Chapter III: Mind Games

                                    

                                          
Two years later, Johnny is finally getting closer to being sober, and Clark and James have gathered a lot of theories, plans, and supplies for this mission but something has awakened. After two years of hibernation after gathering over fifty kills, the tunnel monster has awoken thus creating a chain reaction of problems. Clark, Johnny, and James all arrive at Max's house to start their mission completely unaware it's under his control now. As they all enter the house, very cautiously and make it up the stairs to the door James was at last time. As they open the door, nothing happens but then a tentacle comes flying at James and grabs his leg pulling him away but Johnny and Clark grab onto his arms to save him. They were successful, but they had to reassure James first because he became more scared than he was before but he snapped out of it to save Max. As they all go through the door, the door slams behind them and the room shifts. Now there is, at least six doors all leading to something, they all split up and take one door at a time. The door Johnny opens, leads to a dream world with him and Ava. The door James goes into, leads him into a past memory of the mental hospital he went to as a kid. Clark opens his door and ends up where he grew up, where his abusive parents are. Clark tries to go back to the door but he's already in so it's too late, he starts to freak out because he never thought he would have to see them again. His parents see him and walk over to him and ask what he's doing out here it's cold. They all go into the house and a surge of ptsd just hits Clark all at once like he's getting punched in the face many, many, many times. His piece of shit father, didn't waste any time and already got a beer and went to sit on his favorite seat. His mom is just smoking a cigarette in the kitchen while cooking, Clark starts to have a panic attack and unfortunately his father sees this and since he's not a good father, he beats Clark with his beer bottle until it breaks and then blames him for breaking the bottle then tells him to get a new one, not realizing that he just beat the shit out of his son with a beer bottle that broke glass all over him. He listens and goes to get the beer bottle in the kitchen and then his mom sees him with cuts and bruises all over his face, and saying while flicking a cig at him, "You know if you were a man, you could have fought back but you're a girl i see" Clark just stoically looks at his mom, this irritates her and she then slaps him causing the bruises and cuts to sting and hurt more. He just walks away and gives his dad the beer, and runs upstairs to his room. As he cries into his pillow he hears a knock at his door, he's scared to open it but does anyway because he wouldn't want to make his parents angrier than they always are. Turns out it was his sister, the only other child these disgusting creatures downstairs made. Clark loved his sister because she was actually a good person and nice to him, she came over to hang out with him because that's what she always did when their parents were being assholes to her little brother, she would hang out with him to cheer him up. They played a game where you had to find a specific item in the room that the player thought of. His sister Mia, picks an item in her head and gives hints to her brother being stuff like it has a black coat on, after a few hours of playing, they started to talk about some deep personal stuff and Clark feeling happy and safe with his sister told his sister that he is gay and hoped she accepted him. She loved him and accepted him, and said she kinda figured but then she had to go somewhere. After she left, things only got worse. Clark's dad started to have sex with the mother in the living room, and not only that his sister got home late from work. It seemed everything went amazing for his sister but not him. Mia recently got a boyfriend, Mia got accepted into her dream college, Mia got better treatment from their parents, Mia has therapy, Mia has a life. Clark feels like he has nothing but just two abusive parents who are homophobic and a supportive sister. Later that day, his sister came home early and Clark was obviously very happy but she seemed not herself, she told him that she's not in the mood to talk or play games at the moment. He becomes more depressed than he already is. Around night time, Clark hears these loud yelling and banging noises, and he goes to check them out then finds out it's his sister arguing with their parents about how depressed and abused Clark is. The father ends up punching Mia so hard in the face she nearly can't get up but then what left like a flash, the father pulls out his shotgun and blows Mia's head off then says "That's one less kid giving me shit for all this nonsense" He sees Clark watching the whole thing then runs to the stairs and then they have a little chase in the house, Clark ends up in his room locked and then he dials 911 and reports everything, as he does that the father starts to scream through the door "OPEN THE DOOR, YOU FAGGOT!" in a Latvian accent but before they got there something went down. Clark gets shot in the leg, nearly losing his whole foot and as he bleeds viciously, the cops finally arrive to the scene but of course the father fights back and shoots a couple cops later going down and getting arrested for many charges and even more charges they found later on, they also arrested the mother and then later put Clark into a foster home. All he does is cry and sleep for nearly a month. Meanwhile Johnny's dream, as he sees Ava. He just hugs her and kisses her. Ava pushes him away asking him some hard hitting questions, like why did he start drinking again after eight years, why wasn't he there at the tunnel that day, why was he so distant later into their engagement. Johnny tries to process everything she just said and he answers, "I started drinking again because I was depressed and lost without you, you dying was the worst thing ever to happen!", "I wasn't at the tunnel because the chief told you and Clark to go! I mean I do regret not asking to go but I thought it would be fine, I didn't think there was a supernatural monster in the tunnel!", "I didn't mean to be distant later in our engagement, it just happened because I was worried you wouldn't love me anymore when it was time to get married.." Johnny poured his heart out with every answer he gave but it didn't matter because Ava started acting very weird, by her face changing and growing tentacles, and trying to make Johnny feel guilty for all this which eventually worked. All he said was "sorry" for the next hour, trying to avoid Ava from killing him with her new tentacles. Finally James' dream, back to the mental hospital he goes! At the mental hospital there is a system where they check your pockets after dinner to make sure you don't have anything that could harm you or others. James was in the hospital for cutting himself in very bad spots like his wrists, his stomach, and his neck occasionally. James was put into a group with a lot of people like him and some who were here for Eating Disorders, Addictions, and just for being overall psychopaths. He tried his best speaking with the others in the group, one of them came up to him and just called him stinky and walked away even though that kid smelled like burgers and fries. One kid came up to James and actually started a conversation, and they later became friends, her name was Lucy. Lucy said she was here for drug addiction, and James told her what he's here for. They became best friends so quick, later that day though, James was found cutting himself on the leg in the bathroom stall by an attendant, the attendant put him under more security by having more attendants and cameras watching him. They did this for a lot of people. James found Lucy smoking a blunt behind the floor two stairs, and she asked if he wanted a hit, he agreed because he wanted to seem cool in front of Lucy and was also just curious. He hit the blunt, not knowing it would make him cough but he enjoyed it actually, so he hit a few more times until he was fried so was Lucy. They just relaxed on the roof of the hospital by getting past all the security and attendants, they just laughed and talked for a while and later even kissed, and Lucy blushed making her face so red. Lucy then says "I know we haven't known each other for very long but you are the sweetest and coolest person here." James then says "I think you are too!" They kiss some more on top of the hospital, not a care in the world for being two, sixteen years old teens. The next day, they didn't really label anything but both knew they were just boyfriend and girlfriend. James and Lucy just brought out the good in each other, James felt less of a need to cut himself and Lucy smoked less. I mean she still did with James but that's it. Both of them even managed to steal a key to one of the doors that leads to all the stuff they take away. They both got caught but it just made them laugh. James went to the therapist there more, and told him all about Lucy and how he actually enjoys the group even though some of the kids are questionably weird. Everything was going so well but not everything stays sunshine and rainbows, Lucy was sent to the infirmary because she was pushed down two flights of stairs causing her to have serious head trauma, James didn't know what to do so he just stoically went on with his day then got a sharp object from one of the plastic seats chipping away, he later went to the bathroom without any attendant knowing and cut himself so deep across his leg that blood spewed out everywhere, he was then sent to the infirmary. Lucy and James back together but in the infirmary. They told each other how they got there and just laughed then later in the day, tried pranking some of the nurses by trying to make their hearts stop to make it seem like they flatlined, this made the nurses angry and also nearly faint but it was funny to them but as they tried doing the funny little prank again but something went wrong. Lucy wasn't faking it this time, and before James could realize what just happened they already called the time of death. James woke up in disbelief asking where's Lucy and calling the nurses and doctors liars for saying she passed away, he got up with his damaged leg and started to threaten the doctors and nurses there by pulling out a scrap object he found on the hospital bed because it seems this hospital isn't very put together. He was saying "Tell me where Lucy is or someone is dying!" Before any of them could answer he stabbed the closest one to him, himself. He stabbed himself in the stomach very deep causing him to almost die as well. He later woke up in the infirmary again, wanting to die and just wished the doctors didn't save him. Then a tingly feeling in his head, he then realized this is a dream of his past. He doesn't know how he knows that but it's true, he knows he has to overcome this dream by not doing what he did last time when it actually happened, which was grieving and taking years to actually heal and get out of the hospital. So he then tried his best to deal with the bullshit of this hospital and bottled up his feelings. Johnny was able to finally calm down Ava, and sit down so they could talk but as they were talking and connecting again then later sex. As they were having sex, Ava's head started to shake then pop off, this made Johnny scream louder than a megaphone. The head of Ava said "I love you Johnny, I truly do but I must detach and go. I wish we could have gotten married and had kids.." All he could do was cry and then say "I understand what I have to do now." Meanwhile Clark's life was actually looking up and not down for once. A foster family took him in and they weren't people who would abuse their kids, Clark was an only child in this foster family and he liked that because he would feel as if he was replacing his sister and he loved his sister so he didn't want that. Clark was having a fun and amazing life, he didn't want to leave even if it was a dream. Later we have found out that Johnny and James got out of their dreams because they overcame their dreams, now they had to wait on Clark but that was hard to do when the house was shifting and monsters were roaming around. While waiting for Clark outside his door, the house shifts and forms into a tunnel. Johnny and James are in shock then start to scream for Clark to get out, nothing happens. Meanwhile Clark is enjoying his dream right now. Clark never wants to wake up, he rather have his physical body die and then enjoy this dream forever and ever. So he thought that's what he wanted, while he was in the dream something bizarre happened, something unusual. Johnny and James were running away from this monster that saw them. The monster was dark and had more than fifteen eyeballs, a tongue as long as a ruler, and three mouths all over its body. They got away from the monster, so they thought but they only ended up in a corner with it. Thankfully someone saved them, Clark saved them. In his dream that very bizarre thing was his fathers head haunting him, following him everywhere telling him to wake up or he will beat him with the belt, thus making Clark get out of the dream and well not overcoming his past of dealing with his father. They all flee from the monster and head over to the next area. In this area they end up in, something strange starts to happen. It seems to have zero gravity and the whole area is also shaking.​​​​​ Then the room shifted and they were then all put into different rooms, experiencing different things. Each room had their biggest fears. Johnny's room was completely dark and silent, because his fear is being alone forever then later dying alone. Clark's room is him with his father and mother and he's tied down to a chair, he has to endure them abusing him physically and mentally by their homophobic terms, while also getting hit with a selection of weapons they were given. James' room is a doctor's office, and his fear is needles. It seems these three can't catch a break and they still haven't found Max. They all scream spontaneously. Johnny is just crying in the corner, and Clark is screaming and crying. James and kicking and fighting back, but what happens is only inevitable. He gets a needle punctured into his neck and it was a slow acting poison but there is no sign of the antidote. Johnny is still crying in the corner, all alone. Clark managed to slip one of his hands out of the rope and punched his dad in the face, and this obviously angered him and he rushed towards him and tried to stab him but he was then kicked in the balls, Clark is also free now so he tried his best putting his past and trauma aside thus fighting back. Meanwhile Max is in a tube a few doors down, almost ready to get out but there is something odd about that tube. James is feeling woozy, and loopy. He already feels the effects of the poison in his body, he feels as if his body went numb and can't move but can. His left arm and leg feel heavier than a sledge hammer, he tries to fight the doctor in there but his body is too numb for him to do anything to the said doctor. James inevitably collapses onto the floor, the doctor picks him up and drags him into another room. Clark escapes and tries to find the others not knowing that Johnny is trapped in his emotions, and James' status is unknown. To make matters even worse, this place has no concept of time because all the clocks are frozen so Clark has no idea how long it's been since they've been here. Clark starts to just open every door like a game of trail and error to find Johnny or James. After a few hours, he eventually finds Johnny but the problem is that he is mortified and is not in touch with reality so when Clark tries to go closer to get him off the floor and make a run for it, he is met with Johnny punching him in the face. Clark started to say it was him and he didn't have to be afraid anymore but Johnny wasn't listening at all. The burning pain in Clarks arm comes back but this time it's really burning. It's burning so much in fact it feels as if something is coming out of his arm. The whole room then explodes with fire. Then the room is not engulfed in flames, he is very confused and Johnny is just scared. He tried to do it again but there was nothing coming out. He then thinks to himself did he always have this power or is it new, all he had was questions. Johnny was screaming like a senile old lady thinking she saw her dead husband. Clark says to calm the fuck down and that they need to find James quickly, at first Johnny was looking around like he was in a trance of some kind. He eventually was conscious and agreed to leave and to go find James. I mean why would he want to stay in complete loneliness? Meanwhile James wakes up still woozy and numb, but the doctor is getting ready to do some surgery on him. Brain surgery to be specific, and he has no clue what's even happening nor can he even move. Back to Clark panicking in his mind because of how confusing this is to him and it's also giving him some trauma. He's scared of fire because of his father almost throwing him into a fireplace and he used to burn himself because of his father. Clark is having a crisis right now with Johnny in the room just in the corner again being so confused, all these emotions and bad memories are flooding in like a category five hurricane. He doesn't know what to do anymore, he doesn't know if he should use these powers and help others or hide them away in fear. With all these conflicting thoughts and memories, he's at a loss. He feels as if he doesn't exist and he thinks maybe that's how it should be. In one short moment Clark's body starts to ignite in flames creating an explosion, destroying most of the house and causing them to find James and Max in one single moment but it still won't be easy. Clark shoots flames at the doctor with James thus saving him. James completely in shock just gives the thumbs up because he has no clue what's going on. In another short moment, Clark jumps with flames on his feet, flying like a jetpack. He charges for Max in the tube, but his efforts didn't matter because a tentacle from Bune came at him but Clark blocked it with his flames thus incinerating it. They both look at each other with a stare of anger, each having their powers ready and both of them looked like they would pop a vein with all the anger they have for each other. Clark starts to say to Bune that he better give Max back or else he's gonna burn him into calamari. Bune just laughs at him. The two clash with their flames and tentacles while Johnny and James run over to the tube to release Max. Bune sees the two trying to release Max, then he removes his focus from Clark like a man having tunnel vision with video games and his wife. He lunges all of his tentacles at James and Johnny so Clark took advantage of this and shot a big burst of flames at Bune, scorching him with a screeching cry for help as shadows came out of his mouth. As the shadows start to come out of Bunes mouth, he yells in anger at Clark saying "TEV BŪTU BŪT NIRŪT TAVAM TĒVAM, TAM NEVĒRTĪGAJĀ MĀJNIEKA!" He then disappears into the shadows. They take a moment to comprehend what just happened and Clark is in shock because his dad used that language, they then get Max out of the tube but he isn't doing so well. He looks like a corpse, with his completely blackened eyes with dark circles around them and his withering fragile body. They lay him down on the floor but before they could even say anything, he rose up. Everyone steps back for a second and with one swift moment, Max attacks everyone. He also seems to have powers because when Clark went in for a fire fist it was countered by high pressure water. Johnny tries to punch Max but he is met with his hand being a fountain of blood because it appears he punched some kind of metal really hard. James tries to run away to find a way out but is stopped, because what appears is that Max stopped time but only on James. His power seems to be the ability to counter anything and everything. Everyone is confused and feels at a loss for many reasons, it seems they have lost their friend and have no way of stopping him to save him. They try to snap him out of it by telling him some memories they share. It seemed to work because everything he did stopped, but he also seemed broken being reminded of who he was. Somehow the group was able to not be in sight of Max at least but still in the house. Max starts to speak as if he's possessed and asks where everyone is and to come out and play as he puts it like some horror slasher trying to find their victim. COME. OUT. AND.. PLAY. He then starts to say how much he wants to rip them up and slurp on their insides. The group goes through a series of tons each showing them stuff from their past or stuff that they fear, and occasionally very odd and sexual things. They end up at the last door but Clark stops everyone because he says it seems suspicious so he launches a fire fist at the door but it is later countered with high pressure water by Max. "Aww i found you guys, it's like a highschool reunion!" Then Johnny screams that a door opened and it seems to be the door out of the house but as they were running to the door Max said something to Clark. "Hey Faggot, where you going? To your sister? Oh wait she got her head blown off! HA!" Clark immediately stops in his tracks and starts to say that he should shut up and he doesn't know what he's talking about. "Oh but I do! I saw everything when I was in the tube." In just one moment Clark turns around and sees his dad and without hesitation and without thought, he launches a fire punch at him, burning him alive but it didn't matter because it was just a distraction just for Max to slice one of his eyes, permanently making him blind in one eye. He moves back to launch another fire attack but this one has anger, and hate in it to the point Clark doesn't even realize he's still fighting Max's body. He launches this attack and the fire takes the form of a sword, the sword starts spinning at what looks like the speed of light because Max couldn't even react to this attack. The sword made of pure flames with a dash of hate and anger, he slices Max's left arm and foot clean off. "I don't care who you are, if you ever disrespect me or even mention my sister I will kill you." He just walks off and out of the house with Johnny and James, they just seem to be in shock because they were quiet the whole ride home. Clark felt relieved in some way because the whole time he felt caged like an animal in a zoo or like a test subject in a lab. While they were home, they started to have a conversation about this whole thing and what they saw and what to do next. After each of them told what they saw while leaving some parts they aren't ready to talk about or happy about out. Johnny tried asking Clark what that was back at the house where he nearly killed Max. Clark just scoffs and looks away. Everyone is silent. James tries to open up a conversation, but it fails very quickly. They all go to their respective houses, and Clark is sitting at home just questioning everything and having flashbacks to his past. He thinks to himself that he needs something happy in his life, so he goes to a gay bar for the first time and tries to be open and maybe meet someone. After a few hours someone finally comes to him because he is too shy to go up to anyone, the guy comes up and asks what's wrong because he looked down and was drinking a bit. Clark says he's fine just never been to a gay bar before nor was he really out like that. The guy introduces himself "Well i can help you ease up, and my name is Henry." "So what brings you here anyways?" Clark says I wanted to possibly find someone to make me happy. Well what about me he says, "I guess we'll find out" They end up talking for hours. Henry says "Can I tell you a secret?" Clark nods, "Come closer I need to say it quietly." Henry then grabs Clark and kisses him passionately, he doesn't push away he gets into it. They kiss passionately for a whole two minutes, after they kiss, they smile looking deep in each other's eyes. "Hey wanna come back to my place" Clark suggests and Henry agrees. They get into the car but as they are leaving, a car starts to follow them. Clark takes notice of the car following them and tells Henry of the matter, then he speeds up so Henry and Clark speed up to eighty five miles per hour to get away. The cars get into an accident, with both cars on fire. A man bleeding gets out of one of the cars, panting and coughing up blood. It was James. It seems like Max somehow paid a visit to him because he had this black goo tentacle over his arm. Clark then shoots a fire punch at him, taking out three of his fingers. Henry is shocked and scared because he didn't know that Clark had fire powers and is confused about this guy with black goo. James launches himself at Clark to attack him with his arm because it appears to only have close range combat. Clark stops him by slapping him so hard with flames on his hand. This attack sent James flying. Clark looked at his hands in fear, he didn't mean to hit him that hard. Clark then tells Henry to call Johnny on his phone while he fights. Johnny arrives after 15 minutes of the call. Clark tells him that Max is infected and James is injured and infected. James sends some of the black goo and it goes straight for Clark but Johnny jumps in making him infected instead. The tone changes with Henry completely terrified, Clark angry and scared of himself, and Johnny infected. Clark says "This has to end!"