In a bed, a rickety bed with a broken bedframe and a mattress that squeaks at even the tiniest if movements, was a man of an age no older than 20.
His mouth was wide open, an obnoxious sound echoing from his throat at every breath—as well as a string of unending drool dripping out.
"AHH!?"
But all of a sudden, he boltet upright as if hus body was just zapped by a current of electricity.
The snooring snakes shut, the drool ceased. In its stead was a loud piercing shriek that didn't look right coming from a man's mouth.
"Haaah… haaah… haaah… haa-"
His heavy breathing echoed loudly inside the small room, the movements of his quilt being shed from his now clammy, pale skin drowning out the noise.
He just sat there for a moment, not even daring to move a single inch from his spot. But it's as his breath slows down, steadying out with his rampant emotions.
It's as he calms down that everything clicks together in his mind.
Who he is, where he's at, what he is doing?
All of that quickly comes back as he wakes up from the nightmare that haunted his long slumber.
But the expected oblivion that consumes all dreams doesn't come, leaving those tormented memories searing into the forefront of his mind.
So he sits there, starstruck, hesitating whether or not he could, or maybe should, move about. To find his way across a home once so familiar, but now completely foreign.
Though the choice in the matter was taken from him by Mother Nature.
So he gets up, donning a slightly funky smelling pair of shorts and t-shirt before beginning the arduous journey that is his trip to the toilet.
Step
step
step
Creaaaakkk
His footfalls continuously hit every squeaky floorboard on his way, the familiar almost unconscious way he moved not even 10 hours ago completely gone, lost as if this was his first time in the house.
Even the effortless stealth he had inside that endless dream seemed inaccessible as his mind switched back and forth between the two lives lived.
Alas though, he continued on.
And with the memories of the layout still there in the back of his mind, he only needed a moment before righting himself to finally connect his brain to the rest of his body and allow the man, stumbling around like a drunk zombie, to finally stand straight and walk properly through the corridor.
…But not before his foot slapped down on another creaky board, making a loud annoying noise that announced his presence to all those inside.
The man flinched back physically, silently cringing at the state of himself.
His musing is cut short though.
"Is that you Luke, are you still home?"
The voice of an aged woman, perhaps around the forties range but sounding much harder and older, called up from the bottom of the stairway that he was attempting to navigate around. As a result, scaring the man frozen.
But it's as he doesn't reply that it comes again, the tone of the woman's voice changed into a more suspicious edge with a hint of worry and panic seeping through.
"…Luke?"
She calls up once more, her voice going quiet for a moment, as if she had just gone further away and come back around quickly.
But what really snapped 'Luke' out from his stupor was the sound of a chunk of metal sliding out slowly from fabric.
"It's me mum!!"
He called out shakily, his voice too hoarse, but only from a dry throat that hadn't seen a drop of water in half a day.
CLANK
Phew
Simultaneously, the two share a breath of relief. One from not having to attack an intruder, the other… from being saved from the violent beat down his own mother was about to dish out.
"You scared me Luke! What's up, and why are you still home?"
"…ugh, sorry mum, I've had a rough night of sleep. As for why I'm still here, well we only have a bit left to sort out at work so it's a late start. But I could ask the same of you, no?"
"Haaa, don't ask."
The conversation abruptly dissipates at her last words, Luke taking her literally enough to continue on his trip towards the bathroom.
Creeaaakk
"Pftt! I didn't mean it seriously, cheeky bugger. Kathryn forgot her bag when we just made it to school, so I had to come all the way back. I just hope I'm not late myself. Anyway, I'll see you in a bit then, have a good day."
"You too mum, good luck."
SLAM
Click
Hearing the door shut and it being locked, a deep sigh pries itself from Luke's lips as he enters the bathroom.
And despite knowing what will show itself in the mirror, he is still shocked by the outcome.
Resting his arms on the sink he comes face to face with a man once so familiar to him now looking like a stranger.
In the mirror looking right back at him is what could be perfectly described as an average man.
With a height reaching up to a staggering 5'9, his luck with a society of height obsessed women remains non existent.
A good amount of muscle armours his body, but it doesn't look as good with a high fat percentage.
A short back and sides haircut brings out the most of the perpetually pissed off expression plastered on his face. A resting bitch face if you will. And his vibrant auburn locks don't do much to change this fact.
Finally his eyes, a trait that remained the same both in dream and reality, grounding his confused mind to the present, unaffected by the weird deja vu constantly going on. A brilliant hazel pigment that was his eyes, multiple colours packed into one iris that only reveal themselves under direct light.
'But was it really a dream?' Luke thought this question so much that his thoughts felt like they were stuck in an unending loop.
'Would a dream feel so vivid, would a dream be planted so deep into my mind? I guess… there's only one way to find out…'
Luke brings his left hand up clumsily, the vague feeling of the limb not truly being there disorienting. Looking down at the back of his hand, he only focuses half of his attention on it while bringing the rest of it into his mind.
Reaching out for something intangible, like trying to isolate a single muscle in his brain and bring forth that muscle into reality, not a thing 'Luke' has ever been able to do.
But nothing happens.
Only a faint phantom tingle runs throughout his body before phasing into nothing.
"I guess it was just a dream then, huh. It's for the best I suppose, though some super powers would have been co- AGHHHH?!"
An indescribable pain suddenly shoots forth from his hand, a sensation unlike anything ever felt before.
Looking down while gripping the offending arm in a vice like hold, Luke looks at what is going on.
And horror is the only thing that could be felt from that point.