Time passed for them like leaves in the wind, and the caretaker, gone in mind, was no exception. In fact, she was especially tormented by the circumstances she was estranged in. Darkness never did exist without light though, and August did struggle closer to his humanity with each passing day. Thus, even though he was becoming ‘more’ through his dives, she would glimpse the person that died in that dark and lonely place.

“Hey… hey!” She’d almost topple form atop the chair, a voice in her ear as she awoke.

“What!—...” She spun in the chair, coming face to face with the very person she was thinking about.

It wasn’t what she expected though. He could not see her face then, but knowing through his future enlightenment, behind that stark white slate was a beet red face. She sought outrage, but the words never came.

“Too… close…” Her only words, and even she could barely hear them.

“What?” He searched for her eyes on the slate, though he’d never find them.

“Too close…!” She’d take hold of his face, pushing him away.

August fell, and sitting on the ground, he looked at her with a smile hiding gnashing teeth as she finally saw it.

“Oh… sorry…?” She smiled too, though he couldn’t see it.

“I think I’ll return it…” August would leave the woman to her own devices.

“Why though? I don’t remember asking for it…” Her back did ache a little, she didn’t make it obvious, or she thought so at least.

“I was given two options, either you sleep with me… Aghh…!” He’d shiver where he stood. “Or, another bed for you… because ‘you can’t let a young lady sleep on the floor’… or whatever they said… so I chose this option.”

“What was that…? Do I… disgust you…?” Her heart would skip.

“I mean… yes.” He’d look at her as he responded.

Her chest sank, but that was only because she felt unappreciated after taking care of him, surely, that was the only reason. She would not let the narrative go unchallenged though.

“…W—…” She wasn’t quite ready to speak. “Why…?” She’d take a deep breath. “What’s so disgusting about me?” She’d sit up in the chair, crossing her legs.

“Well, number one—”

“There’s a list…!”

August would maintain silence for a few moments.

“Yes…? You asked…?” August himself began to feel uneasy. “But that’s not important, so let’s just forget it.”

He attempted to leave the room, to flee.

“No! Tell me just how disgusting I am. ‘August.’” She’d rest her elbow atop the desk, and her chin atop her hand.

“Are you su—”

“Get on with it!”

“Fine…! So… privacy… you don’t give me any of that… ever… you’re annoying, you admitted as much… you’re always, just there, face hidden, quietly… watching me… and uhhh… you snore… a lot.” August had long prepared himself for a chair to come flying his way.

“I sleep on the floor… of course I’d snore… and for everything else…? That disgusts you… really…?” Her heart would calm as her mind took up the burden, finding contradictions.

“You have a bed now, so we’ll see… and uhh… it’s not pleasant having you look at me naked all the time… quietly… and brazenly…”

“It’s my job…! Your physical condition is my responsibility! You get that right?” She stood, walking towards him.

“Yeah… but, you could just… ask… when necessary…” August would bask away as she approached.

She stopped at the sound of his words.

“Fair point… but I could reciprocate the gesture if—”

“No…! No, I’m fine.”

“Am I not attractive enough for you?” She began her approach yet again.

“Why would you ask that…? And what is this conversation…?! ‘Disgust’ might have not been the right word, okay? Just let it go…!”

The woman stopped a distance away from him, and as for what she wore, a full white body suit, it was made of nanobots. Thus, when she commanded them to fall, they did, revealing her nakedness.

“Oh come on!” August would cover his eyes.

“Look… it’s only fair, right?” She began approaching again.

“I’m good! I already said this…” August would notice footsteps. “Don’t tell me…”

“I’m not asking…”

He’d wait for her to close the distance before dashing around her. She would take it as a challenge, and so the chase began.

They’d jump over the beds and even roll under them as one sought capture and the other escape. The caretaker was agile still, and eventually she caught him by the shirt, which he’d shed.

She wouldn’t lose such an opportunity though, and she’d sweep his legs in his distraction. She’d sit on top of him, pinning his hands to the floor, she had won, in many ways. She smiled, the thrill of the chase exciting, but soon she smirked at the realization.

“I thought I wasn’t attractive enough for you…? I thought I was disgusting…?” She leaned in as she spoke.

“I never said that… now get off me…” He complained, but he never resisted.

“Make me…”

“This is assault…” August retreated to the law.

“If you don’t consent… so do you…?” She’d command her mask to fade, and so it began to do so.

As for August, he didn’t say another word, and he wouldn’t have to. The sound of his door opening startled the woman, but he wasn’t so timid.

He’d slip his hands out of hers, and raising himself, he held her with one hand, switching their positions, hiding her nakedness. As for who had arrived, good friends of his, Kim and Brody. They’d come to a halt at the door though, seeing the two in a loving embrace, both almost nude.

“Bad timing…? We could come back later…?” Brody, as he began his retreat, pulling a petrified Kim with one hand, and carrying a box in the other.

August looked at the woman, and she soon shook her head, no.

“It’s fine, come in…”

As he set her down, a silver substance would surround her, reinstating her clothes.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“They told us we were only allowed one visit, so we brought a whole bunch of food… so you had options, and so you could taste outside while you’re all cooped up.” Brody would place the box atop one of the beds, or try to.

“The other one… that’s not mine… the other one…” He pointed to the bed in the corner.

“Oh, sorry!” Brody looked to the woman.

She didn’t respond though, she just went back to the desk and chair, taking a book to read.

“Don’t worry about her… so what did you bring…” August was curious.

“Everything! But not the one thing you might want…” Kim rediscovered her voice as she smiled.

“Stop…” August would bury his face in his hands, yet another emotion remerging as he turned red.

“I’m only joking…!” Kim approached him. “Unless…” She whispered, nudging him with her elbow.

“I hate you…” August would eventually remove is hands, though he never made eye contact.

The time would pass nonetheless, and August was needed in that place once again.

He had been restrained, his recovery convincing nobody of his ability just then. Yet, they still dosed that certain substance into his veins. His body would retaliate still, in temperature, and even in wandering eyes as he entered those still waters once again.

Then as if clockwork, he’d be dragged back down into the depths of true humanity. Thus, his first dive would prove itself as he shed desire to go deeper. Thus, he’d face another pillar of his humanity he’d have to topple.

As such, the void would reflect that which was meant to be forgotten. August found himself in a valley of flowers, a forest of flowers, the cliff faces dotted with colorful portraits and abstractions of reality, reflecting humanity itself.

That was only the beginning of it all, as towering above all else were sculptures of marble, grand and intricate. They stood in solidarity, the statues of man, surrounding the small world he found himself in, each of their hands locked by their elbows. He’d feel the warmth of accomplishment start to revive his cold body, for a while.

He’d look to sky for more, but as he admired the reds, yellows and oranges that flowed through the thing like an aurora, it began.

It was subtle at first, the dampening of the colors. Though, he soon saw the world be corrupted by an unrelenting gray that sought out and consumed all that wasn’t itself. Thus, the flowers’ hue was lost to the wind, and their fragrance dissolved into nothing.

The abstractions and recreations would wither and fall from the faces of the cliffs, and not long after, the monuments followed. It was a crack at first, a singular nick in the impeccably smooth surfaces, then it became more.

A fracture would shoot through the things, the sound of a great avalanche following the crumbling monoliths, roars of regret. Thus, he’d be forced to watch it all destroyed. As for the warmth he felt inside, it would be snuffed out by the winds the giants caused in their collapse.

He’d be forced to close his eyes, even as he existed, and opening them next, he was stood in the graveyard of beauty. His own face etched into one of the things, collapsed before him.

He’d stay there for a while, and whether, it was his doing, or that of outside forces, he didn’t know, though, he never sought know. He’d roam the ruins of himself, and in that place he saw fragments of paintings he himself had created.

He’d take a hold of it, but as he caressed it, it turned to dust in his hands. He’d carry on still, no luck, that was until he found his favorite sculpture, the one he had of himself. It would stay together, and as he found some place to sit amongst the rubble, he reminisced on the thing.

The joy his eyes reflected and the freedom he remembered while making it, the pride he attained from it, the praise. Then, as that warmth clung to him once again, borrowing through those thoughts, the thing began to crumble in his hands.

He’d seek to protect it that time, but as he squeezed the thing close, trying to shield it from the world, it shattered in his grasp, dust, nothing. Thus, that warmth would truly die.

He’d eventually be pulled back to the human world, and though he was the sole tenant of his body, he noticed something then.

It would have to wait still, as he was in pain. He could feel a laceration form his neck all the way down to his stomach. It was almost like he was being cut open to reveal something else, he was brought back before the thing was reveled though.

He’d be attended to quickly as he was bleeding out, it was so bad he didn’t even get to see the treatment because he had fainted.

A distant August would awake from his slumber some time later, his eyes wandering around his room. He noticed it again, and though he blinked, it remained the same. His eyes would eventually land on the caretaker, she was sleeping beside him, basically on top of him, and she was naked.

He attempted to get up, but that’s when he felt a weight on his chest, his sister. He’d lay back down, and he was slowly beginning to become uneasy, he didn’t like being in the stranger’s bed, especially since she was naked, and he understood that’s exactly why it was happening. He wasn’t thinking before then, but seeing the woman so comfortable, and even sleeping, while he was in her bed, and she was naked, worried him.

She’d wake up soon enough, her sleep tied to his. She didn’t act with any urgency either, and though her face was hidden, he knew she had seen him awake. As such, seeing her attempting to go back to sleep was actually inciting a fragment of annoyance. August forgot about May again, but as he tried to get up. again, she almost woke up, and he was forced to lay down, again.

“That’s right… just let it happen…” The woman was having fun.

“Why would you say that…?” August lost most his anger in his concern. “Please tell me that you’re doing this on purpose…? Please…?”

The woman let a few minutes pass as August awaited an answer.

“I am… you seem fine now…” She’d leave the bed, dressing herself. She’d stop in the middle of it, looking at August, her heart in a slump. “You really can’t get up this time…” Her voice, even as she tried to project, would shake, if even a little.

“I understand…” He’d cooperate that time. “… Am I naked…?” The man actually couldn’t tell.

“…Yes…” The woman avoided looking at him.

“So. Why the hell is May here…?” His anger was beginning to return with yellow and red hues.

“Well… because we knew it would piss you off. She knows too, that’s why she wasn’t under the covers. It’s basically like having clothes on anyway… when you really think about it…” The woman was great at her job.

“You’re doing this on purpose aren’t you…?” The veins on August’s face were getting bigger by the second.

“Yeah… but I won’t go too far, I don’t want you to reopen your wound.” The words she said made no sense.

“What… wound…? Didn’t you fix me…?” August tilted his head, and sure enough the pain was there.

“Guess…” The woman was still going.

“To piss me off…?” If that was the reason, it was working tremendously as August was almost taking deep breaths.

“No… the type of damage you sustained can’t simply be ‘fixed’… the powers we are tampering with… are beyond our technology… that’s the reason. I’d never put your life in danger to piss you off… I…” The woman let her words dissolve in her thoughts.

“Well that’s just great. Can you move her…?” August was still fixated on his sister.

The woman would finally cave to his request and move the girl to her brother’s bed. It was then that August would finally begin to calm down, and it was also then that the woman crawled back into the bed to piss him off. She was careful of his injury though, knowing that, it made him a little less mad. His parents would finally arrive to check up on him, and the fact that they didn’t get the woman off him also pissed him off.

“How are you doing…?” His mother spoke with a blinding smile.

“How do you think I’m doing mother… get her off me…!” August was regretting is decision, but it wasn’t because of the reason anyone had predicted.

“Why…? She’s fine…” His mother shewed his complaint.

“If not to help me… why are you here…?” August forced a smile with gnashing teeth.

“Well…” Roman answered, barely capable of looking his son in the eyes. “Are you okay… no one has ever gone beyond the first dive… what did it take from you…?” The man’s voice almost split down the middle.

“I—… it took col—… it took my inspiration; it took my creativity. So not that bad considering I didn’t have much to begin with… am I right? Ahahaha…” August still had his sense of humor, he didn’t even expect to find what he had said amusing, and that made it all the better when he actually smiled.

“As long you’re okay with it… haha…” Even his father, it really had come out of nowhere.

“We’re sorry…” Even as they were all laughing, his mother apologized.

“I know… but not sorry enough seeing as she’s still on top of me…” August’s smile was genuine, that made it creepier, the way he looked at them with widened eyes.

“Well, as long as you’re okay… hahahaha…” His parents would laugh their way out.

“Pfffft…” The sound came from his bed, May, she was on the verge of tears holding back her laugh. “I’m… pffff… I’m sorry… hahahaha... haaaa…” The girl was trying to stop herself, but it wasn’t working.

“Pff…” That one came from right beside him. “Sor—… pff… so—… ahahahaha…” Even the caretaker.

“It wasn’t that funny…” August would almost begin to regret the joke, but with those emotions, blue returned bearing gifts of green and greetings of black and white.

August would sink into his own dark thoughts, rejecting the slither of joy he felt. It was a contradiction of his own desires still, as he experienced a longing for it all to be undone, for normalcy.

He could feel it, or rather, he couldn’t, himself, his thoughts, his wants, his own voice. He could tell, the next voyage into that place wouldn’t just blind his eyes, it would probably blot out his heart, and that made his heart sink with its own premonition.

He sought to slaughter it, his happiness, not because it was defiled, but because it cleansed him. It took it all away, all he had become in that darkness, and he couldn’t have that, or that’s what he told himself.

He felt full, almost as if he was ready to burst, as he knew he’d never have that ever again, and so he tried to undermine it. It would have been one thing if he had convinced everyone else, but he knew he could never convince himself.

Even as he looked at his shelves, he felt nothing for all the weapons he had so painstakingly reconstructed. The frustration of it all, the satisfaction of completion, he didn’t want it anymore.

The paintings were bland, even his favorites, and his sculptures were uninspired, especially the one of himself.

That feeling, or more accurately, the lack of all that there should have been, finally forced his honesty, and a tear would escape his glossy eyes.