“This is a nice change of pace, isn’t it?”

The voice that A heard was new to him, and yet there was something about it that felt deeply familiar. It did not come from any particular direction. It filled the very air around him. More than that, it felt like he hadn’t heard the voice at all. It bypassed any physical manifestation of sound, and vibrated his very mind.

“Should I know you?”

“You can feign ignorance if you’d like, but that won’t change the state of things. I can’t say that I’m surprised, given your ability to avoid points of conflict.”

As the voice spoke, A felt it begin to coalesce into a single point in front of him. He would never admit it, but as the voice dimmed in his head, he felt like he could breathe again. He had known from the first word who was speaking, but there was no doubt as the presence concentrated into a singular point in front of him. B’s expression was that of a wolf stumbling across a rabbit with a broken leg.

“I had hoped that you’d come and visit this place more often. It wasn’t much, but it was home.”

It felt as if A had merely blinked, and they were back in the withered room.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Why did you take me back to this eyesore?”

“That’s no way to talk about a person’s home.”

A gave a cursory look over his surroundings, and had to stifle a shudder. “If it’s so important to you, why have you allowed it to decay like this?”

B laughed, and as he did, it looked as if the atoms making up his body had begun to loosen. His voice rose in volume, penetrating deep into A’s head again.

“You’re right, it has fallen into a bit of a sorry state. The death of this place has not been lost on me. It’s a lesson that I should’ve learned a long time ago. Better late than never I suppose.”

“And what lesson is that?”

“If you’re willing to sacrifice anything to succeed, you still haven’t learned the very nature of success. To achieve anything of value requires sacrifice. If you’re only willing, then you’re already too late.”

A stared at him, searching for something behind the maniacal grin. “Is that all that you need to sacrifice? Your little imaginary space? I have sacrificed plenty for my position.”

Throughout the conversation, B’s voice had remained at a level pitch, but when he spoke this time, there was a slight waver to it. “Those that have been given everything don’t know the pain behind that word. I suppose that this will be an informative time for you then.”

“I have no idea what you mean.” A’s voice came out softer. It had taken him a moment, but he found the threatening edge that he was used to using when addressing this lesser being.

B began to drift apart again, though this time he waited to speak. As he drifted from view, the last thing that was visible was his smile. Then his voice came to A again, filling his head and vibrating A’s very being. “You’ll see when you wake up.”