When he awoke, Josh found himself somewhere unusual. Rather than laying down in bed, Josh was in the showers of the dorm. Fully clothed, water on and drenching him, and he had smashed his forehead into a pipe that ran from the wall to the shower head. And that smashing had been done rather forcefully. Forcefully enough that the pipe was bent in a way that lowered the water pressure of the shower head, and forceful enough that when Josh came too his vision was obscured with a wash of watered down blood. He’s put a gash in his own head, but he was awake.
More questions had been answered as well. He had been able to wake himself up without being fully pulled into whatever horror world the hand with the other mark wanted to take him. Though, he had glimpsed it and felt cold down to his core; but there was no guarantee the chill wasn’t from sleepwalking into the showers. Though the more unexpected question that had been answered, and the one that drew Josh’s complete attention, was whether or not the temporary mark he had had before was water soluble.
For there was another sort of mark on his left forearm now, not blotchy but nearly full. The only deformity it held was an apparent deterioration, not unlike the way that a temporary tattoo crumbles off the skin. Josh was afraid to scratch at it, in case it peeled off again, but it certainly looked more stable than the last time it had happened. But there was still something off about it. The skin beneath was a blotchy mixture of Josh’s natural skin tone and a lighter one. What was more, his arm felt sore, like it was bruised through to the bone in several places.
In a daze, Josh stumbled back to his apartment dripping wet and bleeding. When the door was closed behind him, he didn’t think to check if he could hear his roommate knocking about, he went directly for his own room and peeled off his wet clothing before tending to the gash in his forehead, drying off, and putting on fresh clothes. No longer a physical mess—just a psychological one— Josh went to retrieve the sopping went pajamas when he realize that there were wet footprints leading from his bed to the door in a path that Josh was fairly sure he had not tread after returning to his room. It was a discovery to be sure, but nothing Josh was willing to think about when he saw it. Instead of investigating further, Josh ignored the wet footprints that wound all through the apartment and then out into the hallways of the door towards the shower—and Josh made his way to the laundry room. He sat there, as he had before, tucked away while his clothes dried out.
“Are you awake?” Josh sent the message to Sara with high confidence that she was.
“Yup. How’d it go?” Her response was fast enough that Josh felt like she’d had her phone in hand when he’d sent his text.
“I had a dream.” Josh sent the first half of what he wanted to say first, but the he found it difficult to articulate the rest of what he wanted to say.
“Was it bad?”
Josh couldn’t help but let out a small hysterical laugh at how much of an understatement the word bad felt.
“I would say it was as bad as it probably could have been, but something tells me it could have been a lot worse.”
“Do you still want to come over to talk about it?”
“Yeah… but I hit my head pretty bad and I don’t think I should be walking around too much like I am. I’m getting a little dizzy.”
“What happened?!”
“I was in the dream, and things were getting bad. So I smashed my head into a stone to wake up. But it turned out I was sleep walking too. So I actually ended up smashing my head into a pipe.”
“JOSH?! What the hell?!”
Josh was mid reply when Sara’s second message came through and made it harder to respond. “We need to get you to the student health center! I’m sending Connor over.”
Not wanting to go to the health center, Josh began to think of any reason to avoid it. On a whim, he checked the time and quickly realized the biggest glaring flaw in Sara’s decision to take him to the student health center.
“It’s 2am. The health center isn’t even open.”
After a minute, in which Josh imagined she had spent her time looking up information for an alternative, Sara responded again. “There’s a 24 hour clinic just off campus. We’re taking you there.”
“It’s not that bad, I promise. I’m just a little dizzy. And, besides, I can’t afford it.”
“Are you bleeding?” It was a simple question, but Josh knew it was leading somewhere.
“Yes. But I have some gauze and a bandage over it.”
“You’re bleeding, we’ll pay for it. We’re coming over. If you object, we’ll carry you.”
It was about at that point where Josh realized that there would be negotiating. They were helping, and that was final. “Fine.”
Josh waited after that. First he waited for his laundry to finish drying, which it did fairly quickly, and then he stumbled back to his apartment and waited for He knew it wouldn’t take them long to get down to the dorms, but somehow it still felt like an eternity had passed by the time he heard a knock on the apartment door.
“Hold on…” Josh mumbled to himself as he stood up from where he had been resting on the couch.
The knocking had been relatively tame, but it still sounded loud and incessant to Josh. He had developed a headache since sitting down to rest, and most noises were proving too much for him to handle calmly.
“Oh my…” Was the first thing Sara said when the door had been opened for her. “That’s a lot of gauze.”
“I’m just bad at putting it on and used most the roll I had… it’s not that bad.” Josh tapped the wrappings gently with a finger as he spoke.
“Where’s the pipe?” Connor asked. He was leaning over Sara’s shoulder and looking into the apartment with morbid interest.
“It’s in the dorm showers, I can show you if you want”—a thought occurred to Josh that he had completely glossed over before—”actually, I should clean up. There was blood all over the floor because there was water… it’s a mess.”
It was half excuse not to go to the clinic and half genuine concern. He could be fined for damaging the property in the dorm, and the pipe was definitely damaged.
“I can clean it up, just show me where.“ Sara shook her head as she said it, unable to believe how misplaced her friend’s priorities were.
“Right. This way.” Josh wobbled along the hallway of the dorm for roughly three steps before Connor stepped in and put Josh’s arm over his shoulder.
Josh led his friends to the showers on his floor of the dorm and pointed out which stall he’d been at when he woke up. He hardly remembered which one it was from memory but he knew where to look for the dent and the dent was still there and easily spotted.
“That’s where I woke up. Water on, head bleeding, dent in pipe.”
“Holy cow.” Connor let out a whistle as he examined the damage. “Is that lead piping?”
“I dunno. I didn’t wake up till after I’d hit it, so I don’t know exactly how hard it was.”
Sara knelt down to where she could see the dent closely and tried to bend the metal on her own. It didn’t budge. And the harder she tried the more it seemed she was more likely to rip out a whole length of pipe than bend just a small portion.
“Maybe I’ll go grab Margot really quick and have her bend that back into place… And I can get some cleaner too… there’s a lot of staining on the tile.” Sara looked up to Connor with something akin to bewilderment on her face. “You think you can get Josh to the clinic alone?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“You think you and Margot can break into the boys dorm without a guy to make you look less suspicious?”
The answer to both questions was a resounding yes that never went said.
“I’m sorry about the mess, it’s… it’s so much.” Josh murmured. He was still quite tired, and his head was not doing great. “The water was on when I woke up, and the blood and the water were mixing, and I couldn’t see, and the mark didn’t wash off so I didn’t know if it was real right away or not…”
“Mark?” Connor asked, surprised. He turned Josh around so that his arm went from around Connor’s shoulder to his own side. “Holy. Whoa.”
“That’s… a lot.” Sara’s eyes widened as she saw the extended mark that reached from Josh’s finger tips up to where his short shirtsleeve covered his shoulder. “How did we miss that?”
“We were looking at the gauze.” Connor’s eyes were wide as well and his hand was nearly reaching out to touch the mark. “That just happened on its own? And the skin… mother of…”
“Yeah. It… it kind of itches.”
“Does it peel off? Sara asked, stepping closer to Josh to see the mark.
Josh pulled his arm back as he began to feel surrounded. “I wasn’t going to try. I think not messing with it is what kept me safe and let me escape.”
“Escape?” Sara sounded surprised. She’d heard the account of both dreams prior to this one in detail, but Josh had never mentioned a feeling of being trapped. Not explicitly at least.
“I ran through the hand… it was made of water, I think… and it wasn’t able to pull me in. I wasn’t exactly fighting back, but it was something.”
Connor put a hand up to indicate that he wasn’t going to try and do anything stupid, but got close enough that Josh could put some weight on him again. “Let’s get you to the clinic then. Sara, you sure you got this?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about me. I’m bringing backup.”
“Alright, text me when you’re done. Or I’ll text you when we’re done. We can meet up back at the Benedictine.”
“Wait, I have an overnight bag.” Josh was beginning to feel truly tired again, and it was getting hard to concentrate.
Sara held out a hand. “Give me your key and I’ll go grab it right now. I’m headed back home to grab Margot anyway.”
Without argument, Josh dropped his apartment key in the palm of Sara’s outstretched hand and let Connor lead he out of the dorm. In retrospect, giving the key to your home was a pretty risky move and not that Josh would have made under normal circumstances. But the longer he remained conscious the worse his decision making skills seemed to be getting. And likewise, the worse his introspective abilities became. Consequently, Josh didn’t really care. He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep again. But Connor wouldn’t let him.
As they walked out into the night, Josh grew more sluggish and Connor had to take a more active role in dragging his friend along. At one point Josh almost fell asleep completely while still on his feet and Connor had to give him a few rough taps on the cheek to keep his eyes open. But eventually they made it to the clinic.
The waiting room was deserted. The receptionist, an older woman, was at her desk with watching a tv drama on a laptop. Josh recognized the show from the scene he could hear playing out, it was a show that his mother watched regularly as a distraction from doing household chores. As soon as Connor dragged Josh in, the receptionist looked up and did a double take.
“Is there someone we can see about light head trauma?” Connor asked quickly. “My friend was sleepwalking and bashed his head in pretty bad, I think he may have a minor concussion.”
“Oh, it could be a concussion, you’re right.” Josh mumbled, the thought only just occurring to him.
“Hold on, I’ll get Doctor Mills, he’s organizing in the back.” The receptionist got up so quickly that she forgot to turn off her show.
Josh appreciated the haste. Both because it didn’t leave the room silent and because it meant that the receptionist was actually taking her job seriously when a task presented itself.
“Let’s get you in a wheel chair before my arms get numb.” Connor grunted as he hefted Josh in the direction of a wheelchair in the corner of the room just beyond the reception desk.
It was strange, the ease with which Connor carried Josh’s weight around. At least Josh thought so. The latter half of their walk to the clinic he hadn’t been able to support himself much at all. And he was glad for the help, but nothing about Connor’s appearance hinted at the sort of strength and endurance it required to heft an adult for two city blocks without stopping and still not be worn out.
“What do you think will happen, when your mark gets activated…” Josh asked absently as he relaxed into the seat of the wheelchair. “Will you get strong like Margot?”
“I don’t think so,” Connor answered casually. “I think…”
Connor didn’t get to finish and say what it was that he thought because the receptionist returned with the supposed Doctor Mills in tow.
“Doctor, this boy says his friend hurt his head while sleepwalking.”
“Alright, follow me to an exam room. We’ll see what you need.” The doctor grumbled casually. “Both of you. We can get you to sign paperwork after, since it’s an emergency.”
The doctor pointed towards the direction he’d just come from and began to walk back that way. Connor wheeled Josh behind him in the chair. Josh didn’t particularly like the look of the doctor. He looked lazy. Or, rather, he sounded lazy. Or jaded. His short ginger hair said he’d taken great care to make himself professionally presentable, but his round and lumpy figure tucked into undersized clothing said that that was mostly where the self-care ended. It didn’t mean Josh thought he would be a bad doctor, that didn’t exactly matter, but Josh didn’t trust the doctor to be honest with him.
In the exam room, the doctor had Connor lift Josh onto a padded table with a paper liner. He began to gather his tools about him and chat idly with Connor as Josh didn’t have the energy to respond. At one point he’d said that “if he started to drift off, just squeeze his hand a little to keep him awake. If he has a concussion I don’t want him closing his eyes just yet.”
Doctor Mills began to run a standard series of tests on Josh. Checking if his pupils would dilate, checking for any soreness on various areas of his head, looking for any other areas that might be bleeding. Josh had woken up somewhat with the florescent lights of the examination room shining directly down into his eyes, and was able to answer in a coherent manner, but only barely.
“And you said he’d been sleepwalking?” The doctor turned again to Connor.
“Yes. He hasn’t been sleeping well for the past couple days. I’m not sure how much rest he’s gotten, but he slept almost all day Friday.”
“And he hit his head on something?”
“He was walking around the dorm on campus and he hit his head on a metal pipe in the showers”
“That is quite a walk… But I’ve heard of somnambulists doing a lot more, so that doesn’t strike me as being too strange. Walking into a slipping hazard is probably the worst thing that could have happened though. But let’s not assume the worst, let me see the wound.”
Doctor Mills carefully unwrapped the gauze from around Josh’s head, sterile cleaning pad and more gauze at the ready. When he pulled off the original covering for the wound Josh felt some of whatever scabbing that had started to form go with it and a small trickle of blood start to run across his skin. The doctor quickly mopped up the mess with a relieved grumble, dressed the gash, and began to recover it with a sterile pad and gauze.
“It looks mostly superficial. I’d say your friend probably just nicked the side of the pipe on his way down.” He shifted from addressing Connor to trying to get Josh’s attention “You’re lucky. A more direct impact and you could have done some serious damage to your skull. But as it is, you’re hardly going to have a bruise. The cut should be healed enough to take the wrappings off by lunch tomorrow, though you should probably change the bandage out once you wake up again… But just to be sure, I’m going to prescribe you a strong antibiotic ointment to dress any other bandages with. I know how filthy those dorms can get, and who knows what you got in there after you fell.”
The doctor swiveled around in his chair so he could face his desk and began writing up a prescription on a notepad. “If there’s any further pain, you’re welcome to come back here. Make sure to wake your friend every two to three hours while he sleeps to make sure he wakes up normally. If he doesn’t wake, get him to an emergency room.”
“Thank you.” Connor said, polite as he could be. It hardly seemed normal for Connor to participate in politeness and formalities, but he was dealing with a doctor and that seemed to change his tone and behavior.
“Here is some paperwork you two will need to fill out before you leave, and if you do that first page just right now I can take it to the office and call in to have the pharmacy at the end of the block fill the prescription. With your consent, of course.”
“Yeah, I’ll fill that one out.” Josh grumbled as he sat up and accepted a clipboard and pen.
Josh spent longer than normal to fill out the paperwork. He was glad the doctor had stepped out after receiving the prescription form because it was embarrassing enough to have Connor watch him fill out the paperwork slowly and with terrible handwriting. By the time the doctor returned, the paperwork had been filled out and Josh and Connor were ready to leave. They had hardly talked at all during the visit, at least to each other. But when they stepped out of the clinic with a pleasant farewell to the receptionist, that changed.
“Are you going to be okay with me telling Sara and Margot about that? How you should probably have a lot more damage than you do?” Connor asked. Josh was still half hobbling next to him so neither of them had to raise their voice above a casual volume, even with the sounds of the city around them.
“That’s fine.” Josh mumbled. “I’m not entirely sure what it means and I’d like to know. I’d also like to know why I’m having such a hard time keeping my eyes open if I’m not concussed.”
“If I had to guess, I’d say you’re body is losing a lot of energy by trying to make that mark on its own.” Connor nudged the marked arm that was hanging over his shoulder. “Notice how the receptionist and the doctor completely ignored it? That means they can’t see it, which means that your mark is genuine. Not fully formed or authentic, but genuine.”
“Are you saying I pirated a bootleg mark in my dreams?” Josh chuckled.
Connor laughed at that. “I don’t know what you did, but it’s probably not great for your health. I think you should probably see if you can’t get it off.”
“When we get to the apartment. I want Margot to see it first at the very least.” Josh couldn’t manage to hold much of a conversation after that.
The dim lights of the city at night lulled his eyes back to a glossy fog. The entire walk to the Benedictine, sleep threatened to overtake him. But he managed to keep his eyes open. He didn’t want Connor to slap him again. And when they finally made it to the elevator, the movement of the small room ascending brought an alertness that carried Josh through the rest of the night’s events.