Purification Withdrawal (DANIEL X OC)

Chapter 4: Paralysis

Daniel's eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the dreamy evening sunlight that blanketed the entire room. He could feel a light breeze and see the lacy white bedroom window curtains fluttering softly in his peripheral. The calmness of this atmosphere almost felt otherworldly.
His eyes felt dry and his cheeks and eyelashes felt dusty from the tears that he cried assumedly hours ago. His chest felt like a weight on his entire body as he breathed steadily through his nose.

He thought to move, to tug at the handcuffs and pull himself into a sitting position, but his body did not follow. He was confused. Why couldn't he move?

Suddenly, the sight in his peripheral darkened, looking like black clouds were creeping towards his face wherever his frightened eyes looked. He couldn't even move his head towards the window to confirm if the darkness was creeping from outside. His heart pounded in his ears as the misty darkness floated to the ceiling like a sinister fog. White dots shined through the blackness. Many of them. What were they? The pounding in his ears continued, but a choir of whispering voices began in his head. High pitched, chattering, indiscernible whispers. The white dots in the clouds were clearer now, and Daniel knew what they were.

Eyes.

So many little bright, wide eyes.

The whispers became more distinguishable.

"We love you, Daniel. We love you, Daniel. We love you, Daniel. We love you, Daniel. We love you Daniel."

The atmosphere was no longer a pleasant dream.

It was Hell.

Daniel wanted to scream, but all his tight jaw would allow him to let out was a pathetic, muffled whimper as he stared back at hundreds of unblinking children's eyes.

- - -
Bailey sat on her couch downstairs, huddled up with Lily and looking at her tablet. She had been looking more into Daniel via multiple carefully phrased searches on the world wide web.

Daniel Jones newspaper article
Daniel Jones birthplace
Messed up cults
Zeemuug cult
Xeemuug cult
Xemu cult
Weird religions
How to deal with adult temper tantrums
Pie

That last one was just self indulgent. She had to at least look upon something that didn't make her stomach churn. Especially that tantrum search. Lots of weird sites popped up. She didn't dare click on them.
Her and Lily's heads shot up when they heard it. A distant whine coming from upstairs. Bailey quickly stood up, threw her tablet to her side and ran upstairs, clicking her tongue at Lily and signaling for her to stay downstairs and leave Daniel alone.
Bailey opened the bedroom door cautiously.

"Mr. Jones?" She called out to him softly.

Daniel was still laying on his back in bed. He was staring up at the ceiling with wide, terrified eyes.

"Mr. Jones?" She called again, carefully walking to his side and kneeling.

Daniel only made a strangled, close-mouthed whimpering noise. His eyes were teary as he looked over to her. That was the only thing actively moving. His unblinking eyes.
Was this some sort of paralysis? She had read about how to deal with things like this, or rather she'd seen it in a TV show. Hesitantly, Bailey took the key to the cuffs out of her pocket and unlocked one of the pairs holding his wrist in place. With Daniel's one hand free, it fell to the bed with a soft thump. Bailey took a deep breath and gently put a hand on his arm.

"Okay, listen to me, Mr. Jones. You need to try your hardest to make a fist. You need to concentrate on bunching up your hand. Can you do that for me?"

She spoke softly but firmly as Daniel stared at her. He feverishly looked from her, to his hand, to the ceiling and back to her again. He breathed heavily through his nose and closed his eyes, his hand beginning to tremble. After about two minutes, Daniel suddenly tensed his hand and gripped the white sheets in his fingers, gasping sharply and rolling his eyes back as his entire body seemingly sprung back to life.

"You got it, you got it!" Bailey quietly cheered, patting Daniel's arm.

"Are you okay? Do you feel-?"

Bailey was interrupted when Daniel strongly gripped the back of her hand and squeezed it tightly, a sob leaving his throat as he pulled her hand to his face and held it so her palm rested against his cheek.

"Oh God, Oh God!" He cried weakly, keeping Bailey's hand in a death grip.

"They were up there! They were staring at me and they were talking and they were, they, they..!"

It was like he was holding back a mournful scream.

"So many dead little eyes, Bailey! So many!"

Bailey's stomach sank as he frantically blubbered every little detail.

"'Up there'? Was that what you were staring at?"

"Yes, yes! They're not going to leave me alone!"

Daniel's grip finally loosened on Bailey's hand and she took the opportunity to swipe it away from him. Daniel ran his free hand over his face and through his hair, then pointed to the ceiling.

"See? Up-"

He froze. His hand hung in midair for a few moments before he let it fall to his side and his jaw hung slightly.

"There isn't anything there." He mumbled, staring up blankly is confusion.

"S' cause it was a dream, Daniel. Your body was still asleep but your brain was waking up from a nightmare."

"Oh." Daniel quietly grunted.

They sat quietly for a few moments before Daniel slowly sat up.

"Alright then. Anyway."

Daniel's hand shot out and gripped Bailey's wrist.

"Gimme the key."

"Wha-? Hey!"

Bailey smacked Daniel's hand away from her and held the key out of his reach.

"Stop it." She commanded, eyes furrowed as she rested her hand on her hip.

Daniel groaned and reached up in a desperate attempt to snatch the key from her.

"Give it! Come on!"

Bailey rolled her eyes.

"Not even a 'thank you'. Unbelievable. You're unbelievable."

Daniel dismissively swatted at her.

"Why should I? You probably drugged me so that would happen!  I knew that wasn't cold medicine!"

"Oh yeah? Why are all signs of your cold gone, then?" Bailey smirked in contempt.

Daniel went silent before rolling his eyes and turning on his other side.

"Cruel." He grumbled.

"Gimme your hand, please." Bailey sighed as she grabbed his wrist and locked it up again.

Bailey put a hand to the top of Daniel's head and quickly patted him.

"I'm glad you're not paralyzed. I'm gonna make some cream of wheat, okay? Sit tight."

Daniel glared daggers at her.

"I can't eat dairy."

Bailey raised her eyebrows and retracted her hand.

"Oh. Really? Okay. Then...more broth, I guess." She stood up and walked towards the door.

"Don't fall asleep again, okay, Crybaby?"

Daniel gasped before sitting up with an offended expression.

"I am not a-!"

but Bailey had already rushed off, giggling to herself as she ran down the stairs.