The October Amaryllis

Chapter 44 - May 20th, 2020 - 8:30 A.M.

"Why are your eyes so red?" Ashley asked at breakfast. Breakfast was pancakes with maple syrup, and for once, they didn't ruin the meal. But then again, is it even possible to ruin them? People always seem to find a way... Humans were the biggest mistake nature ever created. I'll admit that I'm a bit of a misanthrope. I would have gotten along amazingly with Oscar Wilde if I ever met him; he once said, "Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself." It sucks that the government treated him like crap because of his homosexuality; I mean, being gay doesn't mean that you're a terrible person.

I kept getting paranoid that some shadow dude with a fedora hat kept watching me and couldn't sleep.

"I couldn't sleep; I kept getting this weird nightmare. At least I think it's a nightmare... It was more like I was awake and experiencing hell on Earth," I said, shuddering. Just remembering the shadow man was enough to make the room drop twenty degrees. Who was he, and what did he want from me? Everything is scarier when you don't know why it happens.

"Sleep paralysis?" Morgan asked, sitting down right next to us. Hearing him talk to us was so shocking that I nearly forgot how to speak at all. It was even more surprising to hear him sound somewhat sane for once.

"Is that what it's called? I remember I couldn't move or speak, no matter how hard I tried. This dude in a hat kept stalking me, but he wasn't truly human. He was made of like antimatter or something," I said, with the images of last night flashing all over again like a picture book. I felt absolutely helpless and never wanted to experience anything like that again.

"I've had that happen before, actually," Madelynn said, twirling a strand of her hair around until it got stuck.

"Really...? What was your experience like?" I asked, strangely excited to hear if her story was similar to mine.

"When I saw him, he had more of a cowboy hat on, and he had this pocket watch that he kept looking at. He was probably about seven feet tall, and when he tilted his head to the side, showing those blood-red eyes, it was almost as if he was mocking me..." she said, shuddering.

"How weird is it that you've both had the same nightmare or whatever?" Morgan asked, finally eating for once. It surprised me to see his appetite coming back.

"That is strange... What if he, like, travels between dimensions or something?" Ashley asked with wide eyes.

"Woah woah, are you saying this is some Twilight Zone material?" I asked, chuckling.

"Basically. I mean, how else is any of this possible?" she asked in deep thought.

"Great question; unfortunately, I don't think that this mystery is one that'll get answered," Morgan said, finishing his food for once.

"You... you finished your food..." Ashley replied in shock.

"Mhhm, I hadn't eaten in like two days, so I thought that I should finally give it a go. Besides, life gets quite boring without it," he said, yawning heavily.

"So tell me, what exactly happened to you?" Madelynn asked, tilting her head to the side out of curiosity.

"Aha... see, I'd tell you, but this is quite a long story, and I'm sure you'd get bored with it by the time I'm done," he said with a sly smile.

"Try me," I replied, excited to finally hear what happened to him to make him come here.

"Like most, if not all, of you, I came here by trying to kill myself. I had a massive breakup with a girl I knew right before attempting it. My strange behavior was caused by drinking about fifteen ounces of Delsym. During that time, I experienced possibly the most terrifying experience of my life. I kept hallucinating my friends being right there next to me despite them not being there at all; that really messed with my mind, and the deeper I got into the overdose, the longer and more often it would happen. These encounters were often full of people saying how much they missed me and that they wished to see me on the other side. Because of what they said, I had believed that I was already dead and in heaven. See, on DXM, you have an illusionary vision that makes you feel like you're dreaming deep down, and escaping that can be quite hard. I also physically could not eat anything due to simply not having any appetite to begin with. I honestly could have starved to death and not felt any pain. And you know what's crazy? I still feel the effects of it over two days later. I'm sorry for all that I have put you guys through; I am not normally like this, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart for all of this," he said, practically in tears by the end.

"Hey, man, just know we're here for you," Ashley replied, hugging him tightly.

"Yeah, no matter what, we're in this together," I replied with a smile.

Because family isn't always blood.