Afraid of the Dark

Chapter Fifteen

"Now, isn't this a surprise?" a deep yet smooth voice stated, with a slight hint of amusement present in its words. "I knew that I was going to get to speak to you, but I must admit; I am surprised that it was this early. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to improvise my introduction, won't I? I hate having to improvise, it lacks a certain degree of... control."

Mark stood still. Or perhaps he was sitting still, or even laying still. He couldn't tell. Every part of him felt numb. He tried to open eyes that he didn't have, to see the source of the voice, but was only met with a black void. He tried to reach out with his hands that he couldn't feel, but touched nothing. Why couldn't he move!? Was this paralysis!? "Now, now, there is no need to jump to conclusions there, Mark," the voice reassured. However, it wasn't a soothing reassurance that made the American man feel better. The phrase had been said in a patronising way, as if he should have known not to do that in the first place. The type of reassurance you would get if you hurt yourself and someone said, 'You'll be fine as long as you don't do it again.'

"Who are you? Where am I? What's happening to me?" Mark asked. For a moment, he thought that he was speaking out loud, but then quickly realised that he was only managing to say the words in his head, that was currently swimming with thoughts of fear and panic. He didn't have a mouth to form those words.

"So many questions..." the voice sighed, somehow managing to hear the American man. "And yet so little answers."

Mark felt some sort of presence close to him, as if an entity was observing him from a short distance. "Have you done this to me!?" Mark thought angrily, attempting to try and shift the weight of one of his legs, although there was no weight to move. "Why can't I feel anything!? Why can't I move!?"

"Be quiet," the voice boomed, the sounds echoing around whatever room Mark was in and seeping into his head. Almost as if a flip had been switched inside of his brain, the American man instantly complied. The thoughts that had previous been swirling around his mind like a screaming tempest were snuffed out like a candle within a matter of milliseconds. All that remained in place was his emotions, and right now the thing he felt most was terror. "'Silence is a virtue,' has anyone ever told you that before? I think that's a lesson you best start practicing, Mark; I do hate it when people don't have enough decency to simply listen, especially when there is someone who has things to say."

The American man felt something touch him. Whether that was on his shoulder, his arm, his back, his head... he didn't know. He just knew that something was touching him, and he knew that he didn't like it. It wasn't even a violent touch, it was no more than if someone had brushed their hand against him, but it was the fact he could neither stop it or see who was doing it that made him so alarmed.

"Oh, come on, Mark... if I really wanted to do something to you, don't you think I would have done so already? After all, you're hardly in any state to defend yourself, are you now?" The voice chuckled lowly. Mark couldn't help but feel worse after hearing that. It was as if it had been said as a threat.

"Get off of me!" Mark yelled, even though he could sense the words getting lost within his head, muted like all of the other thoughts. However, he refused to give up. Focusing all of his energy, he focused on trying to preform one singular action: to move a finger. If he could do that, he could try to move his other fingers. And then he could try to move his hand, then his forearm, then his full arm, and then perhaps the rest of his body. He needed to move. He refused to be helpless.

With the intensity of a raging inferno, a sudden blazing fury exploded around Mark. Despite the fact that he had previously been numb to all feeling, he quickly became aware of an immense pressure pushing down on his body, crushing him into the surface beneath him. He could feel his joints straining, his bones splintering, his tendons pulling, every part of him crying out in blistering agony as the pressure of entity's unbridled fury collapsed on top of him. Mark was aware that he was screaming, but he knew that he wasn't really making any real sound.