Phobophobia - A Mandela Catalogue AU

Chapter 2

Jonah screamed in pain, throwing up while leaning onto the van he drove. Did he drive it? He couldn't remember. He didn't remember anything that happened beforehand. Everything felt like a blur. 

Jonah painted, feeling the warm, red liquid seep down from his forehead where the glass shard was embedded down his face, painting his left eye with blood. 

He glanced over at his side, suddenly becoming dizzy. he felt his body moving, but he himself wasn't moving his muscles. Jonah wasn't in control, and he was horrified.

He tried to look around but couldn't move his head. He could move his eyes, and he watched as Adam stared at him. He looked emotionless. Almost like he was burying it underneath. Jonah let his mind wander as he watched his body do things he couldn't control. "Why is this happening?" is all Jonah could think, though. "Why me? Why can't it be someone else? What am I doing wrong?"

~~~

The next thing Jonah opened his eyes to is the back of the van, the smell of weed hitting his nose. He wheezed, and saw Adam turn his head towards him. He looked... a bit uneasy. Like he saw something that really fucked with him. For once Adam actually showed emotion, and with the dread shining in his eyes, Jonah knew this wasn't good. He got shivers down his spine.

"Jonah..." Adam started, his voice shook slightly.

"Yeah...? Are the brownies not strong enough?" He acted a bit casual, although the looming sense of doom was starting to whisper itself through his ears...

"Your eyes."

"They're pupilless."

Jonah froze, feeling the goosebumps begin to rise. "Pupilless eyes? There's no way he could have them." The silver-haired boy scrambled for a mirror, and Adam wasn't lying; his eyes were pupilless. The milky white sclera with almost invisible colored iris stared back at himself, and felt his body move by itself once again. Jonah began to sweat, helplessly watching his body move by itself like a puppet on a string. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a looming figure plastered in white, looking translucent to the naked eye.

A ghost.

Jonah didn't feel like himself anymore. He couldn't feel his muscles, hear any thoughts, or smell anything. He felt like he was only watching himself in first person like a video game.

Then the whispers started.

Softly, at first. But they grew louder and louder, whispering things about how a ghost would tell a person. The one thing that it always repeated is "I'm scared," and Jonah got chilled to the bone at the whispers. 

Jonah didn't even realize what he was doing until he blinked his eyes open again. Wide open. His hands shook, covered in blood once again. His mind felt foggy and he was getting dizzy, as if he was about to faint but just holding on.

Adam laid there, shaking, body covered head to foot in bleeding holes with demonic-looking marks etched into his skin. Jonah looked at his hands, one holding a knife and the other dripping with the crimson liquid. The writing looked as if an alien wrote it, and Jonah couldn't understand what... The thing took control wanted out of his friend. There was lots of eye imagery around his body, wide open and almost like they were staring directly at the silver-haired boy.

Jonah took a step back, eyes widening again. Adam looked as if he was about to cry, his face morphed into something of disgust. Jonah's breathing quickened, tears springing into his eyes. He backed away from Adam, his head shaking slightly until he bumped into what felt like someone.

He turned back, terrified, freezing as they locked eyes.

Everything was a blur after that.

Once Jonah woke up for the last time, he was back in the van. There was dried blood from where it was bleeding from the glass shard just above his eye. He touched it and realized his hands were covered in next blood. He looked behind himself and...

His corpse laid there, eyes gouged out, drowned in a pool of his own blood.

Jonah gasped, springing up suddenly, and then looked at a hunched over Adam. He reached out a hand towards the blonde boy, but stopped himself. Adam was rocking himself slightly, muttering things to himself. Jonah walked over, realizing he couldn't feel anything. He only felt a slight graze against his fingertips, and looked over to see another person. They seemed young, having a blacked-out box over one of his eyes and a grey hoodie with a blood stain near the hood. He looked directly at Jonah, almost looking through him (after all, Jonah was translucent).

"You're new to this, huh?" The boy grinned as Jonah sheepishly nodded. "It's alright," he stated, looking over at Adam, grimacing, and looking back at Jonah. "I'm pretty sure he can't hear us. I think." He said, glancing over at Adam.

Adam was staring directly at them.

Mark shrieked, phasing out of existence like a Windows PowerPoint transition.

Jonah looked at Adam, feeling tears build up and falling, burning his cheeks as new ones fell.

What happened to Adam?