“So, what I'm saying is, I am having things happen to me, and you're having things happen to you. Each of us is experiencing different things, but the fact is that we're experiencing them all of a sudden. I'm thinking that there has to be a common cause, and the first thing that springs to mind is something in the city water supply. It has to be something that we're all in contact with” He said doing his best to sound like it was a credible theory.
“Ok, but wouldn't everyone be affected?” She asked looking around, “All these people here would be having unusual things happen to them”
“They probably are, but we don't know them, so they're not going to talk to us about it are they?”
She agreed that it made sense, but who would do such a thing, and why? Of course, it could have been some accident and not deliberate. What could be in their water to cause this though? Some kind of hallucinogenic drug or compound? It only opened up more questions. She had another sip of her whiskey and continued to look around nervously.
“You could be right, but we need to find out for sure” She said.
“Well, trust me; I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you. I felt like I was losing my mind, I even went to see a psychiatrist” He replied.
“It's good to know that you're experiencing things too. Well not good for you, but you know what I'm saying” she said with a nervous laugh.
“Ha, yeah I know” he said smiling back at her, “I'm glad I was able to help a bit and it's good for me to know that I'm probably not going crazy, at least not yet anyway. I wonder if Mike is having some issues”
“Mike?” she repeated with a slight frown.
“Yeah, it's just you normally call him and confide in him about things, not me. So it was unusual for you to ring me, but I'm glad you did” He said still smiling.
“Mike?” She repeated using the exact same frown that she had on the night he mentioned Olivia.
Danny was silent for one moment and then scratched his chin, the sound of his nails against his stubble breaking the silence.
“So, I'm guessing you've never known anyone called Mike?” He said laughing to himself despairingly, to which she shook her head to give clear a sign that she didn't. Of course, back to his symptoms, he knew they wouldn't disappear, and it seemed that more and more people had been imaginary. He wasn't surprised by this anymore, his paranoia turning more into frustration than anything else.
“I just have to ask though, are you real?” He said. He knew having just said that that the crazy see-saw they were playing on had swung back to him.
“Of course I am” replied Monique as she slapped his arm, “Would you feel that if I wasn't?”
He knew there was a logical reason for all this now; they just had to figure out what it was.
“This is a bit of a relief, but I won't be happy until we're back to normal” Monique said as she rose from her seat, “Can you excuse me a moment, I need to use the restroom”.
She walked off to the restroom leaving Danny looking around the room to make sure he wasn't having the same strange symptoms she was having as well. It seemed not, so that was one thing to be thankful for at least. Monique did what she needed to do in the restroom and strode towards the wash basins to wash her hands and freshen up. She looked at herself in the mirror and almost didn't recognise herself, recent events had taken their toll, this combined with the early morning whiskeys had made her look puffy and tired. What was she doing to herself she thought, she needed to stop this straight away. They had an idea what was going on and were going to get proper answers now, so there was no need for self-destructive behaviour.
She washed her hands and dried them under the automatic dryer next to her. As she turned to leave, she glanced back at herself again and something caught her eye. She moved closer to the mirror, looking closer at her reflection. She had sworn that she saw a sudden flash of blue across her cheek that came and went, so leaned in closer.
As she stared in concentration it looked like her face was morphing into someone or something else. Then she could see twinkles of blue, flashing for milliseconds, the intensity increasing rapidly, until she was staring at something grotesque with pulsing blue veins. She pulled her head back shocked and terrified and noticed that the blue veins trailed away from her distorted disturbing figure in the mirror and out all around and behind her. There was a sudden loud noise which made her break her gaze, and she looked round to see what it was. There was nothing there and she looked back in the mirror to see herself completely back to normal. It was another hallucination, she must learn to ignore them and treat them as if they weren't real, anything at all that seemed strange or out of the ordinary isn't there, it's a symptom of whatever was in her blood stream. She let out a relieved sigh and took a few deep breaths.
There was suddenly another loud noise, seemingly much louder than the last, almost as if it was emanating all around her, encompassing the space she was in. It was just another hallucination she thought, ignore it. There was another sound, and then another, harder, strangely metallic sounding but with an animalistic whine. Another one came from behind her and she spun round, it was a natural reaction and nothing she could control, despite her knowing that this was all in her head. She looked at the far cubicle where
