Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 76: Play Along (3)

Chapter 76

Asher bolted into his room.

His heart and head pounded in tandem as the door slammed shut behind him with a loud thud.

’Written.... Simple thoughts.... Reflection.... Reflection.’

The words kept repeating in Asher’s mind over and over again, like some sort of mantra.

He couldn’t stop them.

Couldn’t control them.

They kept coming again and again.

His head ached as the sounds grew louder and louder.

It was as if the words were rising from the deepest parts of his mind, refusing to be suppressed no matter what.

"Wh-What is going on?" Asher questioned himself silently.

His vision was becoming increasingly blurry as the headache intensified with furious force.

Clack. Clack.

Asher staggered forward.

One hand pressed against the side of his head.

The other frantically moved through the air as if searching for something to hold on to.

But he found nothing.

Instead, he continued staggering until his hand finally touched the bathroom doorknob.

Twisting it open, he stumbled inside before crashing onto the ground.

’Ack... Stop. Stop! Stop it, please! I-I can’t take it anymore. My head! Aaaaaaaah!’

Asher bellowed inwardly as he rolled around on the cold bathroom tiles.

’Simple thoughts... Written.... Reflection.... Written.... Reflection.... Written....’

"St-stop. Stop! I-I don’t know what that is. Ple-please stop. STOP!"

Asher roared as he swung his hand forward and smashed it against the tiles with all his might.

A sharp pain shot through his hand, making him wince.

But he paid it no attention as the words continued repeating themselves over and over again.

Unknowingly, Asher found himself squeezing his hands tightly.

His teeth bit into his lower lip as he desperately tried to resist the pounding headache with all his might.

No matter how hard he tried, it wasn’t working.

Until—

He bit harder.

His teeth tore through his lower lip, sending blood splattering onto the ground.

For a split second, the headache paused.

Asher’s mind cleared.

’REFLECTION!’

The word struck him harder than ever—akin to a bolt of lightning.

Asher’s eyes snapped wide open.

He shot to his feet before abruptly turning his head to the side.

His breath hitched as his reflection appeared in front of him.

’Ugh.... Huh?’

He blinked in confusion before slowly approaching the mirror.

Soon, he stopped directly in front of it.

Grazing his fingers along the side of the mirror, he pressed a small button that would have been almost invisible if he didn’t know exactly where it was positioned.

He didn’t know why, but he was moving purely on instinct at this point.

Everything brought with it a strange sense of déjà vu.

Yet, he had no recollection of ever doing something like this before.

The mirror shifted to the side, revealing a small vault with several buttons for a passcode to be inputted.

Inputting the code—which he could somehow recall clearly—Asher opened the vault and saw rows upon rows of his comics.

But he wasn’t after those.

Pushing the comics aside, he frantically searched for whatever it was he needed.

Soon, his fingers stopped.

A notebook.

’Wh-What is this? I-I have no recollection of this.’

Reaching out, he grabbed the book before slowly opening it.

Flip—!

"Handwriting? Mine too?"

His brows knitted as he scanned the words written across the pages with a confused look.

’Logs? Diaries? Or journals?’

Inhaling and exhaling sharply, he began reading the notebook.

The more he read, the wider his eyes became.

His heart pounded loudly against his chest.

The logs were... were terrifying.

He kept reading.

And reading.

But strangely, his expression didn’t become as exaggerated as it should have.

It was as if he had read everything before.

For some reason, despite having no recollection of it, he wasn’t as shocked as he should have been.

However, his head continued pounding.

His heart raced with every passing second.

His fingers trembled each time he turned a page.

After a few minutes, he finally reached the last log.

His eyes widened as he silently read the most recent words written there.

"Wh-What? I-I wrote this? I’m..."

He was about to dismiss what had been written in the last log.

However, his gaze dropped to his arms.

Slowly, he rolled up his sleeves.

Bite marks.

His eyes widened.

’... It’s true.’

Glancing at the last log, which contained a detailed amount of planning and instructions on how things were supposed to go, Asher’s eyes slowly narrowed.

Although some of the words trailed off at certain points or became incoherent, he was still able to absorb most of the plans.

’Simple thoughts.... I’m not escaping....’

He inhaled sharply before closing his eyes and shutting the book.

His hands still trembled as he kept his face tilted toward the ceiling overhead.

Still holding his breath, his mind ran through all the memories he had spent with his family.

And for some reason, a few of those memories were missing from his head.

There were inconsistencies.

Recalling a few moments at the dining table, something odd creased his mind.

Something felt wrong.

But then, he released the breath he had been holding.

And with it, his hands slowly stopped quivering as he stared at the notebook.

Sliding it back into the vault and leaving everything exactly as it had been, he closed the vault before smiling.

’Simple thoughts.... I see....’

Reaching for the sink, Asher splashed water onto his face a few times.

Then, he dabbed it dry with the face towel hanging off to the side.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror for a few seconds.

His mind reeled.

He didn’t know what it was, but he could feel something standing guard at the edge of his mind.

At the very boundaries of his thoughts.

Ready to attack if he dared question what was going on or even think of....

’Wake up, huh?’

He turned around and slowly began walking out of the bathroom.

Soon enough, he was back in his room.

Then—

He froze in horror.

His heart skipped a dozen beats in a single second as he stared ahead.

His whole family were standing right in front of him.

Asher’s fingers trembled as he scanned each of their faces.

They all wore blank expressions as they stared directly at him.

Then Jack smiled and took a step forward.

Just one.

His hand stretched toward Asher.

"Come, son. We came to call you for dinner."

"Ba....thump...."

’Something is wrong. Something is wrong....’

Unconsciously, Asher took a step back and scanned them one by one.

He didn’t say anything.

But Jayden’s gaze remained fixed on him intently.

The boy then let out a tired sigh before shaking his head.

"How many times will he come close to recalling? Suppressing and erasing his memories is becoming a hassle. Can you just stop resisting?"

"Ba....thump...."

"What—?!" Asher uttered as he glanced at his family one by one.

His mouth hung open in shock as he processed the words Jayden had just spoken.