Intro
My name is Jack, and I believed myself to be just an average person.
Wait, that isn't quite right. I had always thought I was just an average individual.
But one month ago, an extraordinary encounter shattered my entire understanding of the world...
One
Walking alone through a silver curtain of light rain, I found my way into a secluded lane nestled amongst the towering buildings at the heart of the city, and pushed open a rusted door of rosewood — my entry to an underworld retreat by the name of “Red Shield”.
Inside, shadows danced under scattered spotlights that pierced through the gloomy ambiance. Here lay a sanctuary unknown to the outside world, a hidden nook I used to frequent with Linna for stolen moments of intimacy.
With a heavy thud, I slumped into my accustomed haunt at the bar. I had been a ghost these past days, numb even to Pierce’s magnetic baritone that broke through the silence without stirring my spirit, “Your regular?”
My response was a detached nod, my gaze aimlessly sweeping across the cobweb-laden crystal chandelier and the antiquated clock on the wall, whose second hand seemed to be held captive by time.
All ports of return were sealed two days prior, as Linna’s voice, cold and stripped of sentiment, severed our ties while I remained ensnared within the tender memories of our past entanglements.
A clink signalled the arrival of my standard fare in front of me — a glass of stark, frost-biting vodka. I downed it in one, a fleeting inferno trail singeing its way to an already scalded heart.
In the depths of my abandon, a voice — sultry and magnetic — lured me back: “Handsome, brooding over your drink alone?”
Jolted awake, I pivoted towards the source, laying eyes on a vision wrapped in crimson—a stunning figure whose skin played a teasing game of hide and seek under the suggestive play of lights. She cocked me a knowing grin, lips painted the color of a fresh wound: “The name's Sophie. I find myself solitary and restless tonight. Perhaps you’d like to join me, lift the spirits?”
Perhaps it was her fingers, tracing gentle ambiguities across my arm, that kindled a fire of longing within me. I was just about to respond when my gaze caught sight of a drunken man staggering up from the bar's corner, weaving a path towards us.
With a slanted gaze, he ogled me before his lecherous eyes brazenly fixated on Sophie's curvaceous chest, all while spewing crass nonsense from his liquor-laden breath.
Perceiving his lascivious intent, I struck out in a rush of protective fury!
My well-aimed punch crashed into his nose, sending him sprawling to the ground, a crimson tide spilling from his lips and mingling with the dirt.
I spun towards Sophie, anxiety laced in my voice, "Are you unharmed? Did that scoundrel frighten you?"
Yet Sophie appeared undisturbed by the ordeal. She regarded me with a mysterious look, a playful smirk barely touching her lips, before deftly extracting what seemed to be a futuristic mobile device from beneath her clothing and snapping a series of photos of me!
As I reeled from the astonishment, my world lurched into a dizzying spin! When my vision cleared, gone were the dimly lit depths of the bar, replaced by an expanse of stark white corridors and rooms, bustling with the clinical flurry of lab-coated medics and their patients. There I was, lying on a sterile bed hooked up to an intravenous drip, with a doctor in a crisp white coat scrutinizing the readouts beside me!
What had transpired? Puzzlement clouded my thoughts.
How had the bar's warmth and mystery transmuted into this clinical panorama?
With a piercing focus, I fixed my eyes on the man attending the machines by my bedside, piecing together the fragments of the night's surreal events.
Two
My gaze was a torrent of bewilderment and fear. The stark strangeness of my surroundings set off a discomfort in me, stirring a nagging suspicion that I might've been ensnared by some sinister cult.
The doctor's hand rested on my shoulder, his look a blend of concern and deep sympathy. "Jack, there's nothing to worry about; you're at the psychiatric ward, and we're here to see you through to recovery. You’ve just experienced a temporary mental disorientation."
I managed a nod, trying to subdue the frantic pace of my breath. "But I was just in the bar conversing with a woman. How did you track me down and get me here?" I asked, my voice taut, quivering on the precipice of collapse.
"The woman you're speaking of might just be a delusion," the doctor said gently, "We were alerted by the bar owner who called in your sudden erratic behavior. We immediately sent an ambulance to bring you in for care."
His gaze searched mine and, as I met it, I strove to piece together each moment leading up to now. There was no denying the eeriness that had washed over me following my encounter with the one calling herself Sophie...
My musings were cut short by the piercing ring of the doctor's phone. He checked the caller ID and informed me, "The nurse has come, I need to step to the entrance briefly."
Once he departed, a compulsive pull led my hand to the bedside drawer. Inside, my eyes landed on several boxes conspicuously labeled with "Use for Hypnosis,” alongside a collection of bizarre devices, alien to my vernacular.
All too peculiar.
As I grappled with a whirl of unsettling thoughts, a striking blonde nurse breezed into the room, her hands balancing a tray laden with vials and syringe needles.
"Hi, Jack, heard you've come around?" she chirped, her smile thinly veiling a clinical indifference. With practiced ease, she reached for a syringe from the tray, "Time for injection number three—it's meant to speed up your recuperation."
Distracted by my turmoil, I barely registered her grasping my arm, poised to inject. It was a glimpse through the window, where two birds with unnatural silhouettes spread their wings with a surreal calm, that jolted me back to a harrowing reality.
Hold on, that's not right! On closer inspection, the scene outside flickered ominously, with a severe glitch distorting reality.
A surge of adrenaline kicked in, and I recoiled, shoving the nurse aside. A "snap" reverberated as my arm became awash with glowing green numerical shards!
I beheld my arm, aghast at the digital fragments dissipating into the air!
"What is this madness?" I gasped, eyes wide in disbelief. But before I could even start to piece together this enigma, a sinister surge of indigo electricity coursed through the room, triggering the disintegration of everything around me, as reality splintered and crackled into chaos.
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Click Here: Saluting the Journey to a New Life (Sci-Fi) 3 and 4
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