The Countdown (A Project 863-Inspired Story!)

Day 5/10

Nov. 9, 2002/Nov. 15, 2002

I woke up coughing. I was sitting on a couch in an open room, with meager sunlight dripping through the windows and curtain.

I wheezed in and out. My feet hit the floor. I only had one shoe on, and my toe was bruised. But it wasn't stained with blood anymore, so that's good.

I walked in circles around the place I was in, taking it all in. The room smelled musty. I wrinkled my nose.

I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around. It was Nathaniel.

"H-how are you feeling, Hoo?" He asked me.

"Fine." I said. My voice came out sharply and I winced at the sound of it. "Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound that way."

He nodded. A pause. "It's Saturday," he said, "My day off."

"Should I go back to work then?" I asked, my voice wavering unintentionally.

"No." he said.

As much as I was relieved, I was confused. "I'm fired then?"

He shook his head. "No, you're-" He paused. "I have to find another accountant." I waited for him to speak, not sure what he was trying to say. "You've been demoted. You're now a test subject."

. . .

"Listen I didn't want this to happen to you! I didn't know- well, I knew she might, and she did, but I- I didn't want it happen so fast! That- sounded wrong, but you have to listen to me! I suspected she might, but I didn't think that she would. I hoped it would all be okay, and that you'd be okay, and that everything would be fine, but I realize now how irresponsible that was of me. I don't want you to go back there, but I know you can't run from it and that- Hoo, I -- Hoo? Hoo!"

I was on the ground. I don't remember how I got there. My hand had distracted me by slowly losing its color, tuning a ghostly pallor. And I couldn't breathe. My arm had stopped working. "Help me." I whispered. I was so dizzy. "Help me." I wheezed.

"Hoo, I- I can't help you."

I blinked slowly. His voice sounded like we were both underwater. I tried to breathe in, but ended up coughing.

A pain like poison shot through me. I tried to gasp out, but there was no air. Now everything was a vacuum. I was being sucked away. Something was tearing away at me internally. I doubled over in pain.

"help me" I heard myself plead.

"I can't. Not in the way you want me to."

"make it stop, please make it stop."

"No, I- I shouldn't." He sounded so far away and muffled. "It'll be worse next time. It gets worse too fast too soon. This will be as painful as it gets if you get though."

"Help me." I sucked a thin breath that felt like a knife clawing at my gut. "help me, please it hurts."

"No. I won't."

"Please." I begged. "Help me."

He was saying something about seeing Deborah again. But again, I was like a broken record. I couldn't say, couldn't think, couldn't imagine anything else.

"Help me. Help me. Help me."

"You're foolish. Oh, so very foolish." someone was saying.

"She can't handle this. She simply can't. I don't know why... it's like it's worse than before."

Foolish. Foolish. Foolish.