TRENCH

Chlorine

November 17th, 3000.
So where are you? It's been a little while.
I'm so sorry, I forgot you.
Let me catch you up to speed.
I've been tested like the ends of a weathered flag that's by the sea.
Can you build my house with pieces?
I'm just a chemical.

Nico did somthing to me that day.
He put somthing inside of me, some kind of dark magic.
For the first four weeks I was deathly sick, my fever was high and I was constantly passing in and out of a dream state, reality colliding with the imaginings of my own tortured mind.
It was in this hazy, half-dreaming state that the shadow started appearing.
He started off as a voice inside of my head, a second inner-monolouge that was not my own.
He put violent thoughts in my brain, ones I would have never thought of alone.
I didn't know where the thoughts, or this distant voice was coming from.
But he got closer and closer to me each day.
The first time I ever saw him he appeared in the corner of Joshes tent.
He was a tall shadowy figure, draped from head to toe in a long black cloak.
His face was covered in a black smoke, his features distorted and blurry.
I didn't who he was at first, of if he was even real.
"Who are you? Are you Nicolas Bourbaki?" I asked him, terrified.
He spoke in a deep, reberated voice.
"No, I am BlurryFace... I am Nicolas Bourbaki... In a way... But in other ways I am also you."
I must have been dreaming, I thought as I stared at him.
He must be an illusion, my mind was playing tricks on me.
"Are you real? Or is this a dream?" I ask.
"Just because it is a dream doesn't mean it isn't real." he growls.
I couldn't tell which he was.

The more sick I got, the more he took over my mind, taunting me, mocking me with malice and plesure.
It was at the climax of my sickness that he took full control.
Instead of standing beside me, talking to me, he was now part of me, he had control over my body and actions.
It hurt like hell.
I woke up, sinister intentions clouding my mind.
I looked around, Josh was sleeping soundly in his bed, he looked so peaceful.
How dare he be that peaceful.
BlurryFace hated Josh more then anyone, and he was letting this hatred consume me.
I morphed, slowly creeping towards my freind.
I stood over him.
The urge to wrap my teeth around his throat and set him on fire was extremely overwhelming.
BlurryFace sang to me in deep hisses.
"Do it, you know you want to!"
He told me over and over.
I could feel sparks of flame lighting inside me and ember's crackling at the back of my throat.
Joshes eyes opened.
"Noooo! your to late!" BlurryFace screamed at me.
My legs gave out underneath me as his screams of frustration got louder and louder.
Josh grabbed me and scooped me up in his arms.
"Clancy! Clancy!" he pleaded, "you've got to snap out of it! Come on wake up!"
I woke, curled up in joshes arms.
I was groggy, and didn't rembember what had just happened.
I arose, morphed, and sat beside him.
"What happened just now?" I asked.
He replied with a worried look on his face, "your eyes were bright red... And... Blank. It was like you were being seized."
I didn't say anything, my memories from the past four weeks were all mixed up and full of nonsense.
I didn't rembember what actually happened and I what I dreamt.
"Have I been sick the last while?"
"yes... You've been in and out of a fever ever since we got back from Dema, you were screaming and groaning in your sleep... And nothing you said made any sense, I've been looking after you but... I was starting to get worried."
"I... I feel OK now..."
"You sure?"
"uh... Yeah... I think i just need to get some rest."
"Ok well you better get some sleep then."
I crawled back into my bead, terrified that BlurryFace would re-appear and once again try to murder my freind.
"Goodnight Clancy" Josh whispered.
"Goodnight Josh" I replied , before drifting back into my only peaceful sleep in four weeks.

19th of October, 3000.
Sipping on straight chlorine, let the vibes slide over me.
This beat is a chemical, beat is a chemical.
When I leave don't save my seat, I'll be back when it's all complete.
The moment is medical, moment is medical.
Sipping on straight chlorine.
Loving what I'm tasting.
Venom on my tongue.
Dependant at times.
Poisonous vibration.
Help my body run.
Fall out of formation.
I planned my escape from walls they confined.
Rebel red carnation.
Grows while I decay.
I'm running for my life.
Running for my life.

I never told anyone about BlurryFace, after that moment he seemed to fade into the background of my mind.
I tried not to worry about him.
Part of me was glad I was too sick to attend the funerals of the fallen Banditos.
I don't think I could have looked their family's in the eye.
Somhow life moved on, as if they never existed.
The Banditos were used to death.

Only one day after my recovery, Sharik and Skye had myself and Josh up in their tent to discuss compass related matters.
"It will only work in YOUR hands Clancy" Sharik said, handing it to me.
The moment I touched it, it lit up.
"The arrow is pointing east" I tell him.
"That's over some of the highest and most dangerous mountain ranges in trench... And at this time of year..."
"We can't just wait!" Josh pipes in, "we have to actually go...soon, who knows what the bishops will do when they realize the compass is missing!"
"I agree" Sharik replied, "But we will never get over the Eastern mountains."
"We could take the long way around?" skye suggested, "we'll still have to climb the last of the eastern mountains, but we'll bi-pass the whorst of them."
"You're a genius! " Sharik explaimed.
"That's decided then" I said.
"We should leave this week" suggested Josh.
Sharik goes silent for a moment, deep in thought.
"OK... We shall, for now, start packing, and get some rest."

That evening was surprisingly warm, the light dimming into a blue Hue.
Josh was quieter the usual.
"What's up? You seem anxious? " I asked him.
"Yeah I just.. I was worried about you... I'm glad your better but... The worry still won't go away."
"Yeah I get that... Thanks for looking after me while I was sick by the way."
"That's what freinds are for Clancy... I care about you more then anyone else in the world."
I looked at him, "really?"
"of course"
He hugged me then, tight.
I hugged him back, and we clung to the embrace for minutes, both of us too afraid to let go.
I'm glad I have Josh.
He saved me.

Had you in my coat pocket, where I kept my rebel red.
I felt I was invincible, you wrapped around my head.
Now different lives I lead, my body lives on lead.
The last two lines may read incorrect until said.
The lead is terrible in flavor.
But now you double as a paper maker.
I despise you sometimes.
I love to hate the fight and you in my life is like
Sippin'g on straight chlorine, let the vibes slide over me.
This beat is a chemical, beat is a chemical.
When I leave don't save my seat, I'll be back when it's all complete.
The moment is medical, moment is medical.
Sipping on straight chlorine.
Let the vibe, let the vibe.
Let the vibe, let the vibe.