1.19 A New Day

Michael ran desperately, his breath ragged and heart pounding in his chest. The unseen shadows seemed to shift with him. Pillars as thick as a tree trunk loomed around him. The columns of pillars stretched to infinity—every direction he turned, the pillars greeted him, each pillar no different from the next. The pillars stood resolute, their stark white surfaces like silent sentinels that sought to bar his escape.

As he darted between the towering columns, Michael's fear soared into insurmountable heights. Michael gasped for breath, exhaustion gnawing at his muscles, yet he pushed on, driven by sheer will to survive. How long had he been running?

With every turn, Michael hoped to evade the relentless pursuit. The creatures lurking in the shadows hungered for something beyond his physical form—they craved his memories, his very essence. Michael couldn't allow these shadowy creatures to have it. His memories were too precious. They were his identity.

A shiver raced down his spine, and Michael sensed the presence closing in. He could almost feel its icy breath against his neck. Gods, I can feel it. I can't let it catch me. I can't. It will destroy everything that is me.

He turned in another direction and ran even faster. He felt the hand reaching for his head, not to kill him, no—to take away the part of him that made him who he was.

The whisper of threats echoed in his ears. He felt its foul touch in his soul, sending a surge of terror through his veins. With a guttural cry, he pivoted, expecting the worst, and found … nothing. Nothing but the expanse of white pillars.

Michael stood breathless, bewildered by the sudden absence of danger. "What … where … where did it go?" 

No, they weren't gone, were they? They were hiding, lurking in the shadows to play the game of terror with him.

Something stepped out from behind one of the pillars. It wasn't the shadowy creatures that he had expected. Michael blinked. Two figures stood there. His elder siblings; Madison and Mason—the twins.

Two more figures stepped out behind his older siblings. His slender mother and his stout father. All of them wore a frown on their face.

"Why were you running, Mike?" Mason, his brother said. "You are a coward. I did not expect it from you."

"I always knew you were a coward," Madison, his sister chimed in, her tone sharp and ecstatic. "Mother and father never believed me. Only Nairobi did. Now they do too. The proof is undeniable."

Father folded his arms across his chest, his eyes fixed on Michael filled with disgust. "Where did the man I raised go? The man I taught to fight every battle. You've replaced him with a child who runs at the first sign of danger. Where is your spine?"

His mother's voice trembled with emotion, tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke, her words cutting deeper than any knife. "I should have aborted you when I had the chance. I should have listened to my instincts. I should have... I should have..."

"I did not. And now you have become nothing but a burden to this family. Oh dear God, where have I gone wrong? Tell me where have I gone wrong?"

Michael's heart sank under the weight of their accusations. "No, no, I did not run. I fought back when the giant roaches attacked. I fought and won. I was not a coward. Please, you have to believe me. You must. I did not run."

His sister laughed. "You did not run because you had no choice. Because you were a coward even in the face of death." 

"If there was a way, you would have taken the coward's way out and never looked back," his father said.

"No, no, I fought. Even when I could have run, I destroyed them. All of them."

Mother shook her head in disappointment, tears still flowing down her eyes. Only now they were tears of blood. "If you cannot be brave, my son, at least be honest. Don't shame yourself further."

"You are a coward."

Those words echoed in his soul.

"No!" Michael took a step back. "Please. This isn't real."

Their bodies bubbled up and his brother and sister melted into each other, becoming a single entity. Their body twisting and melding in unnatural angles until they turned into a creature of darkness, a giant cockroach with human-like eyes on its head, instead of compound eyes, as it should have had. Those unnatural eyes haunted him. 

Same melding transformation happened to his parents, turning something beautiful into something hideous and grotesque. 

"But fret we shall remedy the situation," a voice echoed in the pillared landscape, chilling and disembodied.

"What? I … I don't understand. What's happening?"

The place where his family had stood moments ago now had now become a home to two cockroaches, grotesquely enlarged and looming ominously. These were the very creatures Michael had battled in the past. But this time they were larger, a looming threat he could never hope to defeat.

The tip of each antenna of the two giant cockroaches ballooned up, transforming into distorted replicas of his family members' heads—his brother and sister, his mother and father—twisted into a parody of their former selves.

"Come, Michael," each head spoke in unison. "Let us have you. Become part of our flesh, part of something greater. That way, you will be of some use and no longer be a burden. Do not be a coward in this too."

Their clicking voice made Michael gulp the lump in his throat. 

They scuttled forward.

Michael turned and ran. They were not his family, they could not be. They were monsters. This was all a… A what?

No matter how fast he ran, he had no hope. The creatures, relentless and swift, pursued him with an unnatural agility that defied their girth. No creature their size should move so fast.

They caught him in minutes, pouncing on him, tearing him apart. Blood sprayed from his wounds, his vision going red. They did not stop there. They clicked their mandibles, chewing at his flesh. Even the disembodied heads of his family that protruded out of their antenna didn't shy away from it.

Michael screamed and bolted up-right, eyes widening, head swivelling side to side, watching his surroundings in horror. Wooden walls of the cabin greeted him.

His chest heaved with ragged breaths, sweat drenching his skin, and his heart pounded like madness itself.

"It was just a dream," Michael panted. "A nightmare."

The dark walls closed in. No, Michael ran out of the cabin, hyperventilating. His heart only calmed down when he saw the world washed in every colour; shades of green and brown of the forest, blue of the sky and white clouds—half of it painted golden by the rising sun.

He walked for the stream and dove into it, letting its water wash away his nightmare. 

"Am I really a coward?"

Michael looked at his palm glistening with water. "No, I will not walk down that path. When I killed those monsters in fires of my vengeance—my determination, I proved to myself, I am no coward. I will not allow the chains of this world to push and prod me in the direction it wants. The class this world bestows are the chains to control people—no matter the power it provides. Because of the power it provides."

Michael could feel the chains tightening around his neck like a noose. He would use it till it was time to shatter it—its purpose fulfilled. He didn't know how, yet. But he would figure out the way of it. Michal splashed the water onto his face. "I will not let the system of this world rule me. I will rule it instead. Dismantle it, and figure out a way to return where I belong."

And if he enjoyed his life here instead, he would figure out a way to bring his family here. One or the other, he vowed.