Conniveo

Chapter 7: Phantasm

"Uh...Yuje? Where the hell are we?"

I stared up at Greg. I couldn't believe he was here. My madness was just escalating. I wondered what happened to push me over the edge like this. I held my head. I couldn't be going this crazy. Greg had done something to make me mad and I had decided to insert him into this never-ending nightmare.

-*-

After Greg told me that I had disappeared, I decided to go home just to avoid punching him. It was one thing to be going crazy, but another to have your friend try to worsen the process by feeding you stupid lies. I couldn't disappear, I wasn't a fucking magician. I wanted to go to Dr Matthew's office first, but I didn't have enough cash for two taxi fares with me. I got home and tried to relax. I was angry. I didn't believe that Greg had done something so insensitive. It was bad enough that he had laughed at me, but trying to make a joke or something of my situation was just plain cruel. I sat in the living room and tried to watch TV to get my mind off things when I heard the doorbell. I checked through the peephole. It was Greg. I didn't need any of this.

"Dude, I know you're there. I heard you come to the door. Open up, I really need to talk to you."

I cursed under my breath and opened the door. Greg pushed past me and went in, leaving me to shut the door behind him. I walked back to find him in the living room. He had dropped his bag and was standing, looking anxious.

"Greg, what do you want?'

"Ever heard of 'Folie A Deux'?"

"Isn't that an album by Fall Out Boy?" I wondered how discussing music was enough reason to drag Gregory Hall to my mother's apartment.

"I mean the real meaning of the term. It's for describing when one person goes mad because of being around someone else who's going mad."

"I don't get you. Are you trying to say you are-"

"I know what I saw," he began to pace around. "It makes no sense, but that was what I saw. You disappeared completely. It was for like five seconds or so and nobody noticed because they were all trying not to crash, but I saw you vanish and come back sitting on the floor."

"Quit it Greg."

"Quit what?"

"This stupid game you're trying to pull. It's not funny. I never should have told you about my hallucination."

"What happened to you, during those five seconds?"

"You already know what happened."

"Tell me, please."

He looked pleading. I could see he was genuinely scared about something. I sighed. Greg was my best friend, regardless of whatever I was going through. If he needed answers, I'll do my best to give them to him.

"I fell down in some sort of park. There were people like the girl I told you about, all slim and blondish, walking around. Then I closed my eyes again and I came back."

"You saw this for five seconds, right?"

"Pretty much. And when I came back, I was sitting on the floor. I must have gotten off my chair when I started tripping. Seriously dude, how does any of this matter?"

He sat down and covered his face with his hands.

"Something is very wrong with both of us."

I sighed and sat down beside him. We were quiet for a few seconds. Then Greg got up suddenly and pulled me by my collar. I was a little surprised by him.

"Take me to where you went."

"What?" I was really surprised now. And a little scared, because Greg looked a little psycho.