2 Tupac Shakur

Looking petrified, his legs failed to move. He was about to turn when he felt a hand grab his neck from behind. "Aargh!", Jeremy screamed, turning sharply.

"Calm down, bruh", Greg said and tapped his back, lightly. "I knew you would come back"

"Are you sweating? Damn! you're such a coward", Lisa commented, laughing at Jeremy, who still wore a frightened face.

Jeremy looked at the spot where the black man had fallen down. The ground was clean. There was no dead body or broken tea cup. "He was right there", he said, quickly, breathing heavily. "Tupac Shakur. A man shot him in the head!"

"Uhn? Me?", a new voice said. The same black man he had seen was somewhere in the kitchen.

"Tupac Shakur?", Jeremy asked, doubting what he saw. "Tupac Shakur, the rapper?"

"See that?", Tupac asked, rhetorically. "Someone already knows me before introduction. Imagine these folks claim they've never heard of Tupac Shakur"

"What? Are they sick?", Jeremy replied, smiling widely. "I had posters of Tupac Shakur, all over my momma's womb. I was christened with a Tupac Shakur song. I'm your biggest fan"

"It's a pity you can't have my autograph, now. We are all dead so it's useless", Tupac replied, sipping from his cup. "Welcome to Somnolence".

"Wait! I'm not dead. I have to get out of here", Jeremy said, frowning. He hated the sound of that, though it seemed so true since he had just met an obviously dead person. "Am I?"

"That is the only reason you are here. In Somnolence, everyone you see is dead", Tupac replied. "We are grateful to be here, though. It's either here or hell, I believe"

"Wrong", the professor's voice objected. "Somnolence is not for the dead. The only reason we are here is because Garullon keeps us here". Sitting on his fake wheelchair, he wheeled himself out of the dark.

"Who's Garullon?", Jeremy asked. The names were getting too much for him to keep in his head.

"Sit down, Jeremy", Prof Adkins replied. "If you want to get out of here, we have no time to waste".

"What are you talking about?", Patmos asked. He might have a pot belly but he also has a big brain. While the question probably seemed unnecessary, at the moment, the question was the right thing. The others stared at one another. None of them had an idea of what Prof Adkins was going to say.

"Yes, Prof. We've been together for an excessively long time. How come you didn't say anything about how to leave here?", Big momma asked.

"I'm sorry. I really hope I'm not brewing something wrong here?", Jeremy asked.

"Oh! You are, boy", Lisa replied him. "In fact, Greg might throw a knife, soon, and, trust me, he never misses his target".

Jeremy chuckled. "Pfft! Bullshit. How did he die, then?"

Greg flung a knife. It flew right between Jeremy's left arm and his waist.

"See? He missed!", Jeremy laughed.

"Turn", Lisa told him and Jeremy turned. The knife had hit the door handle, digging deep into the handle's bottom, like it would uproot. "You still think he missed or should he make your neck the next target?"

"I am Tyler. Never missed a throw. Never defeated.... till I died, though", Greg said. "My killers fucked me up, real good."

"How'd they kill you?", Jeremy asked.

"Don't rush the lessons. Somnolence will tell you it's stories, very soon".

Prof Adkins had kept his mouth shut since Patmos' question. There was an answer to why he didn't say anything about leaving Somnolence and why Jeremy was the right person to tell it to. He was probably hiding something. He wheeled himself back into the darkness. Big Momma and Patmos Baker followed him.

"Is he going in? We're not leaving, anymore?", Jeremy asked. He hesitated to go after the three of them, wondering what he'd meet in there. "What's going to happen, now?".

"Join me", Tupac offered him a cup of coffee.

"I'm allowed to dine with ghosts?!", Jeremy exclaimed, smiling widely again.

Billy sat on a couch, pressing a small phone, while Lisa hit him with a soft pillow, trying to get his attention.

"It's pretty complicated", Tupac replied. "I've been here for years, now, and I still-"

"-25 years", Jeremy interrupted. "You died, 25 years ago"

"Wow! you're a real fan of me", Tupac said. "I still don't have complete ideas of how this place works. Prof Adkins happens to be the most intelligent among us and he knows more. I'm just surprised he didn't mention anything about leaving this place. I had assumed it was impossible and we were already living life"

"Living life? You enjoy this place? 'cause I don't think the others do"

"The only person who might have a problem with this place is Prof Adkins. He's the only one who sits alone, moody all the time, like he's got the weight of the world on lean shoulders", Tupac replied. "You know, I almost believed B I G was responsible for me here?"

"I almost thought so when I heard the story but he died, one year later"

"You serious?"

"Yea, Notorious B.I.G. He was shot, or something", Jeremy said. "Just like yours, no one could tell what or who was behind it... That didn't convince me of his innocence, though".

"Well, even if he or someone else was proved to have done it, Garullon is the reason I'm here; the reason we're all here... except you, I guess."

"How do you mean?"

Tupac turned to his side and faced him. "I'll tell you what I know or think I know. I believe Prof Adkins will tell you more"

"Ok. Go on"

"According to what Prof Adkins told me, Garullon is a demon. Somehow, sometimes ago when Garullon had become matured enough to make his own decisions, he went rogue and began to devour souls, indiscriminately. While Prof Adkins was the first victim, Garullon had impulsively trapped him in Somnolence. Apparently, Somnolence is something like his bowel or that place where food goes in the stomach, while Prof Adkins was undigested. Garullon's next victims were disposed in hell, after a few days in Somnolence. However, he also trapped me here with Prof Adkins. Prof Adkins told me Garullon had intentionally kept me here with him. Here, I mean this house. We can't leave here."

"That's a silly joke. I walked in and out, already. I even saw Billy outside"

"No. That wasn't Billy. That's Somnolence giving you a show", Tupac replied. "You are the only one free to walk in and out, I believe. That's why I said Garullon might not be the reason you're here. Something else might have happened... The crazy thing is, before the others joined us in here, we never met or had physical contacts with any other person put in Somnolence. We only looked through the windows and we know when there's a visitor. We know they would soon drop in hell. That's after they meet with Garullon. Then, he would recreate their death and make them know he already ate their souls. That's what Prof Adkins told me... That's what he did to me and everyone, I believe."

"When did the others join the house?", Jeremy asked. There were a lot of questions in his head and he desperately controlled his mouth from streaming them out at once.

"Maybe a year, now. I've not been a fan of time, lately", Tupac replied. "People ceased to come into Somnolence, for a while. Prof Adkins explained that he had been captured and thrown in hell. Many years later, someone with a selfish ambition had opened the gate of hell, leading to the escape of Garullon. Somnolence got weak when Garullon began his struggle to escape and Prof Adkins broke through the door, only to drop back in here, one year later. That was when new souls started pouring in. Then, these ones joined us and we became one big family..."

"Why would he keep more people here when he can just devour us all? I mean, when he can just devour you all", Jeremy's second question came in.

"I asked the professor and he told me keeping trapped souls in Somnolence keeps him strong... we can also serve as snacks to him, though, when he is hungry. The trap is more like a curse, making us remain here, no matter what happens. While eating our souls again is like regurgitation, our souls are recycled in this house, again and again."

"If that's it, why can't he just keep everyone trapped? He'll remain strong and he'll have countless food to eat again and again."

"If he keeps too many people in Somnolence, he'll be too heavy. Instead of getting stronger, he'll only get weaker", Tupac replied.

"One more question. You were shot in the head and there's proof of that. The question is how does he eat so many souls without suspicion?"

"When the professor explains these things, it seems weird but then, it all makes so much sense. Garullon is a low tier reality manipulator"

"-uhn?"

"You're not a comic book person, are you? Reality manipulators are creatures with the ability to manipulate things that already exist to a level that helps them achieve their goals. Let me explain; Whoever planned my murder probably just hated me, while Garullon increased the abhorrence to a murderous one. Whoever the planner sent probably needed some money, maybe to cure a sick mother, while Garullon increased the messenger's desperation by worsening his mother's health condition."

"This was what happened or you're just explaining with an assumption?"

"I'm assuming. He's considered low tier because these are the average things he can do with his reality manipulating ability. An high tier reality manipulator can be gods among men, according to the professor.... he has other frightening abilities, though"

"That's probably how I got here", Jeremy muttered to himself, deep in his thoughts. He visited the wrong bar, took the wrong drink. It was probably on overly hyped emotions. He found the strange gigolo, without having to search, and he had blamed that on his drunkenness... but drunkenness doesn't just give you supreme knowledge. Then, he killed two people with a toy gun. Whoever Garullon was, he was clever enough to play on the fact that Jeremy didn't know if the gun was real or not. Jeremy returned to himself. "One last question, please. How does Prof Adkins know all of these?"

"He never talks about himself", Tupac replied. He saw the point in Jeremy's question and he had no answer to it. "Besides, he is the first to get here. No one can be sure".

Tupac thought of everything and every explanation that Prof Adkins had been giving him from the start. That knowledge was impossible. There was surety in everything he said, like he knew it. He knew it all.

"What makes you enjoy this place?", Jeremy asked, trying to get Tupac to stop thinking about his previous question.

"Everything. Hanging out with these ones is super amazing... We can have virtually anything we want. Did I forget to tell you? ghosts can be low tier reality manipulators"

"Really? How's that?"

"It's different from Garullon's ability which is quite advanced than ours, yet still low. We can create a copy of any real thing we can think of. That's how Prof Adkins made his wheelchair. That's how we prepare our meals"

"Prof Adkins can walk?"

"Yea. The wheelchair only makes him feel like Clifford DeVoe",Tupac laughed for a few seconds and shut up, when he realized Jeremy wasn't laughing. "You don't know him"

"Yea, I don't... How does it work for you?"

"The first time I tried creating a sausage roll, I pulled a cassava from the air", they both laughed. "It was crazy and useless. These ones learned it in no time. Billy and Lisa can't do it, though".

Jeremy sighed. Gregory had his face hidden behind newspapers. Becca had slept. Lisa and Billy were still chatting and playing around.

Tupac yawned. "Go to bed, bro."

★

Tupac had pulled a bed out of the walls. That was an example of the reality manipulation Tupac was talking about. Jeremy's eyes were too heavy to be wowed. Like the bed had some sleep enhancer installed in it, he felt so comfortable, sleeping off, almost immediately.

"Fuck! What's it?!", he shouted, throwing himself up from the bed. Some strange noise had woken him up. It had sounded like someone was calling him but the voices were mixed. He looked beside him. Tupac had stood up, already. It was probably daybreak, already. He couldn't be sure since the sky color was as static as a portrait. "Who called me?"

"Hello?", he walked around the house, wondering where the noise had come from. There was no one around. His eyes were still heavy. He walked back to the room where he had slept. Boom! Tragedy struck. The bed had disappeared. "Aargh!", he screamed and started punching the ground. "Fuck Somnolence".

"Show some respect. That's my lunch", a voice said. Jeremy turned around, wondering where it came from.

"Hello?", he had walked around the house and there was no one in. That was scary enough. "Who's there?!"

"I hate introductions", the eerie voice replied.

"Garullon?"

The building shook violently like the roof would collapse on him. The cements shed from the walls as the cracks spread slowly. The door flung open and a human figure with only a wide mouth it's face walked in. It had no eyes or nose; just a wide mouth with countless scattered fangs. "Your soul is mine"

"Wait! Please, let me stay here- here in Somnolence, please. I'd do anything", Jeremy begged. He could only be dead to be in Somnolence so there was no point begging for his life. It was either hell or Somnolence.

Garullon seized his neck and began to laugh, hysterically. Jeremy felt his head vibrating. He could see a thousand faces of Garullon, laughing around him and drooling on his face. "You think my stomach is a camping ground for ghosts? You can't be in Somnolence. I have chosen your soul. You have taken a life, already. Hell is your home"

"I didn't kill my wife! I didn't kill anyone!"

"Really?", Garullon asked. His squeezed face told Jeremy he was smiling. "Then, who did?..... Who did, Jeremy? Who killed his own wife because of his impotence"

Jeremy stared, widely, in horror. What was Garullon saying? Garullon wasn't denying the part he played in the phenomenal murders; he was saying what the world would think of Jeremy. It sinked into Jeremy's head, too quickly.

"You can remain in Somnolence, only on a condition"

"I'll do anything", Jeremy replied, confidently.

"Someone has to take your place in hell… You have to choose who it is … and it has to be from the house."