A large hand gripped Saber’s shoulder. He startled and spun to find another security guard looking at him with concern. 

“Are you hurt?” She spoke low and steady. A concrete pillar bearing the weight of the storm inside Saber’s head. 

Saber nodded slowly, “The other…There was someone else. Are they?” 

“They’ve apprehended the man chasing you. Authorities are on their way.” 

“No,” Saber shook his head, “There was someone in-at- no I mean. There was someone outside my dressing room.” The guard raised an eyebrow. Saber clarified, “Someone else. They fought with that-that man who shot at me. I-I think they were hurt.” 

The guard tilted her head and leaned towards her walkie-talkie. She murmured urgent words into it while leading Saber to a swivel chair in front of a wall of monitors. 

For the first time, Saber took in his surroundings. He was in the CCTV control room. That explained the presence of the security guards. Saber remembered being told there were two security offices in the venue but no one pointed them out. It would’ve been a security risk while surrounded by staff, both from the venue’s and his own. 

So how did he find it?

That voice. It almost sounded the same as the stranger laying on his back in the hallway. But it hadn’t grown further away as Saber ran down the hall. It hadn’t echoed across the marble floors along with Saber’s frantic breath and pounding feet. 

Saber lifted a shaking hand and snapped next to his ear. The sound was crisp, real, sharp. As sharp and real as the bullet Saber dodged thanks to the phantom voice. Saber tried his best to calm himself. The muffled crackling of the radio was the only thing breaking the oppressive silence. 

The door behind Saber opened again, slowly this time. The other security guard identified herself as she entered. Saber didn’t turn towards it. He couldn’t bear to see whatever scene lay past her in the hallway. Both guards exchanged hushed whispers before stepping out. 

“I’ll be right outside, call for me if you need anything.” One of the guards said comfortingly. 

Saber nodded while keeping his gaze cast low. He forced himself to closely examine the loops on the navy carpet. Something sticky and dark glommed together in the polyester fibers. Melted and hardened. Some long standing spill that’d never been cleaned away. 

The shape reminded Saber of the pool of blood under the men. The blood that kept growing as the man lay unmoving. 

“You’re safe.”

That’s what the man said. The words he’d spoken with his last breath. Words drenched in relief that should’ve been saved for someone else. Should have been spoken by that man’s family when he returned home from the concert. Whispered by a lover as they held him close. Not stolen by a mediocre celebrity as his eyes closed for the last time. 

That same warm hand clasped Saber’s shoulder yet again. This time he didn’t startle. He just looked up at the woman with misty eyes as she spoke the words he’d known were coming. 

“The other person…didn’t make it. He’s…well he doesn’t seem connected to the man with the gun at the very least.” 

Saber looked down at his hands and nodded, “He-I think he stepped in. I think he was trying to save me.” 

“Yeah…It looked like it.” The guard said something else. Something about waiting for Julie and a statement with the police. Saber nodded but didn’t hear a thing. Everything felt distant and fuzzy. Just like it had the last time this happened. The last time Saber took something from someone he’d never be able to give back. 

In the twilight between the guards leaving and Julie joining Saber in the CCTV room, tears started to fall. Plink-plonking down and leaving speckles of moisture all over Saber’s sweatpants. 

He wasn’t sobbing. Everything felt too numb for that. His tear ducts were reacting as the rest of his body remained in shock. 

He lifted his balled fists to rub his eyes. 

When his eyes closed.

When the world should’ve gone dark. 

Something glowed behind Saber’s eyelids. 

It felt like he’d turned on some twisted filter. 

The world beyond remained, now cast in darkness with white lines. 

Like the negative of a photo.

Along with the dark tint, there was one other change in the environment around Saber. 

Twisted vines entangling the monitors before him. 

The vines were slick with a thick, viscous fluid. It dripped off them and smeared along the monitor’s edges. The disgust Saber felt at the sticky vines was nothing compared to the twitching, rolling eyes growing from the vines in clusters. 

Saber gasped and shoved back, away from the desk. But when his eyes opened the vines were gone.

[Saber, don’t close your eyes.] 

It was the same voice Saber heard in the hallway, Saber was sure of it. He whipped around, trying to find the source of the voice but he was all alone. 

“Where?...Who?” Saber turned back and forth, trying to find a speaker or camera the voice could be coming from. 

[I’m not- It doesn’t matter who I am.] 

“It matters a lot to me!” Saber squeaked as he grabbed the rolling chair and swiveled it around as a makeshift barricade between him and…whatever was happening. 

[What matters right now is keeping you safe. The way we do that is keeping you hidden.] 

“Where are you?” Saber backed himself against the wall, dragging the chair along with him. 

[Hmm] 

The voice considered Saber’s question. 

[I don’t…I don’t really know where I am…] 

“Are you real?” Saber knew the question would be futile if the voice really were a hallucination or delusion but he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Were those vines real? Do you know what they are?” 

[The vines, they’re… well I mean- They’re real but not in the traditional sense.]

“HOW THE FUCK CAN SOMETHING BE REAL ASIDE FROM THE TRADITIONAL SENSE?” As Saber shouted angrily the door swung open again. 

This time Julie, not a security guard, entered the room. She rushed over, pushed the chair out of the way. She embraced Saber aggressively. Saber thought he could feel his bones breaking. 

“Oh God! You’re ok! You’re really ok! I heard someone was shot outside the dressing rooms, I thought it was you. You weren’t shot, right? You don’t look injured but what if we just can’t see it? Oh my God what if you’re still running on adrenaline! Strip! I need to check for myself.” 

Saber grabbed Julie’s face, “Calm down, you’re acting like you’re the one who got chased by a wacko with a gun.” 

Julie’s brows, which had already been nearly fused, found a way to draw even tighter together. Her dark eyes welled up with tears and her mouth opened in a sob. She redoubled her embrace around Saber who had been forced against the wall with the weight of her affection. 

“I’m so sorry! I can’t believe something like this happened to you again! I should have been with you!” 

“No!” Saber firmly cut Julie off. He shoved her away and glared at her. 

“I mean I just- I wish it hadn’t happened at all…is what I mean…” 

All the violent fear drained out of Saber as Julie looked up at him with round puppy dog eyes. He shouldn’t have snapped at her. She was just trying to comfort him. He sighed and opened his mouth to apologize but another voice cut into their private moment. 

“I’m going to need a few words from you.” 

Saber looked up and thought he’d gone back in time. Dark green eyes framed by blonde lashes. A strong jaw and a short stature. 

“Officer Hawks?” Saber’s heart rate picked up. He couldn’t even tell himself it was different this time. Even though it was different. It was worse. 

[How do you know…] 

Saber turned his head in confusion and looked at Julie, “Did you hear..” 

He trailed off as Julie’s eyes blazed with concern. 

No one else was reacting to the voice. Julie couldn’t handle Saber going insane right after being shot at. Saber turned back to Officer Hawks and did his best friendly smile. 

“It’s a pleasure to see you again. Wish it could’ve been under better circumstances but..” 

Hawks laughed stiffly. She motioned for Saber to sit. Julie hurriedly righted the chair she’d cast aside. Saber sat obediently. 

Somewhere between bending down and pulling the chair back upright, Saber closed his eyes. It was more than a blink, his eyes pressed closed just long enough to glimpse that twisted world behind his eyelids. 

In the background, Saber could still see putrid vines twisting and roiling behind Hawks. But they were tame compared to Hawks' appearance in this broken non-traditional reality. 

Her outline was vaguely familiar. Humanoid in the furthest reach of the term. A head, two arms, two legs, a torso. But outside of that it was entirely foreign. Her body was twisted with boils that seemed to originate from the walkie-talkie on her shoulder. They ballooned her shoulder into a twitching, palpating tumor overtaking her entirely. 

Before Saber could properly take in the pulsing veins or glossy skin his eyes flew open. He took in a sharp breath before covering his mouth in an attempt to keep himself from vomiting. 

Hawks stepped forward, arm outstretched to steady Saber. He flinched away involuntarily. Luckily, she only dropped the hand and stepped back. She was probably more than accustomed to victims exhibiting erratic behavior. 

Victim. 

That’s right, Saber was a victim.