The first thing Dax felt was heat. His eyes fluttered open looking at a bright sky layered with crimson blurred clouds. What happened? Strength had been sapped from his system and he struggled to push his limp body up from the ground. Dull pain radiated up and down his body/ Dust ran down his shirt and his eyes scanned down to see his whole body was covered in maroon colored dirt and debris. The entire street was coated in a thin layer of the dust. The image reminded him of Pompeii from his history books. He managed to sit up massaging his throbbing skull where dry blood had formed on the back of his scalp.

  Instinctively, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around his mouth. A pointless precaution, he imagined that he inhaled a gallon of the strange coating that littered his surroundings.

  "Where am I?" Dax's head swiveled left to right, slowly surveying the scene laid out in front of him. The street was quiet, a lamppost flickered on the ground torn out from its base. All the store fronts and apartments lay dormant, a shimmer of light bouncing off the street from thousands of shards of broken glass, glittering like snow. It took awhile but he eventually stood and walked forward, his feet crunching with every step, he checked his watch. A crack ran adjacent the hands of the watch stopping at 7:30, the dial covered in brown blood. Dax shook his wrist and placed his ear on the dial. Completely still.

  “Damn” He clenched his teeth inspecting the broken watch. His feet continued to stumble him forward towards a black outline etched into the concrete, mere feet from where he stood. Dax’s eyes looked up from the watch and his feet carried him forward, faster. His head throbbed and his eyes were unsteady but the outline was familiar. A sense of dreaded nostalgia clenching his heart in a fist. Each step he got closer, his breaths quickened. When he stopped in front of the soot mark, his heartbeat became a roaring drum beat that deafened all sound. Tears fell from his face onto the mutilated shadow that was burned into the sidewalk.

  “Jace... no.” he cried. Dax looked into the distance and an influx of memories flooded in. The Wannabes, the sirens, and the explosions. “Jace!” His hoarse voice was deafening in all the silence. He fell hard and his hands desperately clawed at the outline, trying to grasp the brother who had been reduced to nothing more than a silhouette outline on the dirty New York sidewalk. His lungs burned and his body screamed for oxygen. Breaths didn’t come and he clawed at his fractured soul until the whole world faded into darkness.

  It may have been minutes, hours, or even days. Time had paused at 7:30 much like on his cracked watch. When he did reawake, the familiar crimson glow had dimmed down and a few stars started to blot the sky. Dax remained on his back, tears blurring his vision. The last memories of Jace ran on repeat through his head. He would lay here forever, content on the world swallowing him up and reuniting him with his brother. Nothing mattered, nothing would ever matter again. An emptiness permeated his body, one that paralyzed him. He closed his eyes, allowing the void to take him.

  “Shit, my head.” Dax shot up, the memories of Jace interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. He remained quiet, observing the lonely street. Nothing moved. “Man where the hell am I, why is everything so black?” The voice was young, a light New York accent lacing the ends of each word.

  “Who’s there?” Dax asked, scanning the darkness for the source of the voice that was projected around him. He sounded close, mere feet away from Dax. The fallen light post flickered and a glint of steel caught Dax’s attention near a sewer grate. Still looking for the owner of the voice, he slowly moved over to the pistol. The horrible memory of Elijah’s wrath bubbled to the surface but he pushed it down and picked up the gun, aiming it around him.

  “Why are you yelling so damn loud cabron? Flash me a light or something, I can’t see a thing.” The voice shifted and a Hispanic accent replaced the original New York tone.

  “Mateo is that you?” He took a step forward towards an alley that was near the end of the block, placing the pistol in the pocket of his jacket. His eyes scanned the alley. Though the city was dark, remnants of the explosion’s light casted around the skyline dimly illuminating Dax’s surroundings.

  “What did I say about the yelling! Jesus, I have a killer migraine.” Mateo groaned, his voice resonating all around Dax. “Why can’t I see anything bro?”. His voice was a whisper “Actually, I can’t even feel anything,” His voice hitched in panic. The fear elevated Dax’s heartbeat and his head started to throb just when he reached the end of the alley. No sign of Mateo. “What is happening man? I can't see, I ca-can’t even move!” Mateo’s voice became louder and frantic along with Dax’s headache. He walked back down the alley searching among the piles of clutter that outlined the narrow space.

  “Mateo, just relax and tell me where you hear my voice. I will find you”. He dragged an unsteady hand through his hair, his head slowly starting to throb less while he travelled back towards the street.

  “Umm… kinda hard to tell to be honest.” Mateo’s voice was hesitant, shaky but more grounded. “Oh wait! I am starting to see again!”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Great! Where are you?” He smiled, despite it all, grateful to have an ally in this mess. “I am in an alley by the street.”

  “I’m in an alley too! The one right before Elijah took down Jace.” Dax ran up and down the narrow corridor frantically checking inside dumpsters and locked doorways. No Mateo.

  “He-” Mateo began but stopped, words failing to escape his mouth.

  “Mateo I am in the alley where the hell are you?” Dax started throwing bags of trash and furiously moved anything that could have hid the boy. After thoroughly dislodging all physical objects and covering himself in New York’s finest trash, he paused. Mateo was silent again. “Mateo? I can’t find you man, speak up.”

  “Ca-can you describe what you are looking at Dax?” Dax furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his jaw.

  “Why the hell would I-”

  “Just do it Dax! Tell me what you are seeing.” Mateo’s voice was panicked, his normally calm demeanor replaced with a seriousness that was alien to Dax. He sighed, throwing his hands in the air. Dax stomped towards the wall at the end of the alley. On it was crude spray paint with the words enfinite and a detailed painting of a young girl wearing yellow goggles and a scarf flying through the air. She wore a smile on her face that escaped the realities of the new world.

  “I am currently looking at some idiot who doesn’t know how to spell infinite and did it with an E- and a…”

  “Girl with yellow goggles flying through the air right?” Mateo interrupted, describing the rest of the image.

  “How did you know that Mateo? I can’t see you, are you nearby?” Dax took two steps back looking towards the piles of trash he moved. Mateo remained silent. Dax groaned and kicked a bag of trash into the wall. “Enough Mateo, where are you? No more jokes. We need to go look for shelter, you don’t even know the shit situation we are in.” Mateo remained quiet. Dax sighed, digging his palms into his eyes. He held back tears and fought off the panic swelling in his chest, trying to keep Jace out of his mind.

  “Dax, open your eyes bro, don’t leave me in the dark again. This shit is scary enough as it is.” Dax sighed in frustration and opened his eyes.

  “Sure man whatever you-.” Dax's whole body went rigid, his head light. “Wait..what? Is this a joke Mateo?” Suddenly, Dax fell to the floor. His head and mind was filled with static noise. Unimaginable pain spread through his body, a wildfire that consumed him whole. To make matters worse, a geyser suddenly erupted inside his mind. A torrent of uncontrollable thoughts and emotions submerged him, stripping him of any sense of self. It felt similar to a panic attack but his thoughts could not formulate like pushing keys on a silent piano. Before Dax knew it and without any control, a noise similar to a trapped animal clawed its way out his mouth deep from within his chest. A scream that tore through his throat and left him breathless.

  “What’s...going...on?” Dax struggled to piece together his thoughts while his whole body convulsed on the ground unable to hold onto the reins of his own body’s control.

  “I'm screwed!”

  “Help me!”

  “Where am I?”

  “This is impossible.”

  “No...please no.”

  “Someone, please anyone!”

  “This can’t be happening.”

  “David! Please, save me!”

  Dax's head was filled with the bombardment of words and sentences all blending into a mix of fear, anger, agony, and confusion fueled phrases. His head was being torn apart, an uncontrollable and constant blur of white noise threatened to take over his consciousness.

  “Is…this an episode?” Dax managed to think. It was always a fear of Dax's that he too would have schizophrenia but never did he think his first episode would have such poor timing. “I have to- have to say aloud…distract voices.” Another muddled thought, one he was barely able to piece together. The advice was from Jace when he first had his episodes and was getting on medication. It was sound advice but Dax was in no position to distract himself. His throat was raw from the continuous screaming and his entire body burned from the inside out. Placing one hand in front of him, Dax grimaced at the sharp glass that dug into his palms while he slowly pushed himself onto his knees. Sweat coated his skin and his arms shook at the effort of propping himself up. “Stop!” Dax attempted to shout. His shout came out more of a dull whisper. Regardless, it was enough to silence the voices and the static receded. His thoughts were still unable to take shape but he had stopped the episode.

  “Please stop,” Dax pleaded, his voice too hoarse to muster any other type of communication out into the world. He collapsed onto his back once again. His breathing remained labored and his strength was utterly zapped.

  “Sorry about that.” Mateo said, his voice again filling Dax's head. Dax remained on the ground quietly.

  “Why are you sorry?” Dax whispered. Mateo chuckled.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this bro, but I think we just became a lot closer than you would have liked. Like really close, watch you pee type of close.” Mateo’s chuckle turned into hysterical laughter that was borderline manic.

  “What are you even talking about Mateo?”. He was too exhausted from his ordeal to slew together collective thoughts and reasoning.

  “The good news is,” Mateo started calmly, his laughing subsided, “I know why you can’t see me. Bad news, I think I am the Brad Pitt to your Edward Norton.” Mateo said with a hearty laugh. “I’m in your fucking head dude!”

  Dax suddenly felt something wet fall on his face, he lifted his hand and wiped his cheek. Uncontrollable tears were rolling down his face, Mateo’s hysterical and eerie laughter turned into sobs. The severity of the situation hit Dax a moment later. Mateo was gone, all that was left was sheer consciousness.