Mr. Gabriel [ Psychological Horror ] (COMPLETED)

Chapter 23 "He's Not Gone"

-Addison-

It's dark until suddenly a light above my head flickers on and ice cold water is coming in around my feet. I look around anxiously, trying to keep my breathing under control. What is this? What's going on? There are walls all around me; there are sketches etched into them of my family being murdered in terrible, unimaginable ways. Some of them are hung up by pulleys with their skin shredded and hanging, some have hooks in their bodies, stretching their skin out as they are tied to a wall and someone is hitting them with a sledge hammer. I put my hands on my mouth, screaming. I quickly turn and begin to smack on the walls, "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!!!" On the other side of the box is a laughing child and a man telling me, "I'm still with you Addison..." He's getting closer, closer, quieter. He's in my ears. "Addison..." He's in my head. The water is up to my thighs. It's so cold! I'm shaking. I gasp; a man's hand is riding up my leg and I feel a presence rising behind me. A long drawn out breath sounds very close to me. He presses up against my back and the side of his face leans against my head. His skin doesn't feel human. His hands take a hold of my arms and I know his mouth doesn't move when he says; "...I'm a part of you."

The nightmare causes me to roll off the couch, shouting for my family. When I hit the floor, I quickly look up and see I'm in a hospital room with claw marks on the walls, writings I don't understand on the ceiling and floor and there are people walking past the windows. They're normal, but they don't know I'm here. Every few seconds the room is bowing in and out, giving me a headache. I stand up quickly and look behind me; I didn't fall off the couch; I fell out of bed. "No..." I breathe, "No no no-" I run these words together, whispering them, looking everywhere. Please, I'm not back! I can't be back here! God, please no!

I back up to the bed and take a hold of it, standing up slow and carefully. Was everything between Gabriel and I in a dream before that nightmare? How do I find out? I get a sudden stabbing pain in my head; a vision of my bathroom mirror flashes like static in my mind. "Ah, fuck!" I hold the side of my head and stagger to the bathroom. A safe place; hopefully it will have something I could use.
Just as I go in, the smell of death hits me in the face.

I cough with my hand over my mouth and look in the toilet. What I see makes me scream and drop to the floor. There's a man's head in there, badly, badly decomposed. I bring my sleeve up to my face- I'm in a gown?! I quickly jump to my feet and slam the toilet closed, then look in the mirror and see my apartment bathroom. What-! What the hell-! I turn back around to see where I am exactly; the hospital bathroom. Back to the mirror; apartment bathroom. I back out of the room and see I'm in a different room. There are two windows, a metal bed with a beat up mattress on it, the tile floor is cracked and the gray paint on the walls is splitting off; I'm in an asylum room.

I move slowly to the windows and see the familiar apartments across from me. NO! STOP THIS MADNESS! STOP IT! I cry and hold my head, squeezing my eyes shut tightly and pulling my hair. "STOOOOP!!! LEAVE ME ALOOONE!!!" STOP FUCKING WITH MY HEAD!

-Gabriel-

The moment I stepped through my door, thoughts of... you... longing thoughts of watching you in your everyday life began to take over my mind. The fool that stood next to you and kissed your forehead so gently, so caringly... lovingly... has gone away.

I've thought about your smile... your laugh... how long your conversations on the phone with family and friends were... how you took your time brushing your hair ever so gently every night... how you rushed around the next morning getting ready for work at the Dillard's store... how you spent your weekends watching movies, waiting for your boyfriend to come 'home' but hardly ever arrived because something came up and he couldn't make it... How you hugged your pillow tight and wept in your sleep because of your innocent, insecure nightmares someone was going to harm you...