Compos Mentis

Draco Singi

I feel feel something. I feel nothing. My vision darkened by what seemed to be a prison, void of life and light. Pain... pain is all that describes it. I can hear rustling and faint screams of fear and pain... souls like mine... held here by it... this being of eternal hatred. In the darkness. In this emptiness I hear a voice, though it's unlike any I've heard before, it speaks in a language not even God himself could decipher. Though I knew not the tongue in which this beast spoke, I understood its word clear as the day. In that moment as the voice boomed I found myself floating aimlessly in a realm of darkness, wrapped in the black nothingness of the abyss.

Draco... Child... I'm am here to relieve you of this mortal coil... To assist you in breaking free... I can offer you your wildest of dreams. All I want in return is your human form...

"Who are... Where am..."

I try and adjust to the sudden change of setting. I take a deep breath and think through what all this being could do to me... I weigh my options and decide to utter my one true question in the most appropriate tone for the given moment...

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

A bold spirit are we? Well I guess I do owe you this. My name is Rekyrts. Lord of the ninth circle of hell.

"And? Is that supposed to scare me or something?"

Bold and brave. A perfect host.

"Host for what?!"

At that moment our conversation was cut short by a wraithful screech and a piercing pain in my heart. The next thing i know I'm awoken by a forceful smack to the face complements of my best friends bloody hand.

"Wake. Yo. Butt. UP! You're not dying on me! Not yet!"

I open my eyes from gazing into the abyss to find myself laying on my back with Neros sitting over my chest, repeatedly slapping me with his blood soaked hand. Calling out to me in a desperate attempt to wake me. With the little amount of strength I have left in me I mutter a simple.

"Miss me?" and softly try to smile.

I can faintly make out a smile of relief on Neros' face as he wraps his arm around me and lifts me from the the floor and to my feet. A thick black tar like substance drips from my clothes and pools in the floor.

"Come on buddy... let's go home"

"We need to get that mystical box of yours from down stairs..."

As we walk towards the door Neros leans me onto the stairs railing while he collects the cracked and burnt pieces of his travel altar.

"Just try and stay up straight for a minute while I do this. Okay?"

"Yeah... I... I think I can do that." I mumble.

My face pale as the night's moon, with slight strands of blackish blood seeping out from between my lips.

Draco...

It's not real... It's. Not. Real.

Did you really think some made up incantation and a bloody rock was going to kill me?

There's no voice. It's all in your head...

You're weak... of mind and body. You'll do just fine.

I feel something cold run up my back and a lightning strike of pain shoot through my veins as the voice becomes louder in my head.

Hm... maybe more willful than I thought.

I feel as though this demon is physically inside my being. It's corruption running through my veins alongside my blood. I snap back to my senses as the voice of the being subsides for now.

"Draco. Hey. Draco. You okay man?"

"Y-yeah... just. A lil shook is all."

"Okay, just, tell me if anything weird happens.Okay?"

You should tell him. He can help.

He'll never believe you...

He can help

Don't tell him

Tell him

Don't do it

Do it

No

Yes

NO!

YES!

"SHUT UP!"

The room goes quiet as Neros looks over to me as I fall onto the floor sobbing and crying. He drops his travel altar and rushes over to help me back up and out the door.

"Fuck the altar. Fuck the money. I'm not losing you... We're getting the fuck out of here! PEEEEPPPPEEERRR!"

Neros yells out in anger as he carries me out of the dilapidated old building and right past Mrs. Pérez, leaving her in shock. And with that Neros walked away from the house with my arm draped over his shoulder and Pepper following quickly behind us. Neros rants as we make our way down the street and towards the storefront, looking like a literal bloody mess.

"We need to pay rent he says. We need the money he says. It won't hurt he says. Look where it got us! Your dumbass is almost dead thanks to that old bat..."

He continues on listing off the many ways I was wrong throughout the night, I can't hear him though as his voices fades and an all too familiar one returns.

He doesn't want you. He doesn't love you... you'd be better off with me.

He's just mad. It's fine You messed up pretty bad. He doesn't mean it.

We'll see...

The voice of Rekyrts falls back into the abyss as we reach the door to our shop. Neros presses one hand against the door causing it to swing open, a gust of warm welcoming air flows out to greet us. The gory mess that is me and my savior find our way to the back storage room. He lays me down on the employee's only sofa and begins to walk upstairs to try and find out what happened.

"It'll all be okay buddy. I'm gonna go find a remedy. Just... stay alive. Okay?"

"I'll try..." I groggily reply.

As soon as Neros and Pepper leave the room I get the feeling of a cold claw running up the arch of my back as my vision becomes blurry and darkens.

You really should've accepted my offer when it was an option.

My vision goes dark as I hear shuffling and heavy footsteps.

It's been awhile since I've had a body...

My vision returns in little flashes. All I feel is numbness. I can't control myself. I can hear the steps... the breathing, heavy and deep. In the flashes I can see everything. The hallway... The staircase... The living room... The study... My vision cuts out.

"Hey, Draco. What are you doing up? I told you to rest."

There are heavy footsteps.

"Draco? What are you..."

"Hmm... Weak...."

~END OF DRACO SINGI~