Mind Reconstructive

Inside

(Dare)

It's still dark. All of this mind that I've seen so far is extremely dark. A thick, suffocating black that causes nightmares of all sorts to emerge. I can sense her hopelessness. The fear, the anxiety building to panic. I can tell she senses something wrong, something new, and possibly frightening.

That would be me, of course, hello there.

And suddenly, I'm standing in an alley. Still dark, but light enough to make out the surroundings. The brick houses that are lined up too close to each other line the alley like a prison wall. The homes seem to be the old English types of houses, with weathered windows, and water stains. The dripping of water somewhere in the distance is completely unnerving. Whether this is a memory or a passing thought I am unsure, but whatever it is, it frightens the girl nearly out of her wits. It's slightly fuzzy, as though she can't focus quite right, and there's a loud thumping noise, which I presume to be her heart beat. It's abnormally quick.

I move forward down the alley, making sure to be quiet, so as not to disturb her subconscious any more than it already has been.

There are voices in the alley, quiet, but audible. A very low, throaty one, and one that whispers in a sinister fashion. I move closer, inching along. It is imperative that I remain unknown.

"Yes, yes it must be a constant reminder, in order to keep it tame. It is weak at the moment, but something that important-it has a tendency to be...unpredictable."

I wonder what 'It' is.

"I realize. Haven't I done my job? The subconscious was perturbed twice today, is that not enough?"

"For now it will suffice," replies the whispering voice. "but in order for the conscious to remain under our grasp, we must rule with an iron fist."

"But it's tiring." The low voice complains in a growl.

"It doesn't matter. Would you prefer to spend your days in the dungeon? Being beaten by the crowds? Publicly humiliated?"

"No." The voice grumbles again, obviously resigned.

I peek around the corner, desperate to know who speaks, and to understand what they speak of. What I see is confusing, as well as utterly horrifying.

One, the one with the low voice, is at least seven feet tall. He is a dark color with no eyes. He might resemble slenderman, except for the fact that he is huge and muscular, and his clothes are a poor mans rags. His chest seems to be shredded, but not bleeding. His rib cage is visible, as well as his lungs and heart, which, oddly enough, have chains strung around them, squeezing the organs mercilessly. It is a terrible creature.

The second creature is a much more conniving being. It is a complete white, with garish facial features. It's eyes are pulled back and droop downwards and his mouth is stuck in a permanent grimace. He is dressed in fine clothes-a suit and tie, but he is so thin he almost seems transparent.

I gasp at the creatures.

"Now go." Says the conniving voice. "And let us continue our work together." The beating heart grows louder and faster, so I pull myself out.

I'm sitting on the couch as Winnie the Pooh plays softly on the television. Glancing over, I see Erril, still holding a sleeping Selah in her arms. Her face is pale, and her breath shallow. She stares into nothingness as beads of sweat appear on her forehead, fists clenched at her sides. She looks absolutely miserable, trying to gain control of herself.

I tap her shoulder lightly. "Are you alright?" I ask, concerned.

"Don't touch me." She mutters, jerking back slightly. She quickly realizes what she's just done, and reddens.

"S-sorry." She says, ashamed. "I forgot you were here."

"It's okay...are you okay?" She seems to be momentarily distracted by her socially awkward reaction towards me, and has calmed down a bit because of it. A good sign.

"Yeah, yeah, I"m fine." Walls going up, I can see it in her expression, and in the way she guards herself, thinking it subtle.

I clear my throat awkwardly "Are you sure? You look like you're going to be sick." I'm careful with my tone. To take down the walls of someone with what appears to be PTSD, you have to be extremely careful with your body language and how you speak.

She looks like she's going to cry. Her bottom lip quivers slightly, so she presses her mouth into a line and looks away. "I'm fine." She says. She want's to believe it, She's desperate to believe it, I know.

"Okay." I say. She's obviously not okay, but at this point, it's not my job to have her tell me.

"Well...I should get the kids to bed." She tells me, obviously looking for a way out of this conversation.

"yeah," I reply, taking her cue "I should probably head home."

She looks so relieved-obviously she's the antisocial type.

"See ya 'round." I say as I walk to the porch and open the door to let myself out.

She nods, and shuts it behind me. As I walk home I wonder what the things I've seen could mean.

Erril couldn't have really actually seen those-those things. It must be a mind translation. Something unreal that represents a real emotion, thought, memory or attribute. But what could it represent? Something that causes turmoil, surely. It intrigues me. I'll have to dig a bit deeper next time. But when will that be? I've never seen Erril at school before... but then, she does seem like the type of person to practice the art of slight invisibility. I'm normally fairly good at spotting such people.

I suppose I'll just have to be more attentive.

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A/N: So, that was chapter two! I'm really sorry it's only about a third of the length of the first chapter, but I didn't want to give everything away on my second writing session. Can you understand it? If not, that's fine, It's kind of part of the point. Can you guess what the creatures might represent? I'll tell you kids eventually. Anyways, once again, I'm sorry for all the errors that reside in this chapter, if you comment the ones you see, I'll try to fix them. Thanks for reading my story, and just a reminder; constructive criticism is very welcomed! I guess that's all I have to say for this chapter, hope you enjoyed it!

~Kaelyn