Ghastly Inconvenience

Tetrum Incommodum

Breath

Lifting himself up from the snow, the cold immediately overcame him as he arose. Which scenario was this now? He thought. Around him was the almost same woods he was in before, if it weren't for the incredulous amount of snow. Brushing off any remaining snow from his trench coat, he walked forward.

The sound of the snow crunching under his feet filled the forest. The trees around him were thin, their bark colored an inky black and limbs without leaves stretching out, clawing at the sky. The scenery wasn't anything special other than the drastic change in temperature, leaving him shivering. His breath floated in front of him each time he exhaled, feeling his face beginning to numb. He pinched his nose with his index and thumb, not paying any mind to the missing parchment that covered his face. Where he found himself was a place only his subconscious could muster. Anything living wasn't, in fact, 'living'. Merely another fabrication of what monstrosities lay and wait for him once he'd wake again.

[...]

After a few more moments of trudging through the snowy plains, he took notice of the lack of trees. What once was a graveyard of the decaying flora was now scattered here and there. Looking around, he finally found what his subconscious was leading him to. An old entertainment box, half submerged into the snow. On the screen, it presented a static white backdrop, triangular symbols were aligned in the middle and corners of the screen. He trudged through the snow with more haste, kneeling in front of the metal box once close enough. He stared at the display for a moment, his hand wandering to the top of the box feeling the static accumulating in palm. Letting out a deep breath, placing both his palms to the center of the glass screen. He was waiting for the effect to take place while the backdrop of the screen went from an uncanny placement of triangle symbols to a frigid black screen.

Nothing was happening, he let out a frigid sigh.

Just as he thought he'd picked out a dud and began to stand in search of another, he felt his fingers sliding into the screen which had now turned into a jelly-like consistency. Soon his arms were sucked in all the way to his shoulders, continuing until his entire person slipped into the device.

No

No, something's wrong here.

Why's it different?

What hap-

His thoughts were cut off as he jerked forward, the coldness of the snow filled forest long gone as everything was now an inky black canvas he was trapped in. He stood up, fretfully pacing onward as he glanced around him. He'd used the box to wake himself up countless times, why the hell would this be any different?

He gripped his throat after crying out, making a grave realization that nothing came out. He rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes widening in surprise, giving a nervous glance around his surroundings once more. He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, shaking his head dismissively concluding that there might have been a terrible frequency which altered him returning to his body. If not that, then what else? It had to be the only reason why this was happening.

Each time he's warped through the screen, the scenery he'd been placed in would end once he found the entertainment box. The scenario would end, he'd awaken and go back to fighting off anomalies that'd consume him the moment they could. This was obviously not the case. Staring off into the distance, he knew he was lucid enough to understand what was happening around him. Repeating this thought to himself, even though he did not understand what was happening around him, frustrated him.

Fighting with himself over his thoughts and denial wasn't getting him anywhere and continuing to do so was infantile. His pacing had stopped moments before his thought process was crashing in on itself, so as he stilled himself in place his eyes refocused on something. Something farther in the distance than what he had walked.