An Angelic Intervention

A Hallucination part 2

Kay intended to nap for only two hours at most since he still had some work to finish; but he seemed to be more tired than he initially thought, because he ended up opening his eyes to see that it was already dark outside. Perhaps it was because he gratified himself before sleeping, but he felt too refreshed from that nap to worry about anything else at that moment. The room was dimly lit only by distant lamp posts outside, but it was dark enough for the glow-in-the-dark stars in his ceiling to become visible; it was just the right amount of cool in his bed, and the comfort he received from his pillow and weighted blanket was enough to make him ignore his hunger and just go back to sleep.

Everything that happened just that afternoon felt like a fever dream, but the nightmare was over. He sleepily stared up at the ceiling and pulled the covers up to his neck, his eyes opening and closing slowly as he was about to drift back to sleep, when he felt a small movement beside him and heard someone softly say, “You should really get something to eat. Your stomach's been grumbling the past hour.”

With his brain not fully awake yet, Kay curiously turned his face to the side, only to see a familiar pair of green eyes staring at him. The realization that the man in white was lying on his side, in his bed, looking at him, set very slowly for Kay; and when it did, his eyes widened and he let out a high-pitched scream he has never heard himself make before, as he hurriedly sat up and tried to move away, causing him to fall off the bed and land on his butt. His panicked scream and the suddenness of his movements startled the man, making him sit up quickly on the bed and ask, “What? Why are you screaming? What’s happening?” as if he didn’t know he was the cause of such a reaction.

Kay rushed to stand up and turn on the lights, blinding himself from the sudden brightness for a second before his eyes were able to adjust.

“Y-you, you’re still here!” he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the man who was watching him curiously. “I-I thought I got rid of you!”

“Well, duh,” he answered, taking his time to stand up and stretch his arms. “I did disappear for a while to give you some space to…” his eyes flickered down at Kay's lower half, “to finish your routine,” he said, looking like he was struggling not to smile.

Kay looked down at himself, only to realize that he wasn’t wearing his pants. He had taken them off before sleeping, leaving him in only his hoodie and underwear. Embarrassed and even more panic-stricken, he scrambled to grab his pants.

“Karl, isn’t it? I hope you don’t mind but I took a peek at your stuff and saw your labeled pens,” the man said as Kay hurriedly put on his pants. “Who labels their pens anyway? It’s not like someone’s going to steal it,” the man casually rambled on.

“I can’t believe this,” Kay muttered to himself as he finished buttoning. “I have really, actually, totally lost my mind.” He grabbed fistfuls of his curly brown hair and looked at the man with a mix of wonder and horror. “Y-you, you look so real!” he breathed out. “I can’t—"

“It’s because I am real. Heaven-sent, actually,” the man smugly replied, gesturing at himself.

Kay looked at him from head to toe, speechless for a second, before beginning to pace around. “This is— this is crazy. Jesus, am I this desperate for human contact? To conjure— conjure some man? To sleep on my bed? With me?” he said so fast, as if engaged in a conversation with himself.

“Oh, I’ll take that as a compliment, since you think I look good enough to be the man of your dreams,” the man gratefully said, showing off his bright smile as he did so. “But, sadly, for the hundredth time, I am not something your mind made up. I am very much real with actual feelings, which you have been continuously hurting by ignoring everything I say and saying that I’m not real.”

Kay abruptly stopped walking and turned to face him with a look of disgust. “Y-you’re not even my type!” he hissed, careful as not to be heard from the hallway. The last thing he needed was for other students in the dorm to know that the new, weird kid had gone completely off the rails.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re straight,” the man dismissively waved. “Because I heard the porno you were watching and that’s not something straight boys watch to jack off to.”

Kay felt the blood rush up to his cheeks and ears, and he immediately avoided eye contact. “Dear god. I need to go back to my therapist,” he murmured, staring at the air with a blank look in his eyes.

The man lightly chuckled and shook his head. “You are a very dramatic boy, Karl. Are you not a Christian?”

“It's Kay, not Karl,” Kay snapped at him. “And no I’m not Christian. And— oh wow, I cannot believe I am responding to you!” He manically laughed, taking out his cellphone with cold and shaking hands. He went through his contacts while the man started to slowly walk towards him, peeking at what he was doing on his phone. When Kay found the number to his therapist’s office, he called it without a second thought. “Hello? I need to book an—"

The phone was snatched out of his hands, and the man quickly ended the call, saying, “Trust me, you don’t want to do that.” He handed the phone back to Kay, who took it with his jaw hanging open.

“Y-you, you can touch...” Kay meant to say the word “things" but he was too busy internally freaking out about it, and the fact that when the man gave him his phone back, their fingers inadvertently slightly touched, and his skin felt cold.

“Very much so, yeah,” the man shrugged, then placed his hand on Kay's cheek for him to feel it. “See? I just might be a bit cold.”

Kay jumped back at his touch—because his skin was cold, and because Kay was not used to being touched, especially by strangers, and most especially by a hallucination.

“Oh, wow, you’re very red!” the man observed, stepping closer towards him to get a good look of his face. “Very easily so.” He reached out to touch Kay's cheek again in jest, but Kay slapped his forearm away a bit too roughly.

‘Stop it,” Kay warned. The man was taken-aback and he quickly withdrew his hand, as if he had just touched something piping hot. Kay instantly felt regret at how harshly he acted, and mumbled a small, “Sorry,” before realizing that he shouldn’t be sorry for something that wasn’t real.

The man raised his hands and said, “It’s cool,” as he took steps backwards until he reached the edge of the bed, then plopped down on it. “Come on, I’m bored. I’ve been roaming around and you’re the only one who can see me and talk to me. I can’t play with others and I also can’t go back to the Pearly Gates,” he complained. “I just need some attention, Kar— Kay. Just play with me.”

“P-play?” Kay stammered, then his eyes widened and he repeated scandalously, “Play?”

The man laughed as he read Kay's transparent mind. “I mean give me attention or whatever. I promise I’ll be good.”

“This, this is too weird. Even for me,” Kay muttered, grabbing his keys and his bag. “I can’t. I have to— I have to go get some food. And some air.” He slipped on his shoes in a hurry, warily glancing at the man as he did so. As soon as he was ready to go, he turned off the lights, left the room and closed the door behind him while the other person was still on his bed.

“Very rude,” the man said as he suddenly appeared and began walking beside Kay, startling him once again, “but I’m coming with you!”

Kay looked around the empty hallway. When he was sure no one was around, he glared at the man for a second and muttered under his breath, “It’s not as if I’ve got a choice.”

“That’s the spirit!” the man teased as they went down the stairs. “So, what are you going to eat?” When Kay didn’t bother to reply or even look his way, he continued. “Man, I could go for some pizza rolls right now, if only I could eat. One would think it’s fun never feeling hunger, but I kind of want to taste food, you know?”

No response. A student going up the stairs passed directly through the man, which made Kay stop abruptly for a second and his eyes go big, even though he knew he shouldn't react. He made eye contact with the man and then the student—who curiously looked at him because he had stopped so suddenly—then he quickly looked away and continued down the stairs.

“Are you seriously going to ignore me all the time? At least acknowledge my presence a bit!” the man complained while matching his pace, as if being passed through didn’t affect him the slightest bit.

Kay answered with a split-second glare just before they entered the small cafeteria, which basically consisted of various vending machines, tables and chairs.

“Are you going to eat alone?” the man asked as Kay took out his wallet and began to choose from the sandwich vending machine. “Well, I guess university students are always busy and your schedules are all over the place. Oh, but then again, you’re not truly alone, are you?” The man placed an arm around his shoulders, effectively making Kay freeze just as he was about to press a button. He didn’t dare try to shrug the man's arm off since he was too concerned of what the few other students might think.

“You have me now!” the man continued, reading the labels in the vending machine, completely unaware of how fast Kay's heart has begun to race because of how close they were. “You have an angel over your shoulder, literally. Not everyone can see me, you know? You’re pretty special!” Thankfully, the man let go of Kay and began to look at the adjacent machine.

Kay let out a breath and continued to press the button, muttering almost inaudibly to himself, “Crazy is more like it,” then he checked to see behind him if anyone was looking before putting money into the slot.

“Oh, come on now, Kay. Don’t be too harsh on yourself!” the man said, turning to the sandwich vending machine again as he heard it start to whir. He looked closely to watch the sandwich be pushed out. “I’m telling you, you’re not crazy. I just don’t know how to prove it to you because, well, to be honest, I thought touching you would do the trick, but I guess not.”

Kay retrieved his food and moved on to the coffee machine.

“ I don’t have the wings to prove it either,” the man continued as he followed Kay closely, “since I fell from grace. Ah, but I guess, even if I did have wings, you wouldn’t be able to see it, too.”

“Right,” Kay sarcastically murmured, grabbing the hot coffee he had just bought.

“Is that all you’re getting for dinner?” the man asked as he followed Kay up to the stairs again. “You know, there’s a bunch of restaurants outside of the dorm building, right? Are you new here? I can tour you around. I’ve been out and about ever since because I’ve been so bored.”

With the man’s endless chatter, it was like having a live commentary that was following everywhere and everything that Kay did. The more he talked, the more it got onto Kay's nerves, that as soon as they reached the room and Kay had closed the door safely behind him, he spun around and hissed, “Okay, you have got to stop talking!”