Illuminati2

I wake up. I'm in pain.

"Take these..." someone says.

It's a female doctor.

"Where am I?" I ask her.

"Lennox Hill Hospital in the Upper East side," she states, "I am a doctor. My name is doctor Rehxia Balm. I need you to take these."

I take the pills at that moment.

~

I wake back up.

The nurses are there with me. I don't know how many hours have gone by but I wake up to see that Quest is at my bedside. I notice there are bags of stuff there with him.

"Hello," I say to the nurse.

The nurse smiles, "You're up...finally. How are you feeling?"

"Well..."

"Good. You're recovering really well. It's a miracle."

"How long has he been there?" I ask the nurse.

She looks over at Quest. She smiles.

"Your brother has been here all week. He won't leave. He only goes to work and comes right back here. His girlfriend brings him a change of clothes."

It definitely sounded a lot like Quest.

"How long do I have to be in here?" I ask.

"Not much longer. You are in great condition. Your body just took a beating which is why you've were unconscious for so long. We do have to do a mental health assessment as well before you're released. You did jump off a bridge..."

"Matthews? I thought my Doctor's name was Balm."

"There is no Doctor Balm here."

I must have been dreaming it. That was weird.

~

I get released after the mental health assessment and a number of tests. Quest isn't speaking to me. I know he isn't. He takes me back to his apartment. There is no talking. When we get to the door I try to speak to him.

"Quest...you have to say something to me," I state.

He doesn't respond. He just ignores me and opens the door. I'm not surprised that my parents are there. My mom and dad immediately hug me as soon as I walk through the door. Quest's girlfriend is in the apartment as well.

"You guys drove all the way up from Connecticut?" I ask.

"We've been here all week," my mother says, "What is happening with you baby?"

"Did you really jump off the bridge?"

"Why would you try to kill yourself?"

There are so many questions coming at me at once. I don't know how to respond. All I know is that I survived somehow and Quest is upset with me. I look over at him. He isn't giving me the least bit of eye contact.

"Guys I'm really tired," I state.

It's the only way to stop them from asking all the questions.

"You have to start thinking about the people around you. Why didn't you think about the people that love you," my dad says, "Look at your brother."

"He's not my brother, Dad, stop saying that," I reply.

"If I'm not your brother then who the fuck am I!" Quest goes off at that moment.

Quest slams his hand so hard that I am afraid he hurt himself. The look in his eyes is a look of pain. I knew he would be hurt if anything happened to me but when I jumped off the bridge I wasn't even thinking of him. Right now he is shaking. His already slanted eyes are squinting at me so much that he can barely see past them.

"Quest I'm sorry..." I state.

"Fuck off man."

With that Quest just leaves. He takes his jacket and storms out the house. I watch as his always caring and perfect girlfriend runs after him probably trying to calm him down and try to get him to not be so upset with me. I feel like shit. I can't believe I let it get that bad with him. I can't believe I allowed myself to be so selfish.

And over what?

Over some stupid call in the middle of the night? Over Prairie Samuels? I hurt the person I loved the most in this world over some fantasy that someone was going to come into my life and fix everything that was messed up.

I felt like an idiot and I had been completely scammed.

My dad looks over at me, "Give him time. You know when we were younger. When you were at your lowest. What did I always tell you?"

"Trust in God."

"Right. Give me your hand baby. Let's pray."

Dad always prayed with me. I had grown up spiritual and religion had been a big part of my life. Praying with my parents now I realize that I just have to give it all up to God and everything will be alright. I realize that Quest might be mad at me but through God I'd be forgiven.

~

It's the next morning and I wake up. I figure I have to do something to get Quest talking to me again. The only thing that I can think of is making him breakfast. When I get up and go to the kitchen however Quest isn't there.

Ashley is in the kitchen. She's singing some Ashley Preston song and already making breakfast. Seeing that she was doing that for Quest definitely annoys me. I have to admit it. I always made him breakfast but I couldn't even do that anymore.

"Good morning!" she says.

She's so happy. She's always so happy. I smile at her sideways.

"You seem happy."

"Jesus woke me up this morning. That is reason enough to praise him," she tells me.

She is so obviously Christian and obviously good. Even my parents loved her. All day yesterday they couldn't stop talking about her to me. They kept asking me when I would find a girl like Ashley. I hadn't told them I was thinking more about boys recently. I didn't want to bother them with stupidity. Truth is I couldn't find a boy if I tried either.

"My parents gone?" I ask.

"They left early this morning. Didn't want to wake you," she responds.

Just then she hands me a plate and puts an omelet on there for me. I take the omelet and taste it. It doesn't taste anywhere near as good as mine. Hopefully at least that is some sort of consolation at this point.

"What about Quest?"

"He's upstairs. Didn't want to come down," she explains.

I look at the stairs in the loft. I knew how Quest was. When he was real mad he just avoided me. He was stubborn in so many ways. He loved hard and he held grudges hard too. He wouldn't get over the fact that I tried to kill myself anytime soon.

"How...mad is he?" I ask.

I hate the fact that I have to ask her in order to know how my best friend is feeling but honestly I don't have a choice. I put myself in this situation with him.

"He is just disappointed in you. That's all. He's been seeing a shrink."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. He took your attempted suicide really hard."

I'm surprised.

"I'm so sorry."

"You should wait until he's ready and say that to him," Ashley guides me.

I sit there and think about it. I really fucked up so bad and now here I was realizing that the man I loved needed to see a shrink to get through this time in his life. I don't understand what is going on right now.

There is a knock on the door at that moment. I stay in the kitchen and wait until Ashley leaves to answer. The girl has a nice body. She is small, brown and looks a little bit like Stacey Dash. When she comes back she has flowers in her hand.

"Flowers?" I ask.

"They are for you," she says.

I'm confused. I wonder who would send me flowers. My parents didn't bring me any. The only one I could really think about was possibly Alexi. These flowers look expensive though. It definitely doesn't look like something cheap ass Alexi would buy. I get more confused until I open the card.

We saw your sacrifice.

We appreciate your secrecy.

Check your bank account.

This is only the beginning.

We'll send a car for you tonight.

-Love

Us.

It was signed "Us" and the letters were signed over as though multiple people had traced over it over and over again.

I pull out my phone.

"HOLY FUCK!"

I'm shocked when I see how much is in my bank account. 100,000 dollars has been added to my bank account. It was just deposited! It's just somehow in there. I feel my mouth get dry after I scream like that.

I almost want to cry.

This really was real. I wasn't imagining this.

Just at that moment I see Quest running down the steps. It's amazing how even though he isn't speaking to me he'd run to me in a minute if he thought I needed him. That's just the kind of person Quest is though. That's how he's always been.

"What's wrong?" Quest says.

I think about the note. They said that they appreciated my secrecy. They didn't want me to say anything. There was no way in hell I was going to turn back on that especially now that I knew this thing...whatever this thing was...was real.

I look at my phone and close it.

"Nothing," I state, "Nothing at all..."

It was the opposite. For the first time in a long time something very good had actually happened to me.

~

My heart is racing when the car comes to get me. It is a Bentley. The man opens the door. He's a young looking man probably in his 30s. I know he's outside because I receive a text from a blocked number telling me to come out. The man doesn't speak to me. He doesn't say Hi. He doesn't even smile. He just walks over to the door and opens it.

I think for a minute. I can't pretend I'm nervous. Should I go or not go?

I decide to enter the car.

"Where are you taking me?"

He doesn't respond to my question. He just keeps driving. This car is nice. It's one of those dream cars that you always wish you could have but you never are able to achieve. I can feel my heart racing as I see this thing. It's beautiful actually.

We drive for 20 minutes. I ask him a few questions. I ask him his name. I ask him how long he's been working for these people. It's like talking to a brick wall or something. It's like talking to some ghost in the shell. I'm getting freaked out by the minute.

We finally stop when we get to a dark house. It's the middle of the night. There is no one out on the street. No pedestrians. No one. My heart is racing when I see the place.

"You want me to go in there?" I ask.

"Open the trunk. You'll see a mask. Wear it. When you enter the house knock 3 times hard. One time soft. The code word is 13:18. Do you have it?"

"Um...why the mask?"

"Do you have the code?"

"Yes."

"Repeat it."

"13:18."

"Welcome to the light, Mr. Hill. Enjoy your night."

I step out of the car at that moment. My heart is thumping. I'm so fucking nervous. I look around. The night is still. It's so unusually still. There is a cold breeze that comes out of nowhere and it flickers up against my neck as though knowing I'm nervous. My hairs stand on end.

I take a look at the dark building. I walk up to it. I hear the strange man in the car pull off before even waiting to see if I was OK or not. The stairs creek as I walk up them. This place has to be abandoned. It has to be some type of eye sore.

I knock. Three times hard. One time soft.

An eye hole opens. It's only big enough for one eye. The person puts their eye to the other side of the door. They just stare silently. They don't ask anything. They don't say anything. They just stare with the one eye.

"13:18," I state.

The door opens at that moment. There is a woman behind the door. She silently lets me in the house and doesn't say anything. The woman has on all black. She must be in her 70s. She has the most beautiful silver hair and a ball gown that sweeps the floor. She seems the most elegant woman I'd ever seen in my life. She is probably from the Upper East Side. All I can think about is if Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City grew older and decided to go completely goth.

She stays at the door.

"My host?"

"...Is at the end of the hall, Mr. Hill."

"How do you know who I am?"

"Your host is at the end of the hall. Mr. Hill," she repeats herself.

I nod. She isn't going to give me any more information at that moment. I continue down the hall. My heart is thumping for whatever reason. I'm beyond nervous. As I walk down this hall I can see old paintings from another era. They look old and dated. The carpet is barely on in this place. There is a putrid smell in the hallway. I don't understand why a classy woman like her would be in a place like this.

When I get to the end of the hall I see a man.

At first I don't recognize him but then I see that beautiful hair. The hair is the first thing I notice that is so recognizable.

"Prairie."

I don't understand what the singer is doing here at first but then I remember that he had been the one who called me the cab for me to jump over the bridge. He doesn't seem the smiley kind of person that he was the first day I met him. He's different. He's so serious. There is no life behind his eyes. It's almost as the look you would have if you walked in a room where you knew everyone in the room had a strong dislike of you. It is reserved and defiant and a bit intimidating.

"Follow me."

He presses the button. I realize we are standing in front of one of those old elevators. It's the type where you have to lift the gate. When the elevator arrives he lifts the gate for me and steps in.

"Where are we going?"

"You've been invited to join us, Memphis. You have accepted. Tonight is your initiation."

"Who are you?"

"We have many names. The Fraternity. The Ordo Templi Orientis. The Illuminati."

I start laughing. I don't mean to. I'm surprised when he actually starts laughing with me. I'm thinking that he is telling a joke. He has to be. The Illuminati?

Years ago Quest did a report on them when we were in college. It was some historical piece about a secret order started in 1776. I only remember this because I helped Quest out with almost everything that he worked on back in school. I remember arguing with him because he was so sure that Michael Jackson, Madonna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Jay-Z and a whole bunch of other people who had made it big in the music world were part of it. For some reason I was sure he was just naming a bunch of artists he didn't like. Quest was big on the underground scene and he used to think everyone who made it big sold out and did something for it.

Sounded like bullshit...then at least.

"You joking right?" I ask him.

He smiles at me. Prairie has a beautiful smile. He runs his hand through his platinum blonde hair as though he doesn't have a care in the world. He smiles as though he is completely amused.

Then he says the oddest thing.

"Those who focus on the snakes miss the scorpion."

"What does that mean?"

"We've been hiding in plain sight for many years," he explains to me, "We are a secret society that isn't really secret. What better way to hide something than placing it in plain sight and making a joke out of it? No one will take it seriously."

"You're serious?"

I realize how far we are going. We are going underground. It seems like this elevator ride won't stop. I find it hard to breathe but I know that it's just in my head. It gets darker and darker. This feeling of uneasiness keeps settling over me.

I keep wondering if I made a mistake coming here. I keep wondering what the fuck I was getting myself involved in.

"Mention the idea of an Illuminati to anyone. They'll laugh at you. We like it like that," he tells me, "Here we are. Follow me."

We get to the bottom. He opens the gate. I notice almost immediately that where we are is not the same as upstairs. I feel like I just walked into the most expensive hotel known to man when we get to the bottom.

"This place is beautiful."

Right above me as we step off the elevator is a chandelier. It's no normal chandelier. Real crystals reflect the light across the room. The piece has to be worth thousands if not millions. It hangs over my head like some beacon of greatness.

"Follow me. Your initiation is about to start," Prairie says.

"My initiation."

"Into our group."

"Now hold on. I didn't agree to anything."

"You agreed when you jumped," Prairie tells me, "You agreed when you decided to get in that car. Memphis. Who are you joking? I know what you're thinking. I was you not too long ago. Your heart is beating heavy. Your mind is racing. You keep thinking about that 100,000 dollars in your bank account and if you run away will it disappear. But you are too broke to run aren't you. You are too broke to risk it. You have nothing to lose but everything to gain. So you'll stay. You want to see how far this rabbit hole goes."

I swallow. I was thinking something like that.

"What do I have to do?"

"Undress in here. You'll see a mask at the vanity. Wear it."

"Just a mask?"

"And nothing else."

My heart pounds. The door opens and I am in a room alone. It's a dressing room. There is a rack. On the rack there is my name. Memphis Hill. It's not written in paper. It is carved out as though someone took time to make sure this rack had my name on it. I take my clothes off and hang it on the rack. I take everything off. I've never been too uncomfortable with nudity. I had lost weight but I was still an attractive looking guy.

I see the mask. It's a Volta mask. It's white with gold embellishments. A simple style that covers the entire face and depicts features of the face on it like the nose and lips.

I walk out.

"Oh shit..."

When I get out of the room I see that 5 men are waiting for me. They are all naked. They are all dressed in Volta masks. These men have bodies more defined than mine. The only person that I've seen with a body like this is Joaquin in his fucking sexy ass music videos. They all had those kind of bodies that made you wonder why they even worked out anymore. They were already so goddam perfect.

"You're attracted to them?" Prairie asks.

He is still fully dressed but I watch as he himself puts on a mask. I never thought Prairie was gay. Honestly right now he doesn't seem to have any interest in these men at all. It's almost as though he's parading them in front of me in an attempt to seduce me.

It's working...

"Yes..."

"You can have them," Prairie tells me, "If you want. Tonight they will escort you in. You can have them all if you want. One at a time or all together. They'll do whatever you tell them to do. I promise. You can fuck them. Suck them. Let them do the same to you. It doesn't matter. They can be your personal sex slaves. How does that sound?"

"It sounds good. But why are you showing me this?"

The men stare at me. They are all different shades. They pose in front of me like mannequins in a store window showing off clothing. Their penises are all huge. They all have these big dicks that all have to be over 9 inches. They stand almost like statues. I wouldn't know they were real except for slight movements they make.

"We know what you like. And we want to show you that we can give you what you want. Whatever you want."

"What's the catch?"

Prairie smiles. It takes a minute for him to respond. The silence at that moment is weird. It's so fucking weird. It's almost as though he wants to think about the best way to put the answer. Why not just answer it outright?

"You follow our rules and you will never want for anything again."

"What are the rules?"

"You'll see..." he says, "Follow me."

The men escort me down the hall. We make our way to a room. It's more like a hall. It's so dark that I can barely see anything. The only way that I know where to go are the hands that start grabbing me at that moment. The hands are the men. That's why they are here right now.

They guide me through the pitch black hall. I don't see any walls but in the distance I swear I see figures. There are countless figures in the hall. They all wear these fucking Volta masks. When I get to the middle of the floor a spotlight is shined on me.

It blinds me.

At that moment the boys take a step way into the darkness. They disappear as quickly as they came.

"You look afraid," Prairie tells me.

"I'm horrified."

"You should be happy. Everyone wants to be us. If they knew what we were. The whole world would want to be us. But we chose you, Memphis."

I try to squint into the darkness. The only light in the room is this one spotlight on me. I try to count how many people are in the room. There have to be several dozen at the least. A whole auditorium full of figures watching me. All eyes are on me and I'm shaking. I don't know what they are going to do to me. I'm terrified.

All of a sudden a chant fills the room:

"We are shepherd that lead the sheep

We are the strong that lead the meek

We are the many that act as one

We are the return of the prodigal son

We are the webs that catch the fly

We are the all-seeing eye."

Prairie looks over at me, "We can change your life. Memphis. What do you want? Announce it to us. Don't be shy."

"Love, um...money. Maybe a real career in music management. I don't know success."

"We can give you those things and more. Do you want us to give you those things?"

"Yes?"

"Will you follow our laws?"

I hesitate. The figures are looking at me. I swear none of them move. They all stand perfectly still posing. A chill crawls up my back. I'm so nervous and so excited at the same time.

I nod.

One of the nude men walks out. He brings Prairie a goblet. On the goblet is an eye. The eye is just pressed into the goblet. This idea of a single eye is something that I've seen with these people for a while now. I remember the single eye on the napkin. Princess drew it first and then Prairie. Was Princess a member of the Illuminati? Was she one of them. It must be some sort of theme with them.

Prairie confirms it.

"Cover one eye and repeat after me."

I cover one eye with my hand.

"I will never speak of this society with outsiders."

"I will never speak of this society with outsiders."

"When called on I will serve the All-seeing eye without hesitation."

I hesitate.

What does that even mean? I turn around. I couldn't run out of here if I wanted to. What did he mean by serve? I stop thinking at that moment. These people gave me more money than I had ever seen in my life. These people were powerful. I had nothing before this. What did I have to lose?

"When called on I will serve the All-seeing eye without hesitation."

"I will put nothing above the All-Seeing Eye."

"I will put nothing above the All-Seeing Eye."

"I know no God but the one eyed god."

"Who?"

"Repeat it."

This was crazy. I stand there for a minute and I think about my family. I had grown up Christian. I think about Quest. He was big on religion. All of a sudden I take a step back. I'm really worrying about this. I'm really thinking that maybe I shouldn't be here. What the fuck was this? Why did they want me to disavow my religion? What part of the society does that?

"I can't..." I state.

"You don't understand. You've come too far. You know too much. You have to say those words," Prairie states, "You have to."

Words. I think about the concept of them. I knew what was in my heart. If these people could help me then what did it matter what words I said.

I swallow.

All my life I worked hard. I was never able to achieve anything. All my life I worked hard and nothing came to me.

What if there was a reason? What if the people who got where they did had a little help along the way? What if that invisible hand was real? What if that all-seeing eye was real?

I think about Quest.

Don't judge me, Quest. You know what's in my heart, but sometimes even the strongest get weak.

"I know no God but the one eyed god."

He comes forward. Prairie dips his hand in the goblet. He uses the wine in the goblet to cross me on my forehead. Except it's not a cross. It's a triangle.

He dips me in his arms and puts the goblet to my mouth. It's wine I think but much stronger really. As I drink the wine immediately I lose it. I feel so confused. I feel as though I've drunk 8 shots of tequila all in one.

Then I see those men.

They surround me. They lay me down. Prairie and the others in the room watch as the men begin to kiss on me.

"Welcome to the light," one of them whispers.

With that he puts my dick in his mouth. He begins to suck on it. The other man positions his ass over my face. All of a sudden I'm so horny that I stick my tongue deep into his ass. For some reason all my shyness goes away. All my fears disappear for this very moment. Two of the other men begin to lick on my torso. They suck on my nipples. They chew on my neck.

My legs are brought up by the fifth man. He begins to eat me out. His tongue goes deep in to me.

"Oh fuck!"

I've never felt something like this before. I've never felt anything like it.

Two of the men lift me up and position me between them. One enters me from the back. He puts his dick deep inside of me. I don't care at that point that he is entering me raw. I don't care that I don't know who this person is.

"Fuck me," I order him.

I want him and for some reason I know he'll give it to me.

The other man bends over from the front, doggie style. I enter him. I'm sandwiched in between two of the sexiest men I'd ever seen. The other three men stand over us, dicks eagerly slapping on my lips. The thick dicks slap. Thump, Thump, Thump. On my lips. I suck them all off one at a time feeling everything from the veins to the shaft.

I feel the warm ass up against my dick.

I feel the other dick deep inside of my ass.

I feel the thrusting. I hear the grunting. I see the stares of these strangers all around me watching me silently without saying a fucking word. The spotlight on me is the only way that makes me realize just how serious this moment is.

Everyone wanted to be these people.

Everyone wanted to have what they could give away.

But they chose me.

And tonight was only the beginning.

Orgasm isn't the way to describe it. This was something else. This was some sort of enlightenment.

~

"Get up."

I wake up at that moment. It's Quest. I don't remember getting home but I have a hangover. I don't remember how I got back home to my bed. Parts of the night were a blur and for a moment I am really contemplating if I imagined the whole night before.

"Quest...what are you doing?"

"Why are you seeing a cancer specialist?"

"I..."

"A doctor Rehxia Balm called. She called you had an appointment. I looked her up online. She's the Cancer Researcher from Australia. She said she flew out here to do a test treatment and you were working with her."

What the...

"Why are you seeing a cancer doctor?"

He's mad. I can tell he is.

"Quest..."

"Get up. I'm taking you to this appointment. Now."

"Quest."

"NOW!"

Quest is pissed. He doesn't say anything the entire ride to this office. The office we go to is completely empty. Quest isn't saying a word to me. I can look in his eyes and tell that he is upset. I want to say something to him. I really do but I know he is disappointed in me. At times I think that he is probably going to have a worse reaction to this than my parents do.

"Excuse me. There seems to be some sort of mistake," I tell the receptionist, "My friend got a call about an appointment that I didn't know about?"

"Memphis Hill?"

"Yes."

"No mistake. Please sit. The Doctor will be with you in on moment."

Quest gives me a weird look. He's just as confused as I am. I do what she says though. I go ahead and take a seat.

"When were you going to tell me?" he asks me.

"Quest..."

"Stop staying my fucking name man. Was this the reason you jumped over the bridge?" he asks me, "Do you have cancer?"

He's in pain. Before I can respond again Quest starts crying. He just starts fucking breaking down at that moment. Quest was a real man's man. I never saw him cry. I used to be the "little bitch" to him that cried when sad things happened in movies. I remember how he wouldn't talk to me for a week after I cried during the Color Purple. Quest was different. He expressed his emotions through silence. When his parents died he didn't talk for months. I was the only one who was able to pull him out of it.

I sit there at that moment wondering if I should call my dad and tell him about the cancer before Quest has a chance. I can already imagine how they were going to act ganging up on me. I could only imagine how much my mother was going to cry when she found out the news.

I'm sitting in the waiting room and I'm just confused about why I was even here. I try to comfort Quest but I don't think he wants me even near him at this moment.

Quest phone rings at that moment. Through his tears he picks it up.

"Not right now Joaquin."

With that he hangs up the phone.

"Wait Joaquin just called you?" I ask, "He has your personal number?"

"He's pressing me to do something. It doesn't matter."

"What doesn't matter?"

He hesitates.

"Nothing matters. If anything happened to you nothing would fucking matter."

"Tell me. Please."

"He wants you to manage us."

"Wait what?"

"After you suggested that we sounded good together we spent the whole night in the studio. Prairie, Joaquin and I decided that maybe we should form a group. I got to talking about you. How great you are and all the shit that you've done for him that Mahn took credit for. And he doesn't want Mahn managing him anymore. He wants you to manage us..."

My mouth drops.

"What?"

"Yeah. Crazy how that works right. It was Prairie's suggestion, but we loved it."

I put my hand on my chest. This is a big thing. I grab Quest out of the chair at that moment and I jump into his arms. I hold him at that moment and give him the biggest hug.

"YES! YES! YES! YES! I'll do it! Call Joaquin back. Call him back. I'll do it!"

Quest doesn't seem even a little bit as excited. He looks at me and he just crushes my dreams at that moment.

"Look where we are. I know this is your dream. I was so excited to tell you, but right now I don't care about that. I don't care about anything. I don't even know if I'd be able to do the group anymore."

"Quest...I can fight the cancer."

"You need me there with you," he responds, "That's what I'm here for. I can't do this group. I can't even do the wedding. I cancelled it."

"What?"

"Yeah. This morning. I called Ashley and cancelled. If something is wrong with you then that takes priority," Quest explains, "I can't focus on a wedding right now. It's cancelled."

Quest had been planning this wedding forever. Ashley had even picked out her dress. The fact that he cancelled all of that for me was crazy to say the least. I wanted it. I should be happy but I knew in my mind the reason this was happening. The reason Quest cancelled the wedding and didn't want anything to do with the group is because I was dying.

I stop celebrating. It should be the best moment in my life. I just found out that Joaquin, a Grammy winning superstar wanted me to manage his new boyband. And not only that...Quest would be in that band. This was the chance for him to make it big. Seeing him on stage and working with Quest was a dream come true. Quest was also not with Ashley anymore. I should be so happy.

But I couldn't be.

The Cancer diagnosis weighed on my head.

"The doctor will see you now."

"Can he come in?" I ask her, "He's my brother..."

"She'd prefer to see you alone."

Weird.

I get up at that moment and walk into the doctor's office. Sure enough I recognize her. I thought it was just a dream but it was the same doctor who I had seen when I had recovered from jumping off a bridge. She is sitting in a chair. She had a folder in her hands.

"I think this is some kind of mistake," I tell the doctor, "I didn't make an appointment with you. My best friend got scared and dragged me here against my will. Sorry for the mix up."

I laugh. The doctor doesn't laugh. She is a normal looking woman. Nothing would really stand out with her. She crosses her legs and sits up straight. She watches me as I walk in the room with a lot of interest however.

"It's no mistake."

She hands me a folder. The first sheet in the folder is nothing more than an eye with a triangle around it.

That's when I knew.

"You're one of them."

"No. I'm one of us. From now on it is us," she corrects me, "My experimental drug worked. I was able to collect blood from you last night and the results are in."

"What result?"

"You are cancer free."

"Holy shit...." I state.

I don't have time to react. I don't have time to understand. I don't know what is going on. When did she have time to collect blood from me? When did she have time to test it? How did she know I needed an experimental drug? How did she even have an experimental drug that could combat an aggressive form of cancer? How did it work so fast? How did she even know about my cancer? There were so many questions running through my head at that moment.

So many questions and for some reason I don't have a will to ask a single one.

She shakes my hand, "Welcome to the..."

We finish together almost in unison. It's almost as though it's rehearsed.

"Light."


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