Reborn

Chapter VI: The Calling Of Madness

When Lucie woke up, she was in her bathroom lying on the floor. She slowly gets up to a sitting position, her head was hurting like crazy. She gets to her feet and gets some pain medication from the pharmacy cabinet behind the mirror above the bathroom sink. She close the cabinet then noticed something. A white lock of hair had appeared, that wasn't here before.
"Third step eh ?"
Lucie looked in the bathtub, it was Sheogorath, he was sitting in the bathtub just blankly staring at the ceiling.
"Why are you here ?" asked Lucie looking back in the mirror.
"Just checking up on ya. Making sure you're not doing anything stupid" respond Sheogorath.
"You know that we have Haskill for that"
"He doesn't care. When it happened to me back then, he didn't move a single muscle. To scared to do anything. This is the most delicate phase" said Sheogorath.
"I see…. Should i be aware of something else ?" asked Lucie.
"First, put down that razor blade" said Sheogorath pointing at Lucie's hands.
"Huh ?" said Lucie before looking down at her hands, she had a razor blade in the right hand, she tried to cut her left wrist. She carefully puts down the blade.
"First thing, you're body does what he wants. So keep anything that could harm you locked somewhere and hide the key"
Lucie took the razor blade and anything that could cut and locked them in the pharmacy cabinet. She slid the key under the door.
"Wait…. Do you hear that ?" asked Lucie.
She could hear the faint noise of a cat meowing.
"That's weird, i don't have a cat. My neighbours too"
"Second thing, you're mind plays tricks on you. You will hear various sounds and see weird things even if they're not real" said Sheogorath.
Lucie lied back down on the floor, staring at the ceiling. She could see weird colored dots then bloody hand marks. She closed her eyes, she could hear cries of pain, she covered her ears, the cries became louder, she was gripping her head now. The noises didn't stop, she was banging her head on the floor hoping it would stop. Eventually she knocked her head too hard and passed out.
She woke sweating, she was still in the bathroom, it was the middle of the night. She got up slowly, she looked in the mirror, an another white lock of hair had appeared. She looked in the bathtub, Sheogorath was sleeping with just a hand holding his head.
She got closer to a wall, leaned back a bit and launched forward at the wall, knocking her head pretty hard. Sheogorath woke up to the sound and looked at Lucie who was now on the floor gripping her head, squirming and whining in pain.
"Are you ok ?!" he exclaimed trying to get out of the bathtub.
"Do i look like i'm ok ?!" she yelled still gripping her head.
"Oh….you're already at that part" he said with a bit of concern.
"What in Oblivion are you talking about ?!" she said still screaming.
"Third thing, emotions. You're mind tries to evacuate all the negative emotions,hurting you in the process"
Lucie released the gripp on her head, one of her hand had blood on it. She got up to look in the mirror, she had a cut on her forehead.
"Thick skull eh ?" said Sheogorath mockingly.
"Shut up" said Lucie while grabbing the first aid kit.
"Hope you're not going through the fourth phase too quick"
"What's the fourth phase ?" said Lucie while applying antiseptic on her forehead.
"Oh you'll find it soon enough"
Lucie finished to put a bandage on her forehead and suddenly felt nauseous. She quickly ran to the toilet to vomit, she didn't ate for a while, her throat hurts, the bile burning her esophagus.
"Here it is. Thing number four, you're body gets rid of all the negativity your mind couldn't evacuate" said Sheogorath while looking at Lucie.
"Aaaah, for fuck sake !" said Lucie still with her head in the toilet bowl.
"Don't worry. It's almost over" said Sheogorath trying to sound reassuring.
Lucie vomited three more times before getting back up and wash her face in the sink. She flushed the toilet and started to remove her nightgown.
"What are you doing ?" asked Sheogorath blushing and looked away.
"I want to take a bath. Move a bit, you're taking all the place" said Lucie starting to turn on the water to fill the bathtub.
"What ?! I can't take a bath with you, not like this !" exclaimed Sheogorath still looking away.
"Why not ? Seems like you can't get out of the bathtub anyway" said Lucie, turning off the water and getting in the bathtub. "It's ok now, you can look"
Sheogorath looked back at Lucie who was in front of him now, naked. He blushed and looked at the ceiling.
"Why are you doing this ?" asked Lucie looking at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Well……i don't want to act like a pervert"
"You never saw a women naked before ?" asked Lucie.
"Well yes, rarely but never this close"
"Well….It's never too late discover things" said Lucie while getting comfy.
They stay in the bathtub, awkwardly staring at each other. Lucie eventually closed her eyes, falling asleep. She started to slowly slide down, sinking in the bathtub to finally being fully immersed. She felt so light, she was feeling a sense of euphoria.
She then felt two arms pulling her out of the water. She woke up coughing water and inhaled loudly. When she finally got her breath back, she looked up to see Sheogorath with a panicked face.
"Oh by the divines you're safe" he said while hugging her tight.
"What happened ?" asked Lucie confused.
"Fifth thing, your body shuts down completely trying to accept your changes" he said still hugging her.
Lucie got out of the bath, dried up and puts her nightgown back on. She got to her bedroom, lied down on her bed thinking. Sheogorath joined her and lied down next to her, he pulls her close to him to hug her again. Lucie doesn't comply, she lets him do it, she didn't have any strength left anyway. He was stroking her hair slowly, like he was caressing a kitten.
"Is there any step left ?" asked Lucie sofly, clearly tired from what happened.
"No, it was the last phase of the third step" he said with a sad broken voice.
Lucie smiled and hugged him before falling asleep in his arms. She felt happy, cared for, loved.
They both fell asleep in each other's arms with a kind smile on their faces.