Persecutory Delusions

When his eyes were open, the boy witnessed brilliant landscapes, strange creatures, and mystic spectacle in his waking daydreams. But when he slept, Mond dreamt of hallways. Empty rooms, dark overcast courtyards, and deep abandoned bunkers. In the place his reality touched the unreal the closest, the world felt vastly small, stuck in an expansive threshold of one dimension leading to every nowhere. Most nights he found it quite nice.

The shade of himself that Mond took in his dreams wandered the halls aimlessly and without care, and with no regard for direction. Thump, thump , creek, a soft sound wandered the space with him, floating by his ears rhythmically. Thump, thump, creek, the sound began to softly grab on his shoulders, Mond's figure turning along the thin impossible halls to follow its touch. Thump thump thump, the sound's rhythm and grip got stronger, provoking his mind to begin stirring again. Thump thump thump thump, and a crash.

Mond’s body shot up before his mind could, his thin polyester blanket flying to the side. Opening his eyes, he was met with a looming silhouette that reminded him of himself, in his dreams, which led him to conclude this shade must be of similar nature, a dream, or something close to it.

Bright white flashes of the television that still quietly pushed sponge-based art supplies illuminated features onto the silhouette, those of an older ragged looking vagabond, looming over him. Occasionally however, flashes of detail over the body seemed to give a more regal and wise appearance. Mond tempered his drumming heart, not wanting undue panic to grip him and ruin his sleep, he had suspected something like this would become a part of his nights eventually, “It’s about time I got myself a sleep paralysis demon, coulda been a little better looking though yeah?”

He fell back into his preferred sleeping position, slack arm dragging his strown blanket back into place. He forced his eyes to slide shut, only to rip open again when the suspected phantom spoke, “So you took them then, good.” It… he spoke. The voice was gruff but not particularly low, as if a comforting and melodic tone rested, buried beneath the gravel of its surface.

“You can…talk, ok, didn't know they could do that but, I can probably tune it out, I leave the TV on anyways so-” His heartbeat got stronger, in a forced move of pretend ease he pulled the blanket over his head. Mond's sight only lined up with the floor now, forcing him to notice the shard of glass scattered about, reflecting the digital white light of the Television, and he lost his grip on his fear.

A single bolting action sent the blanket flying once more, flailing in the dark. Mond's body attempted to flee the intruder in the path it thought was ingrained in his mind, but panic proved too much for his muscle memory. His ribs collided with the counter, sending pills flying about the room and the wind in Mond's chest along with it, his body collapsing to the floor. His hyperactive heart struggled to circulate the air that had been forcefully excised from his body, and his vision struggled to compensate for it all.

“G-get away, right now” Mond managed to wheeze out. Television light staggered between black and white in his blurring perspective. The chimera of potential dangers this invader could have possibly been raged across his nerves, its approach emphasized by the roar of blood rushing in his ears. “You gotta get away, right now” he forced himself to shout louder, adrenaline's sweet touch distorting his senses with each heartbeat, with each step towards Mind the figure took. “I said to get away now!”

Mond’s body arched up in emphasis, an action he would have sworn caused his lungs to pop like balloons that had been stretched too thin. But the only popping that came was from the television, from which a sharp tone echoed out off along with its brightest white flash it would ever produce, before falling both silent and dark. But in Mond's clear eyes and intruders both, a bolt of yellow lighting shot out of the dying appliance, lighting up the room before pitch black fell over them both once again.

A dull ring rocked around his skull, a phantom sound that accompanied his very real rapid breathing. The complete, utter darkness tempted Mond with comfort, that he could believe it had all been choked up to night terrors. But he knew better, the tense blackness also offered the worst of possibilities, that was the nature of the dark, and he could feel the presence looming ever closer.

______________________________________________________________________________

A soft warm spark gave birth to a quiet flame, which illuminated the roughly bandaged face of the intruder only a foot from Mond's own, and crystal blue eyes met crystal grey. Silence filled the atmosphere, and Mond could swear his heartbeat had completely ceased, though his breath continued. He remembered hearing that people's bodies gave up any attempt at panic when it felt it had completely lost, was that what this was? A thought that spurred on another, his surprise he could let his mind wander like that in such a moment. No more screams came from his mouth, instead, “What did you mean, what did I take?” slipped out to break the silence.

Cold wind blew in through the broken glass balcony door the man broke in through, causing the flame to dance between them, eyes never disconnecting from each other. Without any noticeable movement from the figure, a large and dirty hand emerged into the halo of embered light, holding one of the spilt pills, “Mahou’s meds, at midnight, you took them?”

Silence once more took its place along the dark, Mond considered the question, what did the man want to hear? He had decided he was real, as was the potential danger he could be in, and his unusually clear mind came to a conclusion, “Yeah, course’ I did, didn’t wanna be in pain right?”

Although remaining completely unchanged otherwise, the man's eyebrows furled into a considering look that oddly put a slight sense of ease about Mond, until a rapid pounding on his door broke that calmspell. “Hell!” His body leapt up in shock, smacking his head on the countertop hangover. The man pressed out a quiet grunt as stood up, aging knees popping and crackling. For a second, Mond felt around the floor to get his bearings, considering making a quiet crawl to the open balcony.

Before he could manage the attempt however, a familiar voice came along with the light that climbed into the room as the front door opened. “ The absolute hell Sonne? I told you I wasn’t going to be a part of this if you pulled this crap again!” Doctor Mahou’s youthful shout washed relief over Mond with such intensity it actually reintroduced the adrenaline back into his system, the quiet eye of the life or death storm passing by. It was almost enough of a crash to make him pass out, but he knew his situation was far from resolved, so he held onto his resolve.

Plastic on concrete was about the worst feel and sound Mond could conceive of, but dragging the porch chairs up the stairs to his apartment felt positively blissful right now, the aggressive fluorescent hum alongside it even more so. “I suppose they could still kill me the moment I step back in there but, then they would never get those beers so- “ he shrugged and continued pulling.

Careful to avoid the glass scattered across his floor, he set the plastic chairs down on his balcony and gestured to the two men standing awkwardly in the hallway-lit room, “Make yourself at home gentlemen.”

Doctor Mahou had a look of profuse awkwardness marked all over his sweaty face, while the lanky vagabond seemed unperturbed, if not slightly thankful for the seat he promptly took. Mahou on the other hand, began to speak before being interrupted by Mond in a most abrupt fashion.

“Look, Mond Im really sorry about all this - “ “Ahh! “ Mond held his hand out in front of the stammering man's octagonal glasses, halting his explanation. He walked backwards off the balcony, maintaining eye contact with the doctor and holding up a patient “wait” finger. He opened up his fridge and pulled out three light beers without breaking the admonishing look, before returning and downing his drink in one ten second gulp.

“Now” he managed out between a gulp, dropping himself onto his balcony chair, “Please continue on with why you and this fellow here broke into my second story apartment through the window in the middle of the night.”

Mahou let out a guilty anxious sigh, before making another attempt to explain himself, “I didn't want to do it this way for what it’s worth, Sonne here felt that-” once again he was cut off, groaning as the patchwork giant stood up from his chair and knelt down in front of Mond, knees popping profusely as they had during their tumultuous meeting, and took the boys head between two large pale hands.

“You’re eyes, they’re not just free of yellow, they’re cracked” for the first time in the short hour they’ve been equated, an actual expression crossed the giants face, whatever it was Mond couldn't place, but there had definitely been a change. He wasn’t sure about cracked eyes, but instinct told him he should nod and agree with the unnaturally strong man with hands on either side of his brain.

Sonne had been what the doctor called him, though Mond suspected this may have been a made-up name like his own. He definitely didn’t look or sound Japanese, but even so the name had that punchy odd feeling to it that felt more like an adjective than a proper noun, much as his own did. He supposed it was just a habit for madmen.

Sonne turned his head to Mahou in a swift motion, “Cracked eyes, that’s new, what pills did you give him?”. Mahou in turn pushed up in his porch chair, swallowing a mouthful of beer harder than he probably intended, “The same as we always use! Don't ask me about all the voodoo of it all that's your territory, I just get what you tell me too!”

Careful not to show his cards, Mond silently thanked his Lucky Stars he had been too lazy to take God knows whatever those pills really were, but they didn’t know that and he fully intended to keep it that way. Despite the sarcastically inviting performance he’d been putting on, he wasn’t so dumb to have put any trust in these men. Even if one was at least relatively familiar to him, the other was stranger enough for the both of them.

Mond let the interlopers argue between each other for a while, analyzing their intentions with a scrupulous grimace, attempting to sip from the empty beer can as he did. Eventually one of the nervous doctors' many signature sighs came directed at their not so willing host, and he spoke in a clearly practiced pattern. “Okay Mond, I'm sure even your patience with this is beginning to run thin, so I'm just going to cut right to the meat of it.” His habitual glasses adjustment made its appearance, but the golden eyes of Mahou never once looked away this time, very intent on delivering his message. “And what we're gonna say has no real way of not sounding absolutely bonkers, nevertheless some people find it easier explained in whatever the closest thing to a sudo-science it can possibly be described as…”

Sonne took his turn, “Or, after what you’ve surely experienced now that it's been a few hours past midnight,” letting his dangling sleeves fall down his thin wrists, a twin set of gold and steel watches were revealed that he casually eyed, “ at least if what the good doctor said about your file was true, then you would perhaps be more amenable to the second option.”

Mond cocked his head cautiously, but admittedly more intrigued than he felt comfortable with, “And that would be-...?”

“The ramblings of a Madman”