Reverie [The Distortionist x reader]

Chapter 5

(Art by CryptMist on DeviantArt)

Surely you can see the problem

I don't wanna lose my own reflection

-----*-----

What you saw was all blurry, and you couldn't make out your surroundings. You could see bright colors: swirls of cyan, lime, and colors you had somehow never seen before.

After you rubbed your eyes, and your sight minimally cleared up. You could see 5th Avenue, but differently. Some of the buildings were upside down, and all the walls were colored with eye-numbing shades of yellow. Windows were only reflective and did not display the inside of the shops. The road was paved with tinted glass.

You heard breathing. It was soft, inhales and exhales that would be inaudible if you weren't in this world. You spun, looking for its source, but nobody was there. You were suddenly hyper-aware of the rise and fall of your own chest, which was originating the strange sound. You put a hand over where your lungs would be, trying to calm the noise. After that failed, you held your breath. It seemed to be the only thing that worked.

"Isn't it nice to take a break from your black-and-white world of paper and ink?" a voice sounded, only being audible once your breathing was quieted. It startled you so much that you gasped, a glass-shattering sound in this place. Not literally, since all the excessive glass surfaces remained indifferent to it. You held your breath again.

Looking around you once more, your eyes almost skipped over a figure, standing in the middle of the road. They were in a strange monochrome dress. They seemed familiar, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it.

The two of you stared at each other quietly, and you eventually forgot to hold your breath. Funnily enough, it wasn't as loud.

"Who are you?" You shattered the strange silence.

"I'm [Y/N]," they said. "[Y/N], [Y/N], [Y/N], [Y/N]-"

-----*-----

"[Y/N], [Y/N], [Y/N], [Y/N]!"

Your eyes shoot open, and you find yourself on your bed. Beside you, Esther, your niece, is shaking you awake. She stops once she sees your open eyes. "Auntie, you were wiggling a lot in your sleep," she comments. "Mama said to wake you up. Breakfast is almost ready."

Rubbing your eyes, you urge yourself to wake up completely. Esther had already left the room. Your older sister and her child live with you, since [S/N] had a child as a bachelorette and was deemed indecent by society. She'd taken to doing chores like preparing breakfast, so the arrangement benefited both of you.

After getting changed, you leave your room and go down the staircase. On the way to the dining room, you revisit your wild dream. Was that person you? Why did they look so different? You shake your head. It was only a dream that incorporated real-life noises into it. You shouldn't look into it so deeply.

-----*-----

You enter the jail again, where Adres and Stia are already having a heated argument. You step in between them. "Okay, what is it this time?" you sigh.

"Adres said we have to wait until evening!" Stia hisses. "He specifically said-"

"I said 'Come back tomorrow'," they scowl. "I didn't say which time of day."

"Listen, fucker, I'm a lawyer," Stia snaps. "If you don't let us interview Christopher Pierre right now, I swear to our creator that I will get you fired and have your miserable ass ruined-"

"All right, break it up, break it up!" you say loudly enough to break through their tension.

By some miracle, they both stop arguing and look at you. You feel small under their scrutinizing stares.

"U-Uh..." you stutter. "How 'bout we reach a compromise?"

"And what do you suggest?" Stia's voice is steely.

"Maybe... We go in now," you start, earning a glare from Adres. "But... Adres gets to veto certain questions we ask?"

Adres starts nodding, but Stia shakes her head vigorously. "No. I'm not agreeing to that."

"Fine," Adres rolls their eyes dramatically. "I'll let you go in now and choose your questions..." they pause, ideas flickering behind their eyes. "But only one of you goes in."

"At a time?" you try.

"No. At all." They cross their arms. "It's that or nothing."

Stia glares at them, but eventually she says, "I'll discuss the questions with [Y/N], then she'll go in."

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes," they say, leaving the room through the back door.

You take out your notebook to write down questions Stia has. However, Stia only asks if she could look through the pages of your notebook. You agree. She flips over a few dozen pages, her gaze moving rapidly to get a general idea of the information contained between the sheets. After a minute or so, she hands back the leather-bound journal. "That's all I'll need."

"That's great, but... Don't you think you should see Christopher more often? You are his lawyer..."

"I didn't exactly visit him often between him being caught and the trial happening. You see, I was only put on the case at the very end," she explains. "The lead detective was the main one handling him until recently. Chris is going to be put in prison pretty soon, anyway. I won't have to deal with Adres. But, how long have you been a journalist?" she asks.

"Ever since I finished college. That was... maybe four, five years ago? How long have you been a lawyer?" you inquire.

"Oh, a long, long time." she smiles gently.

Adres reopens the back door. "Miss [L/N]," they gesture to the inside of the back room. You get up from the couch and wave a little goodbye to Stia.

Inside the back room, there is a spiral staircase leading both up and down. Adres starts descending the stairs, so you do too. The rusty metal steps whine under you as you go down the stairwell. The lower you go, the dimmer the electric lamps get. It comes to a point in which you have to drag your hand across the stone wall to not skip a step. Fortunately, you don't have to go down too much into the underground. You and Adres reach the bottom floor, which is significantly more well-lit than the stairs leading down to it.

"This way!" they say, going down what appeared to be the main hallway. There are some larger cells in this hall, and one occasionally holds a prisoner. A few jailers sit at desks, playing card games with each other. They look at you oddly, as if they didn't expect you to be there. You look back at them. They're off-putting, in a way. You try to identify what's strange about them, but you're walking too quickly to really examine them.

After a couple of twists and turns, Adres whistles and removes a ring of keys from their pocket. They pick out a key from the bunch and start unlocking the cell to their right. You peer over their shoulder. The cell holds the one person causing the most trouble lately: Christopher Pierre. He sits at a wooden table, set up with two chairs on either side. The chair closest to the exit of the cell is free, and you have a pretty good guess of who would occupy that seat.

The clack of the barred door opening makes you look at Adres. They smile deceitfully at you. "Go in, he won't bite." They give Chris a pointed look. Christopher glares right back. "In any case, I'll be watching the interview." Adres waves their hand. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be right here to help you, miss [L/N]." You suspect that wasn't the only reason they are watching, but you walk into the cell anyway.

And there you are. Sitting in front of the man that murdered Nancy Elsner, about to ask him questions about the event. The hypnosis wheels in place of his eyes are spinning, attempting to capture you within a trance. You open your notebook and ready your pen as if they are your shield and weapon. Your article will be complete, no matter how hard that was to achieve.