No Longer Dead

7

I wake up with a pounding headache. Something warm is trickling down the side of my head and out of my mouth. I open my eyes only to think I've gone blind by how dark my surroundings are. I'm about to call for help when I see a light in the distance...a flashlight beam.

I stand up and quickly find myself on the floor again as a sense of vertigo hits me like a ton of bricks. I hit my arm on something and it gashes my skin. I let out a small cry of pain before slowly getting up onto my feet again.

Once on my feet, I look around me again to search for the flashlight beam, but it was gone.

"N-no!" I quickly fumble around me and pat the ground to see if there is anything of use to me, but find nothing. I look around with wide eyes again as I try to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness. It's almost like the dark is as thick as molasses. It takes a good fifteen-twenty minutes for my eyes to actually get a little bit used to the darkness. It'll have to be good enough.

I reach my arms out and sway them sideways and back to make sure I don't smack into anything. I'm pretty much going into this blindly. I lick my lips and the metallic taste of blood hits my tongue. I bring my hand up and wipe away the blood with the back of my hand and I continue walking.

I suddenly start to hear whispers all around me, saying my name and other things...things like I'm worthless, selfish, a horrible human being, and to kill myself. Kill myself over and over and over again.

These whispers sound all too familiar...like I've heard them before...like they've been inside my head...

My neck twitches and cracks and I feel a shudder go all the way down my back.

You killed him! Ha ha HA!! You KILLED HIM!

I grab my head and shake it to get these voices out of it.

What're you gonna do now? There's a cliff not too far away from here...you could always JUMP! HA HA HA!

You've never been special to her...she never really cared for you! I guess that's why she left you in that PLACE to DIE!

Don't be scared, Toby, be PETRIFIED!

Why don't you grab a branch, yes that one closest to your head, and BREAK IT! Make it sharp and JAB IT INTO YOUR NECK!

Hehehe, you know you want to, Toby. It's not that hard...especially not for p-p-p-poor l-l-little T-T-Ticci T-T-Toby!! HA HA HA!!!

"S-stop stop STOP!" I scream. I clutch my head and stumble backwards. My leg hits something and I trip and fall onto my ass. I quickly scramble up and look all around me, terrified. These voices, I've heard them before. They came to me after Lyra died.

I frantically start running and tripping on things. My eyes have adjusted more to the darkness and I realized I was in some kind of forest. I turn around and listen for any sign of the voices.

You better run...

And it was a whisper.

My body twitches and my eyes widen and I quickly turn back around and start to run as fast as I can through branches and fallen trees.

As I continue to run, I hear a distant sound of something running and a disgusting snorting sound. I sneak a peek behind me to see something terrifying booking it towards me.

I scream and run faster, harder. My legs scream for me to stop but I keep going faster and faster until my leg twitches and I trip over a log. Fear washes over me and I quickly cower behind the log as I listen to whatever was chasing me stop running and sniff the ground; the snorting clearly coming from its nose.

I sneak a peek over the log to see a dog-like creature with an ungodly smile etched across its ugly face. It's eyes are white and they shine as though a light is flashing at them. A mane of fur laps around its neck as though it were a lion with a husky-type body.

Fear takes a hold of my lungs and I suddenly can't breathe. My eyes widen as the creature suddenly turns to look me directly in the eyes. The smile on its face seems to grow wider until a nasty snarl escapes from the depths of its throat and it starts to bark wildly at me before pouncing and pinning me down.

Sticky saliva drips through the dog's teeth and onto my face and it opens its jaw as if about to take my head whole into its mouth.

"Okay, Smile, that's enough. We've scared him enough."

That voice...where have I heard it before?

A body drops from a tree nearby with a thud and the the silhouette of a man comes walking up to us.

The man from my dreams.

"Sorry about that, Toby." Jeff says. "Smile, get off him." The dog does what Jeff says and gets off me. I wipe the nasty saliva off my face before Jeff reaches his hand out to help me up from the ground. I hesitantly take it and am hoisted up.

"Wh-what the f-fuck was that f-for?!" I snarl.

"It was a test." Jeff responds.

"A test for wh-what?!"

"A test to see what you would do. See, I put you in the darkest part of the forest to see if any part of your memory would come back, seeing as, most of the time, your memory comes back to you when you're scared." He says.

"A-and the voices? Wh-what was th-that all a-about?" I ask.

"Voices? What voices?" Jeff asks.

"Th-the voices t-telling me to-to kill m-myself..." I say.

Jeff stands there for a moment with shock on his face. "Toby, those voices weren't part of this whole thing. Those were in your head." He says.

My eyes widen and I look at the ground.

"N-no, th-that's not possible! I-I ran a-a-away f-from them! Th-they got q-quieter as I r-ran farther a-away!" I say.

"You imagined yourself running away from them, Toby...I'm sorry, but those voices were in your head...I was wondering why you started to scream stop..." He says.

"You were here the whole time?! You watched me be scared shitless!" I shout.

"Toby, calm down." Jeff's eyes widen as he realizes my stutter had gone away. "I didn't mean to make you angry, I just meant to test you, to...to try and get more of your memory back."

"Maybe I-I don't w-want my memory b-back." I say.

"Toby, you don't mean that." Jeff says.

"You don't know that! Y-you don't know m-me-!"

"That's the thing, Toby! I do know you! I know that you and your sister were in a car accident and she didn't make it! I know that you have uncontrollable tics and a stutter that everyone made fun of you for! I know that you murdered your father because of the voices in your head telling you to do it and to kill him. I know that you are so scared to leave your mother again because she PUT YOU IN THAT GODDAMN TORTURE ASYLUM!" Jeff stares at me as he heaves breaths angrily.

"H-how did y-you know-?"

"Because I know you, Toby...you're my best friend..." He interrupts.

"J-Jeff, how did y-you know a-about th-the last one?" I ask.

"Because I can see it in your eyes. You didn't want to leave your mother again in fear of going back...you know who you are Toby, don't you? You didn't lose your memory at all." Jeff looks at me in the eyes and stares for a good five minutes before I respond.

And I nod my head...

A/N:
Hey guys!
What do you think of that plot twist? Toby actually DOES know who he is, he was just pretending so he wouldn't have to go back to the man with the glasses...interesting... Heh.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please leave a comment and a vote of you haven't already!

Stay kawaii guys, love you ❤️