Level Two: Nosocomephobia

"Thank you, Jehovah." Blake let out, as if he was holding his breath and he was desperate to finally bring his lungs some oxygen. His hand rubbed against his forehead to remove some supposed-sweat that I didn't see, and I wasn't sure yet if he was exaggerating or not. Little did I know that when his hand came back to his side, I would become fully aware. "I bet money your heart wouldn't be able to take an increase in beats per minute like that twice in a row. Your doctors are probably crying, but at least you ended the level on good terms. Who knows how worse it would get otherwise."

"What the heck?" I raised an eyebrow at what slipped out of his mouth, based off how I reacted, accidentally. "So I could've died if I failed a level twice?"

"Possibly." Shyrene coughed purposely, the one word coming out between it, still clear as day. She saw that she's gotten away with nothing, rushing to find something positive to say. "But the important thing is you did great, Ell. You made it. Give yourself a pat on the back."

My brows crossed, but I came up with nothing to respond with. She took the chance to take a step closer to me, somehow finding way to minimize the volume that she spoke in, like this world had a settings button or she had some sort of remote control. "You and Camdyn had a moment back there. You really don't think it means anything? That he was brought here for a reason? I have 5 pairs of eyes, all mine, that can confirm that he was, and you still think it had to be a mistake?"

"I do, actually. Him being here was a flaw in the system. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, so I don't see why it couldn't be surprising my subconscious is kinda dumb too. I have one brain cell left and he's part time." I answered, my arms folded across my chest. I was finding out that secrets can be kept in the dream world, as long as you know your way into the modes, or more like had the right people around to mess with those modes. "Think about it. You and Blake are both here. Didn't you say you didn't know why yet? If Camdyn is here because we have some connection at our heart, then what's the difference in there being something between you and Blake?"

"Blake is not in love with me, Ell. We have a different scenario than you do," she defended herself, and I was contented that she felt that she had to do that. That pointed to this spinning around until it landed on my turf. From here, I was determined to keep it that way, at least to when she would be reluctant to bring up the topic again. It's psychology, amigo, that will get her twisted around my finger, and keep her away from saying the very things I didn't want her to. "Besides, Blake was in love with a woman before we ended up in this world in your head, and he's still obsessed with her until now even if our initial world disintegrated and she's considered dead. There's nothing I could do to change that even if I wanted to."

I smirked, "'even if i wanted to' my ass. You do want to do something about it, Shyrene, don't you?"

"I don't have to answer that kind of question. I'm in your subconscious to support you, it's my job. You're not here to support me."

"Alright, okay!" I put my hands up in the air as if she was holding a gun to my chest, but the smile on my face didn't appear to be leaving anytime soon. Or so I thought.

It's always that same voice that comes to ruin everything, "Level two, nosocomephobia, fear of hospitals, start."

PHOBIA DETECTED, GAME PLAN LOADING

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE

COURSE WILL BEGIN IN FIVE SECONDS

I braced myself for pain like the one I've gotten before, counting the seconds on my fingers rested at my hip, but it didn't come. What I should've been bracing myself for is the balance I would need to land on my feet, because though I can't remember or feel anything to have picked me off of the ground, I fell to it with a thud, barely off, but still off by a smidge big enough that my knees hit the ground.

Looking up, I found that we changed sceneries. The circling of mirrors was long gone, that it just as well be non-existent from the start. The four of us, and of course every duplicate of Shyrene and Blake were put right into a hospital hallway, with an occasional nurse that I've never seen before in my life. The uniforms were unrecognizable to any of the hospitals around my hometown, and I could assume it was out of the Philippines.

For sure though, it was a hospital. Everything was there — the smell of cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer, the general gloom and sorrow, the consistent beeping of certain patients and others who weren't so lucky, — all of it, without a thing missing.

None of us said anything, the only sound among us the clicking of our feet against the tile. They were patterned in perfect sync as if we spent our entire life planning it, but it fell apart when Camdyn stopped with a squeaking shoe, peeking into one of the rooms, and with how everything was going this slight change turned everything upside down. It's like we all knew that danger was somewhere and who the target was, but we were each lost in knowing what form. He himself was the only one to acknowledge it.

"The target is me this round," Camdyn admitted, trembling already. He gulped, trying to slow his quaking heart so he could explain the situation to us, which was smart. Since it wasn't all in his head and all of us were able to see it, we could be his distractions this time, a privilege that I didn't get, and I was glad he used it to his advantage, especially because if I got too sucked into it without warning, it's my emotion that's still going to ruin everything.

I followed his unsteady finger that came up and out of his pocket to point to a woman, laying in a room, sniffling, and every time the man with her would say anything, she'd cry a little more. They were sorrowful tears; a sincere pain that rips you apart. I could tell by looking and it was heart-wrenching to do just that, that I couldn't bring myself to do it for long for everyone's sake. "This is a hospital in my hometown in Japan, and that's my mom," Camdyn said, absorbing her sadness himself. "But she's a lot younger. It's like I'm watching photographs from come to life but in the worst point ever. I wasn't born at this time. I've heard about these stories, and God, I hate them."

"What did she suffer from? Was she sick?" Blake questioned curiously, and somehow that curiosity came stronger when the expressions of the five with him, though versatile, shared the same emotion. He meant well in asking, and had no intentions to cross a line. Camdyn didn't take it as if he did either. He knew his cooperation would help them and that he didn't have time to be fussy.

"She had miscarriages and a stillborn. I was her miracle child."

Shyrene entered the conversation, "How many times?"

"Three miscarriages. One stillborn."

"Anything else I need to know besides that to help you out?"

Camdyn swallowed again before talking. "My mom died when she was pregnant with my younger brother. We would've been a whole 18 years apart, but she was attacked by someone when they intruded into our own house who was envious of her sudden ability to produce children when they've both struggled for so long."

I was wrong. I didn't need these "warnings". I'd be better off without them.

My heart churned, as if it was put in a blender, on high. He didn't tell me this in person. He wrote me this truth in a letter. It was the eighth letter from him that I ever received. I've read each of them over and over again in the days I was receiving his letters anonymously, and when we got together, but I think I read that one the most. I knew the whole story and I've played it in my mind so many times it's like a memory to me personally. It hurt and I wasn't even present when it happened. How much worse it had to be for him.

"You know everything about that already don't you, Ellie?" Shyrene was urgent in the way she talked, like she was prepared to take off running to distance us from the danger she would have to become and grant us time once again. Her hand was wrapped tightly around Blake's wrist already.

I didn't say anything, but stared at her astonished. Because of the reminder, the tension of the air, the atmosphere, it was changing, and it was rooted from me again. The exact thing I was trying to find a way not to happen was happening. "I'm taking that as a yes," she added on, the gap between us spreading, "whatever happens, keep him away from her. Because she had four and another incident later on, his mother might randomly shift rooms without announcement and without being able to physically see the move to mimic each of those occurrences depending on where she was put, so don't block him from the room, but from her. You got that?"

"Why?"

"Because Ell, you're already affected by what's happened. It hurts you, and we better understand now we can't just flip a switch on you and make you happy. You're not a robot. If they reunite and have a verbal communication, it'll get worse for both of you." Blake explained for her as she began dragging him away, and when he finished, he didn't hold back from the run she was trying to force him to do. Together, they disappeared into the further end of the hallway, like they were never here to begin with. They weren't in eyes reach.

"Hell with that nonsense," Camdyn spit, overhearing what he'd said. It made him angry enough to flip the world on its side, and he was more than determined to trudge beneath the doorframe that I was standing in the center of. "I want to see her. No, — I need to. I have to see her, Mars. I'll thank your magnificent brain forever for just one chance. One last chance, please."

"You heard them, Cams, and I agree. I really don't think it's such a good idea." I told him, pushing at his abdomen as non-threatening as I could, with only enough force that he'd believe me, though I myself didn't have much faith in it. He had no intentions to injure me, as I copied his maneuvering from right to left. Each got him more upset, and by the final slide to the right, he had his hands on either side of my shoulders just to get me out of the way. "Camdyn, don't." I detested, when he got around. "You have to listen to me!"

To my surprise, he wasn't in for long, and as if the level itself was on my side, he came right back out. Something happened, and I didn't know what, but I wasn't listening to a false reuniting, so that was a good sign for me.

"Where did she go, Mars? She just vanished right in front of me. She faded until she didn't exist anymore! Where did she go?" He exposed the truth, slamming my back up against the wall. It felt to have left a mark, but nothing in comparison to what could've happened. If he would've found his mom, it could've been game over.

"I-I don't know, Cams." I stammered, which only put a climax in his emotions.

"This is your brain I'm stuck inside of, isn't it? Shouldn't you be aware of where stuff is? Tell me!"

"I really don't know, Camdyn."

Blowing out a frustrated breath of air, he took off in a sprint down the hall, the fastest I'd ever seen him run, calling out for her, and all I could do is basically the same thing he was, call him and beg him to wait as I chased on behind him, not able to keep up with the pace and the sudden turns he was making. He found her twice laying in the hospital beds after the first encounter we experienced together, though she must've vanished all over again. Still, those two extra times made him unstoppable, and worse, made our team weak. We're supposed to have the same goals, but here we are, battling with each other before anything else.

My stomach twisted when he pressed his face to a window, and delight spread across it. He began jiggling with the knob of the door, too panicky and out of breath for it to be done in a swift motion, which was a plus for me. Our gap closed once again, and I was right on his tail when the door did burst open.

"Room three-zero-one." He murmured barely intelligibly, as he let himself in. I intended to follow him, and I was going on with it when I was yanked back into the hall, forcibly.

"And what do you think you're doing, Ell?" Blake said, Shyrene right at his side, accompanying him, and the whole clan of both of theirs gathered up behind. They each had the most mischievous grin on their face, contrary to how I was used to seeing them, and I was starting to understand more about how Camdyn had explained them before. I still think he made an error I couldn't pardon, but they were a lot scarier than they let us think, I have to say. "Are you seriously gonna stunt a son from seeing his dead mother? You are his last chance at this, you know? That's pretty cruel of you."

"No—." He scared me with such a demonic look in his eye that when I began an argument from him it didn't feel right. This was actually the same introverted man that could be socially awkward at times? I shut my eyes so I didn't have to look at such a drastic change. "This is literally what you told me to do, Blake. I'm doing what you asked."

He took a couple steps forward me, each bold and aggressive that showed that he believed he was boss and that he wasn't going to let down so easily. His hand was at the base of his chin, as if what I said was deep and worthy of pondering over. "Yes, Ell, I do recall saying stupid stuff like that, but I thought you'd me smart enough to know who to trust." He winked, like I was a naive little girl and he was an old man with candy. "That was then, and this is now. Isn't following me the easier choice to make?"

"Just because it's easier, doesn't mean it's right." I wanted to raise my voice at him; yell, scream, and degrade this version of him for being so idiotic and out of place, but it came out quiet and in a whimper, like he smacked me right into a dog house, and tied me by neck to a chain. Sensing the limited freedom I had left, I blindly searched for the door knob behind me to twist it open and follow Camdyn in. I was worried about how far he's gotten in catching up with his mom that died long ago, and I couldn't digest that idea.

Shyrene caught my hand before I could put pressure on the handle. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You obviously have no idea what we're capable of making a move like that." For a second, I thought I did see a red glint in her eye, one I didn't believe there to actually be before. This side of them is evil. Pure evil.

In hopes for escape, I went for the knob again, but they were right. It was a mistake, and they aren't people that I'd want to be messing with. Blake had a knife to my throat in no time. It appeared so suddenly in his hand that I couldn't sense where he got it from or if the dream world just offered them perks like that, and with the time they had swirling around them, the wound started to sting. A trickle of blood began dripping down to my collarbones. I had to wince. I didn't even want to give them that much to satisfy their terrible sides, but I had to.

"Do you get it now? That you don't mess with me?" Blake barked, drawing in closer to my face. I breathed harder out of the uneasiness, but ended up holding it in my lungs when that transition of air felt to pierce the blade in deeper; making it all worse. By his nod, it's almost as if he expected that reaction out of me.

"I do," I agreed, giving him the answer he wanted.

"Good girl." He smiled, a happy scoff leaving his nostrils. Out of his fulfillment and serenity, he walked casually around the area for a bit, the knife held in his right hand, crossed over to the left, behind his back. As he headed back and forth on a rant about my obedience, what I saw was opportunity. By reliance on a simple lift and kick, I put powerful pressure on his wrists when his back was turned. The shiny metal fell to the floor, and nearly the whole clan tackled themselves to the floor to retrieve it. I took a dash for the door, freely.

"Camdyn, are you alright?" I called after him, as I blocked the door with the closest objects I could grab, finding him by a baby's incubator, his eyes totally bloodshot red. His mother was asleep on the room's mattress, and I could tell he hadn't said anything to her. Even in my imagination, he didn't have the gut to awaken her.

He laughed a joke of a laugh, that didn't work with the dampness on his cheeks. "Of course, of all the versions of her that I've been able to see, the one I actually get a look at is the day she gave birth to a child without a heart beat. The stillborn. I don't know what would be the hardest because they all suck terribly, — like badly suck —but I know her dream to be a mother was shining bright. She was this mother without a child, probably planning her room out and crap like that she's into."

"She's a girl?" I asked, taking careful steps closer to him. What I said made him smile a little.

"Yeah. I would've had an older sister. A bossy, nagging, bullying, plug-up-the-bathroom-for-three-hours sister." His smile fell when it escaped his lips. "And also a beautiful, protective, loving, advising, forces-me-to-let-her-put-make-up-on-me sister." That brought it back for a second, but it was sadder than what it was before, "but I don't get it, Mars. I don't understand. The Sacar family could've been extremely huge. There'd be six of us, but here I am, the only one to represent us. Why me? Why of every one of those children, I'm the only one who had the chance to grow up and take my first steps or say my first words? I hate that. It makes me hate that I'm even alive and walking this earth."

Silence took over. There's so much I wanted to say, but I wanted to be compassionate too, and with as sweet as I thought those things would sound, I didn't think now would be the time. You can always tell someone to look forward and to leave those things behind, but it's impersonal and it's not what they usually want to hear, at least in my experience.

So for the first time in a long time, I embraced him, something I never planned to do again, and in me, some harshness flew off and this piece of me softened. From the way he melted into my hold, like he could live there every single day of his life, and the warmth that didn't make me feel so lonely, — my heart didn't feel so rock hard anymore, but almost moldable like clay. As much as he made me despise my own life, I don't think I'd want to imagine life without him, even if all it did to me was cause heartbreak in the end. What we had, it was good while it lasted.

"You know what, Camdyn?" I asked finally, his head nuzzled into my shoulder like the child he is inside.

"What?"

"Somehow, and I don't know why at this point after the story we've had, I love that you're alive and walking this earth."

LEVEL TWO PASSED, CONGRATULATIONS!

LIVES REMAINING ELEVEN

LEVEL THREE LOADING PLEASE WAIT