Awakening

The drowned out sound of familiar voices echoed within his head. Slowly, he came to. The frei opened his eyes to see nothing but blurry figures standing overhead. As his eyes slowly caught up to speed to interpret the images before him, he inhaled deeply, only to exhale with a slight cough. A scratchy throat bothered him and he was too weak to even move.

“He’s waking up,” a soft voice spoke, the first distinguishable sentence since he had opened his eyes.

“Ryder, gods, I’m so glad to see you’re finally waking up,” another soft voice spoke amongst the rustling movement.

“Can you speak?” A third voice asked.

“Y-yes…” Ryder said, his voice raspy and hoarse. “What is...going on?” he questioned, still confused, his head pounding.

“We don’t have to get into that right now, what’s important is you’re awake and able to speak. It’s been a little bit,” Reuben spoke, his voice soft. He patted Ryder’s hand with his own gloved hand before a sniffle could be heard.

“You...do not...need…” Ryder began to speak, his vision finally coming back to normal.

“It’s okay, you just rest,” Reuben said with a smile, his eyes completely bloodshot and puffy. It was obvious he had been crying and/or hadn’t slept in days.

“I’ll stay with him,” Alice stated as she crookedly sat at the end of Ryder’s bed.

“Alice!” Ryder exclaimed followed by a raspy cough. He turned his entire attention to Alice as she smiled at him, dropping her head to one side.

“Please, don’t speak. Just rest,” Reuben reasserted, getting up and patting Alice on the back before leaving the room with Evan.

“Feel better, Ry. We need you back at a-hundred percent!” Evan said with a slight chuckle, closing the door behind him.

It didn’t take long for Ryder to slowly close his eyes once more to sleep. He felt extraordinarily weak and he had no idea why or what was happening.

A few hours later, Ryder woke up again, this time to a tray of rotting wood beside him. Alice was still sitting at the end of his bed staring at him.

“Good, you’re awake,” she said with a smile.

“Alice...you...are here,” he responded groggily.

“Mhmm, in the flesh...which has been extremely strange to get used to I must say,” she said with a chuckle before her tone turned sour. “Ryder, you almost died. Luckily, you didn’t. Now I can tell you everything you’ve missed out on.”

Ryder slowly sat up in his bed, obviously hurting.

“Here, let me help,” Alice stated, standing up off the bed and coming to her creator’s aid, fluffing his pillow and pulling the tray of bark over his ribbon so it would be in front of him. “Eat,” she insisted. It was strange. He didn’t make much fuss over it, but it was obvious that she was a true entity now, just as Bastian had requested. She could interact with other objects which was never something his creations could do before.

Ryder slowly lifted his weak arm to grab a small piece of bark but noticed something was off before he had the chance. His freckles were dark brown. His skin looked very bruised, and he remembered the problems he was facing. Everything suddenly came back to him in an instant. “Erryd!” he exclaimed, his voice hoarse.

“Eat!” Alice commanded. “You need to get better, don’t think of that bastard. You need nourishment. It’s why Reuben brought this plate in here. Now do me and him, not to mention yourself, a favor and eat first!”

Ryder was taken aback. He picked up a piece of bark and put it into his mouth. It was absolutely delicious. The tastes swirled around as if he hadn’t eaten in years. “Mmm,” he moaned. He then began to eat each and every delectable piece as though he’d never eat again, cherishing each bite until the plate was completely gone.

“Good, now that you’ve eaten, we can speak about Erryd,” Alice stated, pulling the tray from him and placing it back on the bedside table.

Ryder’s attention was instantly caught by her words. “What happened?”

“Well, I’m going to be blunt because you need to hear this from me instead of Reuben, who would no doubt try his best to sugar coat everything,” she began, taking a deep breath as she made her way to the bedroom door, locking it to ensure they would not be disturbed. “Erryd has been parading around here like he’s you for the past couple of months. He stashed you away underneath the floorboards and left you for dead. Luckily you had the courage and strength to come back from your dreams, where you saved me and Bastian from certain torture. Then, when you awoke, you created me right here in your bedroom.”

Ryder began to remember all of the little things that had happened to him. His nightmare, his finding Bastian and Alice and the three of them floating in the white nothingness of his mind before waking up.

“How do you know he was pretending to be me?”

Alice’s eyes narrowed. “I spoke with Reuben, who was quite surprised to see me by the way, since he hadn’t in over a year and a half. He said that you’ve been acting differently, and when I said that it wasn’t you, he didn’t believe me. Then, I told him to look under your bed and everything would be made clear.”

Alice paused a moment, allowing Ryder to digest what was just thrown at him. He was confused, but remembered the pain of Erryd’s escape into reality just before going unconscious and waking up in that dreamscape. It made sense, he was real, just like Alice was real because of his powers. He wondered what Reuben would have said about realizing Erryd was alive.

“When we found you a week ago, you were gray and looked absolutely horrid. You were covered in dust and looked completely dead. Reuben realized that it was just a deep coma and he and Evan pulled you out, cleaned you up and have been by your side ever since.”

“A week ago?!” Ryder exclaimed the moment Alice stopped speaking.

“Yes, you’ve been in what they’ve called a coma for a week, recuperating,” Alice began. Then, her face fell. “I, on the other hand, have been doing some research and realizing that being a real person is absolutely disgraceful. How embarrassed was I to find that you have to use a restroom when one has to ‘urinate’, a disgusting habit of humans and full-bodied entities that I didn’t really care to think about.”

The imagining chuckled. “Reuben loves you, Ryder. So does Evan. We all do. We need you to get better,” Alice concluded.

“Where is Erryd now?” Ryder questioned.

“We have no idea exactly,” Alice said with a heavy sigh. “But he left over a week ago after a fight with Reuben and Evan. He hasn’t been heard from since. Though, it appears that his leaving was what gave you the ability to emerge victorious from your dreamscape. His power wasn’t keeping you held so tightly and you were able to overcome it,” the imagining began. “Reuben has placed a few calls to the police and they are searching for him as we speak. So far, no signs of him have even been found. Sadly, he's very smart and good at covering his tracks," she concluded with a sigh of distress.

Ryder thought a moment, Erryd was...gone? Where could he have gone? Ryder began to ponder the thought and something struck him suddenly. 'What if Erryd was seeking out the entity who gave him the ability to be free in the first place? The Trader.' Ryder’s heart sank instantly. He had no idea if that’s where he went, but that was the frei’s best guess. After all, Erryd had been the only imagining which continued to creep up ever since the jailing of Alice and Bastian, meaning he was very aware of the Trader’s existence unlike his other imaginings.

“We have to go after him,” Ryder stated, determination strewn across his face.

“I agree,” Alice began, “but you must get well before we go on such an adventure.”

Ryder slumped with a nod. He knew he’d be no match against Erryd in this current state. He laid back down, rolling to his side and staring off into space in hopes of thinking of other places his shadow self could be.  ​