Collateral Damage (bxb)

11. An Old Friend

A.N. This chapter begins from the perspective of Aidan.

How dare you jeopardize our mission!? You are growing attached to that fool.

The grey walls darkened until this prison became an obsidian box of torment and troubling memories. This is one of the dreams that he forces onto me, and I can feel that. The walls start to close on me as his voice rings out into an echoing symphony. "If I can't have my revenge, then I'll make you suffer here."

"This is a dream. This is a dream, dream, just a dream." I whisper, but my words bounce against the walls.

I stand in the middle as the obsidian slabs close in, and before I know it, I can touch them with both of my arms outstretched. I am fighting the force, so they don't crush me, but I know that eventually, I'll lose. There is a burst of echoing laughter that taunts me. "You are nothing without me! How dare you even attempt to defy me?!"

In a struggle against the crushing weight, I grunt, "You aren't the only one who has a say in this!"

I can hear wisps of sound coming from above me. The walls of the box have stretched out into a monumental tower right above me, where a tiny glimmer of light is coming from, and the sound originates from it. The wisp of noise is swelling into a crescendo of giggles and laughter of many distinct voices: Shepherd, Wolf, Kitty, and him... The floor falls apart and reveals a deep pit of darkness before the walls retract and leave me with no way to stop the ensuing fall.

You will fail or worse if you keep treading on this path, Aidan.

As if right on cue, the fall comes to a sudden stop before I am thrown back to the world of the waking. The color of the real world bleeds back into focus, as I am laying on one of the bean bags. It felt like a painful jolt that reverberated throughout my bones, and if I didn't know how it felt to fall from the second floor, then I would not be able to describe the aching pain I feel right now.

The pain fades with the leftover feeling of sleepiness that comes from waking up. "You will fail," I repeat the last words I remember hearing him say. The pills might be wearing off, but he gave me one or two, so I am not too worried unless a day has passed. With the great headache I am having at the moment and the hazy memories that are left at the back of my conscious mind, I might be a bit worried about him coming back to ruin my day.

I muster up enough strength to turn my head to the side and stop staring at the ceiling. When did I fall asleep? I remember playing a song on the guitar to Ian, and then what? I turn my head to the other side and see the guitar sitting against the wall where I left it last night. "So this is a new day..." I groggily say as my mind is waking up, but my body is still feeling the haze of sleep.

The walk to the bathroom is a pain. It feels like I did fall a long distance, but it was all a dream - all in my imagination. He could not have pulled me to the other side while I am on those meds, but right now, I am not so sure. I put my weight on the sink as I stare into the little mirror. The person who stares back at me is a dark brown-haired man with unnaturally grey eyes that look like they shimmer with light that isn't there. I squeeze my eyes shut and look again: the man has gained a scar, and his eyes are now blue, and his hair looks just as brown as before, if not messier than before.

I clench my jaw painfully as my eyebrows furrow. "Fuck you...!" I say it through gritted teeth. Am I angry at myself or him? Maybe it is this ridiculous situation? "You won't have a normal life..." I whisper it to my reflection while looking it in the eye. He said it to me a couple of days ago and that I don't deserve a normal life, that everything will end in pain... I never asked for this, I never wanted to be here. Why do I have to suffer? "Fuck YOU!" I release the tension in my jaw to yell it out, to feel something other than misery and pain.