Fever Dreams

Last Man Standing

A girl is in a coma from a car accident that killed two of her closest friends and severely injured her. Her mind is a tournament and the game is last man standing. The personality remaining when she wakes up will become her dominant personality. White was formerly dominant, but the some of the others will do all they can to ensure she isn't this time. Time is running out and if this isn't resolved soon, Girl may never wake up...

I opened my eyes to a scene as white as fresh paper. Utterly blank. Nothing stirred. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. Except me. I looked down at my hands, felt my hair, felt my face. How curious. I began to walk, or maybe I didn't, it's hard to tell when there's nothing else to reference. I walked in no particular direction, aware that I was getting nowhere. Then I saw a female figure in the distance. She was running towards me. I wasn't sure whether to meet her, stay put, our try to run away. I stayed put. She was smiling. She touched my hair and I touched hers, she felt my cheek and I felt hers, she lifted her palm and I placed mine on it. Our hands were the same size. Identical. We were identical in every way. Her dress was yellow but mine was white. We began to walk together in comfortable silence. The only sounds in the white world were our footsteps, nearly in sync. We walked on until we met another like us. She was sitting on the floor, sobbing. Her dress was blue. She looked up at us with watery eyes, her hoarse voice shattering the tranquility.

"You know things will never be the same."

I blinked. Yellow beamed.

"Isn't it all so exciting?"

"No," Blue replied with a sniff.

"They will find you, and they will do all they can to ensure you lose."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means you will die, and life as we know it will end."

I shook my head, even more confused.  Yellow skipped ahead, beckoning us both forward.

"Come on!"

"No thanks. I'd rather not be there to watch this go down." Blue replied glumly.

Annoyed by her negative energy, I followed Yellow. We could only tell we were moving at all by the slowly receding bundle of blue on the floor.

"Well she was a downer," I said, turning to Yellow.

"She has a point, though," Yellow replied, poking her dimple playfully.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, two more of us appeared, one yelling and the other silent, one in red and the other in black. Yellow froze up, smiling uneasily. She clamped a hand over my mouth. There was nowhere to hide so we stood very still.  Unfortunately, Yellow's dress gave us away. Red began to yell and Black was walking steadily towards us with cold eyes.

"Run!" I cried, pulling Yellow along. She tugged her arm out of my grasp.

"That won't help us now. You're more important. You run and I'll hold them off."

"What are you talking about? If we stay together we might be able to take them both."

Yellow laughed, but her eyes were glazed over.

"If you don't run now, there's no hope for either of us." Black was holding a staff. Tied to the staff was a piece of orange fabric and a piece of familiar blue fabric. There was blood coating the end of the staff. I covered my mouth with my hands and ran. I hadn't liked the pessimist all that much but it still shook me to my core that she was probably dead. I never even met the orange girl.

Suddenly, Red charged, tackling me to the ground. We wrestled but she was stronger. Laughing, she hoisted me up by my throat.

"Not so intimidating now, are you?"

I kicked at her and she dropped me like a bundle of sticks. I ran again, towards nothing in particular, but she was faster. Everything in me straining, I sprinted until I collided with something solid. I looked up from my position on the ground and saw Black staring down at me menacingly. It was incredible how she could have the same features as Yellow but give off such entirely different vibes. Her freckles and dimples and curly dark hair looked frightening.  Her staff was slick with fresh blood, a strip of yellow fabric now adorning it, beside the blue and orange.

"Wh-what's going on?" I stammered.

"Your time is up!" screeched Red. I wish she wouldn't be so loud. Suddenly it all began to make sense. I felt the memories returning to me.

"Your reign is over!" continued Red. I knew what to do. Calmly, I rose.

"Maybe. But only one of you can become the Dominant Trait. Which shall it be? Rage? Or Cruelty?"

I saw them exchange a doubtful look. They started to bicker, well mostly Red. I was backing away slowly when Black's hand shot out to grab me.

"Not so fast."

A flash of green passed us by in a blur. We were all on the floor. I was covered in blood, and I wasn't sure whose. Towering over us with a smirk was a girl in a green dress. Selfishness.

"Sorry, but there's a new personality in charge now. And her name is Greed."

Red and Black weren't moving so I didn't either. Green cackled. My eyes fluttered shut. Some of that blood was definitely mine. Then the cackling was abruptly cut short.

I opened my eyes in time to see Green coughing up blood, sinking to her knees. She was facing away from me and I could see the tip of the blade poking out of her back. When she fell I saw Blue, her dress tattered and bloody. She looked up at me and smiled uncharacteristically.

"Next time, if you're going to kill me, finish the job."

I laughed as I cried, glad she had survived. She stared at me, alarmed.

"You're dying." I looked down at the blood staining my formerly white dress. I laughed again.

"So are you."
She shook her head frantically.

"You don't get it. What if you die first? I don't want to be Dominant Emotion. Girl has enough depression as it is.. You're the only one right for this job. You're the best of all of us."

"Aww.. I'm flattered." I rasped, clutching at my bleeding stomach.

"You shouldn't be." Blue replied, anxious. I rolled my eyes, and she continued.

"I guess you proved me wrong. Things will turn out alright, at least this time." With that, she wrenched the knife out of Green's motionless form and slit her own throat. She fell and I looked away, holding myself. Even now I couldn't feel the pain of the wound anymore. It was happening. I was scared, confused, excited, reluctant, sad.
There was a final flash of white and everything went dark.

When I opened my eyes, my mom's anxious face was staring down at me. She looked sleepless with worry. Her face lit up as I blinked at her, tears streaming down her face.

"It's you. You're back."

I nodded, tears in my eyes as well. Sam and Avery were dead. I almost was. I couldn't feel my limbs but somehow everything hurt. But I managed a wobbly smile for my mom, cause she's right.

It is me.

I'm back.