"Unplugged" (Switch/Apoc)
A follow-up to Invitation.
Switch/Apoc.
Enjoy.
:-)
Unplugged
I can hear people talking. Their voices are… strange. Like they’re coming from the wrong angle.
I open my eyes.
And squint.
The light is too bright, and right above me, hurting my eyes.
“W-what…?”
It hurts to talk, the way it hurts after you’ve been silent with laryngitis for a week.
A face drifts into view - bald head, strong jaw - blocking out the light.
Morpheus.
Holy fuck, I think, It was all real…
“Sleep, Apoc,” Morpheus tells me.
I feel a hand on my head - on my scalp. What the hell happened to my hair?
Morpheus looks at me with sympathetic eyes.
“The answers are coming,” he promises.
I take his word for it.
I’m too tired to keep my eyes open any longer.
Something’s different.
The surface I’m lying on is softer.
I open my eyes.
The light is much dimmer now. My eyes don’t hurt as much.
There’s a blanket underneath me.
I try to move, and my left hand brushes against a wall.
I push myself up, trying to sit - my head spins from the effort and my body feels like lead (what’s wrong with me?)
I hear the creak of metal on metal and look up, startled.
Oh, god… my head.
The door swings inwards - the light is brighter outside - someone is silhouetted in the doorway.
“You’re awake,” the silhouette says, surprised.
I know that voice. Her shape is different here - well, it would be, wouldn’t it? - I can see the pixie-cut of her hair, the subtle curves of her body under the loose clothing.
“Hi,” I say - or try to say. The word comes out like a croak, my mouth feels like it’s full of cotton.
“Stay put,” she tells me - she sounds amused. “I’ll get you some water.”
I’m left in the blessed dark for an endless minute. I lean my head against the cold wall, hoping it will cool the throbbing in my skull. I work my tongue in my mouth, hoping to get enough saliva to swallow.
Finally, the door creaks open again.
“Here.”
She hold the cup to my lips, her other hand behind my head.
I consider suggesting that I can do this myself, that I don’t need her to support me like I’m some sort of toddler but… I don’t entirely trust my body to do what I want.
And the way she touches me - pragmatic and medicinal - suggests that she’s done this before, that she expects me to have trouble.
Besides, telling her that I’m not a child will, I suspect, only make me sound like one.
I keep quiet, instead, carefully swallowing the contents of the cup.
The water’s so cold it’s almost sweet, chilling my tongue and waking my nerves. I can feel my head clearing.
“Th-thank you,” I manage, when she withdraws the empty cup.
She nods.
“I’ll tell Morpheus you’re up.”
“No, wait-” familiar words. “You said you’d tell me your name.”
In the doorway, her mouth quirks.
“You remember that, do you?”
“You gonna tell me?”
She considers me for a long moment.
“It’s Switch,” she answers, the faintest shadow of a smile ghosting at the corners of her mouth.
“Switch.”
Another nod.
“It suits you.”
*~*~*~*~*
Story continues in Introductions.
Comments? :-)
Switch/Apoc.
Enjoy.
:-)
Unplugged
I can hear people talking. Their voices are… strange. Like they’re coming from the wrong angle.
I open my eyes.
And squint.
The light is too bright, and right above me, hurting my eyes.
“W-what…?”
It hurts to talk, the way it hurts after you’ve been silent with laryngitis for a week.
A face drifts into view - bald head, strong jaw - blocking out the light.
Morpheus.
Holy fuck, I think, It was all real…
“Sleep, Apoc,” Morpheus tells me.
I feel a hand on my head - on my scalp. What the hell happened to my hair?
Morpheus looks at me with sympathetic eyes.
“The answers are coming,” he promises.
I take his word for it.
I’m too tired to keep my eyes open any longer.
Something’s different.
The surface I’m lying on is softer.
I open my eyes.
The light is much dimmer now. My eyes don’t hurt as much.
There’s a blanket underneath me.
I try to move, and my left hand brushes against a wall.
I push myself up, trying to sit - my head spins from the effort and my body feels like lead (what’s wrong with me?)
I hear the creak of metal on metal and look up, startled.
Oh, god… my head.
The door swings inwards - the light is brighter outside - someone is silhouetted in the doorway.
“You’re awake,” the silhouette says, surprised.
I know that voice. Her shape is different here - well, it would be, wouldn’t it? - I can see the pixie-cut of her hair, the subtle curves of her body under the loose clothing.
“Hi,” I say - or try to say. The word comes out like a croak, my mouth feels like it’s full of cotton.
“Stay put,” she tells me - she sounds amused. “I’ll get you some water.”
I’m left in the blessed dark for an endless minute. I lean my head against the cold wall, hoping it will cool the throbbing in my skull. I work my tongue in my mouth, hoping to get enough saliva to swallow.
Finally, the door creaks open again.
“Here.”
She hold the cup to my lips, her other hand behind my head.
I consider suggesting that I can do this myself, that I don’t need her to support me like I’m some sort of toddler but… I don’t entirely trust my body to do what I want.
And the way she touches me - pragmatic and medicinal - suggests that she’s done this before, that she expects me to have trouble.
Besides, telling her that I’m not a child will, I suspect, only make me sound like one.
I keep quiet, instead, carefully swallowing the contents of the cup.
The water’s so cold it’s almost sweet, chilling my tongue and waking my nerves. I can feel my head clearing.
“Th-thank you,” I manage, when she withdraws the empty cup.
She nods.
“I’ll tell Morpheus you’re up.”
“No, wait-” familiar words. “You said you’d tell me your name.”
In the doorway, her mouth quirks.
“You remember that, do you?”
“You gonna tell me?”
She considers me for a long moment.
“It’s Switch,” she answers, the faintest shadow of a smile ghosting at the corners of her mouth.
“Switch.”
Another nod.
“It suits you.”
*~*~*~*~*
Story continues in Introductions.
Comments? :-)