Corin Destino Orion-

With Persistence I found luck, with luck I survived...

I awoke in a daze, lost in the forgotten lands of fading dreams, as the room around me melted into existence. The sounds of a world still spinning replaced the harmonics of my most recent adventure. For the life of me I couldn’t remember just what the dream had been about except that I’m left with a feeling of absolute melancholy being separated from it.

In truth, the whole thing left me too tired to be awake and too bothered to be tired.

But never mind that, this comforter, now that’s something worth my mind’s singular attention. As of right now I found myself draped in the nicest thing I had managed to acquire while overseas. This feather comforter probably weighs twenty pounds but by god it is twenty pounds of heaven. 

I’d bought it on a whim after a two week stint sleeping on the Lancaster ding-er, Driftwood. It may have cost all two weeks pay in Burma but after sleeping on that glorified log it was a necessary luxury.

Burma... the name sent shivers down my spine. Two weeks stuck on Lady Driftwood in the middle of a rainforest... anywhere else and it’s only moderately bad, but in Burma with Panthera tigris, lady Driftwood could offer only so much protection.

I’ll never feel comfortable near pools of water again. One does not know true terror until face to face with a wild specimen of the genus Panthera.

Working my way through the comforter I found myself in a near pitch black room.. Empty save for the singular black coffee table whose outline is only betrayed by a glint of moonlight breaking through the window shades. 

Upon which my focus fell upon an empty bottle whose prescription read as loudly as the alarm clock which illuminated it from behind. 

Lithium Carbonate

4:35 Am

It is too early to be awake...

It’d become a common feeling. I haven’t found myself capable of a full nights sleep since high school. 

Normally a trip to the bathroom was what it took to clear my mind. So pushing myself off the futon I tossed the comforter carelessly to the ground. Rising to my feet from there.

Instantly I felt taken aback by how drowsy the action left me feeling. The room began to spin and then kept on spinning. Bringing my hand to the bridge of my nose in an effort to work this daze out of my head informs me of something new. My forehead is burning up, hell, it may as well be on fire.

Looking around the room again my plight became obscured along with the walls and ceiling. Everything had begun to distort and the absolute control I’d held over my body a few moments ago gave way to the overwhelming chill from the air around me.

Exhaling, to my surprise, I think I imagine seeing my own breath. Rubbing my hands along my arms notifies me I am completely drenched in sweat.

Good thinking body because I’m freezing.

Nausea begins to set in followed by a disheartened groan. If tasked to make a list as to the five worst things in the world I’d be pressed to list them in the following order:

Number One: Money Lancaster. He’s a dirty snake of a tycoon whose existence is far more upsetting than I find myself physically able to handle the thought of at the moment.

Number Two: The entire genus panthera, and believe me when I say “entire” I mean entire. Not one escapes my hate nor have I ever found myself beyond any of theirs.

Number Three: That bump in your pants or shorts by your crotch. It’s not actually your crotch, rather an unfortunate folding of cloth. However, the sight of it always made my skin crawl.

Number Four: Hospitals. Because the company kept a hospital visit happening more often than visiting the gym or going swimming.

Which brings me back to reality and the terrible truth of this ever developing situation.

...I think I might have to number five...

The mere thought of which sent my stomach into outright rebellion. Instinctively bringing my right hand to my mouth as I proceeded to gasp for air.

“Stop it.” I command myself. 

It was a technique often employed in these dire straits.

“I am going to calm myself down and walk to the bathroom where I will then...” 

Trying to fortify myself by stating my intentions in a concise manner was feeling rather useless at this point. Whether I put all my will into it or not I felt the contents of my stomach begin their slow and unstoppable build up.

The figurative window is closing and the more time spent sitting here the less time to run to the bathroom.

Awkwardly I force myself to shuffle my feet in the direction believed to be the bedroom’s exit. This quest finds a companion in the form of an unnatural sway. Bringing my arms to wrap around my stomach I compensated for the spins and shakes by hunching over.

It takes a few moments and a couple of strategic gulps but I’m successful in fighting down a premature expulsion.

“Quite nice for the first night in my new apartment,” I thought. “For my first night back in my hometown.”

Lifting my head I aimlessly looked into the near pitch black room.

Most of the time I felt confident that my life could be summarized in the saying “If I didn’t have bad luck then I’d have no luck at all,” With this mentality I’d developed a mantra. A kind of personal feeling of accomplishment.

That I’d come accustomed to playing the game with a handicap set a few levels higher than the average person. It made even the simplest of accomplishments feel that much more impressive. A bit sad but hell I’d rather live a life feeling accomplished successfully doing the simple shit then feeling unaccomplished for having such bad luck it made doing those same simple things near impossible.

Although tonight seemed to be the exception. Walking blindly to where I recal the door to be had proven the right choice. Reaching the door in a few shuffled steps I made a mental note to remember this moment of luck. Lady luck was welcome whenever she decided she wasn’t completely repulsed by my existence.

Opening the bedroom door brought with it a torrent of wind of gale force intensity. The hallway itself acts like a vacuum of cool air.To which, I delightfully found my sweat covered body absorbing like a sponge. Awesome.

The first few moments in this new environment are spent simply shaking. While I’d managed to set aside the dizziness from earlier, the new addition of this cold wind ushering it back in full throng.

With it came the realization that everything hurt. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to feel, it hurt to walk, and god did my stomach hurt.

It’s like every part of my body felt it a requirement to contribute to the night's agony. 

“Focus.” I command myself once more.

Attempting to gather a bearing I lift my head in stark opposition to the prevailing winds. 

“Think.” I whisper, focusing entirely on the word and its meaning.

Recalling the hallway from earlier in the day I knew the bathroom to be just up the hall. The door directly after Tye’s room and just before the stairway door that leads to the first level of the house.

“Go” I intone and begin to stagger forward down the hallway.

It’s funny in these moments of pain I rely on incredibly focused thoughts. To escape the pain via thinking on a topic so absolutely it left my mind in a complete tunnel vision. A tunnel that would bypass the pain. It helps the whole ignore you’re dying thing. Hey, it works.

A sudden burst of wind halts progress for a moment sending shivers up and down my body. A smile slowly forming on my lips as a macabre thought forms in my mind.

“It may as well just start raining since I’m already soaked.”

It must take me a full sixty seconds to reach the first door frame. I swear it felt like I turned into an eighty eight year old. Except I get the feeling my grandmother would totally kick my ass right now in a race.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you door number one.

Looking in, a chuckle escapes which causes a renewed bout of dry heaving. 

Good, thinking to myself. If I’m going to prematurely vomit anywhere, let it be in front of Tye’s room. The dummy hadn’t listened to me or Locke at all.

Thinking back to earlier in the day I can recall telling him along with Locke that they could just get a long slab of wood from a hardware store. Or even go out and buy a regulation sized beer pong table. That Tye did not need to take the door off its hinges.

But no, young Tye Lancaster in all his wisdom and family inherited fiscal savvy took his bedroom door off its hinges and god knows where it might be now.

With the latest bout of dry heaving subsiding I once again enjoy the ability to take in that bitter sweet taste of cold air.

I can enjoy Tye’s stubbornness later but right now I’m a man on a mission. Shifting my gaze back ahead to the goal at hand I tell myself I’m determined to at least finish this race.

Drawing closer to the door it seems the elements themselves have risen up against me. Sending a surprisingly strong gust down the hallway and stopping me in my tracks.

It’s now a battle to the finish. With the contents of my stomach having their heart set on a time in the near future. 

“Man up” is the last real thought before sprinting full speed through the hallway and into the bathroom. Flipping on the light and sliding onto the floor in front of the toilet in stride.

And in that moment I am a fool and in my folly I allow myself to relax. To surrender to the urges swelling up in the back of my throat and the pit of my stomach. Surrendering to its overwhelming demands.

The reason I hate vomiting is probably the same as everyone else. It feels like I’m being choked. Choked by some invisible force that won’t let go until every last insignificant speck of burning acid has vacated through my face hole.

But now the first real thoughts which have begun to re-enter my mind were not about choking. It’s more like a light switch being flipped on. My eyes widened and then instantly shut in defense but reality has already delivered the message. The message being that it was now too late.

The burn of stomach acid hits my eyes as the feeling of the hot substance splashing all over the rest of me and everything else in the general vicinity leave me stupefied. The only thought reminding me that Lady Luck had some mortal vendetta against me.

...whatever...

Why?” my mind flounders as it attempts to register every piece of information present before it. 

The white toilet seat, the orange carpet, the floor tile and…

...the closed toilet seat... 

...I am a fool...

Laying on the bathroom floor in too much pain for pity or thought all that remained was the wait for what life had in store next and the cold embrace of unconsciousness.

...

Opening my eyes, pieces of something I must have eaten last night lay directly in front of me. A groan escapes my still very sore throat as I begin the process to stir myself awake. Summoning the energy needed to lift myself from off the bathroom floor. Rolling into an Indian position my body shivered and I could feel myself whimper, how much more?

With reluctance the thought came of cleaning this mess. Initially I thought better of it but no matter what I’d have to clean this all before the others could stumble upon it. No one must know about this…

The feeling of hot water and soap is like heaven and instantly I start to feel a million-trillion times better.

Next my face, rinsing, and then drying with the towel hanging just behind me. Looking to the medicine cabinet I notice it’s been left hanging wide open. Easily revealing my toothbrush and toothpaste I’d thrown in there just the other day. A mechanical reaction to moving through the world as we did. A habit to maintain order and structure in our chaotic loves we’d lived. 

Never knew what shore we’d wash up upon but when one found civilization there were the creature comforts you enjoyed. They’d persist. This was mine. Toothpaste and toothbrush in bathroom. Separated us from those damned untamed jungles. 

If time could freeze, then it had in this moment broken all together. Only the sound the toothbrush and toothpaste made landing in the sink could legitimize its continued existence. The person standing before me had brown eyes, a pale and slightly freckled complexion, brown hair that hung past their shoulders and… and… and....

This. This girl before me was a mess, a beautiful, stunning mess, but this girl in my mirror’s reflection wasn’t me.  

“What?” I hear her say, see her lips purse out, felt vibrate from my vocal cords. Shock gives way to panic. A panic attack to be more precise. As I begin to hyperventilate I find myself hunching over the sink. Unable to Breathing.

During this moment a thought occurred. A beautiful, simple, ingenious thought and without warning or further analysis it went into action.

Smack!

I feel a tap of my hand which strangely enough vibrates all the way to my knees which feel as though they have the mind to buckle. If I wasn’t mostly supported by the counter I’d be falling over. 

“OWww!” She shouts as tears begin to pool at the edges of my eyes.

Looking back into the mirror nothing had changed, no dream world now compromised, no feather comforter materializing around me. Nothing except for a big red hand print on the side of this young woman’s face. 

“It didn’t work,” I see her say to herself. 

Clutching my fist this time I let loose with a hay-maker I might have been saving for Mr. Lancaster. The punch connects with a horrible crunching sound square in the jaw. The pain is all too real. My knees actually give out as I find myself falling backwards into the shower curtains directly behind me.

Without thinking I latch out to the shower curtain for support. Except it instantly gives weight and the whole thing comes down with me. My jaw is now pulsing. I can do nothing but tussle with the curtain in the tub for freedom.

With everything that's happening I’m completely at a loss for my surroundings and those whom might also occupy it. This oversight materialized into the warm body beneath me.

“Mmrrr, what the… what the shit man?” Grumbles a wild encounter as he too begins to untangle himself from the shower curtain’s grasp. 

Now, getting out has become a life or death event. The bathtub, the bathroom, out of all of this. A moment of freedom from the shower curtain flashed before my eyes and so I lunged at it full force. Flinging myself to the bathroom floor

As I pick myself up I shift my gaze to meet Tye Lancaster staring back at him. Face to face. Myself now free and Tye still mostly buried in the shower curtain. We stare at each other for an extended period of time. I’m simply too completely frozen with fear to move and Tye is still under a haze of not quite being fully awake yet.

In this moment our eyes lock onto one another’s and I’m suddenly made to be conscious of his otherworldly gaze. Self conscious of my shit eyes and Tye’s magnetic blue. So deeply saturated they almost seemed enchanted. They simply swam in themselves threatening to drown anyone foolish enough to gaze directly into them. 

The fact had not been lost to Tye who employs his otherworldly gaze to keep himself company most nights of the week. As much as I think of Tye as my best friend I couldn't deny my jealousy of the ease with which Tye found himself partners and his inability to be satisfied with any one of them for longer than a few days. A prime example of the gluttony that seemed to curse the Lancaster bloodline.

Because of which we’d often joke about the magic in his eyes but never have I been so absolutely sure of it’s otherworldly origin till this moment. With the spell only being broken by Tye’s involuntary blink. 

With this break in connection I felt my heart flutter and shuddered in what I could only describe as the truest fear from glimpsing the actual nature of any one man.

Did he have this effect on all women?

An alarm went off in my head as I felt the beginning of a smirk cross my face. This otherworldly gaze had the effect of stupefying and I would have none of it. It may overwhelm women but that I am not. It should and would have no effect on me. At least that’s what I commanded of myself.

For a few more moments we maintain the silence. My instincts are screaming at me to move, flea, run away as fast as physically possible. My body however locked itself in place. Seemingly happy enough simply staring at this predator before me. I could do nothing but beg my body to wake from its stupor before the situation could go any more out of my control. 

Initially Tye simply gazed at this person frozen before him. My mind is having a hard enough time connecting that person to me. Tye, just looking through me until a spark of recognition ran across his face...

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Tye Ichabob Lancaster-

I’d apparently passed out in the bathtub after a night of drinking way more than the average or even above average man should physically be capable of ingesting. I’d done all this willingly once my best friend Corin challenged me to a power hour using some 12% malt liquor… and I’ll be damned the day I let someone get away with questioning my superiority over them in any and all things.

So it didn’t surprise me when I woke up to find myself passed out in the bathroom with the shower curtain atop of me. I mean, it’s not like this situation hasn’t happened before…

What is surprising is the moment our eyes connect. See, if I have the situation right she seems to have freaked when she woke up and didn’t recognize where she was. She then proceeded to throw herself from the bathtub onto the bathroom floor. Not a good sign. 

I mean like, I was sleeping in this tub by myself. I don’t remember inviting anyone else. Why is she freaking out on me like this? I’m not that type of person! So, ya know, I start freaking a bit till our eyes lock together for that one moment. Aligning like a clock at twelve. Tic. Click. Something shot through me. 

There was fear there. A primal fear reflected from those brown shit eyes I’ve seen so many times over the past two years. They’ve become a symbol of something important to me. You see my father is a lunatic and I’ve been unfortunate enough to be a part of his lunacy all my life.

A few years ago my dad decided he was going to take me along with him to travel the world. He was going to find and acquire the most secluded piece of land in all the world and build the most decadent hotel resort there. I’d seen it in my father’s eyes that there was no talking him out of it. So rather than put up a fight I simply asked to have my friends tag along.

The first to accept without a second thought was Corin. We grew up together and no one in the group knows my father’s nature better. It didn’t surprise me Corin embraced the idea to travel. Run away from the tragedies back home. 

Honestly, I have no idea how the kid kept going. He would press on with not so much as a frown but in a way, an unspoken way, I knew his pain. Knew he was broken. I simply didn’t mind so long Corin followed me into the lion’s den or the polar bear cave or dove into alligator infested rivers.

It was those eyes, those shit brown eyes, I could count on. Full of something. A storm if you will of determination. To do what? I don’t know. It all didn’t quite make sense to me. That level of anguish. I admit I’m not the smartest man in the world but I can recognize pain when I see it. I could recognize eyes ever searching for a means of survival.

So here we were. Those eyes staring at me but the person in possession of them anything but the guy who fended off that pack of coyotes with me with nothing more than desert rocks and a fire ever threatening to burn itself out. In front of me was anything but my best friend who I remember running along side me from that angry boar in south america. 

This dainty girl before me was beautiful. Except her eyes. Her eyes were that of Corin’s and that was kind of disgusting.

I justify my next line of actions as a strategic need to investigate. It was of dire importance I confirm those were actual real breasts. That this was a real girl in front of me.

Oh god, I can’t help but shiver at the idea that this is Corin. That I’ve stumbled upon a moment of crossdressing. I began to feel myself begging for it to be so. Can you even imagine the leverage if utilize properly this could be. This single moment could be blackmail for a lifetime. If this were the case I could get anything I wanted from Corin forever.

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Corin Destino Orion-

“Am I still dreaming?” he asks her, me, himself. At whoever this was before him. 

Initially, I found myself too petrified to notice his hand moving towards me. Connecting with my chest. I felt a squeeze. I felt a fiery anger pulse through me. I felt so many other things but what I didn’t feel is my hand clutching into a fist and flying into the jaw of one, Tye Lancaster.

Crack-Bang!

In a moment his hand draws limp as he once again sinks back into the tub unconscious. Having hit the back of his head hard against the tiled tub wall. Under any other circumstance I assure you I may have stayed to make sure he was okay (or really as okay as one could be after being knocked out). But right now it was not normal circumstances.

Making myself scarce I retreat from the bathroom. Croaking a little as tears began to form at the edges of my eyes. Where last time it might have taken a few minutes to traverse, this time I found myself on my futon and buried underneath my comforter within what must have been three steps.

Things were actually racing through my mind so fast I became physically exhausted or maybe it was from a self induced concussion?

How could this be possible? What is happening to me? Is anyone going to find out or really how could I possibly keep this all a secret?

As the questions raced through what was left of my mind I began to feel just how tired I still was. 

This had to be a dream, I told myself. It couldn’t be anything else.

I was going to fall asleep in this dream and wake up in reality. After all, things were strange in my dreams. They could feel far more real than they ever should.

The last thing I recall seeing before dozing off is the amber saturated numbers on the digital clock.

Lithium Carbonate, 

5:10 a.m.

It’s too early to be awake...

Obstacle Two. Captain of the Guard