Rubik

Chapter 2: Red Flags

My eyes fluttered open and I thought I saw the light of Heaven's gate for a moment, but I was snapped back to reality as I opened my eyes fully and stared at the hospital lights above where I was laying down. I moved a hand over my eyes as the light began to blind me and I sat up from the hospital bed I was placed in. I looked around and saw that my room was empty except for myself, my family being nowhere to be found... again. I had been alone since I was 4 and I lived in an orphanage until I was 18, when I was considered an adult and I went to live on my own. All of us were alone, no family to really call our own, and we had each other.

As soon as I thought of everyone, Rachel, Oscar, Dylan, and Oliver, I immediately remembered what happened. I threw my face into my hands and silently cried as I thought of the undeniable fact that everyone was dead. All because we wanted to change the world. I heard the door open and I looked up to see a doctor walk into my room.

"Mr. Church," He said as he gave a gentle smile. "You're up earlier than I expected. When we found you, you and your friends..." He gave a long and slow exhale. "I'll be honest, I had my doubts that you'd live. But you managed to pull through and you should make a full recovery in two weeks."

"M-my friends..." I said with a damaged voice. "Are they... Are they okay?" I asked as I laid back down.

"Your friends are fine," He said, and I sighed in relief. "If you feel up to it, you can visit your friend, Mr. Hawkman. He's already up on his feet. He didn't suffer as many injuries as your other friends. Ms. Hawkman suffered severe electrical burns all throughout her body, Mr. Vandal had first, second, third, even fourth degree burns. And your other friend, Mr. Style..." He sighed as he shook his head. "He suffered the worst, being stuck under whatever caused that explosion and fire. Multiple burns, electrical scarring of the tissue..." He looked at me. "Whatever you and your friends were trying to make, you definitely suffered a lot of pain from it. Anyways, your friend Mr. Hawkman is up and you can visit him if you're feeling up to it."

I slowly got up and held onto this long pole that held a bag of blood, which was hooked up to my hand. I moved with a sort of limp as I walked out of the hospital room, looking around for Oliver's room. I walked through the hallway until I saw a clipboard with Oliver's name on it in front of one of the doors. I opened it and walked in, seeing Oliver laying on his bed and reading some book he grabbed from I don't even know where.

"Ray!" He shouted and walked over, seeing how badly hurt I was. "Ah man it's good to see you alive! Ahhh, you look like shit though." He chuckled as he looked at me. I realized I didn't even get a good look at myself, so I turned to the mirror. I had this huge scar across my entire face. My left eye was blackened and bruised badly, and there was still a few spots of blood across my face like war paint.

"Jeez..." I muttered as I looked at my face. "I look like a mutilated corpse..." I sighed as I looked at Oliver. "How did you get so clean from it all??? Didn't you burn from the light???"

"Yeah, but I guess I just healed quickly. The doctors didn't have to do anything to me, so I was just waiting for you guys to wake up." He shrugged as he smirked. "Let's go see the others," He said as he walked to the door.

"The others are resting though, they haven't even woken up," I said as he walked out of the room.

"I don't care, I want to see my sister man," He sighed as he waited for me. I shook my head but followed him anyways as we made our way to Rachel's room. We walked in and we saw her laying on her bed, but we couldn't even tell if she was awake. Her entire body was covered in bandages, like a mummy. I walked over and sat beside her bed while Oliver stood over her and shook his head. "Dammit.... Fucking dammit... I was hoping she wasn't hurt that badly..."

"Wait until you see Oscar..." I looked at Rachel and I brushed a finger down where her cheek would've been if the bandages weren't there.

"I know how you two were getting close too," Oliver sighed as he looked at her. "Imagine if the roles were reversed. She wouldn't even leave your side." He rubbed his eyes and walked to the door. "I'll be looking for the others. You stay here and rest." I wasn't sure if he was talking to me, or Rachel. He tended to talk to her when she wasn't even awake at times, so it was hard to figure out. I closed my eyes and I sat up as I opened them again, seeing as a bit of time had passed. I looked Rachel and the bandages from her face were gone. A doctor probably came in while I was unconscious and took the bandages off her. She slowly opened her eyes and she turned her head to look at me, surprised that I was even awake.

"Ray...?" She asked me, wondering if it was just a mirage.

"It's me, Rachel," I said and I chuckled lightly, sitting up a bit. "I'm glad to see you alive and well...ish." I turned to see Oliver walk in and he sat beside Rachel on the opposite side.

"So Oscar and Dylan... I'm not sure when they'll even wake up..." He said and he looked down. "They're messed up bad. Really bad.... God we messed up so hard this time." Oliver placed his face in his hands and sighed.

"They'll pull through," I reassured him. "They always do. But none of us are going home for at least two weeks, anyways." I sighed as I looked at the blank TV. "Two weeks of being stuck in a hospital. Wonder what we can even do..." I stood up and turned to the door. "I'll be in my room if either of you need me."

"Alright, I'll come by and let you know if Dylan or Oscar's statuses change," Oliver called out as I left the room. I walked into my room and looked at my burnt clothes on the chair. I saw the corner of my cube sticking out from under the clothes, the corner looking unscathed. I walked over to it and pulled it out from under my clothes, the entire thing looking completely undamaged.

"How in the hell...?" I asked myself as I looked at it, seeing absolutely nothing wrong with it in any way. It looked fresh out of the packaging. I mixed it up and felt nothing wrong with how it moved. "How did you manage to get out without a scratch?" I asked my cube. I chuckled and shook my head, then solved the orange side in a relatively quick time. All of a sudden, the cube got heavier, like a magnet, and it plummeted straight to the ground. I looked at it with wide eyes as it dropped, cracking the tile floor under it.

I reached down and gripped it, finding it hard to even lift it. I used all my strength to pull it up and I grabbed it with two hands as I held it up. "Jesus Christ, why are you suddenly so heavy???" I asked the cube as I flipped one of the sides, breaking the solved orange side. The cube got loads lighter and I could hold it with a single hand again. I just sort of stared at it as I heard nothing but my own breathing. "What in the hell...?" I looked at it, but shook my head. "I'm going crazy..." I reassured myself and I began to solve for the white side. When I solved it, It spawned a blinding light from the cube and I shut my eyes harshly as I looked away.

"What the hell???" I shouted as I unsolved the side, looking at the cube once more. "What kind of fucking game is this...?" I unsolved the cube once more and stared at it as I tossed it on the counter. I picked it up again and slowly began solving the green side, seeing if the side solved would make anything happen. I looked at the window as a tree began to rapidly tap against it, the window breaking as the tree suddenly picked up the strength of a strongman from the circus.

"Oh shit!" I shouted as I unsolved it, watching the branch flick away from the window. I dropped the cube and backed away, then threw it across the room as I laid in my hospital bed. "Th-This isn't happening..." I told myself. "This is just some weird dream you're having. You're just hyped up on pain meds and having some type of fever dream. It'll pass, it'll pass..." I opened my eyes and saw that the floor was still cracked and the window was still broken, "Okay, this isn't a dream.... What the hell is going on?" I asked as I stared at the cube on the floor as I almost felt attached to it, like I could feel my own heartbeat in it. Like... Like it was somehow alive.