Mind Or Matter

Chapter Sixty

I woke up, lying in my bed.

Checking my watch as I sat up, I was surprised that it was already 2:41 in the afternoon.

Looking around, I saw the shadows of my apartment. It was as if it was early in the morning, before the sun came out. It took a minute or two just to get used to the darkness.

As I got out of bed, I glanced at my watch again. 6:12 am.

What the fuck... I thought, running towards the window in the living room. The sun looked like it was either rising or setting; I couldn't tell if it was dawn or dusk.

But something me that it was dusk. The feeling of creativity, that spark of ideas that came only when night was coming was whizzing through my mind, which buzzed and hummed like static electricity.

Was it a dream? I wondered, frantically running out of my apartment and into the hallway. How much of that shit was real?

Part of me wanted to go into the kitchen, to see if Candi was making breakfast.

To check if she was still alive.

So I did. And, for a moment, I really she would be there.

"Morning Candi! You wouldn't believe the dream I just had!" I started, swinging by the kitchen.

But it was empty.

My smile faded and I felt tears form in my eyes. Blinking, I looked away sharply, leaving my apartment as quickly as I could.

Deciding to take the stairs, not trusting the elevator anymore, I ran down, taking two steps at a time.

Every few seconds, I checked my watch.

4:58 am.

William...

9:06 pm.

William...

1:31 pm.

We're here, William. We made it.

Bursting into the lobby, I looked around, eyes wide with panic and fear. Everyone's gone, I thought, looking past the empty tables and chairs, through the large windows onto the streets of Miami, which were empty and deserted.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow dart from the staircase to the door, running just a meter or two away from me.

I shivered, cold flooding my body. 12:12 am.

Running so fast through the door I would've shattered the glass if it had been shut, I stopped in the middle of the street, staring up at the sky, which was cloudy and grey.

Silence.

The stores lining the streets were bare. No one came out of the bakery or nail salon, smiling and talking to their friends. Nobody drove down the street in their Toyota's, listening to Christmas music (already playing in November) and thinking about the holidays yet to come. There weren't any teenagers cruising on skateboards and bikes, cutting off cars, living on the edge.

The city was barren.

And I was the last one left.

Running down the sidewalks, I watched my shadow chase me like I was an escaping prisoner, like I would be hauled back in my jail cell at any time. Sweat ran down my face; I felt feverish. The clouds were growing darker, now the color of pencil lead.

Hahahaha, lead! Foolish fuckers never know if it's pronounced LED or LEED! I got my Demons taking me, now! I don't have to worry about jail cells or pencil LED! Devil boy's got me by the brain! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I happened to see the time on my watch, and took it off my left wrist, throwing it at the sidewalk in rage. The time had read 6:66 right before it shattered on the cement, like I had thrown some old lady's good China.

Now there was no way to tell time.

And, truly, isn't the end of the world a planet without meaning, without place in the universe? If we didn't know the difference between nightmare and reality, then what even made Earth exist? To me, it was like Santa Clause in dumb kids movies – if you don't believe, he dies, ya little SOB!

Religion is another big bastard: they all tell you that you have to believe, that you have to spread Moses or Jesus or Ganesha or whatever virus you need to infect others with. If you don't, well, we all know what happens to you...

...YOU GONNA GO TO HELL YA CHEAPSKATE GONNA BURN GONNA BURN!!!

It seemed that I was going in circles, because the next thing I knew, the Miami Mental Hospital stood right in front of me, its doors wide open. Inside, it was dark, though I could hear voices throughout the building, both close and far away.

We will get him yes we are coming for William Harker...

BURN IT ALL! TORCH THE FILE OF BOTH WILLIAM AND THAT ELLIE GIRL!

I covered my ears, but that did no good. The Demons' voices weren't heard by those things on the sides of my head – I could only hear them in my mind.

Exhausted, I lightly jogged to the side of the building, where the ground was starting to rise. I looked up to the point at where the grass grew high, up on the hill.

The damned hill where Candi and I first met; the one spot where everything seemed to be centered around.

Out of the corner of both my eyes, I could see demonic shadows racing each other up the hill, none of them ever reaching the top.

Peek-a-boo I see you!

William...

PEEK-A-BOO!!!

"SHUT UP!" I screamed, covering my ears and closing my eyes. I lay at the bottom of the hill, below the Demons, crawled up into a little ball like a child recovering from a traumatizing nightmare. "JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!"

In that moment, opening my eyes again, I knew that I had lost my mind. My brain didn't belong to me anymore – it belonged to The Devil.

"Please," I whispered, barely hearing myself, "please just let me go."

Suddenly, when I glanced back up at the tree, I could see Him standing there, wearing a robe colored a blur of black and white, with pure, glowing horns growing crookedly out of His head. He sat under the tree, His head cocked towards me, a thin smile slipping onto His face (if you can call it a face). His lips slid open and he rasped, "it's all in your head."

Without warning, the Demons waiting impatiently behind their leader.

A single grey leaf, flames licking up at the sky, broke off the tree and fell to the ground. I saw my life flashing before my very eyes, knowing that this was really the end.

Father...

Mum...

Lilly...

Jake...

Candi...

Images of people I loved came before me. It was almost as if they were really there, standing around me, welcoming me to meet my death.

All of the people I ever cared for are dead...

...and now I'm going to join them...

The leaf touched the grass.

I heard the thudding noise, like a bass drum ringing through a silent, empty corridor.

Darkness shadowed my vision, and I felt my body growing light.

I was blacking out, growing unconscious... 

THE END IS JUST THE BEGINNING