"Quit lying. You remember me." Said Sloth.
Sloth. Not a girl. Not a person. It was Sloth.
The sound of a trumpet. That was what defined Sloth.
Sloth looked down at John.
"Well… DO YOU!" Sloth bellowed
John stared at the ground while holding his hands over his head.
I don't know! I don't know! I don't———
John looked at the whiteness above him. There was something in the sky. Something red.
The redness grew. And grew. And grew.
It was only when the redness covered about half the sky that John realized what it was.
It was an envelope.
Dread flowed through John like the rapids of a river. And John just couldn't figure out why.
Sure, there was a giant envelope in the sky. But this was all a lie. So why would a delusion matter?
Sloth glanced up at the sky. Then she glanced back down at John. There was a sickly grin on her face.
"Surely you know what the Phantom said."
John looked up at Sloth in confusion.
Sloth smiled.
"AHEM! Let me say for you then."
"Take all the pain. All the agony and all the hell that you can't deal with. And put it on a piece of paper. Then take that piece of paper and put it in an envelope. Mail that envelope to the strong you a year from now. Then you'll be okay." Said Sloth in a hurried chant.
John looked up at Sloth. His mouth was hanging open, and his eyes were filled with confusion.
"No. No."
John's scalp tingled. He remembered the message.
"Times up John. ARE YOU THE STRONG YOU?!?!?!?!?!?!"
The envelope covered the sky.
John could hear the wind rushing by the envelope as it fell. It must have been filled with something other than paper. Because never before had John seen paper fall so fast.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"I... I don't know."
Sloth smiled
"If you're not strong enough. Then it'll kill you. That's the nature of this delusion." Sloth said
John started to hyperventilate. Terror covered him.
NO! NO! NO!
"I don't want to die."
John didn't know why. But the idea of dying made him afraid. Deathly and painfully afraid.
"I have a way out. Just shake my hand." Sloth said
Sloth extended her hand for a shake.
John looked up at Sloth.
The sound of the envelope rushing through the air grew to a cacophony. It was so loud that it drowned out all other sounds.
John reached up. And put his hand around Sloths. Her hand was tiny. It was maybe the size of John's thumb.
The envelope was mere feet away from John. But a moment before, it hit him.
Everything turned black.
.
…
...
...…
"YIP! YIP! YIP!"
John had his hands around the throat of a red dragon. It was slippery. It had taken some effort for him to get a grip on it. But now its neck would snap. John tensed his muscles. And looked into the Dragon's kind eyes as his fingers clenched.
Things grew silent for a moment.
John was frozen.
Nathanial looked at John with a deep glare on his face. He tapped his foot impatiently, and his eyebrows were twitching.
"DO IT! KILL THEM!" Yelled Nathanial.
John turned his head in Nathanial's direction, and he opened his mouth.
"HONK!"
John didn't say Honk. He opened his mouth and created an authentic honking sound.
Nathanial looked at John in confusion. John let go of Stove's neck. He let the dragon slide out his hands and turned towards Nathanial.
John opened his mouth incredibly wide.
"HONK!"
The Honk that came from John's mouth was so loud that it shook the walls.
Nathanial looked at John in utter confusion.
"A sleuth can find the slit that slips into the box of sloth. But the sleuth cannot see that it did so without agent-see. HONK!"
John grinned at Nathanial.
Nathanial looked back at John with pure and utter confusion.
"To reach the loft of sloth is not lofty. For the loft is like sloth. It's at the bottom."
John's head bent back. A cracking sound could be heard. His neck snapped.
The fat of John's neck started undulating like the ocean. Waves of it moved throughout the body. They collided and bounced off each other.
And then the fat split. And eye stuck out from John's neck.
Nathanial looked at the eye. And he froze. His body did not move even a centimetre. It was trapped there. Unmoving and frozen.
"LET ME G———"
Nathanial's mouth snapped shut against his will.
The eye stared. Slowly, John's body began to walk towards Nathanial. Nathanial squirmed. He let out silent screams. He even cried a Bit.
But no matter what he did, he couldn't stop John's advance.
John ripped his shirt of his body.
On his stomach was a lipless mouth. It had sharp canine jaws and was curled into a wicked grin.
John Grabbed the Nathanial. And without much resistance. He slipped it into his stomach.
.
…
...
...…
John was in darkness.
He couldn't see a thing. Not even his own body. But he could feel it. He had a deep sense of his presence. He knew he was here. John just didn't know what his here looked like.
Until he did.
"AHHHHH!"
John screamed as light scorched his retinas.
After a bit, he began to adjust to the light.
Standing before John was a man who was tied up in rough ropes. He had a gag around his mouth and a look of fear on his face.
He was pale, and he had a familiar face.
It was Nathanial.
"Eat. Eat and be free. Or starve for eternity."
John looked at Nathanial.
The red cellar. The laughter of two children. One laugh was mocking, and the other was joyful. They were just memories of memories—vague ideas of what once was.
John looked at Nathnial. And for the first time in his life. John chose not to eat.
John fell onto his butt and just stared.
I can't eat a person. That's worse than eating the aliens. That directly breaks my creed
So John would wait it out.