Human vs. Phantom

Chapter – 8 Episode – 10 Scared and forced

Chapter – 8

Episode – 10

Scared and forced

The darkroom was like a place out of time, a place where nothing was normal anymore. Like the time has stopped long ago. It was no day or night anymore. It was like closing your eyes and blindfolding them over five times so no light can enter, everything was so dark so blank like everything has been wiped away from the screen of your head. You can’t think anything anymore; like from a black and white movie, without the white part. It was just black and the darkest shades of greys. It was like the room was wearing a jacket sewed with darkness, and no holes to let the light pierce through any tiniest part of it. Like nothing anyone would have felt before, it was empty and silent, it made everything feel so meaningless, so pointless. It has no smell or sound, like being in space, with nothing around you, not even air.

“jimmy? Jimmy… wake up man, wake up… jimmy.” The sound echoed through the silenced room. Reeve’s voice can be heard calling for his brother to wake him up, he himself was struggling. His voice was muffled, but it still was loud enough for that empty room to echo.

He called for him many times again and again until he got back low groans of someone waking up. He knew he was here; he heard him breathe. I was low, very low, but the room was muted enough to make him hear his brother. He went completely silent for a while struggling on the chair to free his tied hands and feet. But all he was getting in return was immense pain. Piercing his wrist and ankles.

“Reeve? Reeve? Where are you? Are you here?” Jim’s low voice came suddenly destroying the silence clouding the room.

“are you okay? I can’t see anything?” Reeve replied.

“what is happening?” Jim asked again. he started struggling on the chair panicked from being tied.

“who tied us here?” he again spoke.

“I don’t know…” Reeve replied.

They’ve seen darkness before, the kind that makes our street like an old-fashioned photograph, everything a shade of grey. This isn't like that. This is the darkness that robs you of your best sense and replaces it with a paralyzing fear. In this darkness they were sitting on that chair, tied, muscles cramped and unable to move clamped on that wooded chair. They could only know their eyes are still there because they can feel themselves blink every moment in hopes to clear the darkness in front of them, still instinctively moisturizing the organs they have no current use for. They can't hear anything either, just each other. Moving makes noise, echoes in the room; their breath makes noise. Every sound was too prominent there, so overpowering.

Jim panicked, the sounds of him struggling on the wooden chair was too loud to not know his state.

“relax…. Relax…., we’ll figure something out. Don’t panic.” His brother calmed him.

“Why are we here?” he again said, his voice has a hint of horror.

“dude, calm down. Breathe...” Reeve said.

“umm… what is this smell?” Jim said. “it’s so intense and mushy like rotten eggs. It’s getting more and more unbearable. It’s getting intense. What is happening?” He added barely breathing in that pungent air. His chest was getting heavy, he could breathe.

“wait, wait do you hear that?” Reeve said.

“what? What?” Jim asked baffled.

“sushhh… someone is coming.” They silenced as best as they could as they heard the footsteps approaching them. The room was cold, freezing. They could have seen their breathe if there was any light there. And the smell so pungent making it harder for them to take a free breath filling their lungs. It was hard to breathe there. Moving makes noise, it's bad enough they still have to breathe. Not even the worst monster can scare them so bad as just that room did.

The steps were more and more prominent, but they were coming from shoes. Like the one coming was wearing shoes which had hard sole. Finally, the steps stopped, but it was so near them, they can hear the third breathe along with themselves.

“Who are you?” Jim yelled.

“oh, my aren’t you a scared little boy? What happened to you boy?” a voice came, vibrating the air of the room from its weight.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Reeve said, his voice was loud and angered.

“me? I don’t want anything. I never asked for anything.” The voice said.

“then why are we here? What is this place?” Reeve shouted.

“This is your room, where you were in just seconds ago.” The voice said again.

“This is not this place. Tell me, you bastard.” Reeve yelled again.

“If I was you, I will be more worried about my life than the place.” It spoke and added, “and of course, this is your room, I just modified it more to my taste.”

“what do you want from us?” Jim finally spoke.

“I don’t want anything from you. I know what you are hiding from each other. Something that will destroy your bro love forever. I know what’s in your head.”

Reeve

I was so not ready for that. Jim can’t know about it. He shouldn’t. but I knew the time those words fell in my ears that I can’t hide it anymore this way or another. I can keep it to myself anymore.

“don’t you Reeve’rive. Tell your brother the truth.” He said and my heartbeat increased. Fear crept up in my body and even in that chilled room, I could feel the sweat on my forehead. I wiggled my fingers in my tied hands trying to calm myself down. I couldn’t say a thing like I was paralyzed. My tongue froze but my mind was spinning.

Suddenly I felt a hand strike through my hands giving my skin a powerful lingering burning sensation, like a piece f hot red coal would feel on the skin. It was his hand, so hot and heavy.

I screamed from the pain it felt.

“what is happening? Reeve?” I heard Jim’s voice; he was panic-stricken.

“your brother is just fine Jim, aren’t you little boy? Now you'll tell your brother the truth.” The voice again said. But there was a difference in his words. Like the have more weight in his words. A controlling power, like enchantment over me. and no matter how badly I wanted to keep it to myself, I could. Like my tongue is moving on his commands, my mouth opened and spelled the words.

“We are not brothers. Mom and dad adopted you when you were little.”

“Truth, truth, truth. I love it. I love it.” The voice came again was weirdly scary, heavy, and excited.

And snap……. We are free and as my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I was back in my room, our room. Where we were in minutes ago.