DDLC: Revelance

Chapter Fourteen

I tuned to the news channel for Seattle, which, from a distance, looked like it was the hell of hells. But really, it was recovering, healing from the disasters that the Guardians brought forth onto Earth.

I hit the button on the controller, immediately cutting away from the static. "And back to you, Jessica.", the man passed along.

"Thanks, Simon.", she said, before clearing her throat. "Although most of the fighting has died out, authorities are still encouraging martial law throughout the entire metropolitan areas. Caution is still strongly advised to not go outside if you hear gunfire or see armed men wearing black, bulky armor, especially with orange goggles. If you think a bombing run is about to happen in your area, seek immediate shelter. Don't risk wasting time collecting valuables. Rescue choppers are on the way to recover missing civilians."

I turned the TV off. Yuri came in through the front door, carrying a backpack on her shoulder, setting it down on the table. My head hung down, worried about Wix. With the world in chaos, after the Guardians' failed domination, it seemed like there was no time to stop and rest.

"Hey, Exonus.", she greeted me, sitting down. "I figured, you could have something.."

"Hm?", I perked up, looking at her, while she rummaged through her backpack.

"...from my belongings."

She fished out a red, leather-bound book, with golden streaks lining the edges of the cover. Right in the center was a singular, golden, wide-open eye. It was about as large as her chest. Just then, I scanned her and the book itself.

Yuri was wearing this comfortable, saggy, zipperless, beige sweater with a turtleneck, and was sporting a pair of tight black sweatpants. I didn't realize she was the perfect, prettiest sweater girl until now, after my attention was focused on the book.

I turned my head back and forth between it and Yuri. "A book?"

"Yes. It's called the Portrait of Markov."

"Huh. What's it about?"

She breathed deeply, before opening her mouth. "It's about this girl, who already has a lot of difficult situations in her life, and then, a group of insane test subjects, who came from this fanatically religious compound, escape, and they begin to pursue after her, while she sees her problems escalate as time passes."

"Whoa. Sounds pretty intense.", I commentated.

"Mhm. But, it feels like a good fit for us both. You do like horror, right?"

"Yeah. I've watched a few movies, read a few books. I guess I can read this."

"Okay!"

She slipped the book into my hands, before I quickly strolled through the pages.

"Wait!", she yelped out of nowhere, her eyes panicking, and her hands slamming the book shut. "Can we read it together?"

"Uh, sure..?", I said, slightly freaked out at what she did.

"Oh, did I just...", she realized, before sheepishly cupping her hands together. "Sorry. It's... just a habit."

"Oh. I forgive you. I guess I didn't know."

"Thank you, Exonus.", she replied, giving me a small peck on the cheek.

We sat down on the couch together, and, with Yuri's permission, I opened the book to the first page.

I wish I knew what type of horror genre this book was. But, it certainly wasn't the monster kind. Details, as me and Yuri scrolled through the lines of words and paragraphs, unraveled about torture, graphic maiming, and abuse. One scene particularly included the idea of strapping a subject onto a cold, steel table, and splashing chemicals onto their face and body, which didn't actually hurt the victim, but it dealt them sheer, unbearable, excruciating pain, almost as if their skin was set on fire.

Another scene included the main character being taken to the hyper-religious facility, where these screams, like howling, ghastly phantoms, screeched and cried out in the halls. While the main character was just starting to wake up from her knockout nap, there were sounds of grinding and scientists talking in the rooms, almost like if they were devoted to their god - the Crimson Eye - work, or whatever it was. The carriers would then stop, look at her, and then carry her into the nearest lab.

While all of this was going on in the story, Yuri slowly appeared to notice my disturbed expression on my face, and put her hand on mine holding the book, bringing my attention towards her and away from it.

"You look scared.", she mentioned to me. "Do you not want to read anymore?"

I blinked rapidly, trying to think. "Uh, no. No. Maybe a little longer."

"Oh.", she realized, acknowledging my last words. "Okay. I'll just get a tea bag and some loose leaves from my backpack."

She walked over to the table, grabbing her backpack, before heading to the bedroom. I placed my eyes back onto the pages, and kept reading. I flipped a page, only a minute after she was gone.

Things began to feel strange. It felt familiar. Almost like as if I had experienced it in a past life. What really began to stray from regular sense, and began to turn towards eeriness, was the fact that the pages, as long as I kept reading and flipping, gradually began to appear almost scribbled and blotched out in black, with the fourteenth to last page completely shrouded in some kind of black, obscured ink.

I shut the book, and set it down on the coffee table. Things felt way off now. I could feel someone watching me, someone who wasn't Yuri, but someone else I didn't know. I could feel them, their vision piercing down on my back and neck. I didn't dare to look behind, even if there seemed to be nothing there. I just stood still in frozen, petrified silence. I slowly blinked, and nothing happened.

"Exonus?", Yuri called me, worried, breaking the silence. I twisted my chest, panting out the apocalypse, sweat running down my face. My eyes darted towards her, about to pierce into her and give the order for fight or flight.

"Yuri..!", I said, relieved. "Oh."

"What's wrong?", she inquired, her face showing clear fear for me.

"Nothing. Just a bit of a bad memory."

"About the incident?"

"Yeah. That."

"Oh. Don't worry, Exonus. I've seen it too, and I've seen you. If you need it, I can help you cope with it, help to.. Dampen the feelings of fear, panic, whatever it is."

I let out a single chuckle, finally feeling a bit safer. "Thanks, Yuri. I'm always glad to have you by my side."

"The feeling is reciprocated, Exonus."

Soon, I felt the paranoia fading, with Yuri setting down the basket of teacups, and letting the bittersweet, but soothing smell calm me down as she sat down along with me, and we sipped our cups of green leaf tea. Honestly, I wasn't much of a sucker for tea, but with Yuri's presence and her fondness for it subtly urging me on, I quickly found it rising among the ranks of my favorite beverages, besides cola. Yuri was obviously enjoying every minute of me sitting by her side, sipping away the afternoon.

After a while, which was spent laughing at ourselves, talking, my eyelids began to feel heavy, and I wanted to get cozy and rest my head on the couch. Yuri looked at me, endearingly so, and I could feel her aura hovering over me, before she gave me a kiss on the temple, while I laid my head on the arm of the couch.

"Sweet dreams, love.", she whispered into my ear. "See you tomorrow."

She grabbed her backpack from the table and left straight through the front door.

As soon as silence fell upon the entire room, my eyelids fluttered lightly over my vision, before finally shutting for the day, enclosing myself in darkness.

The feeling of eyes piercing down on my spine returned, after only just a minute since my eyelids shut themselves in. I ignored it, and shuffled myself to face the cushions of the couch, before finally falling asleep, and letting the abyss take me into its soft, soothing ocean of warmth.