Yes it’s finnaly here. Sorry for the long wait, but exams and such. This is a continuation of part I and II, so if you’re starting to read this now, make sure you’ve read the first two as it won’t make sence otherwise. This is the part where Darren, the main character, is calling his friend just after “waking up” from the effects of the pill.

————————————————————–

“Hel–?” Dyxan answered.

“What the heck did you give me!?” I interrupted.

“Huh? What do you mean?” He answered innocently

“You know very well. That pill? What was that?”

“Oh, that! Well, you see, me, Drew, and Xashniva have been taking those pills for a while now we thought we’d get you into it.” he explained

“That doesn’t answer my question! What did you give me?” I repeated.

“It’s called… MapleCrack. Once you take it, your mind goes into the Unistate for as long as it’s in effect. The first time you use it will confuse your mind, it can cause some pretty serious complications.” He reluctantly answered.

“Complications?” I asked nervously.

“Yes… you remember your Maple PDA, right?”

“What about it?” I asked, with a look of confusion.

“If someone adds you to the buddy tab, a part of you becomes permanently infused with the Unistate. It’s virtually irreversible; I guess I should have told you that before, but then again you didn’t know how to use your Maple PDA, so it’s not a huge problem.” He explained.

“What!?” My face turned a ghastly white as I recalled the events that had just occurred in the Unistate.

“Oh no… You added someone to your PDA didn’t you…” He almost whispered.

“Not exactly… She added me.” I stated as closed my eyes in horror.

“You’re joking… You have to be.” He pleaded.

“I wish I could say I was…” I sighed, “Well, I don’t feel any different than when I took the pill, apart from this killer headache, so what part of me was trapped in the Unistate?”

“I don’t know. It’s different for everyone. The only way you could add someone, or vice versa, is if you both like something about each other. In your case, the part this girl liked most about you is trapped in the Unistate, Since she most likely is a veteran of this dimensional plain, what you liked most about here was merely copied into the Unistate. Since, well, your mind was confused, it left this part of you there and came back to reality.“

“There has to be a way to reverse it… There must be…” I whispered.

“I can’t help you, Darren… ” He sighed helplessly. “As far as I know, it’s irreversible… I’m so sorry I got you into this…” He quietly apologised as he hung up.

I stared blankly at the phone display as I heard the dial tone, I was frozen, my face still ghastly pale as thoughts raced in my head. ‘This is all a joke…’ I thought. ‘He seemed pretty upset…’ I reasoned ‘What part of me was trapped?’ just as I though of this, the next idea hit me like a brick wall, ‘Did that girl do this on purpose?’ I had to know, no matter what.

I raced out of the mini office my parents had set up in the spare room, made my way down to the living room and noticed that my dad was in the kitchen doing the dishes.

“Dad?” I called him, hoping for an answer.

“Darren! You’re finally awake! You went out cold about 7 hours ago, you were in school, we got worried!”

‘Seven Hours?’ I though ‘I was out that long?’

“Darren, are you okay? You’re staring at the pile of dirty dishes. ” He stated as he broke me out of my deep though, and then let out a small chuckle “I’m not making you wash them after what happened today if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Oh dad!” I laughed, this was typical of him. He always brought humour into the situation. “I have to get going, my friend asked me to go over to his house.” I lied.

“Alright, but don’t be bothering his parents.” My dad cautioned me as I began to walk out the door.

“I won’t!” I said as I turned to face the street, when I noticed it was pitch black outside. “Uh… Dad, what time is it?” I asked.

“It’s 8:24. Don’t be out too late.”

“I won’t! I’ll be back soon.” I assured him.

I closed and locked the polished oak door of my house, as I began to walk down the deathly quiet street; I looked up at the sky and noticed something was wrong. There were no stars, yet there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Something was definitely going on. Then I remembered the darkness I was sucked through as I made my way back into our state, it was just as quiet as my street was. Suddenly I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my left forearm. I grabbed my arm and screamed in agony as I fell to the ground. When it stopped I removed my hand and what I saw made my heart stop. It was an inscription; it looked as if it was burned onto my skin:

“You are no longer safe; don’t even trust the very shadow you cast.”

This was the last straw; I dashed to my friend’s house as fast as I could, when I arrived I knocked the knocker, rang the doorbell, banged the door with my fist, as the door opened I fell in. I saw my friend, Dyxan standing before me.

“What are you doing!?” He began freaking out.

“Look! Look at this!” I ordered as I held up my forearm.

“Look at what? Your arm?” He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“This! See what it says!?” I panicked as I looked for the inscription, but there was nothing there, not even a mark, no scar, nothing. “It disappeared…” I whispered.

“Come in, the neighbours already think I’m a nut, now with you acting like this they’ll call the police or something.” He joked as he showed me into his house and led me to his living room. “So, apart from scaring me half to death, what bring you here?” he asked casually.

“I wanted to get another MapleCrack pill. That’s what I came for, but as I walked over here freaky things started happening, I can’t see any stars, the stabbing pain, the inscription…” I started.