“What the fuck happened to you?” Leon asked as Ralphie walked back into the room. Ralphie’s clothes were covered in dirt, and he had gathered a handful of scratches and cuts, which were bleeding into his clothes. “I heard gunshots close by. I tried calling you, but you didn’t pick up.”

  Ralphie tossed a handful of supplies and food onto the table nearby. “I ran into the masked man again, and he saved me from an ambush. Hired guns from the look of it." Ralphie said.

  “Shit, are you ok?” Leon asked

  Ralphie looked down at the cuts on his arm and said, “Ya, I just need some new clothes.”

  Leon mentioned that it was a good thing that the masked man was there; otherwise, he would likely be dead. But Ralphie didn’t seem happy. “What's wrong?” he asked.

  “The masked man told me that he could help me find my parents.” Leon didn’t understand why that was a bad thing. Ralphie paused for a second. “Then he told me he was my uncle.”

  Leon sat there processing and saw the turmoil in Ralphie's face, “Do you even have an uncle?” Ralphie sat there thinking; he had no recollection that he had an Uncle. His parents had never mentioned anything.

  “So what did you do?” Leon asked as Ralphie grabbed a towel from inside one of the drawers.”

  “Well, I smashed my gun into his face. We were in the store at the time, and the cashier had a gun, so he started firing and cursing at us to get out. So I ran out of the store back here.” Leon looked at Ralphie, shocked. Ralphie hadn’t even gotten the name of the masked man who claimed to be his uncle. But he knew it to be true. There was something about this man that Ralphie could trust. He spoke as he knew him.

  Do you still have that melt with you?” Ralphie asked?

  “I don’t know if that's a good idea right now, you're kind of stressed, don’t ya think?” Leon said

  “I’ll be fine, I could use my mind being scrambled. It might take my mind off things for tomorrow. If you’ll get it ready for me while I clean up, I would appreciate it.” Ralphie walked over to the bathroom, closing the door behind him. After about a minute, the shower water could be heard running.

  Leon walked over to one of his duffel bags, reaching into the outside pocket, pulling out the grey plastic bag that held the Melt that they had taken from the CelTec building. The bag was heavy as the Melt block was extremely dense, weighing at least a pound while being no bigger than a golf ball. He reached in and pulled out the block. Its shiny black obsidian color gleamed under the light.

  Leon reached over to grab the water boiler, which he filled with water and left on the hot plate to boil. He then pulled out a knife from his bag and used it to carefully scrape the top of the melt block onto a paper towel. The scrapings formed what looked like dust on the napkin. He split the shavings into two small piles. Leon then took out two glasses, which he filled to the very top with boiling water. Then, using the knife, he scooped up the shavings, dumping them into each of the glasses.

  The Melt pieces swirled around on top of the water for a couple of seconds before they shot down to the bottom of the glass, leaving black streaks in the water. A couple of seconds later, they shot back up to the top of the glass, leaving a new set of black streaks. This process was repeated before the entire glass of water was engulfed with a deep black color.

  Leon remembered his grandfather used to talk about melt when he was a kid before it was outlawed. His grandfather said that it was the most powerful thing that he had ever encountered. That it could change a person's mind so drastically that it could turn a mean person kind or make an arrogant person humble. He used to say that it would take a person and crack them right open so that the system would flood them with knowledge.

  Leon’s grandfather had said that it had been outlawed because it broke down the lines between the Disconnected and the Integrated. It was also highly addictive to the Disconnected. But hopefully, it could give them some insights that they desperately needed.

  Ralphie came out of the shower, band tape sealing most of his major cuts, and his hair was still damp.

  “It’s all ready. I made two because I couldn’t let you go in alone.” Leon handed Ralphie a glass; they raised their glasses in a cheer.

  The drink went down pretty smoothly, Ralphie thought. The drink had a metallic, chalky taste, and it also made his lips feel like they were made of rubber. Leon and Ralphie both lay down on their respective beds. After a while, the walls started vibrating.

  Colors swirled around Ralphie's vision, forming different shapes and colors, constantly moving and disappearing. The walls around Ralphie dematerialized everything around him, disappearing. They were replaced by a blinding white light that colored the room, silencing everything.

  As Ralphie looked around, he noticed a desk appear far in the distance. It was encased in fog. But it was the only thing that he could see, so he decided to walk towards it. When he tried to take a couple of steps forward, his feet didn’t feel connected to the ground. Instead, he seemed to hover an inch off the ground. He wasn’t wearing any shoes, and his feet were unbelievably cold.

  As he got closer, he noticed a little boy with a red baseball cap. The boy was twirling a pencil in his hand back and forth, occasionally dropping it. Ralphie went to tap the boy on the shoulder, but when he did, the boy felt burning hot. Ralphie reeled his hand back in pain.

  “Fuck,” he shouted. The boy didn’t look up, still twirling his pencil. Ralphie walked over so that he could see the boy's face. It was a much younger version of Leon. This must be from when he was still in grade school. The younger version of Leon looked up, seemingly looking right through Ralphie before raising his hand.

  “I don’t know this,” the young version of Leon said. There was a quiet laugh that reverberated throughout the room in a low vibration. The white colors surrounding Ralphie pulsated a dark red. For a couple of seconds, Ralphie's vision of the younger Leon distorted, stretched, and then blurred. It was a memory, one that Leon had changed over the years as he called back upon it.

  A reverberating, shaky voice called out, “Hide, they won’t find you.” Ralphie looked around, frightened, unsure if he was a bystander or a participant in this memory. Standing in front of Ralphie was now an older version of Leon, standing tall; his hair was much longer, messy, and tangled as it hung low beneath his eyes.

  “What is it?” a voice called out, laughing at Leon.

  “I’ve never seen that before,” Leon said, chuckling back to the voice as he pressed his finger down on the paper that sat in front of him. Ralphie leaned down to get a good look. It was a map.

  Once again, the voice called out, ringing throughout Ralphie's entire body, “Run, Run, Run, they can’t find you.”

  Ralphie's vision shifted and then blurred. He looked up into a mirror that was now displayed in front of him. Only it wasn’t his face staring back at him. It was Leon’s face, only much older and a more current version.

  “Fuck,” the words vibrated through Ralphies throat, although it wasn’t his words. It was Leon's words that Ralphie was experiencing. He no longer had any control over what he was doing. Through Leon's eyes, Ralphie saw him reach down and grab a piece of paper, but something was off. The words seemed to jump across the page as if they were running away from him.

  “What is going on?” Ralphie thought to himself.

  Leon’s actual body was lying a couple of feet away from Ralphie in the hotel room. But the Melt had taken him to a much different place.

  He was surrounded by large, towering wooden blocks. The blocks were painted with bright paint: yellow, blue, green, and red. They looked the same as the blocks Flicks had given him. But instead of glowing, they were painted on. The paint was peeling as bits floated down above Leon’s head. In front of Leon was Ralphie, only he was a toddler.

  As Leon approached him, he began to hear the sound of two muffled voices going back and forth. Leon walked up to Ralphie before stepping on a sharp object. He jumped back before picking up a toy dragon lying on the floor. Ralphie looked up, gazing at Leon before he held up his outstretched hands for the toy. Leon handed him the toy dragon as Ralphies smiled.

  Leon recognized the muffled voices as he got closer. It was Mr and Mrs. Studd yelling in the background; it was quite easy for him to make out their voices. He could only make out a couple of words that they were saying: “sacrifice, scared, save.” Leon’s surroundings were fuzzy; the only thing that was in focus was Ralphie.

  A giant hand appeared out of the fuzz. It was nearly twice the size of Leon. It came swooshing down, grabbing Ralphie in a balled fist. Leon watched in shock as the hand squeezed before releasing a much older version of Ralphie. When the hand opened up, Ralphie was much bigger, but no older than a toddler. He was fully dressed with shoes on and a little hat. The giant hand's perspective changed in front of Leon until it materialized into Mrs. Studd.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Ralphie, again with the running around the house I told you to stop,” Mrs. Studd set Ralphie down before pointing for him to go to his room. “Your father and I need to talk,” she said.

  Ralphie walked fast away from Leon before bursting into an array of dust as he hit the fuzzy background. Leon turned to his left as a large, dark shadow walked right through him, and Mr. Studd came into focus.

  Leon realized that Mrs. Studd had been gently weeping. Mr.Studd pulled her, cradling her gently. “It’s going to be ok,” Mr. Studd said in a deep voice. He was trying to mask something: “Ralphie will be ok.”

  “I’m scared, I want to see him grow up,” she said, still weeping.

  There was a loud bang and a bright flashing light that shocked Ralphie in the midst of his Melt. “What the fuck was that. It felt real; if something was going on outside of the Melt, Ralphie knew he and Leon would be screwed. Maybe taking the Melt was a bad idea. After a couple of seconds, Ralphie's vision cleared. A much older version of Leon was standing in front of him, staring Ralphie in the eyes. This version of Leon looked disheveled. He had a long, outgrown beard that was grey, and his skin was wrinkled and aged.

  “You're a fucking idiot,” the older Leon said in a low rumbling voice. Ralphie tried to respond, but found that he couldn't. Ralphie's eyes widened as he realized he was looking into a mirror, “This must be a nightmare.” Ralphie thought to himself. Ralphie could feel Leon’s hands shake as the older version of Leon took a couple of steps towards him. Something seemed off about the way the reflection was staring at them. The reflection seemed to look past the mask that was Leon into Ralphie.

  “You are not nothing,” the older version of Leon said, snarling. “But, you are lonely, trapped. You will never be pure, only able to imitate success, but never hold onto it. Nobody understands you; they will never see struggle as strength, only weakness. You are not capable of creating beauty. Hiding is your strength, don’t let them see you struggle.” Ralphie was using all of his strength to try to move his arm, but to no avail. Suddenly, the older Leon took his fist and slammed it repeatedly into the mirror, shattering the glass. Ralphie could feel the warm blood oozing out of his face.

  “Stop,” Ralphie managed to say as he felt his vocal cords vibrate out in Leon’s voice.

  The reflection stopped, “Oh, hello, now who are you?”

  Ralphie felt a cold rush throughout his body, goosebumps lining his body. The Reflection raised his finger, motioning towards himself mockingly, “Why don’t we let your friend come out to play?” The reflection said.

  Ralphie felt his skin begin to stretch like his muscles were being pulled through his skin by a million strings. After a couple of seconds, Ralphie burst through Leon's skin, soaking him from head to toe in blood.

  “Ahh, hello friend, how are you…?” The Reflection called out to him, taking a step through the mirror towards him.

  Ralphie looked up, confused. He could move and talk again.

  “What the fuck is happening? I want this to be over,” he thought to himself. The Reflection walked up to Ralphie, his face morphing and changing as he got closer, “Allow me to introduce myself,” the reflection who once resembled Leon stretched his hand, grinning as he did so, his fingers long and stretched in front of him. “Dullahan,” he said.

  “You aren't real,” Ralphie muttered to himself out of shock.

  Dullahan rubbed his hands together. They were bruised and bloodied. “Hmm, probably not,” Dullahan said before looking at Ralphie. “Doesn’t make much of a difference now, does it?” Dullahan took another step closer, “But what about you, are you real? Either you are, or you're in Leon’s subconscious. Which means he’s getting desperate if he’s projecting you as a defence against me.

  Regardless, it's a new toy for me to play with.” Dullahan said, his smile growing as Ralphie backed up. A large wall rose from the ground behind Ralphie, constructing itself brick by brick behind him.

  There was another loud bang, and a flash blinded Ralphie; he kept backing up, trying to keep distance between him and Dullahan before he bumped into the wall. It took a couple of seconds before Ralphie could see again. Dullahan was standing a couple of inches away from Ralphie's nose. Dullahan put his hand on Ralphie's shoulder as Ralphie tried to pull away, but couldn’t.

  Dullahan was grinning from ear to ear, “You seem real.” There was a hint of curiosity in his voice. “Looks like you're having trouble out there.” Dullahan's smile dropped. You took the Melt, didn’t you? That's how you are here now.”

  “What are you doing with Leon?” Ralphie mustered up the courage to ask.

  Dulluhan looked at Ralphie for a couple of seconds, contemplating something, “I placed a version of me in here shortly after he obtained The Minds. A chip in his mind so I could torment him.”

  “I don’t believe you, I would have noticed if something was different.” Ralphie pressed his back firmly against the wall.

  Dullahan laughed; his voice was loud against Ralphie's ears. “Well, both you and Leon are very similar in a lot of ways. Both stubbornly hide your pain. Most people don’t tell others they are going to kill themselves.”

  He had to be lying, Ralphie thought to himself; he didn’t believe it. “Why do this to him if you're just going to tell me?” Ralphie demanded.

  “Well, I tell you this because I don’t know if he will survive the removal of the chip, and I am curious to find out. Either you remove the chip, or he kills himself; either way, I find out how well my chip works. Oh, and I thought you would have figured it out that Chuck Thorne put the chip in him, not me. I am much too busy, and he has always been my most reliable asset. Why do you think Chuck Thorne is so powerful? It was not on his own accord.

  “Why do this?” Ralphie sounded defeated.

  “It was how I was designed. If the world keeps speeding up, technology will progress, eventually killing all life on this planet. Your species is killing itself with its evolution, so I slowed it down. Your family has proven very useful in helping me find the weaknesses within CelTec so I could strengthen it. So moldable, so weak. I hope you will serve the same purpose.”

  Ralphie threw a punch at Dullahan, connecting with his jaw. Dullahan didn’t budge. “You don’t know, do you?” Dullahan's grin grew once more. “Power makes people happy, breeds control over others. It crippled your parents long before we took them. I am beyond your reach.” Dullahan wrapped his hands around Ralphie's neck.

  As Ralphie stared into Dullahan's face, his vision started to glow white with black spots dancing around his vision.

  Dullahan grabbed onto Ralphie harder, “You will get nowhere, let me comfort you with this. I will keep your parents alive, barely alive, but alive. They bested me once before, but now they are my trophies. I’m close, so very close to releasing myself from this nightmare.” Dullahan took a knife from his pocket, reached over, and plunged the tip into Ralphie's chest before pulling it down towards his stomach. Ralphie gasped. “Die,” Dullahan said, his teeth grinding together as Ralphie's vision went black.

  Mr. and Mrs. Studd stood in front of Leon, embracing one another. Leon was now surrounded by an array of colors swirling around him. The colors were fascinating, he thought, as they swirled through him.

  “Would you hold him, please?” Mrs. Studd said

  Leon looked around to see who she was talking to, but he couldn’t see anyone. He looked back at Mrs. Studd, “Are you talking to me?” So far, he hasn't been able to talk to anyone. A conscious observer thrust into action.

  Mrs. Studd nodded, “Hurry, there's not much time.” Leon picked up Ralphie, holding him carefully. Mrs. Studd motioned for Leon to stay quiet. “Hide,” she whispered.

  Chuck Thone appeared from an array of colors, standing near Mr. and Mrs. Thorne. Chuck Thorne appeared to be talking, but Leon couldn’t hear anything until he heard Mr. Studd, “We understand what we're doing, we have a plan in place, look after Ralphie for us.”

  Chuck Thorne nodded before he disappeared back into the colors. Leon's surroundings changed until he was in a large concrete room with various metal objects and benches. Leon gripped Ralphie tight. Ralphie whimpered softly. Chuck Thorne and the Studds were on opposite sides. They didn’t seem to notice Ralphie or Leon. In the middle of the room was a giant machine that had large metal rings that oscillated back and forth.

  “What is that?” Mrs. Studd asked.

  Mr. Studd looked up at the machine, “I don’t know.”

  Chuck Thorne shouted out, “You can’t,” his voice was cracking. “This is your fight also, the chip she created would reset The Minds, giving everyone access to all of it. It would reset the power dynamic. You cannot believe CelTec is good. They rob us of everything: our freedom, our privacy, our money.”

  Chuck Thorne took a couple of cautious steps towards Mr. Studd. “Who would benefit from that? Trillions rely on the food and the technology that CelTec creates. How many would be dead from resetting The Minds? You have no idea how many people this company supports. We have ended wars.

  Mr. Studd looked up at him before saying, “Only to turn people into slaves. Besides, selecting who you choose is inferior to what you have actually done.” Mr. Studd pulled out his gun, and the red glint flashed against the light. He pointed the gun at Mrs. Studd. “We will not be your prisoners."

  A bullet whizzed by, striking Mr. Studd in the hand before he had a chance to pull the trigger. Mr. Studd reeled back, hissing as the gun fell to the floor.

  “I’m sorry,” Chuck Thorne said as at least twenty Blues came out of the shadows, materializing into thin air.

  Mr. Studd grabbed his hand as Mrs. Studd said, “What are you doing, Chuck?”

  Chuck Thorne had a sad look on his face, his eyes were heavy, “I can’t let you do it. I still love this family, and I can’t let Ralphie live without parents. He deserves someone to raise them.”

  “I will not let Ralphie be raised by some CelTec abomination,” Mr. Studd said angrily.

  “They're called puppets.” A tear raced down Chuck Thorne's cheek. “We will remake you well. You have my word, you will no longer live in poverty, your life will be rich, Ralphie's life will be rich.”

  “This is a mistake, a soulless life ripped from us. We don’t want Ralphie to grow up with humans, not some experiment. You have already pushed Jedd underground. Ralphie should know who his family is.”

  Chuck Thorne frowned, “I’m sorry, old friend, I can’t lose you.” A bright light flashed momentarily, followed by a quiet woosh that sounded like the fast whipping wind. Mr. Studd fell to the floor motionless for a couple of seconds before he began to twitch. Mrs. Studd let out a hideous cry before she ran over to Mr. Studd and attempted to drag him away with her. Mrs. Studd ducked down to the floor. One of the blues surrounding her fell to the floor before another flash of light hit Mrs. Studd, causing her to fall to the floor.

  Leon stood there watching this all unfold, still holding onto little Ralphie, who was playing with his plane. “They are puppets,” Leon muttered to himself. Chuck Thorne whipped his head around for a second, looking at Leon before he called out to the Blues, “Repurpose all of them,” he said.

  Leon felt the ground underneath him shake. He looked down at the ground and noticed that he was no longer holding onto Ralphie but instead a skeleton. Leon dropped it, and as the bones fell towards the ground, Leon’s vision began to get brighter and brighter until it had turned white.