Somatic Delusions

Burning lungs, a heartbeat in his ears that in childhood served as wardrums, now felt like a panic siren. Where was that bravery now? Mond tried to chastise himself for his cowardice, but the hyper-electric roars that chased him through the twisting concrete halls made it hard to deny his flight instincts. The deep violet alleyways he leapt through seemed to ungulate behind him as the murderous gaslight swept over it behind him, singeing the ground and walls around it to black.

Mond recognized the path he fled down, often cutting between these lowrise apartments on late evenings to listen to music and reflect. If the city was a concrete jungle, then this was its thicket, pipes slithering up ladders like metallic chrome snakes. But for a moment, the recognition of the well tread path seemed to cease its twisting, the pale color returning to its cold stone walls, a sight that cut through the terror in Mond's eyes. Breaking free from the deadly thoroughfare, Mond felt the moon's pale light shine over him in the clearing, large dark-metal spires rising all around him. And his heart sank as he fell onto the hard asphalt below.

He felt like he wanted to vomit, vertigo and sheer pain gripping his lower half. Both physically and emotionally he had crashed, staring up at the alley he had just come from, it was like someone had taken a slice of the city and raised it 7 meters up. And around the concourse, blazing rainbow light began to gather. “It’s not…supposed to be like this..” Mond moaned to himself, fear, anger, and shame welling up in his throat. Every inch of his body curled and constricted, shrinking himself into a ball as blood pooled around his broken legs, “Can’t - maybe this can just, not be real.”

No, that was one truth that despite his shameful fear, despite his confusion, and despite his yellowing eyes, Mond knew he could not accept. Nor did he want it to be, using the last bit of his strength he turned himself onto his back, limbs sprayed out like a brittle starfish. Sizzling, popping serpentine gas hissed out above him now, its violet head rising in front of the watching moon poised to strike. Cold, pitch black spikes stretched up around it like a metal forest, memories of the night he flew flashing into Mond's mind more clear than they had been in so long.

It had to have been real, which meant this was too, if he died now it would be a relief, rather than waking up in his own bed for it to have been a dream. Crackling, bright yellow lightning trailed its way down the spires, the hiss of the burning gas slowly being drowned out by static drumming. Though the neon serpentine silhouette blocked the moon, its pale crest could still be seen, and the stars around it began to swirl. Gathering light trailed down the pillars and through the asphalt that now swished and rippled like water, towards Mond who floated on its surface, pearlescent indigo illuminating over him as the serpent struck down. His heart was terrified, but his mind was calm. “You’re not a dragon…” his mind was calm because it knew this couldn't be. In a moment, the crackle of lightning that gathered around him ceased, leaving only blazing neon.

But Mond's heart was terrified, because it knew everything he held dear needed this to be real, and so he chose to fear. “You’re not a dragon, you’re a snake”, and Thunder filled the air, and radiant lightning glassed the yellow from his eyes into a pure crystal.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Today, the head commissioner for the Agency of Natural resources made a statement on the electrical discharge that injured at least a dozen civilians last Sunday. Director Araki, who was in charge of damage control over the whole event, suggested that low frequency electromagnetic fields may have become prevalent in the area during the accident, causing mild to traumatic hallucination in those caught in the site. In other news, the runaway subway train last seen in Shinjuku station continues to elude investigators…”

The cherubic beep of Mond's heart monitor irritated him to no end. As the news revealed the “Truth” of the incident, now beyond the intense emotions he felt before, he just felt defeated, unwilling to lend more thought to the subject. And the annoying little beep beep beep of the monitor certainly was not helping his nerves, reminding him of a snotty little child tapping on his arm, “hey you alive? Hey you alive? Hey-”.

“Shuddap will ya!” After who knows how many hours of lying awake, slumped over in his medical bed, Mond thrashed about under his blankets, knocking them and the heart monitor up and over onto the floor with a crash. A tall pale complexioned doctor peaked his head around the corner to investigate the ruckus, his exasperated expression turning to a large polite smile as he slunk into the room. “Ahh, Mr…. It’s good to see you awake” Mond tuned out his last name, as he had accustomed his mind to do as he did with altering his first.

Propping up sterile looking equipment that had been toppled over, the long lanky practitioner poised himself with a calming yet somewhat imposing aura. “Ya know, had it been doctor Toshihide walking by he would’a had your ass for that, despite your condition” the man spoke in a hushed deep and melodic voice that reminded Mond of one of the American talk show hosts his father enjoyed watching. He opened up his slightly manila tinted coat and pulled out a clipboard, tipping down his large octagonal glasses to study it. “Doctor Mahou, by the way” He gave a less forced smile than before, holding out his hand. Mond looked from his bedridden position up to the hand of the man who stood at the foot of the rather long bed, lazily reaching up his arm in fo-handshake to emphasize the unreachable distance between them. After a second of embarrassed comprehension of his mistake, Doctor Mahou cleared his throat, “5 '5 , 130 pounds, AIWS, Alice in Wonderland syndrome is that right? Multiple bouts of it reported as a kid”.

Mond groaned and adjusted himself in the bed, he wanted to just get up and walk out, but there was one thorn in this situation he was worried about, so he put on his most polite face, whatever that was worth. “When-” he paused for a second to consider the chronology of his story, “When I was around 8 I fell outta’ our car going pretty fast, hit my head and I guess it gave me some head issues, hasn’t given me any trouble though since I turned 18” the last part he said with a hint of somberness in his tone, though he doubted the Doctor would notice.

“Distortion in size, time or spatial perception? Temporary loss of certain senses, intense vertigo, nothing in the last year?” Mahou coked his head up from the medical sheets as he questioned his patient, “Oh, Happy late birthday by the way”. Mond groaned and fell back onto the grossly firm hospital bed, a twinge of pain running up the back of his tendons pulling a small yelp, distinctly and embarrassingly more high pitched than his previous groan.

The shooting pain reflexly sent his gaze down to his tightly bandaged legs, which while still painful, were relievingly much more intact than Mond had expected. “ Just some bit of bone contusion around where you had em’ fused before, nothing severe. The scooter that hit you wasn’t going crazy fast, the rider was probably feeling the effects before the discharge from the powerplant.” Mond was dumbfounded at the Doctor's account of events, but was too exhausted to argue.

He had never had a bone fusion before, wasn’t even completely sure what that meant, but of course that was far from the most mentally taxing concept of his conversation with Doctor Mahou. “Hey, Doctor Mahou, the TV-” careful of his ankles now, Mond pushed himself back to a sitting position, a more cautious attempt to avoid any more demeaning whimpers. “They said there was a magnetic field causing some delusions in the area right?” He was already on the defense in this situation, the fact of his semi-legal status in the country not far from his mind. This was the first time he’d been in any medical facility aside from picking up some over the counter pain killers one time he’d stood up too soon cleaning under the cafe tables. So the partial lying that came to him when he pretended to remember the whole event came smoothly. “If you know…what did the other people who were hospitalized see exactly?”