Joshua was surrounded by darkness. Terrible and pure darkness. Only the occasional flutter of thought and the constant pressure of stone against his skin kept him aware of his existence.
It was horrible.
But even worse was the lack of knowing how long he’d been down here. In the darkness, in the void devoid of sound and sensation, it was like the seconds stretched out into hours and the hours into years. Joshua understood, now better than ever, how horrifying the dark could be.
And that pressure. That constant feeling of pressure and stone.
He’d tried to shift, to move his weight ever since he’d come to, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t even budge. The only thing that changed was the sense of pressure and the feeling of stone on bare skin.
He wanted to get out of here. He wanted to see his daughter, to talk to her, tell her how much he’d miss her instead of just pretending he didn’t mind she was going to college. But he couldn’t. He was stuck here, in the darkness. It was so empty, so lifeless and cold with only his thoughts alone. He felt as though he was going to die. He needed to talk with someone. Anyone.
He’d never so desperately wanted anything more in his life. Never yearned for something the way he’d yearned for this. For sight, sound, sensation. Anything. It was destroying him, with every second that he remained here. Obliterating his mind.
His last tether of hope was the face of his daughter, of hoping that he’d see her again. But with every moment that went by, he lost more of it. He was barely running only on its fumes now.
And the more he lost hope, the more the desperation grew. Pushing him, urging him to move despite the impossibility of it. Despite how badly he was trapped. But he tried anyway. He tried to move again, but only succeeded in violently shifting the pressure of the stone against his skin. He tried to push the feeling away, to push past it, but it only succeeded in making it worse. The sensation changed, becoming almost painful.
No. I need to see! I need to move!
Suddenly, he felt something within him change. As if his body remembered itself through pure desperation, he started to change. The pressure of the stone grew in certain places before shifting, and finally he remembered what it felt like to open his eyes.
The movement was slow, painful. The pressure of stone on his skin grated against his eyes until he finally opened them. And even when he did, everything was wrong. His vision was discoloured, black and white, barely tinged with colours. The lack of sound, and any sense of balance or a concrete sense of self didn’t help either.
He remained still for a moment, confused as he watched the blur of shapes and light move around him, struggling to understand or even comprehend what was going on.
Then he as he struggled fruitlessly to move, the sensation growing again, his surroundings shifted. The mass beneath him, the stone warped. As it moved, as he pushed harder, trying to pull himself from the wreck, he felt his sense of self grow stronger.
The colours returned to his vision, the sounds and sensations of life finally coming back to him. He began to breathe again, feel the cold morning air as his face broke out into a sweat, the skin of his hands once again touching stone.
A great relief washed over him and the urgency to pull himself from the wreck, to return to the light, disappeared. He took a moment to rest against the rock beneath him, his legs still trapped as he breathed heavily. But then he paused.
Something felt off. Wrong.
The urgency suddenly returned. A claustrophobia that stained his mind. Desperately, with a groaning effort, he tried to pull himself from the rock again. But the object beneath him, what he’d first thought to be stone shifted violently, almost in tandem with his desperation. He looked down as his eyes widened in horror and let loose an inhuman scream.
The scream echoed through the wreck of the construction site, unheard by any this early in morning. But it reverberated through the concrete and stone of the entire worksite, even shaking the foundations of the structure he sat in. The building trembled violently as he cried out, then his voice began to escape him, the terror of it all too much.
And as Joshua’s scream stopped, the tremors began to die down. Joshua stared at the stone, his screams replaced by slow horrified breaths. He held his hands firmly against the brick beneath him. No. Not beneath him. He was the brick. He was the wall.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
The realisation, the understanding of it was as alien as anything Joshua had ever understood. As he realised it, it only took a moment, for the urgency to return.
He tried to cry out, to pull himself out of the stone, but only succeeded in shifting the weight of the stone against his skin, contorting the mess of rubble and rock connected to him beneath the waist. The stone and brick warped in a terrifying mess, some of the rubble even travelling further up, seeping seamlessly into his body as it strangely combined with his torso.
The horrible feeling grew, that pressure of stone against his skin. Tears flooded his face as he slumped against himself, stone and all. His cries reverberating through the stone of the entire structure.
“What’s happening?” he mumbled. “What’s the hell’s happening to me?!”
----------------------------------------
I yawned, strolling through the streets of Manhattan in the early hours of the morning. The sun lit the sky nicely, creating a backdrop of pale blue that faded into the last lingering remnants of the night’s navy.
It’s rays stretched out, illuminating some streets with warmth that hinted at the heat to come, but like always the towering buildings left spots of cooler shade. I liked the atmosphere, the lighting too, snapping a quick picture with my phone of a street split by light almost perfectly down the middle.
As I crossed the road I glanced around. It was mostly quiet, Saturday mornings not all that eventful. Well, relatively at least. On my way over I’d seen at least two couples arguing and heard a third through a wind two stories up. Maybe it was me being hyper aware of my surroundings again, or maybe they all just came out to argue at times like this. Who knew?
I yawned again, the relatively peaceful atmosphere still not having woken me up.
With a lazy gesture, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, then stretched my arms out and sighed. I felt like I should’ve been at least a little nervous meeting the others, but Peter had practically drilled it into my head by now that they’d be friendly. Hopefully that wasn’t just his cheer shining through.
My steps slowed as I yawned again, covering my mouth this time. I pulled out my phone and glanced at the time. 06:21. Crap, I was already late.
I picked up the pace slightly, then frowned to myself. It was a bit strange that we were meeting so early in the morning though? Maybe they were going to give me the whole rundown, or gameplan for all our superhero stuff. Lord knows I needed it.
Still, I probably should’ve eaten before I left. Or brought my wallet. I didn’t want to seem like a freeloader my first time meeting these guys. They were practically this city’s Vanguard. I really didn’t want to seem lame.
I crossed the road again, and began walking alongside Central Park, looking for the meet-up spot.
I slowed as I reached, frowning. No one was here. Pete had said this was the place. I glanced around, before spotting a guy with a familiar head of brown hair standing next to a smaller slightly darker brunette. Pete and probably Jess. I made my way over, picking up the pace as I neared. Peter turned to me, and he grinned.
“Hey Lucas” Pete said, waving. I waved back, smiling. The girl he was with turned towards me, her eyes widening.
“Hi, I’m Lucas” I said, offering a hand. She simply stared at me wide eyed.
“Jess, not going to introduce yourself?”
“Oh, sorry, right. I’m Jess. I just- he’s so much older now. He’s even taller than you” Jess said looking between me and Peter.
“Wait, you recognise me from before?”
“Well, she’s a clone too, so she’s got shared memories with me” Peter said.
“I… uh ok” I said, nodding. We all stood awkwardly in silence for a moment, glancing around at the entrance to the park. “So, where’s the other guy?”
“He’s running a bit late” Pete said.
“I offered to walk with him, but no” Jess said, sighing. “I knew this would happen”
Suddenly my spider sense buzzed and I whipped my head around, freezing as I spotted a south-Asian kid rush into the park before spotting us and slow down to a jog. I watched him for a few moments, heart hammering in my chest as flashes of unwanted memories shot through my brain. Then he stopped in front of me, hands on his knees as he took in a few breaths.
“Ha, sorry I’m late everyone” he said, grinning awkwardly. “I overslept”
“I told you we should’ve walked it together” Jess said.
“I know, I know” he said, sheepish, before turning to look at me.
“H-hi. I’m Lucas” I said, ignoring the soft and steady buzz.
“I’m Yu” he said with a genuine smile. “Wow. You’re really exactly like the other guy”
“Yep”
“You sound younger than him though. I thought he was twenty something. How old even are you?”
“Eighteen. Just graduated.”
“Woah. Uh… congratulations”
“Yeah, congrats man” Peter said.
“Congrats” Jess said. “You going to college?”
“Yep. ESU, for biology. I was thinking about doing Physics, but that was more my gir- my friend’s thing. Too hard for me”
“Seriously? Isn’t ESU super amazing?” Yu said.
“Well, he did go to a prep school” Jess said.
“Oh yeah, you said that”
“We better start focusing in school or our grades won’t be good enough. We already skip enough, but you’ve been missing out on too many assignments” Jess said.
“Wait, how old are you guys?” I asked.
“Fifteen” they said in unison.
“Oh” I said. “And you both gotten bitten, well, Yu got his powers… six months ago?”
“About, yeah”
“And Jess is one of the Alchemax clones?”
“Uh... yeah. It’s a long story” Jess said, her face falling slightly.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to-”
“No, no. It’s fine” she said. “Anyway, let’s get to the interesting stuff”
“Interesting stuff?”
“Yeah, we’ve got a ton of stuff to explain and show to you. It’s going to be awe-”
Suddenly their phones all beeped. They all pulled them out, looking over their screens as their faces grew serious.
“W-what’s wrong?” I said.
“There’s been an accident at a construction site not far from here” he said. “They think workers are trapped”
“Ok, let’s go” Yu said.
“Wait, is… are you joining us?” Jess asked, looking to me.
“Well, I’m part of the team, aren’t I?” I said. Peter grinned.
“Come on guys” he said. “Let’s go rescue some construction workers”