Aiden ignored the familiar sound and stood up. He decided to head back home. His walk home felt even longer than usual
Aiden was on high alert for some reason. In the dead silence of the night he could hear howling and growling. "My hearing isn't this good..." Aiden muttered to himself
Even though it was quite on the streets the forest was far off from the city and growling could only be heard when a person ventured into the depths of the forest since living animals were a rare sight ever since the virus arrived
Aiden continued his slow walk home. His breathing was heavy and each time he inhaled air it felt as if his lungs were on fire
Aiden got home soon and decided to scale the wall by his open window. He tensed his feet and pushed forward. He ran faster than he ever had before and scaled the wall and jumped into his room through his window
That was a big mistake
Aiden fell onto the floor breathing more heavily, his vision blurred and he coughed out blood. He writhed in pain, his muscles tensed and his body spasmed
He couldn't move nor make a sound no matter how much he tried and then everything went black.
******************************************************
Aiden felt as if his body was suspended in the air. All he could see was darkness
"Why don't you give up" a voice whispered
A memory of Aiden laughing with Damian and Shayla appeared
"You'll never get those days back..."
The memory shuddered and another with Aiden and his family smiling, with his father and brother's face blurred appeared in it's place
"Your family will never be whole again..."
The memory changed to that of Aiden practicing with his former master
"You'll never make your dreams come true..."
The memory changed to that of his family and friends smiling
"You'll never achieve a bright future for them all..."
The memory deemed and Aiden suddenly found himself in the corridor to the entrance of his home. Blood stained the walls, the coat rack was destroyed and the walls had been severely damaged.
Aiden felt a sense of dread, he unconsciously took a step backward 'No, no, not again...' Aiden thought. He broke out into a cold sweat, his palms were shaking uncontrollably and his mouth dried up.
Aiden tried to turn back but he was rooted to the spot unable to control his body. He started to hear the screams of agony and continuous pleas that filled the corridor. The screams emanated from the living room. Aiden's body started moving towards the room
'No,no,no...' Aiden tried to stop but he couldn't, he tried to close his eyes and turn away but his body didn't respond to his will
"Look" the voice returned "all you wanted to do was help...to make sure he would also follow his dream like you did, but look...only sadness came from it..."
The voice continued to speak with it eventually becoming louder and more shrill. Aiden gritted his teeth his eyes tearing up until finally he reached the living room
Aiden saw large hunching figure in the middle of a room of dead bodies. Many of the bodies were of people he didn't know. Their bodies were mangled and brutally ripped apart, organs decorated the room.
Aiden was repulsed by the scene but upon seeing the body in the figures hand, tears flowed from his eyes
'Mom...' his mother was brutally beaten, her arms were broken, he hair was brutally ripped out showing of her bear damaged scalp, blood flowed from her eyes, mouth and ears
"Please...stop..." She begged the figure in her half dead state
Aiden couldn't stand the sight but his body refused to obey him. He felt despair over how powerless he was to stop the figure
'It was my fault...If it wasn't for me...if it wasn't for me...t-they....m-mom..."
Aiden's body took a step back and tripped. the figure turned it's head slowly to face Aiden and all he could see was the figures cold, dead, red eyes staring at him as if to pierce his soul
"It was your fault" the previous shrill voice repeated over and over
The voice got louder and louder as the bodies on the floor repeated the voices statement as they stood and shambled towards Aiden
"It was your fault... we died because of you... your fault...you killed us..." they chant increased in intensity as it seemed to echo off the walls .
Aiden was overwhelmed he wanted to scream but couldn't, he felt trapped.
The bodies soon stacked on top of him. He could smell the blood and he was chocking on its unpleasant smell.
Aiden screamed and a white light of great intensity filled the room and shortly after the light calmed down.
Aiden was in front of a mirror and he was surprised at his appearance. He had wolf ears popping out of his head, his canines were elongated and the sides of his face, arms and legs were covered in brilliant white fur that was stained with blood
"Look at you" the voice returned "You wish to return to the way you were, a brilliant white fured wolf, free of blemish but you can't...your once brilliant fur is stained" the voice raised it's volume "Stained with the blood of innocents!"
"Shut up!!!!" Aiden screamed back holding his head
"You are a murderer" the voice cackled "A MURDERER!"
The voice cackled on, it shrill voice echoing around the white area. Aiden couldn't take anymore he felt as if he was losing his mind.
"STOP!" Aiden screamed but that only made the cackling to increase. Aiden felt dizzy and fell to the floor limp, the last thing he heard before his blackout the horrendous laughter of the voice
******************************************************
Aiden opened his eyes and sat up while panting and looking panicked. He looked around and saw he was no longer in the white area but the dark space with blue flowers
Aiden sighed and layed on the floor exhausted 'Was it a dream? is this a dream'
Aiden didn't know if this was all an illusion, a messed up dream that he would wake up from but, he knew that he wanted it to end
"Why are you just lying there?" a warm but stern voice called out. Aiden had had enough of the voices and chose to ignore it.
Aiden heard footsteps and soon standing over him was a figure wrapped in a white and blue light "Get up" the figure said with a gruff voice
Aiden turned his head to the side and ignored the figure. Suddenly Aiden was lifted off the ground to face level with the figure "You'll listen when I talk" the figure then promptly sent him flying
Aiden fell and rolled for a few seconds before he stopped and got to his feet
"What do you want!? to make fun of me like before!? to make me relive painful memo..."
"Silence!" the figure shouted back "Just keep quiet"
The figure sighed "I've been in your sorry mind for too long, now I'm acting irrational, sit"
The figure sat on the floor while Aiden stared at the mysterious figure "Who are you?"
"Someone... you know and you don't"
"That doesn't make any sense"
"Nothing about the world makes sense..." the figure gestured towards the floor in front of him
Aiden sat in front of the figure not letting his guard down
"Now let's have a civilised discussion" the figure extended his hand "You can call me Kaze"
"Aiden" they shook hands and Aiden felt a wired sensation
"What was that feeling?"
"It'll be hard to explain but let's first start with what this place is. This place is called the mindscape"
"Mindscape?"
"A reflection of your mental state. It's usually a place close to heart, a place that holds a special meaning to you, your happy place" Kaze explained
"The more you undergo strenuous situations that affect your mind it deteriorates like now" Kaze gestured around "Your mindscape was at the brink of destruction moments ago and even now it's deteriorated beyond recognition"
"So that's why my emotions are out of control, I've lost my happy place..."
"Exactly" Kaze affirms "But you can restore it by facing what made it deteriorate-"
"You mean my past... the incident right?"
Kaze nodded
"But..."
"I know you're not ready to face it...you can't face it alone"
"Alone?"
"It's self explanatory, you just have to work on it yourself"
Aiden nodded and his surroundings started fading
"Guess times up but, I'm sure we'll meet again"
Kaze faded slowly, Aiden didn't know why but he felt happy when he was talking to Kaze, it felt as if he was talking to his father and was a bit sad to be leaving Kaze so soon. He was relieved that Kaze said they would see again
For the first time in what felt like a long time Aiden truly smiled a bit "See you soon"