2 Chapter 2 Welcome to...

First thing he felt before waking up completely was the numbness that made him feel empty inside. He felt himself light as a feather, almost like gliding over the surface of the ground without touching it. When he was finally able to open his eyes, he was a little scared. It wasn't just a sensation that he was gliding across the ground without touching it, he really was floating around.

He looked around and found himself surrounded by some kind of mist that covered everything, making him unable to realize where he was or how high above the ground he really was. He started panicking at the sudden thought of falling into an endless abyss. Maybe he was falling already and just didn't realize it yet.

The head started to hurt while he was trying to remember how he got in this situation. But there was no memory of anything in his mind. Just a blank piece of paper. And his entire being was hurting. Well, not exactly a pain. Not a sharp one, that came and went away just as sudden as it arrived. It was dull and permanent. What he felt was a throbbing throughout his entire body.

 But it didn't just stop at his body. He felt like some ants were crawling inside his head, giving him an itching sensation on the inside of his skull. He reached a hand in front of his face, looking at it with a feeling of disconnection. It felt foreign to him. And some feeling of indifference to his current condition started to seep into his being. He felt cold inside, like he lost some warmth, but he couldn't remember where that warmth was, where it came from or why it disappeared. Just emptiness where something used to be. 

Then glimpses of memories started trickling back in his mind. At first, it was just a glimpse of a shadow, then it started to take shape. A face. Not really clear to realize who it was, but a face. He tried to focus on it, but it just went away. His head started to hurt and he started massaging his forehead. He didn't know who that face belonged to, he didn't know what his connection to that person was. At the moment, it was just a face without the connection of any kind of feelings between him and the respective person.

Then, the thought of the passing of time hit. How long could it have been since he was like this? He shook his head, which brought him a sharp increase in the head ache. He had no idea. He had no idea for how long he was here. In fact, he didn't even know where he was. 

After a while, the mist in front of his face started to change, at first, it grew more dense than before, and everything became muffled. Then, the mist condensed in front of him, then it simply dispersed, letting a dark silhouette pass where he was sure nothing was before. The silhouette was wearing black robes, sort of like the monks during the middle ages, with hood covering the head and all. It was covered entirely by those robes and the face was in the shadows. All that he could see in the dimness under the hood were the eyes. They were burning like two pieces of coal and they seemed to be looking right through his soul. He felt himself shudder under the surveillance of those eyes. Then, it grinned at him, making his white teeth appear in the darkness reigning under the hood. His hair stood on ends seeing the silhouette grinning at him. He felt that whatever came next, it wouldn't be pleasant and more than likely the silhouette would enjoy every little moment of his misery. 

It looked at him for a few moments in silence then nodded and waved at him still grinning. A clanging of metal came so  sudden, he jumped in surprise. A rusted chain appeared in the silhouette's hand that ended in a hook. For a moment, it just hung on the ground, but then it started to tremble and jumped at him so sudden he was caught off guard. He tried to dodge it, but it followed his movements and after a few moments, the hook impaled him through the chest and went out through the back, ignoring the bones in his body. 

He felt he couldn't breathe as he struggled in the grips of the chain. His tormentor just watched the struggle in him start to wane. Then it turned and started gliding back toward where it came from, dragging him to come along. He felt himself being compelled to follow, just because of the fact he had a hook through his body linked to a chain dragged by a shadow. He snorted trying to conceal the surprised laughter caused by the sudden thought crossing his mind at the moment. He started wondering if he was really here. And most of all, he wondered if he was really alright in the head. Because it wasn't really the right thing to think about something like that in his current situation. 

He didn't know what direction they took or how much time they just glided over what he supposed was the ground. It was eerie the silence of everything around him. Nothing reached his ears, even the sound of the chain links was muffled. And he couldn't scream in pain. His body was not responding to his commands. And all he could see was the back of the silhouette in front of him continuously gliding in silence and immobility, not bothering to even look around. Everything was surreal for him at the moment. Unfortunately, he didn't know the strange things were only just about to get even worse.

Finally, they reached a point where his guide stopped and turned around facing him and bowed, making an inviting gesture for him to proceed forward, then it just disappeared in front of his eyes. But the chains remained. He just stared at the spot where a moment before the silhouette was still there. He shook his head to clear any weird questions running through his mind. At that moment he realized that he regained control over his own body. Then with the thought in his head that things couldn't get much worse than they already were, he tried to head back in the direction they came from. But it wasn't to be. The chains grew taut and yanked him forward in the direction his guide pointed out earlier.

He cursed under the breath trying again to struggle, but all the strength in his body just vanished without a trace. So his journey resumed, but this time even more ridiculous than before. At least before the silhouette was dragging the chain, but now there was nobody and the chains kept dragging him forward. With nothing left to do, he just looked around at the view. Whatever the mist let him glimpse as he passed along. 

As he advanced, he felt the space started closing in on him, and it did until he reached a sort of chamber. In front of him there was a massive stone pillar from ground to the ceiling. In it there was a small hole around shoulder height. It was glowing red and pulsating in the dim light. Beside it, there was a table on top of which was a tattered book. A chubby man was sitting at the table looking bored. In front of the table was a shabby looking chair with three legs. 

But that man's mood changed as soon as he took notice of the person being dragged in front of him. He perked up in his chair, in which he was sitting slumped before and a smile appeared on his lips. He even started rubbing his hands. The person being dragged wanted to puke at the sight of his smiling face or at least bash his face in with a bat if he had one lying around. He hated seeing that smile on people's faces. It's the smile wolves have when they meet a lamb in the wild. Or the pimp when you're looking for a hooker. Whichever suits your tastes better.

Anyway, as he drew closer to the table the chubby man slowly took the book and opened it and started following the writing with his forefinger on which a ring glimmered in the low light coming from the pillar. His smile grew wider and he nodded as he slowly stood up. He came around the table and, with a servile posture and a tone dripping with honey, that made the other person almost gag, offered a seat. The chains rumbled when the man snapped his fingers and started trembling, making him feel nauseated. After creaking for a moment, they just disappeared, making him feel more at ease. Well, not really, considering the situation he was in. As he sat, everything changed again seeing that chubby man's smirk. So he couldn't help but enjoy seeing the chubby man's expression change when the puke landed on his shoes. Although there was only a bit of liquid, the smell was nasty. Seeing his face changing colors gave him satisfaction and a sort of sense of accomplishment.

He felt like he didn't like greasy people and brown-noses. He had the impression this particular chubby man was both. 

"Well, uh... You see... Welcome..." 

He liked seeing him fidgeting as he wiped his mouth, while the unfortunate receiver of unvoluntary protein spill was trying to ignore the puke on his shoes as he tried to make small talk while shaking his leg to make it leave his shoes. But to be honest, it wasn't exactly unvoluntary. It almost made him smile. A memory flashed through his mind at that moment. It wasn't even the first time, apparently when he did something disgusting like this. He tried to force his laughter back through his throat, which gave him a coughing fit at the images running through his mind. 

It was the second time he did something like that. First time was even more satisfying. He watched the guy puking his guts out for hours after that. Damn, good memories. 

Anyway, after seeing him losing his mind not knowing how to proceed, he slowly sat in the chair, slumped forward and started fiddling with his nails drumming on the table continuing to watch him squirm intently. 

"Anytime now. You know, I think I have all eternity in front of me by the looks of things around here so I can wait, but not too long. Out with it, or I turn back to the place I left from. I don't know if I manage to find it, but I can try."

Of course he was spouting loads of crap. He had no idea what way he should take to get back. And what difference made between being there or here? To him, both felt the same. 

The chubby one took a deep breath and he could see his face changing colors again and he felt a grin breaking out on his face when the sudden realization of it being a bad idea struck him. The odor of putrid air could do that to anyone. 

He gagged, but somehow he managed to keep it down while dry heaving. Finally he suppressed it and shook his head while his tears were streaming down the cheeks. 

"Now I know why the others went away, leaving me in charge here. You're disgusting, even for the place we are in right now. Why did you do that? They were new and you just had to make a mess at my expense. And by your idiotic grin on your face, you take pleasure in my discomfort. I guess you rightfully belong here, in this place, more than anyone else I've met so far. To think that during the ten sessions there is no improvement in your behavior." He shook his head in disappointment.

The other one looked at him and for the first time since he woke up looked unsure of himself. And a little bit lost.

"Ten sessions? Ten sessions of what? Do you mean to say that I already met you ten times already?" 

The chubby man shook his head and snorted. 

"Nope, this is the first time I've ever seen you. Trust me, I have no intention of ever having to see you more than once. As I've heard, you drove the previous nine ones crazy and I guess now it's my turn. But it won't be easy for you, trust me when I say that you'll end up wishing you'd never done what you just did to my shoes when I'm done with you."

The other one just stood there still slumped over. Even more, now he put his elbow on the table and, leaning his head against his fist, kept looking at the chubby with eyes wide open and innocent. When silence returned, he smiled. 

"So let me ask if I understood your words correctly. I had nine sessions of whatever the hell it was the session about and had a score of 9 out of nine people going crazy. It doesn't sound like a good plan for you to say that I'm the one who is going to have a problem at the end of the day. Apparently, the others thought it too, and what was the result? But please continue, I'm growing fascinated by the idea of seeing a person going crazy. Please proceed with what you have in plan so I could see it happening sooner. I'm dying to know how it feels to regret something."

The chubby looked at him in silence and at the end just shrugged before clapping twice. The chair grew chains, binding him tightly, making him unable to move even his fingers. 

"Alright, I'll begin now."