Split

[TheLordOfAwesome]

((Lucas Abernathy continued from I'm So Fucking Grateful))

Rain drummed loudly on the pane of glass separating the building's interior from the outside, Lucas glanced out the water soaked window to the cityscape just beyond the horizon. Never in his life had he seen a downpour this bad. It was coming down in what looks like sheets, sweeping the city in a westward pattern. It made him thankful that he was inside away from the elements, even more thankful the event hadn't been canceled due to the weather.

"Excuse me, sir. The show is about to start," a voice said from behind him. "If you would follow me."

"Can it wait, just a little longer?" he said as he turned around.

No one was there. He was alone in the decaying lobby of the theater with no trace of another soul in sight. The only company he found was the steady sound of dripping echoing through the empty room as water seeped through cracks in the ceiling above. Such a sad sight. The room was clearly beautiful once, but has since fallen to a state of disrepair. Once opulent, now a decaying husk of what it formally was.

A set of doors in front of him open up, a pool of water splashes onto the floor and spreads out towards him.

"Time to go," a voice whispers in his ear.

Slowly and numbly he began walking towards the door, his feet splashing through the water on the ground.

Stepping through the doors, his vision was engulfed in a white light. The light was disorienting but soon faded away as he found himself in a theater box, over looking a stage. Below he could see some shadowy figures beginning to take their seats. Some of the shadows were black, others were red, and the red outnumbered the black. How many were there? A little over 90 perhaps? He tried to count, but he couldn't focus.

"Please, sir. Take a seat," a voice said from behind.

He turned around and there was a man wearing a suit with a spiderweb pattern sown into it, wearing a mask that gave him a very insectoid appearance, with mandibles instead of a jaw, seating in a seat. The man motioned to the empty seat next to him, which Lucas approached and sat down. He looked away from the man to the stage, where the curtain rose and revealed a screen. A countdown began, going from 10, to 9, to 8, and so on.

"What are we watching?" Lucas asked.

"▂▂▃▃▂▂" the man said, his voice a strange distorted buzzing.

The countdown ended, and the film played. It was a scene that felt very familiar to Lucas. It was him and Tonya, together outdoors, embracing in the carnal union of flesh. The sounds of moaning and flesh against flesh sounded through the theater.

"I shouldn't be watching this..." he said.

"You have yet to accept your betrayal." the man said.

"N-No, it isn't that. It-"

The scene changed. Now it was Lucas and Camille on the screen within a room, on a bed. The scenario hadn't changed, just one participant and the scenery.

"I can see into your soul," the man said. "You feel desperate. You were looking for a way out of your pain. So you gave into your nature. Did you ever really care?"

"Of course I did..."

The scene changed again. This time Ivy was involved. Another change, Beryl. Another change, Yuko. Another change...

"You history tells a different story."

"What happened was out of my control..."

"Really? It seems like you've always had a choice."

The scene cycled through a few other girls, some familiar, some Lucas had forgotten about. Then finally, it all ended on a still shot: a dead and decaying Camille, staring up out of a half-dug up grave.

"And now she is gone, and why is that?"

"It wasn't my fault..."

"You could have found her. But what were you doing?"

The scene changed. This time it was Lucas and Kelly. Screams echoed throughout the theater, both from the audience and the film itself.

"You were too busy, trying to make this a reality." the man said, as he reached up and removed his mask. "And now she is gone. Someone has to pay. Whose it gonna be?"

The scene changed again, a single face staring at him. Valerija Bogdanovic.

It's her fault. All of it.

"It is her fault. All of it."

"Are you prepared for what you must do?"

The man offered Lucas the mask, and he took it. He looked down at it, puzzled by it.

"Once you put on the mask, there is no stopping. No do over. But are you prepared to pay the price?"

Suddenly the ceiling caved in, and a rush of blood filled the chamber, sweeping Lucas away. he tried to swim but hands grabbed him and pulled him down. He could see light from the surface, but it grew furtehr away as he was dragged down into the crimson depths. He tried to scream, but only silence could be heard. Finally darkness consumed his vision as the light faded away.

"They all do..."

Then Lucas woke up.

((Lucas Abernathy continued elsewhere...))