Insanity / Discontinuing Till Further Notice

Chapter 6: Figures

Silence. Complete and utter silence. Leaning back, I can feel the damp touch of a rocky surface on the edge of the counter.

"Whats up guys?"

"Do you want anything to eat?" Toby asked.

"No why?"

"We're about to go to buy some food"

Toby shuffled in the back of his pockets for his keys and Jake abruptly stood up heading for the door.

Toby looked back before leaving giving me an encouraging smile I flashed a smile back and they both left. I stood up to go back in the room once again I sprinted onto the bed and laid firmly on it.

Then an unsettling chill overtook my bones from the way they all mixed together into one warbling, in human echo.

'Well this is nice' I sarcastically said to myself.

I started reading a novel from Jakes collection of horror books the horror tales to the killer diaries got me overwhelmed and I felt uneasy.

Darkness swallowed my mind, my consciousness swimming in drowsiness and incomplete thoughts. All seemed unreal and dark until suddenly I became aware of coldness beneath me and I jerked, panting as though I had been running, my legs flying out as I sat up. My eyes slowly began to open and I could see my surroundings once again. 

Blood.

All I could see is blood. 

Red, voluminous liquid crashing against my knees like a waterfall. My hair became from black to crimson in seconds. The world around me was pulsing, thriving as if it were just alive as I was. Veins traced the walls, with occasional screams coming from the outside, wherever that could be. The walls moved occasionally like they had a heartbeat. I opened my mouth to scream only to be filled with the revolting taste of iron and salt. 

I tried to move, but my legs refused to budge. I was frozen, trapped inside a nightmare that wasn't a dream, but instead a twisted reality. These sensations were too real to be fictional. And yet, how could it be anything but my subconscious?

I had been locked inside my demons yet again. The only way out was for it all to end naturally. My real eyes had to open, to remember the world I truly lived in. I wasn't trapped inside this bloody hellhole, but instead my own mind.

The waves rose, passing my waist. I began to swim, hoping to find some sort of exit, some way to go into a different part of this dream. Yet my body was sluggish, moving a fraction of what I was capable. I felt my legs give out, and I sunk beneath the blood.

I closed my eyes, terror, and panic winning me over. My mouth opened, gasping for air, only to draw in a much worse substance. My throat began to burn, the pain surging through every inch of my body. I let out a pathetic cry as the agony destroyed me from the inside.

I felt a hand grabbing and shaking my shoulders repeatedly I didn't know why but Toby appeared swimming alongside me I blinked and lights flickered in my eyes. 

"Ruby, Ruby wake up! Ruby are you okay?" Toby voices ringed in my ears like a broken bell. 

I opened my eyes to see his connected with mines with a sharing understanding. 

"Toby!" I jumped up and gave him a big warmly hug feeling his manly chest upon my breast and pecked his lips within mines with cheer. 

I couldn't even begin to explain my situation to him I kept quiet for awhile and decided to not tell him. I knew he would be on my case like a good boyfriend but I didn't want to worry him. No correction he would be freaking out if he knew. But I knew he would start asking questions sooner or later. I sat back down and he did the same.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Toby questioned. 

I thought and thought of an answer but nothing came between my lips I shrugged and laid down on the bed I swallowed down a sigh and played it off cool without drawing attention. 

From his expression, I knew it wouldn't work. He never forgets things easily but I had to try. 

"Just a bad dream"? You were screaming in here for over ten minutes!" Toby exaggerated. 

Watching Toby fret, it was hard to ignore. I could see heavy circles under both of his now cloudy eyes. Of course, I only had myself to blame. None of this would be happening if he had a better girlfriend I caused him so much grief.

I chewed on my lip as I thought through my current dilemma. There had to be something I could say to get out of this wretched mess.

"So where is Jake?" I asked. 

"He stopped moving and looked at me, obviously exasperated.

"In his room." He said calmly. 

He walked to the door holding the knob he took a deep breath. A pang of guilt hit my heart, but I shoved it down. There wasn't anything I could do about this whole mess. But I can't let it get through me you know my "problem." 

It started when I was five. I had been admitted into a private school for kindergarten. From what I've been told, and what I can remember, I was an average naïve kid. I didn't know how to share, had an extroverted personality with a boss complex, and yet I was the fan favorite of all the children. 

All of that changed on a pretty dull, sunny Friday afternoon. I had been attempting to read a children's book when Annie Campbell came over, eager to see what information I was gleaning. In other words, she just wanted to do whatever I was doing.

She sat down right beside me, her eyes glowing with wonder.

Her excitement was infectious. I didn't even try to swallow down my pride but instead, let my chin lift a little higher.

"It's not too hard," I said arrogantly. "Would you like me to show..."

The door to the classroom opened, and a little girl walked inside. Her hair was long, reaching far past her shoulders. It was jet black; the color was beautiful yet haunting. She wore a simple black dress, with little red buttons tracing all the way up to the collar.

She dressed oddly, for sure, but it wasn't her outfit that took my young self by surprise. It was her eyes. Dark, empty voids filled the spaces where her eyes should have been. Her skin was lifeless, the color had been sucked away from it. She looked like a corpse trying desperately to blend in with the living.

"Ruby, what's wrong?" My teacher asked quickly.

"That girl!" I said, breathing heavily. I pointed towards her accusingly. "She... she has no eyes!"

An awkward silence filled the room, followed by laughter from several of the students.

"There's no one there Ruby." An unfamiliar boys voice sneered. I looked at all the faces, aghast. The laughter spread like wildfire across the room and I became subjected to my first instance of public humiliation."Promptly, the teacher had taken me to the principal's office. They tried to coax me, but nothing they said would help. I told them exactly what I knew.

They said she didn't exist. There weren't any black-haired girls with eyeless faces walking around the school. It had probably just been the result of a scary movie or television show. Ghosts weren't real. They were just figments of my imagination, the result of my mind playing tricks on me. I believed it until I went back into the classroom and saw her again. I called the mysterious girl out, but no one listened to me. Eventually, my parents had to take me home. They banned me from television, and instead had me play with toys and do other activities to release my "hyperactive mind."

But then the nightmares started.