Tower of Babel (Jonathan Ariga X Reader)

[3] Nightmare

A/N: So... originally my plan was to abandon this, and wattpad in general, but then I saw the E3 announcement of Catherine: Full Body, and I've become obsessed with the game once more. Therefore, I just HAD to continue this. Sorry for the wait, but it's here now.

~(Your/Name)/First Person POV~

I hadn't calculated how the conversation was supposed to go; but it had ended up being bitter, sour, a conversation that almost left a bad taste in my mouth. Jonny naturally didn't want to talk about our 'situation', he barely mentioned his own girlfriend- what was i supposed to expect? Whatever i asked, he would just reply with shrugs, humming or no reaction at all. "You know, this is serious Jonny, you can't just be so blasé!" I exclaimed, feeling my fists clench, my agitation gradually growing as he continued to be silent. His eyes were trained on his cigarette, the pulsing flame at the end of it, the intricate swirls of smoke that danced from it. He wouldn't even look at me. What could I do? My back straightened, tense, "you're making things a lot more complicated and awkward between us by not saying anything" my voice had lowered; wether it was because I thought he would respond to a more calm tone or if I didn't want to attract attention to us, I wasn't sure. Jonny's eyes rolled, he flicked the cigarette butt away before averting his eyes to me, "there's nothing to talk about" he bluntly replied, sending a glare in my direction. "So we're just going to pretend you didn't cheat on your girlfriend?" I mumbled, turning my head away to avoid Jonny's eyes; he took a deep drag of his cigarette before replying, "we're nothing serious- we're only together still because of the company" With that, he stubs out his cigarette and brushes past me to go back into the Stray Sheep.

By the time I had trudged dismally back into the Bar, my feet dragging unceremoniously across the floorboards and making me want to collapse onto the floor, Orlando was sat at the table with our group. He greeted me with a grin, to which I vaguely nodded at before squeezing myself in to sit beside Vincent and him. Despite sitting with the guys, I managed to avoid all conversation as a pure strike toward Jonny; Toby could enthusiastically ask for help on girls, Orlando could make snarky remarks, Vincent could occasionally complain about his complexities in love but I refused to interact at all after my short spat with the quietest man in the group. Said man kept sparing glances toward me from over the bar table. What was he playing at? Did he think this was some odd game that would work out in the end? A scoff escaped me as I mulled over the questions and I found myself emptying glass after glass of whatever alcohol I ordered. This was a sub conscious addiction to the beverages. I didn't actively want to get drunk... but if i helped me to ignore Jonny's stupidity... then I welcomed it with open arms. Then again, it wasn't all Jonny's fault-- so it was also to stop me from hating myself I suppose.

I didn't know what time it was-- better yet, WHERE I was. As far as I could tell, I'd left the Stray Sheep after all the guys so I could drown my sorrows without judgement; but my plan was ruined when Erica kept swaying by to stop me from drinking myself to death. I assume she'd sent me home eventually but... this didn't look like home. It didn't even look like a house, so it couldn't even be the home of a drunken one night stand. It was dark, pitch black shadows crawling around me from every inch of space, the only light came radiating from above but even then, it was barely existent. My bare feet stood on calloused cement, sending a chill up my body from the cold sensation. When I looked beside me, a similar meter of cement stood there, along with several other blocks of the same thing. "What...?" I merely breathed, barely even announcing the letters but my confusion laced word echoed endlessly around me. "Hey!" An unknown voice echoed around me- my head practically spun in an attempt to find the voice's origin; I looked at myself and was able to decipher my outfit from last night at the bar still on me. Whatever was happening, it made my mind implode. I'd completely forgotten to reply, so the voice reiterated, "hey! Listen to me, you need to start climbing" there was an underlying sense of panic in the voice. With a scoff, I swung my head back, staring up at the vague light radiating down, "no, you listen to me! I don't know WHAT is going on here, but you need to explain before I go anywhere" I shouted back. For a few seconds, silence beckoned me in the darkness, before the voice returned, "I'll explain when you get up! Now hurry or that THING might get you!".

I wasn't aware of what this 'THING' was, but the situation had already broken my mind so much so that I didn't argue. The blocks were strange- some very easy, like paper weight, to move and some felt like masses of bricks conjoined into a single hellish block. Luckily for me, for the most part, the blocks were mostly light and moved very quickly whenever I pushed them. The real problem was when I got tired of climbing and had to stop for breath; the shadows and quiet atmosphere made me tense and genuinely scared of whatever was out there. That was when I heard a vicious growl screech out from below the safety of my block tower.

Needless to say, whatever was down there forced me to keep climbing. It didn't matter if I was tired, I was terrified and didn't want to risk finding out whatever it was. Eventually, a bell began ringing overhead. The sound became deafening as I kept climbing so I took it as a good sign and managed to hoist myself to the top. My back was coated in an unhealthy amount of sweat but the freezing temperatures of the tower made me look past it; my hands shook and shone with the copious amounts of perspiration I'd collected as I reached out for the bell. Once I pulled the chord of the bell, it disappeared into the darkness and was replaced with a mediaeval looking door. This was the only way out.

My eyes shot open, in a similarly panicked fashion, my body flew up from my lying position. I could feel my body shake fervently, my mouth hung agape as I attempted to rake in any semblance of oxygen. Looking everywhere I could, I tried to figure out where I was; it wasn't my house. When my eyes settled on a person. "For the love of god, please tell me I didn't sleep with you again" I struggled to hiss, my lungs refusing to cooperate. Jonny averted his eyes temporarily, "you... didn't sleep with me again?" He replied, sounding annoyingly calm as he resumed stirring a cup of coffee he held. A hand ran through my hair as I collected my thoughts- to no avail. I couldn't remember anything. Not a single detail. What happened last night!? "You're not lying to make me feel better are you? We really didn't do anything?" I checked, earning a half hearted laugh from the man across the room, "I swear, I slept on the couch" he assured. Jonny's laugh was calming to me and told me that he wasn't mad with me for our earlier conversation at the stray sheep. Despite this, I lifted the bedcovers and viewed myself-- I wore the same clothes as last night, untouched but creased beyond compare. It was difficult to move. My muscles and limbs ached as if I'd just done a marathon.