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Horror Thriller Science Fiction

This story contains themes or mentions of suicide or self harm.

Old man- "Don't you remember?"

Young man- "No, I don't."

The old man walked closer to the young man. Two of his

extremists were gone, an arm and a leg, he was

supporting himself with a cane.

Old guy-" Oh Tom! It's been so long! Do you remember

me? Please tell me you remember me."

Tom- "I'm trying, it feels like my memory has been

wiped out..."

Old guy-" That's because it is."

Tom- "Where am I? And Who are you?"

Old guy- "Jacob.. We were lab partners at OFS, we were

working on a machine to understand the process of

dimensions. We had an accident during one of the

maintenance procedures."

Tom- "How long has it been...?"

Jacob- "For me, it's been 50 years. I'm not aware of

how much time you've been through the portal. You

still look young. I'm rags stuck in this place, I've

been waiting for my death for so long...But I plan to

escape today and with your help we can accomplish

this. You can set me free, we can save ourselves,

before its too late and you suffer the same

consequences."

Tom- "I have bits of my memory, they are foggy....The

plasma; I was fixing the plasma tubes, wasn't I?"

Jacob- "Yes, you were."

Tom- "It fell on me..."

Jacob- "We need to find a way out, I've got a few

places we can look at."

Tom- "Where? This is an empty white room, there's

nothing here!"

Tom franticly moved around, looking around at his

surroundings. The white room seemed infinite, like as

if he was standing in the middle of the sea.

He looked in all directions, he tried to look as far

as he could, but there was nothing. Only Jacob,

standing there with his cane. He points his finger in

one direction.

Jacob- "I know where to go..."

Tom- "How do you know there's something there?"

Jacob- "I've been roaming the emptiness of this vast

world for countless years Tom. Walked days and years,

I've grown old and tired of searching. I need a place

that can take me out, we need to go there. With your

help, I can escape.."

Tom- "Can you walk?"

Jacob- "Yes, I can."

Tom- "Let's look for this exit, we need to get out of

here, or else I'll go insane."

Jacob and Tom started to walk in one direction forward

next to each other, at a slow pace. Due to Jacobs'

apparent disability, Jacob didn't want to ask Tom

about his arm and leg. He figured it was a problem

with the teleportation. Maybe something cut him on our

way here. Maybe there was a fusion or loss of

particles during the accident, he just didn't want to

make any comments about Toms' appearance. He was also

scared of finding out. After walking for a few

minutes, hours, days, months, what seemed like an

eternity, Tom saw a black spot in the distance. An

exit perhaps, he could make a run for it, he would

leave Jacob behind however. He paced faster to what

seem like a structure, man-made, built like a machine.

He stooped and looked at it from a distance. A big box

of aluminum, shiny as it was new, no signs of wear or

tear on its' surface. A marvelous wonder in the middle

of infinite white space.l

Tom- "What is this Jacob? It's a machine and wires..."

Tom turned around and was caught by surprise, Jacob

had stabbed him with a needle in his chest. Tom fell

to the ground almost immediately. Paralyzed, he tried

to turned around and crawl away from Jacob, but as he

moved away he felt his body moving slower and slower.

His hands were no longer able to support himself.

Jacob got closer to him and picked up some of the

wires on the floor. As he walked away he looked back

at Tom and smiled at him. Tom couldn't talk and had

stopped moving. He could only move his eyes. He tried

to scream, but it was pointless.

Jacob moved to the machine and started the component.

A loud noise suddenly took over the surrounding area,

it was coming from one direction, but it seemed to be

all around him. Jacob turned Tom on his back and

placed a helmet like object on Toms head. He looked at

him eye to eye. His soul was screaming through his

eyes.

Jacob- "Don't worry Tom, I wont hurt you...I just need

your body. It's my only way to escape this infinite

reality."

Jacob placed his hand on Tom's chest and removed the

needle stuck inside of him. Tom had successfully been

paralyzed.

Jacob- "You're probably wondering what I will do now.

Tom, I will take your place. This machine is designed

to transfer our minds to each others' bodies. You'd be

in my body and I'll be in yours. You seem to have

taken a high dose of plasma when our accident

happened."

Tom looked at the machine, making even louder noises

as if it was getting ready to explode. Jacob walked

right to it and set up a timing system, ready to

extract the minds of each man out of their bodies and

switch them. 5 minutes, the machine blinked on the

screen.

Jacob- "I was desperate Tom, I had no way out of here.

My mind drifted into madness each passing moment in

this place, I lost grip of time, I have no idea where

to find it or or how it is. Only my wrinkles and scars

are proof of it passing through this reality. After

years of sitting in one place, I finally broke. I

couldn't take it anymore, Tom. I carried a grudge

against myself. I tried to kill myself by bleeding

out. In a moment of madness, I placed my finger in my

mouth and ripped my finger off my hand. To my horror,

the wound had healed so fast, so quick, the bleeding

out plan had been a complete failure. So I sat there

looking at my amputated finger laying down in this

white reality, bleeding. I stared at it for so long, I

wanted my finger back on my hand, Tom. But it was

gone. Through this ordeal, I somehow started thinking

about toys I had, the life I had. And one day, a

miracle happened Tom, my fingered moved. It moved to

where I wanted it to move, from left to right, up and

down. I could control the physical object. Then it

happened, I turned my finger into a small car I had

when I was a kid. I could transform physical objects

into things.

My finger was a toy car, and the toy car became a

candle, the candle became a light bulb, and the light

bulb became a knife. During that time, I came to the

idea of building a machine that could transfer our

minds like files on a computer. All I had to do was

wait for your to return to this dimension, this

reality. But I needed more objects, more materials. So

with the knife, I cut my fingers off, one by one. The

cuts all healed, the scars all stayed, but Istill

needed more. The knife became a tool to cut my limbs

off. Tom look closely, the machine is me, I am the

machine Tom."

The machine made a sound, ticking every second, down

to less than a minute. Jacob placed the helmet on his

head and stuck the needle into his chest; paralyzing

him instantly. Tom had been able to move some of his

fingers, the paralysis seemed to be wearing off. Soon

after, he could finally raise his arm a small amount,

but it was too late. The machine turned on and IT

EXPLODED with energy though the wires piercing the

brains of both men cutting their perceptions open and

extracting their minds from THEM, TRANFERING to each

others bodies'.

After a few seconds, Jacob, now in Tom's body stands

up and looks down to his old body. Tom, paralyzed

still with the needle in his chest. The machine's

noise stopped, Jacob picked up an axe and went to

where Tom was laying down. Raising the tool high, he

cuts Tom's last arm off, the pain could be seen in his

eyes.

Jacob- "I'm not a killer. I want to go home, Tom. I

will build you a nice comfortable chair with my...your

arm Tom, where you can sit and wait for death,

peacefully."

Jacob moved out of Tom's sight and headed out to an

open place in the white reality. When he came back, he

picked Tom up and carried him to the chair. Jacob

walked back from him and sat right in front of him.

Jacob- "I won't touch her, unless I have to pretend I

am you. The plasma should wear off at some point and

I'll be able to stay there. I don't know how many

times I'll be back, maybe I wont be back again-"

Jacob collapses back and disappears soon after. In the

white room, a few seconds pass and Tom was able to

move again. All he could do was scream."

6 years later...

A man in a white t-shirt wakes up, as he opens his

eyes he sees a red dot in the distance. As he gets

closer, an old man appears to be siting on the red

chair.

Young man- "Where am I?"

Old guy- "Don't you remember?"

Young man- "Not really..."

Old guy- "It's been a long time Tom, you will

remember, when the plasma wears off.

February 10, 2023 18:44

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4 comments

Marty B
23:52 Feb 15, 2023

Good story of circular reality- One question I have is who 'her ' is Jacob- "I won't touch her, unless I have to pretend I am you.

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Eric Tarr
04:35 Feb 17, 2023

Hello! He's talking about the wife of his friend, as he's going to take his body to go back to reality.

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Wendy Kaminski
03:04 Feb 12, 2023

Whoa, this was really mind-bending. Excellent world-encapsulation and plot. Fascinating first story for the site - welcome to Reedsy!

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Eric Tarr
15:19 Feb 12, 2023

Thank you ☺️ !!! I'm looking forward to share more stories.

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