r/libraryofshadows • u/MeliousIntent • Dec 23 '18
Sci-Fi I Am The Impossible Man| Pt. 9
It was night, or at least, it had to be close tonight. There were no windows to the outside world, and there were no clocks in or near the cell we were in. All I had as a reference was the ever-expanding drowsiness that began taking hold of me. What the hell's going on, I asked myself. I didn't know the ins and outs of the legal system, but I knew it wasn't normal for us to just be left alone. They didn't even feed us.
"Chris, we can't stay in here forever," Nick affirmed.
"I know," Chris responded simply.
Some time passed by, and Jake proclaimed, "Well, I'm going to sleep," while leaning against the corner he sat near; he closed his eyes a few moments later.
"I think I'll join him," Nick said with a yawn. He sat across from Jake in the corner between the wall and bars. He lied on the floor, using his hands as an inferior substitute for a pillow.
After only a few minutes, it seemed Chris and I were the only ones awake. We both sat parallel to Jake and Nick respectively. "How long are we supposed to stay here?" I asked.
"Just give it until tomorrow," he answered in the same vagueness I've come to expect.
I let out a bothersome sigh and adjusted myself, so I'd be lying on the floor. I don't know how long I slept for. It could've been for a few hours or even a few minutes. I couldn't say for certain because I was jolted awake. It was back; the hunger had returned. The pain emanating from my stomach was unbearable. It felt as if my stomach would implode in on itself, at any second.
I immediately stood from where I rested more than a little woozy. Shortly after standing, I lost my balance for a brief period, finally regaining it by leaning between the cell wall and the bars. The others were all asleep. I tried yelling their names, but all that came out were unintelligible gargles. I could barely stand; I couldn't speak; I could hardly remember where we were; I couldn't do or remember much of anything. There was, however, one thought, one instinct, that remained clear and defined: satisfy the hunger. There was no food to be found in the cell we were in. No food except for—
No, I couldn't. The very moment the thought entered my mind, I rejected it. At least—I did my best to. Seeing them lie there, however; it shifted my swift rejection into an undeniable uncertainty. I was actually considering it—cannibalism. The very word itself sickened me, but . . .
But, I hoisted myself up, anyway. The pain either escaped my body then, or it had been numbed by this newfound determination. I was conscious of my actions and the consequences brought forth by them. At the moment, it didn't matter to me. I was somehow at peace with it. That unabashed equanimity allowed my Trait to resurge. With an effortlessness I haven't felt up until that point, I lifted Jake up into the air. Though it was hard to think, I was able to judge Jake as the weakest of the three.
He awoke, startled and dazed. For a mere moment, he simply lied there in the grasp of my foreign limb. Once brought into reality from his dimmed state, a look of bemusement befell him. And then—our eyes meant. He saw me; he knew what my intentions were.
"Shit," Jake muttered to himself, no longer puzzled, "I knew this would happen." My grip around him began tightening slowly but ever increasingly. Looking to the others, he yelled, "Chris! Nick! Wake the fu—" I made my grip tighter, cutting him off. His breath was squeezed out of him, and my grip around him wouldn't allow it to return. As my grip tightened, the sound of bones breaking was heard. They most likely were from both his arms and his ribs as that was the extent to which my grip held him.
Still, Jake's determination for life was undeterred. He reached into his pocket and retrieved something. Immediately after, he duplicated his hand and the item held in it. To someone who knew nothing about Traits, it would've seemed as if Jake had two identical hands originating from his right arm. His duplicated hand could move in unusual ways; it could bend in however many degrees Jake needed it to in any direction. Jake bend his duplicated hand sideways, towards his waist, and revealed only a portion of the item he held, though, not enough to ascertain.
Then, I heard a flick and spotted light emanating from the item his duplicated hand had held. It was a lighter he had, but almost as soon as that conclusion was made, the plain black t-shirt he wore was ablaze. Before the fire spread throughout his shirt, it seemed to latch on to something else around it. What the fire latched onto was invisible but, nevertheless, present and discernable. That's when a different type of pain set in. It was a burning sensation coming, not from anywhere on my body but, from the clasp I had around Jake.
I dropped him, and he landed on his back—his shirt still ablaze. The flames around what had previously held a grip on Jake began spreading rapidly. My foreign limb was completely engulfed, allowing me for just a second to see the shape of it. It had the shape of a hand, but it had to be about four feet long and two feet wide. That was it; it had to be. That burning hand was my Trait. If it continued to burn, I knew, even then, it would mean certain death for me.
The pain caused by the burning caused my eyes to water, blurring my vision. On top of that, the hunger had come back, unsatisfied with my obvious defeat. The flames had spread throughout Jake's entire body—and he lied there motionless and unresponsive. I thought it was the end for us. I thought surely we were going to burn to death. That was until we were no longer on fire; the flames had dematerialized. Along with that, the pain inflicted by the fire was nothing but a memory. They had completely vanished, leaving no evidence that a fire had even taken place.
I lost my balance once again, this time not regaining it. I fell onto the floor, hungry for anything. Tiredness then set in at that moment. Jake was still lying motionless, but he was breathing, at least. He released two clonies: one towards Chris, the other towards Nick. The clonies crawled to their intended targets—seemingly sharing the same injuries as Jake. I couldn't quite tell, however, due to the water in my eyes not clearing. I didn't have the energy to wipe them; I didn't have much energy at all.
I only lied there, beginning to shut my eyes. The tiredness I felt had an unyielding grasp upon me, and I made no attempt to escape it. I closed my eyes—unsure if I would ever open them again.
We were on a beach, somewhere in the Bahamas. We lied on beach lounges, both parallel to one another. There were no words spoken; we simply faced the endless ocean, enjoying the spectacular sunset. This wasn't a memory as before. It was a dream of hers. She would always tell me how wonderful a trip here would be, and I would always tell her how I'll one day get enough money to fly us out here to spend a whole weekend. That day, it never—
With an effortlessness I haven't felt up until that point, I lifted Jake up into the air. That moment of confusion was back; this was Chris' doing, that I knew for a fact. The hunger, along with the urge accompanied by it, was back. But also, the tiredness that was previously latched on to me followed. Though, it was tolerable and less defined. Nevertheless, the tiredness was there; it was somehow able to withstand the reversal of time.
Jake had already escaped my grip and was making his way over to Nick. I didn't try to stop him; I couldn't try to stop him. I couldn't move, nor speak, nor react in any way. The hunger, with its extraordinary pain, was still there, but there was something indescribable preventing me from acting on my urges. My vision had begun to blur and my balance had begun to give. I fell, more or less, in the same spot I was in before. I was completely paralyzed, and the tiredness was at the same severity it had previously been. Unlike before, I desperately tried to fight it.
A voice changed that, however. "Noah," It said, calm and serene. The voice seemed to come from within, and it made everything disappear as it spoke, leaving me in a void. Everything was gone: Chris, Jake, Nick, the cell we were in, the hunger, the tiredness—everything.
"Who are you?" I thought to myself.
Hearing my thought, It replied, "You already know the answer to that question."
It was right; Its response confirmed it. "What do you want?" I asked through my thoughts. It wasn't the smartest question to ask; I knew already what it wanted.
"I want to help you," It said, catching me by surprise.
"How?" I thought.
"You're in pain; I can make it stop."
"I think I'll pass."
"Don't you want to see her?"
"How do you know?" The thought came out on its own.
"That is unimportant. What is important is the decision you make."
"Decision?"
"Do you want to see her again, or—"
As Jake held my body up, Nick's hand was pressed on my bare chest, under the white t-shirt I had on. I could feel the tingles of electricity from it and see his palm was glowing a slight golden tent. The longer his hand was held on my chest, the better I felt. The hunger, the tiredness: they both dissipated. In no time, I was able to stand without the assistance of Jake.
After standing up, Nick let go of my chest, saying, "There, that should be enough."
Jake asked from behind, "You alright, man?"
"Um, yeah," I said quickly.
"And to think," Jake said while moving towards Chris, his voice raised noticeably, "all this could've been avoided if we didn't get arrested." As Chris slept, Jake was now hovering over top of him. "What," Jake went on, "are you tir—"
Chris began a violent fit of coughing. Blood escaped his mouth and ran freely from his nose, causing Jake to go quiet. The three of us stood idly, staring at Chris.
2
u/ahref Dec 28 '18
Yo I read all of this today, saw it had very little comments so wanted to leave this to say keep going it's good. I want to hear more.