章 26: Lucas Miller
Lucas' head hurt. It throbbed in waves of pain. He couldn't hear correctly either. Everything was muffled. He would shift his head and it sounded like he was under water.
He had trouble opening his eyes. He felt horrible. He struggled to remember what happened prior to his unconsciousness. He was with Janice, she took his arm and saw his bandaid was gone, then she stabbed him with something. A tranquilizer? Lucas couldn't remember. He didn't want to. Everything was over. He wanted everything to be over.
Lucas still couldn't pry his eyes open. It seemed impossible, but then he heard something. It wasn't muffled in the slightest. This caused his eyes to shoot open, and what he saw bewildered him. Lucas was in the middle of a desert.
It was vast and expansive. Mountains of sand ranged miles uphill. The sky still had its yellow tinge. The sand was white and cold. He could feel it through his boots.
Lucas was bound to a chair in the middle of a desert. "No, no, no…" Lucas whispered to himself. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to go. He needed to leave, but this chair wouldn't move. It wouldn't let him go. His arms and legs were wrapped by belts.
Lucas knew this place. He hated this place. He wanted nothing more that to die here and now. He didn't want to see what was coming his way.
There was a person emerging from over one of the hills of sand. They swayed to the left, and then to the right. As they began to walk downhill, they took one wrong step and they plummeted face first into the sand, rolling down the hill. They stopped right in front of Lucas.
The person had golden blond hair, oily with sebum and blemished by sand. They had a pistol in their hands. Many minutes later, they planted one hand into the sand, and then another. They pushed themselves up and sat on their butt. Their legs were outstretched and they were panting. Just sitting up felt like running a marathon to them.
Lucas got a good look at their face. Dry lips, blood-red eyes, and blue irises.
Lucas sat strapped into his seat, his mouth agape. He began frantically shaking his head.
(Lucas: "No, no, don't, don't to this, don't do it.")
The person in front of him looked at their gun, the barrel sticking into the sand. They slowly reached for it and grabbed it by the grip. They inspected it.
(Lucas: "Please, please, please, please don't do this.")
The person tapped the barrel against their palm a couple times, contemplating. Pondering. Deciding. They shook their heads, their body beginning to shake. Tears ran down their face. They buried their face into the sand and began screaming. They screamed. It was ear-piercing.
Their voice echoed throughout the dunes. Lucas wanted to look away, but he couldn't avert his eyes.
The person took their gun and put it to their chin. They kept it there. The gun rattled in their shaky hands.
(Lucas: "Don't do it. Don't, don't , don't. You'll get out of here. I swear. I swear to you. Just don't do that!")
The person repositioned the gun, this time to the side of their head. They held it to their temple. Their eyes were squeezed shut.
(Lucas: "Please! PLEASE! DON'T DO IT.")
Lucas begged. If he could, he'd be on his hands and knees, palms intertwined, praying to the gods above to spare the boy's life he saw in front of him.
(Lucas: "DON'T SHOOT! PUT THE GUN DOWN! PUT IT DOWN! NOW! RIGHT FUCKING NOW!")
Lucas screamed at the boy he saw. His voice had no impact. It did not echo through the dunes. Lucas wasn't really there.
He watched helplessly as the boy repositioned the gun once again. This time; inside his mouth. He held the trigger with his thumb. He bit onto the barrel to keep it from shaking. The boy was hyperventilating. Tears still rolled down his rosy cheeks, and he was whimpering rather pitifully.
Lucas couldn't bare to watch any longer. His pleads failed. His voice was of no use. He couldn't use his actions to save this boy. It was his own actions that had brought this fate upon him in the first place.
Lucas squeezed his eyes shut. He turned his head away from the boy.
A single explosion from the barrel rang out.
Lucas didn't see the aftermath. He knew the outcome. He experienced it. He felt it. That familiar sense of peaceful dread washed over him. The storm had passed. He opened his eyes for a split second. He only wanted a single peek. The boy wasn't there. He was replaced. The spider stood in front of him. It stood in the white sand, staring into his soul.
He shut his eyes once again. Lucas didn't dare open his eyes. Nothing could get him to open his eyes, except for, perhaps—
(???: "Where are you off to?")
Lucas heard the voice and his heart sank. It was high-pitched and lovely. Lucas opened his eyes. He saw the face of a woman with long black wavy hair. Beautiful hazel eyes and delicate hands tucked into her lap. This woman who bore the name Liliana Miller sat in front of Lucas.
The boy he had seen stood at a door, tying his boots.
(The boy: "Out.")
(Liliana: "You don't have to go out every day.")
(The boy: "You'd rather me stay?")
(Liliana: "I just care about you.")
(The boy: "Oh yeah? Is that why you keep trying to send me to that good-for-nothing counselor?")
(Liliana: "I know you see things out there no one should ever have to see. I can see it in your eyes. But you won't tell me what you're thinking!")
(The boy: "Don't tell me what I see. Don't you dare tell me what I see.")
The boy pointed at Liliana and raised his voice slightly in anger.
(The boy: "I am completely fine. If I needed a break, I'd take one.")
Lucas felt his blood boil. He was furious with the boy. How could he yell at his lover like that?
(Liliana: "You are not fine! You come home every day and you don't speak a word to me! You don't tell me what you see! Just tell me what you see!")
(The boy: "For God's sake, would you quit prying? I don't want to talk about it!")
(Liliana: "You don't need to bare this burden all on your own!")
(The boy: "SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! I am leaving! I don't want to talk about it.")
The boy cursed under his breath and finished tying is boots and left the room. Liliana was left there alone. She was crying by this point. Lucas tried to reach out. Why did he do this?
Lucas experienced Liliana go on about her usual schedule. She stayed in the room, not doing much. He watched hours tick by. Soon Liliana was asleep. She woke up the next morning looking around the room. She searched everywhere. She eventually got on a phone connected by a wire to the wall.
(Liliana: "Hello? Hello? This is Liliana Miller, my husband left yesterday and never arrived home.")
She sounded panicked. She was afraid. Scared something had happened to the boy. He didn't return home.
(Liliana: "What do you mean you lost his coordinates?!")
Lucas watched Liliana start crying once again on the phone. She collapsed onto her knees, covering her mouth with her hand. She let go of the phone and put her face to the floor and wailed.
He watched a month go by. The boy never returned to Liliana. She sat on her couch and turned on the television. And saw her husbands name placed on an obituary on the news. She watched the community hearing being held in his name on the television from the comfort of the couch. She was too distraught to attend. She was too angry. Too sad.
She told him to stay. She told him! He didn't listen! He just wouldn't! Why?! Why didn't he listen?
There was a knock on her door. She answered it and there was a man and a woman at the door dressed in fine black suits. The woman held an envelope. It was red and had an H.S.A. logo on it.
(Woman: "I'm sorry for your loss.")
The man stayed silent behind her.
(Woman: "Here is his accumulated compensation. He was a valuable asset to the H.S.A. It's very unfortunate it had to end up this way. Wherever he lays now, just know he's finally at peace.")
Lucas shook his head. Her words filled him with rage.
(Lucas: "You have no goddamn idea what you are talking about!")
Liliana took the envelope and closed the door. She stood in front of the door, before leaning onto it and sliding down. She curled up into a ball and she couldn't stop herself from crying once again. She dropped the red envelope in her hand.
Lucas hated this. He hated seeing Liliana like this. He wanted this all to stop. He wanted it to stop.
He heard Liliana continuously bawl. Her cries were filled with grief and sorrow. The Lucas that left that fateful day was dead, replaced by a monster in the skin of a human.
His skin began to form into reptilian scales before his eyes. He started scratching at his arm, trying to remove the scales but it no matter what he did, he couldn't stop himself from becoming the monster he knew himself to be.
He hated his skin. He hated his immortality. He tore through his own flesh. There was no pain. He felt nothing. None of this was happening. Lucas was losing his mind.
Lucas finally opened his eyes. His real eyes. He was in the middle of a dark room, a single hanging light overhead. His arms and legs were still strapped to the chair. He hadn't torn his skin, nor bitten his arm. His was back in his own skin, and yet he still felt out of place.
(Janice: "Are you finally aware?")
(Lucas: "Huh? What happened?")
Lucas was extraordinarily dizzy. The world spun, and he still saw strange colors and images in his vision.
(Janice: "I see the effects still haven't worn off, but you're conscious enough. Let's begin, shall we?")
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