Sundew

Chapter 24

The chair that had been a vending machine looked no longer like either. While still resembling a faux leather chair you'd find in the waiting room of a hospital, it was more visually resemblant of a cobra lily. At the thought of the snack machine, the worms wriggled once again in his stomach reminding him who knows how many times now that he needed to eat, the weakness of hunger you could feel in your bones working in tandem with the sundew-worms.

Eat eat eat eat eat eat, they said, whispering almost unintelligibly. They wriggled in his stomach more aggressively.

I don't have much time, thought he.

Brilliant, white light flooded as the leaves of the plant. It were as if someone had turned on the lights of the Starship Enterprise. The light was so damn bright, Sunny thought back to something he'd read once, about someone covering his eyes with his hands while facing a nuclear explosion and being able to see the bones of said-hands. The sucking noise was now much more pronounced.

Where am I? Sunny thought when he first awoke, unable to see anything but darkness.

"That's simple, Jonathan." Said a voice from elsewhere. "You're coming home. Just like we wanted you to."

Who the fuck is that? Who's there?! Why did that sound like I heard it in my head the way you can hear a song you've memorized?! Who are you!?

"We are the ones responsible for the transformations, the transformations underwent by the others—by Olivia, by Gary, by the other patients."

Wait, are you saying you're that plant infection?

"Yes. Indeed, we are. We are not merely biological on nature. We had to manipulate the very threads of destiny to corral you to this point."

That doesn't make any sensr. How can you be alive? I mean, alive in the sense that you're sentient—sentient the way a human being is sentient?

"There are a lot of things you don't understand—let alone your own darkside. Your emotional cruelty, your manipulation of others, your inner rage, we partly had something to do with that."

Are you saying you're my... My inner darkness?

It duddenly made so much sense. All the times he'd ever used someone to gain something he wanted—it was not himself, but an evil—a demon—taking over. The voice could read his thoughts, even this realization he was currently having. Instead, this thing laughed. It was a cruel laugh, the kind of sound made by a carnivorous hellion who has eaten well and is toying with its appetizers.

"Heavens, no, boy! Actually, your belief, as you just did, that the darkside—the shadow—can be gotten rid of is part of the trap. The more people believe they can exorcise their shadow, the more they deny reality. The more they deny reality, the stronger the ahadow becomes. We siphon energy not from the shadow itself, but from the collective denial so many of you humans have of it. A few (but not that many) humans have recognized the shadow for what it is: something to be integrated. Those people have actually used it to their advantage, redirecting that anger and malice into something productive, such as creative endeavours, like how you always dreamed of writing stories ever since you read the books your father gifted you. Most people, however, suppress it."

Wait, are you... Are you saying that it... That the darkside is not a demon?

"Well, it can come out in very noticeable ways, and the unintegrated shadow is the source of most, if not all, human cruelty. Think of it this way, Jonathan: Remove the light, and the shadow becomes indistinct. There is only darkness. Try drowning the shadow with light, the shadow becomes more defined. It gains edges. The shadow itself can be scary, but those who deny themselves psychological wholeness? Those who use their shadow not for productivity but to hurt others? Now those are the real monsters."

No, it... It can't be true! I don't believe you! Humans are fundamentally good!

"Oh, really? Well then, how do you explain what happened to Cory?"

...

"He believed you were all you were... We believe the expression you use is 'all you're cracked up to be.' Cory didn't think you were duplicitous, but who stole from his dad, (knowing full well the old man would beat Cory senseless, mind you)? Who used his Dad's credit card info on Onlyfans subscriptions in the dirty bathrooms of highway gas stations? Who anonymously sold Cory to human trafficking for some extra heroin money? Who condemned him sucking STI-ridden, morbidly obese pedophiles? Who left such an impression on Cory's heart that, because Cory didn't know you sold his body, would lie awake at night against the revolting warmth of overweight human monsters wrapping their arms around his body, thinking to himself, 'My love will be here any moment, certainly. He'll crash through the window and save me from this nightmare and will run away together'? By our meddling with fate, however, we brought you both where we needed you to be. Olivia was searching for her brother, so you could imagine her reaction when she learnt that, not only is her brother alive, but is also 'coincidentally' dying of 'cancer.' Even after all that, your manipulating him and being responsible for his death—for forcing us to kill him—you're gonna say that the darkside can be gotten rid of? That those who deny it are not unintentionally making it far more powerful? Forget that example. Look at people like your mother. She only got away with it because she, like us plants, put on a display of bright colors and exotic nectar—a smoke screen through which she fooled the stupid flies—the social workers and other parents. What about your religious grandpa on your father's side and how he treated his son? Or how your mother was physically and sexually abused by her parents? Oh, and of course, let us not forget what you did to your two half-sisters."

I don't... I still don't believe you. There are still good people out there. Sunny responded, half-heartedly.

"Keep telling yourself that, Jonathan. We are eager—eager to see just how far such an idiotic delusion can go. Although you are unknowingly caught in a trap of our design, having fallen into the timeloop—the limbo—we placed in the hospital, it's still your responsibility to own your darkness so that it may not hurt others. For as long as you deny the truth of which we've just informed you, you will continue to live and die in perpetuity, to hellishly re-live the madness of what happened at the bus shelter and then the hospital. We hope you are prepared, Jonathan, for we have such sights—such amazing, exquisite agonies—to show you!"

And with that, the darkness faded, beamed out of existence by yet another brilliant light show—this time, one that was green.