Across Dimensions (ONC 2020)

Chapter Thirteen: What We Are

My heads spins like I've upside down for much too long. Pain from additionally cracked ribs beg me to collapse, but blind rage controls me as if I'm possessed. I can't escape this old person that is another part of me.

I think I hear Kai's voice, but my ears sound like they are beneath the water, muddling my surroundings. 

Why is it so hot in here? I feel like the sun is baking my insides.

Vidya. She needs to die.

This thought drives into my head from another time, taking control of all my actions. Kai, she isn't safe here. Maximus tried to kill her. He let Vidya sale me to the government, he knew and did nothing. We're in danger, it's not safe here.

The world seems distant and surreal, as if what I lived is nothing more than a nightmare. But the emotions controlling me are all too real, untamed, and dangerous. I fear for Kai's safety, from not just Maximus, but myself. I need to gain control.  I can't. But I must.

A single word penetrates my conscious mind, it calms the whirl wind surrounding me and allows my vision to clear.

"Mother."

The fact that certain words hold control over me hurts. It makes me feel like an unnatural monster. But that's what I am aren't I? Once my memories manage to sort themselves beyond emotion, I may be able to see facts clearly. All I know is I'm not human, and neither is Kai. We are something created by Vidya, Kai she kept, but me she abandoned.

Why? I wish I knew.

All I feel is an empty loneliness, that no one in my life took the time to notice.

Once my vision full clears, I regain use of my limbs, lowering Kai to the ground. Even though she has no idea, just by rambling she's saved us both. Her ability to say many words in one breath is like a super power, one I appreciate and find adorable.

My neck gets hotter than the rest of my body. Did I think adorable? What I meant to think is useful, that's the perfect word.

"Hello? Are you in there Grayson? You look a bit less possessed now, but I still haven't heard any reply, and now your face is redder than an over ripe tomato." Kai declares, as all my senses return to normal.

I cough leaning against the wall awkwardly. "I have no idea what you're talking about, I was just uh, sleep walking."

Nice lie. Why are we lying to her anyway? Oof, I hate how I keep thinking of myself as two people, this is kinda creepy. The guy I was isn't who I am. I forgot all that stuff for a reason, and it should've stayed forgotten. Especially since I still have no idea what happened to Kai's parents. All I learned is I hate them, her mother especially, well 'mother' they aren't biologically related from my understanding.

Kyle doesn't know. He has no idea what she did, no clue what Kai is. And Vidya wanted it to stay that way, even after Maximus found out. That's all of the details that came into my mind clearly. Everything else is a jumbled up nothingness. How do you tell or convince a cute stranger that her mother is a deranged mad scientist?

I need to talk to....

"Max!" Kai screams, just as an object collides with my head.

My body crumples to the floor, slipping into unconsciousness.

...............

I wake up gasping as frigid water is poured on my head. My reflex to wipe it off my face is stopped by some sort of wrist restraint. Blinking the water out of my eyes, I see metal clasps that are secured to a chair. Oh boy, what did I do to Maximus while I was in that emotional hurricane state?