. Wanted to, even. Maybe I will. Maybe I should. I couldn't speak anymore. Unsure of if I spoke at all or if any of this was real. Probably a full on psychotic break. I closed my eyes again and woke from my nightmare.
g̷̨̡̮͇̞͍̩̗̫̳̟̹͈͙͈̗͖̲͔̑͂̈́͗̊̀́̈́̓̓͘͘͝͝͝n̵̨̧̪̝͇̹͎̞̗͓͌̔̽̒̈́̋͗̿̓̊̓̽͑͘ͅi̷̡̢̹̞͈͇̣̹̬̫͍͕̩̘̬͖̟̅̀̓̓͋͆̐̆͆̃̍͛̐̄̌͒͘͝͝ņ̴̛̤̘̗̪̬̟̖͙̤̺̞͙̜̬̣̫̈́̉́̈́̋̍̒̌̎͆e̴̡͔̬̰̘̫̝̎̎̿̽̐͗͋̀͗̒̀͗͆͒͆̅́͊̚͘ṕ̵̢̢̛͚͍͖̪͈͚̗͙̘̳͇̰̀͊̋͑͋̊̆̓͋͂͂̌́̾̕͘͘p̴̛̣͉͚̫̣̦̘̼͔̙̫̳̜̙̳͖̺͕̩̆̏̃́̉͆̊́̄̆́̍͂̂͜͜͝͝ą̵̺̪͈̩̲͕̖̝̪͉͓͕͕̟̖̹̿̀̈́͛͊̓̅̔͐̐̚ͅh̴̛̛͍͎̹̩͓̜̗́̀͛͋̾̾̾̓̄̕͜ ̶̢͈̪̖̝̺͝ẻ̸͎̺̭̱̜̘̟̗̼̣̎͋̀̍̔̆͊̋̌͛͗̉̋̚b̴̖͎̜̟͂͌̿̀̋̈̊͠ͅ ̵̨̧̛̛̫͎̫̗̟͚͎̳̞͕͔̹̹̼̒̔̄͊̑͑̀̌́͂̂͜͠͝t̶̨̡̯̖͉̖̹̪̞͕̤͓͗͛̀͗̌̿͗̋̄͌̌̈́͜ͅ'̶̨̛̛̪̫̱̼̭̾̽͂́̓̀́̇̀͆̐̅̽͌̆̔̎͠n̵̡̧͓̟̟̝̣̪̻͚̤̟̙̳̿̔̓̊̇̆̀͐̑͘a̶̟̰̥͙͙͐́́͑͠c̵̨̨͉͉͓̥̟͓̯̫̬͓̙̠̤͓̦̜͖̆̆͝͝ͅ ̵̨̨̧̛̛͚̘͇͈̲̲͚͎̟̫̼̞̪̼͒̎̎̑́̈́͂͗̃̉̆̑͋̈̽͝͝͝ͅs̷̡̪͚̞̣̹̼̻̪̦̯̞̼͉̞̫͚̅̓͒̀̀͛̃̈́̆̿̌̏̔͗̈̕̚͝͠ͅi̸̤̰̣̋h̶̪̖̫͕͋̀͒̅͘t̴̛͕̗͚̘̫͔̮͖̪̱̩͇͈̋̓̈́͋́̎̀͆̉̿͗͌͋͒̄͆͘̕͝
I wiped my bloody hands on the legs of my medical scrubs and looked around. I was alone.
"Was this my blood?"
I was so tired. I felt like I'd been running from something. So I kept running. Going down twisting hallways. Lights flickering overhead. As I ran I remembered the injection from the mysterious scottish man. How long ago was that? I'm not certain that was even real. I then remembered waking up to a nightmare before, just like now. Maybe I was never unconscious. Maybe I was drugged. This felt different though. I'd been abusing everything I could get my hands on for years now, but this, I didn't like this.
My jog came to a halt at a cross section in the hallways. Similar to the ones I'd seen when I first arrived. No signs overhead to direct me this time. As I pondered on direction and tried to catch my breath, I decided to look back the way I'd came to see if anything was chasing me or for any indication as to why I'd been running in the first place.
I listened for footsteps between my labored breaths and couldn't tell if what I was hearing was my heartbeat or something else. My head hurt like never before. Every pump of my heart felt like something stabbing my brain.
Then it showed itself. The thing that'd been chasing me. I wasn't crazy. Not this time. The furry four legged creature stepped out from the darkness and under one of the flickering lights. They were mocking me again. A reminder of how idiotic it was to board this ship over a simple flashing light.
"I just wanted to help".
It stopped to look at me. It's eyes black and horns raising from it's skull. Antlers perhaps. It resembled something I'd seen with my father once during one of his work trips at an exhibit. An old earth animal, a deer maybe? It opened it's mouth, unleashing a short yelp. The sound reverberating off the metal walls down the hallway from which we'd both came. My heart sank. The creature had left a trail of blood behind it. It was wounded. Scared.
"It's okay." I said, hands out in front of me approaching cautiously.
As I grew closer it stepped back, rearing it head towards the ceiling and let out an even louder cry. I cupped my hands around my ears and watched as an impossible amount of what appeared to be crows flying from the gaping maw of the dying deer. Filling my vision until I could see no more. Their cawing mixed with the wails of death caused my head to hurt to the point of near implosion. I closed my eyes and joined them with screams of my own.
Then the noise stopped. I opened my eyes to a small armed squad of security officers pointing their rifles and lights at me. No deer. No crows. Nothing. Though, my scrubs were still covered in blood. I took my hands from my ears and put them over my head.
"Restrain him."
A woman's voice called from under one of the helmets. Her suit more decorated than the others. Seemingly indicating her rank over the others. Another officer approached and cuffed me.
"We've been looking for you, Mr. Montresor."
---Click Here For Next Post---