I have been called many things in my lifetime. A mad scientist, psychopath, cretin, and even despicable but I prefer to call myself…. A seeker of knowledge. To be more specific, I seek forbidden knowledge. I see the knowledge of immortality at arms reach away, but something is always in the way. So I pretend to be a doctor at an old insane asylum, experimenting on my patients. I need these people to expand my knowledge further. I have tried every kind of experimentation possible, but none have got me closer to the truth than my experiments on the mind. Whether it be dream manipulation, or using drugs to cause hallucinations, I always intend to learn something with each experience. What kind of scientist would I been if I didn't try something on myself from time to time, after all, the work I do it for my own benefit, right?
Today is one of my self-experiments. I am planning to push myself into a drugged dream-like state to see what truth is in my own mind. We all hide something from ourselves, right? Of course, we do, so today I will induce a dream and see where it takes me.
I'm in my lab and sitting on the edge of the operating table but today is no operation. I smile as I place the electrodes on my head. This was a tricky procedure; I have to induce a dream while I'm awake. I've done this a few times but learned the hard way that I need Stella here with me. She is one of my captives, but I treat her less like a test subject or a specimen, and more like an assistant. She is quite young, but she has shown great promise as a scientist. She is a quick thinker and thinks outside the box. She even opens up the possibility for new ideas sometimes.
“Stella come here please.” I request. She doesn't even answer and walks over with my syringe. It's full of a neon green liquid, and she knows full well what it is. It's my specially concocted slow acting poison. This means when I inject her with it; she will be able to work while I'm immersed. The trick is that she will have to bring me back out eventually because I am the only one who can brew the anti-poison need to save her. I never have any on stock and NEVER allow anybody in the room when I make it, so this is how I remain in control.
“Here you go, doctor.” She replies. She extends her hand out, giving me the needle.
“You know the drill,” I say, and she turns around. She lifts up her shirt, revealing her smooth, slender body beneath. I jab the needle in her back and push the fluid into her. A green pulse radiates as it makes contact with her blood stream.
“Alright, deary. Let's begin immersion” I order and she goes back up to the computer. She types in a few quick commands, and I lay back on the table. In the next few seconds, I slip from this reality to the reality that is my mind.
I wake up in a room of frozen doors with only one door thawed, and it's labeled ‘The Truth’. I'm not visiting The Truth today; I'm hoping to reveal more of this truth within my own mind. I see a door labeled “The Shadow Man.' This door makes my spine tingle. This is a part of my mind I actually fear opening up. Not because of the contents but because I am afraid of actually having my emotions return. This room contains my emotion for….. Well, I’ll get to that later.
I walk up to the metal sliding door and press the button to power down the cryogenic freezing. This is it; I'm going to delve into my childhood. I walk through the door as it slides open and walks down the long dimly lit corridor until I reach a simple oak door with a brass doorknob. When I open the door and step through, I'm a lot shorter, and I'm wearing pajamas. The room I'm in is a familiar horror that I was definitely not happy about. I can feel my child-like mind working to take over. This is the tricky part of the delve; I need to let go and let it happen but coming back from it makes this difficult. This is why I need Stella; she can force me to wake up.
I stand in my room, unsure of whether I want to continue or not but that's neither here nor there. At this point, there is no turning back. I'm locked in until Stella brings me back out. So I walk over to my bed and lay down, know it's bedtime right now, and that means he was coming out. Oh my how I hated The Shadow Man as a child. He was my torment and even still would be my nightmare had I not locked him away until now.
My tiny body snuggles nicely under my covers, and I close my eyes, hoping to fall asleep. I want to skip The Shadow Man if entirely possible, but that was a battle already lost. I could hear it, I the scratching noises coming from my closet. He is coming, I can hear him. It electrocutes my soul like a lightning strike. I become paralyzed with fear as I listen to the sounds of his clawed feet click on the floor with each step he takes. As he gets closer to my bed, the clicking gets louder and more nerve-racking. The worst part is about to come; the moment when he strikes the most fear into me.
He stops walking when he reaches the foot of my bed. I feel the intent as he slowly climbs over the top of me. My voice is gone while I lay here ready to take whatever punishment he wishes to deal out tonight. I notice him stop when he is fully over the top of me. That's when I see the shadow of his gnarled fractured obsidian hand as he gradually reaches up above my face. He yanks my covers down revealing the frightened child before him. I finally find my voice and let out a horrible shriek.
I hear my parents door open and footsteps running down the hall, but when they opened the door, it was my father. The Shadow Man disappeared in the light from the hallway, and my heart stopped pounding like a jackhammer in my check. In the next few seconds I watched as my dad walked towards me but soon this world faded from me and a moment later I see my lab ceiling, surrounded by monitors.
“Noooo! What happened?” I shout as I sit up and look towards Stella. She stood there looking innocent as I yell at her.
“You were approaching the 8-hour mark Dr. Angel. You told me never to let you go above 8 hours.” She replies calmly.
“I was nearly there, I almost found the secret behind the power of fear!” I yell in frustration. “You were right to pull me out, deary. I'm not angry.” I take a deep breath and pull off all the electrodes from my head and walk out of the room filled with rage and frustration.
“In all these years I'm no more near the truth than I’ve ever been, but the show must go on!” I say out loud in the hallway.
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