“No one loves me.”

The voice he heard felt so recent.

Yet…

He furrowed his eyebrows and started to see light. Where was he? What is this place he was in? It became something that shifted overtime, something that slipped out of the already loose grip he had of reality.

(Who are you?)

He reasoned,

Fumbling around,

Tired.

There was no answer, only the light. The ever-growing, increasingly persistent light.

(Squint again)

A furrow of the eyebrows,

A familiar feeling,And suddenly, he was back.

The ground.

The world around him gradually oriented itself properly, like the way sand shifts its way to and fro an hourglass.

The light.

Shining in his face, turning the world with its lucent bulb, pulsating a glow, slowly piercing his eyes.

And finally,

The body.

The limp, cold, mass of something on the floor.

The world slowly but surely started shifting,

Turning,

churning,

And he was back into the word.

And the angst, the fear, the confusion,

It all slowly started seeping into his being.

A look around presented nobody else except the two of them.

“Hey, wake up.”

What was his name again?

Credence?

“Credence, wake up!”

And, in a slightly more panicked voice,

“Credence!

Credence?”

There was no response from the long haired boy. The silence dragged on, long and frightening.

A roll of his body,

A checking of his pulse.

Nothing.

Not even the slightest pump of blood.

And the silence drags on.

August, however, was not as calm as the atmosphere implied.

First came the tears building up in his eyes. Those were the worse, just building up before they release. And finally, a tear would spearhead the entire process.

Of course, after that comes the sniffling, the sobbing, the uncontrollable sound one makes despite telling himself to not cry, and finally, the bawling, the part he hated the most.

Unwillingly, his mouth spread into a painful grin, negating all the stop signs he sent himself. His face cracked and dissolved into a myriad of agony.

Why?

He pressed his hand against his mouth, willing his body to stop.

Just why does it have to be me?

He glanced at the dead body and another stream of tears came flying out.

A knock on the door,

“Everything alright?”

(Escape).

His bloodshot eyes darted around.

A window was at the other end of the room.

He didn’t even bother to stand up, dragging himself, stumbling through the room to get to the window.

He just wanted escape.

“Hello?”

His hand flew to the window handle, and yanked hard.

(Jammed).

“I’m coming in”

More fumbling, and something clicked out of place.

The door opened,

And Dolores found August pushing his entire right leg out the window.

“What are you doing?”

“Escaping.”

“And why?”

August nudged his head towards the body

“I may or may not have killed him.”

“May or may not have?”

“I don’t remember anything.

It’s just like that time back with Lindsey. I just fainted.”

“And when you woke up, they were dead?”

“Yes.”

Dolores feigned shock

“Intense.”

“But it’s the truth”

(Voice cracking).

“I believe what you said, though.”

Hopeful eyes looked up

“After all, you’re my crush.”

He pulled the foot from the window.

“Don’t say that.”

The silence that continued was sweet,

And August almost forgot about the entire situation.

“So? What do we do now?

Tell them I possibly murdered the son of the village chief?”

“Well, we could also escape.”

They regarded each other for a while.

“It’’ll be hard for you to bail me out again, right?”

“Probably. That’ll be seen as biasness.”

“Then let’s forget that.”

The silence, this time not sweet and downright disheartening, was interrupted by a soft mumbling. Their heads snapped back, following the source of the sound to Versas.

He looked about ten times older than he actually was, his white hair bobbing up and down as he walked listlessly into the room. His eyes were already far away from reality, going back, way back into his memory.

“Doughnut…”

And August felt the same pinprick sensation back when he had fainted.

(Oh no not again).

And fire started blooming in his mind.

He dropped down onto the ground, the flames in his head unable to be extinguished.

(Stop thinking, maybe that would work).

“August, August!

What happened?”

A hand to ward off Dolores,

“Find people,

Call help.

I want to know how I’ll act when I faint”

The fire burned brighter and brighter, encompassing everything that his brain held.

“Go!”

(Slurred).

“Now!”

And Dolores ran off in search of help.

He grinned and accepted the incoming inferno

[Blank]

.

Where was he?

[Void]

He opened his mouth to speak

(Oh yeah, I can’t talk here.)

He felt moisture in his skin and he was there again,

Back there.

Drowning,

Distant,

Contradicting,

The place is literally an antithesis itself.

(So?

What are you going to show me now?”)

He said to no one in particular.

Then, as if in a movie, the entire world around him started moving, started shifting, started contorting, and he was at the cage again.

The cage.

The cold, heartless, piece of metal.

He fumbles around his clothing and like before, a she was presented to his hands.

(Relief).

He was back at that place again.

“Lindsey, step away from it!”

Gruff and male.

(Versas).

“No! It's supposed to be a she, and she's Doughnut!”

The same pair of innocent legs he saw before- decked out in laces and feather white socks.

Softly,

Quietly,

“It’s just a failed experiment! “

(Failed)?

“I don't care!

You’re the one who created…”

A pause for judgement.

“...this!”

(Who am I)?

He scrambled around to find a mirror,

A polished piece of metal,

Anything, really,

That would allow him to see his reflection.

“Doughnut,”

Tender, but the voice seemed far away to him.now.

“Doughnut,”

The same voice,

With a much greater emphasis.

“Doughnut,”

A third time, and he abandoned his search to look up.

Caring eyes.

Eye bags creased with worry.

Her.

Lindsey.

“I’ve to leave for now.

Oh but!”

A look of excitement crossed her face.

“I'll place these doughnuts here!”

“For god’s sake just hurry up.”

Irritated,

Impatient.

And the pair of legs retreated into the brightness.

And he was alone again.

Water flowing in again.

Fire burning again.

This time, he doesn't stop,

Doesn't resist

(Let it come).

.

Fluttering eyelids,

Painful eyelids,

and he snapped them open.

The cold hard ceiling snarled at him.

What happened?

He tried to get back up but was blocked by straps.

Thick leather straps.

The ones they use to suppress criminals.

His eyeballs, getting more bloodshot by the second, shot it's gaze around the entire room.

A fumbling on his side and he found a nurse there.

“Where am- “

The frantic nurse raced out of the room.

Just what had happened?

“August,”

Words laced with worry.

Dolores.

“Dolores,”

Relief.

(Struggling to get up).

“What happened?”

Her eyes had that look.

“August you..”

A pause.

“You tried to kill Versas.”

His eyeballs widened and finally he registered the feeling in those eyes of Dolores: fear.