Chapter 29

Jonathan's eyes slowly opened, finding himself perched on a bench next to him; on his left was an unconscious Nia; to his right, one empty space away, was Jace, limp and unconscious. Jonathan stands with ease; he sees the room filled with benches as if it is time for church; all the benches are filled and stuffed with every single town person, from babies to the elder:

"What the fuck.."

Jonathan grabs Nia by her shoulders and gives her a slight shake, "Nia, Nia, wake up.Nia!" he shakes her a bit harder, but she doesn't wake up. Jonathan goes over and grabs Jace and starts shaking him:

"Jace, Jace!" he shakes him more, "Jace, wake up!' he raises his hand with some force he slaps Jace. Jace jumps up:

"Who?!" he looks at Jonathan," What was that for?"

"Well, this"he motions to the area behind them.

Jace turns his head, seeing the sight of everyone sitting in church in a state of unconsciousness, "What is he planning?"

Jonathan checks his body, "I don't know, and my gun is missing, "He goes to the nearest window and sees it's unlocked, but it wouldn't budge:

"I'm gonna check the back doors; you check the front." Jonathan heads to the back. Where he discovers Johan's body is missing all there was, was a bloody dragging line that leads to the back door. He was around the blood and checked the door; it was still unlocked, but the door still wouldn't budge. He kicks the door and goes back to the main room:

"Jace !" Jace was about to walk into the room, "The front doors are unlocked but jammed there jammed as well."

"Same for the back and Johan's body missing."

"what!'

Jace peers inside, seeing the blood trail; he holds back his tears; he goes over to Jonathan, who examines the main room, "What do we do?"

"I don't know; perhaps we wait for Aizen." Jonathan sits down; he notices Cecil and Malachi are missing; he stands, "How did I not notice? Where are my boys?"

"I don't know, but the office door was also jammed; I heard no one inside. I'm sure they ok, perhaps Aizen fetching them.." One of the main doors opens, walks in Johan carrying an unconscious Malachi; the door closes behind him as he slowly approaches Jace and Jonathan. His throat had a fresh scare, his eyes white; he gently set Malachi down on the empty spot to the right between Malachi and Jace if they were sitting. Jace approaches Johan with caution:

"Johan? What did he do to you?" he gently touches Johan's face.

Johan's eyes roll back into place; he begins coughing until a huge puddle of both blood and clots shoots from his mouth onto the floor. He clears his throat, looking at both Jonathan and Jace, "So your wake, I'm not surprised." Johan cracked his neck.

Jace steps back, mouth slightly gapped, "Johan?"

Jonathan grabs Johan, "No! Aizen" he slams him against the wall lifting him off the ground by his shift, "Where's Cecil? Where is my other son? What are you planning?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not Aizen; he is not here at the moment; he had something to do. Cecil is unharmed. How about you set me down, and we can talk."

"Bullshit, I'm tired of these games! I'm tired of all this death and of you screwing with us, Aizen."Jonathan pushes himself more up against Johan's body, crushing it against the wall.

"I'm not Aizen," Johan replies in a soft tone.

"Bullshit! Stop fucking around." The main door opens, and Cecil comes running in; the door automatically closes behind him. Jonathan turns around seeing Cecil running towards them; Jonathan drops Johan and goes over to his son, hugging him and kissing his head, "oh, thank god your ok." he holds Cecil close. Johan stood dusting himself off the scare on his next had completely disappeared:

"I told you Cecil was unharmed. So are you gonna believe that I'm not Aizen?"

Cecil looks at his hand with a bit of fright and concern in his eyes," What's going on? Why is everyone asleep?"

Jonathan looks at Cecil, "I don't know, but you're going to be ok." he assures Cecil. Jace looks at Johan, shocked:

"Johan.." he finds himself speechless; Johan looks at Jace, " You weren't supposed to see me like this, nor were you supposed to wake. But I suppose it is the curse grasping for its last hope of survival." he sighs pulling out chair sitting. He takes off his jacket barefoot in blood clothes, only the grey turtle neck and tanned pants; Johan looks at them.:

"We can talk like civilized human beings or well duke this out until you're tired or realize it is completely useless."

Jonathan looks at Jace, then has Cecil sit down on the bench before sitting himself; Jace stares at Johan for a while as his eyes water some more. Johan looks at him; he reaches into his pocket and tosses Jace a handkerchief. Jace catches it and naturally sits down on the bench wiping his eyes:

"I'm sorry, Jace; I didn't mean to hurt you like this. As I said before, no one was supposed to experience this; you were all supposed to be asleep, dreaming of your new but similar lives."

Jace finishes wiping his eyes; Jonathan's eyes dart about the room in search of Aizen. Jace looks at Johan, "Dreaming of our new but similar lives?"

"Yes, you and everyone else were gonna die peacefully in your sleep. Dreaming of a world that's exactly like this but with a few differences that you wouldn't notice because the memory of this life would be completely removed." Johan looks at Jonathan, "He not here stopping looking for him. It's best if you don't find him."

"Like hell he a murderous bastard; I want the cowardice sick twisted fuck here!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes!' Jonathan says with insistence. Johan looks at him disappointedly and sighs:

"If that's what you wish. I warned you, Elis come here."Cecil silently stands, his head hung low, Jonathan's eyes locked onto Johannot noticing Cecil; Jace does his mouth gaps again as he stares shocked:

"Impossible," he whispered to himself. Cecil keeps his head hung.

"Elis come here; you heard the detective; no more hiding." Jonathan looks about confused, "Who are you talking to.." He sees Cecil approaching Johan silently, his head still hung. Jonathan stares intensely:

"Elis come here; you heard the detective; no more hiding." Jonathan looks about confused, "Who are you talking to.." He sees Cecil approaching Johan silently, his head still hung. Jonathan stares, shocked:

"No..."Jonathan shakes his head with a quiver in his voice, "This is some time of sick joke?!" he screams.

Johan pats Cecil's head, "I'm afraid not" he looks at Cecil, "Elis, it's time to show him Aizen's form. I promise you don't have to stay in it long. I know it will hurt just one last time, ok?"

Johan kindly looked into Cecil's eyes, which started to water. Cecil closes his eyes and takes a few steps away from Johan, keeping his distance from everyone else. His bones began to snap and break as his body contorted and stretched; he groaned and sobs as his body grew and changed. Jonathan watches, covering his mouth, overwhelmed with an assortment of emotions. Cecil's deformed body dropped to the ground as he threshes about on the floor. When he stood, it was Aizen who stood, a young adult who stood at his abnormal body stood the height of 7 feet 9 inches, his face and body nothing but uncanny. Aizen grins:

"Hello, detective, I'm here! Are you happy now?"Aizen cocks his head to an uncomfortable angle, "Are you satisfied? Are you pleased?" he gives Jonathan an unhinged smile, and it fades, "You just had to see me, didn't you?" he was about to step forward:

"Aizen!Stay!" Johan ordered; Aizen turned to him:

"I hate that name! I hate it! Why I can't be called Elis, that's my name!"

Johan looks at him blankly, "You're a bad boy; you don't deserve it, and you may excuse yourself; I like to see Elis."

Aizen starts at him, "Fuck you!" he growls angrily, stomping off into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry about that; as you can tell, he has issues," Johan gazed at both Jonathan and Jace again.

Jonathan looks at Johan, "Where is Cecil, the real one! Where is my son Cecil?!"

"You don't get it do you.." The sound of clashing and things being broken and smashed against the wall could be heard in the other room. Johan turned towards the direction of the noise:

" So you going to throw a tantrum? Cut it out and get Elis. I'm not dealing with you right now, Aizen."

"FINE!" as he throws one more item against the wall.

"Children," he groans, turning his attention back to Jace and Jonathan.

"Children?" Jace says, confused, "He's an adult, isn't he?'

Johan looks at Jace, "Oh no, Aizen is only twelve, he looks like a young adult, but he is the only one who looks to be in his twenties out of the both of them."'

Jace looks at him even more, confused; Jonathan grips his head, "The both of them? Twleve?" Jonathan stands, "You..this is..nonsense !" he shakes his head, "Where's my son?!"

Johan sighs, "He doesn't exist, Mr. Engelram; Cecil doesn't exist, not in this world." Jonathan's eyes drift to a frightened twelve-year-old boy with long hazel brown hair, one eye green like emerald and the other blue as the sky. Who was shyly trying to keep himself hidden.