The first thing Michael noticed was the pain. A searing pain across the back of his head. He could feel his hairs sticking together and reasoned that he was bleeding. The next thing he noticed was his body. He felt warmth spreading across it.
"Wakey, wakey!"
All of a sudden Michael felt pressure on his head. The nest thing he knew he was squirming around desperate for air. The pressure released and Micheal found himself leaning over something spitting up water. He opened his eyes and assessed his location.
He was in a bathtub. That's where the warmth came from. He was sitting in a body of water in a bathtub. That's probably what he got drowned in, he reasoned.
The next thing Michael noticed was his assailant. A man sat by the bathtub, his yellow teeth contorting into a smile. He radiated an immense sense of power and control. With brown shaggy hair that went to his shoulders, ripped clothes that were way to big for him, and bags under his eyes bigger that Michael had ever seen, he looked ragged. Deranged, almost. The eyes were what scared Michael the most. They were a light icy blue color, but the color wasn't what worried him. They say eyes are the windows to one's soul, and if that was true then their was something truly terrifying. The eyes radiated a sort of dark energy, filled with hatred and a twinge of mischief. But at the same time, barely noticeable was a sorrow to his eyes. Almost a pleading look. If Michael didn't know better he'd have thought they were someone else's eyes unfitting for the body they were in.
When Michael looked past the man he saw something that made him scream.
"What the fuck is that?!" He yelled. His assailant raised an eyebrow and turned to look behind him.
"Oh that. You don't need to worry to much about it. You can consider it a sort of a cameraman sent by the Man on high, to watch and record."
The creature, whatever it was, looked very much like an average man. But in the place of it's eyes laid camera lenses. A black tar like substance dripped from it's mouth. It stared ahead blankly.
The man started to speak. "So Patrick, do you know why I called you here?" Michael knew that name. Patrick was an alternate identity of sorts that lived inside him. Patrick could take over Michael whenever he wanted to and Michael would be none the wiser. That was probably the reason he found himself in this tub with a strange man smiling down at him.
"I'm not Patrick. It's Michael."
"Oh well of course you are! You're Michael Andersen aren't you? Born in Pennsylvania to two loving parents. An older brother who would always protect you. Is that right?"
"Y-yes"
The man scowled and dumped Michael's head underwater. Michael struggled against him but couldn't do much. It's almost as if this man was inhuman. Before long Michael found himself above water once more.
"Wrong! Come on Patrick it's me. I'm your friend. And this is a safe space! You don't have to hide from me. Just let your mask fall and reveal the truth of who you are."
"But I'm not Patrick! I don't know what kind of beef you have with him but please leave me out of it!"
The man smiles. He seemed to be thinking about what Michael had said. The silence stretched between the two of them neither saying a word. Finally the strange man spoke.
"I guess that's the trouble with you isn't it? Patrick needed a mask. And what better mask than a mask that is unaware they're a mask?"
"What are you talking about?"
The man sighed. "Patrick I know you can here me. If you don't come out soon I'll cut off-" The man reached for a die near by and rolled it on the bathroom floor "-your left shoulder!"
