fragile | jelix

chapter 37

i was walking slowly through hallways unfamiliar to me. the floor was slanted and i felt like i was spinning endlessly. i felt sick to my stomach. my vision was distorted, different shapes and colours flying into my vision every few seconds. i was stood in front of a wooden door located at the end of a long hallway, which had no exit on the other end. i grabbed the door handle of the only escape and opened the door, entering a room i didn't recognise.

i was stood in a kitchen that i had never seen before. a rather normal kitchen, one fit for a family. the longer i stood there, the less trippy my vision was, and the better i could see. i looked around the room as my vision cleared up, laying my eyes on a figure sitting on a stool at a breakfast bar. it was a man. i couldn't tell who he was as he was facing away from me. i approached him with caution and put a hand out in front of me, placing it on his shoulder. the man turned around and revealed himself as jack.

he smiled at me, seeming happy to see me. he was a little different. he was older, as if he were in his 20's. he had a beard now, which was a little weird to see. suddenly he stood up and walked over to the kitchen sink, grabbing a glass and filling it up with water. the way he walked was different too. it was normal. that's when it hit me that there was now seemingly nothing wrong with him.

"you're better." i murmured. as he filled up his glass he began to chuckle, his laugh growing louder and bigger after every sip of the water that he took.

"you could say that." he replied. his voice was weird; tinny and robotic. he set the glass aside once he was finished with it and started to make his way over to me. i stood completely still, not knowing what to do. he didn't stop smiling the entire time. when he got to me he wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me a tight hug. i wanted to do the same to him, but my instincts kicked in. i didn't want to hurt him.

"do it." he suddenly demanded. it was like he was reading my mind, listening to my thoughts. if he was better, than surely this wouldn't effect him, right?

i slowly moved my arms up, wrapping them around him gently, hugging him back. he squeezed me tightly and spoke again.

"do it like you missed me." missed him? where had i been? how long had i been gone? i didn't want to anger him or upset him, so i did as he asked. i hugged him as tightly as i could. he was perfectly fine, which made me breathe a sigh of relief. i closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder. we stood there like that for what felt like centuries. when i eventually opened my eyes again, however, he was gone. and the room was no longer a kitchen, for it was a room made entirely of glass.

i was confused. i looked around frantically, but i didn't know what i was searching for: an escape, an explanation, or jack. i began hearing cries of pain from somewhere in the room. i looked down at the floor, and there he was, the love of my life, laying helplessly on the glass. he was young again, lacking all facial hair and older features.

"felix...help me...please..." tears were streaming down his face. every time a new tear rolled down his cheek, a cut was made in his skin, causing blood to also stream down his face. he was crying, screaming that he couldn't get up, that his legs hurt like hell. i looked over at them. they were hideous to look at, all twisted and mangled, bones popping out of the skin in a bloody mess. i was about to go to him before about five doctors rushed in the room and got to him before i did.

it was horrible. they poked and prodded at him, pinning his fragile body down to the ground, breaking all bones that weren't already destroyed. one of them pulled a huge needle out of their coat pocket, before brutally stabbing it into jack's neck. seeing him being abused and hurt like this brought teara to my own eyes. i screamed at the doctors, begged for them to stop, but every time they just gazed at me with blank expressions before continuing with the torture.

i couldn't stand there and let it continue. i ran over, grabbing the sadistic doctors and pushing them out of the way, away from jack. i knelt down beside him when there was an opening, lifting his head up and making him look at me.

"jack...oh my god...d-don't worry, you'll be okay." he didn't reply. didn't smile at me. didn't cry. didn't laugh. didn't move. he stared at me with same blank expression that those doctors did.

"you could have saved me." he whispered, before there was a loud crash. the glass room had shattered and him along with the doctors had been eradicated from my vision. i was in a void of pure darkness, no light, no hope, no jack.

***

i woke up sweating. or was i crying? i concluded it was both. the dream i had just had was horrible, a morbid nightmare. i'd never had one like it. i couldn't stop thinking about it. what did it all mean? was there any significance behind it? should i have been worried?

that night, i didn't sleep; partly because i was thinking too much about the meaning behind the nightmare but mainly because i was paranoid, scared that if i closed my eyes for even a minute, i would have to endure the same twisted, devilish dream all over again.