Chapter XIX

                                    

                                          
Setback after setback I tell you. It's like the freakin' universe has decided to redeem the karma's-a-bitch deluxe package that it's been building against me. Either that or...
                          
"Again?" Yeah, I may look like an idiot yelling into the sky, but I'm a little peeved so screw how I look. "You fucked me over again? So soon?"
                          
I get it with this guy, he likes playing his twisted little games to mess around with my head, but Jesus, could I at least take a breather between being fucked over?
                          
It's actually a little surprising when I do hear his annoying crafty chuckle coming from within my mind in response.
                          
"I'm afraid it's not I behind this cause. But if I were you I would hurry to find them before the end of this day."
                          
I growl in aggregation. If it wasn't him- and I'm not ruling out that it couldn't possibly be him- then what the hell just happened? How am I supposed to find them? Am I just high and imagining things? Maybe all of this is just an elaborate psychedelic dream that I got trapped in from sniffing something at my grandparents' house.
                          
Yeah, maybe right now I'm actually like Alice from Alice in Wonderland and just knocked out, high off my ass in the forest. Brent's safe at home still asleep, I never feel through some rabbit hole, my parents were never here, and after I finish this lucid delusion then I'll wake up and know never to hit the bad stuff again.
                          
"Fuck this. None of this is real," I announce to really no one but myself.
                          
If none of this is real then there's no need to worry about dying or having any real consequences. Funny, though, how I felt so much pain when I was hurt...but that's all part of this trippy mess.
                          
I'm actually feeling better now that I'm aware I'm on a mind trip- it's kind of cool. With this in mind, I know I can now accomplish anything. I mean, it's basically just like beating a video game now, and seeing how I get competitive over how much pain I can put myself in, this is right up my alley.
                          
First things first, I have to figure out how to find the other three. That was quite the disappearing act, one that caught me off guard. That ominous black fog must have had something to do with their disappearance; it makes me shudder to think what might have happened if I didn't get out of there fast enough.
                          
But another question comes up: what was shooting at me?
                          
Those stings hurt and I'm only now beginning to regain feeling in my cheek again. This mystery just keeps thickening I tell you.
                          
So after some thought, I brainstorm some possible theories behind this.
                          
One, it could have been a wormhole or portal and we happened to cross at the wrong time. Two, aliens (because they have to exist everywhere, of course). Three, the fog changed them into fog. And four, they're stuck in some sort of limbo, unable to get free unless an outside force frees them.
                          
I'm no scientist, but I think I've just come up with some pretty solid starter theories. Now, to try and test them.
                          
I haven't crossed back through the opening I jumped through yet, mostly because my leg was still numb, but as feeling returns to my body, I can limp over to the opening and take the risk of crossing through it again.
                          
Not sure what might happen if I try to cross again, but I do what I always do in these situations and throw caution to the wind. I don't even hesitate stepping back on the path, but as I open my eyes it's apparent that I've just stepped through to the other side with nothing magical occurring.
                          
Welp, I'm fresh out of ideas.
                          
Now that I'm thinking about it- really thinking with a clear head- why the freak do I need them anyway? Yeah, yeah, I need to get a truth from them every day- blah, blah, blah. But what if- and I might come across as a heartless, uncaring human being, but I'm used to that- what if I just don't care?