• The peaceful void evaporated, in its place was an evil aura, a feeling of pain and sorrow unlike any other. This pain was unbearable more than that of the real world, more painful than the torture he was trying to escape. Suddenly, an evil laughter filled the air, and a memory materialized before him, the worst memory of his life.

    Shadows dance in the light of the twisting flames, the crackle of the fire fills their silent laughter, giving them life in a catastrophic way. The flames grow brighter and lick at everything in their path, his home, once a beautiful sanctuary, was now these hellish ruins. The fire rages on as it quickly consumes the building, it augments, and with it comes more heat and ruin. Slowly, the boy regains consciousness, he panics, struggles to breathe, and searches for a safe way out. He stays low to the ground as he makes his way downstairs to the to the living room, where the blaze began. He trips, as he stands up he realizes what it was, his mother. She is limp, in a pool of crimson that glistens as the pale flames walk across. He begs for her to get up, screams for her to do it, but she doesn’t respond. He begins to tug on her hand, he just barely able to drag her with him, but he able to get them both outside.

    Bang, bang, bang! The tiny metallic clicks rang like explosions in his ears, tearing his world apart. He could see the men, their burly forms clad all in black, each one indistinguishable from the next, except for her. She is the only woman in the group and she is dressed in white, what appears to be a white lab-coat, her blond hair rests just above her shoulders, and she has a cyan blue barrette on her head. Just looking at her scared him, but he can’t seem to look away, how can someone be so beautiful yet so evil at once. Then he hears his father’s voice, loud and frantic, the lady says a single word and the men raise their weapons. Bang, bang! His father’s voice is silenced, tears swell up in the boys eyes, the lady begins ordering her men; he doesn’t stay to see what happened. He runs, his mother dragged behind him, to the only place he could think to go.

    When they reach the top of the hill the sun is beginning to set, creating the same magnificent effect as when it rose, only the sun now set on the ruins of their home, on the destruction of everything he knew. He pulls his mother close to him, he begs her to get up, begs her to help him, but she does not answer. He hugs her close and he can still smell her faint perfume, and he looks out at the once beautiful landscape, only to see a version of hell on earth. Then the lady in white appeared before him, calmly walking towards their special place.

    “So, you’re the one.” she says to herself.
    “…W-why…?” he is barely able to ask.
    “We want you, and they got in my way.”
    “I…I w-want to…stay here…”
    “You don’t get a choice.”

    Slowly the boy opened his mind, ready, willing to break his mother’s only rule. She was dead, he knew that now, and he had to save himself, surely she would have been able to understand. He began to concentrate on the lady’s voice, her whisper in his head, ready to lung into her secrets, to steal her darkest thoughts. But, he felt a slow, steady breathing next to him, his mother, she was still alive. Now his rage was complete, he had to save them both, he would keep them safe.

    “Everything…will...be…o-okay…” his mother chokes out.

    “Wouldn’t want to forget that, would you?” the twisted voice asks.
    “Who the hell are you…?” ESP-I ask in response.
    “Why do you keep asking that?”
    “Get out of my head, now.”
    “Sorry, I like it here.”
    “Get out now.” he stretches every syllable.
    “Fine. But, do you want to die?”
    “What?”
    “Do-you-want-to-die?”
    “Why would you ask that? Why would anyone ask that?”
    “If I leave, you will die. I showed you that memory to remind you of the pain she caused you. To remind you of what she did.”
    “Am I supposed to thank you for tormenting my own mind?”
    “Yes.”
    “I don’t need you.”
    “From my perspective, you do.”
    “How? Why would you help me?”
    “Well, aren’t you conceited, I need your body, can’t have you dying on me.”
    “Y-your just like her.”
    “Really? Well, how do you know your not the monster?”
    “I‘m the one in here, being tortured.”
    “Perspective. To them your dangerous, they’re protecting their world.”
    “By torturing one human being?”
    “How do you know your even know your human?”
    “You can‘t really believe that…”
    “It doesn‘t matter what I believe. See, perspective.”
    “I…What can I do then?”
    “I will unlock another gift for you.”
    “What? How? Why?”
    “A simple, thank you, would suffice.”
    “What gift?”
    “So impatient.”
    “What gift?”