Chap 13: Gaslighting

"Wake up, wake up. How long will you sleep? It's afternoon already."

Joy slowly opened her eyes, blinking at the voice. She rubbed her temples, groggy and sore, and sat up. Keneric was beside her, watching with a judging look.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Wait—it's afternoon already. Still not fully awake?" he teased.

Joy stared at him, dazed. Then it hit her and she remembered last night's crisis.

She jerked back in panic, scrambling to a corner and pressing herself against the wall. Her eyes darted from Keneric to herself, to the room, and to the stuff scattered around on the ground in confusion.

After a few silent seconds of staring around, she whispered, "Are we both dead? Is this what heaven looks like?"

Keneric just shook his head. He stood and walked toward her.

Joy panicked again and tried to retreat further, but the wall behind her wouldn't let her.

He crouched beside her, reached out his hand, and she flinched, her eyes squeezed shut in fear. But all he did was touch her forehead, then his own.

"Temperature's fine. So, no fever," he muttered. "Did you hit your head or something?"

Joy cracked one eye open. "How?" she asked.

Keneric raised an eyebrow. "How what?"

"How are you alive?" Her voice trembled.

Keneric made a weird "huh" sound. "That's why young people should stay away from drugs. What did you smoke last night, missy?"

"Listen here, you... you—" she growled, pointing at him.

Before she could finish, Keneric grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet, chuckling at her fuming face.

"Pack up. We're leaving," he said casually, bending to gather the things Joy had dropped the night before.

She just stared at him, speechless and weirded out.

When he was done packing, he glanced up. "You're still standing there?"

But before Joy could reply, her stomach growled. Loudly. She looked down, blushing.

She hadn't eaten in over twelve plus hours, not since she'd slaved away fetching water for this insufferable maniac… and then—

Wait.

She paused.

Was that real?

Was any of it real?

Her head throbbed with a dull ache. Everything felt... off.

She pressed her fingers to her temples, questioning her own memory and sanity. But Keneric interrupted her thoughts again by pulling out a few energy bars from his side pocket and handing them over.

Joy snatched them instantly and devoured them like a hungry, untamed cat. All the while, she stared at Keneric like he was some kind of alien.

Keneric just laughed, sipping fresh water from a bottle he'd apparently found during his morning walk, while she was still knocked out.

Joy licked her fingers with satisfaction but held herself back from asking for more for about next ten seconds. What could she do? It barely filled her.

She said, "What about you? Did you eat something? Where'd you get those chocolates? And—most importantly—is there any more?"

Keneric raised an eyebrow at the barrage of questions. "Found those in the gymnasium, before I met you. And no, I don't have more. As for me, I don't need food right now. I can handle fasting better than you."

That last part made Joy stare daggers.

"What do you mean you're better than me?"

He shrugged. "Judging by how you attacked those chocolate bars, Captain, you weren't looking too elegant. Plus, your hair's a mess. You've got dark circles too."

Joy instinctively touched her hair. He was right.

She scowled again. "And whose fault do you think that is? You made me work all night, worrying about you. And what do I get in return? Comments about my hair? Seriously?"

Keneric responded with an aloof smile. "I don't remember any of that."

"You—you!" she shouted, punching him softly on the arm for a solid minute before finally calming down.

She took a deep breath. "Show me your wound."

"What wound?"

"The bite on your thigh…" She stared blankly.

"Hey now, it's not proper for a young lady to ask a man to show his skin," Keneric said, quickly trying to cover his ripped pants like he was some untouched maiden from the mountains.

Joy snapped. She lunged at him like a tigress, spun him around, and yanked up his hand.

There was nothing. No bite, no green veins. Not even a scratch.

She froze, utterly dumbfounded.

Keneric saw her face and burst out laughing. He didn't stop laughing for the next five minutes.

Joy sat there, questioning her sanity, scratching her hair.

But he didn't let her fall apart. He leisurely walked to the door, called out, "Let's go, Miss Sleepy Head. We need to find food," and stepped out.

Joy hesitated, looked around one last time, then followed—keeping a few meters behind him the whole way.

After a while, she spoke. "I want to show you something."

She thought of the two corpses from last night, the ones she saw while fetching the first aid kit Keneric now carried.

She picked up her pace, leading him to the stairway that went up to the third floor. There, she brought him to the exact spot where she'd found the security guard's corpse.

But it was gone. Even the clothes were missing.

Only a greenish, skin-colored liquid remained.

She told Keneric everything—recounting every detail of what she saw last night.

But he didn't believe her.

In fact, he laughed at her.

Frustrated, she took him to the fourth floor. She remembered seeing a teacher's corpse there too. As they walked up the stairs again, something else hit her.

"Hey… where's your axe? I haven't seen it today."

Keneric gave her an innocent baby-faced smile. "What axe?"

She stopped. "The red axe you used yesterday!"

He blinked. "Never seen one in my life."

Joy glared, tempted to drop this hateful scoundrel off the fourth floor and watch him fall. Thoroughly annoyed she stomped into the classroom.

"Look! What I told you was the truth. And here's the proof—"