I flung my head up awake. I’m sitting at a desk inside a classroom.
“My homeroom? Why?!.” I can see all my classmates sitting, and listening to the teacher at the front of the class giving a lecture. I was at the very back.
Why am I at school? The better question is why doesn't it look the way it usually does?
My classroom that was once filled with colored marble floors, brown walls, and decorations of various math related things, was now nothing more but pure glistening white. Even the desks. “I think i can almost see my reflection-”
“I’m sorry, but does there seem to be a problem Mr.Young?” My teacher said sharply while glaring at me with a cold expression. If looks could kill, I would surely be dead right now.
“N-no Mrs.Watson…,” I said, lowering my head in embarrassment.
“Pathetic.” A voice rang sharply coming from the other side of the class.
Shortly after that comment , every student around me in the class began to laugh.
“W-what, who said that?!” I demanded loudly. But it was drowned out by the laughter. It sounded so mechanical and fake. Like a joke that wasn’t even that funny yet you laugh anyway.
I pleaded with them to stop but the laughing persisted. In a rush I tried to stand up to run but upon doing so my shirt got caught on one of the corners on the desk, tugging me back hard, making me hit it and fall to the ground. It hurt.
I let out an intense moan of pain. But while I wailed in pain, the room that was filled with laughter and snickering had grown silent. I looked up to see everyone eyes wide, staring at me, like taking a peek into my very soul.
This silence feels terrible… horrifying. Their eyes turned black as night and their mouths started to enlarge and widen into a devilish yet comical looking smile. The laughter that came out was now more disgusting, twisted and evil sounding. It felt like my ears were going to burst.
Not wanting to hear them a second more, I got up and ran. I ran out of the classroom and into the hallway. But when I got out into the hallway, I stopped dead in my tracks at the site of what I was seeing.
Large numbers of people on each side of the hallway. Some of my friends, everyday students that I would see walking in the halls, teachers, and even the security guards. Why are they all here?!
Just like what had happened in the classroom. Their mouths widened and enlarged as their eyes blackened and they started to laugh at me. “STOP IT, S-STOP! I DID NOTHING TO ANY OF YOU!” I broke down on the ground. “P-please stop…”
“If you want it stop Mr.Louis you could always just kill yourself again.” One of the teachers said to me, holding back their devilish laugh.
“Yeah Louis! You seem to be really good at that!”
“Kill yourself Louis!”
“Oh Mr.Young, your life is so Frivolous!”
“Wah wah, pathetic little Louie crying on the floor!”
More and more people started to join in mocking me and telling me I should off myself. But what made it scarier was that it didn’t sound like mockery. More like… encouragement. None of this makes sense.
“You’re a walking disaster, Louis. A living, breathing, disaster.”
“....What? …None of this makes sense…” I said with tears starting to feel my eyes.
“Nothing, Louis? What have we been teaching you at this school then!” Another teacher shouted loudly causing the others to laugh even louder in unison.
I tried to get up but I slipped on a white foamy substance that appeared on the ground suddenly, “What is this?!” I kept trying to stand up but each attempt was met with the same outcome. I slipped and slipped. Each time I did I felt their laughter even more. The sound pierced my very being. I feel like clawing at my ears and ripping them off.
I pleaded with them more and more to leave me alone. But they didn’t care. I’m the center of attention. They think I'm a joke.
Suddenly one of the other teacher’s walks up to me. “Hey to whoever finds this… and well finds me as well. I just want you all-”
“STOP IT! YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!” I lunged at the teacher.
Soon as my hands made contact, the once lively and living teacher dissolved and turned into the white foam that covered the ground.
I looked around me as everyone, one by one started to dissolve and turn into foam. Yet the laughter persisted, this time as one singular voice.
“Stop it! This isn’t real! I’m dead… I get it now okay! I was a fool to believe I had another chance! My one chance at life… I threw it a fucking away! Erase my soul! Plunge me into eternal darkness! I deserve punishment… I know I do…”
None of my pleas were heard. I feel burnt out. A boy yelling at nothing. A pathetic, wasteful human who holds no value to existence whatsoever anymore, or ever for that matter.
I just want it to end. I cave. I don’t know what’s left for me and honestly I could care less.
The white foam of the dissolved teachers and students started to fill the room like a wave of water. It’s at the level of my waist, and is starting to rise higher, and higher by the second.
Death awaits me.
I’ve made a joke out of myself.
…I’m a fool.
Pathetic.
“YOU ALL DON’T HAVE TO SAY WHAT I ALREADY KNOW!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, overshadowing the sound of laughter, “I’m tired… I died to escape all this… this is just me delaying the inevitable…”
There’s nothing left for me here…, nothing but darkness, and regret. This hatred for myself I feel wallowing up inside my body. The feeling I so desperately wanted to escape, has now once again invaded my mind.
The white foam started to envelope my body. Drowning me.
I reached out through the foam, but I knew there was no escaping this.
I’m suffocating in a grave that I've built for myself. This foam is my tomb… my reckoning. Why would a god judge me when he can just send me a flood of my sins.
There’s nothing left for me. I’m done, gone. No longer a person that walks these halls. I am now, nothing.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
If this is where damnation leads me… then… let it be so.
Giving up, and surrendering myself to the inevitable, a hand reached out, pulling me up to the surface above the foam.
Before me stood a being I've never witnessed before, it was like they came straight from a vintage photo, but… it appeared to be… me?
My black frizzy hair, those bright honey colored brown eyes… even my big lips?! Its body matched mine down to the very precise measurements. The hair on my arms started to stand up as my body screamed at me. This guy is me. Why? Is this really me? It can’t be! I’m me!
“A-are you me?” As the words slipped out of my mouth, the vintage looking being that resembled me didn’t say anything back. Instead it pulled me in, giving me a hug.
“You will go through much more than you are now. But always remember. To love me, us, yourself. Be you Louis, the best you.”
“...What if I can’t? …What if I just do it again…? I’ll just disappoint them all…”
“Is that what you want? Ponder that.”
The unknown version of himself began dissolving in his arms.
“Wait…! Don’t go! …Please!”
“Go? You’re funny.” The being began laughing at me, only this time, it felt different. Comforting. “I’m not going anywhere. We’re one in the same, Me.”
“Me…”
………………………………….
My vision is blurry and I can feel myself slipping between consciousness and unconsciousness. Am I being carried? And what are those… What are those things chasing us!?
I lift my head only to be greeted by what seemed to be twisted, and deformed creatures with skin as dark as coal. They were wearing something close to resembling security guard uniforms. When they ran, they used one of their deformed and grossly shaped arms to glide them further, while their fat, stubby, and gross legs slid across the floor, causing nasty scraping sounds to be heard from them while they ran.
They’re fast! They were chasing us through a white hallway. Wait this hallway… windows, the floor pattern. I’m still… I’m still in my school?!
Before I could continue scoping out the scenery even more, my attention was quickly turned back to the more pressing matter at hand. What are these things?! Just the sight of them made my skin crawl. Those things shouldn’t exist. They look like demons! What do they want with us?! What did we do?!
When I made eye contact with one, it grinned at me with such malice that it was almost like it’s been waiting its entire life for a chance to catch me. These things without a shadow of a doubt have every intention of killing us!
Next thing I know one of the guards grabbed a piece of the concrete wall, and chucked it flying straight at my face like a baseball.
A hit like that would surely equate to death.
What should I do?! What could I do?!
“Ahh… AHHHHHHHHH-”
……….
………………..
“-EUGH-... what… what happened?” I said waking up distressed, and confused.
My head hurts. “Damn…,” The piece of wall that hideous monster threw at me must’ve knocked me upside my head. Hard.
I started to grab my head, when I touched it, it felt strange. My head had a big, soft balled up bandage of cloth, to keep the blood leakage at bay, while another bandage of white cloth was wrapped around my head tightly, putting pressure on my head. I can feel some wet spots on it, that must be some of my blood. It seems a little might still be leaking out, this bandage is mostly more red from my blood than white. But now looking around, I can see that I'm in some sort of room. Another classroom of some sort.
Just across the room from me I can see four individuals who looked to be arguing amongst themselves.
“You’re insane you know that! High off of your ass while our lives are at risk right now!” A boy screamed.
No way… no way in a million years.
“I-it it it ain’t mahhhh fwault!” Another boy said, hunched up against a wall, slurring over his words. “I-! Mrhmmmm justalittleundertheweatherziongetoffmybackprettyplease.” He said, jumping up at him immediately. He began to laugh hysterically.
“JESUS ROBBIE!” The boy flinched away in fear.
That’s Eli! Oh… and my good friend Robbie. He’s… Is that why he didn’t show up to his track competition? Because he got fucking high?! It was regionals! “Dude…”
Hearing me speak, they all looked back at me in horror. those faces of terror turned into tears. Without a second more of hesitation, they all ran up to ask me if I was okay, while Robbie fell back down against the wall when he tried to move more.
“Louis! Thank god I thought we were gonna lose you again!” Zion yelled with tears in his eyes while he squeezed both of my shoulders as tightly as he could.
“Louis, shit man we all thought you were dead, and then you woke up screaming out of nowhere while we were running, almost giving me a heart attack!” Elijah said, examining the side of my head. I could tell he was trying to hold back his tears.
“And then that piece of shit monster threw something at you. It was brutal to witness… we thought you were surely gone that time… I wish… we all could’ve done something…” Ryan said quietly, he had his head down the entire time while talking, when he looked I was surprised to see both of the lenses on his glasses were cracked.
Before I could speak they started screaming at me with more questions, asking me if I was fine and if I felt off in any way.
“Guy’s guys, slow down… my head.” I said letting out a groan. “Wait… Zion what did you mean by again?
“Louis…, the reason why we’re worried this much is… well, it doesn’t just have to do with your head…,” my friend Elijah said hesitantly, “it’s… ugh-”
“What? What else happened to me while I was out?” I said, rubbing my head softly.
“Before we started getting chased by those… things. You…You…-“
“You had no pulse!” Ryan shouted with terror in his voice.
“W-what.” Do they know? They can’t…
“Y-you no heartbeat… your body was getting colder… and colder.”
I-I can’t believe it. Well I mean what did I expect but… I actually died. “But why am I still here?”
“What? Well… you must have temporarily died and resuscitated. But even then it…”
I think I know what he's getting at. The chances of a person dying and coming back to life are extremely, extremely low. And even if it were possible in my case, none of the needed necessities to attempt such a thing were even present. That light…, “Did I revive myself?” I mumbled under my breath.
“It’s gotta be a miracle!” Zion said, wiping the tears from his face..
The others started to express how happy they are that I'm alive. I could tell most of them were fighting the urge to cry.
He was right. That light was a miracle of some kind. But that dream…. It was far too real to be a dream. And my letter? What was all that about? Did I speak to God? I had my doubts but holy fuck. I might’ve actually… me, spoken to a literal God.
The moment of when the being spoke to me started replaying through my head.
Great trials? What did it mean by great trials?! And my friends, what did it want with my friends?!
Wait… am I in hell? Nononono. FUCK! At the very least don’t punish my friends alongside me! They don’t deserve this. None of them do!
Zion noticed the fear on my face just now. “L-Louis calm down, more stress will only damage your head more.”
He was right. “B-but-,” I-I can’t stop shaking. What did I do? We might be in hell. Are we? Did I just doom them? No I-I couldn't have. I I I I SENTENCED MY FRIENDS TO DEATH!
My stomach started to turn at the thought. And I could feel myself sweating profusely.
“We used the white T-shirt Zion was wearing under his clothes as a bandage, while we used my tanktop to wrap your head up with. It’s not perfect… but it’s working, and there’s no other supplies in sight. …Also Louis… I gotta ask, your skin is pretty pale, and why were- are your lips blue?” Elijah said with a worried expression. “You look as if you ate something terrible… hah…” He was trying to lighten my mood with that little laugh just now.
Wait. My lips? The poison… do they know?! How long have I been dead?! No, not like this. Not like this, Not now!
I started to breathe heavily. My mouth started to feel wet as drool fell out from it. I’m starting to fight back the urge to vomit. “I-I-I-I feel sick… I feel sick…” I covered my mouth with one hand while holding my stomach with the other.
“Shit, get him something to throw up in!” Elijah barked at Zion.
“T-there’s nothing to use.” Zion said with a distressed face. Trying to look around the room to see if he missed anything of use.
Upon hearing that, I sprung up, running to a nearby corner. I hunch down as I start to gag. Sounds of me vomiting violently rang through the room. Some of it got on one of the socks I was wearing. Gross. But the smell… was another thing entirely.
Before I could catch my breath, another wave of vomit shot out from my mouth. “Eugh…”
I think… I think I just threw up the poison. I wanna say I feel better, but looking at it on the floor, it’s bluish color mixed in with my spit and stomach acids. Honestly it just makes me wanna hurl even more.
I feel a hand patting my back. After catching my breath, I stood straight up to see who it was. It was Robbie. “Y-youuuu mrhm scard me Louiiiiii-”
“Tell me you're joking right now.” I said turning quickly to the others.
“He carried you all the way here while we were running, and just as we got inside this room to hide, it hit this motherfucker right here like a truck. You should've seen the way he looked first.” Elijah said, annoyed.
“He was like a deer in headlights. Then he collapsed on the floor!." Zion said with another disappointed look on his face. “I swear man we all thought he was gonna overdose!”
I turn to look at Robbie with. “What the hell did you take…?! No wait-," I took a closer look at him. His eyes were a reddish yellow but they hung so low it was like he could barely see. He was shaking all over and twitching with an intense expression on his face. It went from a smile to a blank face back and forth repeatedly. This wasn’t the cause of just one substance. “What all did you fucking take?! Are you trying to die?!”
He looked at me with an intense gaze before shrugging his shoulders as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Hell if I know, and damned if I care, you get what I'm saying Louis?!” he said to me in a loud humorous tone.
Does he think this was a game? But wait… how is he intoxicated right now? Aren’t we supposed to be in hell? Well I'm not even 100% sure if that’s even where we are right now. “How? How are you high right now?”
Robbie looked at me once again with that intense blank expression. It was like there was no life in his body, but when he spoke he was so animated it felt eerie. “Question? A question… oh oh ohhhh,” his words were clearer but he still spoke like you expect of a person fried out of their mind. “I reeeeeee member… ahhh… haha. Haha… HAHAHA HAHAHA.”
Why is he laughing? But looking closer I could see tears start to form in his eyes as he laughed more manically. “W-what, what’s wrong? What happened?”
“You wanna know what happened!” He said, stopping his laugh, staring at me with a face of grief. While his once watery eyes now spouted tears down his face. His face sank down to his chest.
“My mother… Mom, she died… I got the news a couple hours ago. Overdosed on meth in a fucking alley downtown on fucking MAINE STREET! …those people, THOSE POEPLE SEEN HERE DYING ON THE STREET AND WALKED BY LIKE SHE WAS JUST ANOTHER SKID ON THE FUCKING SIDEWALK!”
He raised his head, his eyes full of anger and his breathing growing more agitated by the second. “You wanna know how she got in that alley! Instead of someone helping her, they dragged her there because they supposedly thought ‘she was in the way,’ she was on the ground having a fucking seizure! That motherfucker! When I find him I'm gonna put him in the ground!”
“Robbie..” I didn't know what to say. The others were just as shocked as I was.
“I know my mom wasn’t perfect, far from it… but I thought… she was- she was getting better… my mother was getting better slowly but surely. Why… WHY?! Why did she have to… die…?” After saying that Robbie broke down. His cries were loud, and all of us could feel the pain behind them.
I only met Robbie’s mother a couple times. I couldn’t say every time was the best though. His mom has been an addict since he was a kid and has been struggling with it all of Robbie’s life. I always felt bad seeing Robbie’s mother. Out of the few times I've seen her, only once did I not witness him helping her off the ground while she was high out of her mind to the point where she wouldn’t respond to anything for hours. On the day that she wasn’t though… She looked like one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met.