Dead bonds

chapter 3, Alex

That night at Trinity was only a few days ago but it still feels like a dream, especially since Ty never texted me back like I had hoped, he was actually pretty handsome. Whatever, I’ll get over it by tomorrow for sure.

Work is really freaking boring, why am I even here? Oh yeah, that’s right, I literally live in my mom’s basement, and I slightly almost enjoy going out of the house at all.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. What was that noise? Where the hell am I? It looks like some kind of horror movie in here. Stomp. Stomp. “Well hello there,  I’m Apollyon, but for such a crucial being as yourself, you can call me Polly,” croaked a voice from what sounded like far below me.

“Where are you? Who are you?” I knew these were the stupidest questions to ask in my given situation, but I could not hold back my confusion,  so I don’t become more frightened than I am.

“Well aren’t you just a little bland? I was expecting something more along the lines of ‘oh great Apollyon! How may I be of your service on this wonderful day in hell?!’” Snapped the voice with a sigh of irritation.

“Hell?” I asked, starting to be less freaked out than just generally annoyed. The voice was brash and irritating like a cat impatiently waiting for you to feed it.

The room that I was in seemed to be about ten feet by ten feet wide and was pitch black other than a narrow sliver of light coming from the wall behind me. I could only guess that the mysterious voice was coming from a speaker or recorder.

Suddenly I figured it out.

The voice was only a part of me, my shadow, to be more specific. It was only slightly visible even though it was right in front of me with its sharp teeth giving me a cocky smile. He was standing over my petite body like a murderer preparing to complete his next job. As it started to shift, it appeared as if it was purple from the light that shone behind me.

He continued to tower over me as the arrogant grin left his face and was replaced by a businesslike smirk. “To answer your first question, we are in fact in hell, your hell at least. And to answer your second, As I told you, I am Apollyon, your personal demon!” Said the shadow With a controlled smile lifting its face.

It had a thick British accent and I thought as though I could see the outline of a suit on its transparent body. Who knew that my shadow would be the exact opposite of me.

“So… why did you want to bring me here, I’m not anything special,  I’m not some bigshot businessman or a priest or what have you,” I asked.

“Oh my boy, you just don’t understand! You are the only one that I can bring here. This is your own private place of rest. And just outside of here is seven billion more, just like this.” he said Smugly.  

I looked at the figure with a bored look on my face and said, “okay then, so if this is my ‘place of rest’, then why am I here now? Did I die or something? I don’t remember dying…”

The smug toothy grin returned to its face, it made eye contact with me and explained calmly, “no young man. Do you think I would not be celebrating if you died?” he paused to think about what he would say next, “you are simply sleeping, there’s no need to panic either, you will go back to your boring little world whenever you decide to wake up. We were just having a few technical issues.” I could see that he did in fact look annoyed as though something went not according to plan.

I thought about this for a second and looked around the room for an off button, then looked back to the figure, signaling that I was confused.

“Just close your eyes and I’ll bring you back.” It sighed.

I did just that and before I knew it, I was back on my broken rolling chair in a boring little antique store in a boring little town in a boring little world.

    “Oh my god.” I said to myself under my breath as I looked around the store in a panic, praying that no customers were intruding on my sleep, there was no one, the sun was already starting to set as I let my eyelids fall and I took a shaky breath.

    I stood up after minutes, ready to face the real world and go home to my warm bed. The store was practically closed up as I ran out into the bright crisp evening air and flipped the sign over the door quickly and scurried off into hiding through the thick crowds.