48 Insanity (1/2)

Dong's normally jovial demeanour was sombre, filling me with unease. He led me to his study in the third-floor attic and sat down across the desk from me.

”Let me run through the situation. Tai found you unconscious, but he also found Long Bao still in the isolation room.”

”He was still there? I swear I carried him out to get help?”

Dong slammed his hands down on the desk, ”Oscar Schwarz, this is no time for lies! Long Bao's head was missing! Missing! Why would you have carried him out?!”

His head… my stomach fell to the floor and I started feeling dizzy. There was no way… Tai had left Long Bao's face untouched, and I had definitely carried him out of the room…

”Oscar, there's no point in covering this up! I know you killed Long Bao, but I want to know why?”

”It wasn't me! Tai… he killed that boy! He was going to kill me too!”

Tai's voice reached a roar, ”Don't you dare lie to me!”

All fear and apprehension fizzled into thin air, leaving me numb. I realised there was no way of convincing him that I didn't do it. It was my word against Tai's.

Dong's anger faded, replaced by bitter disappointment, ”Oscar, I truly wanted to believe that this was an accident. That your technique backfired, and Long Bao stumbled in at the wrong time.”

He pushed back his seat, walked behind me, and placed a strong hand on my shoulder, ”But you just can't admit the truth. You're a lying brat. I should have known from the testing crystal.”

He dragged me out of the chair and marched me down the stairs, ”You will face a court-martial tomorrow. I will lock you in an isolation room until then.”

Court-martial? Lock me in an isolation room? Nothing was registering. I couldn't come up with a single idea to get out of this situation.

Fabricating some lie would only make things worse. Did I really have to suffer the consequences of something I didn't do?

Before I knew it, we were in the isolation room. The scene that I had pictured so vividly flooded back to me, and I was overcome with emotion. It was here… it was here that it happened.

”Reflect on your actions. I will come to get you tomorrow.”

Dong's words fell on deaf ears. I was overwhelmed by the blinding lights, the cold floor, and a terrible pain in my chest.

I couldn't breathe… ad Tai punched me? Was he here? I dashed across the room in a panic and slammed into the wall.

I observed everything. I couldn't let him catch me… the corner! Yes, the corner!

I slid across the wall, my eyes darting to every suspicious flicker of light. How could such a bright room be so dark…

Squelch.

I froze in horror. My head quivered as I craned my neck to see what I had stepped in.

It was a head. It was Long Bao's head, crushed and splattered across the floor.

I screamed and ran past it, diving into the corner and curling up in a ball.

I sat with my head in my knees, rocking back and forth. If I couldn't see it, it couldn't hurt me.

But was it there? Was it still there? Was it watching me?

I noticed I was panting, and I dry swallowed, building up the resolve to look. Finally, with one quick twist, I looked.

Nothing. There was nothing there.

First came the dread. Then the acceptance. I turned and slumped into the corner, throwing my head back in a laugh.

”There's nothing there, Oscar!” I told myself, ”It's all in your head! Jeez, you're in a bit of a shit situation now, aren't you?”

Then the lights turned off.

”Oh Schwarz, look what's happened.”

My body seized up in fright. That wasn't my voice. That was Tai's voice, distorted and staticky.

”I'm coming for you, Schwarz.”

”Where the fuck are you?!” I screamed, desperately trying to see into the pitch black, but there was no answer.

This was just another hallucination. There was nothing to fear.