Loop 2 Chapter 9
Jacob Fought the Law!
The front door shuddered as "the police" continued to scream and shout. Jacob wondered who they really were. Would they have Alice's face? The other Alice's face.
As if summoned by the thought, the short-haired Alice's face flashed across his mind. Not her angry scowl, however. Not even her worried frown. Jacob remembered the blank emptiness of her stare. He remembered the blood smeared across her cracked lips.
A lance of sickness raced up his throat, and he retched onto the hallway floor. He should have felt victorious. He had won. He had slain the demon.
So why...? Why did it feel as if he had made a terrible mistake...?
"OPEN THIS DOOR! POLICE DEPARTMENT!"
The faceless voices continued to smash at the door with their fists. Jacob almost laughed. How many decades had he tried to do the same? Would these "police officers" have better luck?
Jacob was slow to rise to his feet. The faceless voices did not seem to mind. They continued to scream and shout. You would think they were paid by the hour with how persistent they were.
He wondered once more if "the police" would have Alice's face. Jacob did not think his thoughts were healthy, but he could not imagine anyone having their own face. Alice had quite thoroughly stamped her nightmare across all of his thoughts.
Jacob's hands were slick with blood and vomit, but he stumbled over to where "the police" continued to hammer away at the door.
"I don't think we can just yet," one of the faceless voices said, seemingly to another faceless specter.
"Hello...?" Jacob called out to the voices. He was not sure why. It felt like the treadmill of his mind had come undone. It was hard to focus on, or care about, anything.
There was a brief silence...
...and then another martial shout appeared.
"OPEN THIS DOOR!"
Jacob frowned. They were being a little repetitive, weren't they? The men had been shouting and shouting at the top of their lungs for what felt like... felt like...?
And Jacob realized they did not have Alice's voice. The security guards back at the hospital had not spoken much, but the doctor had shared Alice's voice. What... What was going on?
"SIR! YOU NEED TO OPEN THE DOOR!"
"Are you... really the police?" Jacob asked, suddenly unsure. It would have been so much easier to fall asleep. It would have been so much easier to simply break.
"THINGS ARE GOING TO GET BAD FOR YOU IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR!"
Jacob fought back a laugh. Get bad? He had a corpse in his bedroom, and it wasn't even his bedroom! Get bad? His reality was already a waking nightmare.
He reached out and turned the doorknob. He almost pissed himself in surprise when the door actually opened.
Perhaps it was the thin lance of light, but Jacob suddenly realized he was covered in blood. There were police knocking at the door, and he was painted red from head to toe. Thankfully, he had only opened the door a crack.
"Wh-what do you want?" Jacob asked. He peered out into the world for the first time in memory. Part of him wanted to run away. He did not want to see. He did not want to know.
"We're not going to ask again, sir," one of the police officers said. It was a man, and he had his own face. It was not exactly a pleasant face, but it was not Alice's either. "Open. The. Door."
"Wh-who are you?" Jacob licked his lips. The sun. How many years had it been since he had last seen the sun? Had it always been so beautiful?
"Sir, you need to open the door," the other police officer said. Their lips looked like two swollen sausages. "We are responding to reports of a disturbance. Neighbors heard screaming from your unit. Is there anyone else in there with you?"
Jacob allowed the door to open a little bit more. He did not even hear the police officers as he looked out across the street. There were cars and people. A row of brick townhouses stood opposite the apartment.
Was this reality?
Had he finally escaped the nightmare?
"SIR! WE NEED YOU TO OPEN THE DOOR AND STEP OUTSIDE!"
The officer's shout brought Jacob back to the doorway. Covered in blood. With a mutilated corpse in the bedroom.
"Fuck me..." Jacob hissed, and he slammed the door shut.
"OPEN THIS DOOR!"
"I think I saw blood, Kasper."
Jacob jumped as a body slammed against the door. This was a nightmare. The old nightmare had ended only for a fresh one to begin.
He sprinted away from the front door but immediately tripped over his own feet. He heard the door behind him open.
"It's unlocked! Sir, put your hands up!"
Jacob scrambled to his feet and raced towards the kitchen. The two police officers stomped into the apartment behind him.
"FREEZE!"
"DON'T MOVE!"
He was a blur through the kitchen and into the hallway. His eyes darted between the open bedroom door and the closet. He chewed a hole through his lip as the police screamed and shouted senselessly behind him.
Jacob turned into the bedroom and blinked.
Alice was still dead. The floor was still covered in blood and viscera. There were no windows, and he could practically feel the police breathing down his neck.
"DON'T MAKE THIS- " one of the officers began, but then they arrived at the doorway. Jacob heard the breath go out of the man. Then his hands quickly went for the pistol at his hip.
"GET ON THE GROUND!"
"GET ON THE GROUND!"
The bedroom was not large, but it felt like a chasm stood between Jacob and the officers. Between them lay Alice in a puddle of red misery. She stared up at the ceiling, indifferent.
Screams bounced off the walls of the room. Jacob's eyes were wide with panic. There was nothing he could do. Everything was wrong, and he did not even know who to blame. All he wanted was for this nightmare to end.
All he wanted... was to be free.
"LET ME OUT!" Jacob screamed back at the officers. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!"
He charged the doorway. Thunder filled the room as several bullets slammed into his shoulder. But he needed to break free!
Another salvo of thunder filled the room as he continued his charge. He crumpled onto the ground, his forehead slamming into a soft Italian custard. The splatter of white cream did little to cushion his fall.
The officers were screaming overhead, though their words were indistinct. Everything was growing indistinct. It was as if Jacob's mind was slowly ebbing away. It was like...
Freedom. It felt like freedom.
A smile tickled Jacob's lips as the officers rolled him over. The room around him was growing dimmer and dimmer. The nightmare was chipping away like old paint.
Over. It was finally over.
Loop 2
Result: Failure
Reason: Suicide by cop
