Disgust of waking up

Nethers | 1999 | Hikaro

He had just finished his shift and was extremely excited, even though he hadn't slept a wink in over twenty-four hours, the fact that he would have a special night with Inore kept him on his feet.

It had been a long time since they had gone out to do anything and although just living with her was great, it would be good for their relationship if they went out to do something different every now and then.

He goes down to the parking lot, gets on his motorcycle and heads to the 35th Precinct, where she would be waiting. As soon as he parks, he gets off his motorcycle and lights a cigarette, suddenly worried about his appearance.

The young man, around thirty-two years old and short in stature, was hurriedly fixing his long brown hair, crushed by the helmet, and checking his clothes. Although his complexion was not the best, since the lack of sun had made him paler than it already was and the lack of sleep had made his dark, almond-shaped eyes even narrower. His stubble bothered him slightly, but there was nothing he could do at that moment. His sunglasses helped to disguise the deep circles under his eyes, not that it would do much good once dinner started.

He wasn't in a "doctor's uniform"; he had taken the trouble to change his clothes at the hospital. He was wearing a red blouse with horizontal black stripes, underneath an open, long-sleeved, dark-colored dress shirt and dark jeans, along with a pair of worn leather boots.

Excited about the special night he would have with Inore, but he couldn't hide his anxiety as he waited for her in the police station parking lot. The motorcycle purred softly beneath him, a contrast to the agitation he felt inside.

When Inore finally appeared, he couldn't help but smile involuntarily. She was as impeccable as ever, with her unique and charming style. His eyes met hers, shining with joy and anticipation.

A woman with a striking presence walked out of the police station with an aura of determination and elegance. Her long, curly black hair was tied back in a low ponytail, highlighting her delicately sculpted face. Her eyes, as dark as her boyfriend's, shone with a mixture of determination and a mischievous glint.

She wore a sleek leather jacket, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, revealing the delicate contours of her arms. Underneath the jacket, she wore a white tank top that showed off her lightly tanned skin. Her red denim skinny pants highlighted her curves in a subtle yet elegant way, while her combat boots completed the look with a touch of practicality.

A black backpack hung over her left shoulder, showing her readiness for any situation that might arise during  work at the police station. Her lilac-framed glasses were harmoniously positioned on the bridge of a upturned nose, further highlighting her expressive eyes.

— Look at him — she teased, the sarcasm subtle in her voice. — Who would have thought he would be on time for a change, huh, Captain Tardiness.

He raised his hands in surrender, feigning innocence. — — You know very well why I’m usually late. Shifts aren’t that predictable. — Then, with a smile, he added — You look beautiful today, by the way.

Inore rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide the smile that appeared on her lips. 

— You know I hate it when you do that... Anyway, where are we going?

He gestured for her to put her backpack in the trunk of the motorcycle. 

— You’ll see once we get there. 

 After they had packed their things, he got on the motorcycle and, with a knowing look at her, they headed to the south of the city, towards the port area.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, they were greeted by the cozy and elegant atmosphere of the place. The soft lights and ambient music created the perfect setting for a special evening.

Inore loved the restaurant from the moment they arrived, praising Hikaro's choice with a sarcastic smile on her lips

— Wow, what an amazing place. You actually know how to do some things right.

Hikaro just smiled in response. 

— I’m glad you enjoyed it. I wanted our night to be special.

As they flipped through the menu, she continued jokingly,

— I hope the food is up to par with this place, or we’ll have to have a serious talk with the chef.

Hikaro laughed, agreeing. 

— Of course, we don’t want any disappointments tonight.

During dinner, Inore didn't hesitate to express her opinion on each dish. 

— Hmm, this is divine. I think the chef deserves a compliment, don't you, Hikaro?

Hikaro nodded, admiring Inore's confidence and charm. 

— Of course. You always know how to appreciate a good meal. — He said in a satirical tone. — Although with your culinary skills, I would also appreciate any meal that wasn't made by myself... After all, who knows when my lack of talent would kill me.

— Listen here, you little wimp... — She said, feigning offense.

Between conversations and laughter, they shared funny stories about her work at the police station and plans for the future. Inore, as always, didn't miss the chance to tease him from time to time.

At the end of the meal, she toasted, her defiant gaze meeting Hikaro's. 

— To a memorable night and more encounters like this, even if you're always late.

— My goodness, this time I arrived on time! — He laughed, happy to have Inore by his side. — To our complicity, even in the small provocations.

While walking along the waterfront after dinner, the couple were approached by an extremely nervous and inexperienced mugger. The mugger, with a shaking hand holding the gun, demanded that they hand over their belongings immediately.

Inore, maintaining her dominant posture even in the face of the threat, began to slowly take off her bag, trying to calm the situation. 

— Calm down, we don’t need violence. Take whatever you want and leave, it’s okay.

Hikaro, concerned about the rising tension, tried to intervene gently. 

— Please don’t do anything rash. Let’s resolve this peacefully.

The robber, visibly nervous and with shaking hands, ended up firing the gun accidentally. The shot echoed around the place, making everyone jump.

“Get down.” — He heard the man in his head, but Inore, with her agility and protective instinct, pushed him back and moved to the side, but the shot grazed her shoulder. She let out a groan of pain, but remained firm and alert.

Hikaro, stunned by the event, put his hand on Inore's shoulder to check her condition.

— Inore, are you okay? What happened?

Time seemed to freeze for Hikaro, as if the world around him slowed down as he processed the situation. There, before him, crouched and motionless, was an androgynous figure similar in appearance to his own, but with a sinister and menacing aura.

His long, dark hair fell down framing a mischievous smile, but what caught the most attention were his eyes. While Hikaro's eyes were black as night, "his" were yellowish, with a thin pupil slit to the side, creating a frightening contrast.

— You seem a little... paralyzed, Hikaro. — The figure's voice echoed in his mind, tinged with venom. — You know what... I'll show you how it's done. Thank me later, I rarely throw a bonus bone like that...

Before he could react, his mind disconnected from his body for a brief moment, unable to control his movements. The figure manipulated him with ease, making him roll to the side and release Inore, promptly standing up towards the assailant.

Grabbing the mugger's wrist skillfully, Hikaro twisted it behind his body, while his other arm wrapped around the mugger's neck. With a fluid and precise movement, he applied a quick and efficient technique, breaking the mugger's neck and leaving him inert on the ground.

When control returned to Hikaro, he looked at Inore, who was holding the wound on her shoulder.

After the incident in the port area, Hikaro was taken to the police station to provide clarification about the confrontation with the robber. Sitting in an interrogation room, he faced the police officers who sought to better understand what happened that night.

The officer in charge began his questioning directly.

— Hikaro, please tell us exactly how it all happened. How were you and Inore approached by the robber, and how did the situation unfold?

Hikaro took a deep breath, keeping his posture calm and controlled. He knew the importance of not revealing certain details to avoid being misunderstood. 

— We were returning home after dinner when we were approached by the robber in the port area. He was visibly nervous and demanded our belongings.

The police officer nodded, paying attention to Hikaro's words.

— And how did you react to the robber's approach? Was there any exchange of words or gestures before the gun was accidentally fired?

Hikaro chose his words carefully.

— I tried to keep the situation calm, asking the robber not to do anything rash. There was no aggressive gesture on my part.

The police officer continued questioning. 

— You mentioned that the robber accidentally fired the gun. Can you describe how that happened and what happened next? 

Hikaro replied, sticking to his version of events.  

— The robber was clearly nervous, and during the approach he accidentally fired the gun. The shot grazed Inore’s shoulder, which left us in a state of shock.

The police took some notes and continued with the questions. 

— Did you act in any way to restrain the assailant after the accidental shooting?

Hikaro replied carefully, not mentioning the moment he lost control of his body.

— I acted quickly to ensure Inore's safety and neutralize the assailant. It was an intense situation, but I managed to control the situation.

— Intense doesn't even begin to describe the event... You broke the guy's neck! Inore never mentioned that you knew how to defend yourself.

— There would be no way to stay alive and be Inore's partner at the same time without knowing at least how to take a beating without getting too hurt...

The police officers, the woman's co-workers and familiar with her personality, let out a defeatist laugh and consider their work done, asking him to wait a little longer in the room.

After the statement, the police thanked Hikaro for his cooperation and said they would contact him if they needed more information. Hikaro left the police station, relieved that he had managed to get through the statement without raising suspicions about his mental integrity.

That same night, he made dinner, thinking about what had happened that day. Obviously he wouldn't complain about his release, but Inore wasn't talking much about it, honestly, she wasn't talking much about anything.

After putting the last pot on the fire, he went to the living room and sat down facing her.

— We need to talk about that. — He sighed.

— I know..., but, I thought you wouldn't be willing to do that...

— Well, I don't know what to think about all this. I guess it was supposed to make me feel more guilty or something, but not even that... it's just... uncomfortable...

— I understand... — She stood up and came closer to him — I know how it feels... although, in my time it wasn't at all similar to yours... it's not necessarily a terrifying feeling as portrayed by the media... don't beat yourself up if you don't feel anything special for having done what you did. You weren't wrong. — Suddenly, Inore pulled him into a comforting hug. And, before he realized it, my arms wrapped around his waist and squeezed it tightly.

They stayed like that for the next ten minutes. No one said anything. They just stood there, holding each other, reassuring each other.

The next morning, he finally returned to his work.

He stood up immediately after Inore got out of the shower and walked past him, going to get dressed. He turned to the side and took a bottle of medicine containing Quetiapine from the nightstand, his “old friend”, and part of his long psychiatric treatment. He swallowed one, got up, went into the bathroom and turned on the tap to wash his face.

He got wet, soaped himself, rinsed himself and then looked in the mirror to check the general condition of his face.

But, in the mirror, patiently waiting, was “Him.”

He was smiling, this time, the man took the time to notice his serrated and mismatched teeth, details in the iris that he had not seen before, like the depth of the yellow, the way his pupils looked like the mark that the tip of a cutting knife would leave if stuck in wood, the whiteness of his skin, his enormous resemblance to himself.

— Boo! — “He” said still smiling.

The shock made him blink and when he opened his eyes again, “he” was no longer there.

Weeks passed after this. There had been no further events involving “him”. The police had in fact ended up leaving him alone, his work had finally put his mind in order, everything was normal, until an acquaintance of his, Erico Haroldo, a gentleman of Hispanic origin, ocher skin, thin dark hair and a tired expression who had worked for many years as a coroner at the morgue of the general hospital in the city of Nethers, called him to see a curious case among the corpses that had been admitted during the previous night.

A man, around forty years old, completely pale, as if he had been drained of all his blood, with a serene smile that evoked a feeling of strangeness on his face. In his chest, a hole where his heart should be. All of his nails were black, looking like there was blood under them, and when he pulled his eyelids up, his pupils were strangely dilated. More than normal for someone dead. Which reinforced the feeling of strangeness, because his eyes seemed completely black. As if something could stare at the observer from that dark abyss.

— Any report on what happened to this poor guy? — Asks the young doctor, impressed.

— None... a man was walking to work when he came across him on the street. He called the police and the ambulance, and they brought him in. No suspect, no apparent cause, no signs of a struggle on the body, and the cause of death was...

— Obviously the hole in the chest, right? — Hikaro interrupted.

Erico started laughing and then said, 

— No. He was apparently already dead when his heart was ripped out. My autopsy indicates that this guy was simply brain dead. He died before any of this.

— Lucky... — He answers his colleague, staring at the hole in his chest.

Returning to his office after spending a few more minutes discussing the unusual corpse with his fellow coroner, Hikaro decides to stop by the staff break room to get a coffee. Something he surely knew would help him take his mind off the uncomfortable image of the body.

After entering the empty room, which had a long oval table with twelve seats, a corner table with an espresso machine, and a sofa on the wall opposite the coffee maker, he immediately reached for the stack of Styrofoam cups and placed one of them under the dispenser of the metal coffee maker when, in the periphery of his vision, a figure seemed to move. He turned toward it, expecting it to be a coworker entering the room, but there was no one behind him. Hikaro looked around to make sure he was alone and once he realized it, he closed his eyes, calming down, and returned his attention to the machine preparing his drink, only to be startled by his reflection. “He” appeared in front of him once again, pointed to the door opposite the exit of the room. A single bathroom for hospital employees, and moved his lips as if to say, “I’ll be waiting for you there.”

Once again, as soon as the frightened man blinked, his reflection returned to normal. He reached for his hair, running his fingers through it and pushing it back. After five minutes that seemed like hours, he shakily reached for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket, but, remembering that he was still inside the hospital, he suppressed the urge to smoke and downed the cup of coffee. Trying to regain some control of the situation, he slightly burned his throat in the process. The pain of the act strangely calmed him and after long, deep breaths, he made up his mind and crossed the room towards the bathroom that “he” had pointed out.

— Are you here? — His voice was shaky as he closed the door and locked it behind him. He didn’t know what he was feeling. Whether it was fear, curiosity, or something else.

“In the mirror, heart.” — “His” voice echoed inside his head.

Hikaro walked to the mirror and began to stare at his own reflection.

The more he observed himself, the more uncomfortable he felt. Until “he” appeared.

The skin even paler than his, the menacing yellow eyes, reminiscent of a reptile, the mocking smile filled with pointy and mismatched teeth, the long black hair loose and the unnatural, yet extremely familiar presence. A memory that he struggled to suppress and an irrational fear that spread through his chest.

— Spectruss? — Hikaro whispered in disbelief.

— Better this way, really, right?! — He said, crossing his fingers behind his head and snapping them before resting his hands on it. — How have you been, Angel? Did you miss me?

The man stared at the mirror, clearly in the beginning of a severe anxiety attack, almost hyperventilating.

— Why... No. You're not real. My medicine must have lost its effectiveness, it can only be... You , you don't exist. You're just a figment of my imagination... — He looks away from the mirror, bringing his right hand to his forehead. Trying to rationalize what was happening.

His reflection, widening his smile and licking his lips with his long, forked tongue, replies:

— You know very well that I exist. Or have you already forgotten what I did a few weeks ago? Do I really need to remind you of the feeling of breaking a neck for you to realize that you had no idea how to do what you did that night with that boy? Come on... I know you're smarter than that...

— What's going on? — The man, now at the peak of his crisis, was sweating coldly as he stared at his reflection.

— Very well... — “He” contorts his expression into a grimace, visibly dissatisfied with his interlocutor’s reaction — Listen... with each passing day, it will become harder to ignore my presence. Not that I think this is bad, but if you plan on living in a minimally acceptable way, I recommend that you stop taking those antipsychotics you’ve been taking for no reason and seek real help this time... Look for the church of the painful miracle, it will be there...

Before Hikaro had a chance to ask anything else, “he” disappeared like smoke in front of him and heard the sound of knocking on the door. Before opening it, he did his best to appear at least calm.

When he opened the door, he was met by a worried co-worker, who claimed to have heard strange muffled sounds coming from the bathroom and asked if the young doctor was okay.

After convincing him that everything was in order, the disheveled man hurriedly returned to his office. Spectruss's words were ringing in his ears, but at that moment, it was good that work gave him other things to think about.

Hikaro then, against common sense, decides to ignore what happened and increase the dose of antipsychotics he was taking on his own, and so another week passes.

Chaos had broken out in that hospital.

Only possible and viable explanation.

Everyone working there was absolutely desperate. Since the first body, fifteen others had turned up with their hearts ripped out and that strange smile on their faces. All men, between twenty and fifty years old.

“He” had also left him alone. Although he still had trouble deciding whether it was all real or just in his head, Hikaro had to let it go, because the hospital was becoming increasingly chaotic.

He hadn't returned home for more than three days. His dark circles were deeper than ever, because in addition to the mysterious corpses, many people had appeared in some kind of mysterious coma. Currently, the hospital count was at thirty cases and counting. Hikaro and the other doctors on duty were doing their best to identify the cause, but they couldn't come to a conclusion.

During one of his short breaks, on the ninth day since the outbreak began, Hikaro was sitting on a bench in front of the hospital, smoking one cigarette after another. Trying to relax at least a little, when he saw Inore walking up the street, in uniform, carrying in her hand a cup with a print he knew well. A coffee from Ouroboros, his favorite coffee shop, which ironically was a block down from where he worked, but which he never visited, as he was always stuck in his office.

— Good morning, love... — her voice was firm — Come home soon, okay? I'm tired of sleeping alone there...

— I swear I'll try to come back today, if n... — He was interrupted by her snort.

— “If they don’t need me!” — she finished, making quotation marks with her fingers and an irritating voice — Tell me another one, oh... captain dedication. — Inore ran her hands through her hair after handing him the cup, in order to calm herself down — Do you have any clue as to what could be causing this?

— None yet. — The doctor answers, standing up, opening the coffee and taking a long sip. — But today we are going to transfer one of the victims to the Ibrahim Asylum. Some of our infectious disease specialists think that the disease may be caused by the state of the mind... although I highly doubt it...

— I see... Look, I think you're the only person on earth whose stomach can handle black coffee with green tea and soy milk... — She said trying to lighten the mood a little.

— It's my favorite and you know it. I can't blame the world for his lack of good taste. — The man answers with a weak laugh, coming from tiredness.

— There isn't a single day that I don't ask myself what I saw in you... — She sighs with an awkward smile on her face. — Anyway. I'm going. I need to go back to the police station. Things are chaotic, not just here... Be careful, okay? If you need me, call me. And see that you come home! — Inore finishes by tapping her boyfriend's head with her knuckles.

After this happy encounter, Hikaro proceeds to return to work, in order to finish his third consecutive forty-eight hour shift. After what seems like countless hours of tiredness, seeing patients, discussing with coworkers possible causes for the new illness, as well as ways to deal with the constant flow of new coma patients, midnight finally arrives and once again, too tired to drive home and with very little time until the start of his next shift, he decides to lock himself in his office, lie down on his stretcher and try to nap for even an hour.

He had barely closed his eyes when he heard a loud sound coming from outside the room. He checked the time and realized that three hours had already passed since he had gone to bed. After a few moments of pondering whether he should investigate what was happening outside, he got up to see. A woman with gray hair tied in a low bun and wearing a women's suit approached, staggering with a lost look in her eyes.

As soon as she got close enough, she grabbed him by the shoulders and said in an inhuman voice:

— The pale lady waits in the church of the painful miracle. — The voice that came out of her mouth was cold and penetrating. — She opens a smile full of crooked and pointy teeth, at the same time that her previously darkened eyes revealed themselves to be extremely yellow... like “his” eyes. — This is my last friendly warning.

She fell to the floor as soon as she finished speaking. She convulsed violently before lying completely still. Apparently falling into the same coma that had befallen the other patients.

The young doctor crouches down to check on the woman, only to be startled by a blood-curdling scream.

He woke up covered in sweat. He looked at the clock again and realized it was already five in the morning. It seemed like that night had never happened. He put his right hand to his hair that fell into his eyes and as he did so, he felt a throbbing pain in the palm of his hand. When he examined it, he noticed three deep cuts forming a Nero's cross. Around it, also cut into the flesh, was written "Painful miracle."

Once again, frightened beyond his comprehension, he closes his hand and opens it again, only to be faced with the now perfectly healed wound. The Man was in shock. Just staring at his hand, with a scar that until before he fell asleep, was not there. But, before his thoughts could move in any other direction, an exasperated knock on his door calls him back to the present. He gets up to see what was happening and comes face to face with Enrico.

— Hikaro! You won't believe what's happening! About half of the city's west wing has this new disease, it seems like it's only getting worse every day! They just announced that we have no more space to allocate patients, several of those who are already here have been relocated to Ibrahim. People are fainting in every possible situation, just this morning we had eight traffic accidents... EIGHT! — He entered the room all flustered. Talking nonstop, not even pausing to breathe. — And you don't know what's worse! We're receiving people from that weird little place, Black Chapel, to help with the treatment... The guys still believe that mental illnesses are divine plagues thanks to Oswald and that strange cult that took over the city.

— Calm down! — The young doctor says, placing his hands on his shoulders and forcing him to sit in the patient's chair. — Wait here a moment.

Hikaro quickly went to the nearest drinking fountain to get a glass of water for his colleague, in order to try to calm him down a little. His presence was like a bucket of cold water on his worries. Something for which he was truly grateful, considering that he knew he didn't have time to contemplate what was really happening to him. When he returned with the disposable cup, the coroner was looking at the city through the window of the young doctor's office, which was on the third floor of the hospital.

— Take a glass of water and breathe! Pull yourself together, you're the coroner! You don't even have to deal with patients.

— Thank you Hell... — Erico put one of his hands to his head — It was a long night... I haven't been home in a long time... corpses keep arriving, the hospital is overloaded... what kind of apocalyptic event is this?!

— I don't know. But I'm sure it won't end any time soon... — Hikaro replied with a lost look, staring at something beyond the city's horizon. In the direction of Black Chapel.