Chained

Eight

A sick realization crawls inside, a feeling of familiarity and fear. Unable to answer Michael, I went back inside the house and slammed the door.

"Shit!" I hiss.

The world spun as I slump down. The fear of skull man still eats away at me, but some resounding logic keeps me anchored in place.

There isn't any skull man. It was a hallucination.

Laughter threatens to escape. It's not funny. It really isn't funny. But I should have known better. I should have known there is no such thing as a skull man.

I rub my head, trying to get a better sense of things. Not that there is much use trying to gain a better sense during a bad trip. Not that I've ever actually had a bad trip. My very few experiences were always just weird and uncomfortable.

This is different. Much more intense. And my heart is pounding as I wonder how long this will last.

When did Freddie drug me?

Are you sure she drugged you?

Was Freddie even real?

Why wouldn't she be real?

My mind is spinning so much that I can't work it out.

"I told you that you let a serpent into your home."

Michael's voice is not helping my nausea. I just lower my head and try to tell myself that he isn't real. The skull man isn't real. I just have to wait to come down and not do anything stupid.

"Did you know that she would drug me?" I croak.

Perfect. Engaging with a possible hallucination.

"I told you that she would dig into your soul," Michael said, his voice sounding too far and too near at the same time.

"Why?" Things spin more. "I just wanted to help her."

"And she is trying to help you," Michael says. "Freddie has...controversial views in our group. She wants to bring more people from the outside into our truth. She gives people the cure. This is not the first time and I suspect it won't be the last."

I can't stop the laughter this time. "I knew...I knew I shouldn't have stopped for her. I'm a fucking moron."

"You are a good man, Jason Hill," Michael says tonelessly. "That is what Freddie wants."

"I thought she wanted to leave your group!" I moan as the floor starts swaying. "She wanted to escape..."

"Freddie wants to lead our group down unorthodox paths and we wanted to stop her. It went...very badly the last time she brought an outsider into the group. I think she did just want to get away from the damage that she did. But when you helped her...she couldn't help herself. She has a pernicious predilection for saving people."

I groan. "This isn't saving me!"

"Indeed."

I clasped my hands together. "What do I do?"

Why am I asking Michael?

"You need to let me inside. I will take her away and you can go back to your life before it's too late."

I shake my head and the world spins wildly. "No. No, this is fucked up, but I can't..."

"She has already given you the cure, Jason Hill. It won't be long before you experience the truth."

I groan. "All I'm experiencing is the worst trip. What the fuck did she give me?"

"Nothing you've ever heard of, Jason Hill."