Images in our Heads [On hold]

[23]- There is no difference

It wasn't the hospital he woke up at, but instead his own bed. It was dark in his room, but light seeped in through the window. He could see the wind and rain swaying the trees outside, with dark clouds covering the sky. Big, white streaks of electrifying light kept jolting down and striking the ground.

Xisuma looked around a moment- He knew something happened, he just couldn't remember what it was exactly. Xisuma listened quietly before sneaking out of bed and into the kitchen. It was still dark, and everyone else was asleep. Not wanting to wake everyone else, he carefully opened the fridge and looked up at the wide selection of food.

He grabbed a milk box and shut the fridge door, before opening it again only to close it. After a few failing minutes of trying to shut the door with the light on, Xisuma also grabbed a bag of muffins and sat on the couch, pressing the TV buttons until an entertaining show with a purple dinosaur came on.

He stayed like this for a while, living out the calmness of the house in television and milk.

It was about three boxes in when he felt the need to pee. Badly. But it was the mirror that kept him from doing so.

Barely two steps into the bathroom, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The room was barely being lit with moonlight, but it was a full moon and he could see enough.

There were red marks on his face, some with pale streaks in the middle. One was swollen, and there were a few black stitches right above his eyebrow. He looked a moment, before leaning in much, much closer.

He gently tapped a red space, then pulled his finger back, wincing. Small snippets slowly reentered his mind- Ex saying something, a white room with no doors, and people rushing in.

He had no idea what the marks were for though..

He leaned even closer to the mirror, before seeing a person staring back, their face littered with ugly scars of all sizes. The person even had one above their eyebrow!

"Boo," Ex said. Xisuma just smiled and turned around, looking at the other individual. "Why are you awake?"

Ex shrugged. "You're up I'm up."

Xisuma nodded, pointing to Ex's scars. "Where'd you get those?" He asked. Ex just smiled, sitting up onto the counter. "Can't remember?"

Xisuma nodded as Ex pointed to his marks too. "These. Remember these?"

Xisuma also shook his head, telling him that in fact, he didn't. All he remembered was Ex saying something, a white room with no doors, and people rushing in.

Ex sighed. "Turn the lights on."

Xisuma did as told before going along with his further instructions to look at his own face too. Ex motioned between both of their faces. "Notice any difference between yours and mine?" He asked.

Xisuma nodded. "Mines red but you have a lot of scars.." He trailed off a moment and added, just to be nice, "We do have the black string above our eyes though!"

Ex nodded again, leaning over and pressing his elbows on the countertop. "Wrong. There is no difference."

"But-"

"Tut-tut." Ex wagged a finger, cutting him off. "Who's the adult here?"

"You.." Xisuma mumbled, casting an ashamed gaze downwards.

"Exactly. Now turn the lights off and on. Then look again. Ok?" He leant close to Xisuma and added on in a lower voice; "There won't be a difference. Got it? We'll look exactly the same." He looked at Xisuma a moment before leaning back with an expectant look.