The small room, Rosemary's haven, felt oddly oppressive now. The quiet, the lingering scent of old wood and baking bread, seemed to mock the gnawing exhaustion that clawed at Clyde. The system's voice, cold and unwavering, still echoed in his mind.
{REST. RECOVER. OBJECTIVE ACTIVE.}
Rest? Recover?
He scoffed internally, though no sound escaped him.
Like I have a choice.
"I'm tired." He yawned aloud, the words barely a whisper, thick with weariness.
"Then why don't you just get some rest." Rosemary said, a soft smile touching her lips, incongruous with the chaos outside.
"But what about the soldiers and what not…" Clyde asked, his voice still heavy.
"No…Don't worry about them."
"They won't come here again. Just get some rest." She gently massaged Clyde's head, her touch surprisingly soothing.
"...Yeah…" He rubbed his eyes, the memory of her touch fading as he shuffled towards the chair, barely remembering anything between.
"I need to sleep."
The last thing he registered was the insistent hum of the system in his head before darkness claimed him, swift and absolute.
[SKILL UNLOCKED. SKILL NAME: WELL-DESERVED REST]
[EFFECT: RECUPERATION X3 TIMES DURING SLEEP THAN AVERAGE HUMAN.]
[ACTIVATION: CAN ONLY BE USED ONCE IN A DAY AND ONLY WHEN SLEEPING AND MUST BE STRESSED OR OVERWORKED.]
The notification was the last conscious thought before the dream began.
...
A blinding light was cast on his face, forcing Clyde to get up. But he wasn't in Rosemary's house. Instead, he was on a sidewalk, bathed in sunlight, waiting for a bus to come.
"Wha…" He looked around, disbelieving his own eyes.
He was back. Not in the grimy alley, but in a world of vibrant, familiar colors. A modern world. He saw himself, younger, a slight figure with eyes that always seemed to watch, never quite connect.
"Yess!" He jumped in the air, a raw, joyous shout ripping from his throat.
"I knew that none of it was actually real!"
He began to run along the sidewalk, his face gleaming with a desperate hope. He approached an old man, wearing a hoodie and sitting on a bench. As Clyde got closer, the old man set his leg out. Unbeknownst to Clyde, not looking where he was going, he tripped and fell.
"Ow…" He groaned in pain, splayed on the hard concrete.
"Argh…" He sluggishly pushed himself up.
"Hey… old man."
But the old man was gone. And even more to his surprise, he wasn't on the sidewalk anymore. He was standing in a busy crowd in a subway station, the hum of distant trains vibrating through the ground. He frantically looked around, trying to access the situation, his mind racing.
Wait… I can go home!
I know my way from here!
Clyde then quickly rushed through the crowd, desperate to get to the staircase.
But the harder he tried, the more he seemed to go back. The crowd intensified its efforts, growing denser, and soon, over a short period of time, they felt as if they were liquid.
Just what the…
No…
Not today!
He grit his teeth, preserving through the liquid crowd now as they slowly transitioned into a raging river, the faces swirling, indistinct.
Almostt… T-Theree…
He felt as if his muscles were going to tear apart from his very body, a searing pain in his limbs.
"Nngh!" He couldn't hold on any longer. He was swept away by the sheer force, the image of the stairs fleeting, dissolving into the churning dark.
He flailed around in the water like a wild animal, trying to keep his head above the current while his heart pumped more blood than normal, a frantic drum against his ribs.
Clyde then slowly felt himself sinking into the water, a desperate, silent plea as he tried to reach his hands upwards. To where? No one knew, not even Clyde himself.
I-I can't swim…
He gasped for air as his face was submerged in the icy water. He tried to at least do something, but his body then felt numb, leaden.
He could only watch as he sank, flowing along with the water, gradually losing oxygen. The water then transformed from an eerie darkness to form something like an object standing in front of him. That object was then hazy and distorted as it stood with their back slouched and their head lowered.
Wait… I can swim.
What was I talking about?
He then felt something like a sharp slap on his brain, a sudden, jarring clarity.
He tried to swim upwards, but everywhere immediately became black, a suffocating void. He still continued to descend, even when swimming, the sensation of falling endless. The darkness then transformed, coalescing into a hazy object standing in front of him. The visage then slowly resembled that of a young boy.
I don't understand people…
They treat me differently…
It's as if…I'm not from around here…
The visage murmured, sniffing sounds echoing in the oppressive silence.
A short silence followed after, heavy and vast. Clyde just floated there, trying to breathe but unable, also trying to move his hands, but the water was so thick and dense that he was sort of forced into a single, rigid position.
He struggled, looking all around and hearing a cacophony of washed-out voices all around him and the beeping of an ICU monitor, a mournful chorus. The visage then snapped its neck up, fully looking at Clyde, its head nudging around. Soon after, Clyde couldn't see or hear anything again. It was as if he had become blind, deaf, swallowed by nothingness.
...
Clyde snapped awake, immediately gasping for air, sweat trickling down his face, his heart hammering against his ribs. He was back on Rosemary's chair, covered by rough sheets that felt both alien and reassuring.
[RECUPERATION SUCCESSFUL. VITALITY INCREASED. STAMINA INCREASED. DURABILITY INCREASED. COGNITIVE ABILITIES. EXTRA POINTS ACHIEVED.]
The system immediately popped up as he awoke, blasting him with what seemed like a never-ending stream of notifications, blinding white against the dim room.
[WELL DESERVED REST USED. WELL DESERVED REST UNAVAILABLE TILL IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.]
Clyde groaned with frustration, stretching, then violently kicking his legs around, a raw burst of energy he hadn't known he possessed.
[OBJECTIVE COMPLETE.]
[REMINDER!]
[OBJECTIVES STILL IN PROGRESS (1): GETTING TO THE CHURCH.]
[FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN HEART SEIZURE.]
Clyde just scoffed, a dry, humorless sound.
So I didn't go anywhere…
It's a dream within a dream?
He thought, struggling with the concept, the two realities crashing together in his mind, disorienting and chilling.
The blurry and incomplete visage of that young boy, the various chatter and the beeping of an ICU monitor---it all felt so real to him---No, It had been so real. Too real, in fact. Clyde then sat himself up, trying to come to grips with his situation, to push away the chilling clarity that he was now feeling in his chest, a strange, new alertness.
The air was still cool but no longer biting. The metallic tang was fainter now, replaced by the persistent smell of old wood. He looked around the small room. It was empty.
Hmm…
Wonder where Rosemary could've went to… He thought as he slowly stood up, groaning and yawning, his muscles still stiff but invigorated.
Then everywhere was quiet. Even his mind had become silent, a rare peace, but this allowed him to hear what seemed like gurgling from the kitchen. It was faint, yet chilling, a discordant sound in the stillness. He slowly walked towards the kitchen, his breath heavy, his heart beating fast, a frantic rhythm against his ribs.
He got closer to the half-open door. And there she was. She was bent over, washing her hands over the sink, with a framed picture of a young boy beside her. He heared her sniffling and then noticed a subtle, unsettling twitch in her hand, a tremor that seemed to have a life of its own. She then started nudging her head around and around, a slow, unnatural rotation.
What the…
Clyde was speechless at the sight, a cold knot forming in his stomach.
[CAUTION. CAUTION. HOSTILITY LEVEL: 75.6%]
W-What? Hostility level?
His eyes shuddered at the panel.
Is it… for her?
Clyde thought, his disbelief warring with the cold, hard data. He gently opened the door, a creak that sounded like a gunshot in the silence.
Nahh…
This thing must be wrong.
It's Rosemary…
If she was truly hostile to me, she would've done something when I was sleeping.
R-Right?
"Rosemary…" He called out for her, but she seemed to ignore it, lost in her strange ritual.
"Rosemary.." He went in closer, extending his hand out forward, and yet she still ignored him.
"Rosemary." His hand then touched her back, a light contact that snapped her back from whatever trance she was experiencing.
"Hmm.. wha… wha." Her body fidgeted where she stood, a sudden jolt.
She then turned her back around, noticed that it was Clyde, and a small, weary smile touched her lips. "Oh… Oh morning, Clyde. You slept well, I hope?"
"Yeah…" Clyde slowly answered, still processing what he had just witnessed.
[CAUTION CAUTION. HOSTILITY LEVEL: 0%]
…What is wrong with this thing.
First it said she was seventy-five percent hostile to me…
Now it's saying zero?
He just nodded his head in disbelief as the panel disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
"I… I think so." He pushed himself, still a bit stiff, the dream's unsettling grip lingering.
"No…You shouldn't think so…"
"You should be fully sure!" She raised her voice, her smile widening slightly, yet it felt forced.
"So why don't you go back on and rest." She gestured her head at the door, her voice sounding almost hurried, an odd urgency in her tone.
"That's the thing…" Clyde murmured, looking at his feet.
"I can't."
"Why?" Rosemary asked, her head tilting slightly.
"It's because…" He slouched his back, his gaze fixed on the worn floorboards.
"I have somewhere to go to." He sharply answered, his voice firming with a strange resolve he hadn't possessed moments before.
"Somewhere to go to?" Her voice held a note of genuine surprise.
"I thought that you can't remember anything." Rosemary fully turned her body towards him, resting her back and hands on the sink behind her.
Clyde's eyes noticed that for some reason, her hands weren't wet, despite having just been at the sink, but he quickly brushed the anomaly aside.
"What's this somewhere, Clyde?" She folded her hands, demanding, her eyes searching his.
Guess I can tell her…
Seeing as that thing hasn't said anything or taken my voice again.
Clyde thought, then sighed, the decision made.
"I need to go to the church." He met her gaze, his voice unwavering.
"Wherever that is."
---The end of chapter 3---