Jonathan and Other Weird Stories

Jonathan, See-quelling (two)

Funmi nodded and her heartbeat soon returned to its regular pace. "Where am I, and how did I even get here?"

"Well, look around you. What do you see?"

Funmi obeyed. She turned her head around, but there was nothing to see. And so, she told him: "Nothing."

He clucked his tongue. "Not nothing. Look again. What do you really see?"

Funmi did not look around this time. She didn't need to. "Darkness?"

"Yes. And what's the darkest place you know? You know, we're not exactly in the actual world. You're sick, Funmi. Your life... It's not one that gives you joy. Do you know you've been in a mental hospital for about ten years now? Currently, your nurse has bound you to a bed and she sedated you because you were having a panic attack. And each time she sedates you, your consciousness fades away and you fall into layers of your subconscious mind."

Funmi remembered some of it—she remembered being dragged into the hospital for the first time when she was ten because she had murdered her family. Even though people said she was a psychopath and she should be locked up in a cage, her aunt had argued that she was sick and needed help. And it was so. Her aunt said a demon had possessed her, but the doctors thought it was something more—something that needed to be supressed. She remembered the nurses shoving pills down her throat, every day of her life. She remembered praying for an escape, wanting to die, but still finding a glimmer of hope to keep living. She remembered being strapped to a bed, and she remembered being sedated. She sighed. "So, you're saying we're currently in my head?"

"Yes. Sort of," Jonathan said. "We're in your subconscious mind. Where do you think people go when they fall asleep? They lose their consciousness and slip into the subconscious world, and they experience what they call dreams. It's basically the same thing for people in comas. This is where the real shit goes down—it's where all of your old memories are stored, and everything you think you've forgotten. They're all here. Even things from your past that you are not even aware of, even though they are part of you."

"Right now, you're in the deepest layer of your subconscious, and I don't think you've ever gone this deep before. It's the deepest, darkest, most supressed layer."

Funmi's breaths were heavy, and she kept trying to stay calm, to keep herself from hyperventilating. But Jonathan's words were heavier and there was nothing pleasant about it.

"Are you naked?" Funmi asked him.

"What? Why would I be naked?"

Funmi shrugged. "I'm naked. Why is that?"

"We're in your mind, Funmi. Not mine. I don't know about the sexual pervasions that go on in your head."

Funmi swallowed, without arguing. After all, she had been touching her body as soon as she arrived here. "How do I get out of here?"

"Well, firstly, we need light. I smell wood. Maybe we can find a way to make a fire. If we can't see, then we don't stand a chance."

"No," Funmi snapped. "Sorry... I—I don't like fire. It's a personal thing..."

"You have to put your personal thing aside. We have to light a fire now if you want to survive. You can't win in the dark."

The mere thought of being so close to the flames had her heart racing, and it overwhelmed her. There's no way she could be close to a flame in this darkness. She had no idea where the fear of fire came from, but ever since she was little, fire had always terrified her. And she had gotten over the fear as the years rolled by, but the memories were rushing at her now, and the fear was rising, setting panic in her head. It took her back to her childhood home all over again, with the fire raging everywhere, and if her mother hadn't come for her... "I said no fire," she screamed at him.

"Hey, what's your problem? I'm on your side, trying to save your life."

"If you're on my side, then you'll listen when I say no fire."

"Fine," said Jonathan and he let out a bitter groan. "Well, we have to activate the light somehow... There is another way, but you're not going to like it."

Of course, she wouldn't like it. She didn't like anything about this place. But if it would help her get out, then she would have to try. "What's this other way?"

"Do you trust me?"

Uhm... Funmi swallowed. "Yes. Yes, I trust you."

"Good. To get the light, all we have to do is manipulate the images here, in your subconscious, by tricking your brain to protect itself, and it will give you light to see."

Funmi nodded slowly, with a scowl on her face, not understanding anything he said, but she was still willing to try. But he sounded absurd and vague, and she did not like it. "And how are we supposed to trick my brain to protect itself?"

"That's easy," Jonathan said, and Funmi could swear that he was amused. "I have to stab you."

"What?" The word came out like a breath of air. A sudden fear overwhelmed Funmi and her heart picked up again. She took a step back and the floor creaked beneath her. Her teeth gritted. "Don't you dare come near me."

The floor creaked again, but she didn't cause it this time. Jonathan just took a step forward. "Oh, and remember when I said I couldn't see a single thing? That was a lie."

"No, n—" A searing pain tore her flesh and slid inside her, as Jonathan plunged a blade, burying it deep until the hilt touched her skin. A throaty gasp escaped her lips and she dropped to her knees.