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He stares at the blue screen for a few seconds not understanding what was in front of him. It hurts to blink, as if he's been staring at the sun for days. The moment he remembers that he has to swallow there is the burning feeling of bile coming up his throat.
His trip to the bathroom is a blank space in his head. One moment he was sitting in front of the cheap computer he got from a friend of a friend and the next he was doubled over with his head in the toilet bowl. Didn’t even turn on the lights… And that went for every single room in his apartment. Although, on second thought, that was probably the only thing preventing an earth-shattering headache.
After throwing up what had to be at least all the food he has eaten throughout his entire existence, he went to stand up looking to clean himself a little. There was only one problem, his legs were so cramped he just ended up on the floor again, now with the worry that maybe he had pulled something. For example, everything.
He needed to call someone and for that he needed his phone, a phone that was in a different room. There was no way he was about to try to stand up again after such failure, so his only option was to crawl all the way to the other room.
As if he didn't feel pathetic enough.
It took him 7 minutes and 36 seconds to get from the bathroom to the couch. No, he wasn’t counting, he actually has no idea how he knows that.
He tried to turn on his phone to no avail, it was dead, and judging by the fine layer of dust covering it, it has probably been dead for days. Two months, his brain tells him even though it makes no sense for that to be true.
Now he had to get the charger, good thing it was actually quite near and didn’t give him much of a trouble to plug it in. Then he made sure it was turned on before letting his body rest on the floor. Now all he had to do was wait.
His head collapsed onto the dirty floor. It was now that he realized how disgusting his apartment was. Junk food wrappers and empty energy drinks scattered everywhere, basically an average college dorm apartment so it’s not that bad, but he is definitely cleaning up once his bones regain their physical form.
A white flash invaded his vision, making him close his eyes as pain started to flow through his head. He covered his ears as all the sounds to ever exist started making themselves known. Yes, I’m talking to you. Were the only words he could make out before he blacked out from the pain.
The sound of his ringtone welcomed him back to the world of the living. He groans in pain but his voice sounds wrong, he should get some water soon. But first, his phone.
The screen read “Zachary”, and he was delighted with his friend’s screaming voice when he picked up.
“Derek! Where the hell have you been, man?!” Every word that was spoken (more like shouted), landed like a hit to his skull.
“Please stop screaming.” His voice must have sounded rougher than he thought because Zach immediately stopped his reprimand. Then the line went silent for several seconds.
“What happened to you?” Even when it was barely a whisper he could still hear the fear in his friend’s voice.
“I don't know.” I do. He starts to notice that every time that voice speaks the headaches start.
“Where are you?”
“My apartment.” Only now did he remember that he had never told Zach where he lived.
“Send me your address, don’t you dare hang up.” That little shout made his head hurt.
His fingers felt numb, but he still did it even under the constant threat of the phone falling to his face.
“We’re on our way, stay put.” We? Oh yeah, he forgot about Theo.
“Okay.” Not like he’s just going to walk away when his legs are basically useless.
Zach ends up hanging up, but the silence doesn’t last long. His head ends up feeling like an international airport with all the thoughts coming and going. Actually, they are not his thoughts, it's just random information that he shouldn't know.
He should have told Zach to get him some medicine because those headaches are definitely going to become a daily occurrence.
Ten minutes later there was a knock at his door. They had to be running for their lives considering that he knew they were thirty minutes away.
He was already wondering how he would manage to open the door when he remembered that he had left it open in case something like this happened. Although he couldn’t remember why he thought this exact situation could be a possibility.
“The door is open.” The moment he shouts he instantly regrets it as he is attacked by a coughing fit. Yes, he will need a lot of medicine.
“Derek, what happened to you?” What Zach was actually saying was that he looked horrible.
Both Zach and Theo end up helping him get up and sit him up on the couch. Theo also gives him some ibuprofen when he starts having another headache. Still, it made him feel pathetic not even being able to get a glass of water by his own accord.
“We have to get you to the hospital, man.” And that just made the feeling ten times worse.
“I don't need that.” His own body contradicted him with another coughing fit.
Theo and Zach were looking at each other to communicate telepathically. “Do you know if something is broken?”
“Nothing's broken, but I feel like there’s never been food in my stomach.” There was even more worry in their eyes.
“Yeah, your apartment looks like shit.” Zach's lack of filter always made him chuckle. “Have you just been here these past two months?”
“I think so.” At least that's what the amount of empty energy drinks were saying.
“Wait, you don’t know?”
“Not really. I just sort of closed the door to my apartment, I blinked, and suddenly two months had passed.” He had just wanted to chill and play Minecraft, but here he was.
“Are you sure you don’t want to see a doctor? That sounds like a brain issue.” Of course Theo would know that since his entire family are doctors. Come to think of it, how does he know that?
“If it is, I still don’t have the money for that.” He still has to deal with the student debt. “I only want to relax right now.”
Again, they look at each other. A way to keep him out of the conversation, but somehow he knows exactly what they are saying next.
“We’re staying here.”
For the next few hours they force him to lie down on the couch while they clean his apartment. He makes a mental note to repay them for this once he gets better. The pain subsided to the point where he accidentally fell asleep.
Even then he can still feel as if something was crawling around his brain. Something that kept clawing and scratching every tiny wrinkle in his brain to give him memories and information he should not have.
“Derek.” Zach was in front of his face when he opened his eyes. “Oh, good. Just wanted to make sure you didn’t die on us.”
He groans at having been slapped away from dream land, but he is quickly compensated by seeing Zach struggle to get up from his kneeling position. Did he hear something pop? Probably, Zach has old bones for someone so young.
It’s a gift since he will not get to experience old age.
What?!
That made him stay wide awake. Yes, he prefers listening to his friends over listening to whoever had apparently invaded his head.
Just three hours and 45 minutes after sunset his friends decided to move him from the couch to his bed, even when he said he was fine with sleeping on the couch. All because they thought he couldn’t sleep because of all the noise they were making.
He was left looking at his popcorn ceiling and trying to stop his brain from telling him what his friends were talking about in his kitchen. The voice hasn’t come back and he is extremely sleepy, so even when he still thinks it could just be laying low, he closes his eyes and lets himself be taken.
Maybe he had downplayed how much Minecraft he plays. But it still surprised him when his dreams were not of unexplainable situations, but of a minecraft cave.
A sign with the words, “Which way to go?” was posted on the stone in front of him. There was a clear path on either side of him, but before he could decide on what to do he woke up.
From then on out his days pass with almost the exact same routine he had before everything happened. The only exception being that his friends are now basically his roommates. The dreams continue, some details change but it stays mostly the same, it never lets him choose.
But there is not much time to dwell on that when he has school projects coming up. Nor did they have time to find what happened during those two months so it stays as a story they will tell their kids.
He doesn't mind the joke. Even when he knows that the only one who will ever be a dad is Theo, two little girls he and his wife will call Kaia and Layla… Sometimes he really wishes he could just turn off his brain.
Although he doesn't understand exactly everything about what is going on he does understand that the voice is directly tied not only to the information he somehow knows, but also to the splitting headaches he gets constantly. He is not ashamed to admit that he is now a known regular at his local pharmacy.
And even when he didn’t know what had happened those two months, he moved on. Each morning he woke up trying to learn to live with his new normal. A new normal that involved getting bored during his classes because he already knows everything the teacher is teaching them, or actually having to try not to know what his friends are saying in the other room. Also trying to ignore the fact that he knows everything about everyone, and he meant everything, when before he barely knew anyone is exhausting.
Visibly exhausting. To the point his friends started to think he may be antisocial. They didn’t say it, but he knows. Because he just knows everything these days.
Even when being completely alone in his room, whatever was wrong with him just didn’t seem to leave him alone. Don’t you wonder how he’s doing? Who is he?!
Really, everything is just the voice’s fault. It doesn’t talk as much as it used to since he started taking the pills, but it still likes to make an appearance now and then. Which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t so dead set on confusing the headlights out of him!
Yeah… Derek may not have moved on.
But that didn’t matter right now because his friends are about to knock on his door to take him to a local pizzeria. Knock knock. There they are. He grabbed his keys and wallet before going to open the door.
“Hey Der, ready to go?” Zach asked while making space for him to get out and lock the door behind him.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
The pizzeria was just some blocks from his apartment, which is why Theo was so surprised when Derek told him he had never gone there. Apparently it is basically a popular hang out place at their college, he knew but he didn’t think it was such a big deal. So now they are here, going to what looks like a subway entrance but is in reality the basement of a pharmacy turned restaurant.
Even while walking down the stairs you can see how frequented this place is. There are different stickers sticking to the pole at the top of the stairs and the walls are filled with posters and people’s drawings. He could probably remember the exact moment in which each of them were painted if he thinks about it long enough.
But he didn’t come here for that, did he?
The door chimes as they enter and are immediately greeted with the smell of home made pizza. They look at the menu for a while until he decides to let Zach order for him and keep looking at the highly decorated walls of the place.
The wall to his left is the restaurant's “Hall of Fame”, where all the celebrities that have come here are framed. Some are autographed, others aren’t, but it is clear that they all enjoyed their experience there. Although most noticeable of all is the hundreds of names and phrases written on the walls. Some aren’t even tangible due to the amount of paint overlapping, it’s a fun game to try and decipher it without thinking too much to not spoil it.
There’s even writing on the ceiling!
“Der, where do you want to sit?”
“Wherever you guys want to.” They had arrived before rush hour which meant there were several free tables. In the end, they decided to sit at one of the tables in the middle section. He sat facing the wall while his friends were facing the entrance hall.
While their pizza was being made they decided to play a little game. Trying to find their names on the walls and ceiling of the building. He really had to turn off his brain in order to not cheat.
Zach's name was too easy, his name being painted at the top of the wall. They would say he did it based on the handwriting, but it was made in 2001 and Zach was born in 2005. Theo's was basically hidden behind layers and layers of paint. Derek's was on his left, but since he was only focusing on the wall in front of him and the ceiling he missed it easily.
Even after the game was over he still kept looking at each of the names. And that was because they weren’t just names, they were stories. There were many messages written in different languages, the most noticeable was on the ceiling and it was in mandarin. For some reason all of the hearts with names on it make him feel a bittersweet sensation, especially the one that says, “Will you marry me?”, followed by, “She said yes!”
Anyways, their pizza was ready.
The chime of the bell every time someone entered started being more and more frequent as their evening went on. A lot of the people around them were also from their college, others were locals, and others were people who wanted to see with their own eyes why this place is so famous around here.
That is to say that he wasn’t surprised when he heard a toddler’s giggles behind him that went to the right side of the room. What did surprise him was then hearing the screaming and crying of said toddler, so, as any person would do, he turned to assess the situation.
It was a mundane situation, really. The father was trying to pick up the child to change his diaper, but the child was having none of it. And although it was funny to see the child trying to escape from its parent’s grasp, his attention was quickly focused on the wall with names.
Just like before it was coated in names, drawings, and messages from people of the past. There were even some from some days ago! At least, that's what he would have noticed if someone's name wasn’t taking all of his attention.
Avery
How could a name that was written so messily survive this long without being ravaged by the savage paint? He didn’t know, but for whatever reason his gaze was locked to that specific place.
In a single blink all of those missing memories came back to him, leaving no space for him to process them correctly or realize that he was still staring at the wall.
“Derek? Are you okay?”
How could he focus on them when he had just realized what was missing?
“Der?”
He has to get back to Avery.
The corner of the table dug into the side of his waist, his friends were calling out to him as he opened the restaurant door, and he almost slipped while going up the stairs but his mind barely registered it. The only thing on his mind was getting to Avery as quickly as he could.
Just 3 more blocks, one right turn, and then straight forward.
He probably looked like a mad man, running through the streets not caring about the cars passing through and pushing people out of his way. Not like he cared at that moment, but it would definitely be a long conversation with his friends once they manage to catch up with him.
Soon, he found himself in the middle of a park. His body took the fact that he stopped as a sign to recover from making a 30-minute walk into a 5-minute sprint. Maybe he should have taken it a bit more lightly.
“Hey man, you okay?” A teenage boy approached him.
He tried to answer but his body was still refusing to cooperate while recovering.
“Do you want some water?” He nodded and the boy walked towards a bench, grabbed a water bottle from a cool box and gave it to him.
While drinking he took that moment to survey his surroundings, the boy’s name was Cody, he was here with a group of friends to check out the new skatepark. A couple of girls were changing into their roller skates, and the rest of the group was already trying out the ramps.
“Thanks.”
“No worries, man. Are you also here for the skatepark?” Then Cody started looking around trying to find Derek’s board.
“I’m actually looking for someone.” Only him and Cody were there, but that didn’t stop him from looking. Now would be a good moment for the voice, who he now knew was The King in Yellow, to make an appearance and give him some unsolicited knowledge.
“Really? Who?”
“Their name is Avery.” That made Cody light up.
“Oh, Ave. I'll go get him.” He almost went with him but decided against it. So now he was standing awkwardly in the middle of the park waiting. He should have gone with Cody, that would be better than standing all alone with nothing to do.
He was deciding if he should look for Cody when he heard a pair of footsteps approaching him.
“Hey, Cody said you were looking for me.” Both his breathing and heartbeat stopped for a second.
Those shiny hazel eyes were locked on him, intrigued. Dirty blond hair flattened by the helmet he had worn only seconds ago. Tiny drops of sweat trickled down his forehead as a result of exercising in the sun for too long. And still he had that same dazzling smile that has no explanation other than him refusing to give up.
That’s definitely the Avery he knows.
“We meet again, Avery.”
The moment he finished the sentence Avery’s face changed. There were so many emotions going through his eyes that it would take him forever to list them all, but the tremble in his voice was enough to communicate exactly what he felt.
“Derek?”
“I think that’s what my parents called me, yes.”
There was no time for him to get out of the bone-crushing hug at the hands of Avery, not like he wanted to. He heard a few sniffles and suddenly his shoulder was wet with tears.
“I thought you were dead.” And he let Avery think that for almost five months.
“I thought so too.” At least he was supposed to be dead.
“How?”
“I’m not completely sure yet.” There is the possibility that his very cheap computer probably couldn’t handle the transfer of infinite knowledge. Not that he didn’t have it, but it had a significantly weaker impact on his body than he had initially predicted.
“Is he gone?”
“Not entirely, but I have it under control.” The weeping was replaced by giggles that made his heart flutter.
“In that case, we’re saved.”
He had to restrain himself from trying to stop Avery from pulling away from the hug.
“Should I… um… give you my number, or do you already know it?” Avery kept looking at him while trying to wipe some of his tears with his sleeve.
He was about to take out his phone when he recalled that he left it at the restaurant table. “I think it would be better if I gave you mine.” Avery looked at him funny. “I, sort of, forgot my phone before coming here.”
There was an awkward pause before Avery started laughing. He felt a little ashamed, but he could push that down if it meant seeing Avery smile.
“You, someone who has all the knowledge in the world, forgot your phone?”
“Old habits die hard I guess.”
After that they sat in one of the nearby benches and kept talking. It was mostly about how relieved they were that the entire situation was seemingly over. Then it was about what they were planning to do next, although he mostly listened to Avery, he didn’t have much planned out.
Did he already know what Avery was planning to do? Yes. But as any expert would tell you, it is best to get it from the source.
Eventually they had to go their separate paths. He accompanied Avery to the park entrance and turned around when he couldn’t see him anymore. Now he had to figure out how to get back to his apartment.
And that was when both Zach and Theo sneaked up on him. How did they even manage to do that? How did he not notice they had been there for hours?
“It’s not really nice to bolt out of our hangout and then leave us waiting for you under the blazing sun, you know?” Zach was clearly upset, but he’s not the type of person to leave someone behind. He always has to make sure everyone gets home.
“Sorry, I let my impulses take over. Why didn’t you try to approach me?” They did the telepathy thing again, then Theo was talking to him.
“You haven’t looked that happy in a long time.”
They stayed in complete silence until they reached his apartment. As always he let them in, they placed the leftover pizza in his fridge because he was “still too skinny”, Zach almost left without giving him his phone, and he apologized for ruining their hangout. “It’s fine, man. We still have more than half of college left.” And with that reassurance they left.
Since he was too tired for a complete shower, but refused to sleep feeling dirty he decided to take a quick shower and the next day he would make up for it. Hot showers always helped him relax and got rid of his headaches. He contemplated drying his hair, but his body decided against it.
Now he was finally in his bed, his still wet hair pressed against the pillow. His eyes were long closed when his phone screen turned on. He forgot to charge it. Good thing he didn’t actually have to get up from bed.
He connected his phone and his lock screen showed him a new message from a number he hadn’t registered.
- Hii
:D
Derek couldn’t help but smile.
