A giddy laugh swam through both ear canals to register in my mind. I thought I even caught the sound of hands clapping.
You have no idea how much that means to me, Keith said as another flash of white energy filled the air.
I managed to shield my eyes from the effect, even though I couldn’t even block it out with closed eyelids. Keith snickered at this.
When my eyes next opened, I found myself sitting upright on Keith’s living room sofa once again. How he moved us from one location to the next without so much as a wink was beyond me. I tried to stand up, but my legs refused to support me.
“Not so fast, Tyler. We have some unfinished business, you and I.”
He approached me from the kitchen, a shot glass in hand. I could smell the alcohol on him from where I sat a few feet away. He brought the glass over to me and set it down on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
“This is for you. It’s your favorite. Whiskey,” he said with a wide grin. “Go on. Drink it. It’s good for you.”
“You know what, Keith?” I asked, my hostility towards him stronger than ever.
“No, does he know me?”
Ignoring his pathetic try at levity, I pointed at the shot glass.
“I don’t drink whiskey.” I had almost said alcohol, but just remembered that one time in my junior year of college when Tony and I had gone too far with the liquor at a fraternity party. At least I’d never had whiskey, and I wasn’t about to start now.
“Nonsense. This is your favorite drink, Tyler.” He picked it back up off the coaster he’d set it on, holding the glass to my lips a moment later. “Don’t make me pour this down your throat.”
Seeing no way out, I took the glass from him and downed a gulp. Not even seconds later, my esophagus burned from the beverage’s intensity. Tears welled up in my eyes and I choked a little bit.
“Great stuff,” I rasped with sarcasm.
“You’re such a kidder, Ty. I mean, seriously. You’ve been drinking this stuff since you were eighteen,” he said, a sparkle in his eyes.
“Oh.” If I didn’t have doubts about Valerie Jonson’s parenting skills before, I certainly did now. Had she taught the real Tyler anything about responsibility at all?
Keith marched towards me and grabbed me by the hair, hurling the back of my head further into the sofa cushion.
“I love you, you fool,” he said in a voice lacking any warmth whatsoever. “And you can’t even be bothered to thank me for pouring you a glass of whiskey? Just how rude can you be, Tyler?”
I tried not to wince as he held onto my hair with that steely grip.
“If you don’t like me, then maybe you ought to just let me go,” I said.
At this, his fist cracked my nose. My head tilted backward, the sofa preventing my escape.
“You never appreciate anything I do for you, Tyler. Not a single damn thing.”
I tried to answer him, but I just about choked on a tooth at that moment. He snatched me by the collar, forcing me to stand, and hurled me into a Tiffany lamp, causing both me and the lamp to crash against the floor. The lightbulb inside the lamp shattered, its shards narrowly missing me.
“You have cost me everything and given me nothing. What am I supposed to do about that?”
He never gave me a chance to answer. He kicked me in the gut, in the side, even in the eye. So much pain ebbed from my head down to my toe. I couldn’t have stopped him at all.
“Kill me, then,” I said. “Just murder me and be done with it.”
He sneered at me. “Oh, I am killing you. You just don’t know it yet, but your body really can’t take much more from me. I only wish I could have hurt you even more.”
“Go fuck yourself, Keith,” I muttered as I passed out once more.
CHAPTER 16
COMA
Unknown Time
Unknown Location
For a time, only darkness comforted me. I longed to call out to someone for help. No words bounded from my lips. A single memory of me sitting in my dorm room dominated every ounce of gray matter beneath my skull. I wanted to return to my studies and pass my exams without hassle.
Instead, I remained still, my eyes refusing to open. So much calm all around me. It made me want to seek out other signs of human life. If only my brain could convince my legs to stand up.
Where was Keith? Why wasn’t he terrorizing me today? Did he really have other things to contend with, or had he finally grown bored of harassing me?
At one point, I thought I heard a faint beep, followed by another. An EKG alert?
After some time, a pinhole of light appeared in the void. I tried to push myself towards that thin speck. The light expanded gradually, as though someone was opening a door for me. I rushed toward it as fast as I could, only to find myself at gravity’s mercy. The light seemed to sense my need to get to it, as it extended towards me, the energy growing brighter. I stopped a few meters short of the light touching me. It lunged forth, but it seemed unable to reach me. Why?
Yes, that’s it, you fool. Go into the damn light and let me have my way with you yet again, Keith’s voice boomed inside my mind, his absence over.
I tried to ask him to shut up, but again I couldn’t push out enough vocal energy to assist the words.
Pathetic Tyler. You can’t forbid me to speak any more than I can demand you love me. But we’re forever bonded, Tyler, even if you refuse to ever see it. Our hearts are forever entwined.
I longed to tell him off. Nothing I said would’ve made much of a difference in his mind.
I examined the light that seemed intent on hovering just beyond my grasp. Did it need for me to make the conscious choice to go with it before it grazed my soul?
If you’d only open your mind, you may learn what this is all about. The constant shifting of your locations, the non-stop pain flowing through your body. I am far beyond your worst nightmare.
I barely made a single syllable of defiance against him. I wasn’t even sure the thought registered in my mind at all.
Apparently, you can’t see the forest for the trees. I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re this clueless. I mean, do you even know what I truly am yet?
I looked around, watching that wave of light energy flexing as though it was a bodybuilder showing off. Not a single breath of protest passed through my mouth or nose.
If you had ever truly known me, you could have stopped me. I’ve spread my evil throughout you, and still you don’t see the truth. You never put up any fight at all, Austin.
The instant he said my real name, I froze. Something about the way he said it filled my heart with horror, for reasons I couldn’t yet fathom. Why had he picked now of all times to utter my true name?
I thought it might be fun to play with you for as long as I could get away with it.
If I still had control of my hands, I would have given him a one-finger salute. A roar carried throughout the space of wherever I was, the fury in Keith’s voice striking at my heart.
Do not mock me, fool. You’re only alive right now because I haven’t made my final strike against you.
The light before me exploded, followed by a return to absolute darkness. I waited for Keith to make his next move.
“He’s not going to make it, is he?” I heard Tony asking someone.
Someone else spoke. I couldn’t make out their words clearly.
“How did this even happen?” the mom who raised me asked.
A weird buzzing drowned out someone’s words, maybe a doctor’s. Whatever the case, I had to get their attention. If I could only see past the darkness and get their attention.
“Hey, I’m right here! Can you guys hear me?”
Nothing. I held my head down, eyes taking in the sight of my worn-out shoes, the laces falling apart as if made of the flimsiest material. Then I noticed that the threads of my pants were starting to unravel as well. My clothes melted into nothingness, and I couldn’t do anything about it. It didn’t stop at my garments, either. C
racks formed on the top and sides of my foot and my epidermal layer peeled away. Oddly I felt no pain from this. What did it mean?
“I’m going to get out of here, Keith,” I said as my flesh evaporated, leaving only my skeleton. “What do you want from me? Money? Sex? A relationship?”
I already have what I want from you. You can be quiet now.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
You mean to tell me you don’t know how to shut up? No wonder you’ve given me such a headache. I can thank the devil himself that this is will be all over soon, and then I can move on to my next victim.
“Next victim?” I raised my voice over a passing, howling wind that seemed to have come from out of nowhere in this empty space. “You think I’m going to let you do to someone else what you’ve done to me?”
A cackle ripped through the air.
You just don’t get it. I’ve infected scores of people across many ages. You’re sorely misguided if you think you can ever stop me.
“I will stop you. I don’t know how you’ve managed to thwart me at every turn, but it’s not over yet.”
You’re too gravely ill to stop me now. Should have gotten a medical examination a few months back. Your body is shutting down and it’s too late for you to do anything about it.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, the rage in my voice growing.
You never knew I was within you until just now. You let yourself get sicker and sicker and never once questioned it. You should have gone to the doctor. Maybe someone could have caught it then. Now we’ll never know.
“I’m going to complete my senior year of college, Keith. Know that.”
Or you could die tomorrow. Ever thought of that?
Honestly, no I hadn’t. Until this whole mess with Keith, I had always assumed I had a long, healthy life ahead of me.
“You’re lying.”
It’s true. You’re dying. I’ve done everything I can to weaken you, and you never even noticed. Your blood is tainted, killing you slowly. Or it would have killed you slowly if you hadn’t pushed your studying to the extreme. Either way, soon your body will be dead biological matter, and I shall lick the deadened flesh clean off your bones.
“So long as I draw even an ounce of breath, you haven’t won, Keith.”
Did you even hear what I said a moment ago? You’re dying, and there’s nothing you or anyone else can ever do about it.
“You’re lying,” I told him. “You’re trying to trick me because I wouldn’t make out with you.”
Believe whatever you will.
What was he trying to pull now? Suddenly it seemed all the malice had oozed out of his words, that he had somehow taken a solemn approach to tormenting me. Well, I wasn’t going to let him get away with this.
I will greatly treasure your death, Austin Teph.
His voice sounded slightly further away, as if he intended to leave me behind in this void for good.
“At least I’ll take you down with me when I go,” I said, hearing a cough from somewhere nearby. It almost felt like it had come from my body.
I’ve already moved on to my next victims. Many of them never figure out what I am until it’s too late, just like you. But, unlike them, you made it a lot more fun for me by letting your mind create this nightmare shifting between worlds. I guess the stress of studying made your mind wander farther away than most.
“Who’s to say that you don’t die when I do?”
I highly doubt that. I’m good for the health care biz.
“Whatever.”
Believe what you want. I’m not the one who’s got a nasty brain hemorrhage going on. It won’t be long before you’re gone, Austin. Can’t you feel yourself slipping away?
“I can’t really feel much of anything, actually,” I said, which was the truth.
You won’t have long to miss it. You’re at death’s door.
“If you say so.”
You won’t ever have to live a life full of disappointment ever again.
“Shut up already,” I told him.
You’re dead. Just let go, and you’ll never have anything to fear ever again. Embrace the dark, dance with the light. Are you ready for your final breath?
I refused to accept this. How had this happened? Even my very thoughts seemed sluggish. What was wrong with me?
Isn’t it obvious by now? You’re sick. You have been sick for a long time, because of me. I made you sick, made your bone marrow betray you. I call myself Keith because your mind, in its dying days, needed someone to blame, an easy scapegoat. It tried to fight back, but that fight truly came too late. Your mind may have crafted an imaginary shift, but all the pain you felt was quite real. And I caused it all.
For you see, my dear, naïve Austin, my real name is Leukemia. You’re slipping away, little by little. I can feel your last sliver of resistance. It’s all right. You’re going to a better place. You’ll be reunited with your birth mother, if it helps. Goodbye, loser.
I didn’t hear anything else after that. I thought of Tony and the mom who raised me, wondering if they knew I was dying. I wanted to say goodbye to them, feel their arms around me one last time. God, how I’d miss them.
I closed my eyes, and hoped that, somehow, I would wake up again.
THE END
Jeff Beesler is the author of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror stories. When he isn’t busy writing, he’s usually listening to music and playing computer games.
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Books by Jeff Beesler:
Mages of Trava
A Mage among Trolls (#0)
Spell of Entrapment (#1)
Fire in the Forest (#2)
Interstellar Dad
Interstellar Dad (#1)
The Battle at Stellar Daycare (#2)
Mass Reproduction (#3)
Horrors of Helensview
Speed Demons (#1)
Dead-End Demons (#2)
Stand Alone Titles
Optical Osmosis
Life Flashes
Life Flashes Page 11
