Chapter 5 – Suspicions are... hot?

Suspicions arose again inside Michael. Just why would they send the military out to make an announcement, if all that they wanted to announce, was that everything was to continue normally. This time, the suspicions he had didn’t disappear either. This whole thing was just too strange for that. No matter what was going on, if there was nothing out of the ordinary, a simple broadcast by those sitting in the government would’ve been enough to tell them, that everything was going to be okay. Now though, Michael was sure that there was something going on behind the scenes, that they weren’t told. They were kept completely in the dark. And if there was something Michael didn’t like, it was being kept in the dark, especially if there was obviously something big going on.

Absentmindedly he stood there, waiting for the convoy to pass, so that he could say goodbye to his colleagues and go home. He didn’t have any plans on what he was going to do next, he just wanted to get away from this place. He was getting extremely uncomfortable, since he seemed to be about the only person who was suspicious of all this. Looking around, he noticed someone staring at him. When he tried to stare back at the person, they were gone. It was like Michael simply imagined that person staring at him. Was he going crazy now? Did something cause him to lose his mind? Michael seriously started doubting himself. Was his mind playing tricks on him, now that he was suspicious of the things happening all around? He became extremely uncomfortable and wished for nothing more, than to be able to disappear from where he was right now.

It seemed like fortune was on his side on that matter, because after only half an hour, the whole convoy had long passed and everything was at a point, where disappearing from the scene didn’t seem weird anymore. And this was exactly what Michael was planning on doing. Absentmindedly, he searched for Mr. Bill and a few other colleagues and bade them farewell. He rushed the whole thing a bit, because he couldn’t wait to get away from there. It slowly became unbearable for him to stay there because, he wasn’t only getting more suspicious, but the tingling feeling that he was experiencing was getting stronger and stronger as well and the feeling didn’t really become less in the last 30 minutes. All he wanted to do right now, was to go somewhere. It didn’t even matter where, so long as was alone, away from people. Maybe he could regain his mind there. But for now getting away was the only thing that he had on his mind.

In the state of mind Michael was in, he didn’t even think about getting his car and driving anywhere. He simply started walking. Every second longer, that he stayed there, was a second more in which his mind seemed to break down more and more. However, there was still one, last clear thought inside his head. Just why was his mind in this weird state? And what was that tingling feeling that was getting stronger and stronger? He tried to think about it for a short moment, but failed at it. His thoughts soon started to become cloudy and his whole body started feeling like he was getting pricked with thousands of needles. It itched so badly, that he wanted to tear his skin off! Trying to scratch himself all over, Michael walked on. He didn’t know where he was going, nor did he care about it right now. He simply walked further and further. And at the same time, his mind became more and more unclear. Right now there was no thought about suspicion inside his head. No thought about what was going on right now, not even a single thought about that object in the sky. All that was inside his head right now, were a lot of incoherent thoughts, as well the desire to tear his skin off, as well as a colourful explosion every now and then.

He had the feeling that someone or something tried to talk to him, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t care. He simply walked on and on. Was he even walking right now? Was he even still on the ground? Or was he doing something else, somewhere else entirely? He didn’t know, and it didn’t really matter. All that mattered, was getting rid of this sensation. And getting away. But from what? Michael didn’t even know anymore. But he didn’t even really care about it either. Everything besides these two things was unimportant anyway. Other things didn’t exist to him right now. At one point, the feeling of the needles on his skin became so bad that everything around Michael went black.

It seemed like quite some time had passed by, when Michael regained his senses. Looking around, he noticed that he had, once again, changed the gravitation around him. Just like this morning, or was it even still the same day? Pulling out his smartphone to check the time, he noticed that the battery was dead. He had been out of it for quite some time, if even the battery died. Resigned, he put it back and focused on his surroundings. It seemed like he was somewhere in a forest and what he had slept on, was the trunk of a fairly big tree. Well that was certainly a first for him. He had never before slept on a tree, not to mention on its trunk.

For now, he tried to do, what he had done previously, to return to normal gravity. Once again, he imagined the starry nebulas around him and next, he imagined them starting to move back inside him. He found it way easier this time, compared to when he first tried it. It seemed like there was far less resistance somehow. A resistance, he didn’t even know was there before. Not that he knew much about this whole thing to begin with anyway.

When he finished moving all the nebulas back inside him, he, once again, fell back to the ground. He cursed himself for his stupidity inside his mind. He should really start to talk proper landing poses in the future, or else he would most likely break some of his bones soon. Anyway, the position he was in right now, was really uncomfortable, so he tried to stand up. Well… not that he got much further than trying it though. When he tried to move, it felt like moving through lead. He only managed to stand up, when he gave it his all.

Michael became worried. Just what was happening with him? First he has a weird dream from which he woke up on the wrong end of his room, next he started tingling all over, followed by everything going black and now he couldn’t move properly! Just what was going on? This definitely wasn’t normal! It couldn’t be! Maybe something had happened to him while he was out of it?

Michael tried to think about the time after he decided to leave after the announcement ended. With resignation, he discovered that he barely remembered anything. There was close to nothing! The only things he remembered, where him walking, someone trying to talk to him, a prickling pain all over his body and a devastating sense of utter despair! This couldn’t be! Just why couldn’t he remember what happened to him?

It was useless. No matter how hard he tried to remember what had happened to him, he couldn’t. Even though there could’ve been a clue as to why his body moved like it was moving through lead. And now he was getting extremely hot to top it all off. He felt like he was sitting in a sauna while keeping his clothes on. The heat was getting unbearable extremely fast. He felt sweat running down his entire body. Wanting to wipe the sweat off, Michael concentrated on moving his arm. After he had moved it halfway towards his forehead, he noticed that there wasn’t even any sweat on his arm, though he clearly felt sweat there too! Not only that, there was no sweat on his arm, there was nothing on it! It was completely smooth! Not even a hair could be seen on his arm!

If he hadn’t been so hot right now, he would’ve been curious about all of this, but he really didn’t have any leeway to think about the state his skin seemed to be in. It was getting hotter and hotter around him. It started to feel like he was being cooked alive! What should he do now?! Desperately he looked around. Maybe he could spot a river to cool down in.

But he had no luck. There was no sign of a river anywhere in his surroundings. And by now, the heat became so unbearable, that he would try anything to make it go away. Looking around frantically, an idea came into his. If there was no river around to cool down in… couldn’t he just take the easy way out of this misery? Slowly and with every ounce of power he could muster right now, Michael walked towards a tree. When he arrived directly in front of it, he hesitated for a second and slammed his head towards its trunk.

But instead of the expected nothingness, there was a loud cracking noise. Why was there a cracking noise? Did he accidentally break skull while trying to knock himself out? That wouldn’t be good! While thinking what that cracking was about, Michael suddenly noticed something. He felt fresh and cool air on his forehead. His eyes went wide with shock. Looking down, he saw pieces of, what looked to be his forehead.

Realizing what he had to do now, Michael mobilized every single bit of power left inside him and frantically ripped his own skin and flesh off. Noticing that it didn’t even hurt, even though it was his own flesh and skin that he was ripping off, he put even more effort into it. First, he ripped the skin off of his arms. Bit by bit, a small pile of flesh was forming on the ground. And by the time both arms were free, it had grown by quite a bit.

Pausing for a bit and looking at his arms, he saw that, inside the skin and flesh he had just ripped off, where new arms. And when he tried to move them, he could do so without any problem. He quickly and without any hesitation decided to rip off the rest of the skin on his head, starting from the spot, where his forehead cracked.

Focusing on only getting his head free, he ripped his face off as fast as possible. When he finished that, he could, at long last, finally breath normally again. He gasped for air, trying his hardest to fill his lungs with the much needed cold air. Still gasping for air, Michael continued to free his body from himself. Bit by bit, he ripped his skin, together with his flesh off of him. Slowly, blood was accumulating around him and the pile of flesh and skin in front of him quickly grew.

After, what felt like only a few minutes to Michael, he managed to free himself completely off his own skin and flesh. Now he only stood there, with his eyes closed, in the darkness of the forest, illuminated only by the moon and enjoyed the gentle breeze making its way through the woods. The breeze felt a bit cold om his skin, since he was extremely sweaty. Though it felt extremely comfortable, especially compared to the hotness he felt before. What was making this whole thing comfortable too, was that the nasty feeling of sweat dreanched clothes sticking to his skin wasn’t there.

Akuiya

Even though I am extremely busy right now, I still managed to finish a chapter (yay!). Please tell me what you think of the pacing of this chapter c: ... i want to know whether it seems too rushed or not. And as always: I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you have any suggestions or find mistakes, please write them down in the comments below so I can fix them \o/

And thanks to my supporter: Ritsuka Morgan