Ego Sickness: The Archives.

Alternate Scenario: AOTD: Takeover (2/3).

The Irish man was breathing incredibly fast, but every breath was shallow. He could hardly get any air into his body, and it was clearly showing. His vision was blurring, his face was reddening and his lungs were spasming, every part of him crying out for a single, deep breath that he couldn't make, no matter how badly he wanted to. Someone thinking rationally would have focused their efforts on calming down, but Seán's mind was gripped by fear. He didn't want to calm down, he wanted to get out. He didn't want to stay her for a second longer, Seán just wanted to go back to his friends. He didn't care if they saw him in tears, or saw him collapse to the floor in anguish, or even if they saw him pass out from the exhaustion of crying for so long.

"But you do not want help," a voice echoed within his mind. "You do not want to speak about this." For a moment, those commands seemed to subdue the Irish man's thoughts, following his orders obediently. But not for long.

Maybe he didn't want help. Maybe he didn't want to talk to them. But it didn't matter what he did or didn't want. What mattered is what he needed to do. He needed help. He needed to speak. He couldn't do this alone this anymore. He couldn't be alone with this thing.

"You don't want help! You don't want to speak to them!" the voice bellowed. For a short moment once again, Seán's mind was calmed as it ached to follow the commands. But the Irish man forced himself to think.

"Just because I don't want help doesn't mean I don't need it. They need to know. I need to do this. I need to escape."

Escape.

The word was roaring through his head as his mind converged on that goal, a burst of adrenaline rocketing through his bloodstream as he focused every ounce of strength and energy that he had on doing the simple task of moving. The burn of determination filled his body as his muscles trembled, locked in a battle between Seán's will power and Anti's control.

"Oh, come on, Seán! We're having so much fun together, why would you want it to end?" Anti wheezed, pulling him self out of his laughing fit to give an amused look towards his host. With a wave of his hand, Seán's arms dropped to his sides, but his muscles never stopped shaking. He didn't stop fighting. He had to escape. Or if he couldn't do that, then he'd stall. He would keep on fighting until his friends came to search for him. They wouldn't leave him alone for too long, right?

"Hmm... good point." The glitch reached out towards the sink and pulled out the Irish man's phone from where it had lay unmoving. Without pressing any buttons whatsoever, the phone screen turned on and the messaging app popped up instantly. Anti put his left arm around Seán's neck, resting it across the Irish man's shoulders, smirking as he felt his host flinch at the touch. Then with his right arm, he raised up the phone in front of Seán's face, and watched as the Irish man's eyes narrowed with apprehension fuelled horror as he watched the keyboard type out its own message.

"Okay, I think we've waited long enough," Mark stated as he stopped dead in his tracks. For the past few minutes, he had been pacing the perimeter of the room nervously, casting quick glances to his friend's faces to see that they shared his emotion. He knew that his actions were probably making things worse by heightening the tension within the back room, but he couldn't help it. His mind was flowing with thoughts containing both rational explanations and outlandish theories to try and get a grip on the situation. Mark knew that his four American friends were nervous just because they were worried about Seán's physical health. But Mark knew that the Irish man's ill-health wasn't just skin deep. But he promised... he promised that he wouldn't say anything until Seán was ready to talk.

But Mark was quickly realising that he regretted ever uttering those words.

"Ten minutes is long enough," he continued. "He should have been back by now if it was just stomach problems. If he's still throwing up now then we shouldn't just be sitting here."