An Angelic Intervention

A Hallucination part 3

That effectively shut the man up, then he smiled at Kay sheepishly as he pretended to zip his lips close. Kay let out a defeated sigh and sat on his chair, placing his dinner on top of the desk and opening his laptop. The man walked around the room, peeking at his things. When he became easily bored, he stopped behind Kay and bent down to see what he was doing in his laptop.

“How to control hallucinations? Google doesn’t have an answer for everything, Kay.” Just like that, the short-lived silence was gone.

Kay continued looking at the search results, saying, “It’s worth a try.” The man leaned closer to be able to read the article on the screen, until their faces were just inches away beside each other.

Kay froze, afraid that if he moved even an inch or even turned his head, they would touch. He looked to the corner of his eye, seeing the details of the man’s face—the blemishes on his skin, the growing stubble on his cheeks… he seemed real—too real, and also too near that it made Kay's voice crack when he said, “Y-you’re too… you’re too close,” which came out as a whisper.

The man slightly turned his head to look at Kay, as if he didn’t even realize he was invading someone’s space. “Well, if I’m just something your mind made up, it shouldn’t be a problem, should it?” he asked, playfully blowing air onto the side of Kay's head, before standing up straight. Kay touched the part that the man's breath touched. Even the air that came from his mouth felt real that it slightly moved his hair. How vivid could hallucinations be? How realistic?

“It’s actually very interesting,” the man continued as he sat on the bed, “like, how frustrated can you be to think and be fully convinced that your human brain could conjure me, someone that you can see and touch?”

Kay didn’t answer and merely stared at the screen, even though the words he was trying to read didn’t register in his brain.

“Oh, I do remember you saying that you’re starved for human contact. Do you think you’re that lonely?” the man asked, sounding like he was genuinely curious. Kay stood up and collected the disposable containers of his food and went into the bathroom to throw it, closing the door behind him. He heard the man mutter, “Oof, touchy subject, I see.”

Kay faced the mirror and stared at his face, saying, “I have lost my mind. I have completely lost my mind,” for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. He splashed some cold water onto his face then brushed his teeth.

He needed to get a grip. He was not going to play the part of the weird kid. He was supposed to reinvent himself in university—get proper friends, be in a relationship, get invited to parties and such—not be seen talking to someone in his head like a freak. But that was his reality, and all he could do is try to keep living his life until somehow someday this hallucination disappears.

With newfound resolve, Kay straightened up, wiped his mouth, took a deep breath, and went out of the bathroom. The man was all sprawled out comfortably on his bed, staring up at the stars in the ceiling. He turned his head to look at Kay when he stepped out.

“You good?” he asked.

Kay sat in front of his desk and cleared his throat as he opened his laptop. “Yes. I need to make a paper, so if you could please…”

“Zip it,” the man replied, doing the action over his lips again. “Got it.”

“Thank you,” Kay muttered, glancing towards the bed only to see him staring. It seemed absurd to thank someone who wasn’t real, but then again, that was probably the least absurd thing from the entire day.

Kay turned his attention back to the screen, trying to forget that the man existed. Thankfully, he remained quiet throughout, which let Kay actually think for his paper. Every now and then, he would be a bit distracted when the man would walk around and accidentally topple something over while examining his things. He would whisper a quick sheepish, “Sorry,” then fix the thing that fell. But other than that, the entire time Kay spent on working was relatively peaceful. He didn’t even notice that two hours had passed and that he was alone in the room again, until he closed his laptop and looked around the room.

“Hello?” he whispered to the air, but no one showed up nor answered. With a sigh of relief, he grabbed his Xbox controller and laptop, then placed them on his bed. He was about to pull down his pants—like how he usually did to sleep comfortably—when he figured that the man could return any time. Instead, he changed into a pair of swim trunks in the bathroom before turning off the lights and getting under the covers. He played a racing game for around an hour, then set his gaming devices aside so he could lie in bed.

It was only then that he realized it had been awfully quiet. He looked around once more, but the man had not returned. Maybe, he thought, he just had a small nervous breakdown and it was all over. But then he remembered how he thought he had initially gotten rid of the man, only for him to reappear again after his nap; so, he knew it was best to keep his expectations low. Nevertheless, Kay slowly closed his eyes, wished for the best, and drifted off to sleep.

***

Kay woke up slowly the next day to his alarm. He didn’t expect that he could get a good night's sleep, but he did. In fact, he didn’t even wake up once in the middle of the night to go get some water or to pee, and not even in a startle because he had dreamt that he was behind on his deadlines. He sat up, stretched his arms and yawned, and sleepily brought his legs over to the edge of the bed until his feet touched the ground. He had just stood up and was about to take a step when he noticed an arm on the floor.

“Aaah!” Kay screamed, suddenly fully awake as he tried to evade the body on the last second, and ended up losing his balance and falling back onto his bed.

The man sat up from the floor, scratching the back of his head in confusion as he looked up at Kay.

“Y-you have got to stop doing that!” Kay hissed, placing a hand over his rapidly beating chest.

The man raised an eyebrow as he stood up. “I didn’t do anything,” he defensively said. “You’re the one who’s always so easily startled.” He offered a hand, which Kay looked at then ignored. He took a deep breath and stood up to grab a change of clothes from the drawers.

“I thought you were gone,” Kay said while the man jumped into bed, as if it were his own.

“Where else would I go? All the other angels don’t like me,” he bitterly spat, resting his back on the headboard. “Why?” he smirked, “did you miss me when you thought I was gone?”

Kay didn’t bother to respond and simply went into the bathroom to prepare for his first class. When he got out, he found the man still sitting on the bed, waiting for him. The man grinned at him—which was almost as if to annoy him—which he only disregarded once again. He simply grabbed his bag, his laptop and his keys, and locked his room behind him.

As expected, the man materialized right beside him just as he was walking down the hallway. He was even humming a vaguely familiar tune while he followed Kay down the stairs. Then, he was walking backwards in front of Kay, while they were walking out in the streets. Of course, even if the sidewalks were crowded in the early morning, the man did not have to evade anyone as they would just pass right through him. It was Kay who had a difficult time maneuvering through the streets because he couldn’t see ahead of him—causing him to almost collide with a few strangers, and earning him a few “Watch it!” along the way.

Hard as he tried, Kay found it quite difficult to pretend like everything was “fine and breezy,” especially with the man trying to grab his attention every step of the way by calling his name, pointing at things, lightly poking his cheek, the works.

Thankfully, Kay managed to get to the Engineering building he had to be without any injuries. Unluckily, however, Leo was also there with his friends. Kay did a complete 180-degree turn as soon as he saw his crush sitting by one of the benches, and quickly hid behind a tree on instinct.

The man followed him, looking confused. “Who are we hiding from?” he whispered, standing behind the tree to imitate Kay, as if he could even be seen by others.

“Not now,” Kay muttered under his breath, slightly peeking his head out to look at Leo's position.

“Oooh,” the man howled. “Do you have a crush? Is it that guy in glasses? Or is it the other guy beside him? I’m pretty sure it’s not the girl they’re with.”

Kay glared at him then turned around and rested his back on the tree.

“I was right?” the man asked incredulously. “Which one? The glasses guy? The one that looks like an upgraded hipster s***h lonely boy from the early 2000’s?”

“He does not—” Kay was about to argue, when he realized he had just given himself away. The man smiled at him devilishly from ear to ear, then looked at Leo's direction.

“He's walking towards us, by the way,” the man teasingly said, which Kay wasn’t sure if he should believe, seeing as how his eyes were full of mischief.

“Very funny,” Kay sarcastically replied in a whisper. He was about to take another peek, when just as soon as he turned, Leo stopped walking in front of him.

“Kay,” he greeted, causing Kay to stagger back a step in surprise, and the man to laugh out loud.

“Leo!” Kay breathed out, glancing at the man beside them.

“Sorry, did I surprise you?” Leo asked with concern, obviously not seeing nor hearing the man laughing his heart out.

“N-no, no, it’s fine,” Kay quickly replied, trying to compose himself and remind himself to stop looking at the man who didn’t exist. “W-what's up?” he asked, playing it cool even when he could feel his face hearing up at the mere sight of Leo.

“Oh, I just wanted to ask if you can come to the club's nature trip next week. I don’t know if you saw the email, but I figured I should ask you since you’re here. I know you’re new, and you don’t know a lot of the members yet, but it would be a nice opportunity to get to know the others,” Leo said encouragingly.

“Ah, the nature trip?” Kay nervously smiled. He did, in fact, get that email that he was talking about, except he didn’t respond to it. Two days out in the wilderness really didn’t seem enticing to a stay-at-home kind of guy like him. He had already made up his mind not to go, but with Leo asking him face-to-face, it was more difficult to say no.

“I-I will, uh, think about it,” Kay managed to reply. “I’m not sure but I think... I think I have something going on that day.”

“That’s too bad,” Leo said, and it actually seemed like the news disappointed him. “Well, I guess there’s always next time. Do join us if your plans change, though.”

Kay dreamily nodded, which was the most he could do to respond since he was already beginning to get lost in Leo's blue eyes, and the fact that it looked as if he really wanted him to join.

“Alright, then. See you around,” Leo smiled then walked away.

Kay touched his cheeks, just to feel if they had actually caught on fire.

“What was that?” the man asked, bewildered as he stepped in front of him. “The guy, your crush,” he wildly gestured towards Leo, “was basically begging you to come! What are you waiting for?”

“I-I don’t know, I’m bad at camping,” Kay whispered in his defense. “I-I-I...”

“You what? You’re too shy?” the man supplied. When Kay didn’t respond, the man looked at him as if he were crazy. “No, no. I won’t stand for this. Come on,” he said, grabbing Kay by his arm and pulling him forward.

“Wha—” Kay panicked, looking around to see if anyone was noticing the weirdness of this scenario. “I’ll do it next time!” he hissed, trying to get the man's grip off of him but failing.

“Sometimes, there are no next times!” the man argued, pulling him even stronger until they were literally just a few steps behind Leo. “Now, go and accept his invitation!” he exclaimed, suddenly disappearing. For a split-second, Kay was confused as to where he had gone, until he felt a strong force from behind him—effectively pushing him to collide with Leo.