CHAPTER 5

I'm sitting back in the darkness. My muscles feel weak, much weaker than I had originally woken up. I am breathing heavy as I stand up—I have to brace myself against the wall. Suddenly, it feels so much colder. I have to push myself off because it feels cold to the touch, but then I realize...it's not the wall that's cold. My arms feel frozen—I'm shivering from head to toe. Where the hell am I? That very much is still unknown.

I walk slowly with my arms outstretched like some sort of zombie. My hands are feeling a mixture of numb and on fire. Like the outside layer is burning while everything inside my flesh was just...silent. Thoughts of all kinds and colors swim through my mind...wait...no, they're more like hovering. Flying? Spinning.

My hands go to my head and my entire brain feels like it is encased in a glass case and floating among colorful fish. My right hand grasped the monitor as I slid my finger across it looking for the button that had turned it on last time. I find it at the bottom right corner of the monitor and I see the whole thing light up green like before.

"Well hello again, Mr. Daniels! It is quite a pleasure to hear from you. I was quite worried you weren't going to make it," Micah says.

"What wouldn't I make it from? All I've done since you last talked to me was sit in here and do nothing!"

"I wouldn't call what you've been doing nothing, Gavin. I'd call it quite intriguing if anything, seeing the past as clearly as you do."

"Wait...how do you know...?" I ask.

"I know quite a bit about your situation. Your dementia and all of your other nasty physical afflictions. You don't have to worry about those anymore, though, so I guess you can thank me for that."

"Thank you? How would that even be possible?"

Now thinking on it...

"Yes, during your transport here your cancerous mind has shed all those nasty bits. It's taken some time for your mind to catch up, of course so you may feel some temporary side effects."

I could almost sense the sardonic grin on the other side of the screen. I gripped the side of the tablet with an iron grip. "What do you mean by that? What do I still have?"

"That will be answered, but not right now. You will be the one to tell me that, Gavin."

"What? How the fuck will I be able to do that if I don't know what it is?"

"You're going to look back into the past for your answer."

"Look into…" I was flabbergasted. I had barely begun to process the fact that these...visions were real to my own mind—much less to have them be confirmed by this fucking asshole on the other end of the call.

"Your visions. You have not questioned their origin?"

"Their origin? You mean my dementia plus whatever Leto did to me?"

I can hear Micah laugh on the other side of the monitor, "No, no. Well, I mean it is true your LBD did help the severity of your condition, and my fair assistant helped you unlock that ability, it was within you for a long time. A gift waiting to be delivered."

"How the hell do you know so much about me?"

"Well, that's simple, Gavin. I'm your father."

"Wh-What?!"

"Hahaha! You should see the look in your face! God I wish I had a mirror, but sadly you'll have to try and make do with the screen there. God that was hilarious. Imagine, right? Dad come back to life to...well, I guess I don't want to give away everything right away."

This guy is a real piece of work.

"Gavin, you have to trust that the order in which things are playing out are for your convenience. I wish for you to understand everything you need to, but to give it all away in the second act is just much too much for you to handle."

"Why don't you let me decide what the hell I can handle or not," I grumble, feeling a slight headache coming on—but I can tell it is nothing like the consistent pain I've had for….well, for longer than I can remember.

"All right, you take the reins!" he laughs. "I'm going to go grab some lunch. You go at whatever rate you feel is good for you and I'll be back when you've had your epiphany or whatever."

"That's not what I meant, asshole!" I slam my fist against the side of the tablet. It stings and I shake my hand in frustration.

"Now now, if you behave maybe I'll toss you a burrito?"

"I hate Mexican food," I say.

"I know."

The screen turns off. I'm left in the darkness and I slide back down to the floor. How does he know me? He said he's somebody from my past, is it possible I forgot him like I did Megan? Maybe he's that kid with the black hair who dumped his wad of gum into Megan's hair. I wouldn't put it past him to grow into such an asshole later on in life. But then again his voice sounded a bit older than someone my age. And what of even how to see these visions? Surely they're not all connected? The very first time was when Megan touched my forehead. After that was when Grace, Tom, and I were falling out of the ship. The third time was when Megan gouged her eye out. Even though I didn't have a vision, walking off of the Republic Plaza gave me that same sort of feeling as I fell. And then the last time was when I woke up here.

What is similar about each time? Well, two of them was when Megan touched me, but like it didn't happen when Tom held me back or anything when I woke up the last time. The only thing I can come up with is fear.

Each time something scared me, more than a normal amount, my body reacted and threw me into that vision. Even waking up here and not knowing if I was even alive or dead was enough to send my mind looking. Okay, but how do I trigger that now?

I guess I have to scare myself, if that is even possible. I close my eyes and think deep down. I feel really stupid that I have to show you what I'm afraid of, but I feel a weird sense of fondness towards you, you've been here so long.

Even if I don't realistically feel like you're here anymore, I still have the habit of speaking to you as if you were here, I guess my one true friend through all this. Heh, that's funny. My closest friend and I don't even know you're name, or anything about you really. In some sick and twisted sense, I guess that's what I've been afraid of all along, being alone. Not having anybody to acknowledge my own existence. I know I seem like such an asshole to everybody, but it's just really hard to be happy when your own parents desert you.