The Thing // Mark & Cesar

Chapter VIII - Dread

The air was humid. It was a hot day, but Mark could feel shivers spreading across his skin. It felt... Freezing cold. Especially on the back of his neck. He could feel the sweat soaking his palms and his forehead. The hairs on his arms shot up when his neck grew warm. It was like someone was speaking beside his neck, their breath giving some sort of heat to him. But he was asleep. He was alone in his house (excluding the alternate that was resting in his kitchen). There was no way something would be breathing on his neck right now. 

Mark never really got dreams. he never dreamt in his sleep. Apparently, less REM sleep equals fewer possibilities for dreams to occur. Mark barely got sleep at all. So, he would obviously be getting less REM sleep than a normal 18 year old. But something was different. After years of not having any dreams he could visualise or recall, tonight was different.

"Wake up."

As his sight began to fade in, he was sitting on his bed, like he just woke up from a deep sleep. His window was wide open, and he could feel the breeze hitting his face. It wasn't morning. Nor was it midnight. He couldn't see anything through the window. Just a pitch black sky. Normally he would be able to see the opposite houses.

He lazily threw his blanket aside and stood up. He had no balance at all, but was somehow still standing on his two feet. He couldn't feel his own body. Slapping his own arm, there was only a tingling sensation coming from it. No pain. No shock. Not even a sound from where his hand made contact with his arm.

His door was locked shut. He didn't remember locking his door before going to sleep. He kept pulling on the doorknob, thinking it would do something. Of course it didn't. There was a strange presence inside of his room. He needed to find his key, or a little hair clip so he could at least pick the lock.

"So eager to leave?"

He heard the voice. He heard it clearly. It ringed through his head. But Mark couldn't turn. He couldn't move. Couldn't look back or even make a noise. He stared to out of the corner of his right eye. This was it.

This is where the heat came from. The heat that hit his freezing neck when he was still sleeping. It was the persons breath. It talked right beside Mark's right ear, which made him feel faint. This was abnormal. This could not be happening.

"Don't leave yet. I'm not finished with you."

He wanted to move, but it felt like he was being restrained. Like handcuffs were gluing his wrists tight together, and heavy weights connected to his ankles. He attempted to let a noise out of his mouth, any noise. All that echoed was slurred speech that was incoherent to the both of them.

Mark felt his head tilting closer towards the thing that was talking to him. It looked like something out of a children's Bible book. It was a grey statue that looked like Angel Gabriel. How in the world could Mark be meeting this? He doesn't believe in God.

"Listen. Do not be afraid of me. Do not be afraid at all. I am your one true saviour. And I know everything. I know what makes you human. I know what you love."

Mark knew what he loved. He loved Cesar. Gosh, Cesar is like a non-biological brother to him. Or... He was a non-biological brother to him. Despite everything Gabriel was saying, he could not escape the feeling of fear.

This was terrifying. That isn't the correct word to describe it... Terror? Panic? Despair? Definitely apprehensive. And then the sudden realisation hit him like a damn brick. If Gabriel knew what Mark loves, then that means.

"And I know what you dread."