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“Well, well, well” said a growling voice “About time you woke up, Matthew”
Matt gave himself a moment to adjust to his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was heading out after recording a Game Theorists video. As soon as he left the building, he felt a sharp pain in his neck and then everything fell black. He had no idea what had happened to him.
His eyes darted around the room, trying to work out where he was and why. He attempted to stand up, only to find that was tied to a chair. He struggled against the bonds, only managing to slightly shake the chair.
“Calm down,Matt” said the voice that he heard moments ago “You’re not getting out of them”.
Matt’s eyes widened as he realised who the voice belonged to. It couldn’t be him. Why on earth would he be here? Matt slowly looked up. “N-Nate?” he stammered, looking at the young man before him.
“Hey, Matt” Nate responded. There was something wrong. He didn’t seem like Nate. It was his face and body, yet it somehow wasn’t him. His eyes looked dark and murderous, rather than being happy and energetic like Matt was used to. He also had black make-up around his eyes and purple marks that looked like tear trails down his face. A psychopathic grin covered his lips. “How’re you feeling?” Nate asked.
“Where am I?” Matt inquired.
“Now,now, that’s not for you to ask” Nate responded.
“What are you doing,Nate?”
“Something”
“I’m gonna need more than that” Matt said, his voice wavering slightly.
“Well, you’ll find out soon enough” Nate replied, his grin widening. He turned around and walked towards the edge of the dark room.
“W-where are you going?” Matt stuttered.
“Asking a lot of questions, aren’t we?” Nate commented. He grabbed something off a small table in the corner of the room. Matt only saw what it was when Nate approached him once again. It was a gag. “No,Nate!” Matt begged “No! Please!”
“It’s your own fault” Nate remarked as he forced the gag in Matt’s mouth and tied it around the back of his head. “There we go. Isn’t that so much better?”
Matt felt his heart beginning to race as he stared at Nate. He was normally so nice and friendly. What on earth had happened to him? Why was he acting like this?
“Oh, and just so you know, I’m not actually Nate” the familiar voice stated “This is just Nate’s body. Let’s call me...Nate-mare”. The monster laughed at his own joke before returning to the table in the corner of the room. When he returned, Matt saw a large knife in his hand.
Matt began to struggle and attempted to scream as loud as he could. But it was all in vain. There was nothing Matt could do but accept the hell that was about to be unleashed upon him.
“This might hurt a bit” Nate-mare said, before letting out a deranged laugh. Once again, Matt attempted to scream, with it just being muffled by the gag in his mouth.
Then, Matt felt the first bit of pain in his arm. This burst of pain instantly made him feel weak. He struggled and pulled, trying to avoid any further injury. He looked down at his arm and saw a large gash down it. As soon as he saw it, he closed his eyes and turned his head away. He knew much worse was going to happen.
“Told you it’d hurt” Nate-mare commented. Matt pulled, struggled, and attempted to scream as Nate-mare continued slicing into his arms and legs. Pain consumed Matt as he bled all over his skin and clothes.
Nate-mare forcefully pushed Matt into the chair. “Quit struggling!” he yelled “You’ll just bleed out quicker”. Matt ignored Nate-mare’s instructions and continued to tug and yell. “Fine, see if I care” Nate-mare stated “But it’s you that’ll die, not me”.
After a few more minutes of agonising pain, Matt finally began to understand what Nate-mare had been saying. He was beginning to feel light-headed and was losing strength incredibly quickly. He gave up struggling and collapsed helplessly against the chair. “There we go” Nate-mare said,smiling “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Tears began streaming down Matt’s face. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening. He was really here. Nate really was gone. All that was left was this monster who wanted to torture him for some reason. He looked into the eyes of the monster and thought about his former friend. Matt cared about Nate so, so much. Slowly, the amount of emotional pain began to match the physical amount.
Nate-mare finally turned around and walked back to the corner of the room. Matt took this as a moment to breathe. He knew that he had to steady out his breathing and calm himself down. Then, Nate-mare returned with a new weapon in his hand. Matt’s heart stopped as soon as he saw what it was.
A gun.
Nate-mare smirked and walked around Matt. Slowly, he untied the gag and removed it from around Matt’s mouth. “Wasn’t this fun, Matt?” Nate-mare asked facetiously.
“Why?” Matt cried out.
“Why what?” Nate-mare questioned.
“Why did you do this?” Matt shouted “What did I ever do to you, Nate?”
“I told you. Nate’s not here anymore” Nate-mare answered “Well, he is. But he’s not in control right now”. He raised the gun and looked at it, his grin shifting to a slightly more maniacal one. He turned to look at Matt’s face- it was covered in tears, exhausted and hopeless. “Your little friend’s in here, you know"
“What?” Matt asked, shocked and confused.
“Nate’s in here. He’s struggling and fighting. He’s begging me not to hurt you. He’s crying and screaming” Nate-mare paused for a moment before continuing “But he’s not the one with the power here. I am”.
He moved the gun slowly and Matt’s eyes followed it. Then,it was pointed directly at Matt’s forehead.
“Give me one reason not to kill you” Nate-mare demanded.
“Please” Matt begged, tears beginning to flow down his face again. He knew who he’d have to talk to in order to get out of this situation “Please,Nate. I know you’re in there somewhere. Don’t let him do this. Please! I need you,Nate!”
“He’s not going to respond. You should kn-” Nate-mare began. Suddenly, he stopped and keeled over. When he looked up, his eyes were suddenly so much less angry. Instead, they were afraid and desperate. “Matt?”
“Nate?” Matt called “Nate, is that you?”
“It’s me” Nate responded. He stood up straight and rushed to untie Matt. “I’m back, Matt, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you”
Once Nate was done untying him, Matt’s tears of pain changed to tears of relief. He pulled his friend in for a tight hug using what little strength he had “Thank you” he cried “Thank you,Nate”
“I’m sorry,Matt” Nate replied, his voice quivering “I couldn’t stop him”
“I know. That wasn’t you. It wasn’t your fault”
Matt instantly dropped to the floor, unable to hold himself up anymore. “Oh gosh” Nate trembled, crouching beside Matt “I’ll call an ambulance”
“No” Matt whimpered “The police...they’ll arrest you”
“I’ll be fine. I can’t let you die. Not here, not like this” Nate said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“No” Matt cried, as one last struggle. As his eyes fluttered shut, he saw Nate bringing his phone to his ear and mouthing ‘I’m sorry’.
When Matt awoke, he was in his bedroom. He glanced over his body and saw bandages covering most of him. “What the...?” he said. He looked to his side and saw Nate sat on a chair. The makeup that was covering his face had smudged everywhere. “Why am I not at the hospital,Nate?” Matt asked weakly.
“You asked me not to take you to the hospital, so I didn’t” Nate responded “I think you’ll be alright. I did as much as I could”
“Thank you,Nate”
“It’s fine. I’m sorry about what I did,Matt”
“That wasn’t you. You weren’t in control. It was that thing ” Matt replied “Speaking of- what happened to him?”
“He’s still in here” Nate answered “I can still hear him. But I’m in charge now. I can control him”
“So I’ve got you back?”
“Yeah. At least for now”
“I’m glad you’re alright” Matt told Nate.
“Right back at you,buddy” Nate replied with a smile. Matt shot a smile back. He knew at that moment that eventually everything would be alright.