though.”
Apparently Nightmare’s mom was the breaking point. He hit me with his next hallucination instantly.
Snakes again.
***
I wasn’t human anymore. I didn’t fear death.
I had endured every sick death ever conceived by man or nature. I was caught in a mudslide, eaten by a lion, got run over by a crappy purple Scion . . .
Okay, okay, those are the lyrics to a Train song. But the first two really did happen. I was sure the Scion would be only a matter of time.
It had been hours since my last hallucination. Maybe longer. I couldn’t tell. Nightmare would leave more frequently now. Sometimes he would come back with food or water. Most of the time he would come back with just his ugly face. But he didn’t speak anymore. Not a word. He would just hit me with hallucination after hallucination.
Tapping into the structure of my skull, I would concentrate on the density. Not increasing it or decreasing it. Just concentrating. Applying mental pressure. Hoping that—someway, somehow—the substance of my skull would magically transform.
And then I would get sucked into a tornado. Or hit by an apocalyptic meteor. Or . . .
Snakes.
Apparently Nightmare thought he had a sense of humor. Despite the darkness, I could tell that the floor was squirming and wriggling like before. I could feel them rubbing against my ankles. This time, however, there was something bigger lurking in the writhing masses. I could see its elongated body, thicker than mine, shimmering in the shadows. It slithered closer. Though its head was invisible to me in the shadows, two yellow eyes were locked onto me, weaving back and forth as it closed the distance.
My throat felt tight. My mouth was dry.
It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.
A bulky head the size of a watermelon reared back, preparing to strike.
I felt an itch in my skull—like something was crawling inside it.
My vision flashed and distorted like a bad television signal. The monstrous snake suddenly became very jerky and awkward. Some of the snakes started slithering backwards.
My world folded inside out.
The hallucination collapsed. The snakes were gone, replaced by Nightmare and a glaring interrogation light.
I did it. I didn’t know how, but I did it. I shut out the hallucination.
Something was wrong.
I knew simply from the look on Nightmare’s face. He was smiling. Except with an ugly face like that, it was more like the devious look a chimpanzee had before he flung his own poo at some poor, unsuspecting tourist.
“I see you’ve found the answer,” said Nightmare.
“The answer?” I said. His smile was seriously unnerving me. “What answer?”
Nightmare’s image spazzed out. I say “image” because he looked less like a real person now and more like a hologram. Just like the hallucination I had just freed myself from, his every movement was twitching and his image was warping.
“All that we see or seem . . .” said Nightmare.
The walls around me seemed to be closing in. The room was imploding. My reality began to erode before my eyes, peeling like old paint.
“. . . is but a dream within a dream.”
I blinked. When I opened my eyes, my entire world had changed.
I was lying in bed, staring at an off-white ceiling. I lowered my gaze only slightly to find that this was connected to off-white walls, accompanied by equally boring curtains. A machine to my left emitted a gentle electronic chirp that synchronized to my heart rate.
I was in a hospital.
CHAPTER 14
Absolutely no time had passed between my interrogation with Nightmare and the hospital. I had simply blinked and I was here. Was this another one of his hallucinations? If so, this had to be the most elaborate and subtle buildup for a death yet. Whatever the case, my head was throbbing again and the ticking sound had returned, reverberating inside my brain.
Tick tooock tooock tick . . . tooock tooock . . . tick . . .
I groaned as I sat upright, only now noticing the IV in my arm
Apparently Nightmare’s mom was the breaking point. He hit me with his next hallucination instantly.
Snakes again.
***
I wasn’t human anymore. I didn’t fear death.
I had endured every sick death ever conceived by man or nature. I was caught in a mudslide, eaten by a lion, got run over by a crappy purple Scion . . .
Okay, okay, those are the lyrics to a Train song. But the first two really did happen. I was sure the Scion would be only a matter of time.
It had been hours since my last hallucination. Maybe longer. I couldn’t tell. Nightmare would leave more frequently now. Sometimes he would come back with food or water. Most of the time he would come back with just his ugly face. But he didn’t speak anymore. Not a word. He would just hit me with hallucination after hallucination.
Tapping into the structure of my skull, I would concentrate on the density. Not increasing it or decreasing it. Just concentrating. Applying mental pressure. Hoping that—someway, somehow—the substance of my skull would magically transform.
And then I would get sucked into a tornado. Or hit by an apocalyptic meteor. Or . . .
Snakes.
Apparently Nightmare thought he had a sense of humor. Despite the darkness, I could tell that the floor was squirming and wriggling like before. I could feel them rubbing against my ankles. This time, however, there was something bigger lurking in the writhing masses. I could see its elongated body, thicker than mine, shimmering in the shadows. It slithered closer. Though its head was invisible to me in the shadows, two yellow eyes were locked onto me, weaving back and forth as it closed the distance.
My throat felt tight. My mouth was dry.
It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.
A bulky head the size of a watermelon reared back, preparing to strike.
I felt an itch in my skull—like something was crawling inside it.
My vision flashed and distorted like a bad television signal. The monstrous snake suddenly became very jerky and awkward. Some of the snakes started slithering backwards.
My world folded inside out.
The hallucination collapsed. The snakes were gone, replaced by Nightmare and a glaring interrogation light.
I did it. I didn’t know how, but I did it. I shut out the hallucination.
Something was wrong.
I knew simply from the look on Nightmare’s face. He was smiling. Except with an ugly face like that, it was more like the devious look a chimpanzee had before he flung his own poo at some poor, unsuspecting tourist.
“I see you’ve found the answer,” said Nightmare.
“The answer?” I said. His smile was seriously unnerving me. “What answer?”
Nightmare’s image spazzed out. I say “image” because he looked less like a real person now and more like a hologram. Just like the hallucination I had just freed myself from, his every movement was twitching and his image was warping.
“All that we see or seem . . .” said Nightmare.
The walls around me seemed to be closing in. The room was imploding. My reality began to erode before my eyes, peeling like old paint.
“. . . is but a dream within a dream.”
I blinked. When I opened my eyes, my entire world had changed.
I was lying in bed, staring at an off-white ceiling. I lowered my gaze only slightly to find that this was connected to off-white walls, accompanied by equally boring curtains. A machine to my left emitted a gentle electronic chirp that synchronized to my heart rate.
I was in a hospital.
CHAPTER 14
Absolutely no time had passed between my interrogation with Nightmare and the hospital. I had simply blinked and I was here. Was this another one of his hallucinations? If so, this had to be the most elaborate and subtle buildup for a death yet. Whatever the case, my head was throbbing again and the ticking sound had returned, reverberating inside my brain.
Tick tooock tooock tick . . . tooock tooock . . . tick . . .
I groaned as I sat upright, only now noticing the IV in my arm
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