Neck.
Everything’s different. I’m not in the gym, I’m in a chair in a small room with white walls. I try to stand up, but I can’t move my arms or legs. I look down and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with them.
I’m just paralyzed.
I try to look around, but I can’t even move my head. I can feel a small weight on the back of my neck, though, where Sabazios hit me with the Live-Tech thing. It must still be there.
The silence is killing me. There’s nothing inside or out. The Jungle is gone. There’s no noise at all. There’s no hum from air-conditioning or noises from outside. There’s no voices or movement from anywhere else vibrating through the floor.
My ears hurt from the silence.
I open my mouth to speak. I can’t. I can breathe, but I can’t use my vocal cords. I try clicking my tongue. I can’t.
I cannot make any sound. I cannot hear any sound.
I cannot move.
And I cannot get the last moments of Corina’s life out of my head. I see Bicycle Man over her with the knife. I see the knife go up and I know what happens next. The image starts again. Over and over. I can’t stop it. I can’t shake my head.
All I can do is sit still and see it.
The light in the room disappears, leaving me in blackness.
I have to pee. I try and hold it, but I can’t—it just leaks out and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
The dark is dark. The silence.
Is silent.
Corina is murdered again.
The Dark.
I have screwed up in so many ways. They would all be alive if it wasn’t for me.
The Earth is going to be destroyed. Because of me.
Corina is dead. Because of me.
Because of me.
Because of me.
My fault.
I should have stayed scared.
The Dark is dark.
Dark.
Silent.
Then a sudden flash of brilliant white light comes from everywhere in the room. It blinds me, and at the same time there’s a noise that nearly breaks my eardrums—a single whoop from the loudest car alarm in the universe.
Then it’s dark again.
Then it’s quiet again.
My eyes are seeing stars.
My ears are ringing.
I can’t tell dark from light and I can’t tell silence from noise.
I can’t tell anything. I don’t know anything except that it’s all my fault.